It's Raining Cats And Dogs

We complain about our wet weather but compared to the poor residents of the North West of England, we have nothing to complain about. They have had dreadful flooding over wide areas and destruction of homes and livelihoods. Sadly some people have also died as a result. Sitting here in the drier south of the country we cannot contemplate how awful it must be to have your possessions ruined by filthy water. My heart goes out to them.

I decided to try my hand at another collage this week. This is the result and it is called Josephine's Tree. The lady and the tree are collaged but the background is digital. I was going to paint the background but when I started the watercolour began spreading on to the collaged leaves and spoiled them, hence the digital colour.

Here is the detail of the little bit of text I found that I thought would go quite well with the picture.

This is a digital image called Red Tree. For some reason Blogger doesn't reproduce digital red colours very well. They always look blurry. Take my word for it that there is not a blur in sight on the original.

A couple of gorgeous snowy Christmas cards for you here. They are produced by Canns Down Press who have a nice display of cards this year here.

Snow Bike - Sheila McInnes

Special Delivery - Hannah Cole


Some local shots of our beautiful autumn foliage and scenery.

My most recent charity shop find was the 1983 book below by Joyce Hargreaves published by Batsford. It is full of really interesting printmaking information and great prints. I have posted three of my favourites below. I can't post a link because I cannot find very much at all about Joyce Hargreaves although apparently she has been printmaking for many years.

Cockerel

Scraperboard Sketch

Web

Who could resist this seasonal door mat from Gisela Graham. I love it but I don't think I could wipe my feet on them. It would be cruel. They are far too cute

The weather was wet and miserable on Thursday so I decided to treat myself to a visit to my favourite local contemporary art and craft gallery. This gallery is like Dr Who's tardis. Nothing much to look at on the outside but goes on forever inside. It is a treasure trove of lovely art and crafts and cards. They have their Christmas exhibition on at the moment. Once inside I noticed a display of ink and watercolour original paintings by an artist I was blogging about last week - Flora McLachlan. What a coincidence. They were so dainty and detailed in real life. I didn't realise that she painted as well as doing printmaking. I also found a couple of her images on greetings cards by PrimeArts. You can see the others here on their website. These will definitely remain with me.

Greetings cards by Flora McLachlan

I have been reading a lot about the newly opened Anthropologie shop in London lately and after seeing these necklaces on their website I think I will have to pay them a visit soon. They have lots of gorgeous jewellery on show. This is the US link but I am sure they will have similar in Regent Street.

Idlyll Respite Neclace

Stone Garden Necklace

Cornelia Forster was a very prolific Swiss artist and craftswoman who created in many media including paintings, drawings, sculpture, tapestry, embroidery, ceramics, photography and poetry. Quite an extensive list. I don't suppose she had much time to herself. You can see a lot of her work at Adhikara here.

I really like her simple and attractive fruits below

and totally love this woodcut. It is very simple but beautiful.

I came across some exquisite stained glass on the Internet the other day. I have posted about stained glass before (and probably will again) as I absolutely love it. Traditional or contemporary, it doesn't matter. I think the colours are so vivid and vibrant that they sing. Only glass illuminated by light can give you that effect.

Here are some wonderful examples by Ann Sotheran who can be found here, Hazel Yabsley here and Angharad Whitfield here.

Angharad Whitfield - Allium

Angharad Whitfield - In The Garden (Autumn)

Angharad Whitfield - If Nothing Ever Changed There Would Be No Butterflies (Detail)
(See the complete window here)

Hazel Yabsley - Change Of Wind

Curlew by Ann Sotheran

Christmas Is coming...Too Soon

Well Halloween is nearly upon us. Be mindful that the veil between this world and the next is at its thinest on the 31st October. In the UK we put the clocks back one hour last night because British Summer Time has ended. The weather doesn't realise this though. Our temps this week are predicted to be around 20C which is amazingly high for this time of year. I am sure it will change soon and we will get some lovely crisp frosty mornings.

