All things arty

The pleasure of hand-made

2012-01-29T16:36:00.000Z

I've been sorting through photographs that I've loaded onto my PC today, and amongst the many since before Christmas, I remembered one I took of a felt brooch that I treated myself to from fellow artist and craft-maker, Andrea Farmer.

This particular little gem called to me first of all in April last year, when I received a box full of goodies from Andrea to sell at a craft fair I organised. It didn't sell at the craft fair, but I took it and other items with me to the craft fairs I've taken part in since, sometimes having the space and/or permission to sell the items on my table, at other times they have just come along for the ride! It wasn't until all my fairs were over that I finally picked out a couple of other items to give as stocking fillers for my two grand-daughters - for Matheea I bought a red, black and cerise coloured button badge (her current favourite colours are red and black, so she thought this was "Cool" when she opened it). For her sister, Evie, I bought a white and pink button badge, with little pink owl buttons along all the petals - she was also chuffed, and as she was wearing a pink outfit the day I saw them, she put it on straight away. Both girls have developed a love of "Make and do", so they have learnt to appreciate hand-made gifts from a young age, which I encourage as much as possible. I also made them a wardrobe styled trinket box each for my sister to give to them as gifts for Christmas - and as a place for them to keep all their badges and other small trinkets.

The brooch I bought for myself was a perfect match for a cerise coloured cardigan that I'd recently bought, and it is a firm favourite of mine at the moment.

I've taken photos of the three items I bought from Andrea, apologies for the poor quality, I had to take the photos in a rush before I wrapped the badges up for Christmas and in between other jobs!

Andrea sells a large proportion of her craft based items in her Etsy shop online, but if you live in the Chelmsford area you can visit "Make, Do and Mend" at 94 Byron Road, Chelmsford CM2 6HJ. They stock many hand-made gifts by local people and also run various workshops - more details on their web-site here.

The beautiful felt brooch made by Andrea, which is now MINE!!!!!

Matheea's button badge

Evie's pink and white owl badge

For the gifts my sister commissioned to give to Matheea and Evie, I opted for their favourite colours again and as I like to name my creations, I used their names also, and personalised them a little further by painting their initial on the top of the box.

Evie's mini wardrobe trinket box.

Matheea's mini wardrobe trinket box.

I think hand-made items are so much more than just a gift - you are giving a part of your personality away as well, and I only hope that whenever someone is given a gift made by me, they feel the same as I do whenever I receive something hand-made. I smile at my felt brooch when I wear it, and always imagine the work that's gone into making it, and somehow that makes me take more care over it.

My mini wardrobes have mainly been created for commissions, although I am hoping to build up enough stock to sell them at local venues as well as in my Etsy shop online.

Audience feedback

2012-01-27T15:14:00.001Z

Just thought I'd quickly share some of the amusing snippets of conversation overheard from our audience members during this week. More often than not, our typical audience members seem to think that when we are acting on stage, we can't hear them - or perhaps they think they are watching telly - whichever it is, it certainly makes for some entertaining dialogue.

Since the play is set in a garden, we've obviously had to decorate the set to look at least something like one - but that still doesn't stop the astonishment from some of them when the curtains open to reveal "Ooooh, there's grass! It's grass on stage. Grass!".

The character I play is not at all pleasant, which makes it a real joy to play as I can get as vile as I like without worrying about what people may think of me. Thankfully, I must be doing the job properly, as one woman in the audience commented on the first night with "She's the Mother-in-law from Hell"

The funniest so far is one from last night. In one scene, Amy (who plays the part of my daughter-in-law in the play) starts the scene sitting on the garden bench. It is the first time the audience have seen her. When she stood up, however, one lady was obviously shocked at how deceptive the stage can be as she blurted out "Ooooh, she's a lot taller than I thought she'd be".

Over the years we've had many comments either spoken in a loud voice or even shouted from the audience as they work out the plot or whenever a new actor joins the society - they never cease to amaze and amuse us all. The one I will never forget is when we were doing a play set in the 1940s and I had my hair styled accordingly. When I walked on, someone at the back of the auditorium "whispered" to her companion "I don't like her hair in this one". Priceless!

If there are any more gems tonight I will report back!

Ferens Open Exhibition

2012-01-25T16:33:00.000Z

I managed to enter the Ferens Open Exhibition today - on the last day of entry submissions! This is partly because I did not receive notification as usual (in previous years I'm sure I've had email notifications to tell me about this) and therefore only found out on Sunday when I popped in to see the last day of the Children's Exhibition! Also, I've not been at all well since Sunday - both Keith and I have suffered with a sickness/gastric bug that seems to be doing the rounds. For the first time ever, we had to miss the final dress rehearsal for our play, which opened last night. Fortunately, we managed to perform and hope to stay well enough for the rest of the week.

Anyhow, this year I've opted for hand-bag sized paintings and took along 3 of my smaller paintings which I did actually transport in my handbag. I'm hoping for success this year, but you never know what the curators will like so it's pot luck really.

I've entered the following paintings:

"Grand Canyon Impression"

"Life's Little Ups & Downs"

"Undersea Adventure"

If any of my paintings get selected, you can view or purchase them from the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull, between 11th February and 15th April. The Preview evening is Friday 10th February.

A Night On The Tiles

2012-01-17T19:21:00.000Z

One week to go for the opening night of our next production at the Bilton Theatre. This is part of the reason I've not blogged since before Christmas! I have several ideas for blog posts to come, but for now, I just wanted to share the countdown to our production week!

Birthday, Christmas and Concerts.

2011-12-16T16:42:00.000Z

I just had to share this lovely gift my sister got me for my birthday, since it is a hand-made item which I value! Using hand-made lampwork beads and swarovski crystals, the bracelet is so pretty! My favourite colour is red, and I am a big fan of spots and dots, so the two combined are perfect for me. Thanks to Rachel for buying it, and also to Nichola Foster for designing it in the first place. Nichola sells her jewellery at local craft fairs and online - you can take a look on her Facebook page here, or have a browse in her Folksy shop online here.

I had a lovely Birthday at home, my sis came to visit along with my 2 year old niece, who had bought me a pair of purple stripey socks that are extremely comfy and warm to wear (purple is her favourite colour so she has to get all her family purple items as gifts!) along with a purple diary and pens.

