Happy New Year

I found this quote and I think it's a good one to think about as we prepare for 2010. It wasn't attributed to anyone so I cannot credit them for their insight but I have written it down on a piece of paper and pinned it to my wall. I won't make any resolutions but I'll see it every day and the message might stick. Hope everyone has a Happy New Year. Best wishes for 2010!

Don't be afraid to attempt something new

Remember it was amateurs who built the Ark

It was professionals who built the Titanic

From the sublime to the ridiculous

I'm not sure whether it's lateral thinking or word association but after posting about the albatross I started thinking about other birds and extinction. Searching around, I came across the elephant bird from Madagascar which I'd never even heard of. Before becoming extinct in the 17th century this flightless bird was the world's largest creature, standing about 10 feet tall and weighing half a ton....


Well, then I started thinking about elephants and started casually looking for tenuous links, coming up with this you tube video that's already been seen by over 3 million people - so I'm obviously a bit slow myself...... I thought it might raise a smile and get us towards the end of the year on a high.... literally!

The year in pictures

We've got to that time of the year when all the newspapers and tv channels are doing a review of the past twelve months. This image was published and widely reported and it serves as a salutory reminder for me to keep saving my stamps to help save the future of the albatross. With the failures of Copenhagen still fresh in the memory this photo shows the progress that mankind has wreaked on the environment.

This Laysan albatross carcass was found in the Pacific Ocean. Mother birds fly to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch - an enormous floating vortex of plastic debris that has been brought together by ocean currents - and bring back what they think is food for their young. The chicks, which obviously cannot digest the plastic, often starve to death. About 80% of plastic debris in the ocean is discarded on land and kills more than a million seabirds each year.

Coupled with the 100,000 albatrosses killed every year by longline fishing, the fight to try and do our bit to save these beautiful birds has to be worth a try. At any time of the year your used British and foreign stamps can be sent to the RSPB and sold for this project. Read more here.

If you start keeping your stamps from now it will take a while to get a good size package to send. I send ours about four times a year but it's always a mega pack at this time of year because so many people save their Christmas card stamps for me, for which I am very grateful. All the RSPB need are the stamps with a small amount of envelope edging, separated into UK and foreign packs and sent to RSPB Stamps, PO Box 6198, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, LU7 9XT.

I'll get off my soap box now and promise not to go on about this again. Thanks for reading.

Gifts to treasure

My talented friend Sue gave me this beautiful book for Christmas, made from proofs of her collagraph prints. She did a series of great tit prints and you can just see a lovely head peeking out of the corner. It came with a couple of packs of used stamps and was a delight to unwrap. It means so much to me that someone took the time and trouble to craft something individual and personal. Sue knows I love artist books and stamps too, so I guess this gift was guaranteed to hit the mark. I love it. Thanks Sue.

I am lucky to have Vickie as a friend too. She and I share a passion for textiles and dyeing. Recently she went to an exhibition in York about sashiko, a form of indigo dyed textile used by the workers in the Far East for their clothes. I am trying to work out a way of doing the same before it moves on to Glasgow but if I can't make it I have my own special reminder in the form of this beautifully thought out book that Vickie made for me. Using indigo dyed fabrics she has created a book called 'Folded Secrets', based on a booklet made by needlewomen in S. W. China to store threads and patterns.

There are small china beads attached to the front and the book includes small hand dyed thread samples using indigo and woad with the origami folded boxes opening to reveal small samples of sashiko where the material has been stitched, dyed and then unpicked to show the pattern. It is a joy. Thanks Vickie.

My final treasure first came out in 1942. My brother and sister-in-law found me an old copy of Woman's Own from the war. Now I don't know if it was because I worked in newspapers for over 20 years but I have a love of newspapers and magazines from any era. They are such barometers of the times and I enjoy reading the letters and problems pages the most. This edition has a letter from a Mrs Fusspottle asking how she can help the war effort and there is a double page spread devoted to making economies at home which will help defeat Hitler. Priceless. Thanks Kay, I know this one is down to you.

Hope you all had some lovely gifts too. Time to get back into the swing of things now, although I always feel a bit 'in limbo' during this week. I lose track of what day it is but the sun is shining so keeping my fingers crossed for a frost free New Year for all.

