2016 Review–Second Post: Art

Please see my previous post for a general review of the past year.

Warning – long post, picture-rich.

My Studio

Early in the year I began some major tidying, which got me in the mood for restarting art after a pretty dry period as I was recovering from serious illness. Here are some pictures of my studio taken on various throughout last year (tidy pics! I won’t make you suffer with the messy ones).

My main work area, with the pull-out unit to one side – it lives there permanently, providing a nice extra surface to work on.

My little gallery over the small fireplace. This is where I display things either that I have made, or which others have sent me – I treasure them all!

The further side of the room, which is (from L-R) my sewing and textile zone, and my drawing zone. (This year I really should get down to making a video tour of my studio – I did promise to do this shortly after we moved 3 years ago!!)

Zentangle

This year I’ve done quite a bit of Zentangle , including drawing quite a few new ATCs for my Zentangle Album:

There are plenty more, shown on blog posts throughout the year. Quite a lot of my art this year has been Zentangle.

Later in the year I discovered Zengems which were becoming all the rage online. Here are my early efforts.

This year I got published! After being approached last year to produce a piece for a new Zentangle booknew Zentangle book, my art piece inspired by my cancer journey was printed!

Cards

I made a few this year. Here is a selection I made for the chemo unit where I had my treatment last year.

A selection of Florabunda cards painted with various media.

Some Florabunda mandala designs painted with Perfect Pearls, ready to be made up into cards.

A selection of Zentangle cards made up from old designs, with blank spaces at the bottom ready for stamped sentiments.

Some cards made with specific people in mind. Please click on the cards to see the relevant blog posts.

Card for my hubby for our 30th wedding anniversary:

Altered Boxes

I began a few small papier mache altered boxes using tissue paper scraps. Here is the one that I completed, as a birthday present for a friend.

Some others that haven’t progressed beyond the tissue paper collage stage – I hope to complete these next year.

Narrow Boat Painting

I did a bit of traditional English narrow boat painting this year, on a set of three wooden wine boxes of my hubby’s, for him to hang on the summerhouse.

Cougar Cutting Machine

At long last, this year, I managed to get Sheba, my Cougar cutting machine, up and running again, this time running it from the iMac. Not that I did a great deal with it but I’m happy to be using it again after several years! I got some support tables for it, which are giving me better cuts. Here it is, with my old Windows laptop in front – this computer is now in my office, replacing my beloved original small Windows laptop that unfortunately died of old age this year.

Things I have cut:

Baby footprints stencil – I used this file to make the new baby card in the cards section above.

Frames and leaves for my Woodland mini-album.

Pages in my small leather art journal

Please click on the photos for more details.

This little book is an ongoing project. I don’t work on it very often so it’s building up slowly.

Experiments

For the little sea-themed altered box above, I spent some time experimenting with different materials to produce an authentic-looking faux mother-of-pearl effect.

Experiments with beetroot dyeing on a variety of materials.

Trying out fancy stitches with my new sewing machine.

I haven’t used the machine much this year and hope eventually to be using it more with mixed media pieces.

New equipment and materials

I bought various new stamps and stencils and other stuff this year, not all of which have yet been used!

Also included in the above stash are some new Perfect Pearls and other stuff.

PaperArtsy stamps and stencils:

Infusions:

I think this was my most exciting purchase. I prefer Infusions to Brushos as the colours are more subtle and the brown speckles are very intriguing.

I made some of my signature “mask and spray” technique backgrounds and flowers and leaves as a first experiment in using these.

My latest experiment with Infusions:

This year my hubby and I inherited a lot of gorgeous art materials from someone whose father had died. Here is the stuff that I chose. Lots to play with here, and some interesting books to learn new skills.

Mamhead Album

The current work in progress, a mini-album about a woodland walk we had with friends in the summer.

Some exciting new ideas are forming part of this – firstly, Zentangle tracings. I may be wrong and someone else may already be doing this, but I think I invented this idea! I took a lot of photos on the walk, many of which I have manipulated digitally. For several, I have overlaid them with a piece of parchment paper and traced the basic shapes, which I have then filled with Zentangle.

