"The Dark Ages"

We recently visited The Staffordshire Hoard exhibition at the Potteries Museum in Hanley. The largest and most valuable Anglo-Saxon treasure ever found. You might expect work done so long ago in “The Dark Ages” to be lacking in finesse, nothing could be further from the truth. The level of craftsmanship in this beautiful collection of gold and garnet artifacts is quite staggering. It put me in mind of “The Byzantium” exhibition we saw at the Royal Academy some time ago. Fortunately I had invested in a copy of the book which was sold alongside the show, it was good to be able to use it for reference to a new project that I am working on.

Both exhibitions feature delicate and very decorative gold crosses and I decided to make this a starting point for a new design. I incorporated spring flowers, giving them a very formal, symmetrical structure. You can see a glimpse of the work in progress here. I added gold ink decoration at a later stage.



The temperatures around here have been unusually cold and my poor old mum has been complaining of very cold feet. All the shops are full of spring attire so I decided to pick up my knitting needles again and have a go at making some. I found this pattern called “Aunt Maggie’s slippers” by Beverly A Qualheim on the Ravelry site available as a free download. I have to thank Annie from Knitsofacto for inspiring me to knit again after many years of abstinence, although I haven't been brave enough to tackle her patterns yet. I think I need to brush up on my skills somewhat but I have my eye on her Downton Hat. Isn’t the internet a wondrous thing? I think I gave up knitting when the local wool shops closed their doors.

The little shoe/slipper pattern is ingenious and very easy, knitted on just two needles. Miraculously it sews up into a little shoe. I can imagine these little slippers to be made of chain mail and worn way back in “The Dark Ages” or am I being a little too fanciful? Maybe.

Cross stitch designs

I was very excited to receive a copy of a Turkish magazine called Kanavice. The company behind this publication is Tuva who publish books and magazines for embroidery and cross stitch enthusiasts. Tuva have licensed my designs and have translated them into cross stitch charts.



The robin design has been made into the cushion in the picture above, the garden design has been worked into a garden picture. I was amazed to see how much love and devotion has gone into the stitching of each piece.



If you are interested in cross stitch you might like to visit Tuva here.
Looking at the photographs in this publication has made me long for the spring. How nice would it be to sit in that garden chair and stitch!

Good Luck!

What brings you good luck? Is it black cats, or leprechauns, lucky heather, chimney sweeps, four leaf clovers perhaps?

I believe that there is truth in the old saying “Luck is when opportunity knocks and you answer”.

And so to the winner of my Novica Give away, I gave all entrants a number and put them into a random number generator and came up with number two, tra la …… Frances Tyrell!


And for those dear friends who entered and were not so lucky, may I leave you with this lovely Irish Blessing-

“May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light. May good luck pursue you each morning and night.”

A new chapter.

Life is slowly getting back to normal, or should I say a new normality?
Things will never be the same, life changes and moves on and as with all crossroads there are possibilities and opportunities, a new chapter in all our lives.



I have found time again to paint and work on some commissions long overdue. This time for packaging and I have been enjoying working to season for once, spring flowers freshly picked are always inspiring. This time last year I was working on Christmas!

At the weekend I also found time to do more bookbinding and made two sewn books in the Japanese style using beautiful Japanese papers. The inner pages folded at the foredge and the spine stitched with silk. I learnt this method of making books with Kathy Abbott, designer bookbinder extraordinaire. Inspiration abounds

Time to say Goodbye.

Over the last few months our lives have been dominated by boxes, all around us people are on the move. One son moved house, the other moved office and my mum is moving from the former family home into a smaller retirement property within walking distance of our house. Amidst the chaos it has been difficult to keep up with work, blogs, housework and all the other myriad of things that demand my attention.

There have been some tough decisions to make, what to keep, what to give and what to recycle and everywhere memories. Memories, which stop you in your tracks and cause you to ponder on your own mortality. We come into this world with nothing and we go out with nothing but we don’t half accumulate some stuff along the way!

So yesterday I said a tearful goodbye to the garden my father tended for the last fifty-five years, the primroses, the quince, and the flowering aubrietia all looked lovely in the spring sunshine. I now carry his spirit, along with my late brother and sister, here in my heart. Home is, after all, where the heart is.

