Showing posts with label pumpkins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pumpkins. Show all posts

Sunday, 12 August 2012

Marathon Sketchbooking

The more I watch the Olympics and see all these active people, the more I want to sit on my bottom and play in my sketchbook!
 I have only a week or so left of my year of my Creative Sketchbook course and I need to get to finishing Module 4. I've had many a week where creativity has been at a low ebb as my mum moves toward the end of her life, but this past two weeks I realised how much art can be a therapy in these situations. It buys time to ponder and time to refocus.
I have decided to make a journal quilt each month pointing out where I have found peace. I am working on this in the sketchbook and as this white dove descended into the garden last week I resolved to begin the work this month,
Pockets from a photo are handy for collecting ephemera - in this case some feathers which I might use as printing inspiration.
See the end of this post for August's quilt.
This little pottery dove sits by my front door and the stars, so reminiscent of quilt blocks are on the floor all the way down the hall of my Victorian home.

Various cut pages.


Roll on Autumn - I love pumpkins!
I pressed this Bleeding Heart stem earlier in the year and have just taken it from the flower press.








A pencil rubbing of a lino block....

THE RESULTING QUILT




It was all ace. It was a part of my peace.


Sunday, 5 February 2012

Monochromish

 Strange, how subconciously I opt for this rather monochromatic colour scheme every January / February. This year I thought it wouldn't happen as we have had no snow, the daffs are starting to bloom and our general landscape has been pretty green and verdant.
And still it happens. After Christmas it's as if the eyes need a rest.
These Japanese woven fabrics are just the ticket for some kind of relaxation and a sense of peace.

Even if they do turn into a chicken quilt without me really thinking about what I'm doing! This  one is for the kitchen table as Spring approaches.

Unbidden, this afternoon, six inches of snow fell in six hours. The first of the winter.

More fabrics laid out. More of the same easy hues.








I'm not sure what will happen to them!
But they lie here, winking!


















A note in the sketchbook - snow surrounds the terracotta pumpkins.
January's diary shows a little more vibrancy. The month has been a difficult one with my Mum's failing health. After two months in hospital she is taken into a nursing home. We feed and water her. We make her comfortable.









Some solace in the sketchbook as printing is explored. Acrylic pears stamped with hand cut expanda-sponge and a watercolour dye wash.














The snowmen that my very good friend Tracy made me for Christmas are at last feeling at home in the seasonal weather.

Monday, 5 October 2009

Sewing and Harvesting!

Look at this! I bought this piece in a moment of joy from Jude Hill of Spiritcloth and it has arrived from the U.S. in the post. It is now probably one of my most treasured possessions (apart from my children and I definitely don't own them). It's so soft, being made from washed and worn fabrics, and is all handsewn. I have got a bit of an obsession with pumpkins so this fits in totally with our household decorations at this time of year!

Meanwhile I had started my own version for inclusion in my very slowcloth of moon patches..
More bounty...


Posted by PicasaMy inlaws have just been on a fabulous trip to India and brought me back some colourful goodies...tomatoes from my greenhouse...

...oh yes and a bit more pumpkiness in a sketch with a black background of acrylic paint - may experiment with this further methinks....

Sunday, 19 October 2008

Autumnal Stitching

It's been a lovely sunny Autumn weekend but tonight's wind is fetching the leaves off the trees and winter is looming.


Here are a few Halloween stitchings that are in the kitchen! I'm sure people must think I'm a part time witch.


Do you think it could be that one's favourite time of year can reflect when one was born? My birthday is in early November and the oranges of this time of year are so appealing to me.


We all supposedly have birth stones...have you ever thought about what your birth vegetable might be? Mine is definitely a pumpkin!



My daughter has just turned seven and started cross stitching today. JOY! She suggested that we turn the playroom into a sewing room. Picture nine year old son's eyes rolling heavenward (like father, like son).





She suggests we have a few friends over to sew, chat and have cake. My, my this girl is shaping up!