Frieda Oxenham

Old Carrington Cemetary

2012-01-26T16:20:00.013Z

What would your ideal graveyard look like? This is probably a question you've not really asked yourself but with my increasingly frequent visits to a large variety of these resting places, I have been contemplating that. Today I was in one that had everything I could ever ask. First of all it's old, very old. And it can only be approached along a long (about 1/2 mile) footpath, bordered by tall beech hedges on either side. You could almost imagine a funereal procession with the coffin on a horse drawn cart in the front, followed by a long line of mourners, dressed in sober black, behind! The graveyard is referred to as Old Carrington in the book Midlothian Gravestones (by Islay Donaldson) but the sign now reads: Whitehill Aisle and is tucked away on a little country lane near Carrington, itself a minuscule village. There was once a church here (dating back to 1243), although there is now no sign of that left, but there is a little building, equipped with some hefty modern padlocks. It's the Ramsay family mausoleum which has in fact not been entered since 1998 (as you can read here).

There was a wealth of fabulous stones, arranged all higgledy-piggledy, all slowly sinking into the ground, covered in mosses and lichen, that is if they remain standing at all. Quite a few have fallen over. I'm not even trying to cover them all now, look out for posts in the future. I'm concentrating my efforts today on the above tablestone grave. There is no longer any text visible nor was there at the time (1994) when Islay Donaldson wrote her book, but it is shocking to see how much more was above ground when she visited this graveyard.

The only still visible side of the stone has two little cherubs holding a banner (which once had the text) with lovely carved greenery above them.

All very lovely and relatively innocent looking till you walk around to the side of the stone and encounter

this luscious vision? An extremely strange apparition in a Scottish Protestant graveyard! I have no proof so this is simply a guess but she seem to hark back to pagan times and fertility goddesses. Her hair is braided and interwoven with leaves which seems to confirm this opinion

but if you creep back to the cherub side of the stone you can see that she does in fact have wings (shown at the top of the picture above) so she has been up or down graded (depending on your religious point of view) to some sort of angelic creature. There were originally 4 of her, one on each corner, but only two are still visible. I'm simply stunned, both by the fact that apparently no-one (such as the minister) took acception to her, and by the magnificent carving in such a small, out of the way, relatively insignificant graveyard. We no longer know who lies buried under this stone or when it was carved (my guess would be early 18th Century) which is such a shame as that might explain this apparition.

And the carving on other stones is also exquisite. Just check out the winged soul above. Yes, I know she looks quite rude too, but in fact those are scrolls, not parts of her body! She does look very worried though!

And finally my ideal graveyard should have flowering snowdrops. I hadn't thought about that before but seeing them here they suit so well.

In the midst of death we are in life!

I was quite pleased though that I was the only living human being around as I kept exclaiming with delight, crouching in the grass and having a conversation with myself about the many mystifying stones. Mad as a hatter is what it must have looked like!

Burns Evening

2012-01-25T16:04:00.005Z

This seemed a great image to celebrate and I wish all Scots, both home and abroad a good Burns evening tonight. I found this exquisite carving on one of the gravestones in Penicuik today. And for those of you not that familiar with Scotland's most famous poet here is the poem of his I like best:

O, my luve's like a red,red rose,

That's newly sprung in June;

O, my luve's like the melodie

That's sweetly play's in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonie lass,

So deep in luve am I,

And I will luve thee still, my Dear,

Till a' the seas gang dry

Till a' the seas gang dry, my Dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun!
O I will luve thee still, my Dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only Luve,
And fare thee weel a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Though it were ten thousand mile!

4. Like a Dream Journal Quilt

2012-01-24T16:25:00.007Z

Making a Journal Quilt every week is certainly making me aware of just how fast the time passes. Already the 4th week of 2012 and time for another JQ, as part of my project of making one for every week of the year, called 52 Journals. Just click on the label below to see all the quilts so far and there is also a slideshow in the sidebar.

This particular Journal Quilt is also part of the JQ project of the Contemporary Group of the British Quilting Guild. I was going to give that a miss this year but as they decided to go back to an A4 size, how could I resist incorporating them into my own 52 Journals project. As part of their requirements the first 4 monthly ones have to be 75% red. And as you can see above this JQ certainly fulfills that requirement.

The inspiration for this JQ came from a photograph of a detail from a grave monument in the West Linton graveyard. You can read about that monument itself here. First I made the background by layering Mistyfuse on top of a red fabric and covering it with snippets of a wide variety of red fabrics including some very glittery ones. Once the entire piece was covered I ironed them down, activating the Mistyfuse glue. This was then free machine quilted using a pebble pattern.

Then I transferred the gravestone pattern onto Bondaweb (or Wonderunder if you're in the US) which I had already ironed to a piece of bought devore fabric and cut it out. The Bondaweb paper was removed and the two pieces were ironed down as shown, and then machine stitched. I added the gold coloured buttons after removing their shafts so that they would lay flat. Finally I added the text which is really a poem I made using lines from an extraordinary book called: Proverbial Philosophy, published in 1867. If you ever wondered if Christianity was as militant as other religions are nowadays, this book won't leave you in any doubt! But it provides great one liners and I've used it often on pieces of my work. In this case the text reads as follows:

This life is oft so like a dream

we know not where we are

I was wrapt in flames

I knew it was a dream

Before me all was life, and joy

The lines come from different pages but they made a seamless fit and suited the red colour! As it will be February next week I'm already at work on the next Journal Quilt which will be a companion piece to this one. I'll reveal all next week!

More Lamington Graves

2012-01-21T17:13:00.008Z

As promised in my previous post here are some more images from my visit to Lamington Graveyard including this view of the church itself from the other side compared to the previous post. The wall is probably much older than this building and must have surrounded the original building that was there before.

This is all that remains of the church before the present building seen above was build. According to the information board it dates back to the 12th Century. Doesn't that just take your breath away? That you can stand in front of something build by masons in Norman times? And you can touch it! The memorial plaque in the middle is much more recent and dedicated to those soldiers from Lamington, who died for their country in the Great War (World War I).

There were some very old stones in this graveyard and this is one of them. The text reads: Here lyes the dust of John Noble, tennant in (notice how the mason overlooked this word and put it in later above the rest of the text, a wonderful human touch) Lamington Mains who died there Sept. 18th 1768 aged 55 years. Know as thou treadst this humble spot of earth he who..............

Much to my regret the rest is unreadable but probably warns that death is also to come for all of us who look at this stone. We might be still alive at the moment but can't escape the same fate. Just wish I could see the actually words!!

A very militant looking Winged Soul (just as the one shown in the picture at the bottom of this blog, which is on the neighbouring gravestone), with a skull beneath. But more interesting than even those is the serpent shown at the bottom, eating itself. This is a symbol of eternity (as are all circles) but of course, also refers back to the serpent in the Garden of Eden, or paradise.

A rare example of a whole skeleton on a gravestone, holding an hourglass in one hand and possible something else (now no longer discernable but probably a bone) in the other. It could be the Angel of Death, also known as the King of Terrors! It's a real shame that most of the imagery is now lost to the moss that is slowly on its way to covering the stone completely. At the top the words Memento Mori can just be seen still.

A most unusual Winged Soul at the top that looks more like the skull underneath which it is sheltering in its wings. And the crossbones embrace what I think is the spade and shovel, tools of the gravedigger and as such also symbols of mortality. They could possible also be a pair of scythes.

Lamington Graveyard 1

2012-01-19T17:08:00.007Z

The day started with bright sunshine so a good time to visit another graveyard to take pictures and enjoy the scenery, as well as the hunt for beautiful and interesting gravestones. And I feel that I've really started to treat these visits as journeys of discovery. Lamington (in Lanarkshire)is a tiny village along the A702 on the way down towards the M74 motorway at Abington. The church is clearly visible from the road and had been on my Must Go There One Day list for quite some time.

The church itself is dedicted to St. Ninians, and was largely rebuilt in 1721 although there was a church there before that and the 12th Century doorway was preserved. But this place is a very ancient burial site. In Dane Love's book Scottish Churchyards he mentions that "the oldest burial grounds were usually circular or elliptical in plan. This may be due to their occupying some prehistoric site which was itself circular in plan due to their being marked out with a length of rope centred on a standing stone or burial mound" Lamington churchyard is one of these rare remaining examples.

Next door there is a new graveyard where burials are still taking place.

When in doubt just throw all the symbols of mortality and immortality onto one stone and be done with it. That seems to be the attitude this mason took in adding a skull, a winged hour-glass, crossbones, and the gravediggers tools (spade and shovel) onto this stone.

This stone was unusual in that it offers up not one but two skulls, as well as a winged angel spreading it's large wings protectively over them. The gravestone is just about still readable as far as the first few lines are concerned. It starts: "Here lyes Alexander Stevens, who lived ............hill and died in Feb'y 1712 (or 14), aged 25? It becomes murky after that but Robert Stevens (his brother or son?) was also buried there. Hence, no doubt, the 2 skulls.

Apart from the wonderful old stones, this old ironwork also grabbed my attention. It would for a start make for a wonderful quilt pattern. It was part of a railing erected around a grave monument (Victorian) for a minister's wife, who apparently was possessed of all the good virtues a dutiful wife should have! The description made me feel totally inadequate.

A last look at the graveyard from outwith it's moss covered old wall. It might look very sunny, but it was perishingly cold and once I got home again it started to snow. My hands were frozen to the bone and I could certainl sympathize with Robert Burns, who visited this church in 1789 and said of it: "as cauld a wind ever blew, a cauld kirk and in't but few, as cauld a minister e'er spak, ye's a be het e'er I come bak" , and he was inside the building, while I shivered outside. But it was worth getting frozen for. I'll show you more pictures of the fascinating stones I discovered in the near future.

3. Doodle Journal Quilt

2012-01-17T16:09:00.008Z

Week 3 of my 52 Journals project has started and here is the Journal Quilt I made for this week. It's also the first journal quilt I have produced for the Sketchbook Challenge in 2012. I made one for the theme set on this site every month last year and made them 10" square and that's the reason these ones, although fitting within my 52 Journals project, will stay that size so that all the JQs I make for the Sketchbook Challenge will be sized 10" square should I ever want to exhibit them together. I was so pleased to find the Challenge was continuing this year and even more delighted to find that our first theme was Doodling! Thank you, synchronicity!!! I had predicted back in November on a previous post that my decorated hand, produced as part of the Artist's Way class would eventually find it's way onto a quilt and I laughed out loud when I read the new theme. I guess there was no better moment to do so than now.

I started with a piece of calico (muslin in US) which was spray painted with acrylic paints and then dribbled on with acrylic inks. This was layered up with wadding (batting) and a backing fabric and I then used my favourite free-machining doodling quilting stitch on top. The hand was printed out onto canvas and the original doodling was hand-stitched with matching threads, embellishments were sown onto the centre where the heart stamp had been originally (see below). That produced a quite raised surface as you can see above.

The text: the only way is up, just jumped up in my mind as I was stitching so that was added as shown, together with the 3 metal arrows at the top right of the JQ. The whole piece came together like a dream and the Doodling theme suited me down to the ground.

You can read all about the hand that inspired this journal quilt on a previous post and underneath is the original hand as it was printed onto paper and decorated with doodling as well as a heart stamp and decorative sparkly embellishments. I took this image and scanned it into the computer and then used the My Craft Studio program to play with the colours, finally ending up with the image below, which was then printed out for the JQ.

I also enlarged it to fit better within the 10" square size of the Journal Quilt I wanted to make.

Remember if you want to see all the Journal Quilts (52 of them), I'm making this year, just click on the 52 Journals label underneath.

More about Culter Graveyard

2012-01-15T17:08:00.013Z

As promised more picture of the Culter Graveyard. As you can see in the background of the above picture the church itself is lovely and has several mausoleums attached to it. These two adjoining table stone graves really grabbed my attention as both were elaborately decorated. One had a shell layng on the top which for some reason unnerved me a bit.

This side decoration on one of them is a bit of a mystery too. There is a ring as well as a hand and there was more, now no longer visible. Is this the hand of God and is the circle a symbol of eternity? Both are possible explanations but whether it's the definitive one I'm far from sure.

Here are the same two table stones taken facing in the opposite direction. The grave furthest away is the normal shape of a table grave. The short ends are closed and decorated while the long sides are open. The stone nearer to us is much more unusual, being completely closed and decorated on all sides. Neither of them is legible. All the text on such graves is on the top and thus very much exposed to wind and weather.

This is an overview of one of the table graves, with quite unusual pillars and the long sides are both decorated, as opposed to the usual tablestones which are only carved at the short sides.

Here is the flying angel seen on the side and on the picture above in detail. It's holding something in it's hand but what exactly is now no longer discernable.

And then there is this detail on the side, of hand shaking and the latin word Fraternitas underneath. The word itself translates as Brotherhood but there have been many of those during the ages, all of them religious. I really wish I could find out more about the meaning of all these signs and symbols but most of the ones on this table gravestone remain a mystery to me. I simply admire them and capture them in a picture both for myself and to show them here. Some of them will no doubt pop up in my art too.

Finally two gateways, neither of them the main gate I used to enter the graveyard. Instead they both lead in different directions and were erected by two different lairds for their own private use to get to the church. Each gate is decorated by an ornate archway with the relevant laird's arms carved on it.

This one took my fancy specially, with an inspirational circular design. When I go again, in better weather, I plan to go through and see where the path takes me.

Culter Graveyard

2012-01-14T16:41:00.010Z

It was time for an Artist Date this week and despite a cold I took the car and went for a drive, just aimlessly driving and at every turning taking the direction that instinct dictated (mine, not the car's!). Along the A701 on my way down South and my thoughts told me that I wanted to find Kilbucho Graveyard. I found the one-track road along which I know it must be but there was absolutely no visual sign of it to be seen and a visit to that particular graveyard will have to wait till I get the Ordnance Survey co-ordinates and take John with me. I have the feeling it will entail expeditions through fields to get there.

But my instincts weren't wrong in leading me down that particular lane as towards the other end I did hit a graveyard. This is Culter (also spelled Coulter) graveyard in Lanarkshire and it proved very rewarding. There is a modern graveyard to the side of the old one and the church is still in service (9.30 every Sunday). But of course it were the old stones that captivated me.

I know it was probably not the most sensible thing to do for someone who's still suffering from a cold but I kneeled down on the wet and icy ground in order to photograph this stone. It's leaning over at an angle and I wanted to make sure I got it in all its magnificence and splendour. It became my blip for today, of course. What a stone. This can only be the Winged Soul, but what can be seen behind it? Flames were my first thought but a crown of thorns is also a possibility. And the wings seem to continue under the chin in the form of leaf-life shapes. And there are also flower/leaf decorations to either side, probably continueing all the way down the side of the stone, but sadly part of it is now underground. Is this winged soul burning in hell? Sadly we will probably never know. It's interesting to think that we may be way more educated than people in the past, but they would have known immediately what this stone signifies, despite being mostly both illiterate and uneducated. But they were very well versed in christian symbolism.

Here is a close-up detail of the face. The carving is exquisite and every detail can still be seen despite the fact that I think this gravestone must date back to the early part of the 18th Century. Sadly the text on the other side of the stone was far less deeply engraved and can now no longer be read.

As you can see Cutler graveyard is set yet again (as most every graveyard I've been to) beautifully into the surrounding landscape and the graveyard itself is full of ancient stones leaning this way and that. A very stereotypical old graveyard, just as I like them best. By the way, it's truely amazing just how often of late graveyards have been popping up on the television as well as in books I'm reading. A great example of synchronicity, althought it's also true to say that I'm simply noticing them more and more as my interest in them has grown. One of these days I have promised myself a nocturnal visit to one of them (probably accompanied by John, just in case! And it's not the dead I'm afraid of, but the living).

There was more fascinating imagery. I found this little person, just before her stone sinks into the ground, never to be seen again. As this is all I have there is no saying what she (I really think it can only be a she!) represents. It seems a very worldly image for a gravestone but sowers and reapers (which can frequently be found on gravestones) as well as angels are mostly representated naked although not often so very distinctively female.

Finally another amazing skull I found on the side of a tablestone. It looks both ancient and unnervingly modern. I really wish I could find out more about this beautiful graveyard and the grave monuments contained therein, but so far my internet searches haven't revealed a lot and my books about Scottish graveyards have proved to be equally uninformative. But I do have more pictures to share which will come in the shape of another post in the next few days.

2012 Sketchbook Project Cover

2012-01-13T16:35:00.006Z

My 2012 sketchbook is now on it's way back to the Brooklyn Art Library where in due course it will be available to borrow and it will also go on tour to various venues in the US as well as a venue down in London, date yet to be determined. The London venue will feature all the sketchbooks produced by British artists. I'll let you know once the date has been set but am far from sure if I'll be able to make it there myself. It's still quite a way to go from the Scottish Borders.

This is the sketchbook as it looked when I had finished both front and back covers as well as all the pages in the book. My theme was monochromatic, and every spread within the sketchbook is dedicated to one colour with all its tints, shades and hues, but for the cover I made the choice to incorporate as many colours as I could manage using watercolour pencils. If you want to look at all the spreads again, simply click on the Sketchbook project label at the bottom of this post.

Finally this is the backcover of the sketchbook with the barcode left free as per the requirements of the project. Every time my sketchbook will be borrowed during the tour the barcode will be scanned and I'll receive an e-mail to tell me the book has been seen by someone. Once it has arrived at the Brooklyn Art Library it will also be digitally scanned and you will be able to see it online here, where you can already view the work I did for the A Million Little Pictures project as well as the 2011 Sketchbook Project.

I have already made a start on the latest project which is the Limited Edition Sketchbook, which will only be open to 5000 participants and one piece of art from every artist involved will eventually find it's way into a published book. More about what I'm doing in that sketchbook (my theme is Threads and Surface) in the near future.

