purple podded peas

"How do your hens like the snow?"

2012-02-09T17:29:00.000Z

That's the question I've been asked time and time again this week – well, basically they don't like it.

We've swept some path ways through the snow on the paving outside the back door; and there's an area almost clear of snow, under the large pine tree – they stick to these zones and don't venture across the snowy wastes.

There's a trodden path from the paved area to the hen-house, the track Cliff and I make as we go back and forth to let them out, clean up the hut and collect the eggs; but I noticed another dirty path had appeared in the snow . . . it goes from the area under the pine tree, then halfway to the hut, it stops.

This evening I spotted the flock queuing up along the path . . .

Poor Ginger-Spice, she didn't want to jump/fly did she?! she thought I was going to carry her . . . but YAY! brave Ginger did it in the end :-)

There's a chance we'll get another flurry of snow tonight, but then a thaw is forecast . . . there will be a big sigh of relief from Ginger.

Celia
x

Pattern cutting not just for tailors

2012-02-08T16:05:00.001Z

This morning I met up with Gina of Fan My Flame, to see the current exhibition at Smiths Row in Bury St Edmunds; it's called Block Party and is a touring exhibition organised by the Crafts Council. If you are interested in contemporary crafts or have ever done any dressmaking using a paper pattern, then you'll find this fascinating . . . in fact if you've never been to a modern art/makers exhibition and haven't a clue about pattern cutting, I'd recommend that you go along, you'll find all sorts of amazing things from plastic surgery techniques to beautiful ceramic pots and a tweed whale. If you can't get to any of the shows, there is an excellent Block Party website, which is where I found the 'share' button for this excellent introductory film . . .

Negative Space. from Crafts Council on Vimeo.

After the exhibition, Gina and I had a quick look around Smiths Row Shop (where we both sell a selection of our work) before heading off to that hidden gem of cafés – The Lounge in Hatter Street, Bury St Edmunds. Both Gina and I stuck to our 'healthy eating' regime and ignored the cakes! instead we had the delicious Parsnip & Butternut Squash Soup.

What a lovely treat, well worth traveling through the freezing snow-fields of Suffolk for.

Celia
x

PS Gina . . . I admit to succumbing to the temptation of Waitrose's 'essential crumpets' . . . well they did say 'essential' and I needed something to top up my trolly so I qualified for free parking . . . that's my excuse, anyway ;-)

White, not crisp – salted and unsalted

2012-02-05T14:47:00.000Z

Last night we had tickets to see 'Neighbourhood Watch' at the theatre in Cambridge; snow had been forecast to fall at some time on Saturday and it seemed as if the whole country was 'on amber alert' as the Met Office had labelled it, but undeterred we drove into town and as we neared the outskirts of Cambridge the first skimpy flakes were flying past the car windscreen.

At the interval we bought our ice-creams and stood at the theatre door watching the snow accumulate, the street was white and huddles of bicycles were disappearing under fluffy white blankets of snow. The mood of the audience returning to their seats, was a mix of excitement and slight trepidation of what the journey home would be like . . .

. . . a tad hairy to be honest! Cliff seemed confident driving my 'tardis' with it's new winter wheels, but as we passed a rather crunched little hatchback we worried about whether the car behind us would be able to brake without sliding into the back of us!

As we headed out over the Gog Magog Hills we were almost alone on the road, the snow was coming down thick and fast and by the time we turned down the little country lane to the village we were relieved to have made it to within easy walking distance of home, should we have got stuck . . . which we didn't.

This morning I peeped trough the curtains and this was the scene . . .

Bright sun and freezing temperatures would have made everything sparkle, well you can't have everything . . . the palette of white, greys and umbers has its own beauty. When we saw that the road through the village had actually been gritted! (at 7am it hadn't so Cliff had decided not to join his walking group 20 miles away) we decided to go for walk up through the village and out the other side.

At the top of the hill we had a choice, salted or unsalted . . .

. . . we took the road less traveled

And I had fun taking lots of photos of the twiggy textures and distant woods.

I think this next one is my favourite . . .

Near the village playing field are two trees which always seem to hold on to there fruits right through the winter

and underneath, a Robin was thankful of a snack.

Back home, the snow outlines pruned structures and bright stems glow – the garden is unfamiliar under its coating of snow.

The hens are confused – most of them chose not to leave the hen-house; but Pearl was out and about – but not at all sure of what to make of this snow stuff!

My hunch is the snow won't stay around for long, we'll be back to chilly, muddy February very soon.

In the mean time, I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon sitting by a cosy fire and looking at the snow-scene while it lasts.

Celia
x

PS someone's just mentioned going for another walk to see if we can spot the Barn Owls hunting in the snow - mmm? might be worth doing before I get snuggled down ;-) Naah! tea and biscuits by the fire won!

Enter February

2012-02-01T14:39:00.002Z

February has arrived blown in on a chill nor-easterly, plummeting the temperatures to well below freezing by night and only just a little warmer by day; will we have snow? who knows, but today the sunshine is glorious, so despite the cold (and the wind-chill) I decided that a lunchtime walk with my camera would be a good idea.

This is the south-west corner of Suffolk, the views take in the edge of south Cambridgeshire and north Essex; here the countryside is nearly as high as it gets in East Anglia, my short route of a mile and half started at 65ft and took me to 115ft at the wood . . . so around here that's a significant hill! The village is tucked down in the valley, the church tower hardly visible among the trees.

Back home my flock is happy to be in a sheltered garden with a sunny spot under the pine tree; and look who's found a girlfriend? Cheep is inseparable from Pearl and even wants to guard her while she lays her egg!

