Salisbury and Cotswolds Holiday–Day 1

Today we set off for our first holiday in four years. Until now we haven’t been able to get away because of problems dealing with extremely elderly parents, and moving house, but my hubby finally retired last Sunday and today we shed the shackles and took off! My sister came down yesterday and scooped up Mum to stay with her till we get back.

I hate the run-up to a holiday. There is always so much to do, and I get very tired with it all. Add to this two really bad nights on the trot and I felt under pressure and not in a very good humour this morning! However, as we set off up the A38 towards Exeter I felt my spirits lift, and the burdens fall away, and I suddenly felt in holiday mood at last!

It was lunch time by the time we left, because my hubby was worried about the weight we had on board – he could hear the wheels scraping against the mud flaps and knew the friction would cause an unacceptable amount of heat, so he took the mud flaps off. While he was doing this, I offloaded some heavy stuff that I decided I could do without after all, and redistributed the rest, and after a visit to the garage to add a few more psi to the tyres, we were set to go.

We turned off the main road near Haldon, and went into Ashbourne Forest to eat our sandwiches. In my view there is no more beautiful sight than an English beech wood in spring, with the sun filtering through the leaves – except perhaps when the ground is also carpeted with bluebells! Unfortunately the bluebells are now over, but this was the view from the car:

Today was a lovely sunny day, which makes a change, but it was way too hot for me. We made good time to our first destination, a farm bed and breakfast some miles outside Salisbury, near the village of Coombe Bisset.

After unpacking and having a cup of tea, we explored outside. The summer house in the garden is apparently equipped with a microwave so that guests can heat up ready meals if they wish.

Round the back of the house was an enclosure with ducks. These little ducklings were quite nervous of us, and huddled together in the corner of the cage.

One of a series of duck ponds, this one with a mermaid fountain. I love the purposeful duck striding along the edge!

The back of the house from the duck pond.

Beyond the duck enclosure was a large poultry enclosure. Here is one of the peacocks. They were making quite a noise.

Chickens wandering freely among the poultry houses.

I love their fluffy bottoms!

Baby chicks.

Gorgeous fluffy white chickens.

Guinea fowl.

We went back into the village to the local pub for an excellent meal, and then returned to our bed and breakfast and continued unpacking and setting up the computers. The wifi access won’t penetrate the wall into our bedroom so I shall have to take the computer through into the dining room and access the Internet from there – apparently the connection is a bit dodgy, especially in the evenings, but I hope to upload this blog post on the day it was written!

So ends Day 1 of our holiday. Off to a school reunion in Salisbury tomorrow morning! I hope I recognise at least some of them after all this time! On our way to our B&B we drove past the house of one of my best friends from school, and loads of happy memories of staying there with her flooded back.

Something to Pass On, and General News

I have just watched one of Jennibellie’s latest videos, and was so impressed with it that I thought I would share it with you here, and hope that you will benefit from it. She has come across people in the field of art comparing themselves with other artists, and the underlying lack of confidence that causes this behaviour, and this video gives several very helpful pointers to deal with the problem, and to learn from it.

I am experiencing problems with Google at the moment on Firefox (is anybody else?) and am unable to comment on blogs or Youtube videos, and I cannot open Google Chrome (at least using this laptop – the iMac seems to be playing ball, but it’s on my desk upstairs, and when I am feeling poorly and exhausted, I prefer to use the laptop from the comfort of the recliner). If I can get this problem sorted, I shall be leaving my own comment on Jennibellie’s Youtube channel and also on her blog, to let her know that I am in full agreement with what she says, and to thank her for her wisdom, and for sharing her experience with others.

