Winter Tightens Its Grip

Well, we are still deep in snow at the moment. This is the second fall we have had this winter. The first day was exquisite but it has gradually gone down hill since then. Our friendly neighbourhood birds are voraciously hungry and I am having to restock the bird tables twice a day. It makes me laugh to see them expending valuable energy chasing each other away from the food even though there is plenty for everyone. Interestingly enough, they only seem to chase their own species.

I decided to give the paints an airing this week so this is a watercolour and gouache piece called Pale Winter.

and here is the sketch where it began. The geese trio I photgraphed on one of my forays to the local park in the autumn.

This is a digital piece called "Deer Archetype" although the deer is rendered in pen and ink.

The beautifully surreal paintings below are the work of Irish born artist George Callaghan. He now lives in Tasmania but returns to Ireland regularly. You can find lots more of his work here and here at whiteimage.com.

The Antrim Coast, Moonlight

Down By The River

Village In The Snow

We went for a lovely long snowy walk yesterday and fed the birds along the way. The fast moving rivers were unfrozen but the lakes had a covering of ice. The sky was heavily overcast and we were expecting snow all day but only a very small covering appeared overnight. The children are all back to school now after an extra, post-Christmas week off. We had a brief snow -free week and then we had an even heavier fall to replace the first one, but there might be a hint of a thaw in the wind over the coming week.

These snowy pictures are from our first heavy fall of snow.

I often buy Magic Patch magazine even though I don't quilt. It has some beautiful photographs of quilts and this month I spotted a very talented fibre artist called Lorraine Roy. Lorraine is a Canadian who is greatly inspired by nature and she brings that love into her gorgeous quilted wall hangings. She has developed quite a complex technique which involves lots of tiny pieces of fabric and thread. I won't go into detail about this because she explains it very well on her website. Her website displays her work beautifully and if you click on the thumbnails you can get an enlarged version. She has worked lots of tree designs which I find particularly interesting. You can find her site here.

Sycamore

Red Mulberry

I read about The Keeping Quilt on another blog and as the author was very impressed with the illustrations I decided to get myself a second hand copy from Amazon for less than £2.00. It is a delightful story of a Russian Jewish immigrant family who pass the quilt down four generations and it is variously used as a wedding canopy, table cloth, blanket etc. The beautiful illustrations are pencil and only the quilt is coloured. It is a lovely book and I am very pleased with it. It is by Patricia Polacco and can be found here at Amazon.

Like lots of folk I love the beautifully graphic folk designs of Sanna Annuka and I couldn't wait to buy the biscuit tin in M & S with her design on. The biscuits were pretty special too....! The tin is now home to my large collection of pens, pencils etc.

The beautiful ceramics below are the work of Lisa Katzenstein. She hand paints her lovely designs of flowers and seeds on each vase. You can see Lisa's website here.

Leaning Vases

Tall Vase and Large Vase

Michael Rothenstein was an artist of many parts including oils, watercolours, collages and mixed media but it is for his printmaking that he is best known. He began printmaking at the age of 40 and also taught the discipline to others. Much of his work is abstract or semi abstract but it is his figurative birds and cockerels that I particularly like. I love the powerful colours and bold, graphic lines. You can find lots more of his art here at Michael Rothenstein.

Bird And Sun

Forest Birds

Cockerel Turning Round

Whirling Feathers

Red Leaves

It's Raining Cats And Dogs

We complain about our wet weather but compared to the poor residents of the North West of England, we have nothing to complain about. They have had dreadful flooding over wide areas and destruction of homes and livelihoods. Sadly some people have also died as a result. Sitting here in the drier south of the country we cannot contemplate how awful it must be to have your possessions ruined by filthy water. My heart goes out to them.

I decided to try my hand at another collage this week. This is the result and it is called Josephine's Tree. The lady and the tree are collaged but the background is digital. I was going to paint the background but when I started the watercolour began spreading on to the collaged leaves and spoiled them, hence the digital colour.

Here is the detail of the little bit of text I found that I thought would go quite well with the picture.

This is a digital image called Red Tree. For some reason Blogger doesn't reproduce digital red colours very well. They always look blurry. Take my word for it that there is not a blur in sight on the original.

A couple of gorgeous snowy Christmas cards for you here. They are produced by Canns Down Press who have a nice display of cards this year here.

Snow Bike - Sheila McInnes

Special Delivery - Hannah Cole


Some local shots of our beautiful autumn foliage and scenery.

My most recent charity shop find was the 1983 book below by Joyce Hargreaves published by Batsford. It is full of really interesting printmaking information and great prints. I have posted three of my favourites below. I can't post a link because I cannot find very much at all about Joyce Hargreaves although apparently she has been printmaking for many years.

Cockerel

Scraperboard Sketch

Web

Who could resist this seasonal door mat from Gisela Graham. I love it but I don't think I could wipe my feet on them. It would be cruel. They are far too cute

The weather was wet and miserable on Thursday so I decided to treat myself to a visit to my favourite local contemporary art and craft gallery. This gallery is like Dr Who's tardis. Nothing much to look at on the outside but goes on forever inside. It is a treasure trove of lovely art and crafts and cards. They have their Christmas exhibition on at the moment. Once inside I noticed a display of ink and watercolour original paintings by an artist I was blogging about last week - Flora McLachlan. What a coincidence. They were so dainty and detailed in real life. I didn't realise that she painted as well as doing printmaking. I also found a couple of her images on greetings cards by PrimeArts. You can see the others here on their website. These will definitely remain with me.

Greetings cards by Flora McLachlan

I have been reading a lot about the newly opened Anthropologie shop in London lately and after seeing these necklaces on their website I think I will have to pay them a visit soon. They have lots of gorgeous jewellery on show. This is the US link but I am sure they will have similar in Regent Street.