A Christmas Carol for Christmas Eve

Feet that could be clawed but are not...
Arms that might have flown but did not...
No-one said 'Let there be angels' but the birds

Whose choirs fling alleluias over the sea,
Herring gulls, black backs carolling raucously
While cormorants dry their wings on a rocky stable.

Plovers that stoop to sanctify the land
And scoop small, roundy mangers in the sand,
Swaddle a saviour each in a speckled shell.

A chaffinchy fife unreeling in the marsh
Accompanies the tune a solo thrush
Half sings, half talks in riffs of wordless words.

As hymns flare up from tiny muscled throats,
Robins and hidden wrens whose shiny notes
Tinsel the precincts of the winter sun.

What loftier organs than these pipes of beech,
Pillars resounding with the jackdaws' speech,
And poplars swayed with light like shaken bells?

Wings that could be hands, but are not...
Cries that might be pleas but cannot
Question or disinvent the stalker's gun,

Be your own hammerbeam angels of the air
Before, in a maze of space, you disappear,
Stilled by our dazzling anthrocentric mills.

Carol of the Birds by Anne Stevenson

From 'Light Unlocked' Christmas Card Poems published by Enitharmon

Patience

I have spent most of today showing the daughter of a friend how to dye silk scarves and then nuno felt into them. It's been exhilirating because of her enthusiasm and rewarding because she is working towards her 'A' level and I know I have contributed in some small way today. Next week we're going to screenprint onto them and maybe dye some pulp to make paper.

She's gone home happy and I have collapsed into a chair. Five hours of concentrated effort at my age is tough on the constitution!! Time then to relax and watch this video again. Found it a few days ago and if you're into books and bookbinding you'll enjoy this amazing work by Randi Parkhurst. The title is apt. Patience was needed to create the books involved. Patience was needed in making the video and a little patience is needed to watch it. It slows a bit in the middle and then you realise how relaxing the whole process is. Well, it worked for me before so I'm going to have another look now to help me wind down gently....

Patience from Glowing Heads on Vimeo.

Alternative tree decorations

We're away for the few days of Christmas and didn't feel like putting up a tree this year but walking the garden this morning to survey the effects of the heavy frost, I saw the dogwoods in glorious colour and just took the snips to them. With a few woven branches, a string of lights and some light - very light - homemade felt and papier mache decorations I made an alternative tree. A surprise for my husband when he comes home.

Mixed bag.... quite literally

As we get closer to the end of the year I feel the need to tie up loose ends, you know, those projects you started but stalled upon. Of course, I could just not bother and dispose of the evidence that I even made a start but I know that's cheating (isn't it?) In fairness, the bag wasn't a project - it was a promise. I have made lots of things this year that my friend has sold on behalf of the charity 'Combat Stress' and when the news is full of Iraq and Afghanistan it re-inforces my desire to help her out. She does such a lot for returning soldiers who struggle to cope with civilian life and whilst I don't kid myself that my sewing makes a huge difference, it does help out. I promised to make a handbag for a raffle tomorrow in aid of the charity and faffed about until yesterday, changing the material, using different handles and then thought 'Stop, get on with it' and of course went back to my original plan (why do we always do that...) I am very pleased with the end result. It's a lovely bag for the summer and I hope it raises some money.

The wool is a long term thing though. I spun both of these hanks earlier this year. The brown mix is a wool and silk blend with a lovely handle to it so I started knitting a scarf for my sister-in-law for Christmas. This has stalled big time, so, sorry Kay, no scarf this year. I got waylaid by crocheting the boucle mix that wasn't even a present idea! Of course , I started with no plan and just kept on crocheting until I ran out of fibre... except I ran out before I'd completed the third and final row... Plan B was a rosette made out of the excess. It looks.... different. Should have carried on with the knitting.

The other week, an artist friend of mine showed me some jewellery she was making with a very lightweight air drying clay. Naturally, I had to try it. I thought it would be interesting to make collagraph plates with so made a few small ones using some alphabet rubber stamps and the ends of icing bag attachments to make marks with. As I don't ever ice anything I decided I'd use them somehow!

