Spring is Coming

I've started painting a new canvas...

At the moment I am trying to choose between a couple of names for it and I can't decide.  I'm going to wait until it's finished, sometimes a painting just names itself.

This work is very Spring themed, as I for one have had more than enough of winter - however, I have been inspired by tiny sightings of buds and little green shoots in the dark earth - and that is what originally inspired this particular piece - that and the odd longing to hang washing outdoors and to dry it with the fragrance of a fresh, cool breeze (or is that just me?? Ten years ago, that would never have been something to get excited about, must be a sign of heading towards 40 heehee!!).

Anyway, I can say at this stage in the proceedings that the painting isn't even half way there yet ~ I still need to add my clothes line full of billowing laundry, my wee lady hanging it out, and things happening in the garden allotment there...yes, that odd pale blue shape surrounded by those peaty brown shades will eventually be a greenhouse, perhaps with a bench, some tools and other gardening type paraphanalia.

There are plans for sheep beyond the cottage walls, maybe even some hens dotted about - it's going to be awash with snowdrops and crocus too...

Can you see it in your minds eye?

At the weekend, we had a little pootle over to Buxton.

This is St Ann's Well, where you will often see the local people filling up bottles with spring water.  The water comes from an underground spring and is geothermal - the water pouring out is very warm (which was a bit of a surprise) and a kind local chappie explained that it is heated deep down underground and forced upwards through layers of rock - or at least, something like that.  It also tastes very good, my Little Person told me this herself.

  

If you ever get a chance to visit Buxton, I can highly recommend the beautiful Pavillion Gardens and a couple of smashing little shops - The Pavillion Gift Boutique and Atticus Boo.

The drive home is pretty good too...

Mamtor - love how the land has been bleached by the cold, and that watery grey/blue sky above.

Driving through Winnat's Pass

Looking back across to Winn Hill and a beautiful sunset that suddenly appeared.

Before I go today, I would like to thank all of you for the generous and kind comments that you left me on my last post, about Home.  I've just been adding it as a print for sale in my online gallery shop, and for those of you who are signed up to my Mailing List, and may be interested in this, I will let you in on a little secret:  there is a special offer on open edition prints for my dear subscribers, so keep a look out later today for it arriving in your inbox (or junk.  I hear that sometimes the mail inadvertently ends up in junk boxes...do check yours if you haven't had it, as it will be winging it's way out to you shortly).

If you are not already signed up to receive my E-Letter and would like to be, just click the link above, or the one in the sidebar with the blue envelope.

Right - that's me done for now, thanks very much for coming by - always lovely to see you here - I'll be back soon, got something Woolly and Marvellous to share with you.

Sending love, arm~loads of narcissi and cups of sweet, chamomile tea to you

Julia x

A Happy Morning

Hello!

How are you? Is the sun shining where you are? I do hope you're well and it's so nice of you to drop in and see me today! :)

I've had a very happy morning painting, I'm on with the one I told you about last week, still nameless but I'm sure something will come to me in time! Anyway, it's going well, and having totally altered the bottom half of the picture, I am now feeling that familiar excitement of it all coming right and feel jolly glad that I didn't bin it during the bad mood all those months ago.

I like to share my painting journeys with you, and not just show you the Ta-Dah result at the end. I like to show you and tell you about the cock ups and the bits I painted over, I want you to understand that painting is a very nitty gritty journey indeed, and although sometimes it makes your heart soar with joy, at other times it is damn frustrating!!

But I still love it. :D

Sitting at my table easel, with the sunshine streaming in through the window to my left, listening to Take That's greatest hits (yes, I know, I can't help myself sometimes) and singing along (no, I can't help doing that either) I progressed in a leisurely manner for 5 hours, stopping midway for a little sandwich out the garden and a natter with my sister. Bliss.

It's nowhere near completion, but it's starting to resemble something along the lines of what I was dreaming of, here's another little chunk of it for you to see:

That jug of cheery marguerites are sending me quite dizzy with happiness, I think its the zingy white and yellow on a bright turquoise background that does it, but it's such a lovely corner of the painting I think! I will share more pictures of it as it unfolds over the next few weeks. This may sound like an age, but you know how it is when a Small Person dwells in your home, you just have to snatch moments when they're not about to do grown up things like this and those moments are few and far between right now.

Although not for much longer, as the wee person starts her pre-school sessions in a fortnight and Mummy will be home alone for a couple of mornings a week (and once I've got over the shock of an empty house and my girl being 3 and therefore quite big and old enough for little school, I shall paint and crochet alot more! Hurrah!!!)

Something else I'm doing which I'm going demented with excitement about, is this:

The Sketchbook Project is something I stumbled upon recently and involves a heck of a lot of people from across the world filling up a Sketchbook with a Theme, mailing it off to The Brooklyn Arts Centre in New York where it will begin a tour of the USA before taking up permanent residence in the Arts Centre. I've chosen my theme and I'm waiting on my Moleskine Sketchbook to arrive so I can begin. I've got approximately 4 months to fill it and I plan to share bits of it here with you along the way. I'm excited to see where this takes me, creatively speaking - the whole nature of it reminds me of exercises we were set at Uni (a long time ago) and I always enjoyed being given a project with direction by someone else. This fits the bill, it's really going to make me think, and exercise the old grey matter!

If you are interested in taking part, you can find out more at their website by clicking on the link above.

My last arty bit of news today is rather fun and also very exciting too. For some time I've been planning to create an E-Newsletter to send out to you lovely souls who enjoy what I do, and I am so happy to be able to tell you that its now up and running!

You may think, ok, so what's the difference between getting a newsletter in my inbox and reading your blog? Isn't it all going to be the same kind of thing?

Well that's a good question dear souls!! And here is what you will receive if you join my Mailing List:

Art & Crochet project updates - current news of what I'm working on and what I'm doing that won't necessarily feature on my blog.

Absolutely and completely exclusive offers and deals on my original art, prints and cards that you will not find anywhere else online - and that is a promise!

Free stuff - yes, that's right! Lovely free stuff like fine art cards, and other bits and bobs which you will not get anywhere else. Promise. Scouts honour etc, etc.

So what do you think? Sound good to you?

It's easy to subscribe and you can do it by clicking here or by clicking on the Mailing List logo in the sidebar up there on the right.

I also promise not to bore you by bamboozling your inbox with 100's of emails - they will be sent out on a happily random sort of basis, and of course if you ever decide you don't want to receive them anymore then you can very easily unsubscribe, no problemo!

Now then, with the remainder of the afternoon ahead of me minus child, I am going to tackle that crocheted bag. I haven't forgotten that I've promised you a wee tutorial on how to join those Popcorn Grannies, but I had me one of those moments the other night when I suddenly thought 'OOH! I could make this in a Totally New Way'

Which is good, but sort of scuppers me a bit as I'm then all up in the air as to which is the best way to continue...

As soon as this problem has been solved and a decision made, I will share more pictures and a tutorial here with you - I promise not to forget! :)

'til next time, I hope September is a happy warm month for each of you - thanks for visiting today, and also, welcome to some new followers!

Mucho love to you,

J x