September

as we near the end of the year

my thoughts are of reflection for the past four months
always my favourite time of year when autumn blessings
blend effortlessly with Christmas cheer

I welcomed the month of September with
the usual excitement for my favourite time of year

but as it turned out ...
it was to be the start of a very difficult period in my life
when blogging went haywire and I had a bit of a "meltdown"
just too many horrible things happening all at once ...

but I don't want to dwell on the very sad things here
instead I'd like to share some of the lovelier things
that were happening at the same time

like my "Crow Days" with Jo
Jo and I have such special days together
we work on our textile projects, try new art techniques
have lunch and loads of laughs
our days together always cheer me up ♥

as I worked into it the overall shape became a bit quirky
the lines of the field boundaries naturally came and
it became a little fragile in places ... and I like that

I added a little machine embroidery with a metallic thread

and then I cut the large piece into little pieces
added some hand stitching and they became art cards

and from the rest of the waxed collage pieces
I made some art cards which are available in my etsy shop

(they make good starting points
if you need inspiration for your textile work)

in September ...

there were lots of bead orders but this is the only one
I kept for myself ... in green, lime, gold and dark brown
I like just "having" it

one of my beads with hand dyed ribbons

in September ...

the colours I loved were a mix of
golden greens and orange browns
mixed with sea blues and always St. Ives

inspiration came from one of my favourite artists

I bought this card in Tate St. Ives
because I love rooftops and chimneys
and adore Elaine's use of colour

(more on chimneys and rooftops next year)

yellow morning - Elaine Pamphilon

and more colour and pattern inspiration from Elaine Pamphilon
on the front cover of one of her little books
that I bought at The Ainscough Gallery, Dartmouth
while on holiday at the beginning of September

enjoying the autumn colours in her Cornish landscapes

and the shapes and textures of the fields and trees
that would so lend themselves to machine stitching

♥

after our holiday to Dartmouth (3-10 September)
we then enjoyed the St. Ives Arts Festival (10-24 September)
with various workshops and music events

and on 3o September I met up with Marilyn Stephens
a friend I first met at Cornwall College, Camborne

when I admired her most beautiful fine art textiles
at end of year exhibition
we hit it off straight away and became friends

we had lunch and then went around the Mariners Gallery
and also to The Crypt Gallery to see the work of
artists Brian Busselle, Stuart Thorn and John Higgins

I bought a few seasonal cards of Brian Busselle's work

Borderline

we met and chatted to artist Stuart Thorn
and admired his beautiful abstract paintings

Stuart Thorn

Clayworks
a fine mix of Stuart Thorn's paintings
and Jenny Beavan's ceramics

Marilyn gave me this lovely textile brooch with a heart on
made from felt, chiffon and hand stitching
thank you Marilyn ♥

it reminds me of our lovely day together
it certainly was a gorgeous hot day in St. Ives

♥

and then on 2nd October I met up with lovely blog friend
Sophie Munns of "Homage to the Seed"

Sophie has a passion for seeds, pods and seedheads
and has several amazing blogs and sites
where she shares her art and drawings of seeds
you must go visit if you share our love of these things!

Sophie was over in England from Australia
about to spend a week working as resident artist
at The Eden Project in St. Austell, Cornwall
and then a month at the Millennium Seed Bank at Kew Gardens

Here is Sophie's account of our day together

It was a boiling hot day, Sophie and I met outside Tate St. Ives and at the time there wasn't a show hanging so we went upstairs to the cafe and and enjoyed a pot of coffee and admired the views through the long glass windows of the Tate Cafe

we visited some galleries and then
we went to the The Tea Rooms for more tea and cake

and then I made Sophie take her shoes off
to paddle and walk on the cooling wet sand
I always love to take my friends beachcombing
and she laughed at me as I spotted treasures at a hundred paces

Sophie gave me a copy of her book
"Homage to the Seed"
which I shall treasure

and then we had to say our goodbyes for, sadly
Sophie only had one day in St. Ives and that's not enough ...
so she had to cram in all the things she wanted to see
before catching the train to St. Austell

I do hope we meet again but, meanwhile, will continue to
follow her inspiring and beautiful art on all of her blogs

and that about brings me to the end of summer
when my life turned upside down ...

I had just begun work (photography and textiles) for an Exhibition with St. Ives Arts Club called "On the Island" and had already taken a large base of photos to inspire my textile pieces when I had to cancel and pull out of the exhibition because my Mum collapsed and was very ill in hospital and, just a few days later, we lost my gorgeous Nanny. For quite some time life was very difficult indeed ...

I still have the photos from "On the Island" and
I think I may use them for an exhibition in March 2012
(more on that later)

the colours inspired this mosaic

1. gas 2. untitled 3. sketchbook 4. sep302011 5. waves 6. 289-290 aggie 7. how do I love thee? 8. l'explorateur 9. the moorhens - 2009

and now for October ...