Thursday, December 16, 2010

Happy Christmas Everyone - Back on 9 January (still trying to complete my sketchbook)

Well, we are ankle deep in snow if not knee deep...yet. We are being threatened with a lot more snow though and extremely cold temperatures. The temperature locally was -19.6C last night and that is very cold for the south-east of England. The country has drawn to full stop of course; what else would we expect. We don't do extremes of weather here. There may even be some left for Christmas Day which would be amazing.

This is my last blog post until the New Year as I am getting very behind with my Sketchbook Project and have just had an email to say that they have to have a posting date of 15 January and that is not that far away now. I don't want to miss the boat after all my hard work.

I enjoyed drawing this. I used an old image of my lovely cat Tiggy who is sadly no longer with us, but I changed his white bits around. The tree is quirky and a last minute addition but I like it. It looked a bit bare and needed an extra something and there is always a tree to fit in my world.


This is UFO from way back. It wasn't working and I decided to leave it for a few months and then reconsider it. It turned out to be a lot longer than a few months and I am still not convinced by it. I think the boat is too pale and needs more work on it. Still, this is it for now.

The new title is The Hitchhiker


Here is another drawing from my Sketchbook Project book. It is coming along but more slowly than I would like. I quite like this one. It will probably find its way to being a proper drawing eventually.


I love these two Hildegard Van Heerden etchings. I really like her restrained palette and simplified, elegant forms.

Beached


Pillow Talk


Well, the unthinkable has happened again in the UK in these times of global warming. We have had snow. Heavy falls for the second year running. Very unusual, and of course, the country has fallen apart again. Still, it does produce some very pretty photos and a good excuse to post them.









I found this gorgeous piece of vintage Javan batik at the K&SS. It was in a display by Diane and Jim Gaffney connected with natural dyes. It is 70 to 80 years old. It reminded me of a very detailed woodcut drawing, with lovely folky overtones.


Selvedge is one of my favourite magazines. I was missing a few copies but since my last visit to the Knitting and Stitching Show in October, I now have the complete collection. Below is a little taster of them for those who are not familiar. It is basically a textile orientated mag but has articles on many associated topics. Absolutely love it as it has masses of inspiration and interviews with artists and crafters.






I bet teatime is great fun at Mark Dally's house. He produces those gorgeous black and white graphic ceramics. He is a master of the quirky touch too. Go and have a look at his clocks on his website here. They are really lovely. I have come across his work in the past at the wonderful Art In Clay at Hatfield and have always been amazed at his talent. I see in his profile he mentions being inspired by Ridgeways "Homemaker" range. I remember my aunt having that particular range and being intrigued myself by the illustrative quality. In those days they were sold in Woolworth for very little. Nowadays of course, with the great interest in mid-century design, they are quite collectable.

Leggy Stencil Tap Top Teapot


Calligraphy Teapot


The beautiful artwork below is by printmaker Judy Attwood. Judy was born in England but now lives in Greece where she is inspired by the rhythms of the natural world to produce her lovely and detailed etchings. Her swimming duck is my favourite but you can find more of her work on the following sites: PaintingsILove here, ArtSlant here, The Gallery Workshop here and Painters Online here.

Goose


Flower At Dafni


Lemon Tree


Swimming Duck

33 comments:

Caroline said...

Ah, lovely Tiggy - what a delightful illustration! Your photos of the snow are beautiful - but those temperatures sure are cold - brrrr! I'd like to curl up by the fire and work my way through your magazines - they look wonderful! Of course, I'd have to have a cuppa - I'll choose the tap teapot - it's great! Well, Cathy, here's wishing you and your family a very happy Christmas! I do hope you manage to get your sketchbook filled in time - it's certainly fascinating so far - this one with the girl with a birdhouse is fun! I'm having doubts about my ability to fill so many pages in time, but will try!! Thanks for all the interesting posts this year.x

Penny said...

We are cold here in OZ, some snow in the mountains but heat expected for Christmas. I look forward to your posts in 2011, they are always so full of inspiration, I try not to use them myself but sometimes something creeps in!
Merry Christmas.

A bird in the hand said...

Merry Christmas, Cathy!
Stay warm...
Love, Colette

Aarti Badamikar said...

Merry Christmas :)

Cathy said...

Hi Caroline. I really hope you are able to complete your sketchbook in time. I am glad I rebound mine with my own thick sketch paper because it enabled me to reduce the original number of pages by half. I would never have been able to complete the original number. Glad you like the kitty illustration and the girl with the birdhouse. I really enjoyed doing that one.

Have a very Happy Christmas and a great New Year.

Cathy said...

