Creating in the dark

Pavillions of the Heart

2010-02-21T12:16:00.001Z

Pavillions of the Heart
Originally uploaded by creating in the dark

draft post

Ordinary Sparkling Moments

2008-08-09T14:31:00.004Z

Ordinary Sparkling Moments by Christine Mason Miller

As soon as I saw that Swirly Girl was publishing a book I knew I had to have a copy ... especially once I'd taken a peek inside .... so I got my head round the time difference and made sure I was at the front door of her etsy shop as soon as it was up for sale ... spurred on by the chance to get one of 25 free collages :-) ... and now I just have to wait for it to arrive - I can't wait!!

exciting news

2008-08-09T11:23:00.002Z

i followed the sun-star
Originally uploaded by creating in the dark

I've been asked if I'd like to do an exhibition in the front atrium of the place I work .... eeek! Happily my very creative co-worker has agreed to take part too - which makes it far less scary :-) It's not happening until January 2009 which leaves me plenty of time to procrastinate and still get stuff ready for the exhibition ... I got butterflies in my stomach thinking about it yesterday - what a cool opportunity!! ... oh and did I mention that it will be the *very first time* I've put any of my stuff on public display ... what a year!

it's taken a while to come back down to earth {wip}

2008-07-14T20:13:00.003Z

I set my face to the hillside
Originally uploaded by creating in the dark

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I said goodbye to all the lovely ladies I met at the Art Nest retreat in Park City, Utah ... how will I ever find the words to describe such a wonderful experience?

I headed to Utah with a bundle of impossibly high expectations and creative dreams tangled up inside me ... this was my first trip abroad on my own and it was a journey that I somehow felt I *just had to make* ... it's been tricky to explain to people why I felt I had to spend hundreds (and hundreds) of pounds to travel thousands of miles to attend a 3-day art retreat ... not an easy thing to explain to myself let alone anyone else! I can only blame the very persuasive Julie and Candice who somehow reached their caring embrace out across the Alantic and told me "keep following your brave and bold notions" ... how could I turn them down?

one small key was all she needed

2008-06-04T21:30:00.002Z

one small key was all she needed
Originally uploaded by creating in the dark

Oh my poor blog, how I've neglected you! I will be making amends over the next month or so when I share all my exciting news about my trip to the Art Nest Retreat all the way over the pond in Utah! ... More about that soon but for now here's the bundle of joining information that arrived in the mail a couple of days ago ... look at that gorgeous little key ... and the vintage fabric ... oh my word I am in for the time of my life I think :-)

discoveries

2008-02-17T14:46:00.002Z

discoveries
Originally uploaded by creating in the dark

A few weeks ago my dearheart and I spent a blissful long weekend in a dreamily swanky penthouse appartment overlooking the sea in Whitby. We had a chilled out break with lots of wandering around and nosing around in cute little shops. One of the shops we stumbled across is called "Shepherd's Purse" and it's an unexpected gem of a wholefood store with a Noa Noa outlet tucked away in the back. The photo on the righthand side is off a dressmaker's dummy in the back of the shop which had all sorts of pretty things attached to it. I loved it so much that I asked the man in the shop if he'd mind me taking photos (which he didn't). About a week later my husband told me he'd got a surprise for me ... lo and behold he'd discovered a dressmaker's dummy in the loft of our house!!! It now stands in my craft room and I'm planning to cover it in bits and pieces like the one I saw in Whitby :-)

Yesterday I caught up with Holly Becker's ever-inspiring blog (Decor8) and was thrilled to see that she's recently done a piece on dressmaking mannequins ... serendipity seems to be having a field day this month!

**Curiouser and curiouser ... I've just found out that Noa Noa have recently opened a store in Copenhagen Airport ... where I happen to be flying from next week, hurrah!**

Move out of the cage

2008-02-12T20:35:00.001Z

Heading to the sky...
Originally uploaded by betsybeth76

This picture is a little something that I created for my very lovely friend Lizbet ... I'm really pleased with how it turned out and am just about to start on part 2 :-)

Long time reader, first time interviewer

2008-02-09T14:38:00.000Z

Well the day has finally arrived ... I've put on my best frock, transformed our living room to give it an intimate 'shabby chic coffee shop/book store' vibe, dimmed the lights, closed the curtains, lit some candles and thought long and hard about what I'd like to ask my VIP guest of honour ... So please come on in, grab a floor cushion, pour yourself a cup of hot chai or a glass of red wine and make yourself at home for this very exciting interview with the king of creativity ... Dr ... Eric ... Maisel!!! [there's a ripple of enthusiastic applause and everyone raises their glasses in Eric's direction].

for Eric's arrival
(c) Persisting Stars and creating in the dark

Me: Hello Eric and thank you so much for [virtually] travelling all the way to this remotest backwater of the internet, otherwise known as my blog, to talk to me about your latest book launch: The Van Gogh Blues.

Eric (shifting back slightly in his chair and scanning the room for his nearest exit): No problem, it's a pleasure to be here.

Me: Could you start by telling me what Van Gogh Blues is about?

Eric: For more than 25 years I’ve been looking at the realities of the creative life and the make-up of the creative person in books like Fearless Creating, Creativity for Life, Coaching the Artist Within, and lots of others. A certain theme began to emerge: that creative people stand in relation to life in a particular way—they see themselves as active ‘meaning-makers’ rather than as passive folks with no stake in the world and no inner potential to realize. This orientation makes meaning a certain kind of problem for them—if they aren’t making sufficient meaning in their life, they get down. I began to see that this 'simple' dynamic helped explain why so many creative people—I would say all of us at one time or another—get the blues.

To say this more crisply, it seemed to me that the depression we see in creative people was best conceptualized as ‘existential depression’, rather than as biological, psychological, or social depression. This meant that the treatment had to be existential in nature. You could medicate a depressed artist but you probably weren’t really getting at what was bothering him, namely that the meaning had leaked out of his life and that, as a result, he was just going through the motions, paralyzed by his meaning crisis.

Me: When a creative person is feeling blue how will they know if it is 'existential depression' that they are suffering from?

Eric: When you’re depressed, especially if you are severely depressed, if the depression won’t go away, or if it comes back regularly, you owe it to yourself to get a medical check-up, because the cause might be biological and antidepressants might prove valuable. You also owe it to yourself to do some psychological work (hopefully with a sensible, talented, and effective therapist), as there may be psychological issues at play. But you ALSO owe it to yourself to explore whether the depression might be existential in nature and to see if your treatment plan should revolve around some key existential actions like reaffirming that your efforts matter and reinvesting meaning in your art and your life.

Me: So by deciding to be a ‘meaning-maker’ I'm more likely to get depressed by the very virtue of that decision. In addition to telling myself that I matter and that my creative work matters, what else can I do to ‘keep meaning afloat’ in my life? What else helps?

Eric: I think it is a great help just to have a ‘vocabulary of meaning’ and to have language you can use to know what is going on in your life. If you can’t accurately name something, it is very hard to think about that ‘thing’. That’s why I present a whole vocabulary of meaning in The Van Gogh Blues and introduce ideas and phrases like “meaning effort”, “meaning drain”, “meaning container”, and many others.

When we get a rejection letter, we want to be able to say, “Oh, this is a meaning threat to my life as a novelist” and instantly reinvest meaning in our decision to write novels, because if we don’t think that way and speak that way, it is terribly easy to let that rejection letter precipitate a meaning crisis and get us seriously blue.

By reminding ourselves that is our job, not only to make meaning but also to maintain meaning when it is threatened, we get in the habit of remembering that we and we alone are in charge of keeping meaning afloat—no one else will do that for us. Having a vocabulary of meaning available to talk about these matters is a crucial part of the process.

Me: In chapter 3 of Van Gogh Blues you guide readers through the process of encapsulating their life plan into a single sentence that can be used as a blueprint for keeping us on track and living a life which we find meaningful. How do we know when we've succeeded in crafting a sentence that truly encapsulates what represents meaning for us? My life plan sentence is: 'To make art that 'sings of the page', to help others unleash their own creativity and to find creative ways to live my life so that moments of anxiety are always outweighed by feelings of wonder and purpose' ... how do I know whether I've really got to the heart of what is truly meaningful to me and not just completed the task at an intellectual level?

Eric: There is no way to know except in the furnace of living and by honorably analyzing our own efforts. Nor is it likely that your life purpose statement will last a lifetime, since your circumstances may change, your experiences may cause you to change your mind, and new meanings may arise to supplement or replace old meanings. A life purpose statement is your best guess of this moment as to how you want to represent yourself and what you want to do with your life. It is only that much—but that is still a lot. If your own warning bells go off that your life purpose statement is not exactly true, then you know your job—to bite the bullet and repeat the process! But you may want to first test it out in the crucible of reality, to see if perhaps you have landed on exactly the right statement for the moment.

Me: In Van Gogh Blues (and also in many of your other books) you touch on the problem of temptation and how we as creators (or would-be creators) can get caught in a constant battle against various temptations which we use to sabotage our own creative intentions and which leave us feeling generally pretty rubbish about ourselves. How can I adjust my behaviour so that creativity is the thing that keeps on tempting me rather than all the various temptations and dramas that can all too easily distract me from time to time.

Eric: To say it in an extreme way, we act as if those temptations rise to the level of addiction—an addiction to distraction, an addiction to adrenaline, an addiction to checking emails, or whatever it may be—and determine to enter in a recovery program as solemn, serious, and regular as a recovery program from alcoholism. My co-author Dr. Susan Raeburn and I have described just such a recovery program, one geared to the specific needs of creative people, in a book called Creative Recovery that will appear this Fall from Shambhala. Another approach is to institute a regular, seven-day-a-week creativity practice, where we show up at the same time every day (at five in the morning, say), and create a habit that is so sturdy that distraction has no way in. I describe the details of such a creativity practice in The Creativity Book.

Me: Well the candles have nearly all gone out and our glasses are all but empty so that must mean it's time to let you go on to your next stop on the tour. Thank you for stopping by and even more for providing me with a lifetime of straight-talking inspiration which has been of immeasurable help to me as I stumble along my own path of creative recovery.

[n.b. For any readers of this who are here in the UK ... if you've had any trouble understanding Eric's responses just replace the 'Z's with 'S's and 'Fall' with 'Autumn' and you'll be just fine ;-)
Also if anyone out there is wondering what they could buy me for Valentine's Day, here's a hint ... don't be shy about clubbing together if you need to]

Survival Kit No. 1: Creativity {Eric Maisel}

2008-02-09T11:59:00.000Z

In honour of Eric Maisel's visit to my blog I thought I'd do a creativity toolkit focused on the many ways that you can introduce a daily dose of Eric into your life.

My introduction to Eric's work began when I bought Fearless Creating which is a creativity workbook and source of inspiration that I dip in and out of every once in a while. The quotes in the side panels are worth the price of the book on their own. Growing up I was taught that good girls didn't write in books, particularly ones they love deeply. Fearless Creating was one of the first books I allowed myself to truly engage with by underlining, asterixing and filling in some of the exercises.

my wild faces
Originally uploaded by creating in the dark

Visit my flickr photo set to see some more of the pages I've marked up :-)

Next I bought Eric's 'Creativity Book' which is of a format and size that makes it perfect for keeping in my handbag to dive into whenever I find myself at a loose end while I'm out and about.

I can't recommend Eric's free weekly newsletter highly enough - it's impossible to ignore Eric's words of wisdom when you're getting a shot in the arm from him every Sunday ... priceless.

Eric has two podcast shows, The Joy of Living Creatively and Your Purpose-Centered Life.

Other books on my 'Eric Maisel wishlist':
A Writer’s Space, on sale in the US in April, in which Eric looks at many existential issues in the lives of writers.

Creativity for Life - discusses the challenges of having an artistic personality and how we can make creativity a central part of our life and our work.

Oh and pretty much any other book by this ridiculously talented and wise creativity guru

Yay!

