Slow Sunday

Thought I'd better get in my last post of the year. I'd planned to post something the first week of December but here we are in the final hours of the month, and the year. In all the rushing about one of the things I've missed most is seeing daylight...I've been heading out to work in the dark and heading home in the dark. Today I had a day off, which I made sure was a proper day off  apart from a bit of ironing, and it was pure indulgence to read a book at the kitchen table gazing out over my garden. No radio, no TV, just me and a cuppa. It's been grey, drizzly, but I think these winter days can be quite magical. As a new year rolls around you can feel the history in the earth of all the years gone before, and all the possibility that a new year can hold.

As I head into the new year it's with the intention of doing more sketching. Sketching just for the fun of it, as well as doing my projects. I've already made a start:-

Happy New Year
Amanda xxx

Dreaming Spires

Last year, as Christmas approached, I re-read 'His Dark Materials' by Philip Pullman. I wanted to revisit the story before I read 'Book of Dust' which was about to be released. I enjoyed the books even more second time around, so much so that I had a yearning to visit Oxford and the colleges that were Lyra's playground. Me and my best friend from school went there last month for a short break which I thoroughly enjoyed. In my mind I'd envisioned a magical place...it didn't disappoint. I was utterly captivated by the layers of history.

School of Divinity - Bodleian

My current project is inspired by the transforming power and magic of books, and there I was in a city dedicated to knowledge. I couldn't help but imagine myself as an Oxford scholar.

The Dining Hall - Balliol

As for my project. The second and third pieces are now complete...

Sleeping and Crows #2

Sleeping and Crows #3

...and I'm quite pleased with them. I've been trying different stitches and techniques with each of them so that although they are obviously part of the same series, they have some differences. I'm working on freeing myself up more, not labouring over a piece too much. There are still another five pieces planned for this project and I am eager to see what I will do next but this is always the busiest time of year for me so it will happen when it happens.

Amanda xxx

Stitch By Stitch

Time for an update on my current series of work I think. I would have liked to have more to show but I'm at the stage of doing hand embroidery and it does take time. I've completed the first piece and had to overcome my frustration at the slow progress to change down a few gears and appreciate the simple pleasure of sewing with a needle and thread. As well as time it takes a fair amount of patience, both of which seem to be in short supply, but I managed to find some, and I now have the first in a series of 8 done. No idea when the others will be done but I'll be sure to post progress.

Sleeping and Crows #1

The original inspiration for this series was books, storytelling and the worlds that those stories take us to so this feels like the perfect time of year to be absorbing myself in this project. For me the cold dark nights are all about cosying up with blankets, warm drinks and books, books, books. Perfect.

Amanda xxx

Seasonal Change

The darkness is gradually creeping in at the edges of each day and this glorious summer that we've had seems to be saying its goodbyes.

As the seasons rotate around times' circle and the morning air has a crisp freshness to it my thoughts can't help but turn towards Autumn. It's back-to-school, new stationery, a return to studies, and a bit of a wardrobe re-set.

The other day I bought my first magazine in ages (Red - September issue) and found these images within its pages which capture the moment and create the perfect mood board:-

I'm hoping that I can get my current project back on track as I really seem to have lost my momentum. Not to say that I haven't been doing anything; I've done a lot of reading, gardening, contemplating. My mind has been incredibly busy, but time now to get creating again.

Amanda xxx

Magical Creatures at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Took advantage yesterday of a day off and some cloud cover to take a trip to Yorkshire Sculpture park, where the incredible Mister Finch is currently exhibiting. I've seen his work before but this is his largest exhibition to date and it was truly wonderful:-

The magical theme continued in The Chapel where there is an installation by Chiharu Shiota :-

I went home feeling enchanted and inspired.

Amanda
xxx

A Fairy-tale Wedding

So my aim has been to do a blog post once a month - that seems do-able. But the month of May has just been and gone, and now it's June. So maybe two posts this month? We'll see.

Anyway the highlight of May, for me, had to be the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. I'm quite the cynic when it comes to love and marriage but my heart melted, if only briefly, when I watched what has to be the most perfect, beautiful and joyous wedding I've ever seen. It was like a fairy-tale come to life. There was this wonderful mix of the pomp and ceremony of the monarchy, and the genuine warmth, humanity and love of  Meghan and Harry. So I've been grabbing any spare moments these past couple of weeks to pore over my 'Royal Wedding Souvenir Specials'; and I just had to attempt some sketches. Here are a couple:-

 

 

Which means my current project has been somewhat side-lined, as work has also been very busy. I have made a start though. All I can tell you at the moment is that it's going to be a combination of pencil sketches and embroidery. I haven't done any embroidery for a while and I'm missing it, but I also want to keep going with the sketches so I'm hoping the mix of the two will work. It's very early stages at the moment so I haven't worked out my technique yet but here is a little peak of my work in progress:-

The inspiration is stories and fairy-tales - I'll expand on that when I have a bit more to show.

Amanda xxx

Beautiful Blossoms in The Tiny Urban Garden

The Flowering Cherry tree in my front garden has been covered in buds, for quite a few weeks now, that have remained resolutely closed against the freezing cold and snow; But this week has seen the most glorious transformation.

