Summer is Over.

I am back from a gorgeous weekend in Devon and my view has changed from this...

to this.

I don't think Summer has ever ended so abruptly, and it hasn't done my spirits much good. Just as well I am off to uni tomorrow.

It's not really the end of Summer that's got to me - I love Autumn, it's my favourite season - it's just post holiday blues!

Quick collage

Could only spare an hour in the studio this morning - I was making some fabric bags for my mum to make into lavender bags. Just before I left I knocked this together to put on the wall at home. I like the way Sewing Susan's friends are looking on in awe at the way Susan threaded a needle with such ease. That bitch just has it all goin' on.

This Time Next Year Rodders!

Today I couldn't go and do some etching as I'd planned. My membership needs renewing and I just couldn't afford to do it what with my weekend away. I really miss it! Anyway, I went to my studio and carried on with the embroidery I started the other day.

I'll show you when it's finished. I feel really at home at my studio now. I felt weird and silly there at first and it smelt strange. But I like it now! I mean, look at my pincushion...

How could that not make you happy? (I'm easily pleased!)

But saying that, I've been re-reading my old notebooks lately (I have kept them since studying Creative writing at uni when we had to write down every random thought). A couple of themes have been recurring, strongly, over the years. One is that I want to support my family with my creative pursuits. The other is that I WANT A HOUSE. I just need a house, all I want is a secure house, please God help me get a house, please please please everything would be alright if I just had a ....you get the picture. Anyway I have been hoping that my subconscious will provide me with the means to make this dream a reality.

On holiday, amazingly, inspiration struck. In all honesty it was a joint invention of mine and Charlie's, with input from Tony and Malcom, possibly fuelled by Banana Bread Beer, which we discovered and loved and will forever be my campfire side drink of choice. Anyway - here it is, and I've done it in a new post so you can click and enlarge.

Get ready Dragon's Den, Alan Sugar, and other..well known entrepreneur types. Here it is, my new invention! (And for the record, a flat, bungalow, caravan or boat would be acceptable).

Happy Day!

You know when you get up in the morning with a dull, mediocre day ahead of you, and then unexpectedly the postman delivers a beautiful retro pinny and gorgeous letter from a friend and it totally uplifts you and makes your whole day? No? It must just be me then!

Isn't it just fab?! Thanks so much Fiona if you're reading! The apron is up on the wall at the moment. I will wear it, I promise - I'm just not finished looking at it yet! (And it's totally going to go with my 1970's hooks in my kitchen...)

Anyway, buoyed up by my lovely surprise I went to my studio and actually did a bit of embroidery. I think it was a backlash from yesterday's Photoshop attempt - I wanted to go back to my roots! I based it on an etching I did a few weeks back (I would put in a link but Blogger doesn't like me today and I don't want to have to try and load these images again if it mucks up!)

It's not really finished yet andI don't know how I am going to mount it. Also it's scanned terribly - the colours aren't quite as dull as they look here! But for anyone who's interested I did the background by layering fabrics together and machining randomly over the top. Then I appliqued the moon, tree, figure and bird and did some machine and hand stitching on top. Aren't I the busy one?

Well it took coming up for a zillion attempts to get this image to upload, so I'm off to bed now. Goodnight!

Illustration Friday - "Magnify"

For some reason Blogger won't let me add an image so I'll just hang around here until it decides to. I did this this afternoon trying to teach myself to use Photoshop. Now my spine is crumpled and I have a headache. And I could have collaged or painted it in about two minutes...


So anyway it's Bob the Bug - magnified of course - who we met camping at the weekend (it was us who were camping, not Bob. He definitely didn't have a tent with him). Bob let two-year-old Rebby hold him for ages. When I got home I looked him up and found out he's a Shield, or "Stink" bug, and he could have left a really stinky fluid on her hand. But he didn't! What a gentleman. Thanks Bob!

Camping!

Well, we survived - and actually had a great time!

I realised on the first night how ill-prepared I was and had to go and buy some warmer stuff...from the second night I slept in all my clothes plus a hat scarf and gloves.

