Winter Skies

The New Year got off to a busy start with the arrival of my niece, husband and their delightful daughter. It was touch and go if the visit would take place at all on account of their recent acquisition; a retired greyhound also named Ted. We were all very unsure as to how our little Ted would react to suddenly having another strange dog in the house. Oddly enough, he did not mind a bit and life took on a new dimension, especially walks where big Ted was let loose to gallop across the fields. It is one of life’s great pleasures to see dogs playing; their “Joie de vie” is infectious. It was also very amusing to see how amiable they became, lying side by side in front of the fire in the evening.



The winter skies have been most inspiring, I love the way the stark tree branches appear like black lines engraved upon the heavens. Earlier this year I attended a workshop taught by Emily Martin of The Naughty Dog Press, where I learnt to make a magic book. I am not sure of its proper name but to me it appears to work like magic. Even though my brain understands the principle behind its construction my eyes tell me a different story. It is very difficult to explain but if you look at the photographs you will see that the book appears to be like a very simple concertina book. When it is opened it has inside covers decorated with trees. The first and last spreads have trees and the middle has snowflakes and a fox. When you hold the cover pages and pull, the book becomes flat and the fox disappears. When you turn the book over there is no sign of the trees or the fox. Now if that isn’t magic I’ll eat my hat. Whilst out walking today I noticed animal tracks in the snow, which has given me the idea of decorating the empty back page with fox prints. You may have worked out that the woven design has something to do with the magical transformation.

Since I wrote this post I have found out that the name of the structure is a woven flexagon.







The weather then took a turn for the worse; cold grey skies brought sleet and then snow.
My elderly mum had a very nasty fall and just as she was getting over that, I hurt my right hand trying to unscrew the top from a jar of marmalade! I was feeling extremely glum when a parcel arrived containing the most wonderful creation in the shape of a winter hare called Mademoiselle Ciel d'Hiver made by Stephanie, known to you and me as Millefeuilles
This little work of art has been most lovingly stitched, using perfectly chosen materials and is full of little details, tiny glass beads, hand made lace, silk ears, I am still discovering and marveling at her artistry.You can see more of these wondrous hares here in her Etsy shop. As you can see she has already made herself at home with my collection of hand made bears; acquired over the years for drawing reference material- (Some of the bears have featured on my china mugs).



With a painful hand there was nothing to be done except rest; painting, sewing, book making, housework were all out of the question. On days like that there was only one thing to be done and that was shop! Below are some of my more recent findings in various charity shops and second hand bookshops, all bought for inspiration.
The opened book with the goose engraving is ‘Footnotes on Nature” illustrated by Nora Unwin. The other opened book is “Nature and Ornament” by Lewis F Day and that beautiful tree drawing is by Mary Newill.

A Blessing for the New Year.

"May the roof above us never fall in and may the friends gathered below it never fall out."

I came across this lovely Irish blessing and thought it would be appropriate to share it with you. The new year makes us reflect on what is important in our lives and friendship, family and home have to be at the top of the list.

The designs featured here are part of a group of four which I created this time last year for a major high street retailer. They are part actual cross stitch and part digital and were great fun to do.

We have had a very busy Christmas and have enjoyed having our family and friends around. Many of them are in the process of moving house, through a variety of reasons including work, downsizing etc. So many of us find ourselves putting down roots in places which are unfamiliar, it has made me reflect on the meaning of home. I suppose I agree with the old saying "Home is where the heart is" and for the moment at least my heart is right here, in the misty, moisty and oh so muddy part of the North West of England. This year I have not made any resolutions, last year I wanted to spend more time outside and then it rained for nine months! I would like to try to spend more time painting and making artist books instead of fiddling around on this computer. Speaking of which, I have finally worked out how to add a page. Can you see it above? "Artist Books" is a work in progress. Happy Days.

Christmas wishes from me to you.

"God rest ye merry gentlemen, Let nothing you dismay"

This may well be my shortest post but a sincere one. I would like to thank everyone who has read my blog this year, especially those of you who have left words of encouragement and friendship.

So from a very wet and muddy part of Cheshire, Ted and I send our greetings. May you have a joyous Christmas and a happy and peaceful New Year.