I also received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from Keith, as well as a box of Black Magic chocolates and a Charcoal grey dress from Joe Browns (my favourite clothes supplier!). Later in the day, my parents came to see me and they gave me a lovely blue cowl necked jumper (again from Joe Browns). I feel very privileged! The evening was topped off with a delicious meal cooked by Keith, which was chateaubriand accompanied with tender-stem broccoli, roast potatoes and carrots - superb.

Our annual Oscars' Night at the theatre went down well with everyone - it's always such a great atmosphere and the combined members of the junior and youth sections always perform well for their relatives and friends. Father Christmas arrived at the end of the awards ceremony, giving the children a gift each (I particularly like that part - it feels like we are rewarding every one of them for their involvement throughout the year).

I've now finished writing and posting the Christmas cards, have been doing a bit more Christmas shopping online today and tonight is the first of two Christmas Carol concerts I will be taking part in with Hull Musical Society. I will be doing one of the readings at the concert, too.

Over the weekend we will be making a start on the set for the January play - which goes on from Tue 24th Jan to Fri 27th and Keith and I are both in it this time.

We have got our Christmas tree up, along with some other bits and bobs, and I'm now actually starting to feel quite festive.

I hope to post again before Christmas, but if I don't get chance, hope you all have a lovely time.

Craft Fair Bore?

2011-11-28T10:58:00.002Z

All I seem to be thinking about these days is craft fairs - having many lined up is great, but I am wondering if Christmas is getting too close for comfort all too quickly now!

I did a fair in the small town of Hedon at the weekend - it's got quite a lot of different shops on the main route through, and I expected it to be quite a busy day for me, especially with passing trade - the venue is situated on the main road so I really hoped we would see a high number of visitors. However, this was not to be, sadly. Despite the large hall and good variety of stalls, it seemed most shoppers were going elsewhere and we just chatted amongst ourselves a lot of the time - which was pleasant enough, I admit, but does your creative soul no good when you've spent a lot of time making new items!

However, I did at least make a few sales and the more my work is out there, then hopefully word will spread and more people will start looking for me at fairs (that's how I like to view it, anyway).

Here's the selection of items I sold:

I also sold a numbered birthday card from my range featured previously in this blog post: New Range of Cards - it was the number 10, which a young girl bought for her friend.

I'm busy preparing now for a full weekend at a venue which already has an established gift shop and art gallery, so hopefully there will be plenty of people visiting this time. I've just finished a commission for six tree decorations, and painted two more hardbacked notebooks, now I need to get some more tree ornaments decorated.

Sorry for sounding like a craft fair bore, but since that's mostly what I've been creating for recently, I'm afraid there's not a lot else to say!!!

"Mesmerised At Midnight" painting in Etsy Treasury

2011-11-23T12:52:00.000Z

Many thanks to Chitchatdesignsllc on Etsy for featuring one of my mini paintings on her Treasury recently, entitled "In The Midnight Blue". She has skillfully selected 16 items created with the colour midnight blue and they look really striking as a group (even if my painting wasn't there!).

You can view the Treasury on Etsy and click on each item individually by visiting it here.

Christmas sales picking up...

2011-11-20T19:10:00.000Z

I sold a couple of trinket boxes amongst other small itmes yesterday at the Christmas Event with a twist, held in a local villlage hall.

Organised by my talented friend Nichola from Nichola Foster Designs - whose delicately crafted jewellery can by seen on her facebook page or in her Folksy shop online, there were so many visitors that for the first couple of hours I don't really remember all the faces! I was lucky enough to receive lots of lovely comments as well as making a fair few sales, so all in all a really good day.

I was actually rather sad to see these two trinket boxes go - the weird thing is, they are my most recent ones, so I'd only "lived" with them for a short time before they were sold.

"Twinkle, Twinkle" trinket box.

The lady who bought this made a bee-line for it straight away. I smiled when she picked it up, showed it to her husband and said "Isn't this gorgeous?" I've not yet heard a man who would honestly reply with a "ooh, yes, dear, that's gorgeous". He did the expected nod and wry grin which, as I'm sure you've all seen before, means "if you like it, buy it, it makes no difference what I think to it". I just knew she was going to buy it, and I'm so happy that she did, as she obviously liked it so much.

The other trinket box sold yesterday was "Heather". The lady was having trouble deciding between that and "Carousel", which has similar colours - in the end she went for Heather, but she did say she may be back for more!

I now have to make some more trinket boxes for the next fair - and a few more notebooks, too.

Colours to Cheer

2011-11-09T11:51:00.000Z

Without wishing to sound like a moaning old woman, I've been feeling a bit crap lately. I try to stay positive as much as possible and generally do achieve this, but this lead up to winter and the prospect of cold, dark days and even colder, darker nights for months on end really do depress me. On top of that, I've been feeling pretty fed up of the cold I developed last week, which is making me ache and has given me a sore throat which in turn prevented me from going out to sing last night as usual. Not really something to complain about, I know, but I thought I'd cheer myself up a bit in a creative way and spread some of that cheer to others by curating a Treasury on Etsy. Entitled "Seasonal "Cheer", I included items that I liked the colour of and that appealed to me for various reasons. I simply had to have a cat in there, for instance, and some knitted/crocheted items - that is something that I don't think I will ever be able to do with any success so I always admire those that can!

You can view the Treasury in detail by clicking on the link to it here.

Please feel free to click on the individual items in the Treasury and check out the rest of each member's shop - also, you can share this treasury on your web-site if you wish, or on your FB page, twitter etc - just use the link I've provided above!

Sales at the Craft Fair

2011-11-06T18:29:00.000Z

The first Christmas Craft Fair of the season, which I took part in yesterday, wasn't as hugely successful for me as I'd hoped in terms of sales. However, I was pleased that I'd taken the time to create these new Christmas Tree decorations, since half of them sold on the day, and I've got a commission for six more to do!

How cats help us!

2011-10-28T16:30:00.000+01:00

I'm sure anyone who's ever owned (or been owned by) a cat will recognise the sight that follows. It seems that no matter what I try to do, Oscar always wants to "help". It both infuriates and amuses me at the same time. Usually, I am fighting to keep his paws, whiskers and tail away from glue, paint, scissors, knives or water pots full of dirty water whenever I am creating. The minute I sit down at a table, in front of my PC, or on my stool in the studio, I know it's only a matter of time before I am joined by my feline friend and constant companion!

