Some Happy Times

Half term has been and gone, and I took the opportunity to lay down the paint brushes and have some heavenly time out.  Above is a mosaic, capturing some snapshots of that delicious week.  First off, a trip the seaside with my sister and her family; we went to the Norfolk coast and took a long walk on the sea front breathing in the deep gulps of tangy salted air.  The sea was like a mill pond, as calm as you like and dark silhouettes were framed on the shore line as folks walked their dogs, stark against the milky blue sea.

In the park, the aconites were a bright carpet of yellow and a cheery sight for a winter weary soul...there was also time indoors, leisurely breakfasts, time spent baking with my little girl and the acquisition of some new, shiny tins to put our freshly iced fairy buns in.  There were lots of sofa moments too where we just collapsed in front of the telly, where I crocheted or sipped hot, frothy coffee in my pyjamas.

I think we all need time out like this, time away from the computer, from work, from our commitments.  It's a chance to recharge, reflect and relax.  It was bliss.

Back to work though this week - paintings for the exhibition continue to emerge and I'm on with this one at the moment:

And I'm also on with some of these...

These Easter hearts have been a nice little diversion for me, and I continue to sneak the odd one in here and there between my more Serious Paintings.  I am currently offering these through my Facebook Page, so if you are interested in acquiring one for yourself, you are welcome to message me although I must hasten to add that they are very Limited Edition due to time constraints and so only a very small number will be made.

I have some extra time on my hands today, my little girl is at an after school craft club so I'm away now to take advantage of this extra hour, and get busy with my paint brushes again.

See you soon x

A Little Absence...

Hello lovely readers, it's been a wee while since I posted here in Blogland and I felt I had better bob by to let you know why my posting may be a little sporadic over the coming weeks.

In May, as some of you will know, I have my first solo exhibition and I am busy working towards getting my portfolio of work ready for this as well as keeping my little biz ticking over too.  So, whilst I concentrate on painting, I will most likely be around less than usual.  I realise that I haven't had much time to respond to comments or visit other Blogs to say Hello for some time now, but please don't think I've forgotten you or that I'm no longer interested - that's just not the case and I hope you'll forgive me for my lapses.

I'll try and do the odd post here and there, to share little bits and bobs of what I'm working on with you all.  I also must confess that my poor old ezine has been shelved somewhat of late, and whilst I usually like to send this out once a month, I have to be honest and say that this too will be a more random offering over the next few months.

I'd like to thank you all so much for your visits dear readers, I appreciate all of you who come by and read my little musings and I promise that once my pictures are hung in the gallery that normal service, will at least for the most part, be happily resumed.

With love

Julia x

Snow, yarn and other such ramblings

There's been a spot of colourful hooky going on in these parts.

After a bit of pootling on Pinterest and various and delightful craft blogs, I discovered a newish craze for granny square blankets emerging.  Aha! I thought; I could do with one of those very things for my own sweet bed!  However, Christmas was upon us, and I had neither the time nor inclination to contemplate a new blanket project, so I filed the idea away for future reference...fast forward to January, and I eventually caved in and bought a new stash of Stylecraft Special DK wool to set about making a granny square blanket of my very own.  My heart had been well and truly taken the moment I cast my eyes upon this beautiful blanket here although there are many fine specimens to be found upon the interweb as I'm sure you will discover.

I cannot lie to you, I was so smitten with Sandra's colourway that I ordered pretty much the same shades of wool that she had used for her blanket.  And it's coming on a treat; its a fine way to pass a happy hour on a winters eve, curled up on the sofa watching Miranda, gigglesnorting like billy-o and knocking up a few squares in deliciously vintage coloured yarn.

I'm using the join-as-you-go method, fiddly as heck, but saving me a lot of sewing at the end which can be a tad time consuming to say the least.

During the day, I've been working my little socks off on some new pieces of art for my solo exhibition...would you like a peek?  You would?  Here you are then:

The Coastguard Cottages

Beside the Waves

I also have a plan to create some coastal inspired characters on some small box canvases, with an element of collage and stamped text about them.  I'm mighty excited by this sudden flurry of inspiration and I'm making sure I write down lots of notes about these ideas in my book, should they happen to dissolve and disappear from my busy little head forever.

After a colourful week, our world suddenly turned very grey and white.  The snow finally came to our little corner of the world and we decided that we would go out and enjoy ourselves enormously.

There was sledging and snowman making, the obligatory snowball fights and wanderings down the back garden to see the river which had turned into a magical winter wonderland...

I love the sculptural shapes of the branches and seed heads, and that glorious blue sky!

As I work, I see my little feathered friends making more frequent visits to the feeder (which is hung a couple of feet away from my window).  I love to watch them, and wonder how something so small can survive such terribly cold nights...

Another feathered soul paid us a visit too...can you spot him?  He's a regular visitor, and can often be seen stooping in the shallows, waiting to catch a plump trout for his lunch.

Back inside after our snowy meanderings, hot chocolate of the best kind, topped with the squirtiest of cream and tiniest of marshmallows is consumed and jammies are put on.  It's only 3 o'clock in the afternoon, but it's a snow day from school and there's no need to be going out again; may as well just cosy up indoors and do a spot of painting with C...

...and on a whim, I dug out some papier mache style hearts and painted a whimsical little Valentine's scene.  These hearts are secretly magnets, but would look rather dandy in a nice box frame I think.

So my week is only just begun, but already it is filled with the simplest and nicest of things.  And if it needed icing on the cake, it came in the form of an email from my lovely agent, who wrote to tell me that three pieces of my artwork have been accepted for licensing by a client, and therefore shall become cards or suchlike.  I am delirious with delight, because this is another one of my dreams come true.

And dreams do come true you know, if you believe they will.

I'll see you again soon, have a wonderful week and thank you for coming to see me today.

Love J x