Seaside Sketchbook

'The One That Got Away' ~ Watercolour on Paper

Hello!

I thought I'd take five minutes to share some of the sketches from my holiday with you (and work done at home inspired by my travels), as promised in my last post.  

 

I tend to carry a small hard backed sketch book with me in my bag most of the time (either a small moleskine or A6 Daler Rowney), along with a pencil and fine line waterproof black pen (a Staedler number 01), so that I can catch interesting moments that might make for good paintings later on.

 

Do you remember the photograph I took of the harbour wall in Falmouth in my Holiday Post?  Here it is:

 

I drew the above sketch whilst waiting for a little boat to take us back to St Mawes, just before it started to rain!

Drawing in a sketch book has the same ability to transport me back to a place in time as does a favourite tune.  I can recall sounds, atmosphere, scents, how I was feeling, and the weather just by looking through my sketches.  

These little boats were drawn from our car, parked up above the beach at Portreath.  It had lashed it down with  monsoonal style rain all morning and we had taken our wee girl to 'Build a Bear' as the beach was out of the question.  After this, we drove the odd mile or so to the coast and after we had finished our picnic, all huddled in a steamy damp car (no, not the nicest of scenarios!), the rest of our little party, wrapped up in waterproofs,  took her down on the sand to look for shells.  The rain had turned to drizzle with a blustery wind by this point, and I remember making the most of ten minutes solitude to capture a couple of little boats in my book, that I could see out the window to my right.


Looking at this sketch now, I also remember armies of dark grey clouds marching heavily across the horizon, and the sea was leaden and dark, with a bright aquamarine band on the shoreline.  Raindrops spattered across the car windscreen, and gulls shreiked and harassed the occasional huddled figures of tourists, who seemed intent on making the best of it despite the soggy conditions.


When I came home, I used the sketch above to do a sunnier painting:

I like turning something 'real' into something more illustrative!
The top painting is unfinished, I decided to begin the second one below instead and embellished it with stamped letters.

The paints I used for these pictures are my New and Compleeeedly Delicious White Night set (shown above in spanking new condition before I got stuck in!).
The paints are Russian, and have been produced by a company in St Petersburg since 1934.  They use very fine pigments and even honey in their colours.  The colours themselves are extremely fine, fantastic to blend and mix and are proving to be a very valuable investment.

I have been using them again this morning, to create something slightly different...

'Party' ~ Watercolour on Paper

I hope you have a fabulous weekend, thanks for dropping by - i'll be back soon to talk about crocheted blankets on a budget, and an Almost Finished shawl!


Love J x

Seaside Inspiration

Hello dear people!

After an unexpected interlude (a two week one actually), I'm back ~ and how are you? It feels like an age since my last post, so let me explain what I've been up to!

First of all I'll tell you about the picture above. It's the beginning of a new/old painting. I say this because I started it several months ago and suddenly stopped because I lost all direction and couldn't for the life of me decide where to take it. It's strange how that happens, despite sketches and being able to see it so very clearly in your mind, some paintings just follow their own journey and end up being nothing like you intended. Which isn't always a bad thing, and I'm sometimes quite good about this process, being very patient and just seeing where we'll end up, and other times not; I stamp my foot and get cross. I remember how this painting stirred up something of a small temper and the painting ended up being shoved carefully out of sight, until I rediscovered it a few days ago and realised exactly what was needed to make it good...and I will share that with you as soon as its done!

Lets just say for now (and you can probably tell by the colours) that it's going to be a very happy, colourful, coasty type of painting!! Hurrah!! :D

And that's something else I've been doing too, spending a bit of time at the coast! I have been staying with my sister in Suffolk and we had the absolute best fun crabbing at Walberswick (near Southwold) one warm, sunny afternoon!

This is that lovely sort of fun that takes you back to childhood, putting pieces of ham on your hook then lowering your line and waiting a while...drawing it up slowly through the luminous green water to see if you've caught anything, and oh so exciting when you do!! (happy little dances on the quayside when we realised we had actually caught a real live crab).

After a long and enjoyable while, someone suggested ice-creams and so we walked over to the little beach and let our crabs go...nothing better than a nice ice-cream after a spot of crabbing eh?!

Off the little chaps go...

...scampering safely back to sea!!

There's such a lovely nostalgia about this part of our coastline for me, old fisherman's huts, upturned old boats with peeling paint, it feels as though nothing has changed in a very long time and I do like how coast meets countryside here and is so very, very pretty.

As for the rest of my 10 days in Suffolk, although the weather wasn't too fabulous for August, we did enjoy some gorgeous sunsets from the garden, chatting and enjoying a nice drink together once all the kiddiwinkles were in bed fast asleep.

