3 December 2009

Clean and tidy

Well this is a working studio - so tidy is relative really!

The tables are almost clear (except for some exciting items - more next time).

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And as a mum I also have a pile of school trousers to turn up.

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The fabrics are all sorted into type and colour schemes.

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Ribbons, braids and scraps.

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Hand threads and beads organised on the dresser.

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Draw units sorted and labelled
(all the old fabrics have gone making way for the things I really use on a regular basis).

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Print blocks, batik pots and waxes, brushes and brads.

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Blank canvases and wooden panels full of potential - along with just a few of the items I've got from
Art van Go over the years.  (I've found three - yes THREE - pots of Treasure Gold in Amethyst - oops!)

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Oh! dyes - my favourite colouring medium.

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Dye pots, trays and palettes sorted too.

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After three trips to the tip, two bookcases and two tables moved out, and three Ikea bags given away to friends the studio is still cluttered far too much
- but I can finally see and get around the machine quilting frame.

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21 November 2009

Crossing Borders

Crossing Borders is an artist led organisation spanning the Scottish and English borders.
The new web site is here.

CBHome

Click on "artists" and you can see our profiles.

CBHC 

My next exhibition is at Eastgate Theatre and Arts Centre in Peebles.

18 Dec 2009-23 Jan 2010
(closed 23rd Dec–3rd Jan)
‘Crossing Borders Christmas Exhibition
Eastgate Theatre, Peebles’

If you are looking for locally made, affordable gifts for Christmas, Crossing Borders, the arts collective that spans the Borders and North Northumberland, is staging a Christmas Exhibition which showcases members work. Textiles, paintings, and all manner of wall-based work will be on display, making this the perfect destination for some extra special Christmas shopping!

15 November 2009

Cleaning and sorting time.

The Studio was far too cluttered and messy to work in so I decided to clear up - but then I also had this (strange) urge to clean underneath and behind everything.......

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And then - stranger still..... I had the urge to look into EVERY box, look on EVERY shelf and in EVERY draw....

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How to store a spare table and rolls of fabric...

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The weaving yarns are liberated from their boxes for the first time.

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And..................gasp!  EMPTY SHELVES!

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Still another couple of days work to go - quite looking forward to it.  How odd. 

14 November 2009

Still cute

G Pigs

Emily and Isabel are doing well.

They have learnt to cross their legs too.

13 November 2009

Flowers always cheer me up...

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These are now sitting in front of me on the kitchen table whilst I study my History of Art.  I really must get this Diploma finished, I've been doing it for ages.

Today the sun is shinning, the house is clean and the heating is already on in the studio.

It's a good day.

11 November 2009

Autumn Colours

I took these pictures about two weeks ago - the leaves have all gone now after a storm last Sunday.  The colours were stunning in the sun.

Over the border to the north and a walk in the grounds of Paxton House next to the River Tweed.

Autumn leaves

Autumn leaves2 Tweed

Paxtoncattle
You know its Scotland with the Highland Cattle sitting by (in) the car park!

fishhouse1 fishhouse2

Back in England the cattle are just as photogenic.

cows

And the hills were looking beautiful.

Hills oct09

10 November 2009

Needing a good home

Hand Quilting Frame - Brand new - never used.  Also extension rails to increase the size half again. 
Cost ~£400, will swap for £40 book / Amazon vouchers.

Must collect from Northumberland.
Please someone want it!

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9 November 2009

I'm in the....

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Cleaning.  1/3rd done.

1 November 2009

When buying a mirror - remember to check the weight.......

mirror

I purchased it on Friday and it was delivered yesterday.....
......which is when I realised just how HEAVY this mirror is.

It's meant to go on the wall above but how to hang it?

30 October 2009

Bamburgh

School holidays should always include a trip to the beach.

Even better if you have Bamburgh Castle just over the sand dunes.

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23 October 2009

Which planet am I on?

I ask because I'm not sure I know really.

At the weekend I was in Cumbria at the Quilters Guild Region 15W regional meeting.  Saturday I gave a talk "The Accidental Quilter" and Sunday I taught a workshop on Goddesses.  I had my camera in my bag all the time but forgot to take any photos (as I do when I'm teaching I must get out of this bad habit).

