photo: recent pages in my November book of ideas on winter and more
The trees are looking almost bare and yesterday the Christmas lights were switched on in town. I can imagine the streets will be getting busier and busier, with a determined kind of bustle as we head toward the end of the year. I try to avoid having to go out on a Saturday afternoon because it is so busy and as I have the option to shop and do errands at other times, quieter times are best. But step a few streets away and the park will take me for a walk into nature - just follow the trees, the windswept trees and the rivers of leaves…. I feel fortunate to be here and to be sharing my creative world with you.
photo: a doll in progress - one I am making for my home and Christmas decorating.
I am sat typing this and looking at a half-made, faceless doll. I know she will get to look at me, eventually.It’s that time of year when I am ever so slightly overwhelmed with ideas and want to make a dozen or more handmade things for myself and a dozen or more handmade things for gift-giving. But I will settle for just a few.
I started work on a red and white (my version of) doll quilt a little while ago and realised the colours were just too bright - that bright red, so lovely but not me. So I found a deeper red fabric and will start over. After years of making and painting, working with colour, I know my palette and I know what works for me. I think having this is like a big iron key to the heart of your creativity. You can unlock and see the possibilities. It’s fine to admire other colours and to play around the edges of your own world of colour - but having a certain knowledge of what works for you is like being home.
photo: sketchbook pages from 2017 - representing my chosen colour palette (at least some of). I think it was from about this time that I really got a handle on how I wanted to use colour.
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Shop News
Thank you for your understanding re my need to take things at my own pace, especially when it comes to embroidery portraits. I’ve actually been so busy painting lucky dip orders and paintings for my shop there has been little time to sit at my sewing machine - and as always things cannot be rushed.
I hope to have an update of new embroidery pieces Wednesday 29th November at 8pm UK time.
I am also looking into how I might offer a selection of embroidery pieces to my studio notes subscribers exclusively. If I can this may happen in December. As always, I will try to let you know here ahead of time.
photo: a larger painting - one of two coming to my shop later today (Sunday 19th Nov).
Meanwhile I am very pleased to say I am launching a new postcard club. How it will work: Each month I will have a different, random selection of professionally printed postcards. The postcards will be a mix of sketchbook pages and artwork both old and new. There will be a brand new selection each month - but you don’t get to see them beforehand. They will not all be seasonally themed, but instead an eclectic mix of my work. It will be (like my lucky dips) a surprise.
Each set of postcards will come with a small bird drawing, so that if you so choose you can collect a small flock of birds. For a set of four cards + bird drawing the price will be just £9 plus postage.
To begin with I will make the postcard club a one off purchase - one month at a time. But if there is interest I may offer three month and yearly subscriptions with the hope of offering an even better price. This is of course not a huge money-maker for me as it all takes time but I feel it is important to share my work in a way that is modest and fun.
There will be limited numbers of postcard club sets available each month. I don’t want to overburden myself with post and envelopes. But I will try to offer as many as is reasonable.
The first postcard club will be for December - and this set of surprise postcards will be available to purchase from Wednesday 22nd November (10 am in my shop) - getting a little head start on things as December is such a busy postal month. January’s postcard club will be available to purchase from the start of the new year.
Hope that all makes sense and is of interest to you!
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A few small stories
I rinse my paintbrushes and slip across the road to the church. There is a lunchtime organ recital and I love organ music. I like just about anything played on a really good organ and if there’s a bit of fun to it all the better. The organist Gary Sieling has arranged a particularly intriguing selection of pieces - just lately he’s been interested in the work of the composer Dyson and so alongside pieces by Dyson he has included - oh the impish look on his face as he announces - short pieces by the composers Suk and Blow. It’s just a shame bad weather and life generally has kept people from attending today. I am one of about a dozen. Grateful for a hot cup of tea to hold and help me keep warm, I sit and listen intrigued by the small mirror above the organ - I’m not sure what it is for. The church is filled with a majestic drone. I try to switch my mind off from work, chores, what’s next. I imagine I am in a timeless moment where the music might never end.
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I don’t travel by bus as often as I used to but today I am on a bus, a busy bus with lots of lively conversation. That’s the best kind of journey but it’s hard for me to tune into just one, there’s everything this morning: from teacup chihuahuas to cold remedies. One older man is trying to convince anyone who will listen that eating a slice of plain toast (perhaps with just butter) is the best cure for a sore throat. It’s the rough crumbs that clear the germs, apparently. Meanwhile a young woman is telling her male companion all about her family history research. She could not have had a baby at seventy nine! Her friend says. She did, she did, the young woman says. It’s all there and when I asked my auntie, right, my auntie who knows stuff, she said it was true. Not seventy nine! The man says, that’s disgusting. Yes and she breast-fed the baby as well, she would have had to my auntie said so…. I note a smartly dressed elderly woman near me sits primly, shaking her head. I have to say I have missed bus travel.
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Fewer sightings of my wren neighbour this week. It’s been rainy and dull, so who can blame it for hiding in its nest? I enjoyed reading your comments about the wren especially the comment from Helen who stated the wren was her totem animal. This prompted my daughter and I have to have a discussion re: spirit animals, totem animals (are they the same she thinks not quite). I think mine has changed through the years. I would have said the cat was my spirit animal but now I am not so sure. I think it’s most likely a bird. Maybe the wren will let me know.
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Thanks always for reading here, for your kind comments and likes. If you would like to show support you are welcome to buy me a coffee, thanks always.
Cathy. I am always a bit confused about your buying process. There are “dips” which are like random surprises of your work, and there are specific items I see that i might want to purchase. And I remember that there is also a time slot element which allows for a purchase during a specific time period. And there is “substack”. Just unsure about your purchase process and i do apologize for my confusion. But I and many others truly love your many talents.
Hello Cathy, I really enjoyed your small stories. I can imagine you sitting on the bus listening to these conversations with perhaps a grimace or a secret smile. People are fascinating. I would happily read a book full of these observations.
Count me in for the postcard club! A lovely idea.