Studio Notes no.139

Stitches, Sketchbooks, Old Films & More

Hello Everyone, apologies for sending this one out a little later than usual

photo: Songs and Memories - an embroidery artwork (this piece will be in my shop update later today)

I have work completed, lots of work in progress. It’s been a very, very warm week. This has slowed me down. I always strive to do my best and if the heat becomes too much, I do the sensible thing and take a break.

Daily drawings have evolved and now I have decided to instead give myself time each day to simply sit down with my sketchbooks. I want to share more in progress photos so here are a few to give you an idea of how I make bits and bobs, working on multiple things at a time:

Photos: scenes from the gentle chaos of sketchbooks

Perhaps I would like to share more of this thinking and haphazardness with you. This is what I wanted to do here - to share glimpses of my studio life, with all the mess, gentle chaos and variety that it provides.

So, yes, expect to see more chaos soon. And eventually I will share the completed pages also.

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shop news - I have a new collection of eight tiny portraits and the embroidery piece seen above. These artworks will be in my shop today Sunday 4th August at 7pm UK time.

As I have a few embroidery pieces yet to be completed, I have decided to do a Wednesday update - so this Wednesday 7th August - you will find a selection of my embroidery artwork in my shop. 8pm UK time - with preview from 4pm.

Photo: an embroidery in progress - I hope to have this piece completed and will offer it in my Wednesday update.

As vulnerable as it may make me feel, I think it is important to show you some work in progress. Will this piece come together, be as pleasing to my eye as I wish it might be? I will continue to share more in progress photos here on Substack. I hope that is of interest to you.

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A Few Small Stories

X

Quietly obsessed with cross stitch - when I am not stitching I am stitching - I decide the next motif to stitch is a little white dog. Only its pink collar saves it from fading into the linen fabric. I dream of stitching many tiny dogs, cats, urns, flowers and birds. And houses and crowns, hearts, and alphabets, of course. Days and days of motifs, not one quite the same as the other but each one a repetition of something stitched long ago. So many hands and threads, all learning, admiring, unpicking, re-tracing, re-threading, stitching better, stitch again, just one more x.  No matter how one might attempt to be original, a thread and needle, in a simple gesture of X will forever be an X. 

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Sunglasses

A sudden trip, her stick clatters to the ground and a woman is down. Myself and two other women attempt to persuade the smartly dressed woman not to attempt to get up. But she is insistent. She twists herself about and moans, explaining she cannot bend in the usual way due to a hip operation. But she is determined to get up because she must meet her friend, her friend who is eighty today and she must purchase flowers. She will not sit here, being silly, on the ground. I am the tallest and youngest, so I offer to help;  if she is going to get up she must use me. When, halfway up, she panics that she might fall back down, I tell her she cannot fall. I am holding you, take your time, I say. She finds her feet and sighs. She’s more concerned about her sunglasses. Having scooped them up from the ground soon after she fell, I now hand them back to her. My favourites from TK Maxx and now they’re scratched, she says. Oh well, another woman says, handing the lady her handbag, time to buy another pair. 

It’s only later in the day that I realise two things. Firstly, I have not taken off my sunglasses since I got home. So that’s why it seems so gloomy this afternoon. Also, my shoulder and arm are only just starting to bother me. I am nearly always in constant discomfort these days - I cannot sleep on my left side - due to my left arm and shoulder being out of sorts. Somehow this was not a problem and I did not hesitate when I helped the woman off the ground. It did not hurt at all for hours after. Only now is pain creeping back. I must distract myself. I swap my sunglasses for my regular spectacles: that’s better.

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Something Happened

It’s late in the evening and I should put my book down, get some sleep. But I can hear a woman sobbing. It’s been going on for a while. I look out the window but cannot see a woman, only a man talking quietly on his phone, pacing. Other people walk by, unconcerned. I speak to my daughter who says yes she has heard the sobbing woman. We both listen. We listen to the woman’s sobbing as it becomes a little lighter, breathy, and turns into laughter. Yes, somehow, she is laughing now. And though I cannot see her I feel her brushing away the tears. Perhaps the man on the phone was a friend calling a friend, getting the woman safely home. Something happened. Something that was nothing I will ever know about but it seems there is some happy resolution, at least for now. Quiet takes over. I re-read the last page of a book I did not particularly enjoy. Turn off the light.

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Screen Test

It is more than escapism, I just love the black and white of old films. In the past month I have watched fourteen, all from the 1930s. All British, not because I dislike films made elsewhere but because British films of that time feel like home to me. Yes, they remind me of my grandparents, who were very young back then. The humour, the silliness, the costumes, the songs. Yes, even the songs. For a moment, as I walk through the churchyard, I see myself as a bit-part actor walking toward her own hopeful five seconds of fame. Alas, I have no fetching hat, no gloves. My hair is too messy. 

Ditch any idea of writing a PhD on art, or literature. I will write a thesis on British film of the thirties. What angle I might take I can only know from watching a few more hundred films. But then again, why share my secret love? Who needs to know what I think about Tom Walls or Binne Hale? People, even great stars of their time, alas get forgotten. We become dust, even the stars. Alas. It’s the drama I love.

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Just as an end note to Screen Test - if you are interested in discovering 1930’s British cinema, please may I recommend three of my favourite films for starters. They may serve as an alternative escape route from the world, (the Olympics, politics etc) for a few hours. These can be found on YouTube - just search for them including the year.

Jack of All Trades 1936 - young man desperately needs a job so invents one for himself. Jack Hulbert stars and directs - and tap dances quite a bit. I suppose I love this one because like our hero I also needed a job and invented one!

Hyde Park Corner 1935 - just a really good watch. Dark, funny, great costumes - a few songs, rattling taxis and a strong female lead.

A Cuckoo in the Nest 1933 - could this be my favourite thirties film? Tom Walls and Ralph Lynn just make me smile. I adore Yvonne Arnaud as a strong French woman. Yes, attitudes are of the time. But just such great acting and timing. A funny, silly farce.

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photo: a new tiny portrait - one of eight new paintings (will be in my shop later)

Sorry, not sorry for waffling on about old films. I hope you have enjoyed reading my notes this week. Please make sure to subscribe if you have not already. A paid subscription helps me give time to my writing or you might like to buy me a coffee. All support is much appreciated.

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