It should therefore have come as no surprise when I was working my way steadily through the entry forms for the Hornsea Speech & Drama Festival to see him flirt his way from his tower, onto the dining table and on top of the pile of forms I was trying to fill in. At first he just sat on them and looked down at the pen and papers. Soon, he'd settled into lazy cat mode, front feet tucked neatly under him and eyes suitably drowsy enough for me to feel guilty if I so much as contemplated removing him. Luckily, he is a very placid cat and I was able to simply lift him from the table to his hammock on the radiator without a murmur. I did, however, sneak a couple of photos in first - just to show what he's like!

I think cats are ace. I know a lot of people really have a strong dislike for them, which I will never understand - some people are simply dog lovers and refuse to warm to cats, but I like dogs as much as I like cats - I just seem to understand cats more!

By the way, as I type this, I am perched on the very edge of my oh-so-comfy swivel chair in the study because, yes, you've guessed it - Oscar is snoozing on most of the seat behind me!

More wooden trinket boxes

2011-10-23T13:45:00.000+01:00

I've been checking my stock and trying to get more items ready in preparation for the coming weeks of craft fairs, so here are a couple more new items for you to have a sneaky preview of before I upload them to Etsy or sell them locally!

Two interesting shapes this time, a heart and a star. The star was definitely the most intricate to decorate, and I am pleased with the end result. The heart has my finger-prints in paint all around the edges, so I've really put a bit of myself into it this time! I decided not to try and line the star-shaped box, as I think it would've been beyond my capabilities! Furthermore, If I had lined it, the amount of space available for storing things inside would have been reduced, so I took the sensible option (well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!).

"Twinkle, Twinkle" - the lid.

"Twinkle, Twinkle" - the lid lifts off and has magnetic catches.

"Midnight Love" as viewed from above

"Midnight Love" showing the funky foam lining.

As you can see, I have given both the boxes a funky foam protective bottom, so they will not scratch any surfaces. They are both approximately 2 to 3 inches high, and 5 inches across the widest point. I will be uploading them to my Etsy shop soon, and if not sold by 5th November, they will be coming with me to the first craft show of this season.

Latest Craft Creation

2011-10-21T16:39:00.000+01:00

I've just uploaded some photographs of my latest matching wooden trinket box and mini canvas painting. They are sold separately, but I'm always willing to give a discount if anyone would like to buy the set. Please contact me for prices. More to be created soon!

Both the easel and the mini canvas are painted with acrylic paints. The trinket box has been painted on the outside and inside with acrylic paints, and I've created a funky foam base and lining for the trinket box in complementary colours. I've named these PC Plum, and will be uploading more shots of them to my FB page and my Etsy Shop too. If these don't sell before-hand, I will be taking them along to the Christmas Craft Fair in Bilton on 5th November so you can check them out there if you are in the area!

My studio - before and after!

2011-10-12T15:55:00.000+01:00

I spent some time recently having a good tidy up, sort out, throw out etc of my studio. I say studio, when it is really a small conservatory-cum-cat room, that I just took over!

I had taken a few photos of the mess it had got into which I'd forgotten about, so I can show you a sort of before and after style selection. There's something quite satisfying about re-organising your work space, especially when you have brand spanking new units in which to store things! The excitement was full on once we'd assembled the new units - I even enjoyed throwing things away to make more room.

I'm ashamed to say that this is the state my worktop was in before I began my big clean up - somehow I just kept on working amongst all the items I'd used and the longer I carried on like that, the harder it was to stop myself from doing so! Here it is before:

See how small my actual work area had become?

Above my worktop area and to the left are some bookshelves, which were again beginning to look cluttered:

The difference between the above images and the same areas now is vast, as you can see:

I have kept the plastic drawer units under the worktop, just re-organised the contents.

I have since re-located these units and the contents are safely stored in my shiny new units!

I made use of large cardboard boxes and kept everything on the floor previously...

The shelf you see in the photo above has now been relocated to the far end of the conservatory, and only my CD player and CDs are on it now. All "dust gathering" items are hidden away from view.

IKEA, I love you!

I was particularly pleased with my two new purchases from IKEA - the large, square cupboard unit and the A2 sized drawer unit (which is on castors, even better!). You can get an idea of how much they both hold by looking at the stuff I've stored away:

There are two shelves in each quarter of the big white unit, with the option of adding more if necessary. I found the drawer unit useful for my stock of wallpaper, brown paper and shiny blue textured paper on a roll! I am a huge stationery geek and just love anything to do with paper, card, pens, folders, notepads etc! I recently got given a pile of blank notebooks that were going to be thrown away and I actually got quite emotional when I saw them! I think it's the prospect of filling them up that I've always liked so much.

I've also started to label just about every container and drawer (thought not the new ones) I've got so that I can instantly tell what I've got stored away. I've accumulated so many card-making bits and pieces that my original grey A4 sized drawer unit is still in use with those items alone - I have only hand-written the labels at the moment, but I will be making smart new ones on the PC soon!

The smaller plastic drawer unit is home to all the paints I need for creating my hard-backed notebooks. Very handy. I was actually quite miffed when I recently bought the 3 new paints you can see to the side of that unit and discovered when they arrived that they would not fit in the drawers!

The window-shelf above my worktop. Note the labels everywhere!

View of my easel from my worktop.

Even more room to store things temporarily on top of the new unit!

My companion when I'm working - well, one of them!

You would usually find one or more cat here!

The Sunflowers tapestry I started for Keith a long time ago. I really must finish it!

I am currently working on a trinket box and mini painting combination set - "A Bit Of Purple", similar style to my "Geometric Green" series of the same. I will post some pics when I've finished it. You'll have noticed there are a few paintings that need finishing in my work area - I've deliberately left them on display so to speak in order to spur me on to finishing them! The painting on the easel is one that I will be painting over soon. It was painted for the last production at the Bilton Theatre.

Feel free to comment, or ask me any questions about my new-look studio!

Christmas Commission, anyone?

2011-10-08T16:51:00.000+01:00

I've just been sorting through my photo files on the PC, in an attempt to unearth some images that I was going to use for another blog post - and I discovered a couple of images that I took of a commission last year for a Christmas present. I'd taken a hurried photograph before it was delivered then completely forgot about it!