This is one of a couple I made and then dry embossed. The idea was to make tags for presents but only works if your friends have names with letters that read both ways. After I ran them through the press I inked up one of the small plates but I had too much going on with it to get a good idea if the clay works as a medium. Going to do a few more next week and use the time between Christmas and New Year to experiment.

I never make New Year's resolutions but if I had a wish from Santa, I'd like him to make me more focussed next year and more disciplined. Maybe that way I won't start so many things that don't get finished!

Evelien Lohbeck

I have no idea how this is done but I love it. The thought process that goes into work like this just amazes me. See more of Evelien's work on her website here.

Noteboek from Evelien Lohbeck on Vimeo.

Good try, but...

I have just heard the radio news about the snow that has fallen in the night. I hope some of you are not struggling with the elements today. Here in Pembrokeshire we are having a glorious sunny day with a cloudless sky. It's cold, but it's dry and I have been watching two thrushes working their way around the garden. Having just refilled all our bird feeders I happened to look out of my kitchen window to see one of the thrushes thinking about trying to get on the fat balls! I have never seen this before as the larger birds, apart from starlings and woodpeckers, just don't even go there. He kept manouevering up the tree and thinking about making his move but he looked decidedly wary about the whole venture. I guess though that when you're hungry you'll try anything.

When the willow tit came along the thrush looked as if to say 'push off mate, I was here first'. Next minute he made a dive for it and failed, dashing to the undergrowth. I last saw him hopping off to lick his wounds...

Talented friends, inspiring ideas

This year I have worked with three of my friends on a group project, the project being that we shared our skills and pushed each other to new levels of creativity, sometimes working outside of our comfort zone and trying new ideas. We've hit a bit of a hiatus at the moment but I have a cunning plan for next year..... won't reveal it in case they read about it and are too prepared.... One of these friends is the talented Lynda who sent me this little wire Christmas tree card. It is great. A simple idea, brilliantly executed and it reminded me of another of Lynda's ideas with cards.

Using her own photos, Lynda prints them on to inkjet transparency sheets, cuts them out and attaches them to her card. Now I'd printed out my reindeer idea and it didn't look right so I printed the image onto a transparency and attached them to a card. You can't see it from the photo but it works really well. What didn't work so well though was the way I attached it. Lynda used staples and I wanted a seamless look so used a glue stick.... and it fell off, so now I know why Lynda didn't go down this route. I had to resort to staples as I didn't have any double sided tape which was probably the better alternative. I know I should have waited until I got some tape but you know how it is when you have to finish something there and then! So, as this was not going to work I only made a handful and looked for cards I might have on standby to make up the numbers.

Last year I appliqued these fabric scraps onto cards , found them today and then run the sewing machine around the edge. Perhaps they work, perhaps they don't. My jury is out but in my head I can hear my Mum's voice asking me what they have to do with Christmas.....

I also found this group of felt cards I made a few years ago. They were very popular and I made and sold loads of them. Too late to start making them for this year so it will just have to be the reindeer (mind your fingers on those staples....) and the fabric squares or maybe Lynda has made too many Christmas trees and might let me have a few...

Spirits raised

Listening to the news about the climate change summit this morning put me in a reflective mood, hence the post about Copenhagen but after I finished it I sat down with a cup of tea, which is something which always help put the world to rights. Looking out of the window I saw this beautiful Song Thrush and grabbed the camera which is always nearby. There have been a couple of them about for a week or so now, rooting around in the garden, turfing over leaves and generally foraging. It's precisely for this reason that my husband cuts nothing in the garden down until the Spring. He leaves seed heads and dying foliage for the birds to take advantage of. I think they are so beautifully marked and love seeing them. It makes me feel I must live in a very special place if they also choose to come here.

Well, then the sun came out, I had the camera in my hand and the nuthatch came to one of the feeders to oblige me. I am equally enthralled by these little masked bandits. This year we have seen young ones but only get one or two at a time at the nut feeders. The squirrel helps them out by taking the lid off of the feeder and they then dive in while they can! They come back time and time again until they can't get their heads in far enough. After that they have to resort to pecking away at the mesh like the others.

