Studio Notes no. 145

Playful Sketchbook pages & small stories

photo: a new book pages painting - Autumn Poems, a still life

Hello Everyone, hope you have had a good week. September has gone by in a blur of rain, thundery rain and more rain. A little happy sunshine would be welcome, here and where you are too, no doubt.

What have I been doing this week?

Many hours this week have been spent stitching, as I am working on new pieces for my shop - but also future events (yes I will tell you more soon). I stitch several hours in a day, but with lots of breaks. I have taken it for granted that I can stitch until I run out of thread, then leave the flat, walk two minutes to a shop where I can buy more thread. I did this the other day only to find out from the friendly lady in the shop that the ‘thread rep’ had not been in to visit and they currently have no black thread! Yikes, I realised straightaway that I must stock up, keep a stash. That thread rep better make an appearance soon….

I have given chunks of time to my sketchbooks, including all the drawing and mark-making and playful painting that goes into them before I even put anything on the pages. There’s been more monoprint drawing:

photo: random monoprint drawings

These figures have a strong line quality, are made quickly and don’t take themselves too seriously. They are inspired by love of fashion drawings, abstraction and blind drawing. There are days when I sit and draw and draw like this, and have to stop myself from using all the paper I have. A lightweight paper is best, but not too thin. I am always experimenting with what might work. At the moment I am using a sketchbook I purchased from Flying Tiger, as well as scraps of this and that, including bits of book pages. 

Paint experiments - making use of a brown paper bag that recently held a loaf of bread. I painted on various papers, layering up gouache. 

photo: painted papers to put use in my sketchbooks - anything not used goes in my box of randomness (see last week’s notes)

And so, after some time of consideration, cutting and sticking - new sketchbook pages:

photo: sketchbook pages (A5 size pages)

photo: recent sketchbook pages

photo: larger sketchbook pages - here you can see how I have cut the painted papers into simple vessel shapes. I love the texture of these and am looking forward to working more in this larger book. Yes, quite different to my intricate embroidery portraits! But then again, sharing ideas of timelessness and depth.

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I’ve also been working on two book page paintings, continuing with the autumn theme. One you can see at the start of these notes. Here is the other:

photo: crow jug near a window in autumn - a new book pages painting

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Shop News

My shop will be updated today, Sunday 29th September at 7pm UK time. You can preview everything from 12 noon. There will be new embroidery and book page paintings. 

Please note: a reminder - my autumn tiny landscapes (lucky dips) will be increasing in price from October 1st. Current price is just £32 for a lucky dip painting. The new price will be £35. I don’t like upping prices but must cover my increased costs (all materials have gone up in price quite considerably over the past months). Thanks for your understanding. I do expect to paint Winter lucky dips, starting at the end of November. 

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Also this week I have been busy editing/designing my upcoming zine A Pocketful of Ghosts. More on that next week. I am sharing another story from it below, as a sneak peek preview.

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A Few Small Stories

Ladder

I look out of the kitchen window for the hundredth time this morning, expecting nothing exactly, just the same historical buildings being quietly drenched in rain. But there is a man dangling from an upstairs window. There is a ladder and I seem to recognise the middle-aged man as a neighbour - not a burglar. Burglars don’t dangle, I tell myself. Must have locked himself out, I decide. I feel compelled to watch, scolding myself for feeling ever so excited by the idea that he might slip and fall, and I might witness this. But all too quickly he is through the window, with some effort, having navigated a sink. There’s hardly any drama or panic, it’s as if he does this - let’s himself into his flat via the open window - every other wet Wednesday. Must have borrowed a ladder from the shop downstairs.

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Not Asking

I am not asking you, the angry little girl says, scowling at the ground, hair sticky with sweat and rain, I am not asking you Mummy, I am telling you. I look about me, in the busy courtyard, to see Mummy’s response but I cannot spot anyone fitting that description nearby. Then a woman appears in the bookshop doorway: we’re in here darling! The girl shakes herself as if suddenly awake, skips, carefree, toward the woman.

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From: A Pocketful of Ghosts (forthcoming zine)

I am Sorry A Ghost Rode My Bicycle

I am sorry a ghost rode my bicycle, despite the chain being broken. It was lazy of me to not fix the chain before lending her the bicycle, but she was so desperate to just have a go, despite the chain, the icy weather, the dark, the snow. I really did not think it mattered if the lights were not working properly. I stood by the side gate and watched her propelled by something, the front light flickering and making all the trees in the road look like a grim, tall audience. The ghost was laughing breathlessly, as ghosts do. Then her skirt got caught in the loose chain. And then she tipped over, right over the handlebars. It was not the ghost herself who made the screeching sound but her skirt and petticoats as they ripped. I think she was a bit cross with me after that. So yes, I am sorry a ghost rode my bicycle and scratched all the cars in the street. 

Thank you for reading.

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photo: fine woman in a pale purple jacket - a new embroidery portrait

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