However, if you are thinking of buying a unique gift as a stocking filler or as a gift for your child's teacher, perhaps, then I'm sure one of these magnetic notepads for the fridge wouldn't go amiss. This particular one was created on the basis of someone wanting a floral design to give to a friend. I called it "Anniversary Flowers" because it is very similar to my large canvas painting of the same name. Painted in acrylic with two coats of satin varnish, I only hope the recipient was happy as I never did ask!

I will be selling these and other smaller items at the forthcoming craft fairs I plan to take part in during the run-up to Christmas in the East Yorkshire area. If you would like to see before you buy, please follow me on facebook (Arty Aitch) or check out my website for details of these within the next few weeks.

Craft Fairs - easier than exhibitions?

2011-10-01T12:46:00.001+01:00

I am currently planning on taking part in a craft fair nearly every weekend from 5th November to 4th December, apart from one, when I will be at the Hornsea Speech & Drama Festival with all the members of the Junior and Youth section at B.A.D.S.

I have just completed the application form for the 2nd Artlink Contemporary Art & Craft Fayre of this year - the first one was in May, and it set me off thinking about how successful craft fairs are for an artist, compared to art exhibitions. I have taken part in both during my time as a self employed artist, and without exception the craft fairs have been more successful for me. I am not just talking about sales, either - although undoubtedly that is a consideration. It appears to me that the people who attend exhibitions are simply not looking for a piece of art to purchase, or to engage in conversation with me as an artist. However, I have discovered that usually this is not the case with people who attend craft fairs. I have also found craft fairs to be a much more enjoyable event in terms of setting up (easier to set up a table than it is to position a wall of paintings, for example) and attracting people to look at my work. It may be just that it is much easier to look at a host of items on a table, without feeling obliged to buy anything, than it is to stand and look at something fixed to a wall.

Whatever the reason is, I'm glad I've taken part in so many craft fairs in the past year - it's not something I would have thought of doing at first, yet they are so popular too nowadays. At the last Artlink one I took part in, I was in a good position in the corner of the room looking towards the entrance, and I managed to tot up how many people came through the door over the course of the 4 hours (it was on from 12 to 4pm) and recorded them in my little notebook, just out of interest. A few people walked in, took a quick stroll around the room and walked out again without exchanging a word with anyone, but most people did at least talk to one or other of the artisans, which makes it so much nicer for us.

Here are some pics of my table as it was laid out for the Artlink Contemporary Art & Craft Fayre in May this year - I think I'd sold one or two items at this point, so there may be a gap here and there.

In total, there were 126 people through the door, with 36 of them arriving between 12 and 1pm. A further 33 arrived between 1 and 2pm, but the busiest time was between 2 and 3pm, when 48 people came through the doors. Only 9 people showed up during the final hour of 3-4pm.

During those 4 hours, I sold these items:

"Carousel" decorated trinket box - sold to a young girl of about 9 or 10.

"Jonas" painted notebook.

"Optimum" mini canvas with easel.

I also sold a fabric covered address book (you can just about make it out in the 3rd image - at the edge of the table), and a few greetings cards. I had a couple of interesting conversations with people - one of whom was asking if I would be interested in taking a workshop for young people based on the theme of mosaics. I said I'd never done that before but would be willing to give it a go if she gave me some more details - she said my work reminded her of mosaic patterns, and that's what she was after I think. I haven't heard from her since, despite the fact that she took a brochure and one of my business cards, so she probably had more success elsewhere with an artist who had more experience in giving workshops. Thinking about it, that wouldn't be difficult, since my experience is nil!

Even when people don't buy anything from me at craft fairs, I find it easier to chat to potential customers because they like to touch my work and are more likely to ask questions about it then. The time passes so quickly, too, as there is often a steady stream of people coming through.

The next one I will be taking part in is in Bilton and I am currently in the process of planning for that - to be held in the Church Hall on the 5th November and in aid of the Forgetmenot trust. I hope to have all my labels printed out within the next day or so, which will be stuck onto the sides of the paper bags I use for customers to take away their purchases in.

I wonder if any other artists find craft fairs "easier" to take part in than exhibitions?

Pet cat, Mavis

2011-09-17T12:05:00.000+01:00

Just found this photo of one of our cats, Mavis, on the PC. It was taken 4 years ago when she was 11. Just thought I'd randomly share it on here as I like the image so much!

New small acrylic painting

2011-09-14T14:13:00.000+01:00

I have recently painted a couple of small acrylic and ink paintings - one on canvas board and this one on a canvas sized 7 x 5 inches.

The idea came about when I was looking through some old photographs I'd taken of flowers, gardens, walks etc. I really liked the shape of the sunflowers that are past their best - I took a photo at Burton Agnes Hall a few years ago, always intending to create a painting or sketch of some description based on my image. Here is the end result - I will probably do a few more with different numbers of flower heads on and on different supports/in different media.

Burton Agnes Sunflower

You can purchase this directly from my website at www.helendavison.co.uk.

New logo/label/banner

2011-09-13T14:54:00.000+01:00

After much deliberation and playing around with ideas, I have finally come up with a new logo for my Facebook Page, based on some of my most popular creations. This will be something I intend to print onto labels and stick to the plain paper carrier bags I use at craft fairs when people buy anything from me, and therefore needed to show off my wares as well as have a link to my personal website. I didn't want a bold coloured image like the previous one I had (which was the "3 Wise Men and an Interloper" painting) as I think a softer colour is more attractive to potential customers. Here is the finished design:

I have customised the design slightly to use it on my Etsy shop front too, as a banner. I have tried to incorporate the image into my blog, but obviously need more lessons on how to do such a thing first as I have not yet managed it!

My twitter account will hopefully also be displaying this new design at some point soon. I think that, due to the upturn of sales in the smaller items that I create, this "re-branding" is something that I've needed to do.

Paull Holme Tower

2011-09-11T19:10:00.000+01:00

Today we visited the Paull Holme Tower as part of the annual Heritage Open Days that have become increasingly popular, and which began in England in 1994 to celebrate the community surrounding many different buildings and places that you may never have heard of. Many places are open to the public on other days of the year also, but this is the only time that admission is free.

Paull Holme Tower is a relic of a building, hidden from view of the main road and probably not even known to that many local residents. Certainly, I would not have known about it if it had not been for the Heritage Open Days. It is a 30ft high, 3 storey structure (although the 3rd storey is not much more than a crumbling walkway of about 10feet long, with nothing to support you as you tread precariously along in the howling wind!)

