Since last time...

I have visited an exhibition... for the second time.

I loved it but then I have a long standing fascination with the life of Frida Kahlo.

There were photographs and films, clothes, objects and paintings and I came home inspired to paint and work in my sketchbooks every day.

Have I done it? Have I heck! I also came home inspired to make an effort to dress up more, but that's not happened either!

I took the train to the exhibition but I have also driven to London in the past week and loaded up my car with all the stuff I drove there just three months ago. After three months of London life youngest son has decided he would be better off living in Cambridge... which is what the rest of us thought three months ago. Are you impressed that the words "I told you so" were not uttered once, not even as we sat in traffic for an hour queuing to get through the Blackwall tunnel.

He's going to live on a boat moored on the River Cam. I'm not sure how I feel about that but I have the pleasure of helping him clean it this weekend. He tells me it is full of spiders. I definitely know what I feel about that!

I've taught a book making class which was good fun and as a result I'm trying to put together a downloadable tutorial with step by step photographs. It is taking forever!

I'll let you know when it is finished... I might need someone to test it for me before I put it in my shop. Give me a shout if you are interested.

I have been dress making. I bought a pattern and fabric when I was at the Festival of Quilts two weeks ago. It seemed like a good idea to make myself a dress for wedding number three... which just happens to be a week today. Do not judge me, do not say a word... it seemed like a good idea. I've put the zip in today.

I made cakes... fifty of them. Well there were actually sixty eight and we kept some for ourselves. But I delivered fifty of them for a party organised by Clic Sargent via a Free Cakes for Kids referral.

I've been to a book club meeting where we discussed our latest book The Whole Day Through by Patrick Gale. There were mixed reactions at book club ranging from a good read to okay but I enjoyed it. Which was just as well really as I had recommended it. After reading voraciously all summer I seem to have ground to a halt and I'm struggling to find something that captures my interest. Suggestions are most welcome.

In this interview with Patrick Gale he says it is cake bakers who wield the power using cake and sugar as bribes. I'm not sure how I feel about that, although I did take some of the spare cakes into my class this week... I wasn't really trying to make them write nice things about me on the end of class feedback forms... honestly!

I will be baking more cake this coming week as I am making the wedding cake...  three tiers of sponge in three different flavours. And talking cake - The Bake Off is back next week. I'm quite excited as it is one of the few things I actually watch on TV.

So that was my week that was. I hope you have a good weekend. Spare me a thought battling the spiders. It will be a challenge given I can't stand to be in the same room as one.

A Miniature Art Challenge

My blog will be ten years old on Sunday. If you had asked me ten years ago would I still be doing this now I think I would have considered it to be unlikely but I have come a long way since that first post. In the early days it was a way for me to document my art. It was largely visual with few words, although I hadn't worked out how to add a photo to that first one. Those ten years have seen many changes... there has been less art in recent years and more about food and family life, although to be fair there has alway been cake right from the early days. It is still very visual because I find it hard to blog without photographs but there seem to be more words of late, which may be why it has also become less frequent. It takes longer to write each post and think about what to say, not to mention the editing out all the typos and spelling mistakes. To be honest, I can't see me finding time to write two or three times a week like I once did, I can feel a shift back towards more art though.

I recently met with my friend Catherina where we had lunch and a wander around some galleries and shops. We spotted these tiny little canvases in an art supplies shop and a spark of an idea was sown. We each bought a canvas with the intention to decorate it exactly how we wished before swapping our finished canvases with each other. I love a challenge to get me motivated!

After priming my canvas with gesso I immediately got to work with my acrylic paints to make a miniature portrait of Frida Khalo reviving an old interest in this enigmatic artist. I struggled with the likeness but it is interesting that now, by looking at the photograph I can see where I was going wrong (the mouth!)

Rather than paint in the final details I added some 3D jewels and flowers. I wanted to use those little ribbon roses you can buy but couldn't find them anywhere. I know I have some stashed away somewhere in the house! I had to make do with paper ones which were a little big but overall I was quite pleased with the effect, especially considering the whole thing was only about the size of a matchbox.

