Venturing into the Unknown

I realised the other day I have been writing this blog for thirteen years this month, which coincided with me thinking again that perhaps it is time I stopped. I'm no longer very sure who my target reader is or whether they are still reading and I am no longer very sure why I am writing. As I write less and less frequently it is feeling as though the blog is gradually fading away and maybe that's the way it should end rather than with a big announcement from me. So I'm not here to to say that this is my last post (although it could be) but I'm not sure when I'll be back again.

Last time I was here I spoke of feeling a bit 'flat' and I know a few of you identified with that feeling. We're all getting a bit fed up with the current situation yet know it's far from over. But I'm not one to stay feeling that way for long and the last couple of weeks have been quite exciting. The Open Windows project was hugely successful and far exceeded my expectations. I ended up creating over fifty drawing in the end, of 71 people (five of them twice), 11 dogs (2 of them twice!), 2 cats, 2 goats, an owl, a budgie, a sock puppet and Iggle Piggle! I sat outside and spent my weekends drawing, stopping to chat to visitors who came to see the portraits as well as those just passing. We have got to know our neighbours better and made new friends in the village. It became quite the talking point.

We were lucky with the weather too and of the eight days it was only last Saturday that was wet. I started out sitting outside but as the rain started I retreated to just inside my front door.

I sat for a while working (more about that in a minute) but as the rain became heavier it was obvious that no-one was going to be hanging around looking at pictures in my window, so I called it a day. But Sunday I was back outside for a great last day. If it hadn't been for the virus, Open Studios would have taken place as usual and I would never have come up with the crazy idea of filling the forty panes in my living room window with portraits of friends and neighbours. Sometimes it takes a change of circumstance to make us think outside the box and venture into the unknown.

And so to my next venture into the unknown which is online teaching. I had occasionally thought it was something I might try one day, but there was never any real incentive until of course, all of my face to face teaching stopped. And so for the past three weeks every spare minute has been spent recording and editing videos and adapting one of my most popular courses into an online course which goes live this Saturday.

It is rather exciting but slightly nerve wracking too... I haven't quite finished editing and uploading the videos (that's what I was doing while the rain kept me inside my doorway at the weekend). Enrolment for my Machine Textured Landscapes course has already opened and I'm discovering how much time it takes to answer all the questions that keep coming in and keeping an eye on everything. A bit like walking around a classroom checking on everyone I suppose. So although it has been keeping me awake at night it is mostly VERY exciting!

So if you fancy learning how to stitch your own landscape like the one below you can find out more by clicking on this link

Machine Textured Landscapes

So here I am venturing into unknown territory, not sure what the future is going to hold... and already thinking about the next big new idea. So maybe I shouldn't stop blogging just yet or you will never find out what that is. And it's a good one!

Out of Sorts

How are you all? Well, busy, staying sane I hope.

I feel I'm managing two out of three most of the time but life does feel strange and I feel a little adrift and out of sorts. We are fortunate that we are healthy and our family are all well and we live in a beautiful area where it's easy to get out and walk or meet up with friends and family at a distance so I'm not really complaining. We are a lot better off than most but life is feeling a little flat.

Time to focus on the good things I think...

The first couple of weekends of our alternative to open studios have gone well and although the first weekend was a little breezy I managed to sit outside and chat to loads of people who came to see my portraits... all at a safe distance of course!

You can see all the portraits here.

40 portraits

And in between visitors there was time to catch up with my art journal.

There was a trip out to Aldeburgh for my birthday. A friend had been the week before and said it was relatively quiet so we decided to risk it. It was another breezy day but we managed a lovely long walk along the coast.

I always like to see the magnificent sculpture The Scallop by Maggi Hambling and just breath the sea air and listen to the sounds of the shore... waves breaking and gulls calling.

We ate fish and chips from the bag, sitting on the prom, which always makes them taste better. And although there were people were around it was easy to keep our distance and feel safe.

And when we got home there was the most amazing birthday cake that Stewart had ordered for me. Fortunately we had people to share it with and slices were delivered, although we still managed several slices each. My dear husband doesn't believe in buying small when large is on offer!

I'm enjoying a lot more reading and I'm currently enjoying Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo although I don't think I will finish it in time for our reading group Zoom meeting on Wednesday.

Today I actually picked some blackberries and although they will be enjoyed for breakfast tomorrow it is way too early in the year for blackberry picking! The world is definitely out of sorts... it's not only me!

And great excitement because tomorrow I have a hair appointment, which feels shallow and trivial but I can't wait. I might even manage a bit of lippy and something other than comfy trousers, although as I will be wearing my face mask, lipstick might be surplus to requirements!

So not much to complain about really... trying to live for the moment and not worry too much about the uncertainty of our future.

Forty Portraits

Hello! How are you all?