Here is the video:

When I was young (immediately after leaving school) I had incredibly low self-esteem and absolutely no confidence in myself, and was full of fear of what the world would throw at me. I have made some humungous mistakes in my life (as we all have, I am sure) and have had to live with the consequences of these, but later understanding of my background and early experiences have helped me to understand that maybe these mistakes were inevitable, and not entirely my own fault. I have come to know that I am who I am, and can only build on that, helped enormously by my Christian faith and an understanding that God has a purpose for my life, and that He has allowed certain things, and will never test me beyond my strength. (Romans 8:28 has been my watchword throughout my Christian walk!)

Confidence in myself grew in my 30s, when I suddenly realised that it really didn’t bother me so much what people thought of me – Jennibellie points out in the video that actually other people are so wrapped up in their own issues that they probably don’t give us a second thought, so our worrying is all castles in the air! My mum used to say this to me when I was younger, and she was right. OK, I’m never going to shine in the fame and fortune stakes, am not genius-standard intellectually, and will never be a wealth-producer, but I am me, a bit of a jack-of-all trades and master of none, but I have gifts and talents specific to myself and it’s up to me to use them to the best of my ability, and ****** the rest!!! Mum always says it’s a good thing we aren’t all the same. She’s right. If we were, there would be too much done in one field, and nothing else would get done at all!

I think artists are particularly susceptible to comparison with others, and being far too self-critical, whether they are in the field of physical and visual arts, or music. I have found singers to be incredibly sensitive in this area – the voice is such a personal thing, as one’s instrument is oneself! I have recent experience with somebody who although very confident in the field of music, exhibits all the signs of lack of confidence in her work as an artist – she is a beginner, and comes over with lots of negative comments about her work and how she doesn’t consider herself to be a “real artist,” and doesn’t think she is creative. She is comparing herself with me, which is all very flattering, but I did my best to encourage her as she embarks on this new area of creativity.

I have often found myself comparing my work with the work of others online, and in every case these people were more experienced than I was, and I found myself wishing I could have come up with such original ideas. “I wish I’d thought of that…” However, discussing one of my pieces recently, I was told how creative and original it was. We do need to look at our own achievements and let them stand alone, and listen to what others say to us about them, and about us as artists too – this can be incredibly encouraging and confidence-building.

One thing I have done often, which Jennibellie suggests on her video, is to look back at my earlier projects and see how I have moved on since those days. This is one reason why I have a blog. It’s such a useful tool! The other day I was reviewing my Youtube videos and felt acutely embarrassed at one of my very early ones, “What’s in Shoshi’s boxes?” I made this small series just after I started what I then called crafting (I now consider myself to be an artist rather than a crafter – many self-confessed crafters, in my opinion, should maybe rebrand themselves likewise!), before I had a dedicated space, and had to get the boxes out and work off my lap, or off the dining room table. Those who follow my activities will know that I am now incredibly blessed with a purpose-built studio, my new ARTHaven, and over the years I have accumulated a large quantity of materials and equipment, and also a lot of experience, and growing confidence along the way. Having watched Jennibellie’s video, I have decided to ignore my recent impulse to delete those embarrassing early videos from my Youtube channel! Maybe if others compare them with more recent ones, they also will be encouraged to press on!

I love how we are all unique, and no original work we do is the same as the work of others. Recently I was hankering after a definitive style which would say “Shoshi” to anyone who saw it, but several people have commented recently that various things were in my style, so even if I can’t see it, perhaps I have developed my own unique style after all!

As I grow in experience and confidence, I have come to realise that given my resources (which I fully understand that not everyone is as fortunate to have available), and given some time thinking, planning and imagining, I can do anything I set my mind to. Ideas for projects that have long remained dormant because I couldn’t think how to achieve them will come to fruition, adding another brick to the construction of my growing confidence in my abilities.

The most important lesson in all this is to “Enjoy the journey”! Life, and art, are never static. As individuals we are never static – we grow and change, with time and changing circumstances, and with experiences that impact us and add another dimension to our creativity. What an adventure it all is!

Life is too short to sell ourselves short by thinking we are not as good as other people. There are many different levels of ability, but it is where we are now that counts, and each step along the journey is a step in the right direction, building on past experience and growing in confidence. Various people have commented under Jennibellie’s video, that the only person we should compare ourselves with, is ourselves.

