Latest artwork plus

I thought I would share my latest artwork and what I've been up to lately. Not much I could say but just a minute...surprisingly I've done quite a bit if I take the time to reckon up. Years and years of working a fourteen hour day, multitasking my heart out has given me a mind set that won't budge. Its as if I'm brainwashed into expecting so much input and output from myself and any less only labels me lazy. Even six years of retirement doesn't quash the tide of self expectation even if physically, the body doesn't agree.

Its just as well really! I love my projects and must have something to be creative with. They can give me a very welcome buzz. Being creative, contemplative and listening to good music all at the same time is my idea of heaven and as relaxing and multitasking as I ever need to be.

an interpretation of the Widow's Mite

The Art group I belong to with the U3A continues to be good fun, not competitive yet so instructive and encouraging by other members. I felt I had finally made friends with my latest pastel but unfortunately the textured paper doesn't scan well and so I tweeked it with Serif Photoplus to create a more digital friendly image and this is the best image I could come up with.  I hope you like. I was inspired by a painting by James Christensen  .



Term has ended for my calligraphy class and we students held our customary end of term tea with lots of finger foods and snacks with a special gluten free assortment for us freebies. I made some gf cheese bread and cooked gf sausages as my contribution. Some were left over so I decided to pack them back in their container and bring them home to eat later but what did I do? I left the container on the class room windowsill and went home without it. Oh no! Happily not all was lost as I found out later. One of my fellow students took the opportunity to take it home with her and she had it for tea. Bravo! I'm just happy it wasn't wasted and I took it as a compliment to my cooking.

uncial script

This last term we studied the Book of Kells and attempted to copy its style of writing and include drawn letters and animal illustration. The newbies in the class, including me, found it difficult and I for one was almost ready to bring my adventure with calligraphy to a close when the penny finally dropped. Our display of work was appreciated by all and made our tutor very happy. For my second piece, shown here I decided to inscribe a George Eliot piece and used greens and gold to illustrate.  

We were also shown work done by the Northumbrian Scribes and bound as part of the Letters after Lindisfarne project, a sequel to the Lindisfarne Gospels. What amazing artist scribes they are. I stood and watched in awe.

See you soon.

An Accomplished Afternoon

uncial script

I'm midway through my second term as a student of calligraphy and I've chewed over this assignment for weeks! To produce a script in uncial following the style found in the Book of Kells. It has to include a verse or quotation featuring animals and also be illustrated with animals. Kells features animals that entwine with initial letters and are beautifully coloured. 

I have to admit uncial script is a real challenge for me. I had spent my first term practising italics and was feeling quite happy about it (almost smug) and then the rug was pulled out from under my feet when I and my fellow scribes were plunged into the upside down, back to front world of uncial. Gosh! I can imagine ancient scribes sitting in their cells with just a candle for light and warmth, huddled inside their monks' habits, painstakingly creating illuminated manuscripts day after day after day. It must have been a lifetime's occupation for some of them and the work they created still in existence today, is amazing.  

In contrast I sat in my cosy kitchen this afternoon with the sun shining in through patio doors, coffee and oatcakes by my side and produced my own little masterpiece shown above. To be honest I had made several drafts and gave it all a lot of thought before finally finding the confidence to do the master copy today. 

I'm happy with the result and feeling quite proud of my achievement even though its not 'perfect' its good enough for me. I particularly like the way my sparrow sits well with the initial W. I suppose I really should have used watercolours for the illustrations but I have some lovely Promarker pens that were just begging to be used and they are so much more handy it would be a shame not to use them. 

Letter to self and others

italic hand with pressed flowers

I can't believe its 6 months since I last posted. What have I been doing??? Well for a start I've taken on too many projects, most of which are presently languishing unfinished, such as Eva's first year scrapbook, a sketch of family that needs coloured, a script in uncial in the Book of Kell's style with odd looking animals entwined in the letters and several more, some of which I'm sure I've forgotten about. I can make a mental list of things to do but it becomes so long and unwieldy I get exhausted just thinking about it and end up doing nothing. So no progress is made and I might start yet another project at the kitchen table until I can't bear the clutter any more and that project is 'retired' with all the others. 

Of course I could work at my arts and crafts in my craft room but I've run out of desk space in there. I really should spend a day tidying up and reorganising my work space and my time. Did I tell you I joined the U3A Bede, Jarrow Branch and go to their art group once a week. Also, I joined a calligraphy class, held once a week, my tutor being the Chairperson of the Northumbrian Scribes. Yay!! I'm enjoying both.

All the above interspersed with the occasional coffee morning, socials, trips out, breakfast and lunch dining out, day dreaming and getting comfy on the sofa, watching rubbish on TV and planning on doing things but then never do and more. Such is life in retirement. I can't complain, though I could do with a kick in the proverbial to get me motivated more... or maybe some spring sunshine.