I really thought when we went into lockdown that I would return to regular blogging, maybe a couple of times a week but it would seem that the opposite has been true. Maybe there's just not much to say as the days take on a repetitive quality. A bit like my daily phone call to my Mum where the conversations follow the same pattern... "Hi, how are you?", "I'm fine, how are you?", Good, thank you. Nothing new happening here", " No, nothing much happening here either but at least the sun is shining." etc. etc. 

My last post was on the last day in May and here I am just about sneaking in on the last day of June. To be fair though, I have been rather busy. One of the events to be cancelled this year was Cambridge Open Studios. It was disappointing but obviously it is not a good idea to open up homes and studios to the general public amidst a global pandemic. Instead one of the members has organised an alternative event, Cambridge Open Windows. About 150 members are taking part by display art in their windows during the weekends of July, for people to see whilst out walking, creating an art trail. It's a great idea but a slight problem for me is that my only street facing windows are comprised of several small panes, not creating a great frame for artwork. My living room window has 40 separate window panes. So I came up with the bright idea of creating 40 new artworks to fit within each pane... and then the even brighter idea of making portraits of local residents so that it wasn't just an art trail but more of a game of "Guess Who".

Well long time readers won't be surprised will they.... I'm full of bright ideas, me! And so using our villages facebook groups and word of mouth I asked people to send me a photo of themselves so that I could create small portraits. I've used pencil, pen, paint and collage to create unique portraits of people of all ages. I've discovered that drawing children is SO hard... the last thing I want to do is give people ugly children! Older faces with a bit of character (i.e wrinkles) are much easier. It has taken almost every spare minute over the past month and tonight I finished the final picture. There are 40 pictures of 58 people, eight dogs (all different breeds), two cats, an owl, a budgie and a sock monster (best not to ask). The final one was of a face I see every day. Luckily he likes it but everyone else has to wait until the weekend before they see their picture.

In other news, I helped youngest son move out of his flat, even though he had been living with us for two months during lockdown, and into a new flat share with his girlfriend. The old flat took us all day to clean. After Jacob had moved in with us, his old flatmate didn't bother to clean, wash dishes, pick anything up etc so you can imagine the mess. There have been trips to the dump (oh the queues), lots of packing and lifting and endless journeys to and fro to a deserted Cambridge. On the bright side, at least parking wasn't a problem and being in town meant we had a couple of picnics in the park with son no. two and his wife. 

My next project is online teaching and I'm developing some courses based on some of my established classes. Getting my head around the technology has been quite a learning curve but this old dog is learning some new tricks and I'm hoping to launch my first course in August. If you are remotely interested be sure to sign up to my newsletter (link in the sidebar) for the latest updates. I've been practising my video editing skills by making more free YouTube tutorials that you can find here. Please do subscribe to my channel as once I get 100 subscribers I get more flexibility in what I can do. Thank you!

So that's what I've been up to... maybe I'll be back before the end of July, but I'm not making promises!

Lockdown Cooking

How are you all? Still staying safe I hope. Despite the endless confusing information and bending of rules here in the UK (which makes me very angry but I'm not going there) we are pretty much living our lives much the same as the past ten weeks. We're staying at home, going out for walks but keeping our distance and supermarket shopping when necessary but that's about it. We have had one or two meetings with family members over the past couple of weeks which has been wonderful seeing them after so long, but still outside and at a distance. I needed some sandpaper during the week so actually ventured out to the DIY store but on seeing the queue outside I decided I didn't need it that urgently so turned around and came back home. I have no desire to rush back to pubs and restaurants or anywhere that people are gathering. It all feels so unnecessary. The jury is still out about getting my hair cut... Stewart did seem rather alarmed when I suggested I could shave my head!

So now that the demand for scrubs has pretty much stopped and I have used up my supply of mask making elastic I'm looking at other ways to stay busy besides painting all day. I've had a couple of moderately successful sough dough loaves from my starter, which I named Vincent Van Dough, which isn't looking very lively in this photo... but it has only just been fed and returned to the fridge. But then in the heat of last week I decided I couldn't endure another summer living with the Aga turned on. I was literally wilting in the heat and seemed to have a constant headache. So we bought a portable two ring hob and the Aga went off. The kitchen is so much more comfortable and our electricity bill has dropped by 75%. I think this could be the decider for it going for good!

So what to do with poor old Vincent with no oven in which to bake bread? I do have a bread maker so decided it was worth experimenting . I mixed the dough, kneaded it and let it prove before adding it to the bread maker for the longest cycle. I cooked a brick! I was all for throwing it out but the men of the house who will eat anything decided it was worth investigating. And surprisingly it was actually okay with a good sourdough flavour and suitably chewy texture, so probably worth doing again.

But I did also discover sough dough starter makes incredible pancakes so it would appear that Vincent will live on!