Continuing with a seaside theme, I had to show you these postcards I picked up at a very nice shop in Walberswick. They are taken from etchings by a very talented fellow called Glynn Thomas.

This one above is of Southwold lighthouse, and the one below is of Aldebrough:

I like to collect postcards and cards like this, they are very good for inspiring me when the creative well has run dry. Luckily at the moment, I'm full of enthusiasm for my new/old painting and I also had a fabulous idea whilst away for another new crochet project. Yes. I know...another one.

I can't help myself.

But....I'm being very strict with myself, I have bought the wool...

...see how coastal and seasidey blue they are?

Very nice, I know - but I am absolutely and completely going to finish my Popcorn Granny bag first before I begin my New Project.

And whilst I haven't made much headway this last week or two, the squares are mounting up and all I need are a couple more before I start to join them ~ and I will share a little tutorial for this as I've been asked how you do this, and so I will gladly explain (with the help of a few trusty pics) as soon as I get to that point, which won't be much longer I hope as I'm itching for a new bag, my old one is dropping to bits!

I might just have to take my squares off to Northumberland when we go, for something to do in the evenings as those nights are quickly drawing in aren't they? We have taken to lighting a few candles of an evening, to enjoy the last stretch of evening before night falls (about half past eight in these parts now) and resist putting the lamps on until we can barely see one another! I do like this time of year, for lots of reasons, but notice inwardly that subtle things are changing, like the scent of the air in the morning, and the sun now lower in the sky, altering how the shadows fall in the garden...

And it feels as if Summer is quickly ebbing away, and so, to help holiday memories linger a little longer I have repackaged my Beachside Art Cards, which are a fabulously printed set of five of my most favourite seaside inspired paintings! They come in a sturdy brown box that is prettily flecked with white (and reminds me a little of sand) with five envelopes, and they are blank for your own message.

And this is what is inside!

They are available here for UK customers, with free P&P - and for my lovely customers overseas, please check my Etsy shop (link up on the right there), as I'll be listing them there too.

Because Summer isn't quite over yet, is it?

I'm looking forward to catching up with your blogs now I'm back, and want to thank you for visiting me today, it's always a pleasure to know you have stopped by!

Have a great weekend, much love

Julia x x x

All Things Bright and Lovely

Hello!

Before I even begin this post properly, I have to say a big Thank You to every blinkin' one of you for all the kind, generous and heartfelt comments you left for me on my last post. My goodness, I cannot begin to explain how much they helped and how they lifted my weary little spirits. In a nice way, it was good to read that others out there had found themselves in a similar situation, or felt the same way as me, and the advice offered and shared was just what I needed, as well as that comforting feeling that someone else out there understood, and it wasn't just me going ever so slightly bonkers.

So, things have got better, by which I mean I have found a certain happy medium with Life at the moment. Of course there are certain things I cannot do immediately, like move to the coast as we are very much having to stay here for the present time due to lots of different reasons. But...and this is the lovely part - we (me and the other half) have had some wonderful conversations of late, and have both agreed that at some point in the next few years when the time is right, we would both LOVE to make the move to the coast (although which part is still under discussion)...so at least, if nothing else right now, we know we are all on the same piece of string. Which makes me a lot happier and quite excited when I think about it.

Anyway. You might be wondering what those little crocheted balls are all about? Well let me tell you. After an awful creative dry spell I found myself reading Coco Rose's blog, and saw a photograph of a beautiful pile of crochet she had made, and suddenly, it was as if the tap of creativity had been turned back on and I suddenly had a big desire to get hooky again (having not touched any since completing the Rainbow Bolster).

Thank you dear Vanessa for being an inspiration this week, as from seeing your photograph these little crocheted beads appeared, and from the beads appeared this:

...a very colourful crocheted bead necklace, on which you can move the beads about, like so...

...and then wear it like this too! There is a pattern for the beads in the book Vintage Crochet and its really quite easy to follow.

I would have been a model for the necklace but I'm wearing a rather colourful top today and it clashed something rotten! However, it does look quite fun once on, and I would now like to attempt a bracelet to match, using the little beads next!.

Having brightened myself up with a bout of crochet, I was rather glad to find Country Homes & Interiors mag bursting at the seams with All Things Bright this month. I don't always buy this, but it promised to be the Coastal episode, and you know what I'm like when anything ever so slightly sea-sidey is mentioned!!

Just look at the deliciously stripey bedding on the left there!! I want it right now!! It reminds me of the sweet colours you find in seaside rock shops!

And just look at that gorgeous table!! I'm loving these gloriously cheerful bright glasses and bowls!

But this was the swooning moment for me...ah yes, coastal style. Don't you just love it?

I could quite happily live here you know, by the sea, in this little house...