Celia
x

BTW the music is the gavotte from Gluck's 'Orfeo ed Euridice' played by Les Musiciens du Louvre (my favourite album on my iPhone this winter).

Perfect winter weekend = walk + bake + knit

2012-01-30T16:52:00.003Z

On Saturday we decided to venture west for a walk in the Midlands, Cliff did a quick search on the web and found a good location . . . Pitsford Water in Northamptonshire.

We started our walk at the popular Brixworth Country Park visitors centre and circumnavigated the southern half of the reservoir, a total distance of 7.5 miles – just the right sort of distance to blow the cobwebs out of the mind and put roses in our cheeks!

On the way we passed some recently done hedge-laying . . .

and lots of birdlife, including a large flock of Lapwings (including one of two Golden Plovers) and these beautifully plumaged Greylag Geese . . .

After our walk we went into Brixworth village to see the church, it's set on the edge of the village on the crest of a ridge which overlooks the surrounding farmland, and it is huge . . . and very very old!

Brixworth church was build at least 1200 years ago, only a couple of hundred years after the the Romans upped and left Britain; the Saxon builders reused Roman terracotta tiles to make the massive semicircular archways. The large ground level arches (which have been infilled with stone and windows) where originally interior entrances into small side rooms, chapels or shrines off the main nave of this great basilica, maybe built when Offa was king of Mercia.

Just think how long it's stood here . . . it was over 300 years old when the Normans invaded Britain! Look at how carefully the tiles and stones have been placed to make those simple archways.

Maybe I was still thinking about those Saxon arches when I made this pear up-side down cake for our Sunday lunch?

It was easy to make . . .
- spread creamed butter and soft brown sugar over the base of a lined cake tin;
- over it, lay slices of pear and glacé cherries in pattern;
- make a sponge mixture (100g softened unsalted butter/100g caster sugar/2 eggs/100g self-raising flour) and spoon carefully over the fruit;
- bake at 180˚C for about 40 minutes until the sponge is firm;
- cool slightly and turn out onto a plate;
- eat with a generous helping of freshly made custard.

. . . and even easier to eat!

On Sunday evening I finished the shawl I've been knitting from Kauni yarn; I've been knitting this for months; it has been knitted and unraveled a couple of times because it wasn't quite right and I'm a perfectionist; it has traveled with me on trains down to London and up to Liverpool many times, until it became far to big to carry easily.

The shape and size were inspired by the shawls in a Kaffe Fassett knitting book from the 1980s. I chose two colourways of the Kauni yarn and then used a Fair Isle technique to create the patterns, which I made up as I went along and then repeated a few times.

Let's see it outside in natural light where the wintery colours really glow . . .

I was fun to knit, and became cosy and organic as it grew and grew. I worked on 1 metre long double pins, but by the end it was quite a struggle to manipulate all the stitches; so although I still have some yarn over, I decided it was big enough. I probably have enough to make a hat with the leftovers.

And lastly . . .

Thank you to everyone who signed up to get my studio newsletters, there are over twenty who missed the mailing, so I'll be sending out another batch later this evening. Then the next one will be sent at the end of February.

Celia
x

Studio newsletter

2012-01-20T09:34:00.000Z

I've been playing with Mail Chimp!

It's part of my plan to keep in regular contact with the galleries that sell my prints and cards . . . then I thought, perhaps I should send a newsletter to previous customers and maybe followers of my blog? So I'm experimenting with setting up a mailing list specifically to receive monthly news from my studio by email . . . with links to Magic Cochin's Emporium and PPPs and my website and galleries and anything else that I'm excited about.

Above is a preview of this month's newsletter – it hasn't been posted yet, so if you'd like to add you name to the mailing list just fill in this little form (you can unsubscribe at any time, of course and I won't share your details with anyone else or deluge you with messages).

Celia
x

Three cheers for Phoebe!

2012-01-17T15:05:00.000Z

My senior under-gardeners are 5 years old, they came to live in our garden in March 2007 and at the beginning of April Phoebe was the first of our flock to lay an egg.

Phoebe is a Coucou Marans hybrid (Marans x Rhode Island Red) and she has the most perfect tail shape – she can manoeuvre it like a rudder. Her feathers are luxuriously smooth like an expensive silk twill scarf, and she has thick downy underwear – most practical on a day like today!

I estimate that Phoebe has laid about 200 eggs each year, so that means she has produced 1000 eggs! I didn't mind at all when late last October she stopped laying because she was moulting – she does this dramatically . . . one day one or two feathers fall out, the next day she shakes herself and stands there almost naked!!! I wouldn't have minded it she never laid another egg, we will care for her for as long as she wants to enjoy life fossicking around our garden. We've got to know her funny little ways – she spends ages laying her eggs, really taking her time and she hates any food that is sticky like plums or porridge or boiled potatoes.

Today Phoebe laid her first egg in 2012 . . .

. . . a beautiful brown egg just like her first one in 2007.

Celia
x

The birds' wedding day

2012-01-13T17:11:00.004Z

One of my aims for this year is to produce one of my small single colour linocut each month . . . I decided that the January print should be a 'Valentine's' design – last year's 'Love in the air' print was very popular (there are just 3 left) and so is the card.

I began by doodling in my sketchbook . . .

. . . using my fountain pen :-)

You see, I'd read about Poshyarns' Christmas present and scurried off to rummage in a drawer for my fountain pen – the one my parents bought for me when I went to secondary school (in the days when we had to write all our essays in ink with a proper pen). I remember choosing the brushed steel Parker 25, it looked very modern and space-age! Now it looks funky retro and I've discovered that people collect them. All those exam essays it got me through are water under the bridge, but now my Parker 25 has a new bottle of Quink blue-black and has a new lease of life!

