Getting There...

Hello again!

I hope your afternoon is sunny and mild like ours - although I do feel a definate autumnal wistfulness in the air and I've baked something for the first time in weeks - an apple tarte tatin (I seem to succumb to these gorgeous puddings at this time of year). It's cooking in the oven as I write and the syrupy fragrance of those caramelised apples is sending me half demented! :D

Well, as I shared on my last post, the painting is...lets say...getting there.

It is, its a slow one though. There is much musing and deliberating, I am wanting to get it just right you see and over time I have learnt to leave things alone when needs be. Sometimes Time is all it needs to solve a hiccup.

I have chosen some jaunty blue, very cornish inspired stripes for my jug (which is still only half finished - few more layers necessary before Im happy with it yet!)- I can also tell you there are some smooth pebbles and a pretty cup as well as something edible on the sill, and I'll share pictures of those bits with you next time.

I have to confess to missing the sea these last couple of days. I miss the sound of it, the smell of it and just physically being by it. I miss the changing colours of the sea and its many moods of wild and invigorating, to calm and relaxing.

I'm also missing Inspiring Beach Walks, when you find things like this:

Just look at the absolutely wonderous shade of turquoise there! And how the paint has worn away in parts, revealing the colours underneath and the sea soaked bare wood...

I love discovering things like this, they make my heart leap and sing with delight - the colours just beg to be put down on canvas...

And so today, I am consoling myself with these pictures, Iris Murdoch's 'The Sea, The Sea' (a fabulous read) and a soul warming tart...

...shimmering crystal seas...

...and memories of really being there, adventuring and discovering...

To cheer myself up a tad and before I cave in entirely to this wistful feeling, I am going to share a little crochet reveal with you all.

Do you remember the photograph of the piece of crochet on my last post? Of course!! Well, I am pleased to share my very toasty and cosy arm warmers with you, and here they are!

What do you think?! I do hope you like them! I am planning to do a tutorial for you next week, so you can have a go at making your own. These were made in the holiday cottage during the evenings and I think the pattern is fairly simple so most people, even beginners will be able to give them a whirl.

The nice thing about them is that you can wear them stretched all the way up your arm (they come to almost my elbow) or scrunch the cuff down a bit and wear them nearer the wrist.

So, if you would like to know how to make your very own pair, come and visit me next week when I will post a free tutorial for you!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend ~ sending love

Julia x x x

A Northern Affair

Hello!

How are you? I'm glad you've dropped in, it's so nice to be back and I'm going to tell you a bit about what I've been up to...it includes some crochet news too, but bear with me whilst I share some pics of my holiday to Northumberland with you...

Last week was spent in a little house in Bamburgh, tucked up a small sandy lane which was just across the road from the dunes. The roar of the sea was a constant and delightful presence and I must confess to feeling quite bereft of it now I'm home.

You may remember my first visit to this beautiful part of our world in May, when I fell completely in love with this wild and remote coast. And it was certainly wild last week...

After a torrential downpour and strong winds, the sea was in a fine frenzy and we stood watching the enormous waves in Craster for ages, drenched in salty spray and loving every minute of it!

It was such a heavy and powerful tide, it turned the foamy waves to thick cream which surged into a rocky gorge!

Late afternoon in Seahouses, and a weak September sun peered cautiously through stormy grey clouds, illuminating for a brief moment the lighthouse on Inner Farne.

I have to confess I am drawn to islands and lighthouses. They are beautifully distant and lonely, yet welcoming all at once. I like to watch silent waves crashing onto the faraway cliffs before sinking back into the surging navy black sea again.

I am also drawn to the birds of this coast, we were spoilt with close ups of oyster catchers, arctic terns, sandpipers and redshanks. Although we hoped to visit the Farne Islands, the sea remained unsettled most of the week and the captain of one of the boat trips refused to set sail despite tickets being sold at the little harbour office. He told us he had been a sailor for 45 years and it was too dangerous to take people out. So we didn't get to visit this time, and they remain enchanting and elusive to us...til next time (yes, there will definately be a next time).

By friday afternoon, we were enjoying almost hot sunshine again, and gentle calm seas...

I made use of my little Moleskine to make lots of notes, and a few sketches whilst sitting on the beach...

...and I also made something else. With wool.

I'm sorry to tell you its not a Ta-Dah reveal of the long awaited Popcorn Granny Bag...I naughtily took some New Wool away with me and rustled up something rather exciting during the evenings. Here's a sneaky little peek at what I made:

I'm sure most of you will have an inkling what it might be already, and I will be sharing a pattern and a proper reveal to you very soon.

Now I'm back (and no plans to depart anywhere else for a while) I am looking forward to travelling around blog land and revisiting you all for a good catch up!

For now, a cup of tea is on the cards and a nice heap of biscuits - my Little Egg started her nursery class this morning, and although it was a very positive start (no tears, tantrums or clinging to ankles screaming etc) I am just starting to realise what a momentous thing it all was! So I'm off for a bit of quiet time with a nice new mag to read!

Oooh by the way, I'm having a Giveaway on my Facebook page as I have reached (and amazingly passed) 200 Likers! If you would like to join in the fun I'm announcing the Giveaway on Thursday (16th September) and will draw a winner a week later. All you have to do to take part is 'Like' my page and then pop by tomorrow, or sometime during the following week, to take part!

Thank you to everyone who has signed up for my Mailing List so far - I've been overwhelmed by all the interest and am looking at sending out my second newsletter within the next week or two.

If you haven't signed up yet and would like to, you can click here to find out more! :D

Righty-ho! Im off to have that cuppa - I'll be posting again soon with some pictures of my current painting which I'm most excited about!

Thanks for dropping by, you are always so very welcome to be here!

Love Julia x x 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