2008-02-08T23:25:00.001Z

Yay!, originally uploaded by creating in the dark.

Tomorrow the wonderfully inspiring Eric Maisel is coming ... here ... to my little blog! We're going to talk about the meaning of life and light fluffy stuff like that ;-) I have no clue whether anyone out there will be coming along for the ride but I'm getting my best china ready just in case. I haven't *quite* finished my preparations for the grand arrival but as Eric is over in the US of A I figure I've got time zones on my side :-)

Secret Sauce update

2008-02-03T20:40:00.000Z

I mentioned *a while ago* (in this post) that I'd bought Sophie Nicholl's inspirational e-book: 'Hypnotic Journaling'. I had planned to have finished it all by now but a mixture of a stupidly hectic month at work and my procratinating ass has meant I've only had a chance to go back and re-read the introduction and the first chapter. I made a conscious decision not to run ahead and read through the whole book until I'd made a serious effort at the exercise in the first chapter ... I'm sooo glad I made that decision because I had a total revelation while I was working on it (more on that another time!).

But what I really wanted to tell you was that I met Sophie again a couple of weeks ago (I was sober, she was just as lovely as I'd remembered). Sophie told me about a few exciting ideas she has for workshops (psst ... one involves creative writing and hand-made jewellery ... intriguing!). A few days ago Sophie announced a 'Word Sauce' creative writing workshop which she's holding in York - I signed straight up and can't wait ... Sophie describes the workshop as "a special Sunday of delicious writing exercises designed to get your creative juices flowing and helping you to (re)connect with the 'real' you - that deep down source of infinite happiness and confidence."

With all my Maisel-inspired work on creating meaning at the moment, Sophie's workshop couldn't have come at a better time :-) I have a slightly strange 'on the cusp of something big' feeling which is exciting and scary at the same time ... Mr Maisel arrives in a few days and [blog exclusive] in a month or so I'm gearing myself up to open an etsy shop to sell some of my art and photography ... eeek!

ready to jump, originally uploaded by creating in the dark.

A few things you should know about me {Part 1}

2008-02-01T10:20:00.000Z

I thought that the arrival of a few new friends to my blog would be a good chance to tell the world a bit more about me by giving you a glimpse at the things and people who inspire me ... I'm having a little trouble uploading images so please click on the images to see them in their full glory on my Flickr stream (and go visit the very talented photographers' photo streams while you're there)

I have a lot of creativity locked up in a million different boxes inside me. I've spent the last few years searching for keys that fit each box and unlocking them one by one.

(c) Persisting Stars and Tamara Paetkau

I get a kick out of helping people and love red shoes so I relate to Dorothy

(c) EvilxElf, Garden Hoe, Clumsy Girl and Laura Wood

I am captivated by fragile beauty and jewel-like colours

(c) f/1.4, Travis bda, vani-tea and Persisting Stars

Everyone look busy, Mr Maisel's coming!

2008-01-14T20:51:00.000Z

People say you should never meet your heroes lest they horribly disappoint you and make you forever disillusioned with all those people you've carefully been placing on pedestals over the years ... I've managed to avoid this risk of certain disappointment by interviewing one of my heroes instead ... as announced just over a month ago, the ever-inspiring Eric Maisel will be stopping off at my humble little blog on February 9th. So in just under a month I'll be hosting Eric as part of his virtual book tour for a new edition of 'Van Gogh Blues'. I have the chance to ask Eric questions about his book and just about anything else that's related (I guess) ... no of course I'm not scared, nope, not scared in the slightest. To be honest my mind is a big gaping void of nothing-ness exactly where all the 'questions for Eric' should be piling up ... it's practically like meditation in there! It's also fairly blank when I try to recall what I was thinking when I put my blog forward as a host. Still I'm looking forward to it and am feeling so honoured when I look at the company I'll be keeping on this tour ... just take a look at my immediate neighbours ...

Appearing directly before me is http://janallsopp.blogspot.com/ - Jan has some gorgeous prints and sketches on her blog ... she also owns a Gocco printer (so jealous!) and has just opened a beautiful etsy store - if you love teacups and graphic prints full of charm then you'll feel right at home.

Then following after me is http://annemarchand.blogspot.com/ - Anne is a painter whose paintings are vibrant expansive canvases full of energy, movement and a sense of quiet kind of drama ... I'm smitten with her colour-filled cityscapes - they're the perfect antidote to the wet and gloomy weather we're currently having here in York :-)

Eric's tour kicked off today with his first stop at http://www.gabrielleswain.blogspot.com ... I'm not looking until I've had a go at coming up with my questions, but don't let that stop you heading off and taking a peak - I'll catch you up :-) You can follow the rest of the tour by taking a look at the tour schedule here.

a gift to myself

2008-01-09T18:03:00.000Z

I've been going great guns with my photography in the last year and I've even been doing a teeny tiny bit of art but while I was reading Poemcrazy and Foolsgold (by Susan Wooldridge) around Christmas it struck me just how much my writing has really fallen by the wayside. I have an awful lot of words swirling around inside me that would probably benefit by being released into the ether ... you never know, it could even help quieten down my monkey mind a notch.

Serendipitously enough I recently opened my regular helping of 'secret sauce' from Sophie Nicholls (a friend of a friend who is a professional hypnotherapist and passionate about creative writing). The newsletter announced the launch of Sophie's e-book 'Hypnotic Journaling' ... now I can't emphasise enough how cynical I am about e-books ... in my experience 99.9% of the e-books I stumble across on the web look like the author is pulling a fast one and trying to trick me into buying the book equivalent of the emporer's new clothes. But having met Sophie earlier at a party last summer (she was lovely, I was slightly tipsy) I decided to throw caution to the wind and treat myself to it in a spirit of 'new year, new me'. I downloaded the e-book the other day and I'm already loving the warmth of Sophie's writing style. I'm being strict with myself and not reading any more until I've done the first exercise but I'll let you (my imaginary blog audience) know how I get on :-) In the past I've had a tendency to greedily race through books without doing the exercises so I can always tell just how good a book is by whether it inspires me to stop and put pen to paper instead of racing to the finishing line telling myself I'll go back and finish the blanks in later, which of course I never do!

Survival Kit No. 1: Creativity

2007-12-07T19:36:00.000Z

I feel like a main theme of my life has been the gradual return to creativity that I naively abandoned as a 13 year old girl (more on that later). I think my journey back started around 10 years ago and more often than not has involved me slowly inching my way up the down escalator at rush hour. Sometimes I've skipped all the way to the top, artfully avoiding the flood of people heading in the right direction, only to get distracted and find myself frozen to the spot as the escalator carries me all the way back to the bottom again, travelling backwards all the way. Other times I've doggedly trod water on the bottom step as I aim for the top but manage only to not fall off the bottom. On a few, ever-so-rare, occasions I've scampered up and down the escalator like a giddy fool having the time of my life and enjoying the bemused attention of onlookers. Well I could go on with this escalator analogy all day but eventually my fear of falling over on escalators will rear it's ugly head and I'll be telling you all about my 'being eaten by the teeth at the bottom of the escalator' daydream that I have to supress *every single time* I step onto one ... shudder!

This first survival kit is a place for me to dump all the things that aided me in my creative recovery. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to organise things but I'll start by telling you about the people who have been the hugest influence on me over the past decade and we can go from there. I'll order it alphabetically just so there's some kind of order as I add more and more :-)

Anaïs Nin - On a fateful valentine's day in 1998 my beloved gave me a copy of Delta of Venus. Something about it unlocked a part of me that I had buried deep inside and I started writing poetry again.

Natalie Goldberg - some strange serendipitous path led me to a book stall at the 1998 WOMAD festival ... through my 'all day spent drinking' tipsy state of mind I was somehow drawn to buy a small book called 'Writing Down the Bones' ... reading it was like coming home to me, simply life changing.

My blogging dilemma

2007-12-06T19:04:00.000Z

Given that one of the gods of creativity will soon be darkening the doorstep of my much-neglected blog I have been racking my mind as to how I can get into the blog habit. I think I've realised that unless I am unemployed I will always struggle to balance work, loafing and sleeping with posting to my blog despite my very best intentions. Happily I've got past the point where I feel like I'm failing because I'm not posting everyday or weekly or regularly or at all for months on end ... I no longer equate my blog with all the many, many, many started-but-never-kept-up-for-more-than-a-few-days diaries of my childhood and adolescent years ... but having said that I still have a burning aspiration that involves blogging as a kind of online archive of what I thought and did over the years. After much humming and hawing I think I might have struck on a way of blogging that will keep me guilt free and will allow my blog to grow in a way that means something to me.

So, ladies and gentlefolk it is without futher ado and immense pleasure that I present to you the ever-expandable Creating in the Dark Survival Kits. The idea is that I'll start a blog entry for each survival kit and keep adding to the same entry every time I come across a new gem to add to the treasure chest. Really they will be survival kits for me because I am forgetful about how much joy there is in the world and this will be a place for me to remind myself what is so lovely about being on my journey on the days when I forget.

My first survival kit will of course be creativity ... let the great 'blogging for procastinators' adventure begin :-)

Making space for art

2007-12-02T13:44:00.000Z

After many, many, many months of wanting (hoping, meaning, planning) to go to ArtSpace in York I finally did it! I went with a couple of friends on Friday which is their 'Art Jamming' night with music, wine and everyone enjoying making art. I've had a painting in my head for ages that was inspired by a photo I saw on Swirlygirl's blog (damned if I can find it now) so I had a go at painting that ... here's the result:

It started off life the other way up as lights hanging from the night sky but I like it this way - one of my friends said it looks like futuristic trees and I think she has a point :-)

Hostess with the mostess

2007-10-07T15:38:00.000Z

A few weeks ago I was reading my weekly dose of creativity inspiration from Eric Maisel. When I got to the end of his newsletter there was an intriguing update note at the end which read:
"So far hosts have come forward for about three weeks of the Van Gogh Blues virtual book tour (a tour that goes from blog to blog). Please think about hosting me, even if you don’t have the most active blog in the world, as hosting me on the tour will increase exposure for your blog (the tour creates that kind of synergy) and may give you the impetus to begin or resume your blogging. So drop me an email if this intrigues you — I hope it will!"

I normally wouldn't give this sort of thing a second glance but something about it did intrigue me (especially the bit about not having to have the world's most active blog) and after a tiny bit of procrastinating I swallowed down all my doubts and emailed Eric to offer my blog as a host ... and he accepted my offer!

So on Saturday 9th February I will be hosting Eric Maisel's book tour for his 'Van Gogh Blues' book! I have no idea what is involved but I'm looking forward to finding out :-)

Illustration Friday: Rejection

2007-06-21T20:02:00.000Z

Life is mega hectic at the moment but I had to make time to do a quick illo for this week's challenge (as it was me that suggested the word many moons ago) ...

Slight return no.2

2007-06-16T15:02:00.000Z

Yesterday I got a very pleasant surprise in my inbox ... a word I suggested for Illustration Friday has been chosen for this week's challenge ... and given that the word I suggested was 'rejection' I think challenge is probably the right word :-} My first thought was 'shucks, that's cool' ... followed very quickly by my second thought which was 'aaagh, I haven't posted to my poor neglected blog for ages and all the nice people at IF who venture onto my blog will be disappointed by the dusty words and pictures they find languishing in this forgotten corner of cyberspace'. So I thought I'd write a welcome note to let any new visitors know I'm still very much alive :-) The reason my blog hasn't been touched since last October (yikes) is that I am now a total Flickr addict - you can see my stuff here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/creatinginthedark/

The funniest thing about my word being picked is that I made the suggestion many, many moons ago as a reaction to receiving a rejection letter for a job I'd applied for back in February 2005 ... you can read my blog post on the topic here.

