Studio Notes no. 194

Drawings, miniatures, news & writing

Hello Everyone,

photo: Sisters by November Woods - my first daily drawing for the month

I hope you have had a good week. I’m still adjusting to the time change / shorter days, so consequently my sleep has been poor - but I managed to catch up last night. Good, but this means I am now later putting my notes together. Most Sundays, before hitting the send button, I am busy editing my notes and deciding on what to share. The notes and writing I send to you each week are written throughout the week. I keep a notebook near my sitting room armchair and jot down key words or phrases as prompts. These get written up, as and when. Then, come Sunday morning, I have the task of editing. Sending a newsletter out to over three thousand readers (thank you) is quite a daunting task - thinking what it is you might all want to read. The only thing I can do is hope you find something, if not everything, of interest to you.

Let’s start with a brief note on my next Shop Update:

I will be updating my shop this coming Wednesday 5th November at 7pm UK time - with a preview from about 4pm. I hope to have a mix of new artwork including November drawings, miniature paintings/ornaments (see below), and possibly a few embroidery pieces.

There is a link to my shop at the end of these notes.

Exhibition News

It is a pleasure to let you know I have an online solo show with Two Artists At Home.

The exhibition features nine larger paintings on paper - Cathy Cullis New Paintings will launch today, Sunday 2nd November, at 7pm. Please see their Instagram and site for more. Here is a sneak peek:

A peek at new paintings for my Two Artists and Home exhibition.

As you may know, my focus in recent times has been painting on a small scale - but over the past several months I have also been painting these A4 size paintings. It has been a great opportunity to explore ideas on paper, using mixed media. This is your chance to purchase something very much ‘Cathy Cullis’ but a bit bigger! I hope you enjoy seeing the collection soon.

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Meanwhile, I have been busy painting on a very small scale indeed…. I am making an ongoing collection of miniature paintings that are designed as hanging ornaments. Yes, with winter decorating in mind, but also as year-round display pieces.

photo: a collection of five new miniature paintings / ornaments

As you may see, the sizes of these vary but they are all dainty. I am painting a range of subject matter - yes wintry ones but others too. Working on such a tiny scale is quite a challenge but I enjoy it. They do take time - but I will be pricing these as modestly as I can, with the sincere hope you might like to collect one or two. After much contemplation - just how to transform the mini paintings into something that can hang - I decided to keep things simple.

photo: here you can see the other side of each painting/ ornament. There is thick watercolour paper on the reverse and the whole piece is secured with strong glue. The wire is twisted and the button is firmly sewn on with cotton thread. Just a little bit fiddly, but worth it, I feel.

These and more will be in my next Wednesday update.

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I don’t have new sketchbook pages to share you with you - I’ve been so busy getting prepared for my November daily drawings (sharpening pencils, treating myself to a few new pencils, finding pens, ink etc…) I look forward to sharing my November drawings with you.

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New Writing - Seven Pieces

These various pieces are inspired by my day-to-day creative life and observations. They are included with full copyright but you are welcome to share with credit. Thanks always for reading.

1.

The young girl asks her mother: how many earring holes do you have in your ears? And her mother says: six. The girl turns to her younger sister and says: Mummy has six earring holes! They are giggly and in awe, and their baby sister, sitting on Mummy’s lap, joins in and smiles, her eyes roaming from the girls to their father who is folding a blanket.

2.

Years ago, how many years ago, I wrote a story (or was it a poem?) called The Woman Who Became a Tree. I am trying now to find this piece of writing, but it is lost in the woods of my scrawling history. Am I simply remembering a dream of writing? The story was not one of protest or disharmony, but simply about a woman who became part of nature she loved most dearly, and so why I want to find her again is more about a kind of self-archaelogy than anything more - I doubt I will unearth great writing.

3.

Most mornings as I get up for the day, my first words to anyone or no one are: I think my hair is standing on end. A quick glance in a mirror may confirm this. My hair, tamed with dabs of rose-scented, during the day, becomes a thing of its own devices by next morning. My early hours hair, the grey always a shock to me, gives me the look of a ghost that has had a small - if not fright - bewilderment.

4.

Poems about writing poems - I was taught this was a no-no. Who told me this first? I forget. Perhaps, it’s all about avoiding being too arch. I remember this criticism, written in my tutor’s small, distinctive hand: ‘a bit arch’. I am guilty of being this, of leading myself on into imaginative worlds that only I can tap into. When someone asks me: what inspires you? I feel the need to give them a lengthy shopping list of places for them to find inklings of things that attract me.

5.

Another playful poem (with thanks to the ‘spirit’ of Stevie Smith, and others who have often inspired me to play.

Writer of Romance, Winifred Pugh

is covered in love bites of a frightful hue.

What is she manifesting, what can she do?

Her options are limited, this much is true.

6.

I look into the kitchen sink to see a large spider. I am not afraid of spiders, so without hesitation I scoop it from the shallow water and place it on the windowsill. Though it had seemed drowned, it now flips itself right and does a playful dance, this way and then that, in the sunlight. Just as I allow myself some feeling of mutuality, the spider flops smack down toward the sink again and curls up in death.

7.

Most working mornings I make a packed lunch, of mostly fruit, for my adult daughter. As I pull grapes from their spindly vine, I contemplate the beauty of the naked, jagged stems. It is easy to imagine these tinged with gold or silver, poking out of Gothic floral arrangements. There is no time or inclination for me to recreate the grand tablescapes I suddenly imagine - but perhaps one day I will draw or paint them.

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photo: one of the nine paintings that will be in my Two Artists at Home exhibition - starting today.

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