I then received a wonderful surprise gift in the post from our friends in the Netherlands, who know I like cooking as much as I appreciate art... Modern Art Desserts. On seeing the wonderful Mondrian cake on the cover my heart sank a little as I thought I wouldn't be able to make any of the desserts without an oven. But on reading there were several that do not require baking.

So On Friday I made these elegant little Panne Cotta based on an artwork by Spanish artist Rosana Castrillo Diaz. A layer of coffee flavoured panne cotta set at an angle, with a layer of liqueur jelly separating it from a layer of maple syrup flavoured panne cotta. An awful lot of work and several dirty saucepans over a period of about six hours but so worth it! Only in lockdown would I spend the time making such a special occasion dessert destined for our Saturday lunch but the Mondrian cake will have to wait until the autumn when the Aga goes back on.

I even managed to find some edible lustre dust to make the jelly layers sparkle.

As well as cooking there has been a fair bit of reading and I have just finished Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, which I loved. I was so engrossed in the characters that I didn't want it to end so I have immediately picked up a God in Ruins, despite having read it only a few years ago with our reading group. Not a sequel exactly but the continuing story of one of the central characters from Life After Life. It's not often I read a contemporary novel more than once but I'm enjoying it just as much second time around and it's made me think of other books I might want to reread.

Our reading group has continued to meet via zoom calls although it's not quite so easy to have a discussion. As it happens our book for June is another Kate Atkinson - Big Sky, the latest in the Jackson Brodie series. Have you read anything good lately? Or cooked anything exciting either for that matter?

I've not been great at keeping up with blogs or replying to comments etc lately so do forgive me and pop by and say hello! I miss you!

Lockdown Life

Well hello! Despite my absence on this blog I'm still here, still keeping virus free, and ridiculous though sounds for someone who is suddenly left with no work, I'm really busy. The days seem to fly by. Most days you will find me at my sewing machine where I have moved on to making scrubs and gowns for a local group that is supplying hospitals, hospices and the like. If you had told me three months ago I would have become an expert at fashioning garments from duvet covers I would have thought it a ridiculous idea... but that is what I am doing. I reckon I'd give the contestants on the Sewing Bee a run for their money! I've lost count of how many sets I have now made but enough to have given myself a whole new wardrobe should I wish to dress in old sheeting. I have the fabric waiting to be cut out for two new dresses for myself but they will have to wait. After all I'm not going anywhere so don't need anything new to wear.

I have been enjoying customising the pockets and making my own labels. Totally silly, as this probably takes as much time as the rest of the garment but it keeps me amused and hopefully brings a smile to someone else's face too.

My favourite set of scrubs so far have been this Winnie the Pooh set. Some of the hospitals only want plain garments but others are quite happy to take the patterned ones.

It seems wrong to me that our key workers should be relying on volunteers to make protective garments from cast off bedding... but they do and so I am happy to help.

When I'm not making gowns or scrubs I have been making lots more masks... over 50 at the last count. These have gone to family and friends and whoever happens to ask for them. Some people have asked to buy them but despite my lack of income at the moment, it feels wrong to profit from the current situation.... not a sentiment shared by everyone as apparently masks have been selling for extortionate prices on the internet. But I have had some interesting gifts and exchanges (as well as donations to charity) for some of the masks I have made... wine, flowers, freshly laid eggs, a chilli plant, home grown garlic... and wellies! I rather like the idea of this barter system! If you want to make your own I have a tutorial here... just make the elastic a little bit longer... about 6"

Sew Your Own Mask

When I'm not sewing you can find me pottering in the garden or painting in my studio... I'm now starting to put some of my paintings for sale so be sure to follow me on Instagram if you are interested. I'm taking part in something called the artist support pledge. Artists who have found their income suddenly depleted are offering work for sale for less than £200 and once they reach £1000 in sales they pledge to spend £200 on the work of another artist. Some artists are obviously more successful than others... I've still a way to go! 

There has also been a bit of baking. I have finally learned how to make sourdough bread and there is a jar of starter languishing in my fridge ready for the next loaf. And in the evenings I'm usually knitting or crocheting whilst watching something on Netflix or the like.

My latest make was this little cardigan for our newest arrival. Our granddaughter, Reagan, was born a week ago. It's hard not to have baby cuddles with her or her little cousin who is now two and half months already... but better to know they are staying safe at home. We are hoping by the time the third grandchild arrives this year (in August) we might be able to see them all.

So that's pretty much my life in Lockdown at the moment. We might have been asked to 'Stay Alert" but but we're continuing to 'Stay at Home' unless we have to go out. How are you doing?

Going With the Flow

Hello! How's everyone doing?