So anyway here's to pleasant surprises and breathing new life into old blogs :-) Have fun with this week's challenge and I can't wait to see how you creative bunch react to it ... hell I might even give it a go myself - only fair I suppose :-)

52 Figments - Betsy Beth

2006-10-28T11:02:00.000Z

Lizbet ...
She brings sunshine to every season but blossoms on long, lazy summer days when her birkenstocks and jewel-painted toes leave a trail of sunbeams wherever she goes.
She lights up rooms like a million twinkling fairylights reflected in champagne bubbles and candle-lit crystal chandeliers.
She is brightly coloured beach huts, Mr Moos icecream, wet pebbles glistening like gemstones on the beach and a lighthouse guiding me home.
She is a knitting goddess playing on swings, walking the long way back and cycling through fields full of sunset and golden sunflowers.
She is cross-legged picnics with good wine, good friends, an endless supply of olives, ducks as office pets and laughter like Rowan Kid Classic.
She is a glittery collage bursting with colour, inspiration, easy beauty, bravery, truth, kind questions, passion and fun.
She is not perfection but she is perfect as she is. She lets me stand in the dark while holding out a hand of stars and moonlight and her hugs are like comfort blankets made of angels wings.
She walks softly and lovingly through my sometimes fragile thoughts: joy-bringing, soul-sharing and the very sweetest of friends.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Update: here's what the lovely Lizbet said about me ... I can't read it without a few tears of joy welling up in my eyes :-)

Total Neat Freak ;-)

2006-10-08T12:02:00.000Z

You Are Bert

Extremely serious and a little eccentric, people find you loveable - even if you don't love them!

You are usually feeling: Logical - you rarely let your emotions rule you

You are famous for: Being smart, a total neat freak, and maybe just a little evil

How you life your life: With passion, even if your odd passions (like bottle caps and pigeons) are baffling to others

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

2006-08-07T21:45:00.000Z

Hay Rolls

2006-08-07T21:44:00.001Z

Field and Forest

2006-08-07T21:44:00.000Z

Big House in the Country

2006-08-07T21:43:00.001Z

Life Echo 1

2006-08-07T21:43:00.000Z

Life Echo 2

Sunshine in a Flower

2006-08-05T20:30:00.000Z

Evening Sunflower

I took this on the way home from a lovely meal with friends ... they have three sunflowers welcoming you as you walk up the the garden path - I managed to resist photographing them on the way in but couldn't on the way out. It was just getting dark when I took this shot which is why it looks so dramatic I think.

This is what paradise looks like ...

2006-08-04T19:14:00.000Z

New House, New Carpet

Yay, we moved to our lovely little bungalow a week ago :-D So far it is everything we were desperately hoping for ... peaceful, private, friendly ... our very own slice of the idyllic living ... no chavs (well okay maybe one or two, but not stood shouting abuse at us through the windows), no dog poo, no mean-faced neighbours (we've already met eight of our neighbours, our neighbourhood watch coordintor and the parish councillor!!). Needless to say we are very happy, relaxed and looking forward to many years kicking back in the 'burbs :-D

More soon I promise ... now off to do a supersized upload to Flickr ... how I've missed you sweet Flickr :o)

BTW the floral delight above is the carpet in our living room ... to be changed mighty soon methinks.

Moving Day Approaches

2006-07-24T20:46:00.000Z

Wendel is Ready to Move

Angelica Hinders the Packing

So we are slowly becoming surrounded by taped up boxes, filled up suitcases and charity sacks full of clothes that should have been discarded prior to our last move! We are moving from a large 3-storey, 3-bedroom house to a 3-bedroom bungalow ... not sure if it will all fit in but we have a garage for any overflow. We get the keys on friday so we're going to kind of camp out with the bare minimum of stuff (i.e. cats, kettle, toaster, guitar, radio and mini-fridge) for a few nights until the full move takes place on tuesday (in a week's time .... aagh!). I am still worried that something will go wrong at the last minute but am trying not to fret too much.

Late Adopter

2006-07-17T11:53:00.000Z

I have finally got round to becoming addicted to Flickr ... why didn't anyone tell me ;-)

The main reasons I've taken the plunge are:
a) to stop my blog from becoming overloaded with photos
b) to organise my photos/scans of artwork and make them available for me to gaze at/bore other people with when I'm out and about.

My main problem now is that I have ton of images I want to post but have to go through and think of titles and tags for them. The first batch are up now (with some tweaking still left to do) ... mainly photos from our trip yesterday to the Scar House Reservoir in the most gorgeous weather imaginable :o) ... feast your eyes here

Look to the Skies

2006-07-16T19:36:00.000Z

Ballooooon

I just about managed to catch the hot air balloon before it hid behind the building. This photo was taken from the nicest (in my humble opinion) bit of the York city walls.

Sun-bathing Butterfly

2006-07-15T18:46:00.000Z

Flutterby

I love this one ... it's a red admiral I think ... I managed to get up really close for this shot - poor butterfly was probably left emotionally scarred for life. This is on the York city walls again :-)

A Flower for a Friend

2006-07-14T20:56:00.000Z

Get Well Flower

This is another photo to cheer up my poorly chum who is pining for her now absent gall bladder (aka Evil Lord GB) ... sausages will soon be yours ;-D

A Get Well Soon Frog

2006-07-11T19:37:00.000Z

Frog Napping

My friend had an operation yesterday and this picture is to make her smile, even if it hurts :-( ... Get well soon!!! Big hugs!!!

Sprinkled Jewel Drops

2006-07-11T19:35:00.000Z

Leaf Droplets

The weather in York is super-sunny and super-hot ... makes me hanker for the seaside or at least a garden sprinkler ... slowly wilting here ... send icecream ;-)

P.S. Glad to hear my friend is making a good recovery from her recent op ... not back on the wine yet though so that's obviously a bit worrying ;-)

Superhero Drawing

2006-07-11T18:49:00.000Z

Mine All Mine

This drawing is my own little tribute to my favourite necklace from Superhero Designs which I love ... I'm currently saving up for another one (or maybe this one ... how am I meant to choose?!!!)

Superhero Costume

Wendel Watches

The picture above proves the ~well known phrase~ 'you're never more than a metre from a cat trying to interfere with your artwork'.

If you go down to the woods today ...

2006-07-11T18:47:00.000Z

Inca Rockery

Something in the Woodshed

Work in Progress

2006-07-06T19:43:00.000Z

A happy painting for a friend :o)

I'm doing this painting as part payment for the ipod my friend has gifted me. It's actually more colourful and sunny than this photo suggests and it's only half done but I thought I'd show how it's developing.

Sunday Funday

2006-06-29T21:21:00.000Z

A few Sundays ago I had an art play date with my lovely friend Liz (who I secretly think of as a 'Lizbet' but I haven't tried that out on her yet) and we took over her living room for an afternoon to make arty type things. It was soooo much fun and Lizbet (I'm sure that will catch on now I've made it public ;-) is now addicted to collage. Hurrah!

I *finally* got round to using a kid's paint set and did a fab bit of geometric painting (i'll post it here soon, promise).

Hopefully we'll be having another Sunday of glue, scissors and paint again soon :o)

Floor Treasures

2006-06-17T19:32:00.000Z

I am a beachcombing magpie at heart and that means I notice stuff on the floor that other folk walk right over. Here are a couple of things I've notice at my feet in recent months ...

The Art of Seeing

This was one of a few 'floor treasures' I spotted at the Henshaws Arts & Crafts Centre in Knaresborough (see previous post) which is a very inspiring place to spend an afternoon. The quote is from Jonathan Swift.

Girl in the Grass

That's another one from the Arts & Crafts Centre ... there was a matching one that had 'Boy' carved into it but I didn't photograph it for some reason ... maybe my feminist side subconciously editing my shots ;-)

Faded Princess

Last of the floor stones from the Arts & Crafts Centre.

Floor Locker

I spotted this rusty padlock stuck in the floor of a track through a forest north-east of York ... the name aludes me ... have I mentioned before about how much I love seeing man-made objects in natural settings? ~~~ it's all about the juxtopositions baby :o}

The place where hearts grow on trees

2006-06-13T20:10:00.000Z

Heart tree

This gorgeously delicate tree is in a sensory garden in Knaresborough where there's loads of inspiring stuff crammed into a small place (more photos to follow!).

BTW ... good news doesn't come much better than this ... and just read some of those comments ... the world can seem a comfortingly small place sometimes :-)

All the pretty houses

2006-06-11T18:35:00.000Z

Roof with a view

That's the view from the view of the York Minster ... one day I might get round to going on the York Eye (a mini version of the London Eye) so I can do a compare and contrast ... I have a feeling it won't be the same as standing at the top of a cathedral but I'll reserve judgement for the moment.

Bless Birmingham Conference Centre

2006-06-10T15:09:00.000Z

Flat wooden trees with cute cat face

I took this somewhat out of focus photo at a conference in Birmingham - I love coming across cool art in weird locations ... next time I'll steady my hand first though ;-) I haven't got round to trying to find out who the artist is so let me know if you have a clue.

Never was a Cadbury Girl

2006-05-22T21:09:00.000Z

A gift for my favourite Cadburys addict :-)

Jeepers has it really been such an age since I last tiptoed across this blog? Excuses to follow but for now here is a collage thingy I made for a friend with a sweet tooth. The lady is from a 50s prom dress sewing pattern and the dress is made up of Cadbury wrappers ... next time you catch me with a mouthful of choccies I have the perfect excuse - all part of the preparation for my next piece of art ;-)

Words in Progress

2005-12-05T21:08:00.000Z

I collect inspiring quotes ... here is the inside cover of a book that I'm collecting them in:

... more to follow as I fill up each page :-) BTW, the silver bits on the first picture are some groovy stickers from a local craft shop which I added some colour to.

Ouch ...

2005-12-05T20:39:00.000Z

Picture of Pain

Several months ago I was in off work in *immense* pain (all better now, thanks :-) and decided I might as well try some art therapy to take my mind off things ... so I got out my watercolour pencils and started drawing my pain. Funny thing is that I thought it would be much darker than it actually ended up being - weird ... mind you it's a bit like when you try to describe pain, it kind of gets diluted along the way.

Lively Lily

2005-12-04T20:24:00.000Z

Colourful Cala

This took a lot of patience :-) I made sure I stopped before I got the urge to run around the house screaming and ripping things up ... not quite sure whether it's finished really but I'm a bit wary about going back to *that* place ;-)

Dance me to the end of love ...

2005-12-04T20:23:00.000Z

Embrace your junk-mail

This is a bit of altered art using a fab picture that my bank was kind enough to send me in an effort to try and sell something to me ... can't remember what it was advertising ... don't think they offer dance lessons ;-) So anyhoo I just added a fringe of colour around the sides, traced the edge of the dancers with a gold pen and then stamped a line from a Madeleine Peyroux song around it. Makes me smile every time I look at it, which can only be a good sign :-)

Slight Return

2005-12-04T20:21:00.000Z

Blue Cushion

Yay, I'm back ... again! I have a glut of photos and arty stuff to post so bear with me :-)
The painting above was inspired by this photo of a silky cushion I saw in a magazine:

cushion source

I did it in watercolour pencils first and then *painstakingly* went over the bluey-green bits with a watered down blue metallic paint. I'm please with how it turned out but it's definitely one that looks better from a distance :-)

Benches of Britain

2005-08-08T19:03:00.000Z

In my ongoing quest to provide you, the good people of cyberspace, information on the best places to park your posterior ... feast your eyes on this beauty we found on the North York Moors - okay there's no back rest but that's a good thing because it prevents people from settling down for too long and hogging the view. More benches to follow no doubt ;-)

Bench with a view

Bench too

The other side of the bench

Such a magnificent return

2005-07-04T20:06:00.000Z

Where have you all been ... oh, yeah, fair point, it was me that disappeared. I have been mentally posting blog entries but that isn't really the same now is it? I planned to catch up by backdating all those posts so I could fill the void of my disappearance ... but the blogging gods conspired against me and afterall that's not very honest so here goes, little steps ...