...and after chatting some more about coastal living, we had a little idea. A tiny gem of an idea, which would instantly alleviate any feelings of being landlocked and trapped, an idea that would lead to all manner of adventure and delight and mean waking up to the sound of the sea whenever we wanted to..

We have decided to invest in a tent!

Oh my goodness, I cannot tell you how giddy with delight this makes me feel! I remember camping as a child and loving every minute of it, although as a Grown Up Person I think I may have to succumb to some Camping Luxuries to make it a bit more comfortable. I've thought long and hard about roughing it and I'm afraid I'm what you might call a camping snob - yes, I'm probably going to be taking my own pillow and duvet (or at a push a very soft and cosy sleeping bag), and will probably invest in some pretty flowery melamine to make it all a bit more homey. I can't do rough, I'm not cut out to be a Bear Grylls sort of camper - I'm going to be taking my espresso pot aren't I...I can just see it all now!

This idea has propelled me into Happy Land like I cannot describe. Perhaps in a few years, we might upgrade and get a little caravan (another dream for the list) but for now this suits us fine, we both want to do it, and the Little Person is just at the right age to appreciate what a hoot it can be!

What could be better than pitching up next to a beach, and taking an evening stroll...

...and then wandering back to gaze at the stars in a proper inky black night sky?!

I can't wait.

Thanks for stopping by today, have a great weekend.

Much love

J x x x

The Sunny Spring Giveaway!! (and some other bits and bobs)

Hello Dear Souls!

We've been to the seaside! My goodness, it seems an awful long time since I walked on the sands and inhaled the delicious tangy scent of a salt breeze, but on Sunday we took ourselves off to the east coast of Lincolnshire and enjoyed a bracing walk on the beach - although it was bitterly cold there the sky was a radiant cobalt blue and seemed to go on forever...I love Big Skies and a sense of space like that!
The sun shone all day long however, and it was a day for discovering once again, how pretty dried seaweed can be, collections of fragile, tiny shells on the shoreline and admiring the simple beauty of sunlight on tide rippled sand.

Little Person, needless to say, enjoyed it immensley and there was much sand pie making and pitstops for games of football.


Thoroughly refreshed and reinvigorated after our bracing day out, we returned home. And the homeland is much cheerier now that there is a promise of spring on the horizon. Ah yes, the days are definately getting longer, and the other evening we had a glowing sunset as we travelled over the 'tops' to go and fetch our daughter from Nanny Mum's house. (the 'tops' are a local name for the hills that rise up between the valleys here).

The view through the farmers field there, is over Bradfield and out to the Strines Moor- beyond that you can just about make out Winn Hill in the Peak District (teeny tiny pointy bit on the horizon).
I love the old marker stones you get around our way too that serve as road signs. This one in the top right picture is showing the way to Brighthomlee, with a helpful etching of a finger in the stone to point you in the right direction!

So, Spring is absolutely and most definately in the air...and there is also something else in the air too - yes, Im sure you who visit me often enough will know by now that Im having a little giveaway! And....today is the day I can finally share the scrumptious goodies that will be on their way to one lucky soul!


The Sunny Spring Giveaway!!

This giveaway is a little celebration of the impending arrival of Spring, and also my birthday which coincides beautifully with this occasion! If you would like to enter, all you need to do is leave me a comment in the 'post a comment' section at the end of this post. That's it. It's that easy. On March the 21st, which is the Spring Equinox, I shall draw a name from the hat and post the winner's name the following day (I'd post it on the 21st but it's my birthday so Im hoping to be whisked off somewhere marvellous and nowhere near a computer!! ;-)


So, without anymore waffling, here is what you can win!

One signed, limited edition print of Moon Fishing, presented in a white mount
ready for framing.

A crocheted daffodil corsage, made by yours truly - looks quite splendidly spring like and colourful on a coat or jacket - or bag come to that!

A bag of the most delicious praline eggs - well, Easter is but a hop away and it wouldn't feel right not to include a little chocolatey goodness for you!

Four of my art print cards, of the designs shown

aaaannnnnnnd...last but not least, a lavender heart, made from pretty Erin McMorris Park Slope 'circles and stems' fabric, filled with generous spoon-fulls of garden harvested lavender, and finished with a shell, and vintage pink button.


And there we have it my friends! All that remains is for you to leave me your comments - meanwhile, Im off to finish a certain painting that I started last week - thank you for all your excellent suggestions about that, I really was in a bit of a pickle with what that dear blackbird could have come to find, but Im now happy to tell you that, inspired by Surfer Rosa's idea Im going to be adding a little cotton reel or ribbon to the scene!

I'll be back again as usual next week (if not before)!

Til' then - love to you,
J x