One thing I have found incredibly uplifting and encouraging is the response of others to the work that I am producing – the joy I can give by making, rather than buying, a gift or card – how valued, loved and important it makes the recipient feel. It is in blessing others that we ourselves are blessed.

 

Recent news

I am not able to participate in the weekly blog hop WOYWW (What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday) at present because of other things going on in my life. My workdesk has backslid into a dumping ground again! Today my hubby and I came to the final farewell celebration as he embarks on retirement. We have both been overwhelmed by everybody’s kindness and appreciation for all that he has done to help people in his long career, and by their generosity in the form of gifts and cards, parties and meals provided, and tears shed. We are both feeling pretty wiped out by the incredibly emotional experience and need a few days’ peace and quiet to adjust our inner compasses and get into a new routine.

We are going away on holiday this coming Friday – our first holiday in four years. Over recent years we have both been very busy dealing with all the problems of having extremely elderly parents – settling Dad into residential care as his dementia progressed until his death early last December, and doing our best to care for Mum who was unable to cope on her own. Getting the three of us moved into more suitable accommodation for us all was the great adventure of last year, and from the New Year I felt it was a fresh start, and a springboard to a new way of life. With retirement, there will be financial adjustments to be made as we will be living on a much reduced income (which makes me very glad that I have invested so much in materials and equipment in the past in my ARTHaven!!) and although my life won’t change much – who said “Wives never retire”? Lol! I shall still be cooking and doing the laundry etc. etc.! – but it will be very different adjusting to having a hubby who is no longer working – he has been working (and very hard) all the years I’ve known him, and I can’t yet get my head round what it will be like!

Here we are, last Sunday, at the penultimate farewell party, with the most gynormous cake I’d ever seen:

In May, my hubby celebrated his 65th birthday, and I my 61st, and also it was our 28th wedding anniversary, so quite apart from his retirement, there’s been a lot to celebrate.

To finish, here is a picture of Phoebe looking opulent on my cushion which I chucked onto the floor last night as I settled on the recliner.

I hope you have found this post helpful. Thank you, Jennibellie, for your words of wisdom, which I think we creative folks all need to hear – we all need a refresher course in attitude management sometimes!

Altered Pizza Box

Edited – now with video.

A mixed media project. I am giving away one of my flower painted Ikea mirrors as a house-warming present, and recently discovered that it fits exactly inside a 10-inch pizza box. I thought the box needed a bit of decoration to make it a slightly more acceptable wrapping, and I ended up making a full mixed media project out of it!

I got a bit carried away and forgot to take any photos during the making, but I did video the whole process.

I started by covering the whole of the outside of the box with gesso, and then had a rummage in my Tim Holtz papers – they’ve all got a bit muddled up and I’m not sure which stack they come from – either Crowded Attic or Lost and Found, but it doesn’t really matter – they’re all nice and vintage. I found some nice faces and tore them out and distressed the edges with my distressing tool, and stuck them down onto the box with PVA adhesive.

I also stuck down some ripped up corrugated cardboard with some of the surface paper torn away, which gives a gorgeous texture. Once the PVA was dry, I painted these pieces with gesso, and then began painting the whole surface with acrylics.

I chose a blue and green palette, and did some dry brushing with white acrylic, and once I’d got the effect I wanted, I added some iridescent gel medium which gives a gorgeous shimmery surface, and then some pearlised acrylic ink, concentrating on the textured corrugated parts. The whole thing was extremely shimmery by this time.

I created some text, “Home is where the heart is” by cutting out some words and letters from scrap printed paper in my stash, and stuck these down onto a further piece of scrap paper with regular matt gel medium, which I also used to stick the pieces down onto the surface. Before this I coloured them with Victorian Velvet Distress Ink.