I took my camera, and as we entered from the rather small hole at the rear of the tower, I could see just how much of a ruin this place has become. The brickwork in the ceiling on the ground floor is sagging so much that you can almost hear the bricks slowly working their way free. Interestingly, a crate of hard hats was placed outside the tower for visitors to wear - but us hardy Brits obviously ignored that, as I saw not one person with a plastic dome adorning their crown!

The "crouch to enter" doorway into the Tower.

Once inside, the ground floor wasn't very inspiring, especially since it was extremely dark in there - despite the fact that a lamp had been fixed into position on the floor via a generator. I made my way up the very steep stone steps to the 2nd floor - where there was a tree growing through the floor, causing even more problems with conservation of the building. I liked the look of this chinese/japanese styled tile which seemed to be a remnant of the original floor:

Originally part of a 15th Century fortified manor house, Paull Holme Tower once had two towers, a moat, crenellations and belonged to the Holme family until 1928. They lived in the manor house until approximately 1700 when it passed through various tenants. A Grade 1 listed monument, the building is now owned by a local resident, Simon Taylor, who is hoping to raise funds by forming a trust to help preserve the building. This would seem to be an almost impossible task, especially since it has been described by English Heritage as being in "very bad" condition, and its priority status has been classified as A(A) which signifies that it is at "immediate risk of further rapid deterioration or loss of fabric; no solution agreed." I can see what they mean - everywhere you look, there are crumbling walls, floors, archways. Yet still I can see the beauty of such a place. Ruins have always held a fascination for me, even more so when I was a child and my imagination would run riot. I'd sometimes get a very strange feeling in the pit of my stomach, imagining who'd lived there (wherever I was, however old the building) and what had taken place prior to my visit. I got a similar feeling today, and was very glad we made the effort to go there.

You can see a video clip of the tower, taken by Seaside Radio who are based in Withernsea - which also includes an interview with the owner, Simon Taylor - by clicking on this link.

Looking up to the 3rd floor from the 2nd floor.

On the 2nd floor

Looking down to the 2nd floor from the top.

One of the view across the landscape from the top of the tower.

I really hope this tower gets restored, it would be nice to have something like this so close to home.

To finish our Heritage Open Day, we visited an exhibition in the village of Sutton-on-Hull, and Keith was delighted when we spotted an identity book in one of the display cabinets belonging to an old friend of his Mother's - he remembers walking to the village of Sutton when he was a child and visiting the house she lived in. The exhibition was a history of the village, and took place in the Old School in Church Street, which is open every Friday, so we shall now make another trip to see even more history in the future!

New range of greetings cards...

2011-09-07T16:22:00.000+01:00

Here is a preview of my newly created batch of cards aimed at children aged 1 to 9. I took inspiration from my notebook designs when my sister asked me a while ago if I did birthday cards with numbers on. I've created a few with numbers on them previously, but these take advantage of all the space possible on the front of the card, and I am pleased with the overall design.

They take about 20 minutes to do each one, as I sketch the outline of the number first in pencil, rubbing out any marks that I don't want seen, if possible. You will still see some of the pencil marks in the finished card, but in my view, that adds to the originality and unique aspect of hand-made cards. I then decide which two colours I'm going to use for the outline, as they need to be painted on very precisely in alternating dots of colour. Finally, making sure I don't smudge the outline (as I very nearly have done on occasions) I fill the centre of the number in using 3 or 4 colours - usually the 2 already used in the outline and one more. I love the textural nature of these and I'm sure they will appeal to children because of that, too. I plan on creating lots of these for the next Craft Fair I attend, which will be at the beginning of November. I am also planning on increasing the range to include older ages (but probably by using the card in a landscape position instead) and then possibly names or perhaps titles such as "Mum", "Dad" etc. I have deliberately avoided using a stencil or template to create the numbers, as I rather like the fact that they are not perfect in shape - it adds that bit more character and individuality to each card. These will only be for sale at craft fairs at the moment, but I will quite happily take orders for specific cards by post if you wish!

Saturday selection.

2011-08-27T19:32:00.000+01:00

Today's blog post is a simple promotion of a piece of art that I really like the look of. Created by Van Renselar, this is a one-off canvas print. You can view it on the Rogue Gene Gallery by clicking on this link, but here's what it looks like if you just want a quick view:

Blue Shoes by Van Renselar

My garden in August....

2011-08-21T18:24:00.000+01:00

As we don't have a very big garden and neither of us are particularly green-fingered, we (that is, I) tend to just have displays of container plants each year, which I love doing at the beginning of the season. Each year I usually take some photos of the plants to remember them in the winter months and possibly as future subjects for my artwork. However, I've not yet used or shown any of the previous years' photos so thought I'd better display this year's before I forget again. I love bright reds, oranges, purples, pinks and blues so tend to try and stick to those as much as possible. My favourite flowers this year are new to me - a lovely trailing version of the Thunbergia, Orange Beauty variety. I just love the dramatic flower heads against the trailing green leaves.

I'm afraid if you don't like looking at flowers, leaves, hover flies and buds then please stop reading now, as there follows a fair amount of the above in the series of photographs I am about to upload! Nature never ceases to please, especially this time of year, I think, and it is always beautiful.

The gorgeous head of the Thunbergia (Orange Beauty)

Marigold - one of the many plants I got given this year by a friend

Thunbergia plant in the container on our back wall.

A gorgeous double-headed petunia, also a donated plant.

A lone viola head - these little gems appear each year in one of the containers!

This marigold bud looks like a small creature, ready to uncurl and pounce!

I love the detail on this clump of geranium buds - so hairy!

These geranium buds are a little bit further on than the previous set.

Although leaves may not be as pretty as flowers, I still love looking at them - these are begonia leaves

Variegated geranium leaves - free (flowers included) from my friend.

Marigold leaves.


The succulent leaves of the Portulaca plant, which also bears some dainty flowers.

Having shown you all the photos I took of the flowers, buds and leaves this year, I thought I'd also share the images of the hover flies which are abundantly present in our garden. They are very pretty to look at up close, but I don't particularly like them buzzing around near me!

Just look at the symmetry!

Add caption

Settled on the lobelia.

It's almost as though I arranged for this one to sit like that!