I did some straight tracings of others, and painted them with metallics.

Returning to an old favourite technique which I think I can also claim to have invented (Zentangle on the stains left by drying teabags) I have made a couple of cut logs to embellish this album, using round teabag stains and a sepia pen to simulate tree rings.

Inked kitchen paper being used as backgrounds and embellishment. I save all my kitchen paper that’s been used for mopping up ink, keeping sheets separate for different colours and continuing to use them till they are completely coloured. I’ve now got a box of them and the colours are glorious! Lovely for all sorts of projects.

Leaves cut, coloured and hand-embossed:

Pairing the various pages:

I’ve now started working on the binding of the albums and this will be covered in subsequent posts.

That’s about it for studio-based art.

Technology

One of the most exciting things that’s happened this year is the purchase of my iPad Pro. I’d vaguely thought of getting a tablet some time ago but with the arrival of our new Sky Q TV box which works to its fullest advantage in partnership with a tablet, this seemed the perfect opportunity to get one. Having tried out the iPad Pro in PCWorld, I was totally smitten and knew I just had to have one of these! I got a reconditioned one on Ebay (which I think was actually brand new) and together with the Apple Pencil, this is proving to be a most powerful and thoroughly enjoyable art tool! How did I manage before I got it?

My first drawing:

Experiments with simple landscape paintings:

I needed to learn how to render a realistic gold effect in order to produce art work for my Bible study group, so I followed some Youtube tutorials, for example:

Some art work for the Bible study group:

Some other digital art work done on the iPad Pro (please click on photos to see details):

Designed with artists and graphic designers in mind, the iPad Pro, in partnership with the Apple Pencil, is the most intuitive and comfortable drawing instrument! It is compact and can go with me when out and about, and I can draw wherever I am! I simply love it. I am drawing and colouring more than before because of it, and producing work that I can incorporate into my other art. I am also using it for loads of other things and have downloaded plenty of new apps, some of which I haven’t used yet. It is the most versatile tool. During next year I am hoping to spend some time honing my drawing skills in particular. I have some wonderful new art books (see above) with drawing tutorials in them, and of course there’s always Youtube!

Considering everything else that’s gone on over the past year, looking back, I have actually done more art than I realised.

Plans for the coming year

I have thought a lot over the past year about what happened to me in 2015, and how it made me adjust my priorities. Now I am feeling better, I am doing a lot more things and getting out and about more, and time available to spend in the studio is limited. I still have ME and still get easily fatigued and have to spend a lot of time resting, and I have been asking myself what I really want to be doing, and one answer is that I don’t want to be spending a lot of precious time making cards! This has always seemed to be more of a chore than a pleasure, although I quite enjoy it once I get going, and I dread the annual “card factory” to replenish my stock. I’ve never really type-cast myself as a card maker – I think it’s all too easy to end up making cards because our friends and relations come to expect a nice hand-made card from us, and then we have less time for other things. It’s not that I think there’s anything wrong with card-making per se – far from it – people make simply beautiful ones, but many recipients simply have mo idea how much work goes into them and they take on an ephemeral nature and often end up in the bin. I tend to spend far too much time on each individual card which probably adds to my sense of frustration over them so I’m probably my own worst enemy in this regard! I think I can make simpler cards using the iPad – after all, I’ve got quite a stock of images of work I have done (Zentangle, mandalas, etc.), which can be adapted and edited, assembled digitally and printed out. The resulting card may not be mixed media and textured, but it would still be all my own work, and it would still be creative. My studio time is limited anyway, by lack of energy, and available time being swallowed up with necessary tasks for daily living! I want to be spending more time doing mixed media work, and especially making 3-D objects, boxes and little books and albums which I love – I believe mixed media art, especially when rich in texture, is very tactile, and these little objects, by their nature, are handled much more than pictures on the wall. I consider these pieces to be more permanent and a better use of my time.