Manor Graveyard

2012-01-11T16:14:00.008Z

Despite the grey day and overcast skies, there was still a spring in my step when I entered Manor graveyard near Peebles. It is by no means the most beautifully located of the graveyards I've visited so far and the church is relatively new (and still in service) but there was still a lot to see and admire here. The graveyard is located on a road which eventually becomes a dead end. I have promised myself a return visit in better weather conditions to follow the road up into the hills, where I'm guessing the views will be fabulous.

This is the gravestone for which Manor Graveyard is mainly known. It's very politically incorrect, as it's dedicated to David Ritchie, more commonly known as the Black Dwarf, who died in 1811, although this monument wasn't erected till 1845. He was the inspiration for the book by the same name, written by Sir Walter Scott, and has an entire website dedicated to himself which you can find here. And he's also on Facebook (I mean to say!) and in Wikipedia.

He wanted to be buried in a peaceful place but sadly there is a busy goods yards next to the graveyard with a lot of very noisy earth moving equipment in operation. Definitely not something that contributes to peace and quiet. You can see a bit of the buildings behind the gravestone, just over the wall, as I couldn't screen it out completely out of the picture.

This was my favourite image for the day (and thus also became my blip). I found it on the side of a tablestone grave belonging to James Fotheringham, tenant, in Boghouse, with some of his sons and daughters as well as his wife Agnes Salton. It dates back to 1763. What a skull, it looks truely menacing, and the bone is incredibly substantial. The table stone was raised on very bulbous little pillars, six of them in total. On the other side I also found a winged hourglass.

The Angels of the Resurrection, blowing on their horns to announce this happy event, are a rare find on gravestones. So far I've only come across them a few times before so I was really lovely to see this stone, which also features a skull at the bottom

This is another deeply engraved skull image plus bone. I have the feeling the Memento Mori inscription was a later addition, probably in Victorian times, as they were particularly keen on this reminder that we are all going to die.

Finally this splendid monument in a railed enclosure was erected by William Alexander Forrester of Barns in honour of his parents in 1843. He was later buried there himself too. The words read: Blow hunter thy horn.

2. Hinge Journal Quilt

2012-01-10T16:07:00.005Z

Week 2 of 2012 and time to upload my second Journal Quilt I've made as part of the 52 Journals project, in which I aim to make one Journal Quilt every week this year. You will be able to eventually see all of them by simply clicking on the 52 Journals label displayed at the bottom of each post dedicated to them. In time, when I have made a few more I will also introduce a slide show in the sidebar for you to enjoy.

This second one was inspired by a photograph of a most impressive hinge I found on the door of Kirkurd Church where I was last year as part of my local graveyard visits.

As you can see I took the artistic liberty of turning the hinge around and also added colour as I wished. The background of the JQ is a hand-painted fabric which was free machine quilted and yarns were then couched down vertically, also by machine, one of which had gold thread incorporated. I printed out onto silk a hand-painted paper I made this summer, scanned in and digitally enhanced. The hinge of the photo was used as a template to cut out the exact shape which was then fused to the background and hand stitched down. I added decorative embellishments where the nuts are on the original hinge.

The vintage text reads: "All unapproachable, yet easy of access", which seemed very appropriate for this door inspired piece.

The binding is another hand-dyed fabric which sort of picks up on the colours and the final touch was beading the size 11 seed beads around the binding.

Black Spirits and White Spread

2012-01-08T16:55:00.003Z

The very last spread in my 2012 Sketchbook Project as you can see by the brown page on the right that is part of the cover of the Moleskine Journal we were send originally. And to round off the sketchbook I decided to dedicate this spread to black and white as per the opening spread. And like that one I used a stamp as well as images torn from a magazine. This was the very last spread I did and it was achieved during December of last year so some Christmas spirit also found its way onto the pages, which was reflected in the images as well as the title. You will be familiar by now with the watercoloured squares!

Gold And Tangerine ATCs

2012-01-07T12:11:00.000Z

It seems a bit strange to upload this picture of the 4 Gold and Tangerine Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) made for the Colour Groupies but despite mailing them at the beginning of December some of them have only just landed at their various destinations.

Sadly this is the last lot of cards I have made for the group as we are all very busy artists and after 4 years of swapping cards based on a combination of 2 different colours we have decided to finish on a high and pursue our separate paths although needless to say Caryl, Debby, Lenna, Tristan and I will remain firm friends. I will treasure the special album I have for all the cards I ever received from them all and will no doubt glance at all the beauty contained therein regularly. And I'm not saying there won't be ATCs winging their way in their direction in the future!

All the images I've used for the above cards are from Alpha Stamps! And you will recognise this card posted earlier which was the one I kept for myself.

Due to my 52 Journals project I have also decided to discontinue my membership of the Marie Antoinette Swap site so as you can see I'm really clearing the decks. Out with the old and in with the new!!

Back to Old Cockpen Graveyard

2012-01-05T16:30:00.006Z

I went back to Old Cockpen Graveyard (now that I know where it is!) on the way home simply to obtain the blip for today. It was a very cold but at least sunny and bright day and the graveyard looked a lot more cheerful than during our previous visit. It's the most atmospheric of the old graveyards I've been too. And although it only has a few gravestones they are all very beautiful. The old church ruins too add to the peaceful scene. This is one of those places that make you feel calm and restful as soon as you enter the rusty and creaking gate. The graveyard has been restored using a grant from the European Community. It's good to know that not all the money given to that organization is completely wasted!

As you could see at the top and also on my earlier post about this graveyard, the church is almost completely in ruins, although no less beautiful for that. But you can clearly see where separate areas used to be. This is a side aisle with a very impressive tablestone grave.

This is my blip for today and is a detail of the table gravestone seen above. There is text on the stone but that is now virtually unreadable but according to Islay Donaldson's book Midlothian Gravestones it dates from sometime in the 18th Century and my own guess is that it is early 18th rather than later. By his attire (specially around his neck)you can tell that he is a clergyman and that is confirmed by the position of this table grave in what was once a aisle of the church. Not a place for the common man! He also has a Bible in his hand. I love his deeply impressive wig and the gigantic buttons on his outfit. On the whole he looks suitably grave and sober as befits one of his profession, a Scottish Presbyterian minister. Not exactly a bundle of laughs.

These Yellow Sands Spread

2012-01-04T16:41:00.006Z

At least there was slightly less wind today after yesterday's more than 100 miles per hour storm force gusts but it was still a thoroughly miserable, dark, and wild day in which I just could not bring myself to go and investigate the damage done to the ancient beech trees in our neighbouring field. So depressing to see these beautiful trees (some of which can be seen in the banner at the top of this blog) brought down and although I will go and see the full extent of the devastation in the coming days, today was already dismal enough. I didn't want to add to the misery.

So instead I choose a sunny picture to brighten the mood. One of the last spreads done in my 2012 Sketchbook Project which has the theme monochromatic. That project is now closed but a new one has started The Limited Edition Sketchbook Project for which I have signed up, received my sketchbook and have started work. But that's for future posts. This one has to be mailed off by the end of this month and I have completely finished all the spreads so as soon as I have shown them here the sketchbook will be returned to the Brooklyn Art Library.

All the photos featured are my own, and I've also added rubber stamping as well as the watercoloured squares which I've used for all the spreads in this particular sketchbook. The text on the left-hand page reads: Come unto these yellow sands, and believe me, I would if only I could! But around here there is only mud on offer at the moment!

New Beginnings

2012-01-02T16:13:00.005Z

I try never to make New Year's resolutions. It's a sure way to set yourself up to fail. But that doesn't mean I haven't got plans for 2012 and for the first time ever I'm starting a quilting related project. I'm aiming to make one Journal Quilt every week. I have no idea if this is feasible but I guess there is only one way to find out and that's to give it a go.

I'm going to call this project 52 Journals and will make sure every post of this blog related to the project will be given this label so if you want to see all the posts all you have to do is to click on that label. It's not a very catchy title and I have been thinking about what to call it over the past few weeks, but this is the best I've come up with. At least it says clearly what it's all about.

Some weeks I might be super-productive and make two, which will make up for those weeks when life gets in the way! Do play along if you're interested and let me know you're doing so in a blog comment!

Size wise you'll probably see a lot of A4 sized journals (for those of you in the US this is slightely narrower than 8.5" and slightly longer than 11") like this first one but I'm incorporating making one set on the theme set by the Sketchbook Challenge site every month which I will keep to the 10 x 10" size I used for them last year, simply because this makes the collection of all of them together more coherent when it comes to exhibiting them in the future. And you'll see both vertical and horizontal orientated journals although more than likely more vertical ones as that is definitely what I'm more comfortable with.

Here is no. 1 called Reflections. It's based on the photograph (seen at the top of this blog)I took some time ago of the ceiling in our living room and the reflections of the plant which sits on the floor. I took some artistic licence as the reflection filled the space better if it was reversed. The background is hand painted fabric (which I did a lot of this summer) as are the fabrics used for the reflection. I echo quilted the background as shown, using a variegated thread. I added vintage papers to the leaves and also handstitching.

Three of my favourite French postage stamps featuring a sower (it seemed a great symbol for this my very first JQ in the 52 Journals project) were stitched on as was the text, from a very vintage and extraordinary book about Proverbs. It reads: "the thoughts that are bred in loneliness".

Finally I beaded around the edges of the binding (another hand-painted fabric) with size 11 seed beads. That has sort of become my trademark for all the Journal Quilts I've made over the years and you'll probably start to recognize it over the 52 weeks that make up this year.
The one week, one journal quilt is going to be the one and only rule here. I'm not setting a theme, a size or anything else. It's completely open. I just hope to end up with 52 journals at the end of this year, and you will be able to see whether I succeed or fail here, on this blog! Wish me luck.

Wishing you a creative 2012

2012-01-01T16:16:00.003Z

A New Year has begun and a new window has opened. I wonder how the days ahead are going to be filled and what I will have done by the time 2012 draws to a close. More about my plans for this year in the days to come!

Today was used to pay another visit to Penicuik House. Despite the fact that it has been almost a year since our last visit, the house is still wreathed in scaffolding and a gigantic crane remains in residence. It looked exactly like it did the last time minus the blue sky that was visible then.

We had hoped for an invigorating walk with the dogs but everyone else in the wide environments of Penicuik had the same idea and it was really busy with people and a wild crowd of dogs. It was also perishingly cold! Oh well, we made a start on another year of dog walking, had some exercise and I picked up the blip for today, in the shape of the above photograph.

Winged Hourglasses

2011-12-31T16:33:00.008Z

I knew exactly what I wanted to photograph for this very last day of 2011. Few things can be as suitable for showing the passage of time as winged hourglasses and I knew I would find many in Penicuik graveyard. The hourglass is a sign of fleeting time and a symbol of (wo)man's mortality.So Penicuik Graveyard is where I spend my Artist's Date today, hunting them out. The above one was a beautifully synchronistic find for the day. What could be a better wish for the year to come than to Carpe Diem (or pluck the day). I sometimes have real difficulty dealing with the sheer spookiness of these coincidences. I had seen the hourglass before on previous visits but had never realized that there was text underneath.

This is the back of the gravestone with the skeleton that I showed you in an earlier post (it also was my 365th blip). This hourglass has lavish wings, clearly the mason was a very talented individual. It dates back to 1709.

A beautiful winged hourglass that fills the top of the gravestone completely. There is text above which says: Fugit Hora (or very loosely translated: the hours are flying past). In other words, beware of the fact that your time is running out fast.

Quite a dainty hourglass with the usual Memento Mori underneath. It's hard to read the text above but I think it again says: Fugit Hora

And lastly a very simply hourglass with quite modest wings. But how it looks does not really matter as far as the symbolism is concerned. All of them remind us that our time on this earth is limited and the end might come at any time. The sand is slowly falling down till it will all gone.

A whole year has passed once again and who knows what 2012 will bring. I wish all the readers of this blog all the best for next year and make the most of it, every single day. Just in case!

Time Flies

2011-12-29T16:09:00.006Z

And there are days when I feel the wings of time more than on others. Today is such a day as it is the day now exactly 32 years ago that I first came to the U.K. Some years have gone very slowly and you wish them gone but other years such as this last one fly by so fast that you want to say: "Hang on a minute, can we rewind and do that again".

This is a spread done in my 2012 Sketchbook Project and as the title is so appropriate for this particular day I saved uploading it till today. The above picture is a scan but I also photographed this page for today's blip. The 2012 project is now closed for sign-ups but a new Sketchbook Project has already started, the Limited Edition, open to only 5000 artists. You can find out all the necessary information here and I made a start on this new sketchbook today. My theme for the 2012 one was monochromatic and every spread in the sketchbook is dedicated to a different colour.

The tree, as well as being brown, is also a great symbol for the passing of time with its rings. It is a photo I took in the Dawyck Botanical Garden back in autumn and on the right hand side of the page are the watercoloured squares you're probably familiar with at this stage.

Sometimes I spend a lot of time reminiscing on this day, more than on New Year's Eve or my birthday. Maybe because in many ways it was the start of my life as I now know and love it. I can remember some events on the day so well, such as how windy it was on the ferry. In fact, the weather was a lot like it is today here in Scotland. I also remember getting lost on the North Circular in London on our way to Slough. Some friends drove me across (sadly I no longer remember their names) and my first sight of London was at night. I was only planning to be here for 6 months or a year at the most, but life had other ideas! And I have no complaints about that nor any regrets!

Tibetan Bangle Bracelet

2011-12-28T16:15:00.006Z

Despite all the festivities I did manage to finish my latest jewellery project. It's amazing how much you can get done in just half an hour of beading every day. For once, I made this Tibetan Bangle bracelet from a kit produced by someone other than Laura McCabe (although I remain a committed groupie!). This bracelet is designed by Cynthia Rutledge and I had been putting off starting it as the many pages of instructions held me back. But the end result beckoned and so I began. And once I did I discovered that although there were indeed a lot of instructions they were very clear and by simply following them each step of the way the bracelet came together beautifully. It's picture on the arm of my mannequin above

and here laying flat in warmer light which gives a better idea of the true colours. Now I just have to find a suitable occasion to wear it as it's much too cumbersome to stitch with. In fact I hardly wear anything around my arms or around my nect when I'm working, it's simply too much hassle. But when I'm out and about I do try and remember to display some of these wonderful pieces of jewellery.

Old Cockpen Graveyard

2011-12-27T16:12:00.009Z

Today I finally managed to locate Old Cockpen Graveyard after 3 previous, failed attempts. I had to bring John along so that he could drive while I used the Ordnance Survey coordinates in combination with a map to guide us along. Even then we almost missed it. But I'm so pleased we persevered. It proved to be a very atmospheric place with a now almost completely ruined church which was first used in 1242. It was probably build on a site used previously for human settlement so it is truely ancient and who knows what human history is contained here. The church was in use till the early 19th Century. It contains (and this shows signs of recent building work) the Earl of Dalhousie's burial aisle, which is now bricked off and inaccessible. As Dalhousie Castle (now a hotel) is nearby, this is easily explained.

Above the remains of what must have been a lovely round window in the East wall (perhaps a rose window?) and in it's day this must have been a lovely church building. Even in it's ruined state it has great beauty.

The above gravestone (also my blip for today) dates to 1699 (and by the way this information comes from Isla Donaldson's book Midlothian Gravestones, published in 1994 and still available from Midlothian Library Service), and has a very worn winged soul at the top, surrounded by fronds and very thick scroll work. It has the initials WC and MB which no doubt refer to the husband and spouse buried there. As you can see dead leaves, lichen and moss are fast gaining the upper hand over this gravestone.

This is another neigbouring stone (dating back to 1790) with a lovely winged soul at the top spreading out its extravagant wings. The stone is further decorated with twisted swags and acanthus leaves all the way down each side.

Here is a skull that I only discovered by looking down. It's on the bottom end of a now fallen stone which is gradually being swallowed up by moss and leaves. Next to it you can just discern an hourglass.

I'll definitely be returning to this graveyard, as I have left out a very interesting tablestone grave which I shall regale you with at some time in the future. The light was not that great for photography so I decided to save that. I did want to share the above stone though. The set squares clearly indicate it belongs to a wright, named Robert Rough although there is no date to be seen on this stone anymore.

My Christmas present

2011-12-26T14:31:00.004Z

Can you ever have too many cameras? No, not in my opinion. And I was completely over the moon to discover that John had bought me the new digital Polaroid camera (Z340), which not only has the capacity to instantly print out 3 x 4" pictures of whatever you shoot but can also save these images digitally so that you can import them into your computer and do whatever you want to them. That means I can use them as my blip, as I did with the above picture, a very close-up macro shot (yes, the Polaroid has a great zoom facility) of a Saintpaulia plant. But I have also printed it out so that I can start using it immediately in my art journalling. Oh the joy of it! So now I have my compact Lumix, my Canon DSLR and the digital Polaroid. Only thing that remains on the wishlist is a rugsack to carry them all around with me.

And I almost forgot, I also received a bendable tripoid to with the Polaroid! You can bend it around tree branches, fences and the like. I just need to think how I can attach it to gravestones.

Happy Christmas

2011-12-24T16:19:00.003Z

Have a very peaceful time and May all your wishes be fulfilled!

Tweedmuir Graveyard

2011-12-22T16:48:00.012Z

Time for my Artist's Date this week! The snow has melted and the Scottish Borders are mainly brown and grey striped with green rather than gloriously white. I went to the most southerly graveyard in Peeblesshire and was lucky enough to be able to ask for directions from a Mobile Library van as I very much doubt I would have found it without that assistance. Tweedsmuir Graveyard is tucked away at the end of a dead-end road. It's right by the river Tweed which is probably why the church is high up on a hill so as to avoid flooding.

Most of the oldest stones are near the church and the graves then are positioned on the slope down to the river with the modern ones at the very bottom. The graveyard is still in use as is the church. I've never come across a graveyard so overcome with moss and lichen. Most stones are completely unreadable due to the growth covering them.