Here is a Paul Frank inspired picture that I did for *a very close friend who is a ridiculously modest photographer of note* ... my friend loves Julius so I did it as a surprise gift for her birthday.

... and she liked it so much she framed it and hung it up in her house ... shucks!

That makes a grand total of 4 ... count 'em ... houses with my art works on the wall. 2 of them are now featured on this blog so I'll get the other 2 posted soon for completeness sake (ah, the joy of being a virgo).

Knitting is the new drawing

2005-05-22T15:56:00.000Z

My First Scarf!

I have been absent from my blog recently for several different reasons ... one of them is my rediscovered love of knitting :-) I'd been thinking for yonks that I should get my Grandma to give me a refresher course (she taught me when I was a nipper) so I managed to visit her last time I was 'down south' and after a 30 minute tutorial session I was away. 3 weeks later and I have drawn almost nothing but I am on my second ball of wool and more than half way towards finishing my first scarf. And it turns out that I work with a keen knitter who goes to a knitting group who meet once a month in the Starbucks above the Borders bookshop in York! I couldn't be more excited with my new skill and although it means I am slightly distracted from my drawing it's lovely and relaxing and addictive and, above all, creative which means I don't feel guilty that I'm neglecting my sketchpad a little.

Don't tell me you're not jealous ...

2005-05-21T20:45:00.000Z

Polka Dot Folly & Angelica

At 31 and child-free it could be argued that I'm a little old to be buying a £40 children's polka dot teepee from Habitat (search for tent) but all I can say in my defence is that I've wanted one ever since I saw the one they were selling last year ... and it makes me smile whenever I look at it :-) I now have to work out how to make it comfortable enough inside for me to spend more than 30 mins in it at a time ... methinks that some kind of beanbag chair would be just the thing. Ooh did I mention that it's reversible (although you can see the polka dots showing through) and there are nine pockets on the inside and outside for me to slip my essential sitting in a tent belongings into :-) ... happy, happy, joy, joy :-)

EDM - Glasses challenge

2005-04-30T10:53:00.000Z

'Empty Vessel'

I don't wear glasses but we do own plenty of wine glasses :-) This one is part of a set which were bought for us from our wedding list - it has gold painted glass strands running around it and we also have the matching champagne flutes and even margarita glasses (needless to say we somehow haven't got round to using those yet but they do look awful pretty on the shelf ;-)
~~ I'm particularly proud of getting the word 'miniscus' into a poem ... what skill ;-) ~~

Bike postcard up for grabs ... if your name is Janey

2005-04-29T11:34:00.000Z

'A Bicycle Made for You'

I had been thinking of drawing my new bike (which I *love*) but didn't get around to it until I saw Janey's cheery bike picture. Janey is a prolific postcard artist who will send you a postcard of your choice for free ... all you have to do to balance out your karma is send a postcard to someone else for free ... so how about it Janey? - this one is reserved for you in return for the one you're sending me ... if you want it just send me an e-mail with your snail mail address :-)

i-Friday ~ Daring ~

2005-04-28T21:19:00.000Z

'Daringest'

For illustration friday ... in a rush but will catch up with posting stuff soon :-)

i-Friday ~ Reinvent ~

2005-04-21T20:20:00.000Z

'Self-reinventing Wheels'

This is my entry for the reinvent challenge on illustration friday. I thought I'd embrace the clichés that others were shunning and so here is a machine I've invented which reinvents the wheel into a Madonna-wheel which thenceforth can reinvent itself ... oh yeah and there's speakers built in so Madonna can promote her music and rock while she rolls ... sweet ;-)

Personality type

2005-04-15T01:11:00.000Z

ENFP - "Journalist". Uncanny sense of the motivations of others. Life is an exciting drama. 8.1% of total population.

similarminds.com

So there you have it - my personality compartmentalised for your convenience ... actually I really do *love* these kinds of personality tests and every time I fill one in I approach it with the virginal white hopeful innocence that it will somehow distil my essence into a truth that I can set my clock, compass and coffee cup by. Alas I am still searching for this elusive oracle but from *far too many* of these personality diviners I can thoroughly assure you that I am ENFP to the bone. So don't try and cross me cos I'll suss you quicker than you can steal my heart, my dreams or my dignity. And if life doesn't bring me enough exciting dramas I am more than capable of creating my own epic dramas so step back and shield your eyes.

EDM - Week 10 - Hands

2005-04-12T19:33:00.000Z

'Pitta Palm'

Today I spent my lunch hour sat at my desk (I know, I still can't believe I'm finally working either!) sketching my lunch and my hand with my new found loves ... my Rotring art pen and my Letraset ProMarkers. Hey who needs pencils or erasers?!
My Grandma told me I had piano player's fingers and I've always had a burning ambition to play the piano ... heck one day I might even plug in the keyboard that's propped up in my art room and give it a go ;-) ... but anyway there's already one musician in this house so it can survive without me making music for a bit longer.
My new job as a temporary research assistant is going well ... 4 days done and about 5 weeks more still to do. I'm missing having all that free time but not the guilt that went with it :-)

This week's hand challenge didn't frighten me as much as it should have done cos I drew my hand when I flirted with Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain so here's what it looked like in 2002 sketched in pencil ... notice the lack of both engagement and wedding rings:

'An Old Hand'

i-Friday ~ Alone ~

2005-04-10T18:46:00.000Z

'Travel Alone'

I actually chose the quote for last weeks illustration friday theme which was 'travel' but then I was too busy getting employed (yes, you read it right - I'm a wage slave once again, albeit on a 6 week temporary contract) to get anything done. As serendipitous luck would have it, this weeks theme of 'alone' fits just fine so I've gone with my undrawn idea from last week - the extra incubation time hasn't harmed it any I'm sure.
It's drawn with my new Rotring art pen which I love, love, love. I also bought a set of Letraset promarkers which I'm looking forward to experimenting with ... hurrah for wage slavery and being able to afford stuff again.
:-))

My mum's favourite flower

2005-04-06T09:51:00.000Z

'Daffodil Glimpse'

'A Dull Daffodil Sort of Day'

Those dull daffodils
declining dances,
sitting on the sidelines
for this one
and the next.
Such pale wallflowers
beneath their bonnets,
hanging their heads
all wilted and withdrawn,
hiding away here
from the colour riots
they've heard happening
beyond the bars.

Word Excavation

2005-04-05T10:22:00.000Z

In certain circles there have been discussions around whether folk go back and read old journals and how they feel about it. As a lifelong serial diary-starter who desperately wanted to be an everyday diary writer but could never manage more than a couple of days straight I have very few journal entries to look back on. I did manage to do two journals worth of morning pages when I was reading The Artist's Way (links to Amazon.com so you can take a look inside the book) by Julia Cameron and when I re-read those entries I'm struck by how repetitive they were ... a typical entry went something along the lines of: It's still dark; I nearly didn't get up this morning; I can't believe I've managed to get up early for x days/weeks; The cats are being a nuisance; Now one of them has snuggled up on my journal and I'm writing around it; My throat is a bit sore this morning, I hope I'm not coming down with something; I don't know what to write; It's getting lighter earlier every morning now. ... Or words to that effect anyway. I felt disappointed when I got to the end of Artist's Way and realised that there was no end and that the idea was to continue with the morning pages indefinitely. Heck I might start them up again at some point but for now I'm having too much fun with my art - any mention of regular writing slots and my rebellious streak starts acting up and getting in the way.
One thing I love looking through are the small notebooks I often chuck into my bag when I'm off on a night out or have by the side of my bed for those pesky sleep-time visitors that scamper round my head until I write them down. I'm always pleasantly surprised by what I've written and usually can't remember the words coming from me at all. Here's an example of something I scribbled in a notebook on 28/2/2003:

Dressed in dreams
Moved to tears
Smiling pockets
Escalating schemes
Tired excuses
Surrounding me
Desperate dances
Chasing words
Born performer
Stealing lies
Elasticated truth
Drenched in you

I have no idea what inspired that flood of words ... was I drunk, bored or just hit round the head with some inspiration? I'll never know why or how I wrote those words but they still speak to me in their strange offbeat way.

If you liked those words in the slightest then promise me you'll visit this special person who I greatly admire for her words and paintings and who inspired me to post the poem in this entry ... but hey don't blame me if you look up again and find it's next week cuz it's that kind of place.

EDM Challenge - Watches

2005-04-04T19:33:00.000Z

'Shiny Happy Couple'

Last weeks Everyday Matters challenge was to draw your watch or any other piece of jewellery. I wanted to have a go at beating the perfectionist within by sketching something with a pen (gasp ... no way to erase the mistakes!!!) so I bought a technical drawing pen and had a go at drawing my engagement ring ... so far so good ... I had a go at drawing my wedding ring and that came out okay as well ... then it just kind of escalated from there - I had a go at doing the watch that my beloved bought me as a wedding gift and decided to continue the wedding jewellery theme until it seemed downright rude not to include Mark's ring, watch and cufflinks. I painted some sturdy watercolour paper with silver acrylic paint, collaged the drawings with a photo of us on our wedding day and added a quote that I found several weeks ago:
"Marriage is tough, because it is woven of all these various elements, the weak and the strong. 'In-loveness' is fragile for it is woven only with the gossamer threads of beauty." ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

BTW the space at the top of the collage is for when I summon the courage to have a go at drawing my tiara :-)

If you go down to the woods today ...

2005-04-02T15:14:00.000Z

'Wild and Woolly Yorkshire No. 8'
I have no idea *why* there is a large heap of rope and twine on the forest floor but there is.

'Troublesome Bats'
I haven't a clue *what* made the bats implicate themselves with their graffiti but they have.

'Banana Tree'
I can't imagine *how* this banana skin found its way into the hedgerow but there it is for all to see
... actually that last one isn't quite so mysterious - all I'm saying is that *yes* I did play a part in its placement but it was an accident and it's probably safer there than on the footpath after all. It had disappeared when we returned a couple of days later ... must have been one disappointed monkey swinging through the York undergrowth that day.

More of a hindrance than a help ~ A photo-story

2005-04-01T10:24:00.000Z

In which our anti-hero, Wendel, gets in the way of art:

'If you take one more photo I'll come over there and sit on your artwork ...'

'See, I warned you I'd sit on your art ... and here I am, sitting on your art.'

'A bit more brown just there methinks ... no, not that much! There - you've ruined it now.'

So there you are, every cat's a critic. I often wonder whether Wendel wants to sit on me when I'm drawing because he is an avid patron of the arts and wants to get as close as possible to the act of creation, hoping therein to gain an insight into the very mind of the artist ... but then monkey mind guffaws in the background (spitting out a mouthful of coffee) and between the laughter lets me know that Wendel actually sits on me because he despises my art and hopes to distract me from drawing, thereby saving me from embarrassing myself any further.

Actually any cat-owned blog-readers out there will know the truth all to well ... cats are at heart attention seeking little beggars who will get between you and whatever you are trying to concentrate on.

Just to prove this wasn't an isolated incident here is Wendel sitting on more of my art ... notice how he's listening out with one ear just to check whether his distraction services are needed more somewhere else in the house.

'Can't Get Close Enough to the marmite'

It's all about the benches.

2005-03-31T20:17:00.000Z

I have no idea why I'm drawn to taking photographs of benches ... I think I just appreciate coming across seating that looks like it's been there forever or like a bit of thought has gone into the design or some planning committee somewhere has taken a risk when it's come to 'bench-commissioning' time. So anyway here are some benches I've snapped in recent weeks so please do take a seat and enjoy the view as the world hurries on past:

'Elegant Iron Bench'

That bench is a short walk from Lendal Bridge alongside the River Ouse. Looks to me like it's watched a *lot* of boats passing by.