I would like to start introducing more textiles into my work, and I realise that I have not done any felt making since the course, and I’d like to do more of that again. I have a lot of materials and equipment in my studio that are crying out to be used. I’d love to be able to spend much more time simply playing with materials and seeing what happens when I treat them in different ways. I want to stretch my ability to use materials in unusual ways, because I love using my imagination and thinking outside the box.

My plan is also to get on top of all the UFOs (UnFinished Objects) cluttering up the place, and try and finish at least some of them! Once I get started, I am sure I shall get fired up. If I can discipline myself to spend a certain amount of time doing that, and then freeing myself up for the really fun stuff, I think I should end up achieving quite a lot.

Each year I set out my plans for the creative year ahead, and usually end up not achieving very many of them! Let’s see how I get on this coming year!

A very happy and creative New Year to all my readers and followers, and I hope you feel fulfilled at the end of it, knowing you’ve achieved all you set out to do, and more.

2016 Review–First Post: General

For a review of my art during 2016, please see the next post.

Warning: long post, picture-rich.

It’s been quite a busy year. Since being given my cancer all-clear towards the end of 2015, this year I have felt quite a lot better than I have felt for years, and as a result, have done a lot more. However, this meant that I also had rather less studio time than I’d hoped because I was so busy with other things, but I managed to work on a few projects.

New Year Resolutions for 2016

First things first. Let’s see how I did!

Not too well! My filing tray is still overflowing. My office is slightly tidier than it was, but I still need to do a major blitz on it. I have managed to read my Bible more, and this year I started up my Bible study group again – our numbers are small, but numbers aren’t everything! It is so great to be doing it again, and to feel well enough to pick up the threads of various things that I thought were gone for ever, including playing the guitar and singing.

I managed to finish off most of the left-over bits of decorating from when the builders were in, so I’m happy about that.

Going to bed earlier. Well, some success here for quite a few months but lately my ME internal clock weirdness has come back and things have slipped again, but I’m determined to get it back on track!

I’ve definitely managed to do a fair bit of art even if not in the studio. I’ve done quite a bit of Zentangle and Florabunda Zentangle and continued colouring in the print-outs of my designs. More on my next Review Post.

Definitely procrastinated less, too. I feel as if I’ve got on with things a bit better this year. Perhaps I was a bit hard on myself last year – after all, I was far from healthy and needed to give myself a break!

As for spending money… well, I haven’t spent so much on art stuff, but I did buy a MacBook (2nd hand on Ebay) and an iPad Pro (reconditioned on Ebay)! Does that count? Lol! We have also spent quite a lot of money on the kitties and their health problems but I don’t begrudge that – anything for our girlies.

As for my diet, I have continued with this. After last year when I only lost 1 lb (everything was upset with being ill and having to put the diet on hold for a while) I am back on track with the weight loss and lost a further

So… what was new in 2016?

Baking

Getting my life back after cancer, and along with it, a love of cake (!) I have been doing quite a bit of baking this year, and have taken cakes in to the chemo unit where I had my treatment, because I know how horrible chemo is, and how much people need a bit of pampering and spoiling!

I hosted a tea party for the two friends I made while in hospital last year. We really pigged out on cake!

Other baking throughout the year:

This year I got my bread maker going again and now make all our bread. This was my first loaf.

I now put in sunflower and pumpkin seeds as I always used to – I am so happy that I can again eat all the foods I used to enjoy before my stoma surgery.

Because I was doing so much baking, and entertaining more people for afternoon tea, I decided to treat myself to a new tea service. I found this beautiful vintage one on Ebay, and later, the cake stand below, which matches the set.

In March, Kermit, my stoma, celebrated his first birthday so I made him a cake with a selfie on top. He’s been a little trooper and as well as saving my life, he’s made my life so much easier, now that I am in control of things and not constantly being at the mercy of my ulcerative colitis.

During the year I made several lots of little stoma cakes, including these that I entered in the Ileostomy Association’s 60th anniversary meeting’s cake competition – no prize forthcoming but they did raise a laugh!

Other cooking

It is just great to feel so much better this year, and to take back all kitchen duties from my wonderful hubby who cared for me so well last year, and to start looking after him again for a change.