Once they were laid down, I took an old credit card and added some crimson acrylic paint with the edge of the card dipped in the paint, creating frames around the words and around the face pictures. I then added some more lines using my white marker pen.

To form a border, I used more of the crimson acrylic paint, and also some dark blue, and once the border design was laid down, I went round the edges and embellished the border with the white marker pen, and finally added some shadows with a mixture of Payne’s Grey and white acrylic paint.

The final touch was to add some Treasure Gold gilding wax to the raised texture. A really shiny, shimmery effect!

Once the outside was dry, I painted the whole of the inside roughly with gesso. This will be fine once there is tissue paper inside the box, wrapping the mirror.

Here is the finished box, propped up with the edges of the lid showing. I painted these with a mixture of green acrylics.

The box closed:

The sides of the lid go inside the box, and I painted the sides of the base with rich blue acrylic paint.

Now for some details. This is the bottom left corner. You can see one of the pictures I laid down, and also some of the corrugated cardboard. I love the effect of the top surface layer of paper being partially ripped away.

One of the face pictures. They are pretty subtle with the iridescent gel medium, and they also reflect the light so it’s a bit difficult to see them in the photos.

Finally a detailed shot of the text.

I think you can see how shiny and shimmery the surface is in this photo.

A fun project to do, and I completed it in an afternoon. One day I would like to paint and embellish the rest of my pizza boxes, which are used to store various materials in my ARTHaven.

Teabag Art–Zentangle Thank You Card

Today I made a thank you card using one of the stains left by a drying teabag on watercolour paper. Using a fine Faber-Castell sepia PITT art pen I added a few zentangles, following the shapes of the stain, added an aura around the whole thing, cut it out and mounted it on foam pads on a piece of white card. To finish this off, I added a line with the sepia pen, 1/16 inch from the edge. I matted this onto a white base card which I had first distressed using Tea Dye Distress Ink and an Inkylicious Ink Duster, and stamped the sentiment using one of the stamps from the Stampin’ Up set “Lots of Thanks.”

The finished card is A5 size, and I repeated the sentiment stamp on the inside.

Here is a detail of the zentangle.

Devon County Show 2014

Yesterday my hubby and I went to the Devon County Show in Exeter – this is something I enjoy tremendously, as it’s a splendid day out with lots to see. Yesterday the weather was pretty unsettled and in the middle of the day there was a very heavy rain storm, and it seemed as though everybody on the showground was crowded into one of the craft tents with us!

For the first time I used the buggy rather than the wheelchair, and although it was a lot of work for my hubby, getting it in and out of the car on the ramps, it was very much better for both of us – I got a lot less tired, and in previous years, the wheelchair battery always used to give out at the end, which meant my poor hubby, who was always tired after a day on his feet, had to push me all the way back up to the car park!! On the way to the show, we called in at the mobility centre in Exeter and bought a fabulous rain cape for me to use on the buggy, which will make going to church in the rain a doddle – I can also use it with the wheelchair.

Anyway – to the show. The first thing we saw was the alpacas – they are such gorgeous and unusual-looking creatures with sweet faces. They all have a dreamy smile and look so gentle! Here are some of them being judged.

Alpaca babies. Are they lambs, kids or calves?

What an adorable face!

Alpacas for sale. I couldn’t resist photographing that bum with the legs underneath!

There was a sign which said that they made wonderfully eco-friendly lawn-mowers but despite this, my hubby said I could NOT have one for the garden!

Fleeces being judged. They were separated into different categories, e.g. lustrous, mountain, etc. There are so many varieties of sheep, each producing a different kind of fleece, used for all different purposes.

More fleeces.

I loved handling them, and feeling the lanolin on one’s skin, and also that gorgeous fragrance – a powerful reminder of my spinning days… I don’t think I could keep up work on a treadle spinning wheel these days, but there are now some imaginative alternatives available.

