Bodrugan, artists retreat.. Poppies..

My artist retreat at Bodrugan Barton.  Mevagissey, Cornwall.

 At the beginning of April fellow artist Vicki Clarke from the Fannie & Fox gallery invited me to take part in a week long painting retreat.. 

A last minute cancellation had occurred and there were two spaces available.. How could I refuse..

I set myself a couple of goals,  to work with acrylic's on paper and to 'loosen up'!

These are some of my 'poppy paintings'.

  Acrylic on watercolour paper 

 Thought you might like to peek inside the barn - looking from kitchen..

 View looking from lounge area towards kitchen

Frankie Cooper and Patricia Lomax deep in discussion.

 Many a delightful meal spent at this table..

 Views on one of our walks.. Chapel point, Portmellon

 My work accumulating during the week long residency .

The pin boards were a great idea.

 My workspace.. A mess as usual. Still life.. The 'orchid', I think it got the better of me to be honest..

View from the Studio barn.

Can't wait for next year.... 

Better late than never. A little Paula Rego. A larger Grayson Perry

The 'Press Gang' exhibition at Falmouth Art Gallery

Autumn last year!!!

Hunting through my blog posts I found this post.

 I'd created it but had obviously forgotten to post it.

Better late than never. Enjoy..

A postcard for Grumbledad

A portrait of a young woman...

 Megan Clarke.

'Megan - A postcard for Grumbledad'

Megan is a lovely new friend from Penryn, she is an artist and film maker and often shows her work at our lovely Fannie and Fox Gallery.. She has been corresponding with her granddad otherwise known as Grumbledad for the past five years. Many of their letters have included a small sketch.Which is how this all began.

To celebrate her granddad and their love for each other she has organized an exhibition of both their 'letters' in a delightful local cafe in Penryn called Howl.

So, Megan asked everyone to join in and create their own 'postcard' which will be sent to Grumbledad as a surprise..

Here is how I started, firstly it's on a bit of mount-board, which was the first thing that came to hand, the first sketch is a bit rough but it only took a couple of minutes.  I then painted over it in a clear gesso to seal the cardboard, the pencil lines still show through.. I then roughed out the painting in acrylics, sadly I forgot to take a photo at that point.

Then with the heat in my studio (yes the sun was shining unlike this morning) the acrylics were drying out far too quick so I decided to go over it in oils.. When it was dry, I cut it down to postcard size..

I gave it to Megan yesterday, and I'm happy to say she was thrilled.

Update... Here is Megan at her exhibition, posing with her portrait.. 

My husband has been stripping....

No silly.......

The lounge floor, he is far too old to strip.. 

Professionally that is.. Ha..ha..ha!

 

 Now what treatment to give it? Varnish? Wax? It is very yellow/orange at the moment so might have to put my thinking cap on.

Sketchclub, Falmouth.

Our brief this week was to draw hair... Some had more than others, I tried to 'capture' the person instead.

I don't get to the Wednesday meetings very often as my granddaughter's appointments at the hospital quite often collide. But I did manage to get there this week, I didn't get a lot done... Too much chatting. Nothing unusual there then....

Ray's of sunshine in my rented Cornish garden.

Some good news soon about 'our' house.. Soon.

Sketching at Gyllyngvase Beach Cafe..

This morning our lovely Falmouth sketch club visited Gyllyngvase beach cafe, we had a different group leader this morning the lovely Clare.. First we did the usual quick sketches without taking pens from paper and.. Not looking at the paper.

Then longer sketch.. How a mussel shell can look like a skull when enlarged.. Love it.
Clare brought in flotsom and getsom from her walks along the local beaches, I chose a mussel shell and a cockle shell from her collection.

 

I prepared the paper last night with inks and gouache, glue and an old newspaper just for a little fun..

Sketchbook..

Latest drawings, Lanyon Quoit, yesterday on a windy road side... 
No complaints the sun was shining..

These were done the other day when I visited St Michaels Mount.

I was fascinated by this gentle old man listening to the world going by..

Maud... and 'seasnow' in Cornwall

I'm still here... Things are a little tough, but Maud is doing OK, she has just had 4:6 of her treatments, Here she is trying to get Julienana's glasses back into the glasses case just before her treatment on Friday.. Wearing her new cardi, it's about all the creativity I manage at the moment, knitting whilst wiling away the hours with Maud and Nicole at the hospital.. It's surprising what you can make with 3 odd balls from a charity shop and a few odd buttons that are the best part of 30 years old.. Recycling I've been doing it for donkey's years without realizing it..

We have had some amazing storms here lately, this was Gunwalloe, Church Cove Beach yesterday morning at high tide.

  

  The beach and the sea looked as if  it were all made of marshmallows
 Or meringue?

  Look into the distance, those are not white cliffs..

The natural world never ceases to amaze me..

I think blogger is going a little peculiar, this post is typed in upper and lower case Ariel font, but is showing a mix of capitals... Very strange...

Studio, clear up, here I come..

New Year, new broom.  Tidy studio, tidy mind... 

(I live in hope....)

This is my studio in our rented house here in Cornwall, not the best in the world but large and serviceable for the time being until we finally find a home. It's taking much longer to find one than we anticipated.. But hey, with Maud being so poorly perhaps it's for the better.

Yesterday was the first time that I managed to get into the studio since early December.. And the mess.. Who could I blame.... No one but myself!

This is my work bench, so full of clutter, even my trusty Bernina is fighting for space.  I have had some school trousers to patch for my grandson, they have been waiting for weeks so I  am happy to say that is one job finished.. A small accomplishment I know but at the moment I am pleased to have achieved that. 

Now I intend to service my lovely 801 Sport and look after her a little better.. She is over 30 years old and I wouldn't swap her for the world..

Keep sending me your lovely messages.... 

 I love them all.

Thank you, my lovely blogging friends you

are helping to keep me sane at this moment in time.

Recycled Christmas Wishes from...... 'My Cornish home to Yours'...

My 'beach-combed' Christmas heart.. 

If I'd have got my act together and taken more photo's as I constructed this post could have been called 'A recycled heart tutorial'.. But as you may have realised things are a little difficult at the moment.. Too many hospital visits and too much to take on board.. This is all the creative energy I have managed to summon.. 

I brought a very cheap Christmas heart from Wilkinson's in Falmouth.  And yes, it was on 'sale' of course. Cheapskate that I am. I decorated it with my collection of beach finds from Church Cove. So, using tangled bits of net and fisherman's string, seaweed and other bits and bobs that were still clinging to the rope, I wove it between the wreath and tied it on with the orange netting. Easy peasy. 

Collecting beach treasure at Church Cove

When walking on the beach we always take a carrier bag to collect the rubbish that visitors leave behind and the plastic waste the sea delivers to the shore. Recycling and beach clearing at the same time..  It is amazing what you find...

My screenprinting taster day at the...

Kiwi Print Studio, Camborne.  I'll start showing you my final print onto fabric. It looks simple, but it made my brain ache.  It doesn't look much at the moment, but I hope with a little stitching it will be transformed. Ha!   When?  Who knows..  We are STILL! House hunting!

I had such a great day.. We started off with a sketch, I used one which I'd done at the Falmouth sketch club.. Imaginary fish and boat. My first mistake. Too complicated for the emulsion which you use to 'draw' your image on the screen. It's thick and sticky, so my fine lines didn't work.

This is the print onto paper.. Good job that you can learn from your mistakes.. And boy I made a few.... Hundred!

 

 This is Dena in full swing showing us how to produce a repeat  print..

We all had a wonderful day, the class was small the studio large bright and airy.. At the end of the day we were exhausted and we all wanted to learn more..