Go to Buxton. They have nice water.

If you happen to be passing Buxton between now and 14th August, I highly recommend that you stop off and have a nosey in the Art Gallery/Museum.  One of my favourite artists is exhibiting there and it's a feast for the eyes.

It was my first time seeing this piece (the trainers below), as its size has meant that it hasn't been shared on the blog (I mean, who has a scanner that big?!).

See? Huge!

'Ten Examples of Unnecessarily Handsome Shoes'. No photo of this, unfortunately. I love all of the different perspectives and annotations.

'Wish I Knew You Well'. This full colour drawing blew us away (Mr Pippa was with me). I seem to remember it being larger than the others (I didn't think to make notes).

As well as the works on the walls, there were the cabinets. The first was the woodland one. The pieces looked so at home with the leaves and twigs in there. And the dead bee.

I'm not sure I'd realised when first spotting this drawing (above) online that this piece is not, in fact, drawn onto lined paper which happened to have tea/coffee mug rings on it, but those details have been drawn too. Andrea Joseph often catches me off guard like that. I love it.

I spent most of my time looking through these cabinets:

I also adored being able to get so close to the glass cabinets that my nose occasionally bumped the glass as I studied the sketchbooks and spotted the items which appear in the drawings. I would have loved to flick through one of the sketchbooks.

When chatting to Andrea later, she mentioned that this drawing (in the sketchbook above) was drawn in a coffee shop in Buxton - a coffee shop I have now been to. It's funny how just a little thing like knowing where/how a piece came together gives me a whole new appreciation of it.

What a treat!

Go on, get your skates on. You've got until 14th August.

P.S. Thank you, Mr Pippa for being photograpaher for the day :)

7th December {#reverb10: Community}

Prompt: Community. Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011?

This year, I had a birthday. I try to have one every year, bank holidays permitting. This year, I had a party. It was splendid fun. And at that party, I realised that I'm a part of a really lovely community. Which is nice.

Here's a photo vaguely related to the prompt.

It'll need some explanation first.

I've just started turning our visitor book into a 'house scrapbook/journal' where we stick tickets and photos and bits and bobs from things we've done and places we've been. It's also a place for friends to write us silly messages. Anyway, I am trying not to get too caught up in the scrapbook side of things because it won't ever get done. So, I'm accepting imperfection and, because of that, it's coming together quite nicely. The above photo is of the page I did pertaining to my birthday party. It's not spectacularly beautiful, but it captures a happy time. So I'm fine with that. So, next time I show you a page or two from the house scrapbook, you'll know not to expect perfection, OK?


[P.S. I do realise it's not the 7th December today - it's the date of the #reverb10 prompt. But you probably knew that.]

patient endurance

Art journal page for today.

I've got a few things on the go at the moment. It's quite amusing really: today I had my art journal on my computer desk with paint and pencils, I had my sewing machine out on my art desk with socks and thread all over the place, a painted item drying at the back of my art desk (which you'll see later this week), some crocheting at the side of my art desk, and I had papers all over the floor. I even did some sticking in the hall because I had run out of space! I kept alternating between activities. Quite fun really. What a day full of variety I have had!

I'm melting

I've been a rubbish blogger lately. I went away for a week at the beginning of the month and I am still paying for it now. I've been spending most days in bed and the days I haven't been in bed, I have been sitting and staring at the wall like a mannequin. I'm completely exhausted and also I am wondering if I really was trampled on by a horse last night. Is it possible for one to sleep through that sort of thing? Very achey indeed. But I've been wanting to do SOMETHING creative for a while. So, I got out my unused birthday toy (a mini quilting iron) and began melting! I melted beeswax onto an older painting I did (pics at the end of this post) which gave it the finishing touch I had wanted. Also, I did an art journal page using melted crayons. Very fun indeed. Have you ever melted crayons before?

I LOVE the smooth finish of the crayon once it had solidified (which doesn't take long). So tactile. So stroke-able. Yes, that's right: strokeable.

I will post again soon. I will. Promise.

I lied

Okay so I didn't post pictures yesterday. It turned into quite a busy day. Today I have some art-journal pages to share with you. This one is one from a while ago but I jazzed it up with some ribbon, which I really like.

This spread is on 'rest'. As part of the recovery process for ME, I am having to teach myself how to really rest. I don't have the energy to be taking part in high-demand activity, so my days are generally filled with low-demand activity OR sleep (which I am VERY good at!). However, I need to be making time to really rest - just sit down and breathe for ten minutes. Don't read a book (that hurts my eyes and I have to use my brain, which is mush most of the time), don't watch TV: just sit. There are just so many other things I could be doing though!

I find blank pages quite daunting so on this spread I stuck down a wallpaper border (I always pick up some free samples when I'm in DIY shops). With a border like that, I needed a spread that was quite flamboyant, so the rest just happened. But I have no idea what to journal about on it! I think I'll wait until I have something so celebrate and dance about.

And finally this page. I really really enjoyed making this spread. Lots of layering and ripping and painting. It reads "one of my favourite places is the land of dreams". That's right folks, it's a whole spread about my love of sleep (or should that be my love for sleep?). The sketch I did of the sleeping girl (possibly me?) was one I drew years ago, so I just copied it.

Ah I do love sleep.

come fly with me

Hi there folks. I have a LOT of pictures to share from my new colour-themed collage book, but there are too many to upload at this late an hour so, instead, here's an art-journal page.

I love kites!

my first moleskine

This was my Christmas present from my in-laws: a moleskine! I've wanted one for ages and I finally have one. I didn't use it immediately as I didn't want to ruin it. I have so many beautiful sketchbooks (not many that I can actually paint in though) and I'm the same with all of them - I don't do anything in them for fear of ruining them. THIS MUST STOP! If we forever save things for something perfect, we'll never use them! So, I have been getting out those beautiful sketchbooks and using them. I feel like I'm breaking the rules. Like going to the supermarket in your wedding dress (I've actually done that!). So here's my beautiful moleskine. Over the next few weeks and months it will look very different.

My first page spread. The beginning.

Second page spread. Time to have some fun!

Third page spread. As you can see, I've only done the foundation. Not sure where I'll go with this page.