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!

Thoughts on the Future

I have been participating in Cambridge Open Studios since 2005 only having missed two years. The number of visitors is always fairly consistent, never huge crowds with living in a village outside of Cambridge centre but always enough to make it worthwhile. There have been years when no-one has turned up for the first few hours and I have wondered if I have opened on the wrong weekend but it always evens out in the end. I mostly sell enough to make me feel good about what I'm making and to cover my costs (participating in Open Studios is not cheap). But this year felt like a disaster... where was everyone?

My visitor numbers were less than half the usual number overall and mostly consisted of people I already knew. with the exception of about three or four people. Everyone who came was a great support, even the man who opened with "Are you the cross stitch lady?" was enthusiastic when I explained how I work. I sold a few bits and pieces too but still it felt soul destroying. And although I would make and create things even if it wasn't my job I can't help feeling it is all a waste of time. I guess we all need validation for what we do.

The feeling has been compounded this week on finding out a course I thought I was teaching had been cancelled and no one had thought to tell me. Made me feel really valued let me tell you!

I'm sure these feelings will pass soon but right now I'm wondering how to get rid of the huge amount of stuff I have made and accumulated over the years, especially in light of the fact we hope to downsize in the not too distant future. I contemplated a skip... a yard sale... giving it away to passing strangers (except we don't really have many of those in the village) but in the end I thought I would do a little Etsy shop update starting with my latest mosaic makes. I did in fact sell a few of the mosaic pendants over the weekend but the rest have ended up in the shop. I'll decide how to deal with the rest of the stuff later!

I was also considering a drastic career change... Brain surgeon? Bus driver? Bar maid? But then an email popped into my inbox this evening with an offer that might... just might make things look a bit rosier in the future. But you'll have to wait to hear about that!

Sitting Doing Nothing...

So here I am again, sitting around for another weekend of Open Studios... quiet so far and although I know it is still early in the day (most visitors tend to come in the afternoon) it is hard not to feel a little despondent. So much work goes into these events that I do wonder if it is worth it. 

I'd like people to come along just to see my new discovery... I can see me doing a lot more mosaics in the future. In-between the weddings I just happened to have another birthday and inspired after my day making mosaics with my friend Terry I asked for some basic supplies to get me started. I just happened to have a handful of these blank wooden gift tags, like you do, so decided to try decorating them with mosaic to make little pendants.

Why start with a simple project when I could be doing something intricate and fiddly... well I know why now!  Not to be deterred I persevered and have made sixteen little pendants which have been added to my Open Studios sales table.

Not perfect by any means but passable enough judging by the reaction they have received on Instagram (I'm gina_ferrari_art on Instagram since you ask)

And if they don't sell this weekend they might make an appearance in my Etsy shop next week.

Although I might keep one or two for myself. This one goes particularly well with my new top.

And of course, should you be reading this and be within spitting distance of South Cambridgeshire I'm open until 6pm this evening and all day Sunday too.

There are textiles and paintings to see on the walls.

And lots to tempt you should you be in the mood for spending, although of course no obligation to buy... just come along to say hello!

Another five and a half hours to go... I hope someone turns up!

Create Art with all your Heart

A couple weeks ago when I was teaching my Stitched Graffiti class, one of the students brought in a copy of this book - The Art of Whimsical Lettering. I don't often buy new art books these days but I liked the look of this so decided to treat myself.

It's full of some fabulous ideas for using lettering creatively... The sort of thing I can happily lose several hours over! I decided as this was my last weekend of Open Studios I wouldn't let the lack of interest in my first Open Studios weekend get me down and in a fit of enthusiasm I made a special menu of the cake and cordial available.

And then I got totally absorbed and carried away and made a wrapper for my collection tin too.

By the end of Saturday I wondered why I had bothered... Seven hours sitting around all day for just three visitors! Don't get me wrong, those three visitors were very nice and very much appreciated... But three? Really? I'd thought twelve in a day on the previous weekend was pretty poor given that in all the time I've done Open Studios I've averaged twenty five people a day. Suggestions that it might have been the weather/school holidays/Wimbledon/formula one/Tour de France etc didn't really go far to explain what was happening because Cambridge Open Studios always takes place over four weekends in July, so it always coincides with school holidays and Wimbledon etc. and in ten years I've seen every cold, hot, wet and windy weather combination you can imagine. It just felt utterly soul destroying. But I got up this morning and being a bit like Tigger, always ready to bounce back, I decided to follow my own advice...