Best wishes and good health!

“Happy New Year everyone and Good Health”. I have had hardly any time to catch up with your news so please forgive my tardiness. Our Christmas has been dominated by worry, over the health of family members and concern caused by the cold and all its complications. We did manage to enjoy ourselves despite these difficulties and had lots of our younger family members to stay, including our lovely grandson and great niece, both of who are walking, talking and generally charming all and sundry. Now I have to catch up on getting the house back to normal, catching up on laundry, larder replenishing and work whilst continuing to visit my frail and elderly parents.

I choose this new illustration to start off the year, I have brought the lemons, you will find hot water in the pot, now you need to add some honey, stir well with the spoon provided and help yourself to a piece of cake! I hope to catch up soon.

Giveaway and work in progress.

We are delighted to announce that Apple have relaxed their controls on promotional codes, (until now these have only been available to customers in the USA). This means that I can offer six free copies or “promo codes” to anyone wishing to own our new app “The Bird with the Rainbow Tail” This will work on any iPod/iPad or iPhone. If you would like to share this E-book with your children this Christmas all you have to do is leave a comment and indicate which code you need e.g. iPad or iPhone and I will pick six at random. I will then need your email address in order to forward the code, which is valid for thirty days. This means that you have thirty days to download the app from your computer to your iPad/iPhone. I know this sounds complicated but I assure you it is quite simple so I hope you will throw your name into the hat. I will pick the winners on Sunday 19th so hurry! If you don't own any of the above you can gift it to someone who does.



Life continues to be problematic although the snow has now left us; we have had amazingly clear and sunny frost filled days, which have transformed the landscape into a Narnia world although as I write today is grey and dull with the promise of more snow.

I am very behind this year on all fronts, work, Christmas preparations, and blogging, barely able to keep my head above water or so it seems. I have been painting, painting and painting, so much so that my fingers are stiff and aching but feel now that I am getting towards the end of the “Owl and the Pussycat” poster for Long Barn Books mentioned earlier. There is just a little more work to do on the borders and I think it will be done.

daffydowndillies

I have been reading an old gardening book which refers to daffodils as daffydowndillies, isn't that a lovely name?
Our daffodils have more or less gone past their best; they have been so much later this year than last thanks to our very prolonged winter. We have a few in flower at the moment but I don’t think they will last much into next week. The painting here will be an Easter card to be published next year in the UK, actually I finished it last year and had the luxury of painting it from life which is always preferable to working out of season.

The weather has been truly wonderful here and we have been taking photographs of wild flowers in order to have lots of reference material on which to draw. Our usual walking place is now scattered with cowslips, primroses and wood anemones. Baby rabbits have been keeping Ted on his toes, fortunately he is hopeless at catching them, in fact I think he enjoys hunting for sticks! We have noticed a few rabbits with what looks like Myxomatosis, something I thought had died out years ago, it is quite heartbreaking to see them limping about by the wayside.





I have started to work on a new book project, which is a bit daunting; I hope to share more news of this soon, and in the meantime I hope to catch up with reading your blogs.

It's getting to look a lot like Christmas?

Despite the spring like nature of this post it seems more like Christmas here in my home studio. I can see snow on the lawn outside and I have my heating switched on. My desk is strewn with eighteen pots of gouache in classic Christmas colours, mixed especially for a new design collection that I am working on for Christmas 2011.



We have had some brief respites between showers and have managed a few country walks along the canal towpath. The wildlife seem to think that it is spring and the air is filled with various chirpings and squabblings as birds seek out their nesting sites.

Every year a couple of swans raise a family along the canal side, this one in the photograph seems to think it has found the perfect spot. Ted found a few new friends as you can see; it is hard to think he will be ten years old in July. I will have to keep a close eye on him when then cygnets appear, as those mute swans get very protective of their young. click for a closer look.

It will soon be time to tidy away my work and set to preparing this empty nest in preparation for our family visitors over Easter. There are metal Easter eggs to fill, beds to be made, a house to clean and lots of shopping to be done so without further ado I would like to wish you all a very happy Easter!

An Irish Blessing.