I thought I would be doing lots of writing on this blog but it turns out that's not the case. I just haven't felt like it. Just like I've not felt like making artisan bread, doing online yoga and pilates classes, finishing all my sewing and knitting projects, learning a new language and cutting my own hair. Some days it feels an achievement just to get through to the end of the day but I'm learning to go with the flow and do what I feel like doing rather than what I feel I should be doing.

The lovely weather over the Easter weekend made me feel like tackling a garden project and this bench seat was in dire need of some restoration. I managed to scrounge a couple of pieces of sandpaper from a friend when I was delivering her shopping to her doorstep... she threw them at me from a safe distance. And fortunately there was enough paint left in the can from when it was first painted many years ago.

I have the same aversion to sandpaper as I do to sandy beaches but I persevered and a couple of coats later it is almost as good as new. I managed to paint the dog's ear to match but we won't mention that. I had to have a sit down and pour myself a glass of Prosecco as a reward!

We also managed to organise a family zoom call on Easter Sunday with all six grown up children and various partners plus the two grandchildren... although the six week old stayed asleep on his Mum's lap throughout. It was lovely to see everyone together. I know I'm not the only one to be missing the family.

Silly hats/masks were optional... as was the green paint up the arm. It came off eventually.

This week has been a slow burn but I have made scrub bags for the NHS from an old flat sheet.

And masks for us too...

Although I regretted mentioning that on social media as it seems everyone has an opinion as to their usefulness. I agree they offer no protection to the wearer but the general opinion seems to be (and this is from a couple of nurse friends) they help prevent passing the virus on. It also stops me touching my face when I'm at the supermarket and hopefully gives some sort of reminder to others to keep their distance. Although I'm constantly amazed at the number of people who have no concept of two metres. One chap actually brushed past me at least three times yesterday, close enough that I could have punched him. I was very tempted and I've been googling cattle prods since coming home!

I also quite like the Dick Turpin look and feel like I'm about to hold up a bank!

 I have been drawing pages into my art journal on a regular basis which I'm hoping we'll look back on one day when all this is a distant memory. It seems like a good way to keep a record of what we are going through, both the good and the bad. I don't think you can watch the video of my pages here but it is on my Facebook page and Instagram

Anyway... that's what I've been up to. Now if you excuse me I'm off to take my advance yoga class whilst brushing up on my Cantonese. Actually no...  I don't feel like it so will probably pour a glass of something and see what's on the telly!

Stay home, stay well everyone!

Appliqué Tutorials

How are you all copying as we enter our third week of lockdown?

Like many people I'm up and down. There are busy days and slow days, but mostly very long days. I relish my daily dog walks and I'm grateful that we live where we do and that it's possible to walk for miles and hardly see a soul. And when we do see others it's a chance to wave and have a chat from a distance. But like many others I'm also struggling with the fact that I no longer have work, which has not only meant no structure to my days but being self employed, also means no income.

To fill my time, I'm teaching myself new skills and have been posting regular mini video art tutorials on Instagram and Facebook, as well as putting them on my YouTube channel. It all feels very scary and I'm learning as I go but it's also good fun. But I'm also starting to think about how I might find ways to fill the shortfall in my earnings

I thought that one way might be to share share some of my old tutorials and so have decided to make my seasonal appliqué hoop PDFs available here with a Pay What You Can system for as long as we are in lockdown. Each one is a fully illustrated guide to creating your own seasonal hoop, complete with traceable patterns. The patterns could also be printed out and coloured in if you have children at home.

At the bottom of this post you will find a PayPal button and all I ask is that if you are able to make a small payment in return for downloading any of the tutorials, then please do. Of course I appreciate that times are hard for everyone right now and if you can't afford to pay anything at the moment, then you may download the patterns for free with my blessing and I hope it gives you something creative to fill your days. We could all do with more creativity!

The spring hoop is perfect for this time of year, especially Easter and I think I will probably hang mine in the window this coming weekend.

Click on the link below for your download.

Spring Hoop PDF

The summer hoop features beach huts and hazy summer days.

You can find the download for the summer hoop here:

Summer Hoop PDF

The Autumn hoop features berries and seeds as well as a little fox

You can find the download for the autumn hoop by clicking here:

Autumn Hoop PDF

And finally the winter hoop features a suitably snowy scene.

Although each design is intended to be displayed as a hoop to hang on the wall, they could be adapted to fit in a regular picture frame or possibly made to decorate a cushion or a bag too.

You can find the winter hoop download here

Winter Hoop PDF

I have been selling these patterns in my Etsy shop but I have deactivated them while I have the downloads available here. You can find my PayPal button below and thank you for your support.

If you have any questions, just leave a comment below... and of course if you make up any of the patterns I would love to see them!

Wishing you all a happy lock downed Easter... We are attempting a family zoom call  on Sunday with fourteen of us!

Gina x