The doodle which stood out as the one on which to base the new linocut was this one . . .

At this stage I switch to working digitally over a scan of the original sketch, in Photoshop I can work on different layers and add and take away elements quickly and easily. I decided that the two birds should be Mistle Thrushes because in our garden they are the first birds to choose a mate and build their nests – usually in the ancient Yew trees right outside my studio.

The design around the heart shape is made up of primroses, leaves and twigs in a texture which reminds me of Victorian paper lace Valentine's cards. When I was happy with the black line design, I printed it out to the size I needed on my laserprinter and transferred the design to the lino by painting paint-stripper on the reverse of the paper.

Then, my favourite bit, the carving. The design gets altered slightly a the cuts have a style of their own and give the finished block a unique look which is different from the drawn lines.

Ready to take a proof . . .

As you can see I work upside down at this stage. This is so that I can position the straight cut edge of the paper with the marks on the base board on which the the lino block is stuck; the natural deckle edge of the handmade paper is then at the bottom – which looks much nicer. (I think I got that tip from Annie.)

I like using Japanese printmaking paper, this one is very thin and useful for proofs as it's so easy to see how the image is printing as I burnish the reverse of the paper using various implements – my favourites this time were a tiny ceramic cylindrical pot and an antique nickle silver serving spoon.

This is the satisfying bit . . . ta-dah!

All looks good to go!

For the finished linocuts I used a slightly heavier and more textured Japanese paper which is made from Paper Mulberry fibre – I love it's crispness, like the pages of a very special old book.

I worked late to finish all the printing in one session, so this photo of the prints hanging up to dry was taken with the studio lights on.

The original limited edition unframed prints can be ordered by emailing studio@celiahart.co.uk
This is a edition of 30 prints on Japanese Kikuchi Haini Kozo Koban. The image size is 15 x 15cm. Each print is named, signed and numbered in pencil by me. An unframed print costs £48 (which includes p&p to addresses in the UK mainland).

Cards of the design are now available in Magic Cochin's Emporium.

For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne's day
when every foul cometh ther to choose his mate

From 'Parliament of Foules' by Geoffrey Chaucer 1343 – 1400

Celia

(Un)seasonality

2012-01-11T15:53:00.004Z

This morning on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, there was an item about the number of wildflowers that were seen to be flowering in Cardiff on New Year's Day, 63 different species! You can read more about it and see the list of species, here.

I had exchanged Tweets with Wessex Reiver and said I'd see what was in flower on my lunch time walk . . .

I began in the garden, the Winter Honeysuckle (lonicera fragrantissima) is in full flower already and the scent is delightful

there are a dozen more plants and shrubs in flower . . .

Pansy; Honesty; Winter Jasmine;
Feverfew; Perrywinkle; Primrose;
Rose; Calendula; Viburnum;
Polyanthus; Flowering Box; Garrya.

Out across the fields self-seeded Rape plants are in bloom, some fields glowed yellow in the sunshine!

My route took me over the fields, following a footpath parallel with the Stour Brook, one of the main feeder steams to to River Stour which divides Suffolk from Essex and winds its way through Constable Country to the North Sea at the port of Harwich. Along the way I spotted a dozen wildflowers in bloom.

White Deadnettle; Groundsel; Mustard;

Rape; Shepherd's Purse; Hogweed;

Chamomile; Dandelion; Yarrow;

Red Deadnettle; Red Campion; Wild Stawberry.

The wide "DEFRA Wildlife Headlands" have had their annual cut by the farm contractors (the sign has been minced too!) I've noticed the birdlife and particularly the raptor populations have seemed to benefit from these areas, as we now regularly see Barn, Tawny and Little Owls as well as Sparrow Hawks, Kestrels, Buzzards and the occasional Marsh Harrier and Red Kite.

The recent storm brought down one of the Crack Willows on the bank of the brook and smashed it down over the footpath. Crack Willows are meant to crack and if left alone the branches smashed into the ground will root and new branches with grow vertically and become new trees. This won't be allowed to happen here, it will soon be moved away and the footpath with be clear again.

Behind the village church are paddocks, normally there are elegant retired race horses, but today – look at these little Shetland ponies racing to say hello!

Smile for the camera!

The ponies weren't the only creatures enjoying the mild temperatures and sun today . . . or posing for the camera . . .

Do you recognise who this is?

It's Cheep!

Celia
x

2012 . . . off the blocks!

2012-01-04T10:59:00.001Z

Here we are in a brand new year, 2012, and for many it means the culmination of years of planning – the Diamond Jubilee, the London Olympics; and then there's the new calenders and diaries ready to be filled with appointments, visits and holidays. There's no time for denial, 2012 has begun.

But first, an introduction . . . meet Pearl . . . here she is posing prettily and waiting patiently for me to tidy the hen house and put more hem-core in the nest box so she has a clean and comfy place to lay her egg.

In the studio, my week is starting with a major tidy-up and tying up of loose ends and making plans. I don't make resolutions but I have sent myself some challenges (maybe that's the same thing, but it seems less of a commitment).

_______________________________________

– The small square linocuts, 'Love in the air', 'Night flight', etc have been very popular; so I'm planning to do more this year . . . maybe one a month.

_______________________________________

– My main project this year is to work on a series of multi-block woodcuts . . . I may even start a new blog about these . . . does that sound a good idea? or should they stay here mingled with everything else?