“May you have warm words on a cold evening, 
a full moon on a dark night and the road downhill all the way to your door.”
This Irish Blessing is a day late for St Patrick’s Day, no matter as the Irish say "when God made time he made plenty of it" so please forgive my late entry.

I have been experimenting with making masks in Photoshop, like all newly acquired techniques it is easy to become slightly carried away..
This is a computer-aided image, which started life as a watercolour painting. I wanted the look of a Japanese wood block so I layered some previously hand painted textures and patterns together with a bonsai tree (photographed with an added stamp filter). I then applied a wood effect mask and added a decorative border. At least that is the way I remember the process; I suppose I should call it mixed media!

I have always loved Japanese wood block prints, especially the subtle gradations in colour. When we went to the recent Van Gogh exhibition at the Royal Academy we saw how much of an impact Japanese prints had on artists at the time. This influence could be clearly seen in the many reed and pen drawings, which had been assembled for the exhibition. I don't have an image from that particular exhibition but this drawing "Tree with Ivy in the Asylum Garden" 
1889 ; Pencil, chalk, reed pen, and brown ink on Ingres paper, Rijksmuseum Vincent Van Gogh, Amsterdam is typical of the many very decorative drawings that Van Gogh made in his short and troubled life. It seems extraordinary that an artist so prone to misery and despair could leave such a legacy of joyous artwork.

Chris Chun. “Celebrating the joy of life!”

Allow me to introduce to you an amazing young artist called Chris Chun. His colourful and highly decorative artworks are inspired by beauty, nature, travel and food.



All of his work is a visual celebration of the joy of life and his images positively sing with exuberance and joie de vivre. He has very kindly allowed me to showcase some of his work here, I am particularly intrigued by the process he uses to create his art, using a combination of collage, painting and sometimes sewing. You can see some of his work in progress here on Chris’s blog.



My favorite piece is called “Mum’s Altar table” (see top illustration) a mixed media work in acrylic, ink, gouache and tissue paper collage. Chris says’ about the work :-"This painting is taken from Mum's altar table. It displays my lucky monk I bought from Japan as a kid as well as goldfish and various antique pieces from Mum. There are lots of good luck charms on the table"

You can find out more about Chris here on his website, you may be also tempted by some of the many goodies in his shop!

Giveaway and Easter Eggs now in stock!

As promised, I would like to announce a new delivery of Duckling Easter egg tins. They are available in my two shops, here and here

I hope you have fun filling them with your handmade goodies. So far I have seen them filled with perfumed egg shaped soaps and chocolates. To celebrate their arrival I have an egg to giveaway. If you would like to be entered in the draw please indicate your wish to join in the giveaway by leaving a comment below and tell me what you would like to find inside your perfect Easter Egg.

The draw will close on Monday 22nd February.

December festivities.

All we need now is a light sprinkling of snow and we are all set!

Our nearest major city and favourite place to shop is Manchester, now at its busiest. Festooned with lights and crowded with shoppers, museum goers and theatre lovers, the streets are filled with Christmas markets and delicious smells. We managed to buy almost all of our presents over the weekend and had time to fit in a bookbinding exhibition and an evening dining with friends.

The illustration above is taken from my "Gardener's Scrapbook Calendar" 2010, which has reprinted this year and am told will also be available for 2011. I have a very limited supply now in my shop, they are also available in UK high street shops, I even spotted some in our local Post Office!



click the photograph to see more detail.

Site award!

A wise old owl sat in an oak,
The more he heard the less he spoke,
The less he spoke the more he heard,
Why aren't we like that wise old bird?

Anon.

Great excitement today, I just learnt that a product that I designed for my newly created Zazzle shop has been featured for a TBA award. This means that it will be featured as one of "Todays Best". In case your wondering, the owl image was put onto an organic tee shirt, you can follow the link in the side bar for a close up, I cannot fathom out how to post the image of the product from the site without using the flash panel.

How many hours do we use up trying to keep up with the cyberworld? emails, websites, blogs, twitters, whatever next?

Hudson and Middleton Bone China.

If you haven’t already entered the free draw to win the beautiful braided rug below you have until Monday to do so, when I will pick a winner at random. All you need is a postal address in the USA or Canada and this lovely braided rug could be yours. The company will even ship it to you for free so what are you waiting for? Leave a comment in my last post and I will enter your name into the hat.