I suddenly remembered that I had promised my sister in law some garden greenery to make her Christmas wreath. She saw the idea on 'Kirstie's Handmade Christmas' last week and had put in a request for holly, ivy, rosemary, evergreens and allium seedheads etc. So, I tramped around the garden with my secateurs as I have to go to Bristol tomorrow and she will be at my Mum's house to collect it all. I sprayed a few seedheads myself with some gold spray paint. All of a sudden I felt a bit festive! Then I remembered I'm off for a tea party tonight with friends so I came in to make Cranberry and Pecan Muffins with Cinammon. Now I have the smells of Christmas spices to go with the smell of the rosemary. Thanks to the birds, the sunshine and being in the fresh air, my usual positive spirit has returned. Hooray!

Mrs Darwin in Copenhagen

7 April 1852

Went to the Zoo
I said to Him -
Something about that Chimpanzee over there reminds me of you.


Although these words from Carol Ann Duffy's collection 'The World's Wife' usually make me smile when I read them, events in Copenhagen do not raise my spirits. The climate change summit in Copenhagen confronts us with our primal tragedy. We are the universal ape, shown by Darwin to have evolved into the amazing creatures we are today - but I despair in the news reports coming out of Denmark.

Part of me wants to bury my head in the sand and say 'I'll be long gone before things change for the worse' but that's just copping out of taking responsibility isn't it? That makes me as bad as the politicians jockeying for position and the best deal for their country regardless of the overall picture. I can't influence events in Copenhagen but I can deepen my resolve to keep doing my little bit for the planet every chance I get.

I don't think they will meet the deadline and come up with something they can agree on, let alone put into effect , but I hope with all my heart that I am wrong. Otherwise I'll begin to doubt whether we will ever evolve enough to meet the challenge.

The creative process

F is for Fail is a short film about the creative process and the failures we always encounter but often overcome. Each letter has two words associated with it; sometimes the positive word overcomes the negative word - and vice versa. I don't recognise all the words as being applicable to me but I struggle with the creative process so it strikes a chord. I love these sort of animations - if only I was that creative! Shame the title has to focus on the word 'fail' but it goes hand in hand with learning how to manage the process I suppose. Anyway, see what you think.

F is for FAIL from Brent Barson on Vimeo.

Miscellany

Because the weather has been dry for a couple of days we decided to try a moth trap last night. We do not usually put one out in the winter months but we've seen quite a few moths fighting to get to the light through our conservatory window this week so we gave it a try. Well, what a damp squib it was. We had moths - well, we had two moths to be precise. They were both the same and unsurprisingly they were December moths. Should have known. There are lots of moths that derive their given name from the month they are at their most plentiful. I've always thought there was a book or series of prints in that fact somewhere but our two moths do not inspire me today.

Instead we went off to Cardigan for shopping and chanced upon an exhibition by Bethan Ash called 'Over Twenty'. Bethan does have the inspiration I lack , the basis of which is her love of light, colour and abstract form. She is a full time quilt artist from Cardiff and more of her work can be seen here. The photo does not show how seamlessly these pieces are made or the depth of colour in the top stitching. Neither can you judge the scale but this piece measured about 5 feet x 4 feet and was very effectively mounted. Whilst quiltmaking on this scale is not my thing I can admire the technical skill and the colour sense displayed. It was definitely worth a visit.

Another fine day...

Sunrise in Pembrokeshire this morning. Another fine day in prospect. Fingers crossed.

Escape from the ironing

I woke up this morning and thought what a glorious day it was to be alive. It was bright, sunny and cold. I love this sort of weather and after all the rain it was great to see my favourite view in my garden bathed in sunshine. I just wanted to get out and about so decided to pop up to Cardigan and do the tail end of my Christmas shopping. I had loads of ironing to do but thought I'd save it until later....