But by crouching on the ground and having a close-up look I did find some treasure such as the side of the above table grave adorned with a very strange skull, crossbones and hourglass.

A very strange winged soul which seems to be smirking out at the world with underneath an impressive set of wings

and a much more cheerful one, smiling out. She's probably very pleased with her hairdo! A real one off.

The biggest claim to fame for this graveyard is this grave of a Covenanter. If you want to know about the Covenanters have a read here. It's one of the many religious conflicts in Scottish history (and one of the bloodiest!) and was also part of the wars between England and Scotland, Another case of many lives lost in the name of religion and a very far from uplifting tale.

The inscription reads: J H 1660-1685. Here lyes IOHN Hunter martyr who was cruely murdered at Core Head by Col. Iames Douglas & his party for his adherance to the word of God & Scotlands covenanted work of reformation 1685, erected in the year 1726. Later on the following was added in 1910,on the other side of the stone facing us above which says: John Hunter , a Tweedsmuir lad, was accidentaly visiting a sick friend at Corehead when timely in the morning he was surprised with Douglas and his Dragoons. He fled to the hill a great way, but one named Scott, being well horsed, compassed him and came before him. he was most barbarouslie shot through the body, felled on the head with the neck of a gun, and casten headlong over a high steep craig.

On the other side of the originally gravestone you can see the above inscription. It is very hard to read due not only to the lichen but also to the use of strange (Scottish?) spelling and words. It's reputed to be by the mason Robert Paterson of "Old Mortality" fame.

Here's what I make of it :

When Zion's King was robbed

of his right, his witnesses in Scotland

joined to flight

when Papist Prelates

and indulgency

combin'd gainst Christ

to ruin presbytery

all who would not unto

the Prelate bow,

They sought them out &

whom they found they slew

for owning of Christ's cause

I here do lie

My blood for vengeance

on his enemies doth cry

Perfect Pinks

2011-12-21T13:02:00.000Z

I'm not as pleased with all my pages as I am with some of them. Only natural, I suppose, as I love some colours a lot more than others. And although I was never a very pink sort of girl, I have to admit to becoming converted to the perfection of pink.

This spread is for the 2012 Sketchbook Project, now closed, and as you'll probably have gathered by now my theme is Monochromatic, but using a different colour to be monochromatic with on every spread. On the right my usual (for this sketchbook) arrangement of the watercoloured squares and for the rest I've used my own photographs taken this summer in a variety of sizes as well as some of my flower stamps, coloured in with my ever-increasing collection of markers. The text on the left-hand page reads: I am the very pink of courtesy and on the right the text refers to the pink of perfection. I used individual stamps for the letters and coloured them in with a sparkly marker (sadly the effect is mostly lost on the scan!). This page brings back memories of the summer, during these dark, cold and icy winter days.

Presbyterian true blue

2011-12-19T13:13:00.000Z

Another blue spread in my monochromatic themed 2012 Sketchbook. This particular project is now closed for sign-ups but there is a new Limited Edition sketchbook project. You can read all about it and sign up here.

On the right hand side of this spread the by now familiar watercoloured squares used on all my spreads in this sketchbook, adorned with paint sample card and a photograph I took way back in the early spring of this year of a lonely ship out at sea.

And on the left a painted page I did earlier cut up into strips and re-arranged on the page. It's a shame that the scans don't permit you to see just how much sparkle there is on these pages. I really went to town with that. I guess you will just have to try and catch one of the venues these sketchbooks will travel to next year, which will include London (for those books originating in the U.K. like mine)

Old Pentland Cemetary

2011-12-17T15:29:00.015Z

It was very strange to leave the winter whiteness of Macbiehill today to venture forth to Edinburgh. All would have been well had I not met the snowplough in our already very narrow one-track lane but the snow shovelled the previous day made it even narrower. There was nothing for it but for me to reverse, around several bends , till I could manoeuvre the car into a farm entrance. This made me regret we only have winter tyres on our front wheels. But heyho, I did it (no choice!) and was given the thumbs up for my reversing by the driver. Not something I want to repeat anytime soon though. And then you drive to Edinburgh and discover there is no sign of snow whatsoever, nothing!! After the Christmas party of the Thistle Quilters I gave myself another treat and made a small diversion to visit Old Pentland Cemetary. This too hadn't suffered any snowfall and was in prime condition for such an old graveyard. It appears to be in the hands of a conservation society.

There used to be a church here dating back to the 13th Century, now long gone as the church fell into disrepair and then vanished alltogether when Rosslyn Chapel was built nearby. There are some very ancient stones here, as well as a watchhouse where the family of the diseased watched over the remains to stop the so-called body snatchers digging the bodies up again and taking them to Edinburgh to sell to the medical students. A gruesome affair which was wide-spread in the 18th Century. In fact a sign in the graveyard (sponsored by IKEA!) told me that a child was actually stolen from this very cemetary. To stop such things from happening again the family kept watch till the corpse was no longer fresh enough to be used for dissections.

The above stone is a real beauty and at the top there is a quite unusual feature for gravestones, a green man. The gravestone dates from 1762 and is also adorned with the letters TSIH (perhaps initials of the buried?), a skull and crossbones and an hour-glass laying on it's side as well as a spade and shovel (tools of the gravedigger). It's worth remembering that Rosslyn Chapel is nearby and there is a true wealth of Green Men sculptures there so perhaps one of the masons who worked on the chapel, also produced this stone. This was my blip for today.

Above one of the oldest gravestones I've come across, dating back to 1624. The text is disappearing fast but from the top I could just see: Here lys Robert Umpherston, tenant in Pentland who died March 2nd, 1624, aged ???

A very elaborate gravestone (you might have glimpsed it already on the previous picture. It's carving is delicious, a wealth of flowers, a flower basket, leaves and buds as well as S-scrolls. Such fine work I have never seen before. The gravestone dates back to 1765 and belongs to George Brown, farmer at Westerbalprow, who died in that year, his son John, a wright, who died in 1736 and his son Charles a druggist (now there's a word long disappeared from use) who died in 1767. There is also a verse and it reads:

This Modest stone (some fine false modesty there)

What few gay marbles can

may truly say

here lye three honest men

Such a shame to discover a beautiful stone which has fallen over and fallen to bits. Does the snake symbol on either side mean this grave belonged to a doctor, or is it simply a symbol for the snake that caused men to leave paradise? I have no idea but on the edge you can just discern the word virtue. This gravestone dates from 1750.

Just before you go out you come past this beautifully engraved gravestone from where you
view the rest of the graveyard as well as in the far distance the Pentland hills. It was erected by James Barrowman smith Rad Combes to the memory of Isabell Fowler, his spouse, who died Dec. 15th 1788, aged 43 years. Also Margaret Carens, his second spouse, who died March 18th, 1806, aged 47 years. Also four of his children who died young. Also two of his grandchildren... and after that it becomes almost impossible to read anymore.

A concise family history to remember after I left the graveyard (I will return!) and went back to the snowy hills of Macbiehill. Coming back proved a lot less problematic than going out.

Winter Wonderland

2011-12-16T16:27:00.007Z

After yesterday's sunny day it came as a complete shock (no weather warnings had been issued!) to open the curtains this morning and be greeted by around 6 or 7 inches of snow! Secretly I was so pleased! Grabbed the camera and took off along the lane immediately. I worried a bit about the fact that many of the pictures I was about to take would be the same as last year but then thought about the book I'm reading (The Practice of Contemplative Photography, as recommended by a fellow blipper) and remembered that each moment is unique. It has never been before and never will again. That makes each photograph unique in just the same way. Above is my favourite of the day (also my blip), the enormous beech tree in the adjoining field.

I also loved photographing upwards although I was quite careful as this is how I lost my previous camera now almost exactly a year ago. Some snow fell down when I did this last year, hit the camera, which slipped from my grasp and landed in the snow. The damp must have penetrated it and it gave up the ghost. Snow was coming down this year too but I managed to find a position to shoot from but where I was outwith the reach of falling snow.

This tree in the field opposite is leaning over at an almost impossible angle but somehow it's clinging on still and provided me with a good picture and unlike any I took last year as at that time it was still standing proudly upright.

Above a picture of the fence that shows just how much snow came down overnight. It looks likely that I will have to miss tomorrow Christmas Party with the Thistle Quilters so that's a bit disappointing specially as last year's one was cancelled due to the snow then but I must be honest and admit that I'm over the moon to see so much of the white stuff again and with a bit of luck we will once again have a White Christmas! That's party enough as far as I'm concerned.

Think Red

2011-12-16T13:49:00.001Z

Another spread for the 2012 Sketchbook Project and these red pages are very simple. I used pieces of sample paint colour strips and on the right hand side the usual watercolour squares. I love reading the names of the various paint colours. Do they hire people in, specially to devise them? Scooter Red, English Fire, Fireside, Flame red, they could almost be part of a poem.

On the left hand side I added a cotton fabric printed with one of the many photographs I took over the summer of my roses. The right hand page was covered with a transparency of the word red in a wide variety of languages (from Altered Pages).

A walk around West Linton

2011-12-15T17:08:00.010Z

We were informed by Scottish Power that yet again the maintenance work on our electricity pylons would be postponed due to "bad weather". No idea where they got that idea from, it was in fact one of the best days we've had in a long while. I had arranged to meet a friend to have lunch together and then go for a walk and the conditions were ideal for that plan, as you can see on the picture above (also my blip for today).

We met up in the Old Tollhouse teashop in West Linton village.

After we had enjoyed a warming bowl of soup we set out across the stream and up to the hills across the main road. The sun was shining, we enjoyed each other's company and chatted when we weren't out of breath with the climbing. It was less muddy than I had expected (the forest is a real quackmire at the moment!) and the views were amazing.

As you can see there is a definite dusting of snow on the higher hills and when I came home I was quite surprised to discover that the lovely sunshine we had been enjoying hadn't reached Macbiehill at all. So I was even more pleased we had chosen today to meet up and go for a walk. Officially this wasn't an Artist Date (as you're meant to be alone for them) but it certainly felt like one.

In the morning it is green

2011-12-14T16:26:00.004Z

I have finished all pages in my sketchbook now so you will be seeing a lot of the remaining pages that are now done, in quick succession over the coming days. The sign-up for the 2012 sketchbook project is now closed but if you are interested in doing another sketchbook project you can sign up for the Limited Edition. Only 5000 participants (as compared to the over 20.000 people who joined in the 2012 one) and a book will be published in which at least one page from every participant will be shown. In due course my pages will be digitilized for the 2012 sketchbook but you can see my previous sketchbook (2011) here.

Anyway without further ado another green page (to my surprise I discovered that I had dedicated 3 spreads to various greens. Never knew I was so into green, it's definitely not my favourite colour! There are the usual squares on the righthand side together with postage stamps and rubber stamping. On the left hand page is a piece of hand-painted paper as well as a photograph of another paper I painted during the summer.

The electricity maintenance that was cancelled last Thursday due to the storm is now due to take place tomorrow so that will mean a day without the leckie! Hopefully it will be back around 5pm but last time it didn't return till after 8 in the evening. So if I'm not here, you'll know why!

No Spirit can walk abroad

2011-12-13T17:38:00.007Z

Another spread in my 2012 Sketchbook (see the previous post for all the info about this project) are these monochromatic brown pages. On the right the watercoloured squares, and on the opposite page one of my photos. This is a previous blip of fungi in Dawyck Botanical Gardens taken earlier this autumn. I love the abstract quality of it although it wasn't to everyone taste!

I also included 2 postage stamps. I used these a lot in my 2012 Sketchbook and wanted to continue that thread in this sketchbook too. They are not on every single page but they are definitely present on most. It was the text: No spirit can walk abroad which inspired these pages. Mostly I find the text after I've finished the page but in this case it was the other way around.

I have it here in black and white

2011-12-12T17:40:00.005Z

I have already signed up (and received my sketchbook) for the latest project organized by the Brooklyn Art Library i.e. Sketchbook The Limited Edition. You can too! There is a maximum of 5000 participants for this one and a book will be published including at least one page from every participant. I have chosen the Threads and Surface theme (I'm sure you won't be surprised by that choice!)

But the arrival of the next sketchbook reminded me to get on with the previous one i.e the 2012 Sketchbook. I had already partly finished most of the spreads in this one but I like to let them sit for awhile to stew and then look at the pages again just in case I want to add more. But it's now time to make up my mind, call them finished and get on with shipping it back to New York. So you will be seeing quite a few of the spreads (all those I haven't yet shown you) here in short succession. Don't think I made them all at once, I'm just not that organized!

This is the first spread in the sketchbook and incorporated the back of the front cover on the left. The small text in the top right hand corner is also the title (of this post too!) and I used a variety of stamps (both rubber and postage). All my spreads have that arrangement of the coloured squares, made with watercolour pencils. My theme for this entire sketchbook is Monochromatic but that hasn't stopped me from using different monochromatic colour schemes on each page so that the sketchbook as a whole ended up looking very colourful.

Vive Memor Lethi and an anniversary

2011-12-11T12:55:00.002Z

Sometimes there is so much synchronicity in my life that I'm beginning to find it quite spooky. I was hoping for a good theme for the very last month of this year on the Sketchbook Challenge site but could hardly believe my eyes when they came up with: Trashed, Ruined and Decay. Despite it's grammatical shortcomings I knew in a flash of inspiration just exactly what I was going to do with it: mixing it up with my love of gravestones and graveyards!

I'm also combining this challenge with making my Journal Quilts this year for the Contemporary Quilt group and for them the Journal Quilts have to be 10" square and have to include buttons.

I grabbed my fabrics and produced an imaginary graveyard set in the open air. As it's December a snowy atmosphere also seemed appropriate. I added a selection of interesting gravestones photographed by me in various locations. From the top to the bottom and from left to right these are located in Newlands, Penicuik, Innerleithen and Temple, West Linton and West Linton. The photographs were printed onto cotton fabric sheets and machine appliqued to the background. The piece was handstitched extensively and the necessary buttons were added to some of the gravestones to correspond with the ornamention on them. I added ivy leaves (a mixture of felt and paper) to the edges as ivy is very often the plant that grows all over stones. To represent snow small glass balls were glued on (from Alpha Stamps).

The Journal Quilt came by it's title from the Penicuik gravestone (shown on an earlier post and also my 365th blip) i.e. Vive Memor Lethi. I've done a bit more research about this saying and here it is for those of you who are as fascinated by this kind of thing as I am!

Also transliterated as "leti", this phrase is attributed to 1st Century AD Roman poet Persius (Aulus Persius Flaccus) and is taken from Satires V 151-3:

indulge genio, carpamus dulcia ! nostrum est
quod vivis; cinis et manes et fabula fies.
vive memor leti ! fugit hora ; hoc quod loquor inde est

This, part of a speech by Luxury, may be translated as:
"Indulge your genius. Let us seize things that are sweet.
It's thanks to me that you're alive. You'll become ashes, a ghost, a fable. Live mindful of death. The hour is fleeing. Every word I speak is [stolen] from it."
The 'th' in lethi is the result of Romans attempting etymology, and getting it wrong! They had the Greek word Lethe, for a place in Greek mythology. .They spelt that with 'th' in an attempt to render the Greek word into Latin. Lethe was a river in the infernal regions, from which the Shades [deceased] drank and obtained forgetfulness of the past.The Latin word letum (whence leti), a poetic word meaning death, isn't related to Lethe, but , some Romans made a connection, thinking one derived from the other, so they spelt 'letum' and 'leti' 'lethum' and 'lethi'.

And finally, as they say, this is also my 5th anniversary of blogging. I started on this day, the 11th December 2006. How long ago this seems and yet contradictory the time has also flown. Had I know that I would still be wrestling with a dial-up connection I might have given up before I ever got going but here we are, still waiting for technology to catch up with the many rural locations here in Scotland. The fact that I persevered despite all that must mean that I simply love doing it.
For those of you with me from the start: THANK YOU!! And to those of you coming to me at a later date: THANK YOU! And if you're reading my blog for the very first time today: THANK YOU and WELCOME!!

The peace after the storm

2011-12-09T16:57:00.011Z

Yesterday was the wildest day we've had in quite some time. Fortunately the electricity company decided that doing maintenance work in 90M/hour winds was maybe not the brightest idea they'd ever had. So instead we kept our electricity, even during the worst of the weather although it flickered alarmingly from time to time. They will have to give us a week's notice for the work to start up again and at the moment are no doubt way too busy restoring power to the over 60.000 homes without it. We'll wait and see.

Peace and quiet have now returned (although very icy and ferociously cold) and I made my way to the library where talk was all about the weather. It's fun to hear that everyone of whatever nationality joins in with this oh so typical British pastime. On the way there you could see the signs of the storm all along the main roads in the shape of branches in the verges and several entirely uprooted trees.

After the library I went on my Artist Date for this week which was once again spend in Penicuik graveyard. The above detail is from a fallen and now partially covered ornament laying randomly in the grass. I was looking down in order not to stumble over all the rubble in the graveyard and suddenly saw a face peering back at me! It became my blip for today.

When I first came to Penicuik graveyard I thought this was one of the very few graveyards I've visited so far not located in a beautiful and scenic place. But I was wrong. It might now be surrounded by a traffic roundabout, encroached upon by a huge Lidl and facing a car park but when you peer over the wall at the other side of all that, you see what would once have been a lovely view over the valley of the North Esk river. But alas, that valley is now filled with housing estates and even the river itself can barely be discerned anymore. But my premise that the dead enjoyed the best views still holds.

Returning to the same graveyard on more than one occasion (and this definitely hasn't been my last visit!) offers an opportunity to have a much closer look at everything to see there. This skull is located on the side of a gravestone (in fact there is another skull, almost identical, on the other side). I do occasionally photograph the same stone over and over again which tells me that
something about it speaks to me and I keep trying to get good pictures of whatever it is for future reference and eventual inclusion into my art. A collage of skulls is definitely on the cards.

