finished

I am sure you are all kinda sick of seeing this piece- well, never fear; it is finished!

I just wanted to show the last bits of hand stitching I did

It now goes off to the States

oh; and to answer your questions, Susanna; the background is an old cotton sheet

that I have cut.....then a sheet of music that I put a bit of gesso over;

actually, too much gesso as you cannot really see the score

I only knew that it had to have a cardinal in it

so looked on the internet for a nice image -

and use that as a guide to free machine stitch the bird

everything else just sort of happens

I don’t really have a plan

yikes, it is almost 3.30pm.......and what have I done today?

paid bills, filled out a form to get extra pages added to my passport

(I know; weird - but have run out of space for stamps -

the passport control people are getting quite annoyed

every time I come back into the country)

things I haven’t done:

arranged my studio.......I have a new big table and wanted to see if I could rearrange

the furniture in here......haven’t done it so am sitting here with stuff and

boxes and storage containers and piles of paper and piles of magazines and

piles of books and piles of cloth all around me

oh, and a bike I brought back from France

in the middle of the room (long story)

I have two more bird commissions, but they don’t have a pressing deadline -

so before that, I would like to do a few Valentine’s like I did last year

and see if I can put them in the café next door again

I also have a huge pile of magazines I have been collecting but never take the time

to look through them - they all look really inspirational

maybe schedule in an afternoon where I just sit and look through things;

without feeling guilty for "not doing anything" (even tho I know it is actually doing something)

hm.......all jumbley, jumbley, jumbley

__a

new work

I have actually started doing something creative!! woo hoo

I realised I have at least 3 little commissions to work on.........duh, better get going

then I was about to submit my work for a local show when I realised

that I didn’t actually fulfill one of the requirements......oops

but there is another show I want to try to get into - so will set my sights on that one

anyhoo;

here is what I have been working on......

it of course will have more embellishments and stitches....just as soon as I figure out what that will be!

on another note: I was finally able to get some photos off an old camera.......

taken a few years ago - but lovely images! (well, I think so)

so. bear with me - you are going to have to go on another trip with me to the coast

Dungeness and Camper Sands to be exact

a beautiful, lonely, mystical area

Prospect Cottage - Derek Jarman’s house - now a rental property, I think

a beautiful, sparse seaside garden; full of all sorts of stones and bits he found on the beach -

making little sculptures

how beautiful is this?!

below are pictures I took at Camber Sands, which is not too far from Dungeness

thank you for stopping by!

__a

snow!

well, the weatherman actually got it right!

we had a beautiful snowfall last night -

and now everything is covered in sparkly, heavy, wet snow -

perfect for snowmen and snowballs!

cafe next to my studio

some snowy ladies in the courtyard

actually, its normally used as a greenhouse

have been working on my new work........added the red slash

am now adding more hand stitching and still plan on white and perhaps red beads added too

I have to admit......this isn’t emitting the emotions I was wanting it to

but am not completely sure how to do that right now....

or whether I want to actually unleash all that

I think to do that; I would need

a) a bigger project......size-wise I mean

b) more time

so...will just keep at this and see where it takes me

hope everyone is keeping warm - keeping creative

and thank you so much to everyone who has commented here

such nice things......

__a

goldfinch reworked

I felt something was wrong with my goldfinch picture......like; it looked horrible!

so decided to rework it a bit

am much happier with the outcome

and I finally found a way to use my fancy feathers I bought ages ago.......these are pretty subdued -

they also come in purple, bright green, red and turquoise -

not sure when I will use the others as I usually don't use bright colours like that.....we'll see!

not sure you can tell, but there is also an amber "jewel" on top of the feathers, which I have been itching to use too

tomorrow will be taken up by trying to set up my open studios - which starts Saturday til 12th September

felted bags by Get Felt were delivered today - and they look fantastic! great colour combos - will be sure to take photos and get all the different items so you can see everything

rainy day today........rainy day tomorrow

hopefully it will clear up by the weekend - I have visions of hanging my aprons on the brick wall (somehow) outside my studio door- hoping the colours will draw people in

__a

is it finished??

I think it might be!

wow...who-da thunk I'd pull it out of the bag! well, actually, I thought perhaps eventually I would - with invaluable insight and suggestions (and a few small "discussions") from husband (thank you!!)

I added more stitching in the background and a "river" of threads to pull it all together

think I will also keep the threads hanging off the background

was hoping to finish and go up to London tomorrow, but might need to be here again - Simon, the framer said he'd help me adhere it to a white backing and put it into my frame

whew!