_______________________________________

– I'll continue the 'Mantel Pieces' project.

_______________________________________

– Something I must try to do better is keeping in contact with galleries that sell my work and regularly supplying new work – I need to set up a day or two each month to do this.

_______________________________________

– I've an urge to return to sewing – so I'm in the process of finding and sorting out my stash of fabrics; I'll sort out the wool stash too. Then I can start to make things.

_______________________________________

– It's high time this blog had a spring clean, so things might move around and look different soon.

_______________________________________

– There are other things I'd love to do . . . maybe if I list them here something might happen:

• fabric designs

• an e-book of walks

• illustrated magazine articles - recipes/henkeeping/gardening/walks/wildflowers

• work towards an exhibition – maybe of the woodcuts.

_______________________________________

Well, I'd better get on with it!

See you soon
Celia
x

The sun sets on 2011

2011-12-31T18:04:00.004Z

Did you have a lovely Christmas? All that preparation and then it's over in a jiffy! Our Christmas was undramatic with some lovely food – which is as it should be really, I was recovering from a cold virus so any plans for more adventurous celebrations were put aside and I concentrated on staying in and getting better by Christmas Day.

The highlight of Christmas morning was a special breakfast treat . . . poached eggs from our Araucana pullet, served on toast with smoked salmon. They were very very good indeed! We read through all the name suggestions sent to me via Twitter and Facebook – there were some very good ones but one stood out as being perfect – Pearl. It was suggested on Twitter by swanimages, which also meant that I discovered Miriam's beautiful photography, you can see it here and her garden photography here.

We've had a busy week since Christmas, visiting friends and relatives, and now here we are at the end of another year . . .

. . . the sun has set for the last time in 2011

I took these photographs a couple of hours ago as we finished our final check of the 15 mile walking route that Cliff is leading tomorrow.

I wonder if the first sunset of 2012 will treat us to a light show to match the New Year's eve 2011? If you'd like to join us the details are on the walks calendar on The Cambridge Rambling Club website.

Wishing you all a happy New Year's Eve however you plan to celebrate – this year I think I might have an early night and see in 2012 snuggled up in my bed, after all I've got to be up before dawn to eat a big bowl of porridge and make the ham and pickle sarnies for our New Year's Day walk :-)

Thank you for following PPPs over the year and leaving interesting and encouraging comments – I enjoy reading them all and love following the links to new pages and new discoveries. Thank you too for popping over to my facebook page and for the banter on Twitter.

I'm planning lots of new adventures in my studio and garden (and maybe further afield)
so see you in 2012

Celia
x

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2011-12-23T10:09:00.000Z

from the cast and crew of Purple Podded Peas

Celia, Cliff, the ginger and tabby studio assistants
and the flock - Tarragon, Sylvie, Phoebe, Ginger, Saffron, Nutmeg,
the Araucana-boys, Araucana-girl and last (but by no means least) Cheep

we'll be back after Christmas

Re-naming and re-cycling

2011-12-22T11:58:00.000Z

Today marks the Winter Solstice, the shortest day, the turning of the year – although we probably still have the coldest and harshest of winter days to come in January and February, this ancient Winter festival marks the points when we start walking towards the Springtime – renewal and regrowth.

Our young Araucana hen (she's just 5 months old) celebrated the Winter Solstice with her first egg!

Wasn't that a wonderful surprise . . . a perfect, little teal blue egg, laid carefully in one of the nest boxes in the hen-house.

And then I realised we'd put off giving "Araucana-girl" a grown-up hen's name, so yesterday I asked for some suggestions from my Twitter and Facebook followers . . . there's still time to join in – you can Tweet your suggestion to me @celiahart or leave a comment on my facebook page. You have until midnight today (22nd December 2011 GMT) to join in and we'll select a new name for our pretty Lavender Araucana pullet, over the Christmas weekend.

I've also put some decorations on a twiggy tree – some of my Winter Thrushes tree decorations and these gorgeous paper balls :-)

I'm so pleased with them! I discovered the tutorial of how to make them via Printed Material, and it was just what I was looking for to use these – Gudrun Sjoden catalogues, I hoard them because the paper is matt yet lovely and crisp and the colours are gorgeous (the clothes are lovely too . . . practical yet quirky and perfect for wearing in the studio or in the garden).

The paper balls are surprisingly simple to make, once you get the knack; and like knitting or patchwork or crocheting grannie squares, they are very addictive!

Wishing you well on the Winter Solstice!

Celia

Making winter tree decorations (for the birds)

2011-12-20T10:47:00.000Z

Silverpebble and Thrifty Household have been encouraging lots of bloggers to share their Making Winter ideas – and wow! what an amazing array of blogs and creative ideas have tumbled out of blogland! I keep getting distracted following links to lovely blogs which were new to me, so a great big thank you must go to Mrs P and Mrs TH . . . take a bow ladies!

Mrs TH's latest blogpost was about making Florentines . . . mmmmm! I love Florentines! And while I was dreaming about sitting in a cosy café, sipping a hot cup of tea and nibbling a delicious, sticky-on-one-side / chocolatey-on-the-other Florentine, I had a brain wave!

In my fridge I had a bowl of dripping left over from slow-roasting a belly of wild boar – I admit that I used a teeny 'scrape' to make 'bread and dripping' to remind me of my Grandma (she used to give me this as a treat, liberally sprinkled with pepper, when I called in, on my way home from school, to see her in her little terraced cottage). I didn't want to waste this deluxe dripping, so I decided to make winter treats for the wild birds.