The riches in Penicuik graveyard are mainly to be found in the details as several of these picture show. This gravestone is well on it's way to disappearing completely into the ground but you can still just about see the top of the skull and the Memento Mori banner displayed about it's head. Who knows what riches are now lost to us?

And finally a picture that was my blip yesterday. This bird sought sanctuary in our garden during the height of the gale. He (or she) crouched down in the corner, out of the wind and looked thoroughly wet and sorry for itself. John alerted me to its presence and I sneeked as close as possible to the window in our living room to take this picture. John thought it was a sparrowhawk and who am I to question him (he's much better with bird names than I) but some of my fellow blippers put me right and told me it was a peregrine falcon. Much rarer than sparrowhawks and I was so excited to think I had managed to capture a picture of it even though it was through a window and during a ferocious rain storm.

There was once a crow

2011-12-07T14:08:00.005Z

I know that some people find this very strange but I was so excited when John asked if I was at all interested in having this skeleton of a crow! It was very sad to see this bird which must have met its end in our attic somehow, although probably many years ago, but there is such beauty in it's shape. I've photographed it, will sketch it and will go back and look at it again many times in the future and maybe it will also find it's way into a textile piece one of these days. It became my blip for today too!

John found this in our loft recently when he was installing more insulation around the watertank and pipes. The old part of the cottage dates back to the middle part of the 19th Century and the cottage lay empty and in ruins after the railway line going past outside was discontinued. A roof was put on again in the early 70s when a builder took on the place, built a large extension to the cottage and brought the cottage itself back up to scratch. So the bird probably dates back to around that time.

Finally a very close up detail of the face. This bird skeleton speaks to the same feelings I have regarding graveyards, gravestones and other signs of transience and decay. I have the skull of a sheep displayed in our courtyard but this one needs to dry out a bit further and is in the garage at the moment.

We will have to endure yet another day without electricity tomorrow when more poles are being replaced although with the forecast for high winds, storm force gales and more snow Scottish Power might come to the conclusion tomorrow is maybe not the best day for such work. In any case if I'm not available online that's the reason why!

News for you

2011-12-06T15:41:00.014Z

It's always a joy to welcome home one of my quilts after it has been on a grand tour and they don't come any grander than the travels this small journal quilt, called Have I got news for you!, has been on. It left home in September 2008 so it has been well over 3 years since I saw it last which also gives me a great opportunity to look at it with fresh eyes. And although it could definitely be improved upon and I would do certain things differently, I'm still really pleased with it. It was for an exhibition called Textile News and you can read all about it on the website of the German quilter Gudrun Heinz who organized it. She was kind enough to also provide us with a map and a list of the places where the exhibition has been, and apart from many places in Europe such as Germany, Switserland, Luxembourg, and Italy, it has also ventured as far as Russia (Murmansk and Moskau) as well as Hungary, the Tsech Republic and for it's last venue Bulgaria. How I wish I could have travelled to all those places with it!

Maybe it was because of where this little quilt has been that the landscape at Macbiehill today reminded me of the Russian steppes, or at least how I imagine them to look like as I've never been there in person: dark, desolate and deserted. Grasses sticking up out of the snow. Shame we don't have reindeer here in the Scottish Borders, they would be a great finishing touch!

Another view of the edge of the woods and the grasses in front. We were very happy to turn around here although walking into the wind was even colder. The two dogs are now recovering from that ordeal in the chairs by the fire!

Trinka's 4 x 4

2011-12-04T11:56:00.000Z

Another month, another 4 x 4. This time for Trinka, who didn't really specify a theme but among other things she likes maps. So a piece of a fabric - paper collage with a map of Paris included, made some considerable time ago, seemed to fit the bill. I added the vintage fabric lady (from a postcard in my own collection) as well as a rubbed off butterfly and the text (from an Alpha Stamps collage sheet).

Books, tapestries and giraffes

2011-12-01T17:09:00.008Z

I spend the day in Edinburgh on an Artist's Date, even though I was very far from in the mood. But I was determined to catch the Paint . Print . Page exhibition by the artist book group, a member of which (Susie Wilson) taught us several books to make at the recent Thistle meeting. The exhibition is on in McNaughtan's Bookshop and can still be found there till this coming Saturday (don't forget the bookshop only opens at 11.00). It was wonderful and I also managed to pick up a little booklet (published in the 19th Century) about grave epitaphs for only £3, a real steal.

Then passing the Theatre Royal I went on to the City Art Centre where there was a wonderful exhibition of tapestries. Called That was then: this is now, it also incorporated embroideries. It was inspirational. Specially LOVED the work by Jo McDonald who worked with vintage paper and music to produce her work Also the embroideries by Anna Ray, with such titles as Irrational, consisting of the words I will not be irrational repeated over and over again. A piece with the text: In a way I would be kept, In a way I would be lost had a really serious message hidden in it's beautiful simplicity. After that I paid my first (and also last!) visit ever to the Edinburgh Dungeon, which was a lot less scary than I had been looking for and further irrated me as the whole show is in English (or really Scottish) when there were only 3 English speaking people in my group, everyone else was Spanish or French and they literally didn't have a clue. And at a cost of £16.50 per person it was also daylight robbery! I thought it would be fun but it so wasn't.

Many of the attractions today did have a strict No Photography rule so I had to find other images to show, such as the Theatre Royal and these giraffes!

These giraffes are positioned by the roundabout near John Lewis and leading to Leith Walk. I don't usually go to this side of town so hadn't come across them. They were stunning and very large as you can see. I blipped the face (shown at the top of this post) today as I found it the most stunning picture. The giraffes are accompanied by engraved text on the pavement which reads:

Giraffes! a people

who live between earth and skies

each in his own religious steeple

keeping lighthouse with his eyes.

It didn't say who had produced it but what fantastic text for a giraffe.

365 blips

2011-11-29T16:13:00.007Z

I'm finding it incredibly hard to believe that I will post my 365th blip today. That's one whole year of consecutive blipping. In case you're not familiar with the Blipfoto site yet, the whole premise is that you take a photo every day (although this is not obligatory) and upload it to the day you've taken the picture (that bit is a definite requirement). I first read about the site in the Scotland on Sunday newspaper, had a tentative look, signed up and posted my very first photo on the 30th November 2010. It was a very snowy picture!

Of course I knew my 365th one was coming up so when I discovered the above gravestone in Penicuik Graveyard a week or so ago, I decided to save photographing it for today. Not that blipping has made me feel like a skeleton, merely that this is the best (if that's the right word) gravestone I've found so far and it seemed worthy of the honour.

The gravestone dates back to 1709 and the text on the banner reads: Vive Memor Lethi, which translates literally as Live mindful of Death, or more elaborately Live as though today were your last. Not something I continually think about but I do try very hard to live in the moment, every moment. Blipfoto is very much part of that. In the year I've been blipping I have become much more aware than ever before of my surroundings and the accompanying photo opportunities. I have rediscovered my love of graveyards, but also of flowers, the beautiful Borders landscape and the love I feel for my adopted homeland.

I will continue, of course, and try as much as possible to post one photo every day come what may, and regardless of my pathetic dial-up connection. It's simply a challenge but also fun, fun, fun!! And I'm sure my photography has improved but mainly I have become even more alert to the visual beauty that comes across my path in all its various forms. My eye sees and registers more than it did 365 days ago.

This gravestone gets a mention in Stones; 18th Century Scottish Gravestones, a book by Betty Willsher & Doreen Hunter. They describe the front as featuring grim Death, flaked by two naked figures; a macabre and horrible scene, this, on a blackened and shadowed stone. Well, as it rained non-stop today (I needed a large brolly to protect my Canon DSLR!) and stayed dark all day, the stone looked exactly like that, but I was also amazed by the beautiful carving. The skeleton is Death itself and I can only surmise that the two figures represent the dead mentioned on the reverse of the stone. They seem to be standing on top of skulls. I wish I knew more or could discover more but this is all I have come up with so far.

Above you can see the reverse where the text can hardly be read anymore, although I think the beginning says the following: here lyes IAI?? Melrose, spouse to John Hodge???? etc.

On the reverse the gravestone has a splendid winged hourglass, a symbol of mortality, reminding us that time is passing till the end comes. Hopefully however my blipping will continue for many more years to come. I can't quarantee that I will be able to blip every day (although I'll try!!) but I will do the best I can. I know some people find my taste for graveyards hard to understand, in a way I do myself, but they draw me in and it's safe to predict that gravestones and graveyards will feature a lot on my future blips too, as they did on my past ones this year.

My hands

2011-11-28T12:33:00.000Z

During my Artist's Way class last Monday we printed our hands onto sheets using poster paint. We were then meant to go home and decorate them. Originally I had planned to print them out onto fabric and then decorate but due to the handbag affair I had lost a day already last week (migraine!) and didn't want to loose more time. So in the end I just used a combination of stamps and markers to decorate my two hands. My left hand (seen above) uses very sparkly markers (although the effect is mostly lost on the scan) while for my right hand I went for Sharpies. There is a heart shaped stamp at the centre of both, coloured in with Promarkers. The left hand also has some very sparkly decorations at the tip of each finger.

Hopefully my class today will be a lot less eventful!!!

Lisa's 4 x 4

2011-11-26T15:07:00.001Z

It's high time to show the 4 x 4 for this month, which I'm making for Lisa. Although she didn't give us a specific theme, I know that she shares my taste for graveyards and grave monuments so I followed that inclination which suited me (as well as her) well.

I used a fabric - paper collaged background with a lavender theme colourwise. Purple is per tradition a mourning colour so it also went very well with the photograph I added. It's from the Temple graveyard we visited earlier this summer. The gothic arches you can see in the background are part of a vintage image which was incorporated into the original fabric-paper collage. I used rub-ons to add the clock, the arrow as well as the words Past, Present and Future. The text (O, beauty, conqueror of all) is from a vintage book. The collage was layered with felt and paper and then zig-zag sewing and seed 11 purple seed beads were added along all the edges.

Gauche Alchemy 3

2011-11-24T16:44:00.007Z

Here are the last 2 projects I made in my capacity as Guest Designer for Gauche Alchemy. Both could be individual collages but I made them to also fit into the book (in the Bare Nekkid kit I worked with and which you can obtain here) and the cover for which you can see in my previous Gauche Alchemy post a week ago. You can also see these two pages on the current Gauche Alchemy site. Full instructions for making these pages beneath:

Eye Page
5 x 7”

Start with a piece of corrugated cardstock (kit) and cut to size 5 x 7”
Rub the surface with both a gold and a sepia inkpad.
Stitch a length of the lace (kit) along the bottom edge.
Tear a piece of text paper (kit), rub the edges with a sepia stamp pad. Tear a slightly smaller piece of craft cork (kit), stamp with a text stamp (I used KK2622 Life connects… from Hampton Art Stamps), and age the edges as above.
Tear an even smaller piece of brown paper (I used the wrapping paper the kit came in), stamp on the eye (The All Seeing Eye from Uptown Design) and age the edges as above.
Layer up all these pieces as shown on top of the corrugate card and stitch together by machine using a decorative thread. Sew slowly! There are a lot of layers but your machine should manage fine.
If you prefer, you could also glue all these layers together, one at a time.
Stamp a small tag (kit) with the text from Life Consists… stamp (see above) and adhere as shown with a brad (kit).
Stick on the self-adhesive EYE letters (Real Life Antique Letters).
Adhere the black vintage brooch as shown through the corrugated ribbles of the card stock. I found this in a second-hand shop so you probably won’t find something identical but search through your own vintage treasures and I’m sure you’ll find something equally suitable!)

Love page
5 x 7”

Make a small quiltie (size 5 x 7”) by layering up a piece of vintage napkin (with fringe attached to one of the short sides) and batting. Machine quilt the layers together using your preferred method. Zigzag stitch the long sides closed.
Transfer an image from a cabinet card to cotton, using a fabric sheet and following the manufacturers’ instructions. Layer with a piece of sepia coloured transparent fabric and stitch onto your background as shown. Sew on a strip of lace and the brown wire ribbon (kit) to the left of this image.
Machine stitch 3 lines to the bottom with metallic thread.
Add embellishment as follows:
Sew on 3 buttons (kit) on top of the brown wire ribbon
Sew size 11 seed beads around the edge of the image
Glue on 4 photo corners (kit)
Sew on 5 vintage buttons to the bottom of the piece as shown
Glue on the self-adhesive LOVE letters (kit)

Penicuik Graveyard

2011-11-23T16:40:00.012Z

I paid a visit to the dentist today (definitely the bad Virgo week continues) as I have many times before. Today I was much too early so I casually glanced up after I had parked my car to consider how I could fill 20 minutes and my eye fell across the road on a stone tower. Could it be possible? Yes, it was. A hitherto undiscovered graveyard. The main one in Penicuik. I crossed the road and the first thing that greeted me was the sign on the gate: Beware dangerous gravestones. And they weren't joking!

This must be by far and away the most dismal graveyard I have visited to date as far as maintenance is concerned. The building (the ruins of the old St. Kentigern church dating back to 1556) is boarded up and accompanied by more warnings about the possible dangers of attempting an entry. Gravestones have fallen over where they stood, some partially, others have been removed and leaning every which way against walls. Most of the very old ones are disappearing into the ground and the whole scene was one of abandonment and darkness.

The gravestone at the top (also my blip for today) is a shining (if that isn't the wrong word!) example, made even more unnerving by the ferocity of the skull at the top.

But there were glimpses of loveliness too, such as this stone set into the wall of the boarded up tower. It reads;

Sacred

to the

memory

of the

Howgate

carrier

and his

wife Ailie

who lie

buried

in this

church

yard.

With a mighty bloodhound featured too! Of course I couldn't help but want to know more about this and here it is in a nutshell:

A native of the parish of West Linton, John Jackson (‘James Noble’) married Margaret Todd (‘Ailie’) in Penicuik in January 1807. The couple had seven children. They lived in a small cottage in Loanstone, just east of Penicuik, although John ran his carrier business from the village of Howgate. A carrier was a delivery person, who carried loads about the country with his horse and cart. Howgate was once on the main road from Edinburgh to Peebles and further south. The Howgate Inn was an important stopping place and was frequented by Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott.

Margaret Todd died in December 1830 and John soon afterwards, in January 1831. They were buried in Penicuik churchyard in unmarked graves. In August 1920 a memorial was unveiled in Penicuik churchyard to the Howgate Carrier and his wife ‘Ailie’. The memorial was paid for by public subscription and unveiled by the Midlothian author Mrs Burnett Smith, better known by her penname of ‘Annie S Swan’

More can be found by clicking on this link!

A Memento Mori scroll and a frightening skull are the first things to attract attention on this stone as well as a splendid winged hour-glass but at the top I first thought I detected two monkeys. But careful inspection rewarded me with the realization that there are two angels (without wings, for once) whose faces merge with the rounded scrolls. They also have lovely flowing hair.

There must have been some image in between their two shapes but what it could possibly have been remains a mystery. There must also have been text on the scroll about the hour-glass but that too is gone

Sorting out what is going on on this almost submerged gravestone took me quite some time but if you peer at it long enough you will see two angels, with their wings standing up almost vertical from their shoulders, their heads bend and their hands grabbing an hour-glass each and a round object (the world??) in the centre. At the top is the ubiquitous skull, a quite benign one, that seems to almost smile down at their activities. No doubt there is lots more gravestone underneath the grass but sadly all information on it is now lost of us!

A deliciously scary stone, with an unusual way of incorporating the winged angel at the top, so that the wings form the arch at the top of the stone, with openings around it. Buried there are DH and AS, husband and wife without doubt, but their identities now unknown, but their gravestone dating back to 1686.

As you can see many of the buildings and enclosures are in ruins with bits and pieces of masonry and gravestones strewn around the place. There is a coat of arms on the left hand side of the above picture, just about still hanging on to the remains of the arched wall. I'm far from sure whose it can be but according to Monuments and Monumental Inscriptions in Scotland (Vol. 1), by the Rev. Charles Rogers, 1871 this could be part of the family vault of Dalyell. However I'm open to suggestions!

I'm positively looking forward to my next visit to the dentist to have another look!

Diamond in the Rough

2011-11-22T15:53:00.003Z

I had an truely awful day yesterday as I left my handbag behind after my Artist's Way class at the Botanical Garden in Edinburgh. It happened because I was carrying two bags, had picked up the one with the books in it and had already got out my keys from my handbag. Then I glanced out of the window and could see a traffic warden standing by my car. So I rushed out, made it with about 1 minute to spare before my time was up and was actually congratulating myself. Then some 10 minutes on (on the Queensferry Road) I wanted to apply some lipbalm and discovered I had left my handbag behind. Total panic ensued, I did a U-turn on the Queensferry Road (which with hindsight was a stupid thing to do although I'm really quite proud I did achieve it!) and returned to the Garden which had closed by then. Some staff were still leaving and they went inside to have a look but found no sign of my bag.

It appeared that one of my classmates had tried to catch me up, hadn't managed that and handed my bag to the reception who locked it in the safe but had already left by the time I came back so no-one knew where it was. Anyway, I then drove home encouraging my VW Fox to just keep going please, as I had no phone or any money on me. It did! This morning (need I add after a sleepless night) I phoned the Botanics who knew all about it by then (I had left numerous messages on all their various phones and my tutor had spoken to them too). John decided I wasn't fit to drive and kindly went and picked it up for me. I literally clasped the bag to my heart on his return.

I do regularly leave stuff behind, such as mobiles, cardigans, books etc. (too much arty thinking going on!) but this was a first for handbags and made me realize that carrying my life in one bag is perhaps not such a great thing to do! MUST DO BETTER!!!

