Jewel's Arty Blog

Celtic Name Sign 4 - and Self Portrait Cartoon Idea

2013-05-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

I have nearly finished my Celtic name sign now – there’s a couple more hours’ work left to do, mainly tidying up and adding finishing touches of yellow to the green lettering.

For my next project, I’d like to do a cartoon self-portrait of myself, and am suggesting it to the art group so they can perhaps have a go at it too. We could even display cartoons of ourselves next to our name signs at the next exhibition we do.

Many people find cartoons difficult to do (myself included), but with help from some of the Avatar creation websites out there, I am hoping to create an example to copy.

A new game for Mii and Celtic Name Sign 3

2013-05-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

This week, I have been designing a game for a stall at my son's forthcoming school fund raising event. We have a Wii game at home, and he occasionally likes to create "Mii" characters (avatars) on it based on people at his school. I haven't actually shown the names, in case it gives anyone an unfair advantage.

The idea for the game is that the children have to guess who these people are, from their Miis. My son had created quite a few Miis already. Using a digital camera, I photographed them individually on the TV screen, downloaded them onto our computer, enhancing the colours and sharpening the image if needed. You can use a free programme such as Ifranview, Windows Photo Manager etc. to do this.

I found the best way to photograph Miis is to use the Wii remote to click on the character (which brings up their name bubble above their head) and move it to the middle of the TV screen. Move other characters away if needed. You then use the + button on your Wii remote to zoom in on that character and click their name bubble away, before quickly photographing them. They don't stay still for long! Zoom out again afterwards to find your next Mii.

I created a "Word" document, made a heading and copied the photos in, cropping and reducing the size of the photos as I went - each was about 7 cm high. I then typed out the names of the characters on a separate sheet, laminated both sheets and cut out the names. The children will place the names onto the characters - get them right and they'll win a small prize. The volunteer running the stall will have an answer sheet to refer to. Hope it proves popular at the event.

This could also make a good party game for young or old - you could do one for famous people for example.

You can just faintly see my name in the middle.

On my Celtic name sign, I have been outlining the Celtic knot pattern border in black, and am going to touch up the colours here and there to make it tidy before decorating my name, which I have begun to write, in the centre.

Most of the other art group members have completed their names now, and are busy on other work. Karen is completing a sheep and lamb painting, Maggie a new “Victorian” Medieval style portrait and John has begun an iris in chalk pastels.

Celtic Name Sign 2

2013-05-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

Here’s week two of my Celtic name sign. After the yellow last week, I’ve now painted the lilac and purple – which may need a bit of tidying up using my magnifier on a stalk. The next stage will be my name in Celtic lettering.

I have also been putting some finishing touches to “Buckingham Palace”, which is ongoing as the paint takes time to dry each time, and the colour seems to develop and change over the course of a week. And of course, my “better half” likes to give his honest feedback each time.

Rather excitingly (for her), one of our art group members told us she is getting her own studio in her back garden soon. It will be brick built and heated. The heating will of course be necessary to keep materials like paper in good condition – they would become damp, shrink and warp otherwise. She will be able to use it to work in as well as display her paintings. Rather cheekily (for me) I suggested a studio warming party for us all to celebrate. I wonder if there will be one, have to wait and see.

Clowne cricket club (where we meet) are having an event on 23^rd June and we have been given the opportunity of a stall, so we’ll be giving that some thought over the coming weeks.

Buckingham Palace and Celtic Name Sign

2013-05-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

With the end of my “Buckingham Palace” painting in sight this week, I have begun a Celtic lettering name sign for future exhibitions. This is a group project, and other members of the art group have been doing the same thing over the past few weeks. I have used a book called “The Simple Art of Celtic Calligraphy” by Fiona Graham-Flynn, which has some attractive project ideas (celidah invitations, commemorative name plaques, picture frames and so on). My name will be surrounded by a round knotted border in yellow, lilac and purple. I am unsure what style of lettering my name will be in. The others all seem to have very intricate designs, from another book, but I’m not sure that’s for me. I like to keep things simple whenever possible.