 

I popped it in the post to Catherina and the very next day I received Catherina's artwork in return... a beautiful little handstitched piece to celebrate my birthday. 

And this little challenge combined with my inspiring day out has kick started me into working in my sketchbooks again, which in turn is already starting to spark ideas for new work. I'd say watch this space but you just might have a long wait... but who knows!

Have a good weekend... we've got a busy one so not much time for painting, but then what's new!

Five on Friday - My Week

A snapshot of my past week for Five on Friday. This week I have been

1. Painting

 

On Saturday my Mum treated me to a day out painting with artist Jamel Akib. Although I draw, and despite my brief foray into egg tempera painting earlier this year, I don't really paint and haven't been formally taught, so a day learning to use acrylics was a new experience for me... What fun!

Jamel was hilarious and kept us laughing all day throughout the frantically paced workshop. We started by painting wild animals and we all did a gorilla. We could then choose a different animal so I picked this fabulous rhino. I thought the strong silhouette would make it easier. What was fun for me was I hardly used a brush. The background was put on with a roller and most of the rest was done with a piece of card. Who knew you could do that!

 

After a delicious lunch provided by the organisers he got us all doing a mini seascape... Best if looked at from a distance with squinty eyes!

And finally we all painted Marlene Dietrich. What fun and a lovely birthday present from my Mum ( even though it's not my birthday until July).

 

2. Visiting an Exhibition

On Monday I met with my friend Jude and we spent the morning at the V & A at the Alexander McQueen exhibition Savage Beauty. I was totally bowled over by the drama, theatricality (is that even a word?) and the sheer talent and vision. Stunning!

 

This goes way beyond fashion and as you might have gathered I absolutely loved it.

This are just a small selection of some of my favourite pieces, but I loved it all. Impossible to pick favourites really.

I will go back again before it closes.

3. Exhibiting.

If you read my last post you will know that I have work in an exhibition this week with Prism and this is just a very small taste of some of the other work on show. The birds above are by Ali Brown.

Fragile knitted wire by Anita Bruce.

 

Found object installation by Jackie Langfeld and the trio of machine stitched women by Sass Tetzlaff. There is so much more of course, and such variety so it is well worth a visit. Details can be found in my last post.

 

4. Baking

I couldn't really go a week without some sort of down time in the form of baking. This week's offering is a cinnamon and Nutella cake, which made the house smell divine as it was baking. Didn't taste bad either!

5. Talking

Last night I was giving a talk to the Milton Keynes branch of the Embroiderer's Guild about inspirational women and how they have influenced my work. Despite a small technical hitch it seemed to go well and I was reminded how much I enjoy this sort of interaction. I woke up this morning totally inspired by a conversation I had with one of their members and some of the Alexander McQueen  images and I'm already enthusiastic with ideas for what I might make for next year's Prism show. You'll just have to hang around for another year to find out what it is but I'm thinking skulls and feathers!

Joining in with Amy for Five on Friday.

Part Time Blogger

I seem to have become a part time blogger! There was a time when I could turn out three or four posts a week no problem but these days it's a struggle to manage once a week, if that. Since I was last here I had a super day at the V & A... Nothing to show for it but I enjoyed learning more about egg tempera... And no, I have not managed any more painting! But I will!

I have been busy finishing off these shoes...

Spectrum, the group that I mentor, were invited to exhibit at Textiles in Focus, a three day show that takes place in  Cottenham each February. As part of the exhibition we have all put in work that came from a joint project called "Thinking outside the Box". Members of the group could start with any type of box they liked but had to create a piece of textile artwork from this. I chose to work with a shoe box and made shoes for Frida Kahlo... Part of an ongoing body of work based on the Mexican artist.

 

I was inspired by a quote from Frida... In 1953 following the amputation of her foot, she wrote in her diary the following words...

So, I made fantasy shoes to be her "Wings to Fly". This is my display at the exhibition which opened today.