Tea for Three

I had a lovely invitation earlier this month and a chance to meet with two ladies whose blogs I have visited for quite some time now. Knowing that our hostess had recently moved house I thought it would be good to buy her a little housewarming gift, which occasioned a great excuse to go shopping. I live very close to what is referred to in these parts, as “the pot bank” although the potteries are now in very sad decline, there are a few still standing and working. Middleport is England’s last working Victorian pottery and the home of Burleigh who still makes uniquely hand crafted products out of earthenware. The factory has a shop, which is well worth a visit if you are ever in these parts. As you step through the factory gates you step back centuries, it has been faithfully preserved and rescued from closure several years ago by the Dorling family and more recently by Prince Charles. It was good to see regeneration in the streets around the factory, many of the original Victorian terraced houses are being rescued and repaired to their former glory.

As I mentioned, I had the chance to meet with two fellow artists/designers who blog, can you guess who they may be? There are clues in the photograph below.

The card designs belong to Gretel Parker from “Middle of Nowhere” and the lovely Christmassy crochet was designed and created by Sue McLoughlin from “Mouse Notebook” I have written about Sue’s work before and have been carrying my belongings around in her “Mouse” bags for several years now.

It was a joy to sit and dine with these two friends and I believe we could have chatted away into the early hours. We were given a guided tour of Gretel’s newly acquired cottage and despite the fact that she has had scarcely enough time to unpack, the place has a great character and homeliness, lots of light and stunning views across rural Shropshire. We sat, surrounded by cats and books, drank tea, munched on cupcakes made by Sue and I had my very first lesson in needle felting. If you visit Gretel’s website you will see her gorgeous creations and it was great delight to meet some of her felted characters in person. She illustrates children’s books and often paints the toys she has created. I bought one of her original paintings some time ago and I treasure it, she occasionally has original art for sale but not surprisingly they get snapped up by eager collectors.

Before I go I must say a quick thank you to Annie from Knitsofacto for organizing her blog giveaway, I was delighted to win one of the prizes, hooray!

Also many thanks to Heather from "Inkflorishes"for the most beautiful Christmas card and envelope. You may think it strange to thank somebody for an envelope but Heather’s are hand written with the most exquisite calligraphy. If you visit her blog you will see what I mean. Thankfully Ted (my Jack Russell) was sleeping when the postman called!

Last but not least, I have several illustrations now available as framed/unframed prints from Encore Editions. They are having a pre-Christmas sale with 20% off; all you need to do is follow the link and type in the code prancer12 at the checkout.

“The Mouse Prince” illustration was originally commissioned by Royal Worcester as part of a series of "Nutcracker" designs. Shortly after their completion the factory in Stoke closed its doors and the project was never finished.

We have a winner!

Thanks to everyone who took part in my calendar giveaway; a name has been picked out of my hat, ---- drum roll----- and the winner is Kerry O’Gorman.

In my last post I mentioned our trip to London where we visited The British Museum and just managed to catch the Shakespeare exhibition. As that has now closed I will move on to our visit to The British Library where we saw an exhibition called “Mughal India, Art, Culture and Empire

The library itself is based next to St Pancras station; both buildings are worth visiting and could not be more different. The photograph shows the station in the background and the library in front. The new library building reminded me of a Japanese temple. It has simple, modern lines but has a great beauty, not in its ornamentation but in its proportions and in the choice of materials. I love being exploring this wonderful space and if you are anywhere near you should take a moment to go inside. There is always something to see for free, there are places to sit, eat and rest and of course a lovely shop!

The main exhibitions are ticketed, having said that they are not overly expensive and the ones we have seen have been unforgettable. I can honestly say that the current Mughal India exhibition is truly spectacular. There are so many treasures on show the effect is dazzling. I was particularly interested in the exquisite miniature paintings and illuminated books. The artistry on display was amazing, the tiniest of brushstrokes, the brightest of colours, pattern everywhere, on the clothing of the figures in the book illustrations, on the carpets they sat upon and in the borders around the pictures, so much detail it hurt the eyes. If I had to choose one piece it would be a painting of squirrels being chased up a plane tree, you can explore this for yourself here by following the link. As you zoom in over the image bear in mind that this painting is a really small, so much detail has been packed into a tiny area, painted by Abu’l Hasan, 1605-08.

And now, it is time for me to get back to my desk, I have more hand made, limited edition books to parcel up for my Etsy shop. This time I remembered to make a note of the edition numbers outside the boxes, before the final wrap. We live and learn!

November Giveaway!

No sun, no moon!