I traced the circular border from the book. Only a third of the border is shown in the book and, when I tried to produce a full circle, the ends didn’t quite join up, so I’ve tried to hide that. Otherwise, I’m quite pleased with it. I began to outline the pattern in black, but have stopped until I've completed the lilac and purple in case it smudges.

Spring Flowers Jewellery Box

2013-04-28T05:44:00.000-07:00

Today we have an extra post, because this week, I am taking part in an art blog hop on “Just Add Water Silly”, http://www.justaddwatersilly.com/search/label/APR an art blog by Jennifer McLean. I’ve followed her blog for several years, and indeed it was the first artist’s blog I looked at when I was thinking of setting my own up. I have taken part in blog hops several times over the years but, as Jennifer points out, they are not usually geared towards artists, and hers is.

Each week of the blog hop has a different theme, and this week’s is: “April showers bring May flowers”. So here’s my effort, a blast from the past, from when I used to go to a cabinet making class and made this jewellery box, which I then decorated with spring flowers.

If you want to read more about the class and the items I made, click here: http://jewelsartyblog.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/cabinet-making-for-women.html#!/2010/06/cabinet-making-for-women.html

I can’t actually display the badge for taking part in my sidebar, as I don’t have one due to the design of my blog. It is, however, on the “badges” page (click the tab above) and here too.

Buckingham Palace 6

2013-04-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

My Buckingham Palace painting is now almost complete. Others at art group couldn’t really come up with any criticisms, but back home, my better half felt it would benefit from (1) making the people a bit taller) (2) more detail behind, or more branches on, the left hand trees, so I will be looking at doing these things next time.

Our next group project will be our own names in Old English illuminated lettering, and my parents have given me some of their old calligraphy materials that they no longer use. I also have two books on order from the library to help me.

We are now meeting from 9.30-12.00 over the summer while it’s the cricket season.

Buckingham Palace 5

2013-04-17T00:00:00.000-07:00

This week, I’ve continued with my Buckingham Palace painting, improving the willow tree on the right, and adding another layer of paint onto the palace itself, to try and cover up the pencil lines from constructing the building. I will be repainting the white lights in front of it, as they weren’t quite even.

The group met early this time as we had to do the twice yearly job of moving our display screens and other equipment, and didn’t want this to take up too much of our painting time. We had a fine sunny day for it, which was lucky as it could just have easily have been raining. At the same time, cricket club members were getting the pitch and their equipment ready for the cricket season starting up again next weekend, so from next Saturday 20^th April, our group will be meeting at 9.30 instead of 10.00 over the summer.

I hope you will forgive me for going a bit off topic and mentioning a local walking festival which is due to start again soon. The Chesterfield Walking Festival takes place from 11^th-19^th May at various places around the county. I might go on one or two of them myself, if they give me the opportunity to photograph some scenery that I can then paint. http://www.chesterfieldwalkingfestival.co.uk/

Finally, I am pleased to announce that the small decorated egg I made for a competition at my son's school won a small prize. It had been left for me to pick up from his classroom, and I took it home and found a small chocolate egg had been put in its box with it - which must have been my prize. I don't know whether that means I actually won overall, or whether everyone who entered got something, but it was a nice suprise anyway, and if anyone involved in this is reading - thank you.

Post Easter Exhibition Post

2013-04-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

Maggie’s “Purple Poppies” (above) won this year’s Best in Show, as voted for by visitors to our art group’s exhibition last weekend. As group member polished off the biscuits left over from last wekend's refreshments, knowing that our exhibition at Retford was ending that day, there was a general feeling of things coming back down to earth again. One bit of good news was that a new member had started this week, and, hopefully there will be another next weekend too.

This week, I have continued working on my painting of Buckingham Palace, mainly the trees on the left. The willow on the right also needs some work as it looks too dense and needs branches and breaks in the foliage to break it up. It reminds me of the hairy creature known as “Thing” on the Addams Family.