Anyway the adrenaline rush wore off, headache took over and I gifted myself a fun day beading. When I finished the Treasure necklace (see this earlier post) the colours reminded me of this unfinished bracelet, that I had bought from Laura McCabe whose design and kit it is, when she was here last year. I did about half of it shortly after but what with my exhibition earlier this year had left it sitting undone. It's not difficult and uses actual metal nuts in it's construction. I had a multitude of things I should have been doing but beading restored my blood pressure to it's usual low level and restored both my mood and my mojo!

Looking back over the past events I was most surprised to discover that I worried most about not having my camera (despite having another one!), as opposed to credit cards, money, mobile phone and diary. That must mean photography is getting ever closer to my heart!!

On a positive note, my tutor, fellow student and Botanics staff had all been so kind, it almost made me cry with gratitude. What a day.

And to top it all, on my drive back yesterday, BBC Radio 2 told me that it would be a very bad week for Virgos. They're telling me!!! Great synchronicity nevertheless.

Gauche Alchemy 2

2011-11-18T00:01:00.000Z

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm the Guest Designer for November on the Gauche Alchemy site. And here are the next two projects on show there at the moment. The first is the cover of a book, the kit for which is included in the Bare Nekkid kit (which you can buy here!). Instructions are to be found below and also on the Gauche Alchemy site here.

Flower Book Cover
5 x 7”
Using the various papers from the kit, stamp on 6 large flowers, 6 medium and 6 small ones. There are many stamps like this available. The choice is up to you but I used Hero Arts Magical Flower CG284 (the large flower) and Hero Arts Layered Flowers CL496 (the medium and small flower). Cut out and colour in. I used Promarkers for this (remember not to use Staz-on for the stamping in that case!).
Layer them up, 1 large flower at the bottom, followed by 1 medium and 1 small one to make a total of 6 flowers. Stitch them together from the bottom, add a sequin and a size 11 seed bead. Miss the bead but go through the sequin and flowers again to the back. Knot off the thread, cut it and tape the ends down at the back.
Glue the 6 flowers to the front of the Art Deco Album cover (kit).

And I also made several pages for the book, the first of which you can see above and also on the Gauche Alchemy site here:

My Heart Page
Size 5 x 7”

Cut a piece sized 5 x 7” from one of the decorative pages from your kit and stamp a textured stamp all over the surface. I used text but merely as a texture so have used it mainly upside down so as not to distract from the main focal point.
Layer black lace (kit) behind this piece and stitch around all the edges.
Add a small vintage handkerchief on point on top and stitch down.
Add a strip of the circle paper (kit) as shown and stitch down.
On top of all this add a torn piece of painted paper and stitch down.
Add the self-adhesive letters MY HEART (kit) to the rusty heart and add Glossy Accents on top of each letter. Let dry.
Glue on the heart as shown using Diamond Glaze or another strong adhesive.
Finally make holes in the left hand side corresponding with the holes of the Art Deco Album (kit) and set in eyelets. Glue the page to one of the pages of the album (kit).

There will be more pages coming up next week!

Traquair Graveyard

2011-11-17T17:22:00.000Z

This was my first view of Traquair graveyard (also my blip for yesterday), which is surrounded on all sides by a stone wall. There was a church on this site in the 12th Century, although the present building dates to 1778. Originally it was dedicated to the Irish saint Bryde, hence the alternative name for this church Kirkbryde. I visited yesterday as my Artist's Date for this week.

Here are some random views of graves I found particularly interesting. The one above belongs to an gardener, hence the heart with underneath it the crossed spade and rake. He must have loved them. He was Andrew Hay, late gardener Traquair, who died 5th March 1736, together with his wife Margaret Hotson, died 9th March 1754 and their son Robert, died 7th June 1722, aged 9 months.

And this table stone grave featured a particularly lovely winged hour-glass.

A much more recent and richly decorated gravestone which normally I would not be that interested in but the verse at the bottom proved irressistable:

In case you've wondering what kind of English this is: it's Scottish!

It's highly unusual to find the skull and crossbone on top of a table grave. They are mostly to be found on one of the sides. This one was particularly spooky as the grave had almost completely sunk into the ground so that I suddenly spotted this skull looking back at me as I looked down to make sure I wasn't stepping onto something.

Is this a drunk skull? Or was it the mason? Again this is a new one as far as I'm concerned and again on the side of a table stone, of which Traquair graveyard had many.

A most impressive grave monument, railed and with an urn. It's 18th Century but remains as vivid as it must have been, when first erected. Here is the text:

To the Memory of

James Burton

tenant Ladyurd

who died 26th Sept. 1795

in the 72nd year of his Age

Lifewise

Elizabeth Paterson

his Spouse

who died 25th April 1785

in the 54th year of her Age.

You know the gravestones are very old when they have started to recede into the ground and I'm guessing this one is 17th Century. And chockerblock full of symbolism. A winged angel at the top that always seems to be sitting on top of the skull with underneath it the crossbones. By the side an hour-glass and pillars by the side. The name of the decease(d) would have been on the other side but that information has long since disappeared from view.

A last view of Traquair graveyard but like all my graveyard visits I always promise myself I will return soon. Needless to say I don't want to actually become an inhabitant anytime soon but the peace and quiet of so many of the graveyards I go to, is what attracts me. That and the history they are steeped in.

Christmas Marie ATC

2011-11-15T16:33:00.005Z

The season is fast approaching and wherever I go, Christmas decorations and displays are not far away. I had to get wadding today for the large quilt that's ready to be quilted so off I went to Hobbycraft, where I was greeted by the first Xmas carols as well as Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer (which then hung around in my head for the rest of the day, not good!) but no wadding large enough. Needless to say I did buy some other things and then went to Haddington where the Fabrication shop came up trumps with a 50% cotton, 50% bamboo wadding. A new one for me, however it was gorgeously soft and thin so seemed ideal for hand quilting and beading.

But I'm getting away from the topic. I have made my first (and hopefully last!) Xmas ATCs. The one above is part of a set of 3 I made for the Christmas Marie Antoinette swap on the site dedicated to her. Tried to achieve first of all the shape of a tree ornament and then a bit of holographic effect by printing the Marie image (from one of my vintage postcards) onto a transparency and then layering with gold fabric. I was quite pleased with the effect but the scanner was far less keen!

A small charm heart was attached (from LostArtCreations) and the ATC was edged with a gold knitting yarn. The colour theme for this card has a lot to do with that for the Colour Groupies as I made all the ATCs at the same time, but I'm not showing you the cards I made for them till they are safely received and at the moment they are done but not yet mailed!

Treasure Necklace

2011-11-14T17:02:00.003Z

I finised the Treasure necklace yesterday. It was designed by and started in a class by Laura McCabe. It seemed like I had been working on it forever, just one hour each evening, but in fact it has only been a little over 2 months since Laura was present in the Beadshop Haddington. The individual boxes of the necklace actually open and you could put little treasures inside, hence the name! You can see the necklace in detail on the picture above but for my blip today I choose the photograph seen below as I think it was a better one, photographically speaking.

And by the way, no that isn't me as some people thought the last time I used my mannequin to picture a piece of jewellery. Wish that it was, such gorgeous smooth skin! Which is plastic!

Pearly Princess Journal Quilt

2011-11-13T15:50:00.007Z

A new month always brings a new theme on the Sketchbook Challenge site and I'm eagerly looking forward to it. It's quite sad to think there is only one more month to go on the project.

The theme for November is Imaginary Animals, and I let this sit in my mind and stir for a while to see what would come to me. It sounds an esoteric process but this year I have discovered that my subconscious artist mind responds well to these kind of challenges and that I can trust it to come up with something.

The first thing that came bubbling up were memories of the artwork of the Italian painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo. He made portraits like the one seen above (Summer) by using other imagery to compose the picture. In this image seen above it's flowers. I've saved you the more gruesome examples although they are the ones I find most fascinating. If you're interested you can see them here! He has also used wildlife, fruits, and books to achieve the same purpose. I've no idea what this had to do with imaginary animals (he never painted animals although he did used animals to make a picture with) but it struck me that I could picture one of my own animals in an imaginary way.

I then remembered I had a lovely picture of Troi, the greyhound, when she was a lot younger. It formed part of my collection of photos and images that one day might be turned into a quilt. I grabbed it and conveniently I had already had it copied to A3 size so that it was large enough to fit my 10 x 10" Journal Quilt size perfectly.

All my Journal Quilts this year are not just done for the Sketchbook Challenge but fill the dual purpose of participating in the JQ project run by the Contemporary Group of the Quilter's Guild, for which the required size is 10" square.

At first I wanted to use flowers too, just like Arcimboldo, and cut them from various fabrics to make up my Troi but then I remembered that one of our required elements for the Contemporary JQs is that a button has to be added to our last 4 JQs. And loo and behold, I have definitely fulfilled that requirement and then some!! As soon as I thought about re-making Troi in buttons the Pearly Kings and Queens of London came to mind and as I always refer to Troi as my princess (she is such a precious girl!) what could be better that a Pearly Princess.

The background had to be a sturdy furnishing fabric to sustain the weight of all those buttons. I made the Pearly Princess separately on a piece of calico (musling in US), cut it out with pinking shears and sewed it onto the previously machine quilted and bound background as shown.

I added the title (I set myself the challenge of having text incorporated into all my JQs this year) by using my Xyron Design Runner and this too was bordered with buttons. To date this was the most fun JQ to make! The moment I discovered that somewhere iin my stash I had actual moving eyes was a special highlight!

Skirling Graveyard

2011-11-12T16:39:00.010Z

Skirling is a very small place in between the A701 and A702 roads in the Scottish Borders. I went there this past Thursday for my Artist's Date. I was a bit worried when I set off as it was raining heavily but by the time I arrived (only some 20 minutes later) the sun was coming out and it turned into a beautiful day. The graveyard lies on a hilltop overlooking Skirling and apparently there used to be an iron-age fort on the same spot as the present graveyard in the far distant past. There is a little church in the graveyard, now Church of Scotland and with weekly services still taking place according to the sign on the main road.

Due to it's high location the views are fabulous such as here where the gravestones are silhouetted against the hills in the distance and the blue sky.

The path runs from one end of the graveyard to the other and at beginning and exit (above) is enhanced with beautiful cast iron gates, which were donated by the local Carmichael family some of whose graves are located in a far corner of the graveyard. The graveyard is also adorned with large and mature yew trees which, at least to my mind, really belong to graveyards and add to the general gloominess even on a sunny day.

There are many old gravestones to be found in this graveyard, almost too many to take in during one visit (although I stayed most of the morning). This is one that really caught my attention. The text on it has long gone, but it had a gorgous winged soul, lovely pillars along the side and the hour-glass, symbol of mortality, at the top.

This angel is guarding the entrance to the are where various members of the above mentioned Carmichael family are buried. There are tablets set into the wall, commemorating their names but although these are relatively recent, going into the 20th Century, they were very difficult to read, much harder in fact that most other graves here which are much older.

Finally Skirling Graveyard has a famous (or at least well-known in his lifetime) artist buried there as you can see above. Notice the palette on his gravestone. The inscription reads:

Here rest

the remains of

James Howe, artist

son of the Reverend William Howe

minister of Skirling

born 30th August 1780

died 14th July 1836

He who could make with life the canvas glow

in death's deep slumber lies this turf below

But death which triumphs o'er the mouldering time

dims not the luster of the painter's fame

Erected by his admirers

in his native parish.

James Howe is mainly known for his animal paintings including the Horse Fair at Skirling which shows the place full of life, horses and play. A stark contrast to the peaceful, quiet town I found during my visit. James Howe also painted scenes from the Battle of Waterloo but intriguingly it states in the 1871 book Monuments and Monumental Inscriptions in Scotland, Volume 1, by the Reverend Charles Rogers that "his habits were latterly unworthy of his genius" The mind boggles!!! Despite this he was buried in hallowed ground, perhaps due to the fact that his father was the minister.

It was another great Artist's Date. The peaceful atmosphere of graveyards is very conducive to getting lost in your own thoughts which is really what it's meant to be all about. Apart from that the gravestones themselves and the images thereon are inspirational to me as an artist. The fact that the low sun made long shadows of the gravestones, as well as the yew trees, on the grass was an added bonus I hadn't expected.

Journey Quiltie and Memory ATC for Gauche Alchemy

2011-11-11T16:49:00.004Z

Here are the first items I made with the wonderful Bare Nekkid kit, that I was send as their guest Designer for November, by Gauche Alchemy. The most important thing you need to know right from the start is that you can buy this kit yourself by going to this link here. You can read about it too on the Gauche Alchemy blogpost but I'm also going to give you the full instructions here on this blog about how to make both this quiltie and the ATC shown below.

Journey Quiltie
10.5” square

Start with one fabric, slightly larger than you want your finished size to be. I used a vintage linen napkin which had been tea-dyed. Layer it up with batting and iron the two together. On such a small piece there is no need to tack. The ironing alone will keep the layers together.
Sew materials randomly to the surface using your sewing machine and a thread of your choice (I used a metallic one). I added fabrics, laces but also sequin waste (kit) as well as corrugated cardstock (kit) and other papers from the kit.
When I added the embroidered green silk piece, it suddenly looked to me like a tree and that determined the direction I took my quiltie in. Always be on the lookout for where your art wants to go.
I started adding subsequent materials in a more planned way such as the Time text (kit). When happy with the layout, cut the piece to your desired size (mine was 10.1/2” square).
Cut out the paper bird from the paper (kit) and glue it onto the background where you want it, using either Wonder-Under, fabric glue or a Xyron Creatopia with the fabric glue cartridge (as I did). Stitch along the entire outline of the bird by machine using a thread of your choice.
Stamp your chosen word (I used Journey) onto one of the papers of your kit using a vintage colour such as Versafine Vintage Sepia and also distress the edges of the paper by rubbing it with the inkpad. Stitch into position as shown.
Cut out the backing fabric approx. 3/8” wider than the quiltie on all sides and iron on Wonder-Under to the wrong side of this fabric following the manufacturers’ instructions. Remove the paper from the Wonder-Under and iron the backing fabric to the batting, making sure there is 3/8” sticking out on all sides. Fold this ¾” over to the front of the quiltie on all sides; iron into position and then zigzag stitch it down along its edges.
Finally it’s time to add embellishments (always my favourite part!). I added hand stitching in the shape of running stitch to the red Indian fabric to slightly reduce the shininess and I also added cross stitching on the visible areas of the napkin. I used gold size 11 seed beads to decorate the tree, copper beads around the Journey word and finally green ones (echoing the colour of the tree) around the entire perimeter of the piece.
Don’t forget to add a label on the back with your name and a hanging sleeve and enjoy!

Memory ATC

Cut an ATC sized (2.5 x 3.5”) piece from one of the papers (kit) and layer with a similar sized piece of black craft felt. Stitch together along all the edges.
Stamp the eye (Eye & Brow no. 2182 stamp by Hampton Art Stamps) onto another one of the papers (kit), cut out and glue onto one of the brown tags (kit). Distress the edges of the tag using black stamp pad.
Glue onto brown torn wrapping paper. Glue all this onto the ATC as shown and stitch around the eye through all the layers.
Tear Memory text from one of the papers (kit) and glue underneath the eye. Cover with the wire ribbon (kit) and sew this on over the saying.
Cover the entire ATC with a transparent leaf fabric and sew around all the edges.
Layer the ATC with a black ATC sized piece of cardstock and using satin stitch sew around the entrie perimeter of the card using metallic thread.

Published in Popular Patchwork

2011-11-10T16:34:00.004Z

Yet again my life moves too fast for my blog to keep pace. So I will space out my posts and try not to be too active till I've more or less caught up. A few days steady working in the studio is just what I need in any case!

I went to Skirling graveyard today but will report about my visit later, although you can see a picture on the Blipfoto site today.

The highlight of the week however arrived in the post yesterday in the shape of the latest edition (December 2011) of the Popular Patchwork magazine in which you can find a report on my colour - quilts - colour exhibition in Peebles, written by Gillian Cooper. It's very rewarding to discover that someone really understands what it is you're trying to achieve in your art and Gillian is without a doubt such a person. She has seen and written about my work before and when we met up during the exhibition it seemed that we were just chatting merrily away about all kinds of things. But Gillian proved to be an excellent journalist and absorbed it all as became clear when I read the article.

A big THANK YOU is due to her as well as to the Purely Patchwork Magazine. I truely appreciate what they've done for me!

Frosty days at Macbiehill

2011-11-07T17:00:00.006Z

It was an amazingly beautiful day. The sun was in the sky, although quite low now this time of the year, but it was also perishingly cold. For the first time I wore my pink hat and my gloves. But walking the dogs along the old railway line first thing was a real delight. As you can see the frost was still on the ground where the sun hadn't reached yet, while the rest of the path was bathing in light.

The highlight of the day was my encounter with not just one, or two, but three deer this morning during the dog walk. I know they're hard to spot on the picture above (near the tree line) and needless to say I didn't have my telephoto lens on the camera, just the standard one. They seemed pretty undisturbed by my (or the dogs)'s presence and carried on grazing to their heart's content. I didn't make it my blip for today (that honour went to the picture at the top) as photographically speaking it's very far from a masterpiece, but it was the picture closest to my heart today so I decided to share it here.

Gauche Alchemy

2011-11-05T17:05:00.007Z

Today offered up sunshine, mist and frost all at the same time. In short a typical autumn day here in the Scottish Borders as you can see above. This picture (also my blip for today) was taking from our front garden early in the morning.

It's pretty cold outside but inside I'm all warm and fuzzy feeling due to the fact that I have been announced on the Gauche Alchemy site as their Guest Designer for the entire month of November. You can read all about it on this post there, but I'm keeping my projects a secret till they are announced on the same spot in days to come. However I can reveal I did squeal with delight when I opened the kit they send me. And I love the work that was inspired by the pieces I did for Gauche Alchemy and which can be seen here.