No morn, no noon

No dawn, no dusk, no proper time of day.


No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,


No comfortable feel in any member

No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,


 No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds

November!

Thomas Hood.

This month began much like the poem by Thomas Hood, dreary mist and rain, gloomy news from home about the state of our ash trees, and a distinct lack of birds, which was very worrying. Everyone has remarked on the shortage of starlings this year, even the house sparrows were thin on the ground. We watched the news and worried for the safety of friends across the ocean after the devastation of hurricane Sandy. Added to that we had our own drama here in the shape of a car crash which demolished the telegraph pole across the road, so added an extra line to the poem- No internet- November! Fortunately nobody was hurt and the fault was fixed but it took ten days, which made work very difficult.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom however; we had lots of trips and caught up with family and friends. We went to the NEC in Birmingham and handed over the original painting of “Hare’s Hideaway” to Mike and Hilary Emeny of “Art of the Imagination”. It is always a wrench to part with an original painting, knowing that if all goes well I may never see it again! I was comforted by the fact that printing technology is so far advanced as to allow an accurate copy to be made.

We also visited an exhibition called “The First Cut” in ManchesterThe exhibition showcased the work of 31 international artist who specialize in cutting and manipulating paper. I was particularly drawn to the work of Su Blackwell who’s work is book inspired (see paper house- Wuthering Heights). Many of the works were incredibly complex and fragile and made us wonder about the logistics of setting up such an exhibition. Later in the month we visited London but I will save that for next time.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, I have a give away for you. I have a copy of my “Nature” calendar for 2013 up for grabs. This slimline calendar has twelve different nature based images including many taken from my children’s books. You will find an owl, foxes, a puffin, rabbit and hare, hedgehog and many more. The calendar has been published by Judges and is available in the shops here in the UK only. My giveaway is open to everyone, no matter where you live but please note the holidays are UK bank holidays etc that may not be relevant to you. To be included in the draw all you have to do is indicate you wish to take part by leaving a comment below. I will pick a winner at random on Friday 30th of November.

You may also be interested to learn that you can help a worthwhile charity and buy my new Birthday calendar here- and my Gardener's Scrapbook Calendar 2013 here-

Enchanted October

“Retard the sun with gentle mist; Enchant the land with amethyst..” October by Robert Frost

October here in my neck of the woods can be magnificent, golden sun on autumn leaves, misty-moisty mornings clear to reveal blue skies, the smell of wood smoke, all is magical until the dreaded turning back of the clocks. The extra hour in bed is welcome; the dark evenings are definitely not!

Before the clocks went back we did manage to fit in a few grand days out. We drove a short distance over the border to Wales and visited Chirk Castle; driving through early morning mist and heavy grey skies it was rewarding to find ourselves in an enchanted place. The mist evaporated to reveal the castle and gardens in all their glory. I was particularly taken with a small tower, which put me in mind of Rapunzel. Chirk is a National Trust property and you can read more about its seven hundred year history here.

The gardens are truly beautiful and are filled with tall clipped yew trees. You can wonder past herbaceous borders and through woodland walks and on a clear day there are great views of Shropshire and the Welsh hills.

Work has kept me busy but I did manage to finish the hare painting that I started in the summer. A whole season has past and at times I thought the progress was more akin to a tortoise than a hare, I thought I would never finish it.

I bought a Canon iP4950 which produces incredibly detailed prints, the printer itself was very reasonably priced but as with all ink jet printers the cost of quality inks are almost as expensive as the actual printer and I am restricted to A4 size.

It did used to be the case that dye based inks had no longevity and could not be regarded as archival in the way pigment inks could but the new Canon Chromalife 100 plus inks are now expected to have an album life of 200 years or more. I did consider buying a pigment based printer but had to take into account the fact that they have a tendency to dry up if not in regular use. Forgive me if I sound like an advert for Canon, I assure you I am not being paid to say all this.

You can see the finished print here in my Etsy shop

There has been a little time to play and I enjoyed attending a book-making workshop with artist Louisa Boyd. The concertina books we made concentrated on paper surface manipulation techniques, including, cutting, scoring and piercing. Lou had pre-prepared the images we used and explained how she had used Thermofax screens to print her designs. As with all good workshops I came away buzzing with new ideas and a determination to do more screen prints. Lou also showed us some of her hand bound artists books and I encourage you to see her highly individual work for yourself here-

and she has a Facebook page here.