Sketch-book images

2011-08-17T17:39:00.000+01:00

I don't often share my sketch-book work online or with anyone, actually - mainly because I don't do as much work in my sketchbook as I'd like to, but also because I'm not sure of the interest it would really create with any of my blog readers. However, having seen my fellow RGC artist and blogger, Andrea Farmer's sketchbook blog posts, and finding them a great inspiration I decided to show one or two of the sketches I did when in Nottinghamshire a few weeks ago.

I always take a small spiral bound sketchbook away with me along with a set of Derwent Inktense pencils - and my usual set of sketching pencils. I don't, however, often find the time to just sit and sketch - not being the sort of artist who can do decent quick sketches, I tend to need a long time of uninterrupted peace in order to create anything worth sharing. Even then, the end results of my sketches are not as interesting as I'd like them to be - but then I suppose they are just sketches and not a finished piece of art. I would have liked to spend longer trying to sketch the whole of the landscape around Thoresby Hall - but my small sketchbook was not ideal for that purpose and I just picked out one or two areas that appealed to me. I hope you like seeing something a little bit different to my usual creations.

I did this one first of all, sitting on the wide window-cill of our bedroom in the hotel, looking down towards what was once the main entrance to Thoresby Hall.

This view was a favourite spot of mine, sitting in one of the gazebos not far from the hall itself. I loved the texture of the bricks in the gazebo, and the view through them all around of the garden and surrounding landscape.

Perhaps a still-life is not a typical subject for a holiday sketch - but I just thought this arrangement of apples and oranges was so pretty I wanted to capture it in coloured pencil rather than just take a photo of it. I love these white rectangular plates that are popular in restaurants too and think it really sets off the fruit beautifully. The fruit was rather tasty, too!

Latest painting

2011-08-14T18:34:00.000+01:00

Finished a while ago, but only just uploaded online, this small ink and acrylic abstract painting is available to buy from my website at www.helendavison.co.uk

Named "Undersea Adventure", it was inspired by an improvised group mime done by members of the Youth Section of B.A.D.S. several years ago at a festival. The title of the mime was "Undersea Adventure" and I will never forget it.

Summer Production - some pics!

2011-08-12T18:19:00.000+01:00

OK, so this is slightly later than anticipated, but here are a few photographs that I took of some of the children involved in the Summer Production at B.A.D.S. last month. I have also included a photo of the ark we made for the Noah play, along with the rainbow that appeared at the end of the play and the tree stump that Noah sat on.

All the plays that were performed on the two nights were so well done by all the children and we were really proud of them all. Each time we start rehearsing for a junior or youth section play, we wonder how on earth it will ever be ready to show to their parents, but somehow it always seems to happen. Children who we thought weren't listening to us at the last rehearsals before the night suddenly do everything you asked and more besides - the younger members perhaps impressed us more this year than ever before, simply because there were no prompts required from any of them, which is quite an achievement for them. We did tell them that one of our aims at Bilton is to never have a prompt, but fully expected to give one or two out on the night due to nerves or lack of concentration. However, it would appear that we are actually having some influence on them, which is so rewarding and fuels our passion for passing on our skills even more. I think one of the best things about watching the children (whatever their age) perform is to see the joy on their faces at the end of the night, when everything has worked and they receive the applause they rightfully deserve.Considering the fact that we were several animals short with only a couple of weeks to spare, we are immensely grateful to Mr Jowett from Preston Primary School, since he helped us fill those places by sending along some keen members of his drama club - they all performed really well and we look forward to their return in September.

Mrs Noah with the girls in the family

The three "boys" (even though one of them is a girl in real life!) of Noah's family.

Noah, Mrs Noah, Rebecca, Japheth, Shem, Ruth, Rachel & Ham.

The animals as they walked to their entrance with me.

Waiting to make their entrance via the auditorium!

This animal also made a convincing God - see next pic!


God - complete with obligatory white beard!

The final scene when the rainbow appears as if by magic!

Youth members backstage waiting for their turn in "Panto Question Time"

"A trio of lovely girls" from the Youth Section - backstage ready for "Emporium 2".

Unfortunately, these are the only photos we managed to take - we didn't have time to take any during the performances as we were both tied up backstage.

The first night was a huge success. We invited some of our patrons to support the younger members and was happy to see that a fair few of them came along. To the delight of the audience (with the exception of one or two of the junior members who happened to be sitting on the front row at the time) a chair that is pushed to the floor during the course of the action in "Last Tango in Little Grimley" ended up rolling off the stage and onto the auditorium. This rendered the remaining cast speechless, the audience were screaming with laughter and the cast members were trying desperately to finish the scene without laughing.There then followed a moment of absolute farce when one cast member (during the scene change which was done in blackout) retrieved the chair from the audience, and another cast member came on looking for it without realising that it had been taken into the wings! Thankfully, nobody was hurt and the 4-strong team continued to the end of the play without losing control of their emotions. Credit to them all - it was a difficult play and they certainly did it justice.

I am pleased to report that our N.O.D.A (National Operatic & Dramatic Association) representative managed to watch the plays on the second evening and I spoke to him at the end of the night. He was impressed with them all, even if he wasn't too keen on one of the Youth Section plays (he's at least honest, which I like) and he seemed most impressed with the junior section's production of Noah.

Our next task is to source material for the Hornsea Speech & Drama Festival -this takes place in November each year and all our members take part in various classes to try and win trophies, but mainly for the experience of being adjudicated by a professional drama practitioner. We start rehearsing for this as soon as we meet again in September, so not much time now for us to get enough material prepared - we haven't yet received the syllabus either!!!

Two items in ETSY Treasury!

2011-08-03T16:14:00.000+01:00

I was thrilled to receive notification that two of my items are featured in this Treasury entitled "Red for...East Yorkshire Etsians" recently. Created to celebrate Yorkshire Day at the beginning of this month, I am pleased to have my red "Holm" notebook and my mini painting "Textured Heart" featured in this delightful collection, as you can see below.

You can view the Treasury, created by cardsbyjane, by clicking on the link here. As I have not been featured in many treasuries, it's always a lovely surprise when I discover that someone has included one of my pieces in theirs!

You can view my Etsy shop any time by visiting Arty Aitch.

Thoresby Hall taster....

