Thursday, 21 May 2009

A Lovely Dream

Im delighted to be able to show you my painting 'A Lovely Dream' which I completed today. It is another in the Little Red series, which seems to be building a momentum all of its own as more new ideas for where I can take it descend on me (usually as Im nodding off or cooking tea or doing something mundane when Im nowhere near a sketch book!)

As some of you may already know, Little Red has derived from several sketch drawings of my girl Carys, and for those of you who don't know, my little child is a flame haired, half Welsh firecracker of a tot who inspires me deeply on a daily basis - it seemed natural to include her in my work, and so from the earliest doodles she evolved to this little character, who has a dog, Bo, who has a bird, Dudie, and several other companions to be making an appearance along the way (including the gaggle of fabulous fat geese again).


I already have some ideas for my next painting, but for now Im doing alot of doodling
to get it just right before I put it onto canvas and I'll post some pics of the work in progress, probably next week :)

Well then, I think its time for a cuppa!! :)

Im finding this character work to be very fulfilling. It seems to have turned on a tap for me somewhere in the deepest reaches of my mind and for the first time in an age I am not stuck for new material. I remember many times wanting to paint something, and spending hours dabbling and messing and not really producing anything at all. The emptiness that I felt at those times was profound, and I think its because I was still searching for something that really made me tick. I would like to think that this is it.

Im going to be submitting this picture into a national competition run by an artists magazine. Well, you never know do you?

Im also promising myself an hour or so of crocheting later this evening as the past few days have seen me in a whirl of activity updating websites and general businessy type stuff for the other half and I feel a little bit worn at the edges, a sort of feeling you get when you don't switch off very easily because you're so absorbed in the task at hand.

Practising listening to my little old bod - its demanding a nice bath, preferably with something lovely from Lush and some serious R&R with perhaps the enticing prospect of an iced glass of Limoncello (ooh do try this if you havent, its an italian liquer made from lemons and its like drinking sunshine! Sublime!!!)

Is it summer yet with you? We are still dodging torrential downpours in between wearing sunshades and shedding cardigans as the weather still cant decide what to do. The hens over on the allotment across the road seem equally perturbed by the inclement conditions, ducking in and out of their little hut in mild bewilderment I think!! :)

My sister is coming to visit tomorrow, staying for the weekend and I have much to do to prepare a little birthday bash for a Certain-Little-Someone who turns 2 next week. A day out with her small cousins, Aunt, Uncle, Nannie-Mum & Grandad Joe (and us of course) is planned for sunday, as is a picnic complete with birthday treats and cake!!

Wishing you all a serendipitous bank holiday weekend, hope the sun shines for you - if not, dodge the drops and have fun regardless!

Love J xxx (off to get the long awaited cuppa :)

Tuesday, 19 May 2009

After the rain

A stunning blue parrot tulip just in bloom...see the irridescent ring of blue deep inside the flower?
This is for each of you...
THANK YOU to all of you for your lovely comments on my blog of late - and to apologise if I haven't yet had the chance to call in on you, I do so enjoy reading your delicious blogs and often spend far too much time than I ought to devouring favourites and finding new ones. Please know that I treasure every little thought you take the time to write, and that you stop by and read what Im writing...well, I can't express how nice that feels :)

Ive been a little bit busy these last few days, on Sunday though, we had a little ride out into Derbyshire and discovered a little car boot sale at Bamford, before driving on to Castleton (so pretty) and having a rather spontaneous lunch in a nice old pub. It started raining heavily as we were finishing our meal, but on leaving the pub it had eased off somewhat and the sun was smiling weakly through turbulent white clouds above the Winnats Pass. It was one of those lovely moments where you dont mind getting wet - big, fat ploopy blobs of rain splattered on our heads and into the little stream and the air was warm and still. I splashed in puddles (water in the crocs and soaked rainbow socks but caring not a jot -the little one shreiked with delight and held her palms up to catch the drops.

On our return home, I couldn't help but take a picture of this:

Isn't that just beautiful??

And down the garden, spring is bursting out all over the place, thanks to the daily downpours and odd storms we keep getting.

This week finds me making up lots of cards for the cafe, and also (hurrah!) my table at the Candyfloss Summer Fair! Yes, I received the email Id been waiting for to tell me I could indeed take part so now I begin creating like a demon for that - its not til the 18th July so quite a bit of time to get prepared and for any of you who can make it down, its going to be in the Long Gallery at the Millenium Galleries in Sheffield. For more info, you can click on the Craft Candy link there in the side bar and find out all about it.

Talking of cards....