Fat-Florentines for the Birds

Sprinkle nuts and seeds into tart tins
(I used sunflower seed kernels and flaked almonds)
and press some dripping on top,
Place long knotted loops of string across each 'tart'
and add more dripping, then more seeds/nuts.

Place the tin in the freezer over-night to set really hard.

Lay the very cold tart tin upside down on another larger tin

and gently pour a little boiling water over the tart tin

– this releases the Fat Florentines from the moulds :-)

Gather up the strings and ta-dah!

Fat-Florentines!

All ready to hang outside on the trees or bushes.

A treat for the birds
on the shortest darkest days of the year :-)

Celia

Making Winter wonderful

2011-12-12T18:33:00.001Z

I enjoy the winter months but some people find them challenging . . . this winter, fellow East Anglian bloggers Silverpebble (a self confessed hibernophobe?) is making an effort to like the cold dark months with the assistance of (hibernophyle?) Thrifty Household's encouragement to embrace winter and Make Winter wonderful!

Up until last week, the weather in SW Suffolk has been unseasonably mild for the time of year, but we've now had a taster of frosty mornings and sparkly clear moonlit nights. On Saturday Cliff and I were up early, crunching over the icy gravel to start a day-trip to Merseyside by train.

Passing through the Peak District the weather closed in, sleet skitted along the train's windows and we looked out over the snowy hills with their tops shrouded in icy clouds – that's a real winter landscape!

I was happy to be settled down with my knitting, watching the view; fortified with my packed lunch of home-made soda bread, beef and horseradish sandwiches :-)

So for Making Winter, here's how I make my soda bread . . . it's an amalgam of Nigel's Lazy Loaf and Woman's Hour - Cook the Perfect Soda Bread. My tip is to buy the best wholemeal flour you can, I get mine from the Daily Bread Co-op in Cambridge – they have lots to choose from so you can experiment and find the one you like best.

Soda Bread

(blast! I spelled casserole wrong!!!!)

NOTES:
I used Cultured Buttermilk.
You can cook this without it being in an iron casserole - look at the Woman's Hour recipe link
but I find the casserole method makes a softer textured loaf.
Nigel's Loaf uses baking soda, but I prefer the flavour of the baking powder only recipe.

The 'dough' is more like a thick, gunky cake mix, so you can't shape it as such – just nudge it out of the bowl with a spatula and plop it into the floured hot, cast-iron casserole. Bung on the lid and half an hour or so later you'll smell cooked bread . . . mmmmmm!

It's lovely just buttered, delicious with a bowl of soup and the sweet nuttiness is heavenly toasted with butter and honey . . . have a go and make winter wonderful :-)

This month's Making Winter Blog Hop is hosted by Thrifty Household, where you'll find links to lots of other ways for Making Winter wonderful, please feel free to join in and add your link to the Blog Hop while you're there.

There's also a Making Winter Flickr Pool where you'll find all kinds of winter delights to inspire you on a cold December day.

Celia
x

Known unknown craftsmen

2011-12-09T16:18:00.001Z

Yesterday I went to two exhibitions that had been at the top of my 'must see' list . . . both were in London and I combined the trip with delivering some unframed linocuts to Edwards & Todd in Museum Street.

My next stop was just across the road and through the big gates of the British Museum . . .

. . . to see Grayson Perry: The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman, I'd been looking forward to seeing this for many months so I hoped it wasn't going to disappoint – it didn't!

The concept behind the exhibition is best described by the artist himself and there are some excellent photos here. I immediately warmed to the opening statement . . .

"Do not look too hard for meaning here.

I am not a historian,

I am an artist"

I'd been given permission to look and enjoy everything in the exhibition without the trappings of historical context or academic knowledge . . . they were here to tell a new story and one that involved the exhibition visitor on a pilgrimage to the tomb of the unknown craftsman – a representative maker who, like the unknown soldier in Westminster Abbey, represents all the men and women who skillfully created the thousands of artifacts in the collections of the British Museum.

Alongside the artifacts selected by Grayson Perry from the galleries and storerooms of the museum, there are his new artworks created to comment on themes: shrines, pilgrimage, relics, gender, craftsmanship, the patina of age . . .

The gallery was busy (but not over-crowded) with visitors, all intently looking at the exhibits which are beautifully displayed and simply labelled in classic museum style, whether they were ancient artifacts or new works made for the exhibition . . . another very enjoyable part of the experience was overhearing the comments . . .

"You look and ask which are ancient,

I can't guess which are which!"

The accompanying catalogue and the shop at the end is as much a part of the exhibition as the main exhibits, Grayson Perry had a hand in the content and design of both.

I won't try to describe the exhibits, but just highly recommend that you visit – it's engrossing, thought provoking and inspiring on many levels.

The second exhibition I was excited to see was here . . .

. . . The Poster King at the Estorick Collection in Islington – I hadn't heard of it either! The way I found out about this exhibition is a long story, I'll tell you a brief version, one day earlier this year, I received an email which wasn't meant for me but I recognised the name of the sender – it was a gentleman, with a very distinctive name, whom I'd interviewed for my final year art history project at art college! I decided to let him know his email had gone astray and after exchanging further emails, I admitted that I had regretted my choice of subject for the project and wished I'd continued my 2nd year studies about the work of Edward McKnight Kauffer. A month or so passed and I received another email from him, telling me that there was a major exhibition of McKnight Kauffer's work in London this autumn and he hoped I'd be able to go along to see it!

Edward McKnight Kauffer is today a known unknown of he art world – many of you will recognise his work, and many more will have been influenced by his ground breaking graphic design and typography, but few know his name.