In the wake of Google’s news that “Google Reader” will be abolished later this year, I have been trying to improve my personal Face Book page by adding to the information about myself. When trying to write about my interests, there are so many that it would probably be easier to say what I find boring. My favourite saying is listed as “You don’t know what you can do until you try”, but it could just as easily be “do one thing at a time”, or “Your strength can sometimes be your weakness”. I will also need to improve my pages for each of my blogs or “fan pages” as they used to be known, and perhaps visit a few more blogs and comment on them to help improve readership.

Any bloggers with posts that could be used in fund raising for non-profit organisations, particularly schools may like to visit the PTA+ Face Book page and search through the threads there to see if their ideas could come in handy, then leave a comment and a link to their blog post. PTA+ is actually a magazine, but I have found their Face Book page is a very useful resource for anyone involved in non-profits. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/PTAplus?fref=ts

It seems to me that on-line forums generally are a particularly good way of receiving help and support because, if you have a problem, there’s almost certainly going to be someone who has been along that road before you and found a solution – and sometimes more than one person too. But books and magazines will always have their place, as they are usually written by people who are experts or well qualified in their field. I also sometimes wonder whether there will always be physical books or whether publishing will become something that’s predominantly on-line as music now is. Our local library has an online presence, but the bricks-and-mortar library is an important part of the community and a way for anyone (especially if elderly or isolated) to meet other people and have a conversation.

OK, so I digress here, but I wonder what other people think about these subjects.

The Art Group's Easter Exhibition 2013

2013-04-03T00:00:00.000-07:00

My paintings framed and ready to exhibit

Our art group had our annual Easter exhibition over the weekend. The weather was kind to us. This, together with our usual amount of publicity , meant we had plenty of visitors, but as with last year, it was difficult to sell any paintings in the current economic climate. We were also three members down on this time last year – Elizabeth, Kevin and Barbara have all dropped out and were sadly missed. And not forgetting Madge, who died around 18 months ago. Nevertheless, we were able to fill the display boards up with some worthwhile artwork. But newbie Tracy was a welcome presence. She was at the exhibition most of the time it was running and had an attractive painting of some foxgloves on display (the first she’d done since joining the group). She had also baked some wonderful lemon drizzle cake and (I think) cheese straws, all of which went down well.
Here’s a warm welcome to any new readers who have found this blog by taking one of the leaflets or bookmarks I had on display in my part of the exhibition.

Some of them on show at the exhibition - the Elmton one is now on our living room wall

The group’s finances are a bit healthier now – we covered the costs of the event with a little left over. The number and quality of the tombola prizes was good and most of our visitors took part. Cake sales were slightly down (according to the Daily Mail, Easter egg sales are also down, as people become more clued up on healthier eating). For next year, I have been thinking about some healthier options, and I will be trying out some new ideas soon which you will be able to read about on my “Culinary Creations” blog (link on the right).

We made sure that one of us was in the kitchen at all times that visitors were there as people were more likely to ask for a cup of tea if they could see there was someone there to serve them. Also, on the second day, we put some of the unsold cakes into bags and put them on the tombola as the prizes began to run out.

We had a visit from Radio Sheffield as part of a “Treasure Hunt” event that was going on at the same time – although they were only with us for a few minutes, it was gave us publicity over a wider area. Follow this link if you want to hear what happened - click into the "listen now" box. Treasure Hunt is about 2 hours long and the presenters arrive in Clowne 30 minutes in, and you can move the dot across to the right to find the right place. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p015vdm0

We usually get at least one new member from visitors to our Easter exhibition, and we only need one more now for the group to become financially viable again. Next time, we could also perhaps consider letting local businesses advertise in our exhibition leaflet (this time, we just used up some old ones from past years).

As usual, it was hard work, but everyone mucked in and we enjoyed ourselves too. We will all just have to pull together to survive these tough economic times, but I am now beginning to think that we can do it.