Here are a few of the things I’ve cooked for us recently.

If I have the energy I like to cook a lot of stuff at once, when the oven is on, and stock up the freezer.

Our garden

This year, now that we no longer have Mum living with us and needing so much of my hubby’s attention, and I am also not so dependent on him, he has been free to pursue his own interests and is at last able to enjoy his well-earned retirement. One of the things he’s really enjoyed is working in our small garden. A major project was to clear the overgrown bank outside the kitchen window and get the water feature going again.

Sitting Room Redecoration

Before:

After:

Outings

We didn’t have as many outings as we’d planned to do this year because we were both pretty busy, but the ones we had were lovely. There was the Mamhead woods one:

which I am celebrating with my current art project, a mini-album, and we also went to Montacute House:

and also the Devon County Show (always a firm favourite with me!) – this time made all the better because we had my new lightweight buggy that goes in the car.

We visited a couple of village fetes which I always enjoy. (Also here.)

We went with the local Ileostomy Association on a special visit to the Met Office in Exeter:

Also, a visit to a Victorian Gothic Revival church full of amazing wall paintings:

This year I got my bus pass and have been enjoying my new-found independence when weather and health have permitted.

Kitties

Our two grey tabby girlies are now getting on in years – Beatrice is 16 and Phoebe is 13. They can now be classed as High Maintenance. Beatrice continues to be quite well on her special Hill’s Prescription Diet (she has food intolerances and is sick if she eats normal cat food) and daily antibiotics to stave off her chronic UTIs. Phoebe suddenly developed epilepsy this year (very distressing for us all) and is now on phenobarbital twice a day. Because of their differing food needs and medications they have to be fed separately and neither will eat it all at once so it’s little and often, which takes a lot of our time! Phoebe went in to the vet’s all day recently to have five teeth extracted under general anaesthetic. They monitor her carefully with regular bloods to check therapeutic levels vs. side effects of her medication (poss. liver/kidney damage). Despite all this, they are both remarkably well and being well maintained. Both have gained weight after getting too thin, and Beatrice has grown back most of the fur she lost when I was having my chemo. We love them dearly and want to keep them going for as long as possible!

My health throughout the year

Generally speaking I’ve been much better through the year than I’ve been for many years. Having made a good recovery from my bowel cancer surgery and chemo, and becoming well adjusted to life with Kermit, my stoma, I no longer suffer the problems associated with ulcerative colitis and my health has improved. At the end of November I celebrated the first anniversary of being declared cancer-free. I’ve had regular scheduled appointments with both my surgeon and my onclogist and have seen the stoma nurses a couple of times, although I no longer need regular appointments with them because I am managing so well. Everyone is very pleased with my progress.

However, there have been a few ups and downs. I’ve had a filling at both 6-monthly appointments at the dentist and I don’t usually need anything done – does this bear out the theory that chemo rots your teeth, I wonder? Not pleasant, anyway!

I had my port removed in March, which I had for the infusion of my chemo. It had been part of me for so many months that I quite missed it when it was gone! There is now a small scar on my upper chest to remind me of the experience.

In the summer I was invited to attend a course entitled “Moving On After Cancer” which ran over five successive Tuesdays. You can read full details by clicking on the appropriate page tabs at the top of this blog. Of course, I took in home-baked cakes for us to snack on during our tea breaks!

I have continued to attend the monthly relaxation sessions, also held at the cancer information and support centre at the hospital. Through both groups I have made some good friends. After the Moving On course finished, several of us decided we didn’t want to stop meeting, so we’ve set up a monthly informal get-together (they let us have a room) which is basically a laughing and cake-eating session! We also discuss different aspects of our cancers (for some of us it’s past tense but for others it’s ongoing) and we all agree that it’s very easy to talk to fellow-sufferers in a way that we can’t always talk to our nearest and dearest, so it’s a great outlet, and we’ve become good friends.

