Ripples and ramblings

So, Im speeding ahead with my ripple cushion (pattern from the delicious Attic 24) and Im loving it! Ive only a couple more inches to go and it will be complete, time then to trawl the charity shops for a soft lavender coloured jumper that will be transformed into the cushion back! Im also going to pester my Mum and see if I can raid her button tin, she has buttons in there over 30 years old, from little cardigans and dresses my sister and I wore as children so it would be a nice touch to be able to add a few of those as fastenings.

My summer blanket is languishing in a bag for now, Im having a temporary respite from it while I make my cushion...thing is, Ive already got a colour scheme in mind for Lucy's crocheted bag (something else I need to make) and am plotting my next trip to the wool shop to stock up on a vintage colour selection of red, pink, green and sky blue.

I don't know about you, but at this time of year I find myself itching to change things in the house. Im sure its because spring is in the air but Im planning a lighter look in our bedroom without total redecoration and am on the lookout for some curtains, preferably with a floral or butterfly pattern but as yet, havent found any. As we have the lounge and dining room to decorate this year (oh at last, goodbye to the artex!!) we cant afford to totally refurbish the bedroom as it would be way too expensive, so Im making subtle low cost changes to freshen it up. Another plan of mine is to paint butterflies and flowers on our chimney wall in very subtle colours, but like all good plans its a case of finding the time to do this along with all the daily life stuff that needs doing...

...oh, and I also want to revamp the bathroom cupboard with new door knobs and a lick of paint...new towels and bath mats have already brightened that room up and ok, whilst I may have a long list of 'things Id like to do in my house but in reality probably wont get round to doing' it still feels nice to think that even if I dont do it all right away, there is going to come a time when I do have room for such projects and its very satisfying to just have the thought of them on the back burner.

I was looking at my calendar last night and realised with some shock, that the selection date for the art show is drawing incredibly close! To settle my nerves, I sat down to watch a re-run of Coast and was delighted to see them visiting Southwold!! If any of you didnt watch it, they were talking about the work and style of a couple of local artists, and the woman went off to try and capture the essence of Southwold in her studio after doing a few on the spot sketches out and about. Here's the interesting thing that made me sit up, suddenley fuelled with inspiration - although her drawings done at the beach were of things as she saw them, the painting she created back at the studio wasn't! She used the images she'd sketched to make a kind of pastiche of Southwold, that looked nothing like it did in reality. For example, on her painting, the lighthouse was behind the beach huts and the pier was in the scene too - in reality the lighthouse is high up in the town yet by including all the main landmarks of the place and accumulating them in one picture, she'd totally captured the essence of the place, even though it looked nothing like it.

So I suddenley saw the link, between illustration and realistic representations of a place - Ive always been put off doing scenes with lots of buildings etc because it always felt too precise (I think this could be down to the architectural training I had at uni many moons ago) but the Coast program led me to think about doing some work of this nature as it felt very appealing.

I really like the idea of capturing the essence of a place - I suppose there is an element of naivety about it really, as alot of it comes from the imagination, sizes are distorted and things are out of context with how they really are, but I like that! Im going to have to give it a whirl..see what comes of it - and Im not working from sketches as I dont have any, this is going to be straight from the melting pot of the old memory bank...i'll let you know how I get on, planning an art day next week so may even give it a whirl then!! (If I ever finish my submission pieces it will be a miracle!)

Sending you a sunny weekend, a posy of fragrant blooms and lots of love,

til next time...

J xxx