Out and About - and Knitting an Angry Bird

2013-03-27T00:55:00.000-07:00

We have had rather a lot of snow in our part of the world recently, and this prevented me getting to art group this weekend, and I could only get a bit of my Buckingham Palace painting done. I managed to create a small knitted “Angry Bird” to go with a tin can alley game I made last October. Details of how to do this are on the blog: "Home made beauties by Heidi". http://homemadebeautiesbyheidi.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/day-2-of-bird-day-week-angry-birds-can.html

The game has been popular and has had a lot of wear and tear. To make it look like new again, I tried to push out any small dents, then used masking tape to cover up the pigs’ faces and sprayed the cans green again. Once the paint was dry, I finished off with a coat of clear spray enamel.

To go with it, the red angry bird was adapted from a pattern I found on e-bay (UK), but I adapted it slightly as there were parts I thought could be made to look a bit more authentic.

For copyright reasons, I can’t give exact instructions. The bird is basically a sphere, with the bib being a circle (I cast on 8 and knitted a strip 40 rows long, then ran a thread along one side and pulled it up tightly, before joining the cast on and cast off rows to each other). The eyes are in white and you cast on about 7 stitches and knit 7 rows then cast off, and sew to the face. I then embroidered on the pupils. For the beak, I cast on several stitches, then worked in stocking stitch, increasing at each end of the knit rows for several rows until the beak reached a size that looked right. The head pom poms are made by knitting a small square about 14 stitches wide and 9 rows, then running a piece of wool through the cast on edge and pulling it up tight, joining the row ends, turning it the right side out and stuffing it, then running a piece of wool through the cast off stitches and pulling it tight then fastening it off. The tail feathers are made by knitting a black wool strip, folding it and sewing it and then attaching it firmly.

To help give it weight and momentum when thrown, inside the bird is a small bean bag (about 3”/6cm x 1.5”/3cm, sewn all around with a double row of stitching to make it as strong as possible. All around it is stuffing, to make it soft and fill out the bird.

All in all, I am quite pleased with it, and hope it gives us as good service as the tin cans have.

I need to give our annual art exhibition a mention, as it will be this Easter Saturday and Sunday at the Clowne Cricket Club, from 10am-5pm. This is the culmination of our year’s work, at Clowne Art Group as well as our main opportunity to raise funds for the group, and we all look forward to it. Let’s hope the weather is kind to us.

Finally, our group had a stall on behalf of our art group at a local school this week, and would like to thank those people who visited it and bought something or took any literature. I think it’s important for hobby groups like ours to get out into the community and promote what we do, so that people know who we are and where to find us.

Buckingham Palace 3 - and ready for Easter

2013-03-20T11:47:00.000-07:00

Another week, a bit further on with Buckingham Palace. I’m hoping it will be completed in time for the Easter exhibition at Clowne cricket club, which is only two weeks away.

Another little project has been a decorated egg which is this year’s entry for a competition at my son’s school. According to my son, I won it last year, but as there was no prize, I couldn’t be sure. This year there is, so I will know if it’s crash and burn or star turn.

The art group’s stall is shaping up nicely. I’ve been updating publicity materials, making signs and making last minute Easter decorations for the Easter trees all week. I am hoping that, if I take a tree along ready decorated, someone might want to buy it then and there, and I am also taking along extra decorations as people might want to buy them too, especially the chocolate ones.

Easter trees as at Friday.

As there will be plenty of cakes on other stalls, I am making mallow pops and/or fudge, which should make life easier for me as they are in bags already. Space will be limited, so I aim to make the most of every inch. This is more or less how it will look now.

Buckingham Palace 2

2013-03-13T01:21:00.000-07:00

I have begun my Buckingham Palace painting – just drawing it first. I might just get it completed for our exhibition, but the coming week will be busy so I’ll have to see.