'If Only Our Garden Was Bigger'

You wouldn't believe how comfortable this bench was ... and not just because it was the first bench we'd seen in about 3 miles :-) If the weather had been a touch warmer I'd have turned my jacket into a pillow and curled up for a nap. It's in a great spot overlooking York Race Course ... if I was off to the races I'd be there early and stake out my position here for sure ... cooler box to the left, barbeque just over to the right and I'd be sorted for the day.

'Combined Bench'

I love it when old clapped out machines get a new lease in life. I'm sure this little fella could have done without the paintjob from 'T*sh*' but he still looks like a sturdy chap with decades of seating service left in him. You can find this tractor-bench hybrid on cycle path 65 just beyond the York ring road at Rawcliffe. Must get a bit toasty on a sunny summers day and a bit frosty on a brisk winters day but for the other 15 days of the year it must be perfect ;-)

So there you have it, benches 1, 2 and 3 in the Eyespy book of York Benches. More to follow I'm sure.

Your 'Promise' Has Been Duly Discarded and Disregarded

2005-03-30T20:09:00.000Z

'So Much For Your *New and Unique Promise*'

Far too often the advertising suits get a *little* over-excited and carried away, making overblown statements with no substance to back them up ... so (while I in no way condone littering) it seemed fitting to see this unwanted flyer discarded in an off the beaten track footpath in York. If my corporate branding radar is correct I believe it could be an ad for the AA (the roadside recovery outfit rather than the other one) so heaven knows what the marvelous life-changing £40* (the * in this usually denotes that they are intentionally misleading you and are legally obliged to drop you a clue) is all about ... seems like quite a bit of dosh to me so it would have to be truly exceptional to tempt me (particularly as I'd have to buy a car first).

Sometimes a theme just won't let you go

2005-03-29T17:36:00.000Z

The Illustration Friday theme from a couple of weeks ago was 'fragile' (you can see my original post for that here) and, as happens with this sort of thing, it kind of infested my subconcious and I started seeing 'fragile' wherever I went. Here are a couple I captured on camera for your viewing pleasure:

'Easter Casualty'
A tragic Cadbury's Creme Egg fails to fulfill its destiny ... so poignant. Let's hope the chicken does come before the egg or we're done for come next Easter.

'Fragile Champagne'
We live very close to the National Railway Museum and I spotted these discarded empty bottles next to their recycling bins. You can hire the museum for corporate schmoozing events and even weddings so I guess they're left over from a recent shin-dig unless they have *exceptionally* good staff catering.

Dull or Arty ... who am I to judge?

2005-03-28T21:05:00.000Z

'Reflecting on Trees'

I showed this photo to my beloved to see if he'd spot the *clever* thing I'd done ... his remark was something along the lines of "It's a bit dull and washed out, maybe." ... to which I replied triumphantly "Ah ha, but it's a photo of the tree's reflection you see." ... I think I still like it very much, for all its dullness.

i-Friday ~ Crowded ~

2005-03-27T18:10:00.000Z

'If More Crowded ...'

This is my entry for this weeks Illustration Friday topic. The background is a quote that I've written in gold and silver pens over and over (and over) again in different directions. I showed it to my beloved and he enquired after my mental state (i.e. "Have you gone mad?) ... well perhaps he has a point. Anyone out there deranged enough to work out what the quote is?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
30th March - Bonus entry:

'Urban Sprawl'

This is a photo-shopped photo of some highrise bird boxes near the Rawcliffe stretch of the River Ouse. It was a grey-skied day so I thought I'd muck about with it in Photoshop and see if I could make it look sunny and colourful ... then I stumbled across this effect and forgot all about the sunshine :-) If I actually knew what I was doing with Photoshop I'd probably never have been able to do this - hurrah for blissful creative ignorance.

What does Hellkitten mean? (Specifically rather than generally)

2005-03-26T11:21:00.000Z

HELLKITTEN

H is for Happy
E is for Explosive
L is for Loud
L is for Luscious
K is for Kind
I is for Intense
T is for Thrilling
T is for Tender
E is for Energetic
N is for Naive

What Does Your Name Mean?

EDM Challenge - Week 7 - In the Kitchen

2005-03-25T23:00:00.000Z

'Delicious Spread'

Yes it most certainly does what it says on the label ... 'delicious spread with added vitamins' ... apparently some strange folk don't like it but I can't get enough of it. When I was a full time wage slave I got into the habit of making marmite (and here I'm using marmite as a generic descriptor ... like I call our Dyson vacuum cleaner a hoover) on toast and taking it to work with me to eat cold with my first cup of vending machine coffee of the day ... ahhh, the memories. At one point I was sitting next to a marmite-phobe who winced whenever I took my toast out of my bag and used to go out and have a cigarette while I was eating it (so in some way I was hastening his future early demise but I don't like to think about it that way - he's still alive now as far as I know so I didn't hasten it that much) but not before I carried out my daily ritual of turning to him with a look of deep sincerity and asking 'would you like some of my marmite on toast?' ... simple pleasures but *so* rewarding :-D
I will have Marmite (the real thing) if supermarket own-brand yeast extract isn't available for some reason but I have to be careful because Marmite needs to be spread quite thinly whereas yeast extract can be applied quite thickly without becoming unpalatable ... many an onlooker has recoiled with a look of terror and disgust when they've seen how thickly I apply it. A couple of years ago I discovered a new taste sensation ... fried egg on marmited toast ... scrummy!
Inspired by a friend's display of Marmite jars I made it my mission to have one of every size on our kitchen windowsill ... there are four sizes from the cute 57g to the mighty 500g jar (my Mum once claimed she saw an even bigger catering size jar but has yet to provide any concrete evidence) and eating that much Marmite when my preference is for yeast extract was a challenge but the resulting Russian Doll effect was most pleasing visually. They don't actually fit inside one another I hasten to add before you all get excited and rush to your nearest Marmite stockist. In our pre-move decluttering session I decided to send those jars to be reincarnated at the great bottle bank in the sky but I believe I will embark on the challenge again someday soon.
If you are staying in a superior class of hotel or bed and breakfast you may find that you are lucky enough to be greeted at the breakfast table by a basket of fun-size condiments, including 5g plastic pots of Marmite. I myself would never take the risk and often take a jar of marmite with me when I travel. At breakfast the morning after I got married our delightful venue (previously mentioned) did indeed provide the fun-size pots which was just as well because it had slipped my mind and I hadn't packed marmite into our honeymoon luggage. Luckily for me my Mum was staying at wedding venue and I was able to whisper across the breakfast room that I wanted the Marmite from her table to take on honeymoon with us ... quick as a flash Mum did a circuit of the room and smuggled about a dozen pots out for me - I mean I'm sure the venue would have gladly given them to us if she'd asked but why take the risk? This also gave my hubby an additional amusement every morning as he'd wait and see whether I'd remembered to take a pot down to breakfast with me every morning and giggle at my crestfallen face if I'd forgotten. A couple of days he even put one in his pocket in case I'd forgotten ... but mostly he'd just giggle at my marmite-dependency.
Anyhoo that's enough yeast-based spread stories for one day but it you'd like to read more then look at Island Girl's blog (she *believes* Marmite tastes like 'drunken puke' and/or 'bonfire' but I won't hold that against her - perhaps she'd prefer yeast extract like I do ;-) or Robyn's blog which extolls the alleged virtues of Vegemite which I really wanted to like when I tried it (my best friend in high school was from Australia and banged on about it) but it just wasn't the same (i.e. nice tasting) as Marmite or yeast extract to me ... still as they say up North, there's nowt so queer as folk ... and some of my closest friends don't like marmite so I can't be accused of being prejudiced.

Now onto an altogether sweeter spread:

'Gold Comfort'

Mmmm, the glorious sun-filled elixir that is Golden Syrup ~ I love it on toast, pancakes (both the scotch and non-scotch varieties) and in warm milk. The plastic bottle I've drawn for this challenge doesn't have the aesthetic appeal of the original tin but it's much easier to dispense (it's pourable - goodbye sticky teaspoon which you can never quite get all the syrup off) in todays sunlight the plastic bottle comes into its own and shows off the pure liquid gold nectar in its full amber glory, casting shafts of golden light across the surface it sits on (my box of watercolour pencils in case you were wondering) and looks like it contains distilled magic to this artist's eye. If you click on the above picture you'll see from my handwritten notes that the label has the words "out of the strong came sweetness" which I had never seen before (either on the label or anywhere else) but a quick dig around on google reveals that it is a quote from the bible. The full quote is "out of the eater came meat and out of the strong came sweetness" and it's a riddle that Samson set as a challenge to some philistines, apparently ... but hey this ain't Sunday School (even if it is Easter weekend) and I'm the last person who should be waxing lyrical on matters biblical so type it into google if you want to find out more. What I can't work out is how that quote came to be adopted by the Tate & Lyle sugar company ... I know that the chocolate companies in Britain had religious foundations but I'm not aware of the same link with sugar companies - still I'm sure all will become clear in the fullness of time.
I must admit that I wasn't looking forward to doing this week's EDM challenge because I knew that drawing jars was going to be difficult but I stuck with it and am really pleased with the results. It never ceases to amaze me how your mind inteferes with what your eye is seeing when you try to draw something simple and everyday. Both drawings were done with my watercolour pencils (dry), the outlines were done with black ink and the gold on the golden syrup label was done with my gold staedtler triplus pen which I never tire of using (or mentioning) and should probably be negotiating some kind of commission deal with staedtler. I was worried that it wouldn't be fine enough to cope with getting in between the letters but with some deep concentration and an *almost* steady hand I managed to do it all, even where there was only a whisper of white to cover ... and all despite the best efforts of our cats who each had a go at jogging my arm and rubbing their face on the end of my pen whenever it looked like I might be attempting anything tricky.

If only I'd done this at the beginning!

2005-03-24T11:12:00.000Z

Well today I added a visitor counter to my blog (right at the *very* bottom of the page) and now it looks very strange - *hey great blog ... it's 5 months old and only had 3 visitors ... way to go norma-no-friends!* I got my free counter from the nice people at statcounter and it was easy enough to add to my blog template following their instructions. So now I can feel downhearted about the lack of visitors as well as the lack of comments ... nah not really, I do this blog as a way towards creative recovery so in some ways the fewer comments and visitors I get the freer I feel to post whatever I want without worrying whether anyone will like it. I need to get into the habit of just creating without relying on someone standing at my elbow stroking my ego and feeding me positive reinforcement - I need to find my own internal source of creative bravery if that makes any sense. That's not to say that I don't appreciate the lovely, supportive comments that folk have been kind enough to post here, just that I mustn't fall into the trap of relying on receiving comments in order to motivate my creativity.
Not sure where adding a statcounter to my blog fits in with all that but I am a curious little kitten after all ;-)

i-Friday ~ Bloom ~

2005-03-22T22:21:00.000Z

'Chocolate Bloom'

For some reason the first thing that came into my head when I saw this weeks Illustration Friday topic was 'chocolate bloom' which is the white-ish streaks that appear on chocolate if it's been stored somewhere too warm- you can see what it looks like here. I decided that drawing the real thing would be beyond my capabilities so I thought I'd put a flower (or 'bloom' ... see what I did there?) on the chocolate and as it's nearly easter and my Mum's birthday I thought I'd do a bit of multi-tasking and create a handmade birthday card. The thing I find funny about chocolate bloom is that the first time I heard about it was from a card inserted in a box of chocolates assuring the purchasor that chocolate bloom is a beautiful thing and not to fear it and going running into the street screaming or complain and return the chocolates, or words to that effect anyways. If you haven't bought your easter eggs yet then please think about getting Fairtrade ones ... take a look here - I myself have asked hubby for a Green & Black Maya Gold egg which is dark chocolate with orange and spices ... hubby did baulk somewhat when he saw one on sale for £4.99 but I assured him that where ethical issues are concerned size doesn't matter and there is a smaller version available for a less princely sum of £2.99 (I'm secretly hoping he'll splash out on the bigger one though ;-) So now you've switched to fairtrade coffee and tea and sugar ... you have switched, right? ... keep up the good work and go fairtrade with your chocolate. If you need more convincing then take a look here (and think about signing up for the boycott while you're there).