This is my third drawing in "The Woman Who Planted Trees" series. I am planning several more in the months ahead as it is a theme I am very much in tune with. It is pen and ink with digital background etc.

I have finally completed my 2009 Christmas card design. I am quite pleased with the composition. At first it looked a little bare and then I had the idea of putting in a row of trees to break up the middle distance. I think it has worked quite well. Now I only have to get all the cards made...! This is a blackbird by the way, for those of you who are not ornithologically minded. I have to put a black border around my images printed onto white otherwise I wouldn't have any idea where to cut.

The beautiful paintings below are by Suzy Fasht who is based in Devon where she works from her garden studio. She is very interested in gardens and nature with lots of gorgeous patterning detail and fantastic colour. Looking at her art is like a glimpse into another world - fabulous. Suzy has a page full of art like this at Axis here.

Meadow With Daisies


Swan With Luggage

Summer Meadow With Ghost Trees

For some time now I have wanted to get a copy of one of the Ernst Haeckel Art Forms books. I chose his Art Forms In Nature. For those not familiar with his work, Ernst Haeckel was a very eminent German biologist and artist who died in 1919. He illustrated a huge number of animal, sea creatures and nature forms in great detail in connection with scientific research. His artwork is so beautifully detailed and patterned that it has also become a valuable resource for the artist. His art provides an endless supply of patterns for those of us seeking inspiration - and that is probably just about every artist and craftsperson. (The possibility for new tree forms is endless.)

I love the distressed and decayed wood look of Margaret Keelan's ceramic sculptures. Her doll-like figurative forms I find quite fascinating. They remind me of childrens' toys discarded and left out in the garden. She admits to being fascinated by the female form and most of her work has been on this theme. There is lots more to see on her website here.

Pet

Woman With Turban

The Girl With The Rabbit

I love any greetings cards with cat pictures on. This beautiful card is by Maren Schaffner who is a German artist. She lives in a farmhouse with her eight cats and two dogs. She obviously has no problems getting kitty models to sit for her. Bottman Design Shop here has lots of her cards. The images are quite small but you can see what a great watercolourist she is. The shop I bought this card from only had a couple of others but there is a large range. (There are two other pages as well).

I thought you might like to see some moody black and white monumental angel photos I have in my archives. All have been photoshopped a bit.

This is my cat Jack who isn't an angel yet, thank goodness, but he is looking very moody and statue like in this shot so I have included him. In fact, he is looking a little bit "witches catish" here. Now I come to think of it, he does tend to disappear around Halloween time...hmmm.

I have long admired the beautiful embroidery of Rebecca Crompton who grew up in the early 1900's and became a teacher of embroidery at the Croydon School of Art. This is a Rebecca Crompton and Elizabeth Thomson booklet which I bought from the Embroiderer' Guild bookstall at the K&S Show a few years ago. It is beautifully illustrated, and unlike my old book below, it is still easy to obtain.

This is the Rebecca Crompton book I was lucky enough to find at the Knitting & Stitching Show a couple of weeks ago. It was from one of my favourite book vendors there called Felicity J Warnes, The Old Bookshop which is actually a B&M shop in Enfield. The stand at the show is very small but they have some lovely old, out of date treasures.

Below are some of the illustrations of her work in the book. It is filled with applique embroideries and lots of her sketches and drawings. The book is dated 1936 and the illustrations are mostly black and white. The embroidery below is called Magic Garden. Interestingly enough I have seen photos of this same embroidery with much paler colours and reversed. I am not sure which is the original orientation.

The images below are all etched by the Scottish artist and printmaker Catherine Grubb. She uses a variety of media to produce her beautifully delicate and detailed work including drawing, painting and etching, and her work is highly collectable. I have illustrated her etchings here, but her pen and ink drawings and paintings are equally lovely. Being a pen and ink artist myself (although nowhere near her ability) I am always interested to see how others handle the medium. Her work is extensively illustrated on The Great Atlantic Gallery site here.

All In Green Went My Love Riding

The Mysterious Garden

The Secret Lane

The Sailing Of The Sea Swallow

The Enchanted Forest