I thought it was about time the group got out and did a bit of fundraising and publicity for themselves, so I booked a stall at a forthcoming event at a local school. I put the stall together yesterday as a practice go to see how it would look, and this is roughly how it is. We have a name the bunny game on the right, an Easter tree in the middle, with knitted Easter decorations next to it. At the front will be a few homemade cakes and chocs, and the white wicker basket has a few Easter themed novelties in it for people to buy. Maggie has given me some cards to sell, which are on the left.

I am hoping we can raise enough from this and the Easter exhibition combined to enable us to survive. We might also be able to find new members this way. Onwards and upwards.

Portelet Bay 3 and Buckingham Palace

2013-03-06T02:36:00.000-08:00

I’m nearing the end of my Portelet Bay painting and am just tweaking it now.

Here’s a photo I took of Buckingham Palace (our Queen’s home) on a recent visit. I’m planning to paint this next and I think it looks particularly beautiful with the trees of St James’ Park in front of it.

I was lucky enough to inherit some acrylic paints from one of our art group members, Madge, who sadly passed away some 18 months ago. As you can see, if you click on the photo to enlarge it, there are some unusual colours that I didn’t already have, such as the green-gold.

Portelet Bay 2 - and Exhibition looms

2013-02-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

As my painting of Portelet Bay nears completion, I have been wondering what to paint after this, with many of my paintings on show at Bassetlaw museum, I do need to get more paintings done so that I have something to put into the exhibition. With less members than usual at our art group, it’s an ideal opportunity to put plenty of work in show.

I managed to get quite a good photo of Buckingham Palace on a recent trip to London, and thought it might make a good subject for a painting. Watch this space to see how it develops.

Portelet Bay 1

2013-02-20T00:00:00.000-08:00

I have begun a new painting this week, this time it’s Portelet Bay, Jersey (a small island off the coast of France, but still a part of the UK). See the little building on the island (left white at the moment) There’s a story behind that, as a sea captain, Phillipe Janvrin is buried on the island. He returned from France in 1721, the time when the great plague was epidemic in France, and was not allowed to land. He and his ship, the “Esther” had to stay moored in Bellecroute Bay. He died on his second day of quarantine and was buried on the island. As a result, it is commonly known as Janvrin’s Tomb.

If you are interested in the bay, you can read more from this tourist board website: http://www.jersey.com/English/discoverjersey/beachesandviews/Pages/Portelet-Bay.aspx

Meanwhile at art group, we have begun to prepare for our Easter exhibition. Advertising in local freebies is in hand, posters are in the process of being printed and a floor plan is being drawn up. Karen has begun a new polar bear painting, and is completing her lion at home, John continues with his pastel lions and Maggie has begun a new medieval style painting – a princess and a knight. The princess has classical features and looks like a marble angel with her flowing blonde hair. Sue continues with some hyacinths, while Gill was trying some detailed drawing. New member Tracy was busy with some pink, bell-like flowers.

This week, I’d raised £3 for the club from selling some homemade sweets (more details about this on my cookery blog – link on the right). This came in handy when Karen discovered that our one remaining roll of kitchen paper was missing. We use a lot of kitchen paper when we’re painting. Whoever took it probably didn’t realise that the club couldn’t afford to replace it, but thanks to me, the missing roll was quickly replaced with six new ones – now safely stashed in the boot of Maggie’s car.

Elmton Sunset 2 - and A for Art

2013-02-13T00:00:00.000-08:00

I completed my painting of the sunrise over Elmton last week. I wanted to add a horse to it, but it might not have looked right with the buildings on the horizon on the right (it might have looked gigantic). It is a good thing it didn’t take long to do because I’ve realised that I won’t get my paintings back from the exhibition at Retford until mid- April, after the Easter exhibition has taken place. I only have about 5 weeks left to produce a couple more.

I was sorry to see that the independent Chesterfield art shop “A for Art” has recently closed down. You may remember that I featured them some time ago as they used to display artists’ work for sale in their window, but turned me down. Even if they had accepted me, the waiting list was two years long and my name might not have come up until after it closed(!) The owners were retiring and wanted to find a buyer, but nobody was interested. It seems that people are increasingly buying their art equipment on line, and who can blame them when it is so convenient and you can shop around so easily, and even get reviews of it all beforehand. I liked the shopfront, which was a little unusual in that the door was set back and you had to go down a short “corridor” to get to it. I wonder what will happen to the building now – perhaps yet another bar or cafe, or discount shop. I hope not.

