Thomas Moore

Thomas Moore was an Irish poet who lived from 1779 to 1852, not to be confused with the other Thomas More who became a saint. I came across this poem and decided to incorporate the first few lines into a design, I thought that it expressed a simple truth about the pleasure of sharing. I have always found that gardeners are generous people who enjoy exchanging plants, cuttings, advice and most of all delight in sharing their gardens with others.

I planned the design and carefully arranged the elements around the text and proceeded to paint the design in watercolour. Only when it was finished did I realize that I had misspelt Moore, you guessed it, I gave it one "O" instead of two.

All was not lost however, Photoshop came to my rescue and not for the first time!

Miniature Book Exhibition

The Neale M Albert Collection of Miniature Designer Bindings is now on exhibition at The John Rylands Library in Manchester. If you have not yet visited this newly refurbished, iconic library, let this exhibition be your motivation - you will be enthralled. Over 250 exquisite, creative and beautiful miniature books are now on show in the Historic Reading Room until the 18th October. There is also a rather sumptuous, full colour catalogue to accompany the exhibition, see above.

All types of styles are featured from the traditional to the experimental, each one a unique work of art in its own right. Many of them are the work of Fellows and Licentiates of the Designer Bookbinders Society. Alongside the books you will see equally wonderful boxes and cases which have been especially created to contain these tiny treasures.

Rachel Ward-Sale is one of the Fellows of the Designer Bookbinders whose work is being shown. She has very kindly given her permission to feature her binding "Icarus" which measures just 55 by 70mm. When you first look at this tiny treasure it is difficult to believe that human hands have made such a delicate creation. Rachel said "The book was so small and light that I wanted to avoid using a conventional structure which would restrict it. As the title naturally suggested flight I designed folded vellum boards shaped like wings and printed with feathers, held together with silk tassels."

You can see more of Rachel's work on her website Bookbinders of Lewes, the gallery section is well worth a visit.

Longest Day

I always feel slightly sad when I find that we have reached the longest day. The long daylight hours make me feel that I can achieve so much more, as I get older this effect on my spirits seems to be stronger. I am sure when I was young I never paid much attention to such matters. 

The painting below shows my passion flower and my neighbour's cat, both now deceased I'm sad to say. I bought the plant at a church sale for ten pence, it was a tiny cutting in a plastic pot. I planted into my garden and it scrambled up the wall in no time at all. For the next two summers it was a delight. I'm not sure where I went wrong but it never made it through the next winter. Maybe I should have taken cuttings and brought them inside? Ah well, you live and learn.

New Blog News

Do you remember how hard it was when you first tried to create a blog? My artist friend Patricia Shea has started her own blog, I know it will be wonderful, she would appreciate any help, advice or encouragement from fellow bloggers. Her site is called pattern patisserie, with a name like that she is bound to succeed!

Owl in Oak Album

I have been doing quite a bit of experimenting with various inkjet coated fabrics, with varying degrees of success. I have found that by printing directly onto the fabric the effect is much better than the iron-on type of medium which has been around for some years now. By creating patterns on Photoshop, using my original hand drawn design, I devised this decorative cover for a small album. I used a Japanese style stab binding using some lovely hand dyed linen thread which I bought on a recent trip to Faulkiners.

On the whole I was pleased with the result but can see room for improvement. My other attempts are in my wheelie bin!

The Owl In The Oak

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.

Ballerina Rose

There are so many flowers in bloom at the moment it's difficult to choose which one to paint. I try to photograph as much as I can for future reference although it's always much nicer to draw from life. This Ballerina rose is a great favorite of mine, please ignore the aphids and blackspot, I hate to spray unless I have to. I cut a small piece of this plant and sat it on my desk, a multitude of creepy crawlies crept out!