You can read a short biography of Edward McKnight Kauffer and see some of his posters on the Estorick Collection web site. The exhibition filled two galleries and comprised of original posters, gouache designs for posters, book illustrations and other graphic material, sketches and photographs – it was fascinating. EMKK was a pioneer in his field, among many innovations he was probably the first graphic designer to use photo-montage in his poster designs.

Edward McKnight Kauffer, BP Ethyl Controls Horse-power (1933) © BP Archive

He was influencial in the Fauvist, Surrealist and Constructivist art movements, a friend of writers and poets including Aldous Huxley, John Betjeman and TS Eliot, in England between the two World Wars, he was a celebrity.

I could go on . . . but I'll stop eulogising. I'll share with you a series of poster designs from the early 1920s entitled "Winter Sales are best reached by underground" – they were particularly apt on a wet and windswept day in streets of London devoid of traditional festive cheer.

In the inter-war years EMKK brought modern art to the streets and tunnels of London and a smile to commuters' faces.

The Poster King continues at the Estorick Collection for another week, closing on 18th December, it's well worth a visit if you're interested in graphic art and/or social history. If you're interested in 20th Century Italian art (or just love a good Italian café) it's well worth a visit any time.

I would very much like to find out more about how EMKK's gouche designs were translated into the large-scale posters by the printers . . . something I'm going to try to research, so if you can help or send me in the right direction, please let me know.

Celia

Secrets and silence

2011-12-01T14:27:00.001Z

The special exhibitions at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, seem to get better and better – the latest is Vermeer's Women: Secrets and Silence.

The exhibition explores the domestic world of women in 17th Century Holland – which sounds a bit boring, so I'll forgive the Fitz for calling the show Vermeer's Women, when in fact only 4 of the paintings are by Vermeer! You can read more about it in this excellent review by Alastair Sooke;

The Fitz seemed rather quiet when I arrived this morning, the exhibition is free to go in but I decided to pay for an audio guide contraption as I was curious to hear what would be said about the paintings. There was a sign by the entrance warning that at busy times one may be asked to wait – pah! I thought . . . and then I opened the door! it was packed out! There was also a gallery talk in progress, which added to the jam of visitors and general noise.

I really wish I'd made notes of the artists and pictures I particularly liked, I bought this pack of postcards but they are very disappointing – the reproductions are very dark and those cream borders completely kill the colours, and there were so many more beautiful pictures in the exhibition.

One of my all time favourite paintings, Pieter de Hooch's The Courtyard of a House in Delft has been loaned by the National Gallery, I could sit and look at that painting for hours . . . wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to sit in a comfy chair and really have time to study all the textures and details.

New to me is Gerard ter Borch, his pictures are not included in the post card pack but I've tracked down images of two paintings that I particularly liked – Woman Sewing by a Cradle and Woman Peeling Apples. They weren't displayed together in the exhibition – but I noticed they show the same woman wearing the same sage green dress with black ribbon trim.

"Secrets" yes, the paintings depict private scenes behind curtains and peeping around half open doors; but "Silence"? the pictures have a quiet stillness, but in my mind I could hear the wooden shoes clattering on the tiled floors, the shovel scraping in the grate, pet dogs pattering along polished wooden corridors, babies crying, children giggling, a girl practicing playing the virginals, the rustle of skirts and click of lace bobbins.

Of course the star of the show is the little lace maker, Vermeer's masterpiece which has been loaned to the Fitz by the Louvre. It's small and mounted in a wide wooden frame which is inlaid with coloured veneers in a design of sinuous leaves; it's painted with transluscent layers of pigment on rough linen, you can imagine Vermeer applying the liquid paint with a fine brush – allowing the paint to drip onto the surface in sparkling dribbles of colour.

Outside in Trumpington Street, my eye was still tuned in to see views through gateways, leading to archways; weathered brickwork and cobbled courtyards with modest plants in simple terracotta pots.

A steeple viewed between brickwork gables, gateways, windows and tall narrow houses

Back home, I walked in through a 'de Hooch' composition of a door in a red brick wall and stone paving leading to another gateway.

A broom resting again the wall and brick paving leading to our front door.

A brick floor, outdoor shoes on a mat and a basket of apples – a domestic still life.

If you visit Cambridge to see Vermeer's Women, there is another exhibition in the Fitzwilliam which opened this week: Grey matters: Graphite – the power of the pencil; don't miss this! There are works in pencil by Toulouse Lautrec, Degas, Ingres, Lowry, Barbara Hepworth and many more – and it's simply wonderful.

And, of course, you'll be a short dawdle from Fitzbillies – the cake shop that very nearly vanished forever but has been given a new lease of life much to the relief of everyone who has ever tasted a real Fitzbillies Chelsea bun! (read the story here)

I'm trying to resist eating these until Cliff comes home . . .

. . . but in the interests of research, I've nibbled a little from the side of one of the Chelsea buns and can report that they are as sticky and spicy as ever – so a little bit of Cambridge food heritage lives on ;-)

Celia
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Blending in

2011-11-30T12:20:00.001Z

Has anyone ever done any experiments investigating the domestic cat's camouflage instinct?

The studio assistants have decided that my studio is too scattered with stuff for them to find a place to blend in and settle down for the day, so they've selected the room next door – also rather 'junked-up' with the things brought home from the Pick'n'Mix Market.

I didn't spot them at first!

The ginger one has selected a folded piece of hessian on a faded yellow Lloyd-loom chair.

and the tabby one picked the bundle of black cotton sheeting.