All the pieces I've done for Gauche Alchemy will come with tutorials both there and here and uploads will happen on 10th, 17th and 23rd of this month.

Violette et Chocolat ATCs

2011-11-04T16:56:00.007Z

I made my Artist Trading Cards for the Colour Groupies (Lenna, Caryl, Debby and Tristan) way back in September and mailed them off with the October cards. But decided to only upload them here when November was with us as is the case now. The colour combination was violet and brown (but doesn't it sound so much more exotic in French as per the title of this blog post!).

There are all more or less the same so I'm showing you the one I kept myself. I started with a brown velvet background which was machine quilted. Added a piece of violet silk and on top of that the image (from Alpha Stamps). I then added a violet piece of transparent fabric with silver bits incorporated in it over the entire image. A piece of vintage text that suited the images was glued on using my Xyron.

Finally the cards were edged with tape (from Tim Holtz's Ranger collection) which is self-adhesive although I also sewed it on (just can't help myself!).

Exhibition coming to Cambridge

2011-11-02T16:55:00.005Z

The final venue of my colour - quilt - collage exhibition for 2011 is coming up this coming weekend as you can see on the poster above.

It's at The Chilford Autumn Quilt Festival, at Chilford Hall Vineyard, Linton, Cambridge, CR21 4LE, from Friday 4th - Sunday 6th November. Open 10am - 4.30 pm (4pm on Sunday)

Dawyck Artist's Date

2011-11-01T16:21:00.011Z

When I was walking the dogs first thing this morning the sun was already shining and the day showed every sign of become a sparkling one. I was right, you could get drunk on the light later on. So it seemed a good idea to grab the moment and go on an Artist's Date (as per Julia Cameron's book The Artist's Way). I definitely wanted to be outside and combined the Date with an Artist's walk in Dawyck Botanical Gardens. I left my coat in the car and although it was a bit nippy to start with, as soon as I had scaled the first hill I warmed up considerably and was pleased I didn't have to carry the coat around. Instead my camera was my only baggage. The colours were astounding.

There were the usual browns and oranges of course.

But also blazing red. And can you spot my self-portrait, standing on a bridge while taking the above picture. For once this wasn't accidental. I noticed myself and wanted to show the artist on her date!

There was also luminescent yellow!

Inside the Botanical Gardens is the private Dawyck Chapel in which services are still held occasionally according to the guidebook. And that also meant I could hear the siren song of the graveyard, never one I can resist.

The graveyard around Dawyck chapel is private and the gates are locked, but there is still plenty of see there. This table grave really caught my attention, specially as the theme of this week on the Blipfoto site is texture. So this will become my blip for today. In Sheila A Scott's book Peeblesshire Monumental Inscriptions pre-1855 these is only one entry for a table grave as this was (before it collapsed) and when she was looking at the graves (back in the early 70s) part of the inscription could still be read and it says: ".....(Isobel Stevenson) da......Dreva who.....Also A(lexander) Stevenson of (Smithfield) tenant in Dreva who died the 20th of July 176(3) aged (8)6 years."

I couldn't get close enough to see if anything is left of this inscription but I very much doubt it!.

All in all I had another wonderful Artist's Date with myself and again for very little money. I enjoyed a gorgeous Stilton and Broccoli soup and also bought a few cards, one of which says on the front: Each day a precious gift. Each moment an eternal joy. And that reflects my feelings today perfectly.

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T16:59:00.005Z

When we were in Lidl some weeks back I caught sight of these fabulous skulls. As John was with me I decided I couldn't possible behave like a small child and buy one but the call of the skull was strong. So I must admit I made my way back (in quite a panic in case they had all been sold!) and bought one. I then discovered that it could be hung from a hook, you could press a button and the eyeballs would start flashing and bulging and there would be a voice with suitable Halloween curses. What more could anyone want?! It reminded me very much of the Corpse Bride (if you havent' seen this film, go and do so, it's great fun),

So glad I bought one. He (or she) will now take up permanent residence in my studio, hanging from my ceiling as you can see. Didn't manage a picture of the action, as the flashing interfered with my focus as did the fact it started to turn around, but I reckon this is scary enough!!

It's a good thing no-one else walks past this window as I managed to scare myself while feeding the birds and looking back!

Bernina Calendar 2012

2011-10-29T15:43:00.007Z

I knew it was coming but it was still a wonderful surprise to see the Bernina calendar for 2012 where for September the above image has been used. I have Gudrun Heinz to thank for the fact that a detail of my little Journal Quilt Je suis libre 1 has ended up being featured in this prestigious publication as Bernina selected the pictures for this calendar from among the entries for the Freedom Textile Exhibition she organized. It's travelling for the foreseeable future and has just been to Moskau and Saint Petersburg and will be going soon to Murmansk (all in Russia) and after that to Prague, Chech Republic. Just wish I could go to some of these exotic venues myself. You can read all about it and see the other entries on Gudrun's website here. In the calendar details of all the pieces featured are used and you can see my entire piece below. Read about the two pieces I entered in the exhibition on an earlier blogpost here.

The only requirement for being included in the calendar was that you had to use a Bernina to make your piece and I'm the lucky owner of not one but three Berninas and have in fact only sewn on Bernina sewing machines since I started doing my City and Guild Embroidery Course back in the early 90s. And I probably always will. Love them! Bernina themselves (located in Switzerland) made the ultimate choice of which pieces they would like in their calendar.

So hereby a HUGE thank you to Bernina and to Gudrun Heinz whom I also have to thank for being featured in the Patchwork Professional magazine earlier this year.

Innerleithen Graveyard

2011-10-26T15:27:00.012Z

As part of our The Artist's Way class we need to go on an Artist's Away Day every week. In fact I have tried to do this ever since I first read Julia Cameron's book back in 2003. She predicts that you will find to resist this but I cannot remember any longer if I found that to be the case when I first started. Now however I've long realized how much good such outings do me. Specially if I wake up with a bad headache or in a bad mood, I know to take myself away somewhere, even it it's only to go for a drive and I always return recovered and refreshed.

Not many people would choose to go to graveyards for their fun day out but roaming around these usually beautiful places makes me feel peaceful. The people there have lived their lives and the only trace they left are their gravestones. Whatever troubles me, this tells me it will pass and in the great scheme of things (if there is a scheme, that is!!) it won't matter at all. So after a visit to a tapestry exhibition in Peebles (very colourful and enjoyable!) I made my way to Innerleithen Graveyard. At first I found myself in the new graveyard but after some searching I finally arrived at the old one. There was never as far as I could tell a church there so officially it's a cemetary rather than a graveyard, but that's just a matter of semantics. I made many wonderful discoveries.

Here is an overview of the old graveyard at Innerleiten which is set along the road by the side of the river Leithen in a beautiful setting. Sadly the graveyard itself is in a sad state of disrepair with many of the gravestones damaged, broken in to parts or in the process of tumbling. Some have fallen down completely and vegetation is covering them. It looks scenic but really it's just sad.

This is another of the very unusual skulls you can find on old gravestones. The actual way they were portrayed was no doubt left to whoever carved the stones and these masons seem to have left their imaginations run riot. This is a detail of the stone at the very top (also my blip for today) which as you can see has fallen over. It also has other symbols of mortality such as the crossbones, the pillars and the hour-glass and carries two inscriptions to remind us that time is passing and we will soon be in our graves too i.e. Memento Mori (Remember the Dead as well as Remember you will die) and Fugit Hora (the hours fly by). The text is on the other side of this now fallen over stone so I couldn't read it, but according to Sheila Scott's book it belongs to John Thomson (the initials IT at the top of the stone), tenant here who died 24.1.1766, aged 72, his wife Isobel Tait, died 10.6.1764, aged 82, their son James, died 10.5.1743 aged 24, their son John, died 21.7.1789, aged 68 and also to Elison Thomson daughter of Thomas Thomson, died Cardrona 6.5.1766 aged 2 years and 9 months.

This is a very unusual gravestone in that it's made of metal rather than stone. It's so deceptive that I hadn't actually noticed this at all till I was alerted to it when I passed by it's side. It has a massive crack going through it and when I stuck my hand in, to my surprise it turned out to be metal. This was then confirmed by Sheila Scott's notes in her book. It's the gravestone of John Mathison of Innerleithen who died 15.2.1879 aged 76 and his wife Jane Henderson, died 7.5.1859, aged 50 and their children John died 3.11.1845, aged 5 years and 6 months, Jane, died 16.1.1852, aged 3.1/2 years and Helen, died 14.8.1852, aged 1. At the bottom (which is stone) it says very poignantly: "Lord, teach our hearts to say thy will be done".

This stone is set into the wall of the graveyard, to your immediate left as you enter. It's not a particularly spectacular one but I couldn't leave it out as it belonged to a dyer. The text is just about still readable but it helped enormously that I already knew what I should say thanks to Sheila A Scott's book Peeblesshire Monumental Inscriptions pre-1855. Here is what it says:

Here lyes Thomas Turnbull late dyer in Innerleithen factory who left the world on 8th January 1803 in the 72nd year of his age. He was a man of much ingenuity unrivalled in his art and had the merit of being the first in Scotland who taught the use of woad in dying blue. In social life his faults were few and accidental, his virtues many and habitual. The dyers in Gala and Innerleithen factory inscribe this stone to his memory in gratitude for the many benefits derived from his skill.

This cheerful looking grim reaper brandishing a spade is someone I haven't come across before. Skeletons, yes. Spades, yes. But in combination this is my first one. It's on the side of a table grave which is now completely unreadable but which Sheila Scott's book deciphered partly as belonging to Euphan Gray, wife of George Clark, who died 14.7.1743, also James.....

In my many books about graveyards (see the side bar) I have found references to the angels of the resurrection but this is the very first gravestone on which I have seen them in person so to speak. These angels blow their trumpets to wake the dead, and to let them know it's time to get up again (or resurrect!). There seem to be streamers coming out of their trumpets. And of course the requisite skull and crossbones (symbols of mortality) are also present. There was text on the other side of this stone once upon a time but it has long gone.

By the time I was done it was way past lunchtime so as this was an Away day I decided to do something I normally never indulge in and stopped in a lay-by with a snack van and treated myself to chips with mayonaise (I refused salt because it's unhealthy!!! Sometimes I think I must be slightly mad at the very least). I could almost feel my arteries slipping shut but it was very tasty and a lot of fun. Specially as the lay-by looked out over the lovely Tweed river and the views were outstanding in the sunshine.

Time enough for repentance when I too am in my grave!

colour - quilt - collage in Malvern

2011-10-25T15:52:00.005Z

My colour - quilt - collage exhibition will be on show this coming weekend at The Malvern Autumn Quilt Festival, at the Severan Exhibition Hall, Three Counties Showground, Malvern, WR13 6NW, Friday 28th to Sunday 30th October 2011. Opening times 10.00 am - 4.30 pm (4 pm on Sunday).

For more about this exhibition click here!

The Artist's Way starts

2011-10-24T16:25:00.005Z

The Artist's Way class started today at the Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh and I discovered that doing a trial run on Sunday doesn't give you a very good idea of how long it takes to get there or get back. Getting there was easy, even on a Monday and there was plenty of parking but getting back took much longer as there was heaps more traffic. But I didn't mind, it gave me time to ruminate about what we talked about in the class. I do much of my best thinking while driving, which is possibly why I enjoy doing it so much.

It was a very autumnal day and I walked along the lane this morning on the lookout for a blip but the stiff breeze didn't make it easy to photograph the beautiful coloured trees, and I must admit this beech looked a lot better in the flesh than it does on the picture (also my blip for today).

I'm so pleased I took that first big step to sign up for the class and now that we have started I'm looking forward to our future meet-ups a lot. All I now have to concentrate on is writing my Morning Pages and taking myself off on an Artist's Date this week. I have the feeling that it will be a graveyard although I must also make a point of taking the bus into Edinburgh to see various exhibitions before they finish. So much to do, so little time to do it in!

The problem is I have almost finished piecing a large quilt top and once I get to that stage in the proceedings all I truely want is to get it done. I suppose I should count myself lucky in at least that respect. I don't need to motivate myself to work, on the contrary I need to motivate myself to take time off!

Beauty, memories and Portobello beach

2011-10-22T15:40:00.011Z

Today a visit to Portobello was on the program as there was a quilt show by the Milton Quilters in the Portobello Old Parish Church. The quilts were colourful and a lovely mix, reminding me as if that was needed, how I enjoy seeing quilts in traditional patterns. So that was the first lot of beauty today, as well as memories as some of the quilt patterns have been around for centuries.

I had visited the venue before to give a talk but that had been during the evening so I hadn't realized that there were gravestones about. And what gravestones they were. A real treasure trove.

Some of them are being slowly overcome by vegetation but the above impressive grave monument, set into the wall, and sumptiously decorated can still be read at the moment:

Sacred to the memory of Jessie Rae, wife of David Craig, paper maker Portobello who died on the 2nd March 1870 aged 58 years. Also David Craig, died 29th December 1884, aged 72 years.

But the above gravestone really featured someone who was determined to make people remember her. I've never seen so much text, it must have cost a fortune. And she couldn't make up her mind between the various Bible texts and in the end (pun definitely intended) decided to go for all 3!

Here is the full inscription:

In remembrance of Agnes Kidd, born 12th January 1769, in that memorable year being remarkable for the birth of great people (she definitely wasn't shy, or humble!!), died 31 August 1863. Also her husband Alexander Orrock, merchant who died at Edinburgh of a moments illness to her inexpressive sorrow, 3rd August 1809. Her tenderness of heart, her charible disposition, her love to do the will of God made her justly beloved and respected by those who knew her till at last she fell asleep in the hopes of her blessed Lord and Savious Jesus Christ.

Thomas Orrock, died February 6th 1879 aged 76 years.

Jews said I am the Resurrection and the life. John XI, chap. 25

I sat down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste. Solomons Song IL, chap. 1.4(?)

He bought me to the banquetting house and his banner over me was love.

She achieved her goal as today I definitely thought about her, although perhaps not in the way she had intended!

I parked very close to the beach so the first thing I did was stroll to the water. Sadly it's no longer weather for Crocs and I was wearing heavy boots, otherwise I would have paddled a bit in the water, whatever the temperature. This is a different look at sea and sky and sometimes it's a good idea to get a new perspective, not just on the view but on life in generally which is what a stroll along the waves usually provides for me.

I thought about the beautiful film I saw yesterday with the Pentland Film Society which I joined recently. If all the offerings are as good as last night I won't regret it. It was The Secret in Their Eyes, an Argentinian film which has won an Oscar. The film is a detective story, a view of what revenge can be like, of how people live with sometimes tragic memories, but it's also a beautiful love story. It's filmed in a dark, brooding way with numerous flash-backs and as soon as it was finished I wanted to see it all over again. Which is probably the highest praise you can give a film. I spend a lot of time today thinking about it, mainly about how our memories shape us, whether they are good or bad. Gravestones slot in perfectly to that theme, after all they are meant to keep the memories alive as per the text of the gravestones above.

Portobello beach was almost completely deserted as you can see at the top of this blog (my blip today) and above. I find a seaside visit almost irristible, although strictly speaking this isn't the sea but the river Forth. It soothes my soul to think this water has been flowing to the sea for times immemorable and it will continue to do so long after we have gone. It provides continuity when our own lives are in flow themselves and walking along a beach is the best way I know of making myself feel peaceful and calm. Having said that today it also provided a refreshing blow-out of mental cobwebs as it was very windy!

Portobello beach is adorned with these Victorian and fairly massive urn shapes which are decorated with fruit and flower garlands. They seem to serve no useful purpose as far as I can tell and are there, I guess, to beautify the beach, and who's to say that is not the very best purpose of all. And after all this there was still time to walk the dogs and do some stitching at home. Sometimes days can seem endless and filled to the brim while other days fly past without leaving much of a memory behind and that's fine too.

I am my Art Journaling Page

2011-10-20T15:47:00.007Z

I figured out how to scan this journal so that you can see the whole spread in one go by scanning as much as I could of both of them from either direction. Those files were then merged using the Panoramic setting of Photoshop Elements and as you can see above it worked very well.

This is the left-hand page and features one of my own photographs taken this summer and adhered with washi tape which I have decorated. The texture of both pages comes from painting on gesso fairly thickly and then closing the journal and after a few seconds opening it up again. The gesso makes lovely patterns and textures that way. Let it dry really well though before you start to add acrylic paints. I also used various stamps on the page which I coloured in and further embellished. The Ars Longa Vita Brevis is one of my favourites and I use it a lot. It means: life is short but art lasts a long time, in a loose translations.

This is the page on the right with a picture of me (aged 16) at top left. The rest is self-explanatory and speaks for itself. I have dated these pages on the 15th August but I seem to be unable to resist adding to pages I previously thought I was finished with. I only recently added the dots along the sides, just because I fancied doing that. So maybe my pages are never truely done and the journals are an ongoing work of art.

Freedom Quilts

2011-10-17T15:54:00.005Z

It seems like it has been quite some time since I blogged about my main occupation, quilt making, and yet, this is how I spend most of my days, even though I enjoy my little forays into mixed media, photography and graveyard visiting and all my other actitiving.

It's just that making quilts is very time consuming so there is little to show you while I'm in the process and on top of that there is the requirement of most shows not to have revealed your work to the world before the exhibition concerned opens. Such was the case for these 2 little (20 x 30cm) quilts, but they faced the public for the first time at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham in August this year, so quite some time ago. I had so far forgotten I hadn't revealed them here.

They were both made for the theme of Freedom and will be travelling all around Europe for the coming few years, including exciting visits to Germany, the Czech Republic and Russia among others. This travellling exhibition is the brain child of a German quilter, Gudrun Heinz. She comes up with the themes (I'm participating for the 3rd time in one of her exhibitions), and organizes the busy schedule of where they will be exhibited. You can read all about coming venues, past exhibitions etc. on her website here. And there is also a CD available for each of these exhibition including the Freedom one.

