Christmas Bottle Brush Trees

 It's Wednesday again and time for WOYWW.  This week on my desk I have been finishing off some bottle brush trees that I started glittering a couple of weeks ago.   It's been a great way of using up some of my stash of old beads, earrings and trinkets, and I've really enjoyed feeling festive.  However, the weather has warmed up again and the sun is shining so all Christmassy stuff is on hold while it lasts!

Creative Blog Hop

I've been nominated by the wonderful Shoshi to take part in the Creative Bloggers blog hop this week.  I have been following Shoshi's creative journey for a long time now and she has to be one of the most enthusiastic and diverse artists I know - her work is always inspiring and she generously shares her techniques and discoveries.  The Creative Blog hop happens every Monday and we all answer the same 4 questions, then nominate 3 more people to hop on to.

1.  What am I working on?

I have several projects on the go at the moment - the main one is about decay and repair, which is incorporating my love of moths with my love of antique and vintage textiles.  My background reading to this project is The Subversive Stitch by Rozsika Parker - it's about the social history and relationship between women and embroidery/sewing.  

2.  How does my work differ from others in my genre?

I don't think my work fits into a particular genre, I work in many different styles and mediums, but I do usually have a strong textile theme running through.  I like to have a meaning and concept behind my art work, and often spend quite a long time researching ideas before doing any actual work!

3.  Why do I write/create what I do?

I LOVE doing what I do - I create because I feel the need to and because if fulfills me.   

4.  How does my writing/creative process work?

I am usually inspired by an image or object.  I take the image and start collecting information and researching ideas around it.  For example, one of my current projects is inspired by a large beautiful piece of coral.  I started collecting coral images and looking at the fragility of our coral reefs - this led me to explore how we as humans live and balance life on our planet - I started to think of coral as a delicate base underpinning our lives, representing the fragile planet and how we live on it. By mixing it with architecture I wanted to question how man lives in harmony with nature - this is leading me to explore other ideas, different textures, using other mediums and collecting anything I find that might be remotely relevant to this work! 

Now for the tricky bit - I am supposed to nominate three people. I thought very hard about who I would choose and I tried to find three people who are all very different in their chosen genre, and who I find very inspiring and uplifting whenever I visit their blogs - in fact it was an incredibly difficult thing to do!  However, each person for different reasons was unable to take part and at this point I decided that I wasn't going to start looking for anyone else. I felt uncomfortable at the thought of working my way down a list.
However, although I am not nominating three people I would highly recommend visiting some of the blogs on my 'People I Like to Visit' list - here you will find some fantastic artists and some very happy, inspiring and visually delightful places to visit.  All these people and many others put a smile on my face, lift my spirits when I'm down and inspire me when I have lost my artistic motivation.   A huge THANK YOU from the heart!

Warm and Woolly

It's time for WOYWW again, and this week summer really has disappeared - after last weeks Christmas trees I'm now in woolly scarf mode!  

I found some rather cosy knitting and crochet patterns on the internet and I felt so chilly and miserable over the wet August bank holiday that I dug out my knitting bag and got stuck in!  My newest finds, the little jug and bowl, were sitting on my desk and I noticed how beautifully they matched the wool - what a lucky coincidence!

For anyone interested both lots of wool are Dune by Trendsetter Yarns.

Bottle Brush Christmas Trees and WOYWW #272

I know it's a bit early for a lot of people but already I've been seeing deskers working on their Christmas cards, and I thought it would be nice to get organised and ahead of myself for a change!  So on my desk this week, for WOYWW, I've been making little decorations using bottle brush trees and vintage patty tins.  I also found this large silver plated bowl which will have three different sized trees on it.  So far I have glittered the trees and they are all waiting to be decorated.

Stamp Carving and Peonies

On my desk this week for WOYWW I 've been having a go at stamp carving for a long term project I'm doing on coral.  I usually use lino but decided to give this pink stuff a go - it's Speedball Speedy-Carve block and it's great stuff!  It's so easy to use and following Julie Balzaar's advice of using a glass cutting board it made the job a whole lot easier.

I'm also having a bit of an obsession with Peonies at the moment, so following on from my previous blog post I'm adding some more photos of this beautiful flower.  Sadly after being messed about by me for the photo session they decided not to open up in their vase but stayed as tight buds for quite a while before dying!   They really don't like me!

Peonies

I was so pleased to find that Mosaic Monday is now being hosted by Judith over at Lavender Cottage - thank you Judith!  Next task - to put together a mosaic to post on it!  I have a great love of Peonies but can't seem to grow them in the garden - they simply disappear over winter, never to be seen again!  I took these photos a few weeks ago after finding a bunch of them in my local store - I was unable to resist!

WOYWW #270 and Moths and Yellow Roses

I don't know why I'm sharing my desk for WOYWW this week - it's a complete disaster!  The last week of the ICAD challenge just didn't happen for me - below you can see one of several failed attempts at an index card - I somehow couldn't get the ideas out of my brain and onto the actual cards!  I now need to find the Oomph to tidy my desk - I just hate it being messy and unorganized!

Failing at the index cards I turned to my trusty old moths and photographed them on a little pink dish that I picked up in a local charity shop, a rose from the garden and an old book.  Mmm, salmon pink and yellow - not sure about that colour combo - but it's growing on me!

The Kaffe Fassett Exhibition

I had a wonderful day out last week - we went to the American Museum, just outside Bath, which is only a couple of hours away from us.  I particularly wanted to go as they have a Kaffe Fassett exhibition running at the moment (until 2nd November I think) and I really have a weakness for his work and I love his use of colour.  I certainly wasn't disappointed - all I could hear as I walked round were other people besides myself saying Wow and Ooh!

Here are some photos I took of the exhibition.  
I'm sharing this post with Mary over at Mosaic Monday - I was sad to hear this week will be the last one - a huge thank you Mary, and I hope you find much enjoyment in your new endeavours!  

I think the lime green area had to by my favourite - I fell in love with the cabbage leaf teapot!

Such a riot of colour!