 

But this is not all there is to see... There is fabulous wearable art from my friend Gill.

 

Super quilt and panels based on gardens and ironwork from someone else you might know...Jill.

 

Gorgeous colours from Jenny and Margaret.

And these stunning cushions... From Jill again... she's so clever! And that is just a small taster of what's to see at the exhibition.

 

As well as exhibiting I have been teaching at the show too, so spent a whole day this week just putting together kits for stitched needle cases. The first class this afternoon went well and there is another to come on Sunday.

 

We also woke to water pouring down the light fitting into our dining room this morning... but the less said about that the better! (problem now fixed and everything is drying out before the ceiling gets repainted. The entire house smells damp!)

 



But on a cheerier note, as so many of you sent good wishes... I'll finish with a photo of the newly weds... James and Lizzie by the Rialto bridge. I've just realised that I've become a step-mother-in-law!

Have a good weekend!

Funny Old Friday

I seem to have lost my motivation to blog. I take photos and think this will be good to blog about... and then I can't be bothered. I'm finding it hard to believe that anyone else could possibly be interested in where I've been, what I've been doing or what I've got to say! I'm feeling a bit like that generally about everything, which I'm sure has a lot to do with my (nearly but not quite) empty nest this week. Struggling to be bothered...

 

 

On Tuesday we went into London and Jacob came in to meet us for lunch. It was a good compromise, with neither us going to Guildford to see him, nor him coming back home. And he's doing okay... settling in day by day. The reason for our trip was to go up the Shard. This had been my birthday present to Stewart, and after all the sunny days this summer we'd booked to go on Tuesday... a very drizzly, grey and misty day!

 

But despite the weather it was still brilliant and worth doing. The views were amazing and we could imagine how fabulous they would be on a clear day.

 

We then had a wander over Tower bridge to see the absolutely stunning installation of poppies at the Tower Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red. It was breathtaking and thought provoking. And I especially thought of my Dad, who served his national service with the Royal Fusiliers at the Tower of London. He would have celebrated his 81st birthday this week and yesterday it was two years since he died. Probably another reason I feel out of sorts.

 

So, I'm still distracting myself by working in my sketchbook and really enjoying the process. I'd forgetten the pleasure of losing oneself in a sketchbook. And maybe soon when I feel more enthusiastic about blogging and everything else I'll show you the results of this sketchbook work. Have a good weekend.

 

"Feet why do I need them when I have wings to fly" Frida Kahlo 1953

Frida

My book last month for The Year in Books was Dear Life by Alice Munro. I had such high hopes for this - a winner of the Man Booker International prize by a Nobel Prize winning author, with some great reviews. I really wanted to like it - but I didn't like it at all.

 

 

I admit I'm not that keen on short stories at the best of times but I found these completely flat for want of a better description. I could appreciate the cleverly crafted prose and the economy of language but I found nothing appealling about this collection of dismal stories about dismal, shallow, sad people. We read it for our village book club and it wasn't that popular with anyone there either. In fact, I still haven't finished it... although I managed to finish two others in the middle of reading this. Both really good crime thrillers, one set in London and the other in Cambridge - both very familiar settings.  I thoroughly enjoyed both and I'm looking forward to reading the second in each series. Maybe I'm just not intellectual enough for Nobel Prize winners!

My book choice for July is a biography - Frida by Heyden Harrera. I've already started it and I'm already enjoying it.

 

 

And it has inspired me to finish off a doll that I started about two years ago.

 

I know it must be a long time because I only really make dolls when I'm teaching a doll making class and it is a really long time since I last taught doll making.

 

She has been sat on my shelf all this time needing those finishing touches... and I've ignored her.

 

But a combination of clearing out my studio, seeing the Made in Mexico exhibition, making flowers with the Young Embroiderers and starting the biography of Frida Kahlo has prompted me to get her finished

 

And although I'm never that keen on dolls, I do quite like her!

 

I've got some other Frida Kahlo Inspired work waiting to be finished so maybe I'll get going on that too!