Next project please!

Opening lines from Books

I can't give the opening lines to my favourite books because I don't keep books as such. My library consists mostly of reference books relating to arts, crafts, hobbies, religion and spiritual thought. It used to include books about politics but I gave up on that years ago. Novels come and go, year in, year out. When they are read they are passed onto family or friends. I particularly like historical novels or biographies. 
I have never owned a collection of classics and Shakespeare, since school days, has left no appeal.

Some of my favourite books from recent years include: 

The God of Small Things a story about childhood experiences by Arundhati Roy, winner of the Booker Prize in 1997
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, 2007
And the Mountains Echoed  by Khaled Hosseini, 2013
The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory, 2003

I managed to salvage five novels from my shelves, read, partly read and waiting to be read and I have taken the opening lines from them. 
Katherine Webb, author of The Unseen, 2011
'The first time Leah met the man who would change her life, he was lying face down on a steel table, quite oblivious to her. Odd patches of his clothing remained, the colour of mud, slick with moisture.'

Khaled Hosseini author of And the Mountains Echoed, 2013
'So, then. You want a story and I will tell you one. But just the one. Don't either ask me for more. It's late, and we have a long day of travel ahead of us Pari, you and I.

Kate Morton author of The Distant Hours, 2011
It started with a letter, A letter that had been lost a long time waiting out half a century in a forgotten postal bag in the dim nondescript house in Bermondsey.

Jean Auel author of The Plains of Passage, 2002
The woman caught a glimpse of movement through the dusty haze ahead and wondered if it was the wolf she had seen loping in front of them earlier.

Noah Hawley, author of The Good Father, 2013
Thursday night was pizza night in the Allen household. My last appointment of the day was scheduled for 11am; and at three o'clock I would ride the train home to Westport, thumbing through patient charts and returning phone calls.

Out of the five books listed above. the one which holds the most appeal to me right now is The Unseen. Maybe I should make a challenge to read it. Something for my ever expanding 'to do' list.

Day 10 August Blog Challenge

A Guilty Pleasure :

An afternoon snooze
Is where to cruise
When there's time to lose
I stand accused

Of hoarding the treasure
Of sofa and me together
And being the wilful measure
Of my guilty pleasure

Day 8 August Blog Challenge

Five songs that bring back memories

Me being psychedelic

I'm enjoying this challenge and even surprised at myself that I can be so creative with writing again. There is life in the old girl yet!

I've heard it said that if you remember the sixties then you weren't there. Well I remember with a smile on my face and Oh! the joy and freedom of youth, Lets go to San Francisco , conjures up all the excitement, the change and the rebellious breaking down of social barriers of that era... I'll never forget!

Isao Tomito with his album 'Snowflakes are Dancing', introduced me to Debussy in the late 70s. I remember being enraptured by the sound, almost like being transported to another place and time. I bought the album as a Christmas present for my parents and funnily enough, they had bought me the same. Probably one of the rare times we were on the same page!

Its easy to place the blame at someone else's door but Billy Joel eloquently turned things around with the Innocent Man in 1983, with really deep lyrics, ouch! The eighties started well with the birth of my third child, a beautiful son, but then became probably both the worst and best decade of my life. My parents divorced about this time and my mother became suicidal. Domestic issues were at their lowest and we were broke. We had to sell our home and we barely made even. My family was breaking up and my lovely family ended up with no home of our own and I lost my precious mother. Then along came Labi Siffre in 1987 with Something inside so strong . I could so relate to that song. It was if it had been written for me. Not just my life but my whole family's life had to be built back up again and I did it! I returned to my faith, we got our own place, I went back into education and then got a job I managed to stay at for nearly twenty years. Wow! that was some achievement I can tell you. 

Life can be a fairground with its ups and downs but hope is eternal and what better way to ignore the downs than to break out into song when your favourite song comes on the radio. In 1995 it seemed this song was never off the radio and I loved it. Especially when I was in the car and I could pretend I was really at the fairground singing along with Simply Red. It made my husband and I laugh so much and laughing can be so good for the heart and soul.

Hope to see you tomorrow.

Day 7 August Blog Challenge

A favourite quote and why it’s special

If you love something set it free, If it comes back to you, it is yours. If it doesn't it never was.
(author unknown)

I value my independence therefore I must respect the independence of others. Watching children walk away to forge their own lives for themselves can be heartbreaking. A huge wrench that tears emotions to threads and leaves a gaping hole. The empty nest in tatters. 

Drew walking away

One of the worst attitudes I think, is to take someone for granted. I would much rather set someone free and experience the joy of their return than hold them against their will.

My darling son and granddaughter

Day 6 August Blog Challenge