I was very amused to see that the main building, where the craft shows and other events are held, is turned into an enormous cattle shed during the County Show. Next time I go to a craft show I shall remember that, and realise just how much cleaning up they must have to do! Here are the cattle being hosed down ready for judging.

Out came a very large bull. Neither he, nor any of the other cattle, seemed to mind the pressure hoses and brushes! I expect they get used to it.

In the angora goats tent, we found Jan Tillett’s stand. I had come across her before online, on Colouricious. She makes amazing things. She had some samples of fabric with free motion machine embroidery on them, and some other techniques, where the fabric was all wrinkled up. She had applied it onto a backing of a special polyester fabric which shrinks when you steam-iron it, giving fabulous results. I bought a small piece of this fabric to try the technique.

She also had several examples of textile created using soluble fabric, for example, the white dress on the left.

The angora goats, which produce mohair.

A magnificent angora billy goat – look at his horns!

I spent some time on the stand of one of the angora goat exhibitors – she sells raw and dyed fleece, rovings, spun yarn etc., and I bought a small quantity of these in their undyed state. Gorgeously soft, and the fleece has a very interesting curly texture which will be fun to use. When we first arrived at her stand, she wasn’t there, and then she bustled past us with her arms full of about six or seven silver cups – she looked like a burglar making a rapid escape with the family silver! When she came back, I asked if she had won all those cups, and she said she had, and listed all the classes, including Best in Show. She said they’d never done so well.

Coming out again (by which time the sun was well and truly shining, and stayed shining for the rest of the day) we saw the Morris Dancers ready to do their stuff.

A mobile sweet stall. Love all the colours.

At last, later on, we found the batik stand – we are regular customers of Calum, who unfortunately is probably not returning again to the Devon County Show. He has a website now (www.boutiquebatik.co.uk) so hopefully I’ll still be able to get stuff! I’ve bought several tops and trousers from him over the years, and absolutely love wearing them.

The first craft tent, where we sheltered from the rain, was not that inspiring, but the second one was full of all the things I love, including the egg craft stand. I always seek out the egg ladies when I go to the shows!

Then I came across something I’d never seen before – “Bonsire” which is bonsai trees made out of wire. The gentleman who makes them has only been doing it for about six months, and on the other side of his stand were all his quite wonderful pencil portraits of people and animals.

I took quite a number of photos of the individual pieces, but seemed to be having some problems with the focusing of my camera and most of them came out very out of focus, which is a shame. However, if you visit the Bonsire website you can see plenty of photos in the gallery, and I think you will agree that these pieces are exquisite.

Here is the Devon Lace stand. Lots of beautiful Honiton lace – this was always the finest, and most expensive lace, when it was made commercially.

There was a marvellous felting stand, with work by several people. This was of particular interest for me, because it is something I am keen to try. I have got the basic equipment for needle felting but have not yet had the chance to try it.

This is a beautiful felted shrug, showing the front view.

The back is equally beautiful.

I loved the detail on this piece, and how the fringes were formed.

Above the display was this amazing three-dimensional picture entitled “Peace in the Valley,” illustrating a famous passage from the Book of Isaiah prophesying the golden age of Christ’s millennial rule, when wild animals will lose their ferocity and co-exist peacefully with their erstwhile prey. This felted picture had incredible depth and was almost disturbingly “real”!

Outside the craft tent, we found a display of heavy horses. I love these gentle giants, and for the show, they were beautifully turned out with plaited manes and gleaming polished harnesses.

Arranged around this particular arena was a marvellous collection of beautifully restored classic cars. I remember so many of these cars in my childhood, in the days when cars had a lot more character than today, and each make had a distinctive look.

My final picture was taken as we came back to the car. The rain storms had cleared, and the cloud formations were so beautiful.

As always, it was a wonderful day out, despite the changeable weather. We were  very glad we went on the first day, because apparently today, on the news, they were saying the show had to close early because cars were getting bogged down where the fields had turned to mud. Such a pity, when so many people have put in so much hard work, to make this annual event such a success.