Elmton Sunrise 1 - and Bassetlaw Museum

2013-02-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

This weekend has been busy, as I began a new painting, of a sunset at Elmton – our neighbouring village. It’s only something I photographed from an upstairs window at home, but we do get some interesting skies at sunrise and sunset here.

The Museum from the outside - our work is in the Percy Laws Gallery

After this, it was off to Retford with a selection of paintings from myself, Sue, Maggie and Gill from the art group, as our long awaited exhibition date at Bassetlaw Museum had finally arrived. They will be on display from 9^th February, to 6^th April and the museum is at Amcott House, Grove Street, Retford, Notts. Website: http://www.bassetlawmuseum.org.uk/ - the museum is open Monday to Saturday.

The interior of the Museum

Dinosaur Mat and Easter Trees

2013-01-30T00:00:00.000-08:00

This week, there was no art group, probably due to the 4” of snow we’d had overnight. I turned up to find the gates locked and the place deserted. This week’s artwork was therefore the result of multitasking childcare with producing art, and is a dinosaur play mat for my son. He’s going through that dinosaur phase at the moment. A plastic playmat would have come in at around £20, but this cost nothing as I already had all the materials. An added advantage is that I could make it look how I wanted it to. This sort of thing is probably best done using a long strip of wallpaper, for maximum play potential.

Once the snow had begun to go away again, I also made some more progress with my Easter trees. Here you can see the quick setting mortar and some old plant pots. I painted all the trees white with primer and acrylic then set them into the pots, propping them up with clothes pegs where needed. They don’t look very glamorous at this stage, and I want to make them look a lot prettier than this, but am giving the cement chance to set thoroughly first.

Our exhibition at Bassetlaw museum, Retford begins on 9^th Feb, and I have been making the arrangements for this, obtaining paintings from group members, and sorting out a delivery date with the museum. I’m also taking along a few leaflets to encourage people to join. Here's hoping it's a success.

Easter Tree Decorations 1

2013-01-23T00:00:00.000-08:00

This week, due the the snowy weather, I didn’t go to art group. We could have met - several of us live within walking distance - but anyone travelling by car would have been in difficulty.

Instead, here are some Easter tree decorations I’ve made to go on some Easter trees I’m making to sell at the Easter exhibition, in aid of club funds - it might help us survive. I am planning to make more but different ones to these, and have found out how to make jam in our home bread maker, which might also help boost funds. I might get adventurous and try making fudge in there too. Would you believe, an internet search found nothing to tell me how it’s done. I think it’s worth a go and if it works, I’ll post some instructions. With all the cooking I do, I sometimes think I ought to have a cookery blog as well. The patterns I used are by Jean Greenhowe and are available on Amazon.

Dandelion 3

2013-01-16T00:00:00.000-08:00

Just a very quick post today, as I have been busy once again updating my Belly Dancing Blog, which I thought I’d stopped doing, but found I had more to say (about diet rather than dancing this week). It’s at http://jewelsartyblog.blogspot.com/

I have just about completed my dandelion and here it is.

At art group, I’d found two possible new bank accounts for the club, either Co-operative Bank (community) or Nationwide (Treasurers Trust). They will need to fill in a 20 page form but this should sort us out so we can apply for public funding again. I’d also arranged for a member to speak on our local radio station, Elastic FM about the group, to help with publicity, amongst other things.