When I came home and had lunch I saw the ironing pile beckoning but then thought, 'what the heck, these days are few and far between , I think I'll go to the beach'.... so I called into a friend on the way and asked if she fancied a brisk walk along the shoreline. She jumped at the chance and grabbed her handbag. When I said she wouldn't need it, she said she wanted her purse so she could buy us both an ice-cream. The sudden sun must have addled her brain. I had to point out that it was December and the kiosk would definitely not be open! Anyway, we went off to Angle beach first which was deserted and getting a bit grey. We were losing the sun fast so raced around to Freshwater West a couple of miles away.

There were only a few people about and it was cold, cold, cold but it was great. The waves were quite high and there was lots of spume . Fabulous afternoon. Really blew away the cobwebs.

All that fresh air will make sure I'll sleep well tonight.... but not till I've done that ironing.... there is no escape is there?

Confused listener

I never quite 'got' Bob Dylan when I was younger but I love his Theme Time radio broadcasts.There's something about that gravelly 'lived in' voice that makes you want to listen to it over and over , but , this morning I really thought I was hearing things when a track from his Christmas album came on the radio. Bob Dylan doing a Christmas album? Surreal. Then I found this track. It can't be easy to sing with your tongue so firmly in your cheek or am I missing something?

Nature's Powers and Spells

This morning I received a treat. I ordered this wonderful book from the artist Carry Akroyd last week. It is a gift from my Mum and , although it's not cheap, it is so beautiful I can hardly wait to read it .

If you are not familiar with Carry's work please have a look here and see the whole range of work she produces. We first saw it a few years ago, quite by chance, at an exhibition in Presteigne. On an impulse we've never regretted we bought the painting above and we see it and enjoy it every day. Working in watercolour and acrylic whilst also screenprinting, monoprinting, etching and producing linocuts, Carry's work is all about the relationship between humans and wildlife. Most of it is rooted firmly in the Northamptonshire countryside where she lives and in the surrounding areas .This book covers her 20 year career showing many samples of her paintings ,prints, sketchbook work and inspirations. The range is diverse and the images seem to document the passing of a way of life we won't see again.

Alongside wildlife, Carry is also inspired by the 19th century poet John Clare, someone else who was rooted in his particular time and place. She has illustrated work for some books of his poems along with other natural history publications. More examples are represented in this glorious book.

Picking a few images to show the depth of Carry Akroyd's talent is impossible. Please have a look at the body of work here and pick your own favourites.

.... and while I think about it

I remember seeing this earlier this year. It was the background to a TV commercial for Samsung and because it's in Wales and about sheep, therefore very topical I thought I'd add it here. The fact it made me laugh also helps! Hope it makes you smile.

Unstoppable..... unfortunately

My dining room table is covered in heaps of magazines and odd bits of paper at present. I am collage obsessed and cannot stop cutting and ripping bits of paper. I stick images down and make accordion books or make little scenes in my sketchbook. Everything is fair game and in my Selvedge magazine this month there was a flyer encouraging subscription. The picture was of a crocheted blanket made of 'granny squares', as I know them. Anyway, I started thinking about using up woollen oddments this way and looked up to see that our neighbour, Farmer Trevor, has rented his fields out to some tack sheep this year. There was a big crowd of them looking at me over the hedge.... Well, in my brain, one thing leads to another, the synapses go into meltdown and before you know it I am doodling and wielding the scissors with gay abandon. I think I've done the Christmas card thing to death for this year now. I want to get back to just messing about..... when is Easter?

The Earth is Round

Wonderful short film animation. Found via Aqua Velvet.

The Earth is Round! The Image of the Earth in the Middle Ages. from Michael Fragstein on Vimeo.

No more, I promise

Once I started making up some card ideas with the reindeer I couldn't seem to stop. These are tonight's efforts and I promise they are the last I shall inflict on you. My husband thinks I should have come up with something witty to go with the baubles theme but hey, I've been up a long time and the little grey cells are running low.... so there's nothing at all wrong with the traditional Welsh greeting for tonight - will probably change it tomorrow or scrap the idea altogther knowing me.

This card is an idea I've worked before after seeing the phrase on a T shirt in a shop window in Canada about 10 years ago. At the time, 'Who wants to be a Millionaire' was new to the TV and the phrase just seemed to work for Christmas cards. It's no longer new but it still makes me smile... do I need to get out more do you think?