My inspiration for both pieces came from a page in my Vintage Gluebook that you can see underneath on the left hand side. The vintage image I used on that page seemed to embody the Freedom theme to me. And by great synchronicity the page actually shows a map of a German city as well as gothic German text. How's that for co-incidence! It was simply meant to be turned into pieces for a German exhibition.

All the fabrics I used were hand-dyed and painted and of course they also feature my signature embellishments, seed beads! The figure was printed onto cottom fabric sheets and appliqued down. There are also postage stamps as well as vintage paper text (covered in Glossy Accents) and the title: Je suis libre, which translates as I am free from French. It sounds a lot more exotic in that language!

Fresh Green Spread

2011-10-13T15:56:00.007Z

I'm beginning to finally catch up with my art here. There are still some art journaling pages to go and they will come in the very near future but that will be it then and I'll be up to date. Of course it won't last long as I'm working on more pieces at the moment but those will have to remain a little secret till next month. All I'll reveal is that I will be guest designer for a US company and I can already tell you the kit they send me has proved to be inspirational!

This is another spread I did for the Sketchbook Project 2012. My theme is monochromatic, but within that theme, every one of the spreads is another colour. Needless to say there are more spreads than colours so I'm doubling up on some colours such as green, by either going darker, or lighter. The squares shown on the right hand page are also a standard item for all my spreads for this sketchbook and have been made using watercolour pencils.

The lady on the left is a tape transfer and for the rest there is some collage as well as doodling on these pages. The butterfly tape is from Tim Holtz and I've added green colouring to it.

Glenholm Graveyard

2011-10-11T15:59:00.008Z

The day beckoned dry and sunny (also windy and cold!) so could not resist another graveyard visit. Today it was to Glenholm Graveyard which rather appropriately is situated at the end of a dead-end road. And once again I was struck by the beautiful position of this graveyard in the landscape. What a view to greet you if you believe in the resurrection!

This detail is part of the table gravestone of James Deans, tenant Chappellgill, who died 31st December 1764, aged 67 and his wife Helen Kellie (the daughter of the Reverend Simon Kellie, see underneath) who died 25th September 1779, aged 78, their son George, farmer Culter Park who died 26th October 1829, aged 89, his wife Margaret Paterson who died 28th March 1801, aged 46, their daugher Grizzel, died 4th June 1798 aged 18, and their daugher Janet, died Sept. 1801, aged 17. The way the Memento Mori text is used to frame the skull is very unusual and I had never come across it before.

This is a close-up of the skull and what a cheerful one it is. It looks positively delighted and grinning from ear to ear out at us.

The church (dedicated to St. Cuthbert) that was once present in the centre of this graveyard has long fallen into a total ruin and there is just a very small part of the wall left (covered in ivy) into which there sits an wall tablet dedicated to the Reverend Simon Kellie, who was in office at Glenholm Church for 45 years and 6 months (someone was definitely counting!). He died on the 28th October 1748. Also mentioned on the tablet are his first wife Rachel Brown and his second wife Mary Livingstone, and also his children William, James, Elizabeth, James, Margaret, Grizzel, and William (the repeat names no doubt due to the fact that the earlier ones died in infancy).

A delightful little book (The Kirk in the midst; the story of the parish church of Broughton, Glenholm and Kilbucho, by Andrew Fox) mentioned that when the Reverend Kellie was on his way to his new parish in Glenholm on the 31st March 1703, he was violently detained by several women of his former parish. Sadly the booklet didn't know the reason why. The mind can only boggle!

Within the graveyard there is a fenced off area dedicated to the graves of the Tweedie family, large landowners and an eminent presence in the local area.

Linda's 4 x 4

2011-10-10T15:50:00.004Z

Every month I make a small collage (4 x 4") for another artist in the (closed!) OhMyGothic Yahoo group and in return I receive one from someone too (my theme is flowers). We have worked our way through Gothic Arches (hence the name of the group), houses as well as skinny pages and I for one am quite content with the 4 x 4 size.

For October I made the 4 x 4 for Linda who had set a theme of joy for her 4 x 4s. I started with a piece of the required size of a fabric paper collage in pink and green colours. The text on it reads: When the heart speaks, you must stop and listen. I then added a Victorian scrap lady to this as well as the word JOY. I stitched the letters with red thread and also used that to outline the two large heart images which were part of the original collage. One of the hearts was also beaded with size 11 gold seed beads. I layered the collage with felt and decorative paper and stitched around the edges with a green satin stitch, using my sewing machine. Finally I added the layered paper flowers in the bottom left corner.

Melon and Mauve ATCs

2011-10-08T16:02:00.003Z

The colour theme for the closed Colour Groupies Yahoo Group this month was melon and mauve. We then all became a bit confused about what colour melon was. I first thought yellow but then discovered in a book I'm reading about colour that melon was considered to be a tint of red so that was what I stuck with.

To make the theme clear I decided to write the colour combination on the front of the card this time. The background fabric as well as the melon colour fabric was hand painted. The background was machine quilted before I handstitched the melon fabric on top. I added a small piece of a fabric - paper collage in the right colours on top and beaded around the edges and voice, melon and mauve.

All the cards are more or less identical and they have now all arrived with Lenna, Debby, Caryl and Tristan.

Eye and Heart Journal Quilt

2011-10-05T16:00:00.005Z

On the 1st October the new theme was announced for the Sketchbook Challenge. It was: View. The first thing I did was look up the definition in my nearest Dictionary (dating from the 19th Century) and I was quite surprised by the number of definitions: act of seeing, that which is seen, pictorial representation, outlook and manner of looking at anything intellectually, are but a few of them.

But while I was working my way through all those descriptions and totally unexpectedly, the following saying came to mind: What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over. Where did it come from? In truth I have no idea why my subsconscious mind decided to send that to my active brain but I did listen. I thought about what it means. If you have never seen something you won't miss it when it's not there, is the nearest I came to.

Of course as a visual artist my eyes are my most important tool and the way I view the outside world has been trained over many years. So it seemed about time to honour my eyes for this View theme.

As I mentioned previously I'm combining the Sketchbook Challenge with the series of Journal Quilts I'm making this year for the Contemporary Group of the Quilters's Guild in the U.K. The size for those has to be 10" square. I started by making a collage of eye images torn from a wide variety of magazines and advertising leaflets (see picture above). I scanned this into my computer and started to play with the image using a program called Repligator (I have version 16)

I finally came up with the above effect (using Manga Rays). I proceeded to machine quilt a red velvet background, printed the image onto a silk fabric sheet, removed the backing paper and ironed on Bondaweb (Wonder-Under in US speak), and cut the image out (not an easy job with all those skinny points!), and then ironed it onto the background. I added the text (made using a Xyron Design Runner on white cotton) and added the heart button. It was a wooden heart but a Sharpie pen soon turned it black. Buttons are a required element for the last 4 JQs we make this year. The final touch was the beading.

More painted pages

2011-10-04T15:36:00.012Z

As I mentioned in an earlier blogpost I'm slowly making the necessary ingredients for the collages I hope to make for the 14th Collage Exchange next year. I needed more papers so duely set to and painted some more today and again used the wonderful cotton reel which produces two circles in one go. Circles are my favourite shape in all the world and by making more papers using it I know they will all go together well, which is good n ews for the resulting collages. The next thing I need to do is start on fabric to accompany the papers. The above one is also my blip for today and here are two more.

Some of the pages I made today reminded me of the beautiful photographs shown on the news yesterday, made by the ALMA telescope in Chile showing the beginning of the universe. Very hard to get your head around the fact that we can now see this happening many million years later but also awe inspiring and breathtaking! One day we might be able to see the very start of, well, of what exactly, the beginning of the very beginning?! Was there anything prior to that? It truely is almost impossible to graps all the implications.

This last page is very dark although I brightened it up a bit with gold acrylic. It looks very leathery (which could be a good thing!) as I kept on going on it for that little bit too long. I should have stopped when the going was good. I might add wax to it at a later stage to reinforce that leather look before I start using it in collages.

Stargazer Bracelet

2011-10-03T15:25:00.004Z

I've finally finished my first beading project started in the 3 classes given by Laura McCabe back in early September (see this earlier blogpost), and about time too. I'm sure I finished my pieces last year a lot earlier but I've been fiendishly stitching, painting and playing in my studio and only allowed myself to bead in the evenings.

This bracelet really sparkles and despite what you might think looking at the picture hardly weighs anything which makes it great to wear! I also bought it in the silver and blue colourway (oh yes, I was oh so bad!) and can't decide whether to complete that first while I still remember how it's done or whether to complete one of the other 2 projects started in class! Will show you pictures of all that just as soon as I've got another kit finished.

Broughton Graveyard

2011-10-02T16:17:00.011Z

We visited another graveyard today, this time the one in Broughton, approx. 20 minutes or so down the road.
The graveyard is still in use although the church (originally dedicated to St. Maurice, a 2nd C. martyr) has long been a ruin. By the side of the ruin there is a barrel vaulted cell (you're looking straight at it in the picture above) which is reputed to be the cell of St. Llolan, who is supposed to have established a church on this spot after travelling here from the Candida Casa, St. Ninian's settlement in Whithorn. It has been restored by the architect James Grieve.
On the other hand in the Inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Peeblesshire it says that it is more likely to be an old burial aisle. I favour the more romantic version of the saint.
Broughton Graveyard has everything you could wish for in a graveyard, an elevated lovely location, a wealth of yew trees, a ruined church and a mysterious cell. And what with the falling leaves and the low hanging mist, what more could your ask?

This is the door to the reputed cell of St. Llolan, which you can visit by borrowing the key from the shop in Broughton, although not on Sunday as we discovered!

This interesting arrangement of an angel's head, lyre and poetry book is to be found on the grave monument for the Reverend Hamilton Paul, late minister of the United church of Broughton, Glenholm and Kilbucho, who died on the 28th Feb 1854 at the age of 80. He had been minister there for 40 years. His brother Montgomery (died 13th March 1846, aged 75) is also buried there. Apparently the Reverend who was born in Ayrshire was a friend of Robert Burns (hence perhaps the poetry book?!).

The above gravestone is not all that remarkable but I was struck by the verse on it. The full text reads:

Erected to the memory of Janet Alston, infant daughter of James Alston, who died in Broughton on the 19th Jan. 1840, aged 1 year

This lovely bud so young and fair

called home by early doom

just came to show how sweet a flower

in Paradise should bloom.

The said James Alston who died at Hyndford Wells on the 11th April 1861, aged 55 years. Also Isabella Noble, his spouse, who died December 23rd 1863, aged 55 years.

Although I'm not as interested in Victorian gravestones as I am in the very old ones this was a particularly lovely angel so could not resist capturing her in a picture. Her position high up on a pedastal and almost into the branches of the nearby tree, adds to her beauty.

A last look back at the ruin of the church of which only the East gable is still standing with the adjoining portion of the North and South walls. Above however the bellfry is still there, with the bell inside. The graveyard is still in use today although the more recent graves are in an adjoining field, next to the old graveyard.

Mellow Yellow Spread

2011-10-01T16:04:00.005Z

In honour of our mini Scottish heatwave, now gone, I'm sharing another spread I did in my 2012 sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project. You can read all about this project here and this is my second year of participating. You can see my art for the 2011 Project here and just recently my photographs for the A Million Little Pictures were also digitally added under my artwork.

My theme this year is Monochromatic and each spread is dedicated to a different picture. A unifying presence are those little squares you can see on the right hand page. On the left you can just see a doily peeking out at the bottom. I had been using this as a stencil in my painting and suddenly realized how wonderfully yellow it looked. The page also features lots of doodling and I can't help adding to that whenever I work in the sketchbook, even on pages that I had thought were already finished. But this is probably the definitive page.

Autumn visit to Dawyck

2011-09-29T15:18:00.012Z

It was another lovely sunny day (we even drank tea outside sitting in the sun!) so we made the most of it by paying a visit to the Botanical Garden in Dawyck. I thought the pictures would mainly be of the autumn colours and indeed they were splendid as you can see above but in fact it was texture that caught and held my attention today.

The temptation in Dawyck is to walk around continually looking up. Some of the trees are massive and look mightily impressive against the blue sky. However I have to stand still when looking up otherwise I will either faint or fall over, neither of which is a good idea as Dawyck is a very hilly and at times slippery place. So I spend a lot of time standing and staring upwards.

The fluffy seedheads of some ligularia caught my attention too, this time closer to the ground and rewarded me with a wonderful fluffy photo.

These mushrooms were growing like little lanterns very far up the tree, way beyond head height, but the zoom managed to bring them a lot closer.

And finally the picture that I liked best for the day as it's so unusual, so it also became my blip today. It's a very close-up shot of fungi growing up the side of a tree. The textures as well as the colour were amazing. My lovely Lumix does these close-ups spectacularly well!

Newlands Graveyard and Blip no. 300

2011-09-27T15:46:00.019Z

Among all the excitement of the quilt show there was another cause for celebration as I posted my 300th blip on Sunday. Read all about this website here and you can see my page by clicking here. I have posted one picture every consecutive day since I started back in November 2010. And I hope to keep it up at least till I reach the one year mark (or 365 pictures(.

I had only Sunday morning to make it a special one because I was back at the quilt show in the afternoon. As I'm a firm believer that things will happen right if you let them I decided to revisit one of the graveyards nearby. I was last there when it was covered in snow last winter and hadn't quite realized in what a bad state of repair it was. We really should hang our heads in shame about how we treat these places which are of great historical importance.
But I was right in expecting it to come up with my blip. These 3 figures represent 100 blips each!! All writing has disappeared from this stone but according to the Peeblesshire Monumental Inscriptions book (compiled by Sheila A Scott In 1971), this stone belongs to James Borrowman, who died in February 1710, aged 19. I'm supposing one of the figures represents him (probably the one with the skull above in the centre) and maybe the other two his parents or siblings. They seem to be dressed in shrouds so perhaps they were deceased too. It really upsets me to see how the whole place is slowly falling into disrepair, many stones have already fallen over and even more have become unreadable. Hopefully I can try in a small way to keep the memory alive

This is a picture of what is left of Newlands Church which once stood on this spot in the centre of the graveyard. There is now a new church located a few hundred yards up the road from the graveyard. This ruin was probably build in the early part of the 16th Century. As you can see there is not much left of the building or the other enclosed small private burial buildings. The gravestones themselves are also in an advanced state of deterioration.

This cheeky Winged Angel (a symbol of immortality) made me smile. It's the funniest angel I have come across so far in my many graveyard visits and I love the wings especially. I feel a quilt coming on for this one.

Of course I could not help myself and had to search for skulls, crossbones and other symbolism on the stones, and this was one of the best skulls in this particular graveyard.

It's really sad to see that most of the gravestones are in a very bad condition, broken and fallen over or as in this case stacked against walls in order to keep them upright. It's a real tragedy that we are letting our heritage fall into such disrepair but I suppose in the current economic circumstances this is unlikely to change any time soon. I know there are local groups in Scotland taking responsibility for the upkeep and maintenance of their local graveyards and this one could certainly do with such help.

The railings around some of the private burial areas such as this one are amazing. I love how ever now and again there is an urn instead of the usual filial. And the sun also produced wonderful shadow effects.

Finally like most graveyards this one too is located in a beautiful position, nestled in the valley of the Lyne. It probably had to do with the expected resurrection and wanting that to take place in peaceful and serene surroundings and this graveyard which served only a very small community was given pride of place in the landscape. Here is the bridge and the river Lyne peacefully flowing by past the graveyard.

colour - quilt - collage in Ingliston

2011-09-24T16:22:00.010Z

Here is an overview of my colour - quilt - collage exhibition as it can be seen till tomorrow at the Scottish Quilt Championships, at Ingliston, near Edinburgh Airport. As you can see the stands are sort of on a slant to enable people to walk in and out for a close-up look while leaving space too to step away from the quilts and look at them from a distance. And here they all are in order of appearance:

On the left Sweet Spring and Glorious Autumn and on the right at the top: A Woman's Work and Marie Studholme Journal Quilts and on the bottom: Fluttering through Time and then the 3 collage quilts: Sealand Gem, Iceberg Rose, Gazania and Lily.

On the left at the top the Venice Journal Quilts and on the bottom from the right: Flames of Passion, Up in the Air and Earthly Pleasures, and on the right Flower Petals

On the left Circles, Spots and Dots and on the right from the top left: Calendar Journal Quilts, Snapshots and on the bottom Alba in Colour.

Stripes Shapes on the left and Variations on Vasarely on he right. I added this last quilt to the travelling exhibition partly to replace some of the work that was sold during the exhibition in Peebles but also because Grosvenor Shows had used images of it in their pre-publicity for this travelling exhibit so it seemed to make sense to include it.

Rising above the Waves on the left and Foxfires on the right. This last quilt was not in the exhibition in Peebles as it had already been exhibited by the Scottish Borders Museum Service in a previous show. I added it to the travelling exhibition to replace some of the work that was sold. I just hope all the tassels will bear up well with all the travelling but it's one of my favourite quilts and it's lovely to be able to share it in this way. It was also one of my most successful quilts, winning the European Quilt Championships in 2006.

Footloose in the Forest

2011-09-23T16:02:00.009Z

Spend this afternoon at the Scottish Quilt Championships show (see my earlier blogpost here), organized by Grosvenor Shows. I'll post more about the colour - quilt- collage exhibition that was hanging there (very well displayed, I'm so happy with it) in the next few days, but I also entered the above quilt into the Championships. And I hardly need to say that I was completely delighted to find when I climbed the stairs that not only was my quilt displayed in a very prominent spot but there were also those gorgeous, yellow rozettes by it's side.

It turned out I was overall runner-up for the Championships and the quilt had also won the 2nd prize in the Theme section, the theme being A Walk in the Forest.