I've just returned from a trip to the post office and it looks like the tabby one has disappeared, perhaps she has decided to go outside in the sunshine . . .

or has she?

Celia

What a wonderful Handmade (Pick'n') Mix!

2011-11-28T10:43:00.001Z

After all that planning and making, Saturday was reality day for the Christmas Pick'n'Mix Makers' Market in Holt. I was feeling pleased about my improved system of packing everything into 'the tardis' and was in a happy mood as I drove across the Gallops and headed towards Norfolk. But, as Burns wrote, "the best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley" and I'd not planned for a barricade across my route, "ROAD CLOSED" signs and yellow diversion arrows!

Now, that would be easy-ish to cope with in a town; but on the Suffolk/Norfolk border, where river and railway crossing points are few and far between, the result was long, long, long drive along roads with no signposts or any indication that this was still the alternative route or where it was heading! 'The Tardis' doesn't have SatNav, but I concluded that so long as I kept the pinky-gold sky on my right, I would be heading North to North Norfolk (after 20 years walking in the countryside with Cliff, something useful had rubbed off!).

And then, ta-dah! not too behind schedule I was in Holt, unpacked and arranging my stall :-) Look at all that focused activity going on!

Here's my stall (looking just like the one I set up back home) all ready for the doors to open.

There was just enough time to hand in my "free cuppa" ticket to Daisy Boo in tea-shop corner. I also sampled a warm Stilton and Walnut Scone, and can report that it was divine! But I hardly had time for a small bite before I had a flurry of customers.

And here's a taster of some of the other stalls . . .

Sasha Allan's characterful fabric toys.

James & Joanna's vintage linen furnishings
and recycled wooden decorations.

Moobaacluck – Gabriella Buckingham's
handpainted signs, decorations and cards.

Ripping Yarns' appropriate tweedy banner :-)

Planet Penny's Christmas Tree

I wanted to take photos of all the stalls, but only managed a few. However I've noticed that Penny has lots more photos of other stalls over on her blog.)

Thank you Lisa for once again picking a lovely eclectic quality mix!

And thank you to everyone who came along to buys things from all the stalls . . . it made all the hard work worth while.

Celia

All ready for the Christmas Pick'n'Mix

2011-11-25T10:43:00.001Z

Saturday 26th November
10am to 4pm

Pick'n'Mix Makers' Market

A unique and exciting shopping experience
celebrating the best of local creativity.
A showcase of handmade, vintage
and eclectic pieces.

St. Andrew's Hall
Church Street
Holt
Norfolk
NR25 6BB

I'm almost ready . . . I'm going to work through my checklist . . . and when everything is ticked, I'll pack it very carefully and load it all in my my car/van/tardis all ready for a very early start tomorrow morning.

As well as myself the line-up is:

Bobo Bun – Lisa the colourful crochet queen and organiser of this superb event

Daisy Boo's Kitchen – with her delicious savouries and cakes in tea-shop corner

Baby Loves Vintage – unique retro tee-shirts for little ones

Emma Mitchell Jewellery – handmade silver and beady treasures from Mrs Silver Pebble

Faded Splendour – vintage clothes and accessories made by Tracy from vintage notions
Gabriella Buckingham – with handpainted designs from MooBaaCluck
Glory Days – Norwich based tea plate and doily heaven
High Fibre Design – chunky yarn... and I mean really chunky!
James & Joanna – purveyors of vintage textiles
Laura Lindores – colourful fused glass
Mamphii Button – jewellery made from vintage buttons
Miss Poochie – Norf the Dog and his doggie friends!
Planet Penny – in her colourful needlefelted world
Ripping Yarns – Retro Fairisle and Scandinavian inspired knits
Sasha Allan – and her quirky creatures, handmade from colourful fabrics

Gosh! I can't wait to see what's on all those stalls, they sound very exciting – all the makers are East Anglian based small businesses.

It looks like the weather is set fair, so what could be nicer than a day out in North Norfolk? I can't think of anything better!

Hope to see you there :-)

Celia
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You can take a girl out of the fen . . .

2011-11-20T19:05:00.001Z

. . . but you can't take the fen out of the girl

Today I led (with a lot of help from Cliff) my first walking route the Cambridge Rambling Club. I knew that a flat route is sometimes unpopular, but I hoped to win them over with a 14 mile circular route in my native habitat.

The route followed an ancient causeway through the fen before continuing along the banks of the Old West River.

The morning began cold and foggy; and although the sun was always there behind the milky air, the mist would not lift.

It gave the fen a deeply mysterious ambiance; it was easy to imagine Hereward and his followers waiting to ambush the unsuspecting Norman army, or the Fen Tigers* stalking the Dutch drainage engineers!

The ditch-side teasels shimmered with cobwebs spangled with beads of water.

And then the sun came out!

Casting long shadows over the fields.

You can follow the route (and see more photos) on fellow-walker Geoff's Everytrail site here.

Back home, hot bath, delicious Gloucester Old Spot pork chops for supper

and now for some spicy apple and pear crumble and ice-cream :-)

Celia
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* Fen Tigers = indigenous inhabitants of the Fenland. In the 17th century the Duke of Bedford employed Dutch land drainage engineers to dig a vast system of drainage channels fed by 'windmills' pumping the water off the land. The local population who relied on the fish and water fowl for their survival, sabotaged the work and became known as 'Fen Tigers'.
The term has been adopted by the Mildenhall Speedway team, and more recently applied to 'big cat' sightings around the Cambridge and Fenland area.