At the end of last year I was worried about my hubby and his altered bowel habit, and his reluctance to seek medical advice until he saw me clear (I told him this was NOT sensible!) and eventually he caved in and went, and they put the wheels in motion very quickly indeed – I told him they don’t mess about when there’s a risk of cancer. He had his colonoscopy exactly a year on, to the day, after I had mine when my cancer was diagnosed so I was freaking out a bit about that, but he was told he was fine, and just had some diverticular disease, which has no connection with cancer, and he’s now on medication to help with that. What a relief.

Other health issues I have faced:

My CT scan in September came back showing me to be cancer-free, but it revealed numerous small clots in my lungs, so I am now on rivaroxaban, an anticoagulant. A few weeks ago I began to suffer severe nerve pain in one leg which is probably ME-related so I am now on gabapentin and I’m glad to say that this is doing the trick.

Earlier in the year I developed an extremely painful shoulder and my hubby had to do everything for me. I saw the GP who diagnosed frozen shoulder and gave me a cortisone injection into the joint which really helped, and told me to book myself a physio appointment. The physio said it was not frozen shoulder but wear and tear from bad joint positioning after years of crutch and wheelchair use – she said that many people get this simply from bad posture! She gave me exercises to do and advice on how to move my arms to prevent further damage, and I have had very little trouble since.

I had to go back to the physio again recently after seeing the GP with a very painful and inflamed knuckle joint which is apparently osteo-arthritis, and this is being treated with ibuprofen gel, keeping it moving, and strapping the two fingers together to prevent rotation of the joint, which is what causes the greatest pain. It’s a little better as long as I keep the splints on, which isn’t always very convenient when I’m busy using my hands (which is most of the time!).

In October I had appointments with the GP and with the stoma nurse, who both confirmed that I have developed a parastomal hernia (an occupational hazard for ostomates unfortunately) and I am now in the process of having bespoke support garments made. I am entitled to 3 pairs of these pants per year on prescription, and I’ve had the first pair, which have now gone back for some adjustment. Once I am happy with them, they will make up another two pairs. I am anxious to prevent the hernia getting any bigger. They won’t operate unless complications arise, as they are hard to repair and usually come back, so it’s a question of adequate support and learn to live with it.

All these things are small niggles and I concentrate on the fact that I am ALIVE and glad of it! I am so grateful for all that has been done for me, and continues to be done, and I hope that I continue to be given opportunities to support and encourage others on their journeys towards better health.

New Year Resolutions for 2017

Let’s see how many I manage this time!!

1. Continue to read my Bible more, and do more in-depth study as I used to – for the benefit of my group as well as for myself. Dust off my Hebrew studies!

2. Have a huge clear-out in the house, and especially in my office, and the stuff stored on the top shelves of my wardrobe! Motto: If you haven’t used it for two years, you won’t use it, so chuck it out. Hmmmm.

3. More office stuff – try to complete each month’s accounts by the end of the first week of each month! I hate having them hanging over me.

4. Continue with my diet. No problem with this one. I have done well and I am not going to waste all that effort by regaining all the weight I have lost!

5. Try to get back to the Ricky Grant Unit more often and share more cakes with the chemo-ites. This has fallen off a bit lately – mostly due to busy-ness and health issues, and the weather – I can’t go out in the rain in my wheelchair!

6. Work on my UFOs (UnFinished Objects) and try and finish some of them! This is a definite challenge for me. They take up too much room in my studio and I really should discipline myself to complete at least some of them before embarking on new and ambitious projects!

7. Try to do at least some art every day. This shouldn’t be hard now I’ve got the iPad so no excuse even if I’m too tired to go in the studio.

8. Clear all the rubbish off my computers and sort my music, photos, videos etc.

9. Get to grips with my video camera again, and learn how to use the video editing software better – I’ve downloaded courses on this and I need to get on with it. Also to sort all the unedited videos hanging around on the Mac. Learn GarageBand and start making my own music for videos.

10. Learn the apps I’ve downloaded on the iPad and start using this marvellous device to its full potential.

11. Eat more cake. (Do you think anyone noticed I snuck that one in?)

Happy New Year to all my loyal readers and followers!