So anyhoo, I did this picture on the back of a blank postcard using my watercolour pencils, white acrylic paint and gold and silver pens (which I *might* have mentioned before) for the lettering which reads "Happy Blooming Birthday ... and a wonderful easter too". I feel certain my mum will love it :-)

And then I was mucking about with the leftover white paint and experimenting painting clouds on a blue painted background (which itself came about from me using up leftover paint a couple of weeks ago) - I was having a fine and dandy time and then noticed that if I tilted my head and squinted my eyes, the two clouds I'd hastily painted looked like a pregnant lady, sort of ... so that's how I ended up doing this bonus painting below. I'm thrilled because it's the first painting I've done that has evolved from just messing around with paint ... that's one step further for my creative recovery, hoorah.

'Bloom and Blossom'

I can't really explain much about this 'blooming lady' except that I think her hair might be petunias ... oh yeah and if you tilt your head and squint your eyes you might just be able to make out two clouds.

By the way ... if you happen upon yesterdays entry you'll see that I had a rough day ... just want to reassure any blog wanderers that do stumble on it that I am feeling *much* better today (hooray for St John's Wort and my own coping abilities). And for those of you who were curious and asked, the job I was going for was a student welfare and education advisor for York Uni's Student Union ... it was a dream job but I didn't get it so I've licked my wounds and am on the look out for the better job that must *surely* be on its way.

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... and I you wouldn't believe what monkey mind said about this weeks topic being bloom after my picture last week told you all that we can't have flowers in our house ;-}

I tried to think positive, honest I did ...

2005-03-21T23:07:00.000Z

Well it's been a tough day but it's nearly over and I'm starting to feel quite at peace about the fact that I didn't get *the* job. It hasn't been confirmed for sure yet but I should have heard by now so it looks like Mr Postie will be bringing me a bad news letter at some point this week. If I sound un-emotional and detached now then don't be mislead ... with reservations I am posting some notes I scribbled at various points during this verrrry long day. If you get annoyed by self-indulgent human misery then look away now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My day started at 5.30am which is extremely early by anyone's standards but Hubby was off down south for work so I got up to keep the cats out of his way and help him set off. I didn't go back to bed but sat in my creativity room losing myself in the web on my laptop and generally being quiet, still and mopey.
First entry: 10.44am - I feel a dull, heavy, grinding emptiness and sit here slumped with my head and hands occassionally going limp when I think about *the phonecall* that I have managed to convince myself will not be coming today. And I think I just heard the post dropping through the door and feel sick at the thought of the rejection that might be waiting for me - even though it is almost physically impossible that it will have arrived yet. I have been mentally torturing myself since Friday evening and slept as badly on Friday night as I did the night before the interview. Yesterday and this morning I realised that I felt more at peace with it all but every hour or so the *fear* washes over me and I'm all at sea again. But then I resurface and steel myself to venture downstairs and confront the post like it's some knife-wielding intruder - sigh of deep relief and shallowdisappointment as it's just junk mail (actually since starting to work on altered books nothing is 'just junk mail' anymore, but more on that another time).
Now 11.10am and I am eating 'Magic Mix' - what the doohecky is Magic Mix I hear you cry ... well it's from Holland & Barratt and it contains:
Milk chocolate chunks (16%)
Large stoned raisins (16%)
Broken brazils (14%)
Dried cranberries (12%)
Sliced coconut (12%)
Whole cashews (12%)
Roasted Hazelnuts (10%)
Morello cherries with added apple & cherry juice (8%)
... and as I bought it in a healthfood store you can be sure it's 100% healthy ;-)

11.37am: Slow, hot semi-tears well up in my eyes as my mind reconfirms it "I didn't get the job". It's, you know, just a hunch still but I feel it with intense certainty -

12.00: I'm curled up laying on my side on floor cushions in the reading corner of my creative room. I'm sure now that I would have already heard if I got the job so there you are - I can stop mentally preparing my reaction to *the phonecall*; my acceptance speech, my excited calls to loved ones, my solo champagne celebration, my jubilant post to my blog ... all of it disintegrates away. Each time I have these thoughts my soothing side comes back with a glimmer of hope that 'it ain't over till it's over' and maybe they're just tied up with meetings or getting references or doing HR shit like printing out my staff i.d. and job offer confirmation.
Geez this hurts so badly - I *really* wanted that job, it was perfect for me and now I'll have to get a crappy temp job and *keep looking* and look on the fucking bright side and I don't want to do any of that, I want to be wrong and feel stupid for overreacting and get told 'see, I knew you'd do it' and have a worthwhile, fulfilling career.And to make matters wors it's got to be the nicest weather of the year so far and it's someone else's perfect day, not mine and how am I meant to be absorbed with depression and gloominess on such a fucking sunny day?

12.30pm: Stumble around the house, go downstairs to check I didn't miss the phone ringing while I was in the bathroom - amazing how aggravating it can be having 2 cats following you around and squeeking at you when all you want is long cool dark silence to wrap itself around you and keep you safe until a brighter day arrives.
No phonecalls since yesterday so I drag myself back upstairs and retreat to bed where I can pretend it is not a gorgeous day outside which I should really get myself out into. I'm sure I'd feel better if I did venture out but a) what happens if I burst into tears in the middle of town? b) by the time I've freshened up my tear-stained, puffy-eyed face it will be raining, probably. c)what if *the call* arrives, even though it is now beyond the point of completely unlikely that it will ever come. d) it's half-term hols and lovely weather so town will be full of tourists and mothers with pushcairs and prematurely mature school kids and old people standing in large groups blocking the pavements and taking up the benches and commenting on how quickly the weather has picked up and how they hope it's here to stay and I won't be able to be alone with my solitude anywhere and I'll probably end up in a shop buying things I don't need with money I haven't got (and now won't have for quite a while) and so I think I'll stay indoors with the curtains drawn if it's all the same to you.
1.30pm Woken up by my beloved calling to see if I'm okay - I lie and tell him I'm fine but I'm sure that I don't have the job - he knows I'm lying and makes suitably sympathetic comments.
The strong part from somewhere deep inside me is urging me to get out of bed and get dressed and eat something nourishing. The weak part of me wants to lie in bed with words from my interview (actual and fictionalized ideal) swirling around the room until I fall asleep again - it also wants to either a) eat nothing so that at least the benefit of some weight loss will result from this tragedy b) eat nothing but junk food. Luckily I can see straight through b) and know that my monkey mind is just laying the groundwork for me feeling even worse later and a) will work until I get hungry and reach for the first sugary item in the house, or a whole block of cheese.
On balance I think that my strong side is sounding quite persuasive so I will get up and get dressed and have cheese & yeast extract on toast.

2.06pm: And I have finally managed to un-pin myself from my bed. I have decided that I will get dressed, put on a mask and go out to share my pain with the world and the sunshine.

5.05pm: Just got in from *the outside* - managed okay (it's amazing how much better icecream and squirrels in the park can make you feel - even though the sun had gone in by the time I stepped outside) but struggled on the walk home - felt like I was walking through marshmallows ... and not in a good way.
Checked the phone and still no phone calls so that's it then, the end of that particular dream - I feel like I'm being crushed by gravity and I feel empty and my stomach hurts.
Must look after myself this evening and make it through to tomorrow. Will start by making wholesome vegetable casserole with brown rice and then go from there one step at a time.

Everyday Matters - Week 6 Challenge - Toyland

2005-03-19T11:14:00.000Z

'The Chair Rose Up ...'

This is my drawing of an illustration from my 1952 hardback copy of 'Adventures of the Wishing-Chair' by Enid Blyton. 'The Faraway Tree' books were probably my favourite as a child but there wasn't much in it (actually it was probably only the 'Secret Seven' books that I never really got into). I also loved 'The Secret Island' and dreamed of running away and escaping to our own island where there were no adults and we lived in a house made from the weaved branches of a willow tree with bracken and moss for mattresses. Unfortunately Enid Blyton books don't really stand up to re-reading as an adult but I can't bring myself to get rid of them from our bookshelves. When I was a young child we gave away most of our collection to a jumble sale and then almost instantly wanted them back so we gradually replaced them with our birthday and Christmas money each year (being a twin meant they were replaced twice as quickly). Luckily the Famous Five books which had belonged to my Mum and her brothers and sister still lived at my Grandma's house so they survived the cull. Most of my collection are secondhand so they are a bit scruffy and well-loved - the book I copied this illustration from even has some of the pictures coloured in which I would never have done as a child but it doesn't really bother me now. I think it's funny how adult nostalgia for their childhood has meant that 1st editions of children's books now sell for hundreds of pounds and the less 'loved' a book has been, the higher its value which seems to be completely the wrong way round to me ... who wants a children's book that hasn't been read by generations of children until the dust jacket is torn and discarded and the spine falls off?
My twin sister and I practically lived in our local library and hoovered up any book we could get our hands on until we were about 18 and then just seemed to lose interest overnight. Happily it was only a temporary (if somewhat extended) glitch and about 7 years ago my love affair with books resurfaced with a vengeance. So much so that my husband and I got married in the library of an old manor house (I made my entrance through a secret door in the bookcase ... very 'Famous Five'!) and our new house has a room in it that will eventually become our very own library and dining room. As a child I was never into the Moomintroll books but my husband bought one last year and I was totally captivated. They're such simple, funny (lol and rol - read out loud), heartwarming books and the illustrations are intensely detailed eye-magnets. You can read a whole chapter from one of the books here. I also tracked down a large picture book which is full of Tove Jansson illustrations in glorious technicolour exactly like the one on the cover and just opening it up brightens the darkest of days. If you're like me and have a deep-seated affection for islands, grandmothers and deceptively innocent prose-like books where nothing (and everything) happens you will love Tove's adult book, A Summer Book. And one day I *will* be going on a pilgrimage by steamboat to here and getting my face painted with moomin characters while I make my own pancake ~ and I know that I could be most contented living in a house like this.

i-Friday ~ Fragile ~

2005-03-17T10:37:00.000Z

'Cat Algebra'

When we were thinking of acquiring some kittens I remember reading that you should imagine having a toddler that could fly around the room. Our darling cats have wings aplenty and over the few years we've had them they've managed to break my favourite vase, some plates, glasses and a bottle of wine (they did that one in the middle of the night so we had to clear up what looked like a red wine lake while we were half asleep) and still they manage to have such looks of innocence on their little faces, like they had nothing to do with it ... must have been some freak indoor mini-tornado or summat. They also like to chomp on any flowers or plants that are brought into the house, so on the few occassions we've had some they end up on display in the bathroom because that's the only room they can't break into! This quickie bit of art is china white charcoal on a background of violet acrylic paint (it would have been black to represent a blackboard if I owned that colour or had better paintshop skills!).

This week's topic was quite apt for me because I've been feeling very fragile. I've got a job interview tomorrow for a job that I *reeeealllly* want to get and preparing for the interview and presentation I have to do (as if having an interview isn't stressful enough!) brings up all those self doubts and fears that they won't see me for the model employee I am ;-) Although I'm still very butterfly stomachy and can't wait for the whole ordeal to be over I'm starting to feel like I'll be reasonably well prepared by the time I walk in there and the job is pretty much my dream job and I have all the skills they need so there's no reason why I don't stand a good chance of getting it ... and then my monkey mind kicks in ~ ~ they've already got someone lined up for it so you're wasting your time ~ ~ you'll go there and then blow it by admitting that you're messy and disorganised and need deadlines and constant encouragement to motivate you ~ ~ you'll come across as either overfamiliar and unprofessional or superior and unapproachable ~ ~ or they'll hate you for a million other reasons that are all within your control ~ ~ in short, you'll screw up and then keep replaying your screw up over and over and over again in your head ~ ~ Then when I've tortured myself for long enough my more rational, soothing side finally gets its butt in gear and reassures me that I have every chance of getting the job and even if someone else was lined up for it I could still get it and anyway the interview experience will prove invaluable even if I don't get it ... and so on. Unfortunately I take more notice of monkey mind than my rational self (who always ends up sounding like my mum or a well-meaning friend who is blind to the realities of the situation) but at the end of the day the only way to get through this without getting scared and going awol is to keep preparing myself for the interview so monkey mind can't tell me I didn't get the job because I was too busy procrastinating and then go there tomorrow and try to be myself (or rather the best public version of me). At times like this I have a strong desire to hibernate or disappear but I find that if I keep breathing and edge forward then I find myself coming out the other side unscathed, a tiny bit braver and wondering what all the fuss was about.