Some of the regular site users were hilariously hostile towards us, but by the end of the weekend we'd become quite fond of Grumpy Man and Organic Man. (But not Fat Miserable Woman. We hated her.)

The last picture is of Tony, Val and Rebby doing the "Goodbye dance" - a family tradition. I didn't want to leave! Hopefully we will make it an annual event.

It's the time of year when...

...everyone (it seems) is talking about halls of residence, passport-sized photos, UCAS, and of course the delights of trying to get through to Student Finance (I recommend drinking alcohol before even trying).

If you combine the two households of my lovely friend Jenny and I, six of us are going to be starting university. That's a lot of stress for two households. When I popped round Jenny's yesterday, she was outside her house beside the porch, in a crouching position. My first thought was that she was hiding, and perhaps out of politeness I should pretend I hadn't seen her. My second thought was that she was having a nervous breakdown. I adopted my "concerned-yet -calm" face. On closer inspection I discovered she was searching through her recycling bin. She was looking for her son's university enrolment letter. It heartened me to learn that someone I have for years felt a failure beside because of her organisational skills actually uses the same filing sytem as me - putting very important documents in the recycling bin. Unopened.

What's with the scooter? I'm glad you asked. I'm scooting off on "holiday" this weekend. I'm going camping with a big group of lovelies. That's right, actual camping - sleeping with merely a thin piece of fabric between me and the outside world. I don't have high hopes.

Illustration Friday - Caution - Low Flying Angel!

Sorry for the long absence...my hectic Summer holiday is still hectic. Still, at least I found time to do this today while the housework mounted up around me - it's Ecoline Inks with some colour pencil and ink.

I got a letter from University today (I start on 16th Sept...hooray!) informing me of some of the activities coming up. A debate on politics, perhaps? Art appreciation? Or a social evening? Er, no...try a UV Bubble party, XXX rated Hypnosis - and one evening just called "I Love Vodka"! Hmm, I wonder what the theme of that party is and how they came up with the name?

Wouldn't it be funny if I actually went to one of them? I wonder if I would be the oldest person there! Seriously though, the kids of today are so lucky. (Blimey, I said that in another post, I am a grumpy old woman!) When I was young all that happened at uni (I imagine) were protests and sit-ins. No wonder uni attendance is so high nowadays. Why would a kid not want to go somewhere that actually encouraged them to have a UV bubble party? Thousands of pounds worth of debt, I suppose. But still - bubbles!

Lane Smith at work. Fab.

I am so buying these books.

Summer Holidays ain't what they used to be.

Because they used to be like this - days on end at the Lido or the beach with my friends, reading loads of books and magazines, drawing, writing...all in the seemingly endless weeks until the new school year.

Now, they are like this... (my actual diary)


Take note, kids. Make the most of those Summer holidays and don't complain at all the things you can't do yet because you're a kid. Because one day, this diary, this August, this mind, will be yours. Being an adult is not all it's cracked up to be.

Illustration Friday - Idle

Just a little pencil drawing. I'd like to be idle sometimes but it rarely happens!

Belatedly...

Here are the pics from Race For Life...

Before:And after!

With me is my friend Hayley - straight after doing this we went to a 4-hour dress rehearsal for our show. It's all good fun though.

Thanks again to everyone who sponsored me. You will be receiving a minuscule gift in the near future.

Swine Flew

My first go at digital colouring.

This week

Lovely Poppies

I just noticed that my last post was my 100th one. If I'd realised before I would have made more of an effort.

Well once again life's been extremely hectic. Just taken part in a show with my dance school, which was crazy, fun, exhausting and a little bit sad for reasons I won't bore you with!


Had an hour at my studio this morning and did this with my new Ecoline inks...

I like using them - need more practice though. This woman has been filed away in my mind for a few days now. I saw her on the bus and I felt sorry for her - she looked really frail and kind of lonely. But then the bus went past a field with some patches of poppies in. Her face absolutely lit up and she said to herself, "Oh, lovely poppies!"