Idlyll Respite Neclace

Stone Garden Necklace

Cornelia Forster was a very prolific Swiss artist and craftswoman who created in many media including paintings, drawings, sculpture, tapestry, embroidery, ceramics, photography and poetry. Quite an extensive list. I don't suppose she had much time to herself. You can see a lot of her work at Adhikara here.

I really like her simple and attractive fruits below

and totally love this woodcut. It is very simple but beautiful.

I came across some exquisite stained glass on the Internet the other day. I have posted about stained glass before (and probably will again) as I absolutely love it. Traditional or contemporary, it doesn't matter. I think the colours are so vivid and vibrant that they sing. Only glass illuminated by light can give you that effect.

Here are some wonderful examples by Ann Sotheran who can be found here, Hazel Yabsley here and Angharad Whitfield here.

Angharad Whitfield - Allium

Angharad Whitfield - In The Garden (Autumn)

Angharad Whitfield - If Nothing Ever Changed There Would Be No Butterflies (Detail)
(See the complete window here)

Hazel Yabsley - Change Of Wind

Curlew by Ann Sotheran

Keeping The Kitties Calm

We had Guy Fawkes or Bonfire Night a few days ago when effigies of Guy Fawkes are burned on bonfires, and firework displays take place all over the country. As children we were thrilled with bonfire night and loved saving our money to buy as many fireworks as possible, but these days, sadly, I think it is just a waste of money. The fireworks are very expensive and many of them don't last very long. A large public display is the best way to see the very best fireworks. Personally, I prefer to stay at home and keep the cats company. One of them is deaf but the other finds the noise very distressing, especially the really loud bangers.

I haven't done much in the way of new artwork this week as I am still knee deep in Christmas cards. Making that is, not writing - that will be the next thing.

I thought I would draw some fallow deer instead of red deer for a change. I like their palmate antlers. We have herds of fallow deer in a forest estate a few miles away and it is good fun to drive through the area and see if you can spot the deer. It is a vast area so you are very lucky if you can get a glimpse of them. This picture is called "Sheltered".

This is Mischievous Bird which is the coloured version of the pen and ink drawing I did a while back.

Lindsey Hambleton is a Derbyshire artist who paints beautifully vibrant and colourful images of the English landscape. She builds up her paintings with textures and glazes which give a lovely sense of light. There is lots of gorgeous art on her website here (don't forget to check out the archives). She is also involved in painting scenes from an ancient trackway in Derbyshire called The Derbyshire Portway. Details of which can be found on the website also. I used to live in Derbyshire myself for a short period as a child and the scenery and landscapes of the Peak District are simply wonderful.

Cattle On The Horizon

Ilam Church

If you are like me and love a nice cup of tea, what could be more fun than making it in one of these gorgeous teapots. I think in this day and age of instant teabags in cups and mugs, the poor old teapot is losing ground. It is great to think nostalgically of times past when the teapot sat on its trivet, centre table, with its woolly hat on and the tea left to steep. Yuck...I loathe strong tea. I actually do make tea in a mug and the bag is left in for seconds before being whipped out. I still like the idea of a nice teapot though...! These pots are from Onehappystore here.

Funky Rooster Teapot

Garden Dance Teapot

Frizzle Chicken Teapot

I took a stroll past a local church the other day and took some pictures of my favourite lime trees. At least I think they are limes. They were just starting to turn a beautiful greeny, goldy, brown colour, and looked beautiful against the grey stone of the ancient building. The church dates from 1140 AD but stands on ground which was revered before that date.

I have discovered a new greetings card producer whose work I totally love. Her name is Diane Williams and she goes under the name of "Bird". You can check out her website here. She paints the most gorgeous animal and bird images in gouache and acrylic and also produces greetings cards from them. Below are the three I bought. There are lots more in the series but the shop I bought them from only carried about 6 different designs. If I had owned the shop I would have stocked them all. Diane's paintings are so beautifully delicate, colourful and detailed and each card is signed by her in pencil. The trouble is you would want to keep the cards for yourself instead of sending them to people.

I have used watercolour for years but never really tried gouache. If these are the results you can get I think I will have to start using them.

Geese

Cock Pheasant

Brown Hare

I first came across Grainne (pronounced Grawn-yuh) Morton at the Chelsea Craft Fair which is held in the in the Old Town Hall, King's Road, Chelsea. This was quite a few years ago because I haven't visited for some time now. Her intriguing metallic contemporary jewellery made quite an impact. She uses lots of miniature pieces of found and vintage items to create her beautifully designed work. Go here to find lots more jewellery and other items.

Row Of Flowers Brooch

Blue Horse Collage Brooch

Butterfly Bracelet

The two images below are the work of artist/printmaker Rosemary Farrer. Rosemary admits to being inspired by nature and it shows in the beautiful work on her website here.

First Worm

Snow In Kew Gardens

I love these cushions by Rustique Interiors. Lovely and "folky" tweed with appliqued hearts. They can be found, among other lovely items, here.

Some people will already know of the work of Elaine Pamphilon as she is well-known and represented in the UK's galleries. Her work is beautifully naive and contemporary and full of colour. She paints what she loves which is an excellent reason for painting. Much of her inspiration comes from the lovely coastal area around St. Ives. I love her spontaneous and free style of painting mugs especially, and, of course, her delightful birds. So quirky and whimsical. You can find a huge display of her work on her website here and also at the Bircham Gallery site here.

Blackbird And Berries

Mug And Spoon St. Ives

Molly Talking To The Birds

Sea Song At St. Ives

Bird