Which was just as well, because today the house was buzzing! Visitor numbers were still lower than usual but there was a constant trail throughout the day. People stopped to chat, asked interesting questions and have booked on my classes. They sat and ate cake, talked to each other, patted the dog, gave generously to my charity box... And have even bought art! It has lifted my mood and I'm not quite ready to give up yet.

After all... I've got my new lettering obsession to keep me occupied now!

Open Studios

Well that's another weekend of Open Studios done and dusted... My tenth!

In all the years I have been doing it I've never had such a quiet weekend, whether through recessions or other Wimbledon finals weekends, the number of visitors will fluctuate a little but nearly always average out to the same for each weekend. This year I was down to half the usual number.

I had old work and new work on display... Plenty to see and all for free. Although there was even plenty to buy should that be a reason for visiting.

Yet even the promise of cake didn't lure people in... On Saturday only one slice was taken!

But those visitors who did come were much appreciated and all were lovely about my work. I'm opening the doors again in two weeks time so maybe it will be busier then... I can only hope!

In the middle of it all on Sunday afternoon we had this... No you are not seeing double...

My brother came over with Hector's brother Herbie and for two hours there was absolute puppy mayhem... They were so excited to see each other!

It took all yesterday morning to get the floor clean and then this morning Hector did this... he was helping me with the gardening! He likes gardening... he's also dug up all my beetroot having taken a bite from each one and has now discovered the courgettes!

Never a dull moment eh!

Changes

I bet you all thought I had forgotten about my flower brooch giveaway. And you'd be right! Well, I hadn't completely forgotten but it had rather slipped to the back of my mind. But in fact it doesn't really matter because as today is my birthday it seems more appropriate to be giving something away today. Judging by the comments there wasn't a huge demand for one of these little brooches, but names were put into a hat and a winner was drawn... Katy M. I'll be in touch about making you a red and/or turquoise brooch!

On the 23rd of this month I will have been blogging for nine years and things have changed dramatically in that time. In the early days, comments were few and far between and I was happy to have three or four per post... Until I held a giveaway and suddenly I had fifty plus comments! Perhaps it has something to do with what I was giving away but more likely the nature of blogging and bloggers has changed. There are very few of us still doing it after all this time. Bloggers come and go and new people come on the scene but very few of the people I knew from the early days are still posting regularly. Other social media platforms seem to have taken over. I'm still in contact with many people on Facebook and I'm aware that many are around on Twitter which I still don't understandt. Recently I discovered Instagram which I really like... Until they changed the app for the iPad and I can no longer post. I know I can use my phone but I just don't. I don't use it for photos and more often than not the battery is dead just when I want a crucial shot! Anyone else have this problem with Instagram on an iPad or. Is it just me? Whatever else may come and go I'll probably still go on blogging because I like the fact that it is a record for me... And I quite enjoy the reflective process of writing. And I'll probably still give things away occasionally... whether you want them or not!

This week, with only four days until I open my house for Open Studios, I was doing a bit of tidying up and found a dozen or so of these 6" wooden frames. I was on the verge of packing them off to the charity shop when I thought they would be good for an idea I'd had to make "stitched tattoos". Five hours later and my stitched tattoo had become a stitched tattoo portrait! Suddenly my head was swarming with all sorts of ideas for others I could make and and I felt an old familiar excitement return at the thought of what I might do... but of course, with only three days to do it all. Blogging may have changed but I haven't... always more productive with a tight deadline!

As a result, I have spent most of my birthday making portrait no. 2 "The Stars Look Very Different Today". Stewart has already named them my "Dead Singers" series!

I've got some of my own ideas for others... What about you... Who do you think I should do next?

I shall leave you with some images of some of the beautiful flowers I have received for my birthday... I have lovely friends and family!

Lots of beautiful flowers but no cake... which was entirely my choice as I am still trying to shift the several pounds gained since breaking my ankle.

We are going out for a meal this evening though and I'm looking forward to that!