Hello again, I hope you are keeping well. Sorry for no notes last week but I am back this Sunday with more sketchbook pages and stories to share. We have had sun, wind, rain and snow in the past few weeks. The daffodils are hardy enough to poke through regardless, but I think my neighbour’s magnolia might have got frost bite.
Photo: sketchbook - window view of angels gathering daffodils in the snow
I was inspired by the snow and daffodils to make these small sketchbook pages. It’s always good to look back on my sketchbooks as records of the weather and seasons - I don’t keep my sketchbooks strictly for this reason - but when this happens, I am glad to have such reflections.
photo: brown paper bag sketchbook
Over the past few weeks I have made more pages in my brown paper bag sketchbook. This larger book measures about 25cm tall and is made from layers of paper for sturdy pages. I’ve made a video of the book - just a brief look-through with me saying a few things about it. My video and voice-over skills are very basic and I know I can only get better, but I hope you might enjoy the short clip. I’ll link at the end as I would like to not distract you away from here just yet.
photo: brown paper bag sketchbook
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A few stories from the past few weeks
Packaging orders (with many thanks always) I stand by the table, writing a thank you note. The large bay window gives me a good view of our woody front garden, with a huge old rose ‘tree’ that really needs a chop. I look out to see, perched quietly, tucked into an angular space of woody branches, a small bird of prey. It might be a kestrel, I think. Too small for a kite? I hardly take a breath, not wishing to disturb it. I’ve actually just packaged a painting of a ‘regal bird’. This, I know, might seem like quite the contrived story but here I am, not wishing for the bird to be disturbed from its staring at the window. Just then, the refuse collectors come bustling along and the bird flies off. I hardly see him, so rapidly does he make his exit.
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The snowy weather keeps me housebound. Both my adult children have reminded me to not venture out (they don’t want me to slip over and hurt myself after all these weeks of waiting for my foot to heal). I watch the snow as it covers the daffodils, layering up. There are just a few birds, magpies high in the trees. I watch my neighbours’ dog running round and round their garden, frantic and breathy, he barks at the snow. Of course, snow in March is not that unusual. My daughter has had snow on her birthday in mid April. Snow one year and a heatwave on a previous birthday. Reading a book on the Plantagenet kings, with their dislike of English rain and the misery of battles in poor conditions, I accept now that England has always had unpredictable weather. Miserable, quite often. Sunny at times, mostly the same….
photo: brown paper sketchbook - a king on horseback
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Digging through a box of fabrics for just that right piece of yellow cotton, I find a half-completed piece of embroidery. It is one of my machine-stitched embroidery drawings from at least a year ago. Possibly I made this a few years ago. I hardly recognise her. She has the beginnings of something about her, this figure with her eyes clearly full of otherworldly dreams. I am not sure if I will ever complete her. I am not sure if my sewing machine and I will sit down and draw again. There is a feeling I have, a good one - perhaps it is time to focus on other things now. So, for now, I prop the half-completed portrait on a ledge near my desk. I glance and smile at her, from time to time. I think she’s smiling back.
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Thanks always for reading here, for all your kind comments and likes. If you would like to support my sharing and writing, you are welcome to buy me a coffee. Thanks to everyone for your continued support.
And so finally….
I have made a video
Your posts always leave me feeling so warm, cozy, and fed. Beauty for the eyes and food for the soul. 🩷
J'adore votre univers. J'ai ce sentiment de voyager à travers vos dessins et peintures.
Beau dimanche Cathy.