Inspiration: colour and pattern

Found on Huckleberry Creative, bringing colour and pattern to the outside of our homes.

Turner Contemporary

I recently visited the new Turner Contemporary in Margate with dad, it was definitely worth a visit.  I really enjoyed taking photo's of the sculptures, the building was a great space, and the view from the cafe down onto the beach was wonderful.  For more info on forthcoming exhibitions, including one on Turner's watercolours in January 2012, visit their website.

Poem on the stairs

Deal beach and high street

My sister recently turned 30th, which was a bit of a shock to us all.   We celebrated with a lovely picnic on Deal beach.  The weather was good and we managed to eat our picnic without getting stung by wasps, the Great British seaside experience! My little niece and nephew enjoyed the sea.  My nephew loves to throw himself in with gay abandon where my niece is a bit more circumspect, staying on the waters edge studying her brother.  I'm sure it's a phase which won't last long!

We rode to the beach in my sister's camper van, my first ride!  Thankfully it lived up to its name 'Hope', as we made it to the beach and back.

On the subject of beaches: I heard a very nice story at a friend’s birthday picnic, a friend of hers collects and paints stones with her grandchildren, they then take the stones back to the beach and hide them for someone to find.  It’s up to the findee whether they keeps them (she paints ‘finders keepers’ on the back) or leaves them there for everyone else to enjoy. A nice idea.

Fish stones by Laura Cameron

Deal High Street has some really lovely shops.  I discovered some really nice lamp shades by Lush designs.  You can find out more about them on their blog. I have my eye on their 'wild pig' in spring green lampshade!

Finally I’ve signed up for a Japanese Wood Block Printing Workshop with Laura Boswell at ArtworksMK in December, I’m looking forward to it!

Cinema Paradiso

I love a good film and there’s nothing better than watching a good film in an interesting venue, particularly nostalgic or unusual venues. A friend sent me details of Letchworth Broadway cinema, an art deco building in Letchworth Garden city. It reminded me of other fantastic venues I’ve been to or would like to go to.



The Empire is a lovely family run cinema in Sandwich, Kent. I went with my family. It was lovely: little pots of ice cream at interval and everyone sang along to the film.



The Electric Cinema in Birmingham is fantastic. I went to see a double bill of Spanish movies, ‘La ardilla roja’ or ‘The Red Squirrel’ directed by Julio Medem and ‘Talk to Her’ by Pedro Almodovar, on a quiet Saturday afternoon. Between films we enjoyed a cuppa and home made chocolate cake served on china in the cinema foyer.





A bit closer to home, the excellent Parks Trust have a free Open Air Festival in the summer.

And the bizarre (but in a good way) in London: Films on Fridges, a pop up out door cinema in Hackney where the screen is surrounded by fridges. Linking ideas about waste, sustainability, industrial heritage and creativity.

Exhibition: MK Art

I went to see New Art MK at the MK Gallery.  It was great to see the work of local Milton Keynes artists, in particular I liked the cross stitch work of Jamie Chalmers aka Mr X (1), the beautiful photographs of Kamil Szkopik (2), Laura Keeley's beautiful paintings evoking dreams or half remembered memories (3) and Emma Wilde's delicate pencil drawings (4)  Pics taken from the MK Gallery website, which you can visit for information on the exhibition.

Seeing the cross stitch stuff made me remember that I really want to have a go at making Emily Peacock's 'Kiss' cushion, its so lively with lovely colours, originally seen on Kirsty's Homemade Homes.  I found Ruffles and Ribbons blog very informative with good tips for making it.

Dressmaking: Chic bike bag

Made from my own drafted pattern, denim and printed canvas cotton.

Appliqued bike motif, before I really knew what I was doing :).

Snazzy handle and covered button.

Thank goodness its Springtime

Some bulbs from the garden, not sure what this flower is 

Lovely daffs their bobbing bright yellow heads never fail to cheer.

I love these smaller daffs, they're so pretty, I had completely forgotten I'd planted them.

In amongst the Heather.

Outdoor cyclamen

More pics

I couldn't resist adding this, the crow in his tree surveying the sunset and his territory (unfortunately that tree is now long gone).

And a cool snail I found while tidying up the garden at the weekend.  How do I know he's cool, well with a shell like that how could you not be : )

Pics of seed heads

Inspiration: print making, Angie Lewin

I really love Angie Lewin's prints.

She has inspired me to get out taking photos of seed heads before the new spring growth. I’ve had a play about drawing my own graphic style seed heads, and have done some watercolour paintings of my own. It made me realise that although her work looks simple with a limited colour palate, its incredibly detailed and precise, from the stones and leaves in the background to the balance of colours and graphic elements.

I had a go at three mock up paintings over the weekend, I was pleased with the simplified seed heads but my colour tones were way out. I had far too many colours and colour clashes. Ahh well something to play about with next weekend!  Eventually I'll post any that come out well.

See here for details of Angie's book.

Update on flower corsage workshop

The flower corsage workshop went brilliantly well, I had five lovely attendees, including someone who had never sewn before.  It was a really fun morning and everyone completed their corsages.