At the start of the week, viewed from my living room, the tree looked like this:-

By the middle of the week it looked like this:-

The most beautiful, frothy abundance of blossom; so delicate and yet so vibrant.

 
Mother Nature is magnificent. Imagine if more people had one of these in their front garden. After the cold and dark of Winter we would enter Spring under a canopy of fluttering petals.

Amanda xxx

A Yearning For What?

Since my last post I have made a concerted effort to sit down at my desk and drive my project forward; and it seems to have worked. By the end of last week I had almost finished painting the figures that I had sketched and then the week we are in now, which is drawing to a close as I type, I had booked off as holiday. Perfect...a whole week in which to complete my latest piece of work.

Here are a couple of the painted sketches:-

But I know how easily distracted I can be and the temptation to do other things with a whole week of freedom at my disposal could prove to be too much. Then the 'Beast from the East' arrived, the whole of my immediate world was blanketed in snow, and cosying-up at my desk with a constant supply off hot cups of coffee and tea proved to be ideal conditions for finishing my work - Hooray!

I have titled the piece 'A Yearning for What' and, again, it focuses on home. It consists of a series of nine interiors that I took from magazines because something in them caught my eye, or tugged at my self conscious. I've looked at so many images of interiors now, trying to absorb and identify why I like them, why I don't like them, how a particular composition makes me covet it for my own, that it's sent me dizzy...I've put the magazines out of sight for now!

I sketched a figure to inhabit each of the interiors, all the figures from images of Victoria Beckham that I have collected. She is incredibly beautiful and stylish as well as being a hard working and successful business woman and mother. She is one of my heroines and style icons. I don't wear rose-tinted spectacles; I'm aware she has her faults, as we all do. But a part of me is captivated by her.

This is the complete series:-

And this is a closer look at a couple:-

I even managed to close up my desk once I was done. It's usually open and strewn with stationery, paper, paints, like this:-

But for a day it looked like this:-

So, my week off has been quite productive, and it's been such a treat to watch the snow falling. The biting cold I could have done without and I did go into a mild panic attack one morning when I woke up and realised there was no toastie loaf in the cupboard. I couldn't rest until I'd ventured out for one - which has now been put away, unopened, into the freezer. I really had enough already with my supply of crumpets and hot cross buns.

Another anxious moment was when some news reporter mentioned that we were going to run out of gas. I wish they would get their facts straight before saying things like this out loud on a public broadcast network. This is the kind of thing that can tip a person over the edge...I think it has something to do with age and hormones!!!

Keep warm
Amanda xxx

Re-Set

I need to take stock of where I am with regards to my blog and press a metaphorical re-set button; thinking back over the last year, I didn't really feel like my heart was in it, and I realise that if I'm going to get any benefit from it then I need to be committed - or just not bother. The 'Home' boxes work that I did last year was something I enjoyed immensely, and I was pleased with the end result, but I don't think I recorded the progress enough on my blog. This was partly due to the idea behind it, the with-holding of seeing everything, but I still think I could have shown more.

So, where am I now?

January, the darkest month, has included introspection, contemplation and lots of cosying up with books. A chance to unwind and recharge after the Christmas madness; but I now find myself up against the wall of self-doubt, procrastination and full-on deer-in-the-headlights fear - I have a project to do!

I made a start on it just before Christmas, but because it's had a significant resting period I've lost the momentum, and the idea of re-engaging with the work and moving it on has grown in my head to something almost insurmountable.

This is the kind of problem I need to tackle this year. My fear of things going wrong threatens to stop me doing anything at all.

This is the start of my first image that I sketched out at the end of last year:-

And I have now inked in the outline...it took me weeks longer than it should but it's a start:-

I have a friend who always seems super motivated. She decides to do something and just gets on doing it without any kind of agonising as far as I can tell. I really need to apply a bit of this attitude to myself and stop over-thinking things, just get on with doing my creating, and enjoying doing it.

I'm going to try different approaches to the blog (not sure what yet) to see if I can free myself up a bit. Get more words and thoughts out there. I think I'd started to feel a bit self-conscious, but the original motivation for starting it in the first place was to record my thoughts and my progress for myself. I am hoping to get back to this original plan.

So it's a new year, new green shoots are showing in my garden, and ideas are growing in my head. The page has turned and a new chapter begins.

Amanda xxx

Not Being Selected

At the end of December I learnt that my entry in the Aesthetica Art Prize had not been selected. I was incredibly busy at the time and so didn't really have time to dwell on the news, but was just grateful that they had taken the time to let me know. And now we are in the new year I feel incredibly pleased that I entered; I did have a glimmering hope inside me that my work would be chosen, and I imagined receiving the good news, but I don't feel too disappointed. Entering the prize came me the impetus I needed to bring to life a project that at times I struggled with; because I had a deadline, I had to learn how to work through the problems and obstacles. So even though my work wasn't selected, it does actually exist in the world.

If I had exhibited, visitors would have had the opportunity to peep inside my little house boxes, so here is a little tantalising glimpse inside a couple:-

For the new year I am already planning some new pieces of work that carry on the theme of home, so there will be more of that to come later.

Amanda xxx