FRUITCAKE CARD

Another Birthday and another card- again featuring a cake however this time it is a farmhouse fruitcake. Again, simple but effective. I didn't want too much detail, hence I decided to put 'Happy Birthday' inside the card rather than outside.

WALKIES

Lovely day today so headed out with the dog for a walk and got pretty muddy. I did get the chance however to experiment with the camera on my phone, as I only worked out the other day that I can Bluetooth the photos from it to the computer (I'm not very good with phones). The camera on it isn't brilliant, but I like the grainy effect it produces, I quite like the fact that the images aren't crystal clear, it makes a nice change.

THE LOVELY WILD PLACE

Second photo-shoot for the Secret Garden Project, it's still chilly up here in North-West England but the daffodils are starting to come up and there are snowdrops out down the lane, so spring is nearly here! (even if these pictures still look a bit bleak).

I wanted to move away from the images of the flowers themselves and focus more on the effect of the Natural Forms on the characters, one of the key elements within the story is that it is nature that heals Colin and turns Mary into a better child. Obviously flowers will still feature in my work, but not as the main focus. Hopefully clock and keys will also begin to appear in my work, as the children loose all sense of time in the Garden.

Anyway, enjoy the photos! I love them, I think they are some of my best yet. My sister and her boyfriend are the glamorous models. And in case you are wondering as to why the majority of photos are of the back of their heads, they kept laughing so the photos that do show their faces just look silly. Hence, most are from behind or the side. Never mind!

PRAGUE NATIONAL GALLERY

A few of my favourite pieces from the Prague Collection of Modern and Contempary Art, again these post cards are now stuck to the back of my door. This is another place in Prague that, in my opinion, is worth a visit if you get the chance. They have work from more famous artists, such as Monet, Picasso, Cezanne and so on but they also have a lot of Czech art, by artists I had never heard of. I really enjoyed seeing these artists for the first time, even if their style wasn't to my taste, it was just lovely to wander around. It is HUGE though, so leave a few hours for a visit, you definitely can't run around it (and appreciate) all the work in an hour. Worth a visit when you are on Prague!
Antonin Chittussi- A View of Paris From Montmartre, 1887.
František Kupka- Piano Keys, 1909.Vaclav Spala- On Octava River before the Storm, 1929.

PRAGUE FEBRUARY 2011

Rather than using the half-term holidays to produce some more artwork (or start my English Coursework), I headed off to Prague to visit a friend. It was beautiful and I loved it, I would recommend going if you get the chance, it's a gorgeous city with lots of pretty Churches and Architecture to look at. My favourite place was probably the Cathedral, lovely and Gothic and the height of it is just incredible, really, it's sooo tall! Definitely worth a visit, here are a few photos to wet your appetite!

And a few postcards, that are now blue tacked to the back of my door!

PRESTON HARRIS GALLERY

Visited the Harris Museum and Art Gallery on Wednesday, it's our nearest (relatively large) gallery and I do like going. The last exhibition I went to see was 'Fairy-tales' it was fabulous, lots of old children's books and the sketches for them. This time I wanted to see their newer textile exhibition on embellished fabrics. My favourite piece was the Newspaper dress, apparently you could buy prints on fabric as well as on paper. This one was for a fancy dress party in 1897- but what a brilliant idea! Political, topical and different to everyone else's. Genius!

However I did go with the History Society at college (so it wasn't pretty dresses all afternoon) but I find out something very interesting:

'Horris' the Poulton/ Carleton/ Highfurlong elk. A you can probably imagine, he's quite old. There haven't been any elks in Britain since the last ice age, around 12000 years ago and Horris is 11600 years old. So he's doing pretty well! He was found in the 1970's in a site that is actually opposite college. The reason this elk is so very important is that he is the first evidence of 'Hunger Gathers' hunting in the North West. Poor Horris was hunted before he died, with harpoons (well the weapons look like mini harpoons) and various blunt objects. On the plus side he wasn't caught however he probably died from his injuries and the hunter gathers didn't eat. I thought this was all fascinating! If you want to find out more, Google Poulton Elk and there's plenty to read or visit the Gallery- I think he's being taken off display soon to become interactive soon but I'm not sure when! The Harris Museum and Art Gallery could tell you if you emailed/ phoned them. It was a really good afternoon in all!

100

This is my 100th post! Woah! Nothing to spectacular unfortunately to celebrate this century, just the usual update of work! I have started looking at my first contextual link, Hollie Caley, focusing mainly on her creation of layers and the more 'grungy' side of her work, after all, it is hard to stay clean in a garden!

Some finished works from earlier:
And a Hollie Caley inspired piece (unfinished, needs some wax and a quote):
Another inspired work (same again, wax and quote):

OBSERVATIONALS AND MIXED MEDIA

Just a quick update of what I have been up to- some observational drawings and experimentation in mixed media. A few (ok, a fair few) are unfinished, so will probably appear again once I have sewn/ worked into them.

Some Mono-printing, the bottom one is a print that I scanned in then emulsion printed onto fabric with a subtle outline of a flower, not sure if that's visible in the photo.
Acetone prints onto fabric- these are of my own photos, of Monet's garden in Giverny (as well as one of my more recent photo's of flowers for this project). All are unfinished and need sewing into and collaging over, perhaps with buttons and fabric.
More stitching, after the last project, I found that I rather enjoy it. I love sewing and creating line with thread, to quote Debbie Smyth 'it's a really lovely drawing medium'.
Sellotape prints on pretty backgrounds. Both have a little was on them (another favourite of mine).
Moving away from my own photo's, but staying with the wax, there are just a few mixed media pieces that I completed last lesson. The one directly below needs sewing into (outline of the carnation), as does the small buttercup piece. Plenty to keep me busy! Next I am going to look at my first contextual link, Hollie Caley- focusing on fabrics/textiles and the creation of layers.