True Fen Tigers still exist, Roger Giles has written an excellent description here. While delving around to compile this definition, I came across a song by Hobson's Choice "Fen Tiger and the Quarryman", which coincidentally was inspired by a 'meeting' in Over Fen . . . the afternoon section of my walk, where after major gravel extraction the Fen is being reinstated. You can listen to the song here and read the lyrics here, I think they perfectly describe the defiant character of the Fen Tiger.

Celia

Getting ready for the Christmas Pick'n'Mix

2011-11-17T12:52:00.001Z

On Saturday 26th November
I'll be on the road before dawn
driving up to the pretty little town of
Holt in North Norfolk
for the Pick'n'Mix Makers' Market

I enjoyed it so much last June, I put my hand up to be included in the line up for the Christmas market.

There are some new 'Makers' this time, I getting very excited about seeing their stalls and meeting them – because it's just as much fun for us stallholders as it will be for the customers . . . and did I mention the refreshments? well, they're worth mentioning again – Daisy Boo's Kitchen will be serving up the most yummy scrummy cakes and savouries in 'tea-shop corner'.

The cards stocks from Magic Cochin's Emporium are all ready to go onto my bright red display rack (the one I bought from Woolies when it closed down); prints have been framed and packed and the first of my mixed media 'Mantel Pieces' will be for sale too.

HEN • 01 • COCKEREL • 01 • No 0005
vinyl-cut and mixed media collage
each piece individually numbered

Celia

Not looking wintery (yet)

2011-11-16T19:49:00.001Z

It's so mild for the time of year . . . this was my walk at lunchtime today, it hardly looks wintery at all! But I did see some Fieldfares eating berries in the hedgerow and they know a thing or two about cold weather moving in from the north-east, so I won't be complacent.

I thought I'd look back at my blog posts last November, just to compare the weather conditions – I noticed that early in November 2010 I was amazed at how many flowers were still in bloom in my garden, so that's similar to this year.

But then, it suddenly turned very cold. And when Cliff led a walk at the end of November 2010 it was very cold indeed! -7C when we started walking and below zero all day. We're leading another walk this Sunday . . . I wasn't planning to get out my thermals, but maybe I should be prepared!

November flowers and 'Mantel Pieces'

2011-11-16T11:25:00.001Z

There are always distractions . . . I keep stumbling upon blogs that are new to me . . . and they are full of lovely distractions . . .

For instance, I found Annie's blog Knitsofacto, and she led me over to Sue at Backlane Notebook and her thrifty challenge to cut a bunch of flowers from her garden/allotment/hedgerow every week of the year.

Well, I'm not promising to do this every week, but I was inspired to go out in the sunshine, circumnavigate the plot and pick a posy from my garden this morning.

A posy like Liberty Tana Lawn that's come to life on my drawing board

The eagle-eyed among you have probably spotted some new work-in-progress – Mantel Pieces – I'll tell you more about it in the next post. I'm developing a theme inspired by the things on a traditional farm-house mantel-piece; and the connection with things that were once common-place, but are now valued and collected.

The mixed-media pieces are all one-offs, but I'm carefully numbering and recording them, to show the theme as it develops . . .

and leads to . . .

. . . well, I don't know where it's leading, but I needed to start putting things down on paper.

Night flight

2011-11-11T17:00:00.001Z

This year I've been so pleased with the small one colour linocuts, printed on a lovely crisp Japanese paper, I just had to add another one – this time inspired by the fields around our village as winter arrives. I find the shorter days and winter light so inspiring; yes I know lots of people feel very gloomy when the light fades, but let me try to convince you to venture outside and be amazed.

The new image had to include a Barn Owl; I see them hunting along the field edges, their huge soft wings are silent like a giant white moth in the moonlight, and I always feel excited by the sight of such a beautiful bird flying as if in slow motion.

It was when Cliff and I were out planning a new walk for the local walking group, that we saw the first arrival of the 'winter thrushes'; you may have read Emma's blog about this spectacle. The flocks of Fieldfares and Redwings fly down from Scandinavia to feast on the fruits in the English hedgerows. Sometimes if you stand outside on a moonlit November night you might hear the sip-sipper chattering of Redwings as they pass overhead.

The East Anglian views open up as the leaves fall from the trees, through their skeletal shapes the distant fields and crouching woods become visible. Now the fields are clear of crops, the hares are once again easy to spot – racing over the furrows in the half-light – completing the picture in my mind . . .

Night flight

This is the image transferred to the lino, I cut the block quickly to keep the spontaneous line.

And here are the prints hanging up to dry in my studio.

The original limited edition unframed print can be ordered by emailing studio@celiahart.co.uk
This is a small edition of 30 prints is printed on Japanese Kikuchi Haini Kozo Koban. The image size is 15 x 15cm, the same size and paper as used for the 'Love in the air' print. Each print is named, signed and numbered in pencil by me.
An unframed print costs £48 (the price includes p&p to addresses in the UK mainland) if you would like the print sent to an overseas address, please ask me for the extra postage cost.

I will be selling cards of the Night flight design in Magic Cochin's Emporium; it was extremely tricky to get an exact colour match (I fiddled and fiddled, but this lovely shade of blue/violet moonlight was especially elusive!) so the cards have printed in a deeper shade, more like dark denim.

Of course framed and unframed prints, and the cards, will be centre stage on my stall at the Pick'n'Mix Makers' Market in Holt (which is one of the loveliest little market towns in North Norfolk, if you didn't know already). If you can come along, I can promise there will be lots and lots of irresistible things to buy, all from the people who actually made them . . . and there will be the most delicious refreshments made by Daisy Boo's Kitchen, like stilton and walnut scones ;-)

Celia
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