Dandelion 2 - and getting ready to fundraise

2013-01-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

In England we have had the wettest year on record, and the for UK as a whole, it was the second wettest, just a few millimetres short of breaking the record. The rain has now stopped for a few days at least, enabling me to get out and about again. There seem to be moss, lichen and weeds all over the place – the low light and damp conditions of the past year are ideal for these types of plant, so I expect we will be getting plenty of dandelions this year. Which reminds me that art group began meeting again last Saturday, and I quickly got busy with my dandelion painting. It looks almost finished now. I made the centre of the dandelion a little darker, as the original photo was. As this has been so quick, I am hoping to get a few more paintings done before the exhibition. Easter falls early this year, so it works out well. The silver lining of being several members down is that there’s more space for those of us who are left.

Christmas and New Year were busy times for me, but I still found time to make some things to help us fundraise for the group. Fewer members will mean less cakes to sell this time, so other ideas were needed. Hence, Easter tree decorations and Easter trees are now well underway. As well as this, I made a “guess the name of the Easter bunny”, with a grid of names on a large piece of paper. You pay 30p to guess the bunny’s name, and at the end we will award the prize to whoever guesses correctly (or if nobody does, whoever gets the nearest square to the name). Maggie has a large rabbit toy she is going to donate for this. I’ll put some photos of all these items on when they’re completed.

We no longer need our large display boards, as we can do our exhibitions from table easels, and so I have been looking at the possibility of selling them on e-bay. All the ones I found were folding ones, and only one out of five lots had sold, for £75. The art group’s boards cost much more, so we hope we can get a bit better price than that. If any UK individuals or organisations are interested, do get in touch (you must be able to collect them). Also we will have to dispose of them somehow if the group is no longer able to continue, which is, sadly, a distinct possibility at the moment. But for now, we have to try and fight for our survival.

Welcome to 2013

2013-01-02T00:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the first post of 2013 and I hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas. Welcome to any new readers who has had a Kindle for Christmas and have found this blog that way.

Here’s a little rabbit I’ve made as a decoration for my Easter tree I am also making this year. He stands about 7” high and I have deliberately made his clothes in spring colours. He is from a pattern by Jean Greenhowe, "Jean Greenhowe's Toy Collection". I am making a mummy rabbit and a baby one too, also probably some small ducks. The Easter tree should look good in our conservatory - and hopefully the cat and kids will leave it alone.

I will be doing more to my dandelion painting when the art group reconvene on 5^th January – at the moment I only have the dandelion head and background done. You'll be able to see how it's going next week.

Dandelion 1

2012-12-25T23:45:00.000-08:00

I have begun my painting on my new round canvas. After looking at how other people paint flowers, often saturated with bright colour, I felt spoilt for choice. Would it be a sunflower, daisy, aster, rose, dahlia, chrysanthemum, or perhaps something a little more exotic?

In the end, I remembered I’d photographed a perfect dandelion seed head a couple of years ago, and was able to locate and print it. It has a dark background, as you can see, and I will need to paint the fluffy bits on top of it. At the moment, with the yellow middle and wide dark border, my canvas looks like an old “LP” record, but thicker. Watch this space to find out how it evolves over the coming weeks.

My First Craft Fair

2012-12-19T00:00:00.000-08:00

Last week was a busy one, preparing for the craft fair at the cricket club. By Thursday night I’d got all the cakes out of the freezer to decorate, and spent Friday doing just that. I made some signs, put together a cash float and packed everything up ready for the following day, including our home Christmas tablecloth, for that all important festive touch. I only got three knitted Christmas decorations done, but they finished the display off nicely. I took along five of my own paintings, and the others took a few (don’t think any sold). Above, you can see the cakes I made, and on the Saturday morning, I added mince pies to these. One of our members was making marshmallow pops, and I was intrigued to see how these would turn out, but, unfortunately, they hadn’t – apparently they kept falling off the sticks! Even without these, with all the decorations and cakes together at one end, and artwork and cards at the other, things looked good as we set the tables up before spending the morning painting.