Hi Penny. A very Happy Christmas to you too. It seems strange to think of hot weather at Christmas but I believe that in Oz lots of people celebrate the day with a barbie on the beach..haha. Have a great time wherever you are.

Cathy said...

Thanks Colette. Return greetings for Christmas to you and your family. I hope you keep warm where you are too. Much colder than us I am sure.

Cathy said...

Happy Christmas Aarti and I hope 2011 will be very kind to you.

Crafty Green Poet said...

Wonderful portrait of Tiggy, what a lovely cat and a beautifully composed picture! I love your snow photos too (climate change could mean the loss of the Gulf Stream which would mean more colder winters in UK!).

I love those teapots too, so stylish!

Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

Acornmoon said...

Another visual feast to keep me going to the New Year, I particularly love the fabric design. Your drawings are lovely too. Thanks Cathy for being so creative and sharing your inspirations with us. All my very best wishes for Christmas x

Cathy said...

Thanks very much Juliet. I hope you and your family have a great Christmas too. I see what you mean about the Gulf Stream. I guess I forgot about that when thinking about our winters.

Cathy said...

Thank you Valerie. Glad you have enjoyed my posts during the year. I have certainly enjoyed visiting your visually lovely and interesting blog.I wish you and your family a great Christmas and New Year.

Gillian said...

Merry Christmas Cathy. Love your Tiggy drawing! I really enjoyed reading your blog again this year and thanks for all your wonderful commments over at iheartcrafts. G

Chatters said...

Happy Yule time and Christmas Cathy. Hope you have a lovely holiday. Loved your post as always. Beautiful winter pics. Wish I could get out and about more. I have awful flu type thin. Been in bed all day today. Can't sleep and can't settle because I am up and down, aching to much. Anyway as you can see feeling a bit sorry for myself. But I did enjoy Yule with my husband

ale balanzario said...

Thanks for another beautiful Post, its always a treat for myself to visit your blog.
Have a Merry Christmas, same to your family!!

Ale.

andamento said...

I love your snowy photos they're very atmospheric.

I hope you have a lovely Christmas Cathy. "See" you again in 2011...

Anne.

Old World Primitives said...

Hi Sally,
I am jealous of all of your pretty snow! We haven't gotten any so far this year. I really like all of your drawings in this post, especially The Hitchhiker, with or without a darker boat. :) Merry Christmas!

Stephanie

ale balanzario said...

Merry Christmas Cathy
my best wishes for a good 2011 to you.

Love
Ale.

~ Phyllis ~ said...

Merry Christmas to you Cathy.
Your snow pictures are beautiful. Brrr, stay warm
Selvedge Magazine looks like a very interesting magazine. I wonder if it's available in the US?
I'll have to do some searching.

Emeniano A Somoza Jr said...

Gorgeous photos of your snow there. And wonderfully fitting captions, a pleasant marriage of text and visuals.

Cathy said...

You are very welcome Gillian. I love reading your blog to see what delights you have found for us. Have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Cathy said...

Hello Amanda. Keep warm and rest if you are poorly. Sleep is a great restorative - and a sip of two of something "medicinal" is good too...haha.

Cathy said...

Thank you very much Ale. A wonderful Christmas and New Year to you and your family.

Cathy said...

Thanks very much Anne. Keep warm up there in the freezing north. It is bad enough down here but you must be really cold...brrr.

Cathy said...

Hi Stephanie. I bet you will get some before long though. Ours has gone mushy and horrible now. I loved it when it was pristine and white. Have a great Christmas and New Year.

Cathy said...

Hi Phyllis. Selvedge is gorgeous and you would love it. I am sure it must be somewhere in the US. Have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Cathy said...

Hello Moonbeams. Thank you for visiting and commenting. Your poetry is very meaningful. Have a very happy Christmas and New Year.

LOVE STITCHING RED said...

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas Cathy. All best wishes for 2011, Carolyn xx

Cathy said...

We did thank you very much Carolyn. I hope you and yours did too. I wish you great success and a very happy 2011.

mycuriousteaparty said...

Hi Cathy

Great post, are the T Pots yours?
Love your drawing 'The Hitchhiker.

Happy New Year.

~ Julie

Cathy said...

Happy New Year Julie. I wish they were mine. I think they are gorgeous.

ArtPropelled said...

Hi Cathy, while browsing through all the beautiful images (love the teapots), I was thinking you might enjoy Tumblr as a place to keep your image archives. You could become addicted however!

Cathy said...

Hi Robyn. Don't tell me anything to get me further addicted to computers please..haha. I spend so much time on here as it is. Mind you I may just have a little look...!