2011-08-02T19:41:00.001+01:00

We have just returned from a very relaxing week's break at the Thoresby Hall Hotel,Thoresby Park, Ollerton, Nottinghamshire. The whole week was so peaceful and we felt as though we had our own enormous back garden in which to walk. I even did some sketching whilst there, something I normally forget to do on holiday. We were exploring the massive grounds on our first full day there (Tuesday 26th July) when we discovered the "Courtyard" - a lovely circular arrangement of building, in the centre of which was the courtyard and there, in all their finery was a military brass band - plus a hoard of people dressed up in their "Sunday Best". Eventually, we discovered that a new military museum was to be officially opened by Princess Alexandra, so all the usual Royal procedures had obviously been employed - security staff located in the vicinity, etc.


Keith got a good shot of Princess Alexandra from where we were standing.


One of the tunes was an "Abba" medley!

The best thing about this holiday was that we were both so relaxed, we did nothing but go for strolls in the grounds, read our books and visit Sherwood Forest to see the Great Oak of Robin Hood fame. The surrounding parkland of Thoresby Hall covers approximately 50 acres of land - with a variety of different areas to wander along, including shaded woodland walks, hidden rose garden, River Meden, a cricket ground, tree-lined roads and avenues, not to mention a church & tennis court, which were both 3/4 of a mile from the hotel itself.

The two photos above are both taken from our bedroom window, which was situated on the side of the hall that used to be the main entrance. I drew a sketch of this view one day - sitting on the window-cill in our bedroom -focusing on the two beech trees (I think!) framing the gates. We also particularly liked the Cedar trees which can be seen in the first photo - they look so old and gnarled, which really adds to their beauty.

View from the gates towards the front of the Hall. Our bedroom was on the top floor.


The fountain in the gardens to the side of the Hall.

Keith sitting in the gazebo closest to the woodland walks.

I took up a position at the other gazebo, from which you could gaze at either the hall itself or the magnificent surrounding landscape.

Aside from the fact that the Hall itself was a wonderful display of architecture, there were gargoyles, ornaments, statues and features throughout the gardens that I loved looking at and taking photos of.

The Japanese urn here was probably as tall as me, since I am wearing heels in this photo!

As our bedroom was on the top floor, we made every effort to use the four flights of stairs both ways whenever possible. I also loved the artefacts, ornaments, tapestries and wooden carvings that were on display throughout the historic part of the Hall. Additional building has been added onto the original hall in order to create a new reception area, more rooms and a late lounge/theatre.

Regularly to be seen around the entrance to the hotel and in the grounds were several peacocks and peahens. The cocks seemed to roam about majestically together, as did the peahens - who also had chicks with them. Here are a couple of shots of the cocks which show their stunning beauty. They really do seem to proudly display their colours, whether showing their feathers or just strolling along!

We did lots of walking on this holiday and enjoyed a "Great Oak" walk in Sherwood Forest, some of these photos were taken on that walk - which leads you to the legendary Great oak Tree where Robin Hood supposedly met his merry men regularly. I will try to find a decent photo of that for a future post, but it was shored up with scaffolding and doesn't lend itself to being photographed very well.

I really loved the textures and patterns in this ancient tree stump.

Even when walking the woodland paths on the surrounding parkland of the estate, you got the feeling you were miles from anywhere, and the fields seemed to go on for miles. I particularly liked this view and the light shining through the leaves of the crops.

Taken on our last night at the hotel, this is one of my favourite shots - it looks like a magical old building with the lights burning from inside.

This is just a taster of the holiday - there were other things that I want to share, too, but as I have other things to talk about as well, I thought I'd split the holiday post and give you variety in your reading (if indeed you are still reading this by now!).

Masks completed.

2011-07-18T14:09:00.000+01:00

I've finally completed painting the masks that will act as the 2nd animal for the children who are playing them in the production of Noah's Ark this coming weekend at Bilton Amateur Dramatic Society. Each child will be dressed in a face/head mask and will also carry their 2nd animal on these sticks we have attached to the masks.

Before they get wrecked (as tends to happen when children and props are put together!) I thought I'd take some photos of them to show you.

I shouldn't really have to explain what animals they all are, so I will leave that up to you:

Latest commission

2011-07-17T15:02:00.001+01:00

Just thought I'd share my recent commission for a decorated notebook with you. This one is to be given as a gift for a teacher - which, in my (completely unbiased, of course) opinion, is a great present. A very personal, original gift that will also be practical as well as decorative. I hope Mr Crisp is happy with it when he receives it at the end of term this coming week!

Face Painting

2011-06-29T16:01:00.000+01:00

I've been a bit pre-occupied lately and have not been blogging as much as I'd have liked. However, I thought I'd show you a few photos from a recent course I went on to learn some skills in the art of face painting. Despite having had experience of theatre make-up, I'd never actually done any face painting prior to the course, so was really looking forward to it.

The first part of the course was taken up with theory, tips on how to organise the face paintings on the day of any event, tools needed etc. We then had to answer questions based on the presentation we'd been given, and the rest of the course was dedicated to practical face-painting. We needed to paint 10 different faces and have our photos taken along with the "models" (which were dolls heads - a bit like the "Girl's World" toys girls sometimes use to style hair etc. Our paintings and written work is to be sent off and hopefully we will all have gained a level 2 OCN in face painting!

As expected, I took far too long, although I wasn't quite the last participant to leave, it was very close between myself and one other lady! I sat at a table with two members of a theatre company, which was obviously of interest to me, and another local lady who I got on with so well we are thinking of doing our face painting events together in the future!

Here are some of my efforts - these will improve with time and I should get faster at painting them, especially after practising on real children! Organised by Karen Routledge, all the paints were Snazaroo - we even got to keep the paints, brushes, sponges etc afterwards!


My very first attempt was this clown.


Rabbit!


Tiger, ROAR!

A personal favourite, the caterpillar!

The Sea Queen

"Space".

I will be doing my first event on July 8th at a local primary school's summer fair - after that I expect to start holding some taster sessions at the theatre in Bilton to build up a portfolio of work for the future. I thoroughly enjoyed the course and am looking forward to the summer fair!

Artlink Contemporary Art & Craft Fayre

2011-05-22T16:37:00.000+01:00

After a hectic week with the play I am now busy preparing for the Artlink Contemporary Art & Craft Fayre to be held in Hull on Saturday 28th May, from 12 till 4pm. I am especially pleased to be taking part in this, as each exhibitor had to apply and be selected to take part.

I have received a very handy information pack with thoughtful reminders of what to take on the day, and links to suppliers that I'd not heard of, even, so that in itself is a bonus!