Monkey mind also had a field day when he (yeah, my monkey mind's male, a bit like the annoying younger brother I never had, go figure) found out that Illo Friday was going to be closing earlier this week. Given that I've been late submitting for the last 2 weeks he started chirping away that it had all been changed because my art was so bad and they knew that changing to Friday as the closing day would mean I'd never get round to doing it. I explained to monkey mind that he sounded like an ego-maniac who thought the whole universe revolved around him ... he soon shut up after that. I didn't think I'd be posting this week because my entries take quite a while and did I mention that I'm tied up with getting ready for an interview (not that you'd guess from the length of this entry!). My original idea was one that was sparked by this quote I found:
"Marriage is tough, because it is woven of all these various elements, the weak and the strong. "In love-ness" is fragile for it is woven only with the gossamer threads of beauty. It seems to me absurd to talk about "happy" and "unhappy" marriages."
~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh
I'm still planning to do something with it at the weekend so I'll add it here when it's done. I've also got some photos of our cats misbehaving just in case you don't believe my cat formula but the PC that we upload our photos to is misbehaving so that will have to wait.
Anyhoo back to interview preparation for me ... "Please can you tell us what your main weakness is" ... "Well I'm really untidy and I worry and overanalyse *everything* ... now, when would you like me to start working for you?"

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30th April - Finally able to post photos again so here's the photo that proves my formula:

'Wendel the Mathmetician'
... See, Wendel's even trying to eat the flowers in my painting!

Expired Graffiti

2005-03-15T16:55:00.000Z

'Seen the news recently hotshot?'

Here is another piece of graffiti that's on a wall not too far from our house which always makes me chuckle internally. The Poll Tax (aka Community Charge) was a staggeringly unpopular form of local taxation that contributed to the downfall of Thatcher and caused huge riots in London. It lasted only 3 years from 1990 to 1993 before it was replaced with the less contentious Council Tax which is still in place today. Poll Tax was a system that (roughly speaking) meant that if you were over 18 yrs old and had a head you had to pay Poll Tax. This meant that households with 4 adults living in it paid shed loads more than the multimillionaire singletons living in their mansions ... there was talk at the time of going back to the 17th Century Window Tax or the earlier Hearth Tax but in the end they went for a property value (or brick location) tax which hasn't caused any riots to date.
... I wonder whether the original 'political artist' of this graffiti ever thinks 'I really must get round to going back and painting over that graffiti' whenever they pay their Council Tax bill.

Some Astrological Inspiration

2005-03-14T16:34:00.000Z

Well I wouldn't run my life by astrology or anything but I always read my horoscope if I come across it in a newspaper or magazine. A couple of weeks ago I signed up for Rob Brezsny's weekly horoscope and this was my one for this week which arrived last Wednesday:
"VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Shortly after the year 1000, Icelandic Vikings made two sojourns in the land that's now called North America. During the second expedition, one of the brave explorers, Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir, gave birth to a son. Snorri Thorfinnsson became the first European born in the New World. I hereby appoint Snorri to be your patron saint in the coming weeks, Virgo. May he inspire you to beget a brainchild as you acclimate yourself to living in a frontier."

This seemed somewhat serendipitous for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I'd been looking up info on vikings earlier in the day while deciding what to draw for Illustration Friday. Secondly, I'd also had an idea about drawing the patron saint of job seekers (I have a job interview this Friday you see). The thing I particularly like about Rob's newsletter is that there's always some homework to do at the bottom of the newsletter. This week it was:
What would the people who love you best say is the most important thing for you to learn?
I like getting e-mails that make me think more about what's going on inside my head even if I don't actually sit down and physically write something down. If you want a weekly dose of inspirational astrology you can subscribe to Rob's newsletter here.

i-Friday ~ ancient ~

2005-03-13T20:10:00.000Z

'Fortuna favet fatuis'

Well yes, I know that *technically speaking* it's Sunday rather than Friday but I've been busy with house guests and visiting friends ... peeters out.
So anyhoo - I didn't have a clue what to do for this weeks topic of 'ancient' for illustration friday so I typed 'ancient York' into google and had a dig around t'internet. Boy was it an education ... if you'd asked me what order the Anglo-Saxons, Romans and Vikings invaded York I would have got it completely wrong but thanks to the work of some better informed folks (here) I discovered that the Romans were here first. So I settled on *something Roman* as my subject and kept excavating the web until I came across some stuff about the Roman goddess Fortuna who had an altar built in York in her honour. A quick search in google images for 'Fortuna' unearthed this picture of the lady herself and I was sorted for what to draw. Fortuna (meaning 'she who turns the year turn about') was the goddess of fate who ruled oracles, fate, chance and was the protectress of women who had married only once. She symbolizes the capriciousness of life and luck and kept all men at her feet, the prosperous through fear and the unfortunate through hope. St. Augustine questionned why Fortuna was made a goddess 'since she is so blind that she runs to anybody without distinction, and often passes by her admirers to cling to those who despise her'. For everything you could possibly want to know about Fortuna and fortune in general you should go here.
I decided to make her a bit more ethereal so I gave her gold hair and that makes her my second gold haired bewinged creature but I guess all recovering creatives go through that stage ... don't they? ... right? I got very brave and used *actual paint* on this one rather than relying totally on my watercolour pencils then I embellished it with some jewels and pearls courtesy of the jewellery section of our Argos catalogue :-)
I was completely bewitched by the illustration friday submission from 'Kim's Suitcase' and even started making notes for a story inspired by the characters in her picture ... so inspirational!

Light Blue Through the Lantern Tower

2005-03-10T14:55:00.000Z

'All Saints Church, York'

I took this photo *mentally* a couple of weeks ago on a clear blue lunchtime walk through York. Then I had the strange experience of seeing my mental photo on Maggie of Merseyside's photoblog ... it's a church in Liverpool rather than York but it has the same peek-through tower. Today the sky was blue again so I took my camera out with me and got the shot I'd been carrying around in my head. In looking on the web to check the name of the church I found out that the octagonal tower was made open-sided so a lantern could be hung there to help travellers find their way to the city (and God, I suppose) at night . You can read more here.

Enhance Your Life With the Urban Dictionary

2005-03-09T09:41:00.000Z

I spotted a link to the Urban Dictionary on someone else's blog and thought I'd check if our names are defined on there ... they are so here you go, enjoy:
Helen means:
"fly girl with a nice booty, great looks and sexy laugh. likes to tease and get what she wants. she's good for the WHOLE NIGHT. described as "bangin'"

what...a...helen... *drools*"

Mark means:

"A name usually reserved for a pimp or playa of some sort. Macks tons of bitches, and has the respect of everybody.

Everybody wishes that they could be Mark."

I won't comment on the accuracy but given some of the other definitions I read it could have been a *lot* worse.

You can add your own definitions and put in for amendments of existing ones so if you were that way inclined there is vast scope for some passive aggressive revenge against those who have crossed you.

Everyday Matters - Week 5 Challenge - Bed

2005-03-07T22:25:00.000Z

Click on the picture below to avoid eyestrain ...

'And So to Bed'

I thought that I would have to tidy up before I could do this challenge but then I realised that I'd probably never get round to it so there you are, our messy bed with my heap of clothes on one corner of it. Imagine what delights you could be in for as the weeks continue ... our bath complete with tide mark, our kitchen floor with unswept crumbs and some dried-on catfood ... oh you lucky people!
Our bedroom actually isn't too bad at the moment (it's all relative!) but I am genetically untidy (and at the same time freakishly aware of the location of all our belongings which is handy)so it's an ongoing battle to maintain a clear pathway to the bed and avoid ankle injuries in the night.
Being unemployed has meant that some new bedroom rules have developed to keep me from driving my husband mad (he works from home you see): First off, no-one stays in bed later than Mark on a weekday (i.e. no later than 8.55am) - unless they are genuinely ill and have a note from their legal guardian; Secondly, daytime naps are frowned on; Thirdly, pyjamas are not suitable attire to be wearing past 9am ... I know it's like some kind of hellish dictatorship.
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When I first scanned and posted this picture it looked very wishy-washy and airy-fairy so I was going to rescan it ... then I realised the issue was with a lack of definition in the original sketch because I used my beloved quilter's pencil which is very light and silvery so ... (and I can hardly believe I really did this) ... I retraced *every single darned line* and it's scanned much better this time (take my word for it) although I lost a bit of colour this time ... no I don't think I'll be going over the colour and reposting it thanks very much ;-)

An Angel for Michelangelo

2005-03-06T17:33:00.000Z

'See the Angel'

I was prompted to do this piece today by a blog I read recently which encouraged readers to do something creative for Michelangelo Day ... unfortunately I haven't been able to find the blog again (doh!) but when I do, I'll post a link to it here. ~~~ I found the blog so you can read all about the Michelangelo Project on French Toast Girl's website
The quote on it is from Michelangelo and reads: 'I see the angel in the stone, and chip away at everything around it.' The inspiration for my drawing came from my first effort at an altered book (still a work in progress at the moment) which I've also posted below. I've changed the lady a little to make her more angelic and used the most amazing gold and silver pens (Staedtler triplus gel-liners) which shimmer on the page for the quote and her hair and wings and tattoos. I used my trusty quilters pencil to sketch it to begin with and then added some colour with some colour pencils. I love how it turned out and it will be finding its way onto my studio wall very soon :-)

'French Kiss pages 2 & 3'

And while I'm on the subject of angels, here's a photo of some graffiti on a wall near our house. I always wonder what the artist was thinking when they did it. Unfortunately the first time I saw it I also thought it said 'ARSE' so that always goes through my mind aswell.

'Arise Graffiti'

i-Friday - Jazz

2005-03-05T10:34:00.000Z

Can't see it good? ... then be my guest and click to make it bigger

'Jazz Mag'

What do you mean 'late'?! How dare you, I've never been so insulted ... well okay, maybe a *little* late but what's 11 hours between friends?
Anyhoo this week on Illustration Friday the topic 'Jazz' had people divided again. Some people lurrrrved the topic and others loathed it. I have to say that my heart sunk when I saw the word Jazz and my first thought was that I'd have a break this week and concentrate on my EDM challenges but I was in two minds about it because it's only my 2nd week after all and I'd feel a bit of a wuss if I didn't have a go. This idea of the magazine cover was the first thing that sprang to mind because of the *bad* jazz (i.e. improvisational, I'll keep playing until you all leave or I die) that sounds like musical masterbation i.e. something best kept in the bedroom and done for your own pleasure, not done on a spotlit stage and inflicted on law abiding concert goers who *just wanted a nice night out for the love of lindor*. I was also inspired by this definition I googled up: 'empty rhetoric or insincere or exaggerated talk; "don't give me any of that jazz" [syn: wind, idle words, nothingness]' - If I get round to doing the piece of art that definition conjoured up in my head I'll post it here.
I used paintshop pro which is a darkly mysterious beast that has until now eluded my efforts to tame it ... it's still not fully housebroken yet but I'll persevere a little longer before I drive out to some distant wilderness one night and abandon it.
I bravely typed "jazz mag" in google and then clicked on the images link and found a fantastic illustrated magazine cover which you can see with your very own ideas by clicking on this link it reminded me of some of the jazz illustrations posted this week and is very groovy indeed.