 

Caribbean Goddess Goddess summer tree

Then I finally decided what to do for the CQGB challenge "Breakthrough".  I had started a piece months ago for this but decide it wasn't working and chopped it up - making it too small for the 90x90 or 60x60cm strict limits (I hate having these limits it doesn't work for me at all - and only 1cm tolerance.  Embroiderers would never demand this regulation). 

Anyway, now I have my design I have realised that the deadline - 6th November -  is not weeks away but only 12 days to account for postage of info.  I have visitors arriving tomorrow for a whole week so I know there is little chance I'm going to get this done.  I thought I had about two weeks after the holidays.

So do I try and work like crazy?  My work is always very labour intensive and I don't produce 4 works in a day.  That's not me - I can do much better than that.  Throwing something together is not my style.

Maybe I'll get going and try, at the least I'll have one piece of work in progress........

13 October 2009

New paintings

Three new oil paintings in the "Impressions of Northumberland" series are available for sale.

Impressions of Northumberland 10011

Impressions of Northumberland 10011

15x15x3cm  Oil on Wood Panel  £35

Email me (helen.cowans@btconnect.com) to buy via PayPal

Impressions of Northumberland 10012

Impressions of Northumberland 10012

20x20x3cm  Oil on Wood Panel  £40

Email me (helen.cowans@btconnect.com) to buy via PayPal

Impressions of Northumberland 10013

Impressions of Northumberland 10013

15x30x3cm  Oil on Wood Panel  £45

Email me (helen.cowans@btconnect.com) to buy via PayPal

11 October 2009

Kelso

I have a few things to show you textile wise, but they need photographing.  In the meantime here are some pictures taken at the weekend at Kelso, a small market town about 30 minutes drive north - just over the border in Scotland.

It has a beautiful ruined abbey built in the 12th Century.

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And Floors Castle built in 1721.

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1 October 2009

Thank goodness its October.

Very rarely do I wish time away but September has been a pretty dreadfully depressing month;

Ric archery

1. I caught Swine Flu.  Not recommended if you can possibly avoid it.

2. I had to cancel the Art Trail Open Studio weekend, disappointing for me after all the hard work and for those who were going to visit.  I don't think the Crossing Borders organisers are very impressed with me as I had to cancel last year too.  But life happens.

3. Land very close to our house has been purchased by a neighbour and goodness knows what we will have happening right next to us.  Large fence / hedge time and I loose my wonderful view but I feel the need to enclose my space and cocoon myself away from the world.  Expensive.

4. The Lawn Mower is terminally dead and and a new one is (another) very expensive purchase.

5. We have two issues to deal with concerning the studio.  A real time consuming hassle and potentially expensive.

6. My cleaner lost two contracts in Wooler and so it's not worth her travelling to me and thus I am just off to clean the house from top to bottom when I would rather be stitching.  That's one day a week completely taken up with housework and the next day spent exhausted resting from housework.

7. The freezer door was left open and all the food defrosted (just after a shopping trip too).

8. Someone I thought was a friend isn't as much of a friend as I thought (which hurts).

9. I have learnt never to trust anyone I don't know really well.  I am too nice and open and the world is full of complete b*!*&*%ds.  I found this out the hard way this month.

10. I have been comfort eating and put on 3lbs (make that 4lbs).

11. I couldn't make my monthly lunch date with good friends.

"Life is just one damned thing after another"     Elbert Hubbard

"There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness."     Carl Jung

 

Ending on a good note (or two);

1. DS has settled into his new school.

2. I have tidied up the office and can see the floor again (though the desk is another task entirely).

3. I've had tea and a chat with some good friends this week.

4. Isabel and Emily Guinea Pig are settled in and growing every day - and they love cuddles.

5. I've lost a cleaner, but gained a gardener.

6. I've had swine flu so I know I'm not going to get it again.

7. I've had two beautiful bunches of flowers from friends (nothing is better to cheer me up).

8. I've had lunch with a good friend I see only very occasionally.

9. Yesterday I spent most of the day stitching and nattering with friends.

10. My house is cleaner now that I'm cleaning it again (but I do wish it would stay perfect for more than 5 hours).

 

Time to contemplate the new month and its opportunities...
and take the advice of Buddha...

 Pastel goddess

"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment."     Buddha