Treasure trove find

I am addicted to charity shops. I cannot walk past a single one without crossing the threshold and heading straight for the books. I look out the damaged, the tossed aside and the forgotten. Someone else's cast off is like treasure to the magpie instinct in me. The other day I struck gold with this unassuming tome. The Sunday Dispatch? I worked in newspapers for over 15 years and have never heard of it and the book must be at least 60 years old! Who cares though, because the black and white images inside are a gift, particularly the ones of birds.

But as there are no robins, doves, calling birds, partridges or french hens inside this book I thought I'd practice my Photoshop skills (non existent despite a 5 week course this autumn) and mess about with a couple of great reindeer photos to make my Christmas card digitally this year.

This is my first attempt using the endpapers from another old book in the background and layering the images.

Then I made a few more backgrounds and did the same again . I can either use each image individually or put them all together like this perhaps?

Or I can change the whole thing to make it look a bit more like the season - blue with the cold! I'm going to print them onto square cards today to see what they look like but I've already been sidetracked by other images from the book of large owls. I've been combining them with backgrounds from my collagraph prints, altering the thresholds to get strong black and white images for gum arabic transfers.....

I was engrossed in this yesterday but have to return to my chores today. Ironing and sewing await after I've been to town to do my weekly food shopping... where I remember that a new charity shop has just opened. Got to dash!

More than a murmur...

One of my favourite winter poems is 'December' by Carol Ann Duffy. It begins ' The year dwindles and glows to December's red jewel...' and there is a definite nip in the air today, a tell tale sign that winter is on its way.

So is the sight of hundreds of starlings beginning to flock together. We have a group that took up residence yesterday in the field next door and they spent most of the day feeding and flying in an out of the ash tree in my garden. As you know, the collective noun for starlings is 'a murmuration' .When they all get together and make their incessant noise it is more than a murmur! It is deafening. There have been more today but they usually decamp to the farm down the road where they gather in their thousands. As the nights shorten they will fly over the garden at roughly the same time every afternoon on their way to a roost in the reed beds of the River Cleddau about 4 miles away. We don't get to see those huge moving swarms that you see on television but I still get a thrill at the sight of hundreds of them speeding past.

Starlings are an official 'red list' species and this means they are a special case for conservation. When you've grown up with them it is hard to believe that their numbers have declined by over 70 % in recent years and that they need our protection. I hope I shall see lots of them in December, when, as the poem says, 'the sky blushes and lays its cheek on the sparkling fields....'

Save the Albatross this Christmas please...

I have spent most of today catching up with my commitment to 'Combat Stress'. I realised I was way behind on my promise to use the fabric I was given and make items for sale this Christmas so I've been beavering away making cushion covers, peg bags and tea cosies. I am happy to support the charity this way and when I received our first Christmas card (what!) it reminded me of another charity and a request I'd like to make. The card above was my home made Christmas card from last year and yes, along with obsessions about beetles, moths, butterflies and buttons I also have a thing about stamps and about birds.

So, for the past few years I have been saving my stamps for the RSPB's Save the Albatross campaign. Friends and family know what I'm doing and keep me steadily supplied all year round with their British and foreign stamps. Once I have a large envelope full I send them off quite regularly and start all over again. If the Christmas cards are on the way there is no better time to start saving them. Even if it's only for Christmas, your stamps will make a difference. It's the one time of the year after all when we are guaranteed to get lots of post!

These beautiful creatures spend years wandering the seas only returning to land to form bonds and mate, which they do for life. With wingspans of up to 11 feet these wonderful birds can live up to 50 years old. In the myths of the sea the albatross used to be seen as a good omen unless one was harmed and then the luck turned bad. In sea lore they were said to be the souls of lost sailors.

Every species of albatross is facing extinction and numbers have plummeted worldwide. This is due in the main to long-line fishing practices. The birds are killed on hooks meant for fish, for no reason at all. They also die from ingesting the tons of plastic flotsam that the sea is riddled with. It is a sorry tale and if this majestic bird was lost for future generations it would be a crime not to have contributed to the fight to save them in some small way. Have a look at the link to the campaign and please think about saving those stamps this Christmas. Thanks.