It was lovely to see - and it made me think, why should I have felt sorry for her and assumed she was unhappy just because she's old, when she clearly takes pleasure from the simple things in life...something we should all do I reckon.

Nightmares and studio antics

Hello! I woke up in a funny mood today because last night my mind decided to treat me to a good old-fashioned horror film style nightmare. It involved trying to escape from a large building where scary home movies of spooky children were projected in weird places. I saw a living dead type woman with concrete blocks for a head who was begging me to help her (and I did - by breathing on her gravestone and bringing her back to life, of course!) It was very strange. Loads and loads of my dreams, even the not so scary ones are set in this huge building - a complex and claustrophobic place, sometimes without any windows. Come on, location guys - find me some new sets, I don't like this building!


Anyway this morning, determined not to get involved in any of that housework malarkey, I went to my studio early. As a sort of warm-up, I made this for myself, a cuff bracelet thingy, using some nice old groovy material and buttons I had. Then I did some burnishing on the etching plate I started at BIP yesterday - hope to show you that in in a couple of weeks, as BIP is closed next week. (What will I do!?)

Thought for the day...whatever happened to earwigs? I haven't seen one for years! I think they must have been a 1970s fad like Spangles, Shaker Makers and cheesecloth.

Things I Wanted To Post Here But Couldn't

1. A drawing of the old lady I saw on the bus whose face lit up when she saw poppies in a field.

2. A photo of me finishing Race For Life.

3. My "this week" drawing.

4. A photo of me standing in the doorway of my new cottage with nice garden, granny annexe (mum installed) and studio.


Here are my excuses:-

1. I didn't have time to finish the drawing. It's still in my head though.

2. My friend hasn't sent it to me yet. Come on, Hayley!

3. I can't decide between the cat's wee and the 19 disco tops. (Now that's a sentence I never thought I'd say.)

4. I made it up. (Sigh!)

I'm etching today, hurrah! Hang the expense, that's what I say. The trick, I've realised, is not to check the bank balance first - it takes all the pleasure out of it.

Despite this recklessness, I have been trying to be more organised in my life and sort out problems as they occur rather than letting them get worse and worse until I just crumple to the floor crying. (Believe me this isn't an exaggeration). So, I've got my friendly computer expert coming round tonight to sort out the mess I made trying to install virus protection on the computer. And later in the week I've got someone coming to clear my gutters and replace a roof tile. (I book tradesmen! I care about roof tiles! I must be....an adult?! Oh no, I never thought that would happen!)

More sketches

Just sketches this time I'm afraid which I suppose is better than nothing!

These were done at the station going to London, and on the train on the way back. Romeo (my cat) I sketched the other day, but he happens to be on the same page so makes a sneaky appearance. I was disappointed that the man on the bottom of the top page got off before I could draw him. He was shaped like a skittle.

I really like to draw on the way back from London - there's more opportunity, as a lot of people are asleep or at least not alert. I like to observe business people, the sort that drink wine on the train , which the man at the bottom of the bottom page was doing. Their lives are so utterly alien to me and although I get fed up (to say the least) with not having any money, I wouldn't want their lifestyle at all. This man had a nice Hull accent and looked a bit like a more groomed Albert Einstein.

I don't know why but the sketches don't enlarge when you click and they aren't very clear so I feel a failure.

Victoria Station was closed for a few hours because it flooded yesterday - there were massive thunderstorms - so it was a bit of a nightmare getting home and I'm tired. I would like to do nothing today except read and maybe draw - but I have loads of cleaning to do - loads - before my family catch disease from the filth and have to wear fancy dress costumes to the hospital because there are no clean clothes.

Phew...

...I've been so-o-o busy lately what with rehearsals for our dance show, family stuff, and just about everything else you can think of. I'm off to London today to see a special little girl who has a birthday today!

I rustled this up this morning just in case the one I sent to Cbeebies isn't shown!

Thanks to everyone who sponsored me for Race For Life, which I did complete on Sunday (I have the sunburn and medal to prove it!) I raised £125 altogether. A photo will be on here soon when my friend emails it to me, and I promise I will send a little something to everyone kind enough to sponsor me.