Of course the only thing worse than *bad* jazz is *bad* jazz with jazz singing over the top ... hell, why sing one syllable when you could sing ten? ... "m-y f-u-u-u-ny-ee vale-en-t-ine-e"

An unguided tour of my art room

2005-03-04T17:11:00.000Z

These are some photos of my art room (which I'll give a better name once I've thought of one) - it's in the small bedroom upstairs in our house and it's the first time I've ever had a room of my own to create stuff in. Wendel is in his usual spot by the radiator.

It's quite tidy at the moment because I only finished sorting it out this week ... I can't wait to start getting some of my art work up on the walls.

This my desk, it's a breakfast bar we bought a few years ago when we lived in a flat. It didn't fit in anywhere downstairs but it's perfect for my room so I adopted it :-)

That's Angelica stealing my favourite seat - the floor cushions are ancient I'm planning to make new covers for them once I've learnt to sew. The keyboard in the corner was donated to us by friends years ago and still I haven't started learning to play piano but one day ...

Everyday Matters - Week 3 Challenge

2005-03-04T09:32:00.000Z

'Big Night Out Bag'

This is one of those handbags with a photo printed on one side - I bought it from a shop called Oasis a couple of years ago specially to take out with me on my hen night ... there was a matching purse as well so I got that ... there was also a matching vanity case which I was very tempted to (to take on honeymoon of course) but I managed to talk myself out of it. It's my favourite bag mainly because of the picture, looks like it might be Sophia Loren to me, which always makes me smile ... what else would you wear to be photographed with a tiger cub - why, it just has to be a tiger skin fur coat (fake fur hopefully) every time. It has also become my 'Big Night Out' bag which I always take if I'm set to party and all glammed up. It's big enough for my purse, phone, keys, lipstick and not much else ... I have managed to cram my wooly hat and gloves into it on occassion but it starts looking a little overstuffed. I just used my quilting pencil to sketch this and it took a mighty long time to finish so I won't be adding a sketch of the matching purse :-) I love the way the scanner made it look like I sketched it with a bright light coming from the right ... what I mean is - I'm really pleased with the way I managed to capture the lighting so well ;-)

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Bonus drawing:

'Cute Purse'

I drew this on March 5th but it seemed to make more sense to post it here rather than create a new post. The cats are actually different colours so I might add some colour and post that piccie here too. I drew it straight off with a pen (Pentel gel pen) which is big news for me because it meant I couldn't re-do bits if they went wrong (that counts as risk taking in my world) ... luckily it came out well first time round - - - I might be brave and use pen more often ;-) This purse is the only one I've owned that attracts comments from people when I get it out to pay for something ... it's a bit fiddly to get coins out of but at least there's something nice for shop staff to look at while I'm fumbling away :-)

Everyday Matters - Week 2 Challenge

2005-03-02T08:56:00.000Z

'Grown-up Up-lighter'

Just a bag left to draw (which I started doing last night) and I'm all up-to-date with my Everday Matters drawing challenges. This is a picture of the uplighter in our living room which one of our very generous wedding guests bought us from our wedding list. When the bulb went for the first time it suffered a terminal breakdown so we had to get a replacement but the glass shade on the replacement was broken so the replacement lamp had to be replaced aswell. Over 12 months later and it seems to be in fine fetter so fingers crossed it will be lighting up our evenings for many more years to come. Our previous uplighter was from Ikea, cost about 10 quid, is owned by half the British population, refused to stand straight and didn't have a dimmer switch so this one is a vast improvement. The Ikea lamp has now found a home in our dining room ... we don't really do throwing out you see.

Everyday Matters - Week 4

2005-03-01T13:51:00.000Z

'Gorgeous Mug'

This is a drawing of my favourite mug, bought for me by my husband before we were married. I think of it as my affirmation mug ... heck you never know, I might even believe it one day!
My drink of choice is tea (fairtrade of course) and of late I've been making it milkier than usual and adding a tiny bit of cinammon, along with a spoonful of sugar (again fairtrade). It's my own version of the deliciously comforting Chai tea latte from Starbucks because a) I can't afford to go there very often and b) I wouldn't want to even if I could afford it.

Everyday Matters - Playing Catch Up

2005-02-28T18:56:00.000Z

'Proper girly shoes'

This picture is the first one I've done for the Everyday Matters weekly drawing challenge. (I've got a lamp, a bag and a mug to do and then I'll have caught up with it - I'll post them here as I complete them)
I used my trusty quilters pencil (a light silver pencil meant for marking cloth) to sketch the shoe and write the text below it, then coloured it in with my watercolour pencils (dry). The shoes are brown suede and are kind of girly and bohemian - totally aspirational shoes because they represent the kind of clothing I admire and want to wear more of but always end up going for safer choices so I don't stand out too much from the flock. I bought them from a shop called 'New Look' which is super cheap and I fell in love with them as soon as I saw them. I don't buy that many shoes really but I do suddenly 'have to' buy new shoes every now and then and I usually have a pretty good idea of what I'm looking for, which sometimes makes for a pretty arduous shoe buying oddesey that can take weeks before I find 'the ones'. My husband, on the other hand wears one pair of (brown) shoes until they start letting rainwater in - then he goes shopping for a pair as close to the ones he is replacing as possible, and he never needs to look in more than a couple of shops before he finds what he's looking for. I think that if he could bear to part with the money he would buy 10 pairs in advance just so he'd avoid shoe shopping for the forseeable future.
Be inspired by Danny Gregory here

Our Offspring

2005-02-28T09:56:00.000Z

'Sleeping the sleep of the righteous' (Angelica & Wendel)

'I'm the queen of the castle' (Angelica)

'What big eyes you have' (Wendel)

Two cats is the closest we've got to having children. Wendel is named after a little seen Simpsons character:
and Angelica got her name because she looked so pretty as a kitten ... but she does like getting her own way and loves attention so the link to Angelica in the Rugrats has become quite apt.

Come visit the beautiful architecture of York

2005-02-27T21:13:00.000Z

The rust factory, York on a very clear winter's day.

I took these photos a few months ago - it's a factory which is just outside York city centre, no idea what they do there but it's a strangely beautiful sight and lies in stark contrast to the historic buildings just a few metres away.

IllFriday ~ Sorrow ~

2005-02-25T10:36:00.000Z

Follow the Rose Opal Path ...

After a couple of weeks of lurking on the fantastic and inspirational www.illustrationfriday.com I have only gone and done an illustration ... yes, I know, I'm as amazed as you are! I've noticed that quite a few of the people who have posted for this week's topic of 'Sorrow' have commented that they were a little put off by the topic and would have preferred something more joyful ... all I know is that although my picture was inspired by the word sorrow I couldn't feel more joyful for having created something, I've even got a daft grin on my face as I'm typing this. I also found that looking at other 'illfriday' pictures, however dark, didn't make me feel sorrowful - just inspired and moved. Maybe I'm not going deep enough into my art yet but I think that the darker the subject matter or the more resistance I feel toward tackling a subject, the more I'll get out of creating something. Anyway this is turning into an art therapy manifesto so let me get back to celebrating the death of my creative procrastination ... ***breaking news ~ how strange that just as I'm writing about celebrating, the post arrives with a 'thanks, but no thanks' letter from York University to tell me I haven't got the job I was interviewed for last week ... yeah I'm feeling sorrow now ... even though I am applying for a much better job and didn't think the job was right for me long term ... still it's hard to be turned down for a job - dammit*** ... so where was I - oh yeah, I used watercolour pencils, a quilting pencil, a gold stamp-pad (which I applied using a fine brush) and some eyeshadow from a pallette with 42 colours that came free with a makeup bag (I used it on the eyes, cheeks and lips) - it's great because it's kind of chalky but in loads of different colours and with sponge applicators included in the case which makes it very easy to apply. The writing on the path says "... and one jewel encrusted night you will stand between the sapphire sea and the ruby beach, crying tears of sorrow as you realise that you alone are holding the door closed." In the back of my mind I keep hearing part of a quote about sorrow which I'll try to find and will add here. For now I'll submerge myself in the new batch of illfriday pics and will be suggesting 'rejection' as a future theme ;-)

Many busy afternoons, in truth

2005-02-24T20:05:00.000Z

'A busy afternoon and one missing pencil'

This is what my pencil case looked like after finishing 'Troubling Lines ...' - all those beautiful, multicoloured pencil sharpenings. You'll be relieved to know that I found the missing pencil upstairs in my creativity room a couple of days later.

Yay, I've worked out how to post pictures!

2005-02-24T10:19:00.000Z

'Testing lines for troubling times'

This picture was done with coloured pencils, a metal ruler, patience and perseverance. It took a couple of days over 4 or 5 sessions (I only did it a couple of weeks ago and already I've forgotten how many) when I would draw lines with 12 or so coloured pencils in rotation until my whole body became twitchy and restless and I felt like screaming ... at which point I would take a break before I destroyed something in a tasmanian devil style outburst. In the interests of *just getting the damn thing posted* I haven't done any smart stuff with it (like work out which way round it goes or crop the sketchbook spiral off) but I might do so or perhaps not. Still, hurrah and huzzah for a completed piece of artwork which is composed of ~lots~ of pencil lines (if anyone has the time to count them then drop me a line and I'll rename the piece in your honour, maybe) and is more geometric than I'd expect from myself, if you know what I mean.
*~ n.b. Now that I have conquered picture posting technology I'm going to mess with the very fabric of time itself and post some earlier stuff with photos ... not to deliberately confuse the general blog visiting public, honest ~*

Hooray for Bukowski and watercolour pencils

2005-02-20T16:09:00.000Z

"What Matters Most ..."

I did this a few months ago as a gift for my husband and it's now framed and hanging on our living room wall. It's a copy of the artwork on the front of a Charles Bukowski book of poems ...

I used watercolour pencils on watercolour pencil paper - it was the first time I used my watercolour pencils with water and I'm *really* pleased with how it turned out. It gave my creative recovery a big shot in the arm to see what I was capable of doing when I *finally* sat my procrastinating ass down and got on with it.

Another bacon picture - Yin and Yang

2005-02-15T19:20:00.000Z

Aaah the simple zen-like beauty of cooking bacon.

Nothing says 'I love you' like a bacon heart

2005-02-14T09:03:00.000Z

'Healthy Heart'

Happy Valentine's day! My beloved made me a card on his 'puter. It's the same as the one Lisa Simpson gives to Ralph Wiggum ... A cartoon train and 'I choo, choo, choose you'. He also bought me the Gwen Stefani album ... unfortunately it was very disappointing so I've swapped it for Rufus Wainwright 'Want One' which is fantastic.We don't go overboard on this hallmark holiday but it's a good opportunity to appreciate and cherish each other a little more than usual.

The mighty tilda

2005-02-10T09:30:00.000Z

So anyway the sofas finally arrived around 4:45pm yesterday. I'll have to post a photo of them so you can see what all the *broohah* was over ... or perhaps I'll be one of those bloggers who plans to post photos but never gets round to it, too early to tell yet. My soulmate was kind enough to phone up customer services at 4pm yesterday to enquire the whereabouts of said sofas. He didn't use an angry tone of voice even after he was put on hold for *a very long time* while the CS lady tried to contact the driver. My soulmate even used the words 'fair enough' in response to the CS lady letting him know that they couldn't get through to the courier company and they'd keep trying and phone him back when they knew what was happening (which of course they didn't but that's forgiveable as sofas turned up anyway). It's the little things like that which remind me why I fell in love with and married my soulmate ... he's so measured and calm when I would be all testy and righteous.
So I was thinking this morning that I should buy a new laptop once I am back in employment because my hand me down one doesn't have my favourite key stroke ... but on closer inspection it is there, just mapped to the wrong key. ~ How do ordinary folk live without using the ~tilda~ in all they type?