Open from 12 noon until 4pm, I would be happy to see you there any time. I'm sure it will be a very successful venue and there will be a varied assortment of art and craft on display and for sale.

I'm hoping there will be a list on their website soon with the names of all those taking part, but if not, you might be able to check out the list of people who have indicated that they are attending via the Facebook event here.

I will be selling my range of notebooks, trinket boxes, magnetic notepads, mini easels, cards and a selection of my smaller paintings, like this one:

Grand Canyon Impression

Unoriginal Sin - the first night.....

2011-05-18T17:51:00.001+01:00

Cast Shot for our production of "Unoriginal Sin"

The first night was not as packed as we'd have liked, since some of our groups failed to confirm their usual bookings this time. Despite that, we were nearly half full, which doesn't sound too good but their reaction was more than enough for us to enjoy the evening.

First bit of bad luck was when our box office manager turned up without his reading glasses. This would not normally have been such a bad thing, since the seating plan has, until this play, been hand-written by Steve himself. However, this time Keith had written a computer programme to make the booking system easier to use for Steve, so he had to try and read from the laptop by means of various differing head angles and squints!

The play opens with a sermon in front of the tabs (Stage curtains) by a priest. Once that has been delivered, the intro music begins and then the tabs open to let the play commence. Last night, the audience obviously enjoyed the opening music so much that they ALL (except maybe one or two) started singing along with it! In case you're wondering, it's "Love & Marriage". I am on stage alone at the very beginning of the play, and I found it very hard not to smile when they failed to stop singing after the music had stopped playing! However, I think that introduction just set the scene for the rest of the night.

Everything went smoothly and the two new members, Mel and Liz, settled into their "roles" serving refreshments and selling raffle tickets for us with such a pleasant attitude that I'm sure it influenced the mood of the audience - thanks girls!

We love to hear the comments from the audience on a Tuesday night in particular, as I'm sure many of them think we can't hear them! The first comment was "Oooh, she's packing her bags, look". Yes, that particular lady got ten out of ten for observation! Then it was just regular little remarks and the fact that they were pre-empting the action which amused us back-stage and on.

Another new member, Paul, was helping out on car parking duties. That is always a thankless task - Keith was helping him last night, and they are both amazed at how people refuse to reverse into a parking space!

Sometime during the second half of the play, a pop and a flash signalled the demise of one of our stage spotlights - certain areas were a tad darker than required. So, instead of the usual celebration of the first night at the pub, several of us stayed back to change said spotlight (which I think had blown because 2 fuses had gone?) Keith and Neil to the rescue! Scott helped me set the stage, wash the glasses and cups, then replenish all the drinks that get used for this production, ready for tonight's performance. Not only had the spotlight blown, but just as we were about to leave, we noticed that one of the emergency exit lights had blown, too - so that had to be replaced as well!

I have thoroughly enjoyed being in this play, as have the other cast members, I'm sure - if we get as good a reaction from the audience tonight, we will be happy King Leopolds. (You will have to come and see the play to understand that little gag!)

Andy Jowett, Eloise Guy and Dave Hawxwell in the "chase"

This is one of my favourite photos!

It's nearly time for my bath, I'm desperately trying to stay calm, but I don't think the nerves ever leave me until I'm actually on that stage - even then, like last night, I can still feel incredibly nervous. I was shaking when I came off at the end of my first scene, not realising how much the adrenaline had been pumping through me!

Oh, one more thing I MUST mention about last night - Ellie (Eloise) had made some brownies for us all back-stage. I can't eat a thing until the play is over, but at the end of the night I had two and they were absolutely delicious! Thanks Ellie, my birthday is in December!

Opening Night!

2011-05-17T16:29:00.000+01:00

The nerves are kicking in already, with just over 3 hours to go till the play opens!!! I'm just about to start putting my hair in rollers - something I'm not really very good at but I need "big" hair for this play since it is set in the eighties - which just adds to the humour, I guess!

We had a publicity photo and small article in the Holderness Gazette last Thursday, but as yet not much more from the local media. It seems as though they only cover productions that take place at the large theatres in Hull - such as The New Theatre and Hull Truck, which is a shame really as we used to get a lot of coverage in the Hull Daily Mail.

If anyone out there fancies a job as an independent reviewer for the local amdram scene here (on a voluntary basis, mind) I'm sure it would go down well.

My bra strap snapped and the label on one of my shoes came off at last night's rehearsal - making a very strange noise as my foot stuck to the shoe where the label used to be! Both ahve now been rectified so it's all systems go. Our Tuesday night audience is mainly made up of members from local Old People's Homes and they always come out expecting a good laugh, in fact it's often difficult to speak due to their laughter, but at least it's called for this time! I will report back on the opening night tomorrow.

Forthcoming Production - Unoriginal Sin

2011-05-10T17:05:00.000+01:00

I can hardly believe it, but one week from now I will be nervously awaiting the first night of our next production. Rehearsals have been going really well (dare I say it?) and the cast and director (my husband, Keith) have thoroughly enjoyed the time spent in preparing for it. The past few rehearsals have felt more like actual performances which means that we should be raring to go next week! Bookings are coming in thick and fast now, and the Friday evening in particular is filling up fast!

I always like to use the countdown widget that Eventful provide whenever I add the play to their site, too!

Time seems to pass by so quickly when measured by the plays we put on! Last night Keith took some photos during the rehearsal for publicity in the Holderness Gazette this week, which I will post later on.

This comedy is not really suitable for young children, which is a shame because normally our grand-daughter aged 9 loves to come and watch every play we do - she has been coming for 3 or 4 years now. You can read more about it on Eventful or the Facebook page where I've created an Event here.

Featured in "Our Local Crafts"

2011-05-08T12:01:00.000+01:00

Many thanks to Vicky Harrison from Our Local Crafts, who included my Arty Aitch Facebook page in her recent Yorkshire Businesses showcase. Showcasing arts and crafts from different regions of the UK is a really useful way of sourcing new contacts for traders and customers alike.

Vicky also runs an online home and gift ware shop on Facebook, Yummy Spirit.

Beady Spiders....

2011-05-05T15:27:00.001+01:00

If you haven't already seen them, these little beady insects make great gifts for girls of all ages (or boys, too, if they like insects). Made by Lorna Storey you can see the whole range on her website here but I just had to share with you the photos I took of our two grand-daughters wearing the beady bugs I bought them as an Easter gift. They were so pