photo: recent sketchbook pages
Hello Everyone, I hope you are well and have had a good week. It is finally feeling every so slightly spring-like. This morning the sky is blue, the birds are singing and the blossoms are doing their thing. FInally, we may be leaving the era of murky weather, but I do not want to promise myself too much.
I began this week making myself a promise: to stick to my plan and enjoy the process regardless. A small part of me was a little anxious about sharing dolls, especially my fun and frivolous pointy hat chaps. Was making and offering dolls right now a good idea? I told myself I wanted to make them and so it was. I have always been led firstly by my need to make something - and to go with my own flow of ideas. One of a few rules I have for myself: compete with yourself not with others. I wanted to make a new series of dolls that would make me and others smile. If I lost a few followers on Instagram, so be it, I told myself.
By the end of this week - I will just keep shaking my head at it. I have gained many new Instagram followers and have had a mostly brilliant response to my new dolls. Thank you algorithm, hello new people and I hope I can keep you interested in all that I do.
photo: new dolls (recently sold)
Needless to say, I am not about to ditch everything else to simply knit pointy hats for the rest of my studio days. However, I am in the process of making more dolls and hope to have a further selection in my shop this coming Wednesday. Thank you for your interest.
Along with the interest in dolls came a little flurry of orders for spring lucky dip paintings. Many thanks. I love painting these. I am offering spring tiny landscapes until the end of this month. Then it shall be all about summery stories.
What with knitting stripes and painting blossoms - it’s been a pretty happy studio week. Except for pulling a tendon in my shoulder. A big ouch with nerve pain included. I am having to go gently with that. Already getting better but a reminder to take care of myself - and to not carry too much shopping up the stairs (if you are new I live in an attic flat - no lift, it’s an eighteenth century listed building).
I have also found time for sketchbooks. Perhaps not as much as last week but enough to keep the kettle boiling.
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photo: sketchbook pages from 2016
Sketchbook Weekend - announcement
I would like to suggest a sketchbook weekend - the first weekend in June. That’s June 1st and 2nd. This will be an online event open to all subscribers who might like to join in. The event will begin Saturday morning UK time and run through until Sunday evening - with possibly a little into Monday. The idea is a simple one - to encourage others to work in their sketchbooks. Last year a lovely group of us got together to fill a sketchbook during a weekend. This time around, I would like the challenge to be a little less intensive - simply to work in your books and share. I will host and provide prompts and suggestions, but this will not be a weekend of tuition. I will be there as a mentor/friend/fellow artist. This will be especially good for anyone who wants to spend more time with their sketchbook and find encouragement from others. You do not have to be a professional artist. You can be a beginner or a long-term sketchbook aficionado. There will be no cost.
Last year we shared many photos/pages via a dedicated substack group (emails were sent out and I collated photos). I am thinking this year we might instead use a Discord group. I will be setting up a private group, invite-only. Don’t worry if you are unfamiliar with Discord, all will be explained.
So, if you are interested in this please email me with a little info about yourself. Let me know where you are in the world as this helps me to plan. I will then see if there is interest. I may limit the number of folks who take part to keep it manageable. Email: (ccullis at gmail dot com)
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Untitled - a new tiny book
photo: pages in my newly completed tiny book (untitled) - and below
Finally, finally a new tiny book to share with you - here are a few photos. I will add a link to a video at the end of these notes as I don’t want you to disappear just yet!
This book was created to explore the colour Linden green. The book evolved, as books do, and whilst I used plenty of Linden green paint on the pages it is not explicitly a green book! You will see. I am happy with its textures, layers of colour and general playful mood. I hope you enjoy taking a little look through. The book is not for sale at this time but is part of my personal collection of artworks I get to keep. Video at the end of these notes.
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Shop News
Following on from my busy week (see above) - there will be no shop update today, Sunday 5th May.
I am have been and will be focusing my time on lucky dip orders and doll-making. Thank you for your understanding. There will be, I hope, a further selection of paintings (both tiny and on paper) next Sunday - but please check here.
Therefore -
My next shop update will be: Wednesday 8th May at 8pm UK time - a further selection of new dolls.
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A few small stories
Apple Blossom
The courtyard area by a bookshop is often a play area for small children. This morning there are two little girls chasing each other whilst their mothers chat. Having made themselves breathless, the girls sit; the smaller girl is suddenly downcast. Tummy ache, she says. Oh, the older girl says, swaying her legs confidently. Here’s what you do - put your hand on your tum and say: apple blossom, apple blossom, apple blossom. Is that witchcraft? The little girl asks and her friend nods. The little girl is reassured to try: apple blossom, apple blossom, she whispers quietly. The mothers are talking about full diaries and a person they don’t like but must include in everything. Better now? the older girl asks and the little girl nods.
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Puppy
Walking by the new patisserie, it is interesting to see the bakers hard at work making their dainty, glossy treats. There is a table of women eating mouthful-sized pastries washed down with glasses of champagne. So not just another coffee shop then. I shall enjoy walking by, on this narrow shopping street, seeing the colourful food prep. I continue my walk home. Up ahead is another distraction: a puppy in arms. A puppy is the single biggest cause of a path blockage - people will stop to pet and swoon, ask questions. Never mind a pretty baby in a pram, it’s a puppy people will give time to. This one is especially pretty with long beige ears. There is no hope of getting past the crowd of admirers, and I hope the puppy’s owners were not in a hurry because no one will let them free now they have seen the gorgeous furbaby, wrapped in a blanket, almost like a rabbit. I look again to check if it is not a dog, but a rabbit. But I know better: only a dog can cause such a swarm of people to block the street. I will just have to step into the road.
Meanwhile, as I walk free and think I am almost home, a couple with a dog the size of a pony are leaving a shop. It’s the kind of dog usually employed in mountain rescue, not finding a new dress. The dog appears reluctant to exit the women’s fashion shop, possibly due to general admiration. I cannot understand why such a big dog is a shopping accessory. It would fill a changing room.
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Black-and-White
Everyone I know is keen to visit the new cinema. Many of us have a few times now. I made a suggestion to my sister that it would be nice for them to show older films, preferably a few black-and-whites. A few weeks later, my wish granted, a classic movie series is announced and my sister and I go to see Brief Encounter. It is the first time either of us have seen a restored black-and-white film on the big screen. Just as the film starts an elderly couple come and sit in front of us. They fumble about with toffees and handkerchiefs. The lady has that face powder scent, the kind that reminds me of my granny’s generation. The evocative scent fills the auditorium, lending an enhanced atmosphere. Older films are my favourite, they have inspired so many drawings and ideas. I love the voices and nostalgia, the past that never quite existed beyond the cinema.
photo: sketchbook pages inspired by black-and-white films - and my love of simple black gouache drawing - pages from 2022.
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Thank you for reading here, for all your comments and likes. Please subscribe to receive these notes as an email most Sundays. If you would like to support my writing you are welcome to buy me a coffee - I am most grateful to everyone for your support!
And video - please subscribe to my YouTube channel - I hope to add more videos more frequently.
I am always charmed by your tiny works and your latest sketchbook is delightful! The dolls are whimsical and quite collectible and I hope that you never doubt your creative sense of direction because of a faceless artificial intelligence platform. You have had a faithful following for many years now, one that predates Instagram. We are here because your work is original, lighthearted, colorful, and evocative of shared memories from our pasts. It’s also diminutive in size and at a price point that makes it extremely collectible! If you lose followers because of pointy hatted doll posts they were never your peeps to start with! Also, I love that you have cinema nearby and especially that you are able to see old films. You always manage to manifest the good life. 😉
I’ve recently moved to Croydon, and there’s a David Lean Cinema here, showing arty, independent films. Yesterday I went to see Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days. It was beautiful and melancholic and life affirming, inviting us take pleasure in the ordinary. I can recommend if you haven’t seen it x