I made it specially for the theme as I like to support this show above all others as it is my local one. If you are a regular reader of this blog you just might recognize this image which I have previously used on a Journal Quilt (read about it here) and I have also posted in the past about my research into this particular image (here it is!).

Grey and Powder Blue ATCs

2011-09-21T15:50:00.007Z

Another month has flown past (where does all that time go?) and the next round of the Colour Groupies ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) have landed with Lenna, Debby, Caryl and Tristan. The colour combination for this month was Grey and Powder Blue and highly unusually for me I haven't used any fabric in making them, although I did manage to squeeze in some stitching.

All the ATCs started life as a large sheet of watercolour paper which I painted using credit cards, scraping, splashing, stencilling and stamping and probably other methods which I no longer remember. Using grey and powder blue acrylic colours and also throwing in the neutral white and blacks. When I was finished the background looked like the sea to me so I stayed with that theme and after cutting the sheet into ATC sized pieces (2.5 x 3.5") I added transparency fishes (from Artchix Studio)which, shock horror, I glued into position!

I added some more stamping as well as doodling to the cards and finished them off by layering them with another piece of cardstock and then connecting these cards with washi tape in matching colours. That would probably have held them together very well but my inborn distrust of glue led me to also stitch around the perimeter of all the cards, just to be on the safe side.

I've kept the one at the very top for myself and still have one spare which will probably go out into the wide world as a RAK (Random Act of Kindness). All I need to do is decide on the recipient!

colour - quilt - collage echibition in Edinburgh

2011-09-19T16:14:00.003Z

I promised to keep you updated about the progress of my colour - quilt - collage exhibition which is travelling with Grosvenor Shows throughout the autumn.

It's coming close to home this coming weekend as it will be exhibited at The Scottish Quilt Championships, at MacRobert Pavilions, Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston, Edinburgh, EH28 8NB from Friday 23rd - Sunday 25th September. Open from 10 am - 4.30 pm (4pm Sunday).

You can see my quilt Glorious Autumn on the above poster, sort of in the centre.

I won't be there all of the time but I'll definitely be popping in more than once and will be there for definite on Sunday afternoon. Hope to see you there!

Painted Paper

2011-09-17T15:10:00.009Z

It sometimes seems to me that I make art in reverse. I started by dying and then painting on fabric, because that's the medium I use mostly for my artwork, but as I'm getting more and more interested in collage I have taken the revolutionary step of also painting on paper! This is where most artists start. As I have a huge collection of fabric paints this is what I mostly use on paper too (there really is no reason why not) but I do augment that with acrylic paint, specially the Golden liquid acrylics. I also love the Mica sprays, which give the work a great sheen, although sadly you loose much of that on the scan or photograph.

I'm probably going to make collages for the 14th Collage Exchange and have started to paint a large collection of watercolour paper to use in my pieces. I didn't paint all these pages today (in fact I didn't paint any pages today) but over the past month or so. They were left to dry in my painting studio ( that's my half of John's shed!) and I collected and ironed them flat this afternoon.

The one above is my favourite to date and that one might well stay in one piece for the moment as a little treasure to be saved for that extra special occasion. Actually that means I'll rediscover it some time in the future in a file folder! But to get over that precious feeling I'm now photographing or scanning such pages so that I can use the resulting digital files to print it out again on any medium I fancy, either fabric, paper or a transparency.

Here are some more:

The circular pattern on this sheet comes from a cone of sewing thread. I was about to throw it in the bin when I spotted it's potential on the bottom. It makes the two lines at the same time. The centre gold dot comes from the end of a pencil.

The numbers you can just about see are from an commercial mask but the large dots come from sequin waste (also known as punchinella) and the smaller dotty pattern from a strip of paper I punched with edge design punches.

This one uses a commercial mask to make the pattern seen on the right but I also used some ribbled packing paper to make the stripy texture you can see middle bottom. I love using things I find in the house as well as " official" art supplies. It somehow makes the work more your own.

I'm an extremely messy worker (which will be no surprise to those of you who know me!) but I do my level best not to dirty up my actual art work and to that purpose I use baby wipes (love the Huggies ones specially). I use them to wipe my hands occasionally (yes, I know I should wear gloves but I simply can't), clean my rubberstamps, wipe off any masks I've used, etc. You name it, I will probably do it with a baby wipe. And sometimes those baby wipes become unintentionally wonderful colour surprises. They do have that pattern already on them (different ones for different brands) but for me that just adds to the attraction. They are also 2-ply so by separating them you get 2 for the price of one! Always a good thing.

This last one is also a baby wipe that was used as a wipe cloth and it has become my favourite one so far. Simply letting it develop by wiping your hands, brush, rubbing over your paper and cleaning your stamps can produce the most beautiful end result. By photographing it I know I can use it again even if I cut the original into pieces to collage with.

Emerald Spread

2011-09-16T15:46:00.005Z

Finally I feel time has become a commodity that's being gifted to me by the universe. And I do really need it as in my mind at least I haven't actually done a lot of art lately. It has all been a huge amount of fun, beading classes, away days, enjoying our new summer house, but even so not making art doesn't make me a happy bunny.

So today I sat done with my latest quilt and spend the whole afternoon (apart from a dog walk) beading, while this morning I made the above spread in my Sketchbook. This is the sketchbook we were given for the Sketchbook Project 2012 and mine is dedicated to the theme: Monochromatic.

Within that framework I will be dedicating each spread to another colour and if you want to see my previous pages you just have to click on the Sketchbook Project label below. And you can find my Sketchbook 2011 online here.

The coloured squares are a feature for every spread and were done with watercolour pencils. A fact that slipped from my mind as I was adding colour to the left hand page where I used my latest buy, a Gelato. No, not one you can eat, this is much better than that (I'm not a lover of ice-cream anyway!). They are smooth sticks of colour, in fact you could easily confuse them with lip gloss. And you use water to smooth them out. This water addition also made the squares on the other side of the page run slightly as silly me forgot the watercolour characteristic of the pencils!

I'll have to sort that out when I come to that page. You can see what I've done on the picture. It's a very simply layout but it just didn't need anything else to my mind.

Leslie's 4 x 4

2011-09-15T15:43:00.003Z

I'm a member of a group (OhMyGothic Yahoo Group) which started up some years ago to exchange Gothic Arches with other artists (hence the name). We continued with house shapes and followed that with Skinny Pages. For this round we swap 4 x 4" pieces, so make one for another artist ourself each month as well as receive one ourself. The group is closed as we're in the middle of a long swap (it will go on well into next year) so no new members are being accepted at present.

This month it was my turn to make 4 x 4 for Leslie and she had set as her theme Wings. She also stated that she likes birds, and chickens are birds, right?! I made a fabric paper collage and used a paper napkin featuring chickens as part of the collage. The text (don't chicken out now) was added by Dymo writer. Further circular embellishments were added as well as black German scrap which reminded me of a fence. Finally the piece was mounted onto felt and watercolour paper, sewn together around the edges and beaded with green size 11 seed beads.

Once more to Melrose Abbey

2011-09-14T15:52:00.016Z

As luck would have it I returned to Melrose Abbey after my visit last (see previous blogpost here) with with Laura McCabe. I met up with fellow artist Helen Cowans as this is about half way between our respective homes. And we were further blessed with sunshine after two very stormy, overcast and rainy days. I arrived a bit early so before retreating to the coffee shop I wandered along the Abbot's Way by the side of the Abbey grounds. The first picture I could not resist taking was the one above, through the railings. I was very happy with it even when I clicked the shutter. Even though I took many more photographs this is the one that became my blip for today!

I'm trying to show you views I haven't featured before on this blog and this is a sideview of the magnificent door into the Abbey as seen from the surrounding graveyard.

Of course the Abbey must have looked miraculous when the stained glass windows were still in position but on the plus side the view of the surrounding countryside (the Eildon Hills in this case) which are on show now, is equally spectacular. With the sun shining the window became a silhouette through which the views are framed.

When two artists and photographers are out and about and specially when they're both blippers, they do tend to go blip mad. Here is Helen who brought all the SLR gear (I settled for my Lumix, as per usual). We stopped short of laying on the ground (I have been known to do that occasionally!) but we could be found in virtual every other shooting position! I suspect that you could just keep on coming up with new and exciting viewpoints and probably even the monks who spend all their lives in the Abbey, still discovered new treasure in the details on a daily basis. I can't wait to see which of her many pictures Helen will blip today. You can find her on Blip here.

The Abbey really is spectacular and however many times I vist I discover details that hadn't caught my attention before. On the above picture you can see how it must have towered above the surrounding countryside. It could probably be seen from miles away and served as a mighty symbol of God's power. although to me it's the human efforts required to build it, that impress. To the right of those arches at the top is the highest point, only seen by pigeons from close-up.

Of course a leisurely stroll through the graveyard was also part of our visit. I could now never come across graves without paying them a visit and Helen was also keen, the weather was lovely and sunny so nothing to stop us. You do notice different things during different visits and I hadn't seen this particular gravestone before. It's a very unusual shape, with the arch and then the open space before the stone proper. Skull, hour-glass, and crossbones can just be seen but I'm sure there must have been something on the arch too, such as text. Sadly wind and weather have wreaked their usual damage and it's all gone forever.

On this very nicely arched stone, you find the usual emblems of mortality, the skull, the hour-glass and the crossbones, with above the winged angel, a symbol of immortality. No text visible but quite a lot of this stone has been swallowed up in the earth.

Some of the gravestones are completely mystifying. I have no idea what is going on above, apart from a ferocious face peering out at us, which was what caught my attention. It's probably meant to be a skull. Any text has long vanished and I've never come such elaborate scrolls at the side (if that's what they are), as well as an instrument of some sort down below. Nature is in the process of taking over, and I'm pleased we were able to document it before it disappears from view for all time to come.

And by the way if you want to see more pictures of Helen's and my visit to Melrose Abbey you can find them (and me too!) on her blogpost here.

Goodbye ATC

2011-09-13T16:03:00.007Z

The most recent issue (no. 24) of the ATCquarterly Magazine arrived today. The next issue will sadly be the last and I for one will miss reading the only magazine dedicated to Artist Trading Cards. Appropriately the very last challenge theme is: Goodbye. And that made me think immediately about gravestones (well, I'm fairly obsessed with them anyway). So I used a sunny and bright fabric paper background and then printed out one of my photos, featuring a gravestone in West Linton Graveyard (and if you want to see more, check out my other blog on this subject).

On top of that I added Goodbye (done with my Dymo writer). Along the side I added: "it was so much fun while it lasted", something that I would quite like to see on my gravestone and that would be suitable both for the end of me as well as for describing the end of ATCquarterly!

The edges were finished with dotty Japanese tape and then stitching.

This was my ATC for the previous challenge Dog Days, as it was published in issue 24 of the magazine. You can read how I made it on a previous blogpost here.

Artistic Wings Journal Quilt

2011-09-12T15:32:00.006Z

I'm quite late this month with my Journal Quilt. For new readers of this blog (welcome!!) I will just explain that I'm following the Sketchbook Challenge blog where every month a new theme is set for work in your sketchbook. Sometimes I do actually work in a sketchbook but sometimes, as this month, I just think a lot and then dive straight into fabric. I also use the pieces I produce for the challenge as my Journal Quilt for another challenge, this time one issued by the Contemporary Group of the Quilters' Guild here in the U.K. For their Journal Quilts (one a month) the size has to be 10 x 10" and additionally our next 4 JQs must feature buttons somewhere.

The theme this month was Unfurling. A very fashionable word in art circles these days (there is even a book by this title written by Misty Mawn). I thought long and hard about what this meant to me and finally came to the conclusion that in the last few years I have really started to spread (i.e. unfurl) my artistic wings and fly in all kinds of directions. From just making textile art, I've ventured into mixed media, collage, beading, painting on both paper and fabric etc. etc. You name it, I've probably given it a go some time or other.

I used those painted fabrics both for the background as well as for the binding of the JQ. I used a portrait of myself at a much earlier stage of my life (I think I was 16 at the time) and dressed myself up as shown above, with an Indian fabric skirt (to which I added lots of hand embroidery), silk bodice, boots (from Alphastamps) and wings which were a gift from someone (thank you, whoever you are). These became part of my drawer of precious possessions,to be used for special occasions only. This was it! I spray painted them in colours to match the rest of my outfit. I used charms to hang from my chatelaine. They are all from Artchix Studio and read from left to right: wish, dream, imagine, inspire, create, laugh. The text (which I'm using on all my JQs this year as a challenge I set myself) was printed out on silk fabric which I then hand painted to match. The letters were beaded using size 11 seed beads.

Finally I beaded along the edges of the binding too, this time with orange seed beads. This method has become a bit of a signature for most of my Journal Quilts as well as some of my larger work.

A day out with Laura

2011-09-11T15:42:00.012Z

As promised a return to the trip Laura McCabe and I made to both Rosslyn Chapel and Melrose Abbey. And by the way if you want to see us during the beading days you can admire pictures on The Bead Shop Scotland Facebook page here! I was so lucky to get the Saturday too as someone had cancelled. Laura had Friday off from teaching and it seemed such a shame that she was not seeing a lot of Scotland. I know myself that very often you go and teach somewhere but you don't have time to see the outside world much. But I've also been lucky enough for people at various venues to take me out and about, which is such a treat. So I took Laura for a day out in Scotland, visiting first Rosslyn Chapel (no photography inside allowed anymore, but they did have a DVD as well as an image CD for sale!) and then Melrose Abbey (seen above in all it's glory)

It's such a pleasure and one I don't get to indulge in too often, to go around with a fellow artist and one that is so completely on the same wavelength. I felt relaxed enough to just open my studio door to Laura during a brief pit stop at home for some lunch, in between Rosslyn and Melrose, without even considering the state it might be in since I closed the door last. Most artists simply expect the mess as they know that's how we work best. And she also shared my taste for graveyards! Above one of the stones in Melrose Abbey graveyard, where nature is fighting a winning battle!

We both also merrily clicked away to store images of the Abbey on our cameras for future inspiration!

We were so lucky with the weather. It rained during most of our visit to Rosslyn Chapel but that didn't matter as we were inside. By the time we reached Melrose the weather had brightened up considerably as you can see on the above pictures. It made a great play of sunshine and shadow through all the window arches. We also made it all the way up the winding spiral staircase to see the views over all the surrounding countryside. You can see more pictures on my previous blog post about the Abbey.

Finally this piece of sculpture which can be found in the small museum next to Melrose Abbey where Laura and I were the only visitors and which provided us with examples of tiled floors originally found in the grounds of the Abbey as well as pieces of sculpture that were once a part of the building. This one, a human face with blood suckers at the eyes and mouth, looked more pagan than religious to me, but how truely stunning that carving is, specially considering the primitive tools at the disposal of those medieval stonemasons.

I'm already looking forward to Laura's return to Scotland next year, but in the meantime I've made sure I have enough beading kits to keep me going for the foreseeable future!

Laura McCabe

2011-09-10T16:27:00.004Z

Today was the last day Laura was teaching in Haddington and yet again we had a wonderful day and most of us have already booked up for next year.

She had a day off in between teaching yesterday and I thought it was a real shame she never got to see much of Scotland's beauty so I took her to Rosslyn Chapel as well as Melrose Abbey. We had a hugely enjoyable day (even the weather proved willing!) and as well as seeing a lot we also indulged in a day long arty chat!

I'm sorry I haven't been on the blog as much as I usually am and I promise you some pictures of our day out in due course as well as photographs of the graveyard of St. Mary's Church in Haddington, a real treasure trove of beautiful grave monuments. That's all to come in the next few days! In the meantime a portrait of Laura and some of her beading kits behind her. The pile is substantially reduced since she started teaching on Wednesday and yes, quite a few are now here at home with me!

Beading with Laura McCabe

2011-09-07T16:31:00.003Z

Today was the first day of the two I will be spending in Haddington, doing beading classes with the well-known US beader Laura McCabe. Laura has been coming to Scotland to teach for the last 3 years and has build up a dedicated following. These beading groupies of whom I'm one, come to these 2 or 3 teaching days not just to bead but also to catch up with all Laura's news and kits (oh dear, those kits, temptation personified!!)as well as with each other.

It's no exaggeration to say they are the highlight of the year for me. I don't have to worry about teaching myself, I can just sit there and bead to my heart's content. We made a start with the Stargazer bracelet, of which the above is one of 8 components. I've got about 3 done today and will finish the project at home during the coming days, as tomorrow we're doing the next class!

Cogito, ergo sum

2011-09-05T15:43:00.006Z

Another spread in my upright Moleskine journal and I keep forgetting to mention the size. It's 5 x 8.1/4". The whole spread was inspired by the Buddha quotation stamp on the right hand page which reads: " All that we are, is the result of what we have thought". As you can see, that certainly made me think and I moved from that to the Cogito, ergo sum (I think, therefore I am). You can read my ruminations on the pages, but I have to be honest and tell you that I wrote more but have hidden it under all that black tape on the left hand page. There is definitely such a thing as being too frank and this one was not for public consumption. Seeing the tape will hopefully remind me of what I actually wrote there.

Instead I covered the tape with a piece from a very old (mid 19th Century) book about thinking and to my amusement it says: " When thou walkest, musing with thyself, in the green aisles of the forest, utter thy thinkings aloud, that they take a shape and being". I agree with the principle but the practice might lead to unexpected consequences such as being considered stark raving mad!

The face stamp is from Cherry Pie Stamps and the circle one from Dylusions ( called, Around the Edge). I made two faces looking each one looking in opposite directions (a bit like the Roman god Janus) by stamping one face on some painted waxed paper (this was originally only done to test out the stamp) and then glueing that wrong way up (it's transparent) next to the other stamped face on the page. As you can see I made the spread on the 17th August and have only just found a niche for posting it here.