My new collection of “designer” mugs is finally ready to buy on-line by following the link in my side bar to the Hudson and Middleton site. They are manufactured in a lovely old Grade II listed building in Stoke-on-Trent, England, which is a bit of a rarity today. The factory has been making exquisite bone china for many years now; it was founded in 1875, which makes it one of the oldest potteries in Britain. It has been touch and go as to whether or not the factory would survive, shortly after I delivered my artwork earlier this year everything looked very bleak and the company went into receivership. Happily the management decided to buy the company and the factory was rescued and many jobs were saved.

I have chosen a design from my bird collection to show you today, there are four birds in this series, blue tit, robin, chaffinch and thrush, all of which are well known in Britain and are some of my favourites. The blue tit (shown here) is one of our most attractive garden birds and can be encouraged to visit by installing peanut feeders, they have a lovely habit of hanging almost upside down when feeding on nuts, caterpillars and seeds. You can learn more about them here on the RSPB website.

May blossoms and Myths

Our hedges are covered with Hawthorn or May blossom at the moment. There is something about the size and shape of the petals that always reminds me of weddings, maybe the petals would make good confetti?
You may be interested to know that the little church in the illustration is based on the church of St James and St Paul in the village of Marton in Cheshire. It is unusual in that it has a timber frame and is thought to be one of the oldest timber framed churches in Europe.


Of all our native trees the hawthorn above all others seems to be associated with the most myths, legends and superstitions. It was considered extremely unlucky to bring the blossom into the house although decorating the exterior of a building was allowed.

I came across an interesting theory as to why this should be on this website It seems that medieval country folk said that the blossom smelt of the plague! Scientists have since discovered a chemical which is present in the blossom is also the same one which is produced by corpses. Maybe this explains why this otherwise attractive plant was so unwelcome in houses?

Our garden is surrounded by hawthorn hedges and makes a very thick, prickly barrier. I have thought about replacing it many times, especially after being pricked by one of its vicious thorns. The advantages have always outweighed the disadvantages however, the main one being the house sparrows who treat it like a communal block of flats, as I write this I can hear the mass chirpings and chatterings of dozens of them.

England's green and pleasant land.

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountain green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?
And did the countenance divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among those dark satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!
I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.

William Blake


Did England ever look more lovely than she does now in the week that we that we celebrate Shakespeare and St George?

Cowslips

I hope no one is offended by my offering for April, I have been told that the language that Shakespeare used is not altogether “proper” for today’s readers, but it is Shakespeare and I for one am not going to attempt to change his words.

Today, whilst walking Ted, I saw my first cowslip of the year, lots of primroses and joy of joys, a red tailed queen bumblebee! And did I have my camera at the ready? No, our eldest son has taken it with him on holiday to America. Ah well….

If you click on the image you will see more detail.

Good news!!!

Recently I wrote about the very sad news that Hudson and Middleton, the old and established bone china factory here in Stoke-on-Trent, had gone into administration following the demise of china production at the Wedgwood factory. The owners of the company were also suppliers of bone ash and when Wedgwood stopped manufacturing here in Britain the effect was catastrophic. I am happy to report that the former managers of Hudson and Middleton have now bought the company and the factory is open for business as usual. This is wonderful news for the ceramics industry in our region as we have seen so many job losses over recent years.

On a more personal level, it is a great relief to me that my new mug designs are going ahead. We are putting the finishing touches to the products and they will be available very shortly. I hope to do a link to the website as soon as the mugs are available.

I have three new ranges of designs, one of which is a bird series. The illustration posted here is a detail from one of four British garden bird mugs. The monitor does not pick up the true colours but the printer has done a great job and captured the colours onto the bone china. I am so relieved that the mugs will go through and even more pleased that valuable jobs have been saved.

January "Illuminations of Nature"

Here is my illustration for January, inspired by the soundless flight of a barn owl, clear and still moonlit nights, crystal snowflakes and snowdrops. I have used some of the illustrations in a little artist book entitled "Silent flight". It has been a joy to create several of these and experiment with variations for the cover design, each book will be slightly different. I have also used some of the elements in the design in my calendar.