A well attended event

This year, we took a break from the “fuddle”(a dialect word which appears to mean egg sandwiches in sub-zero temperatures) and instead headed out for a meal to the Village Bar, for a delicious meal in pleasant surroundings. Some members took a while to find the place, but by about a quarter to one, we were all seated and eventually served. Maggie and I left a little early and whizzed back to the cricket club for the craft fair, which had around 50 exhibitors (entry for stallholders was free – bring a raffle prize) and appeared to be a success. There was a potter selling small jugs, mugs, and candle sticks, plus what appeared to be vases/female dummy torsos. There were homemade crackers, heart shaped pincushions, as well as Phoenix cards, craft supplies, incense sticks, Cabouchon- type jewellery and so forth. Most of the cakes I’d made sold, as did quite a few of the Christmas decorations, and I raised £16 from these for the group. Ideally, we could have done with one or two of the other members bringing a cake or two and running a bit of a tombola or something (of course, this is a busy time of year for many members). Towards the end of the afternoon,it occured to me that - goodness me - this was the first craft fair I've ever done. I am often to be found sitting behind a stall, but it has always been fundraising or selling paintings until now.

I had several enquiries from people interested in joining. Now, we need to see how much dosh we can raise at the Easter exhibition, and whether any new people join the group. Our group’s survival hinges on these things. We start meeting again the first Saturday of the New Year. Watch this space to see what use I make of my round canvas – perhaps a sunflower, daisy or aster. Who knows?

Next year, I have two exhibitions organised at Retford museum, in February, one for the group and one for myself. Easter falls early, and I have been thinking about making an Easter tree with some knitted ducks, rabbits etc. on it, while the kids are still young enough to enjoy it. Living at the edge of the village, I can easily find a few twigs to put to one side for spring, to set in a plant pot and probably spray white then decorate with little things. Again, watch this space. And it only remains for me to wish all readers a Happy Christmas and compliments of the season.

The Wonder of Christmas

2012-12-12T03:22:00.005-08:00

"The Wonder of Christmas" refers to me wondering if the art group will survive, and will Christmas help? Nothing more romantic than that, I'm afraid. With the group threatened with closure after several members dropped out and our local bank closed, we are doing a Christmas craft fair/market at the cricket club on the afternoon of 15^th December, aiming to raise funds and promote the group. Last week, as soon as I heard about the event, "team Boffy" swung into action and, after booking a stall for us, I quickly put together some publicity material, and set to decorating some tree ornaments to be sold on our behalf at the weekend. I took them along to art group last weekend and asked the other members to help. Sue did, and you can see the results of her efforts on the middle row of this photo. They are only salt dough, left over after my son wanted to make some, so didn’t exactly break the bank.

By the end of the weekend, we’d produced 38. I’ve saved one back to paint while at art group before we set the stall up and go for our meal out. We are hoping to get £1 for 3, and if they all sold out at that price it would give us about £13, but there will almost certainly be leftovers that will be sold more cheaply. And any that really won’t budge will end up on my own tree at home.

I have made several cakes to sell: a lemon/citrus one which always goes down well at our exhibitions, a ginger one with orange icing, and two different types of Christmas cupcakes. As well as this, there will be shortbread and Gill has promised to bring some marshmallow pops. Friday will be spent decorating cakes, but that has left a couple of days free this week. I have had a hunt round in the loft for some knitting wool and patterns from several years ago and have been busy knitting these little dolls. They are meant to be toys, but I would not be allowed to sell them as such nowadays for safety reasons, so I have added a loop to their heads to sell as Christmas decorations.

The others are taking along greetings cards to sell, but our home printer no longer lets me put cardboard through it. So, instead, I am putting together some of my own paintings ready and a cash float. I am hoping the others will bring raffle prizes, as I seem to have put rather a lot into the event in other ways.

I have been surprised at how many items I have been able to produce at little or no cost. Whatever we can make from this event will go towards helping the group survive. And who knows, perhaps we can attract one or two new members this time.

Although the weather is in minus temperatures at the moment, we are promised a thaw by the weekend, which should help boost attendance. And if any readers are within striking distance of Clowne, and are at a loose end next Saturday at 2 pm, do feel free to pay us a visit.