Slowly does it.

The school holidays are upon us, and my work has taken a bit of a back seat as we swap routine for slowly drifting and enjoying our time off.

I must admit, I do relish this bit of down time; a chance to unwind and recharge the batteries.  It's nice to move slowly through our days, take spontaneous trips out, to cook and bake, to wander and notice things that in the thick of daily life can be forgotten, or sidelined.

We have planted seeds and popped them in our little wooden growhouse.  Each day we are checking our swiss chard, beets, cosmos, agapanthus and sunflowers.  We vigilantly water them and open the door to let the rare rays of sun warm the trays.  We look forward to seeing the first tiny points of green peeking through the earth.

We have also been to Liverpool where we saw the Lusitania exhibition at the Merseyside Maritime Museum, and enjoyed wandering around Albert Dock, despite the perishing wind that blew in fiercely off the Mersey and froze us to the core! 

We took a detour to Crosby, to see 'Another Place', which consists of 100 cast iron sculptures which stand in the sand, by artist Anthony Gormley.  There was a storm on the horizon, chasing in a ferry into port, and as the sky darkened the silent statues were both eerie and mesmerising, especially those on the tideline who stood gazing blankly out to sea.

I like how the statues are affected by the elements, by the natural shift of the tides and the sand.  Some of them stand buried up to their knees, others are paddling in the shallows.  I would like very much to see them at high tide, when they are all but submerged by the sea.

Although I mentioned that work was slow, I am creating some small pieces for a local exhibition, which is a joint venture with the Hens Teeth art group and the Art House Cafe in Penistone and I'm very excited to be revealing some brand new pieces.

I'll share more details with you about this soon!

For now, a cuppa calls, my sketch book, a piece of embroidery hoop art, a new magazine, a nap in the sunshine....

Happy Easter all of you x