A Christmas quilt

I started quilting this last year for my two eldest grandchildren but was also making a quilted advent calendar for my youngest grandson and just never managed to get both done in time. Anyway I finished it off a week or so ago and took it over for Stanley and Rose. I had better start my next one earlier next year! I do love this simple quilting work, it is so relaxing to do and you end up with something really attractive. I have made quilts for all my grandchildren when they were born and so far two advent calendars and two Christmas blanket quilts. I also made a fairly complicated Celtic knot quilted cushion for my mum in law who is half scottish and half irish. That was rather more painstaking as it was very intricate. I have to admit I love doing them for the children as I like the designs so much but I was still pleased to make my mum in law something she really liked. Still....I think I will stick to Peter Rabbit and Rudolph and friends from now on......

A Mixed Media Scavenger Hunt for Christmas

We have a group called "Mixed Media Scavenger Hunt" on Freeing Your Wings for which we create a mix of pieces each month using 6 items listed for the hunt. For our November/Christmas hunt our words were: berries, bracken, evergreen, frost, rosy cheeks and mittens. Last Friday my little grandaughter and I made this little montage for my garden on the front step! You should be able to see all the items but just in case you are having trouble finding the frost .....Rose glued some icy sparkle onto the roof of the house and the rosy cheeks and mittens are on the snowman!

Brighton Pavilion Christmas Ice Rink

How lovely to see the Christmas open air ice rink back in place for 2011 outside the beautiful Brighton Pavilion. It really brings good feelings to see such a festive picture, don't you think?

A beautiful find.....

I had such a nice day with my dear friend Carol today. It started off with coffee and a croissant and then we went onto the Brighton MADE Fair which is held every year in November and which we go to together every year too. This is a wonderful "fair" as it is a gathering of extremely talented artists of every walk of "arty/creative life". This year I completely fell in love with one particular artist whose work is shown above. This lovely lady, Angela Davies, was so sweet and let me take a photo of her beautiful work to put onto FYW. Photos are not allowed in the exhibition because people often copy ideas but I explained to Angela about FYW and those of us on here who love to "art journal". For me, her stand was art journalling in 3D. It was fabulous and my photo does not do it justice. It is just a small part of what was on display. She makes lots of "book art" which I know many of my fellow art journallers would love. You can see the range of her work on her website which is http://www.angeladaviesartist.co.uk/ Anyway it was, as always a lovely day out and, as we always do, Carol and I bought each other a small present each for Christmas. We have been doing this for years and I have a wonderful little selection of arty bits and pieces that we have chosen together at one or other of the Christmas Art Fairs we go to! If you are a local member, the Art Fair is on until Sunday and well worth a visit.

Live with Art - It's good for you!

I remember just before I got ill in 2002 and had to retire from my job as a primary headteacher, that I was asked to give a lecture to newly qualified teachers on the importance of art within education. I remember compiling a whole page of wonderful quotes to this end and it was one of the handouts I gave to the attendees. It was a really successful and enjoyable session and I remember it very fondly as so many of the young teachers came up to me afterwards to say that they were now inspired to not just teach art but to teach "through" art, that I had opened their eyes to something they had not thought of before. Mostly this was because they thought they were no good at art themselves. How did that happen I wonder?? Well we all know the answer to that.... Anyway, this was one of the very last things I did as a headteacher as only about a week later I was so ill with my (at that time unknown) cancer that I was no longer able to go to work. Some weeks later my deputy sent on to me a batch of letters from these same students saying what a difference to their teaching that day had made. I still get a thrill from that for I was a passionate believer in all the creative and expressive arts as a teacher. Art, in all its forms, does so much for young children and at the time I got ill, it was being sidelined out of the curriculum to such an extent that newly qualified young teachers had no confidence to teach it. I was certainly carrying the banner for the arts at that time and I was leading a series of lectures on art, dance and drama in particular as I was going downhill fast with my illness. But, now 11 years later, those last few weeks of my career still linger in my memory because the funny thing is that I never had any confidence in myself as an artist either. Art journalling and the wonderful people you meet through doing it, brought my inner fears right out and tossed them right away for me. So..... I still believe in the joy, the healing, the flying high that we can get when we express ourselves through art and I am so happy I have others still to share this with. Tags:

Four Angel ATCs

I painted these four angels ATCs yesterday for the Christmas ATC Swap on Freeing Your Wings. (You will find this swap in the "Trading Treasures" group on the site - beautifully and lovingly organised by Angela). I am always disappointed when the photos of my paintings show up what I consider to be blemishes even when they are not evident on the real thing. Today I have come to the conclusion that it is because I use cold pressed water colour paper which has that ridgey effect. I use neocolour II water colour crayons and it seems to me that unless you blend them in with a touch of acrylic, they possibly don't cling to the surface perfectly. It has never struck me before but looking at this reproduction I think that could be the case. In "real life" the colours blend absolutely fine but I suppose that is just what the light is showing me as in the photograph I can see places where it does not. I am not going to do any more with them as I was fairly pleased with them particularly the profile angel with the dark brown hair and being so small, every altered brush stroke has the potential to make a huge difference. Still, I can really see the learning potential here in taking a photograph of my work each time. I know that my art guru Tam, always recommends hot pressed paper which has a smooth finish and I am guessing this is why. If she wasn't 4 days overdue in having her second baby I would ask her but I suspect she has other things on her mind. Maybe one of these angels I have painted is looking after her and her baby just now. I would like to think so.

The Leonardo Exhibition

La Belle Ferroniere

Lady With An Ermine The National Gallery has really pulled off a coup with the Leonardo Da Vinci Exhibition which has just opened in London. I hope I manage to get there but in the meantime have at least been able to watch the Sky Arts programme which in itself is mesmerising. I must admit to knowing nothing really about the two paintings above and did not realise they are held to be so revolutionary in that they were the very first portraits to "break the mould" of profile portraiture which had been the traditional way of recording the rich and famous up to that point. Both ladies are rumoured to be mistresses of the Duke of Milan, although some sources believe La belle ferroniere may be his wife. These portraits are considered to be perfect examples of Leonardo's desire to show the personalities and emotions of his sitters, to really get inside them and to bring them to life in every sense of the word. It is interesting that the National has arranged them so that La belle ferroniere seems to be glaring at the woman with the ermine.....which led the presenters to add to the speculation that she was the duke's wife and the other his mistress!

A piece of very good advice....

To have a whole day in which I am free to paint is ....despite the fact I am now retired.... still a rarity. But.. I have one today! Happy me. :-)