I have just set up a special offer on my art print cards, where you can buy a selection pack of 5 cards (135 x 135mm size) for the lovely price of just £8.00 (individual cards this size are usually £1.95) There is also free P&P with this offer. I print all my images onto archival matte paper, (which is then mounted onto a high quality white card)with archival inks so you might even put them in a little frame, thats if you dont send them to all your friends! :) The other thing about these cards that Id like to mention, is that 50p from the sale of Each One goes to the Down's Syndrome Association. My little nephew Oliver was born with Down's Syndrome and it makes me very happy that I can help to support them after all the help and support they have given to my sister and her family.

If you click on Little Red, the link will take you to the page.


The website had had a little overhaul of late, and Im hoping if you visit, you will find it easier to navigate.

Last but not least....

Today, I was delighted to see that Id been given a blog award from the lovely Mel at 'A Country Dream' Thank you so much dear soul, it was very thoughtful of you to send that to me and its very much appreciated! (happy jigs of joy :)


To keep the joy a-flowing, I would like to send this award out to the following 10 (as say the rules):

That wasn't easy! I wanted to pick all of you.
I hope the sun is shining on you today, its cracking the pavements here (when they're not flooded). Im looking forward to a spot of crochet this evening to unwind, working on two websites tires me out, and Ive got to conserve all my energy-oh yes, the nephews, sis and her hub arrive at the weekend, it is my little girl's 2nd birthday next tuesday and there is a little party to arrange, cakes to be baked (here we go again :) so I need to grab the little moments of solitude when I can this week.
Sending pockets of tranquility to you, rainbow coloured buttons and iced peach tea.
With love
J xxx

Friday, 15 May 2009

Having Your Cake and Eating It !

Aha! A sneaky little peek at what Ive been working on - this is a little teeny weeny part of a painting called 'A Lovely Dream' and its still not finished despite 5 hours painting today (ah bliss indeed!). I am sitting typing with acrylic paint all over my hands, for me, painting is the equivalent to several hours at a day spa - it removes me completely from my normal world, I have no concept of time and Im able to lose myself for hours, becoming wonderfully absent minded and forgetting to eat etc!


So, today was a gift of a painting day, and talking of art I would love to pop in a mention about a little sale my fellow artist and friend Niki Jackson is having at her Etsy shop... I hope she wont mind, but Ive borrowed a picture of her gorgeous art to show off here - Niki works with mixed media to create whimsical yet thought provoking art. If you are curious to see more, you can check her out here.

This is one of Niki's art pieces - one of my favourites! :)


Anyway...yesterday saw a rather wet day descend upon our little house, and me and the tot were moved to do a spot of baking. Our first recipie being Cumberland Dream Cake which I had picked up on a postcard from Lucy's of Ambleside
This shop, for those of you have never had the good fortune to have ever visited, is an aladdins cave of deli-licious goodies. It is also a bistro, it is a cooking school - Lucy's is, in a word 'heaven'...anyway, I digress - this little postcard had the recipie of a fabulous little tray bake we nibbled upon with relish during our stay in the lakes, and after 2 years of the said card languishing in the front of a Nigella book, it finally got a testing yesterday and both me and little C declared it very nice indeed (and if you are a fan of walnuts, coconut and sticky sugary goodness with a crispy top then you would too).


The baking frenzy did not stop there. No, we moved on to make a vanilla sponge cake, with vanilla buttercream and (going into Enid Blyton mode here) lashings of Bonne Maman apricot jam in the middle. The tot was in her element licking spoons of cake mixture and the bowl of left over buttercream as I made the decision to be a bit more creative with my icing sugar sprinkling for the top (a quick dusting normally does the trick) and I made a little template out of a bit of card and it turned out like this!

Oh, we could hardly wait to finish our tea before slicing big wedges for afters! I feel a slice coming on right now, with a big mug of hot tea - very necessary after a morning of painting I think!! :)


Well, it seems as if I never stop doesn't it? Indeed I don't - well not at the moment anyway. Yesterday afternoon, mid baking, I had an appointment with a lovely man called Pete who owns a little cafe and who wanted to have a look at my art print cards. We had a chat and he said he would be very happy to stock my cards for me! I was delighted!! The cafe is in a very scenic area, popular with walkers and cyclists and people coming off the Woodhead Pass (one of the main routes over the penines to Manchester) and its often incredibly busy. He also expressed an interest in having a few pictures too, so thats something else to be thinking about!

This is a long post isnt it?

A little while ago I looked out the kitchen window at the pouring rain, and guess what I saw? It made my day - Mamma Duck and Seven little Babies swimming furiously against the swell (river's gone up quite a few inches and is boistrous and brown instead of shallow and calm). They looked like little brown pom-poms, all in a line - just delightful! :)

Im off to get that cuppa and cake, Ive rambled long enough!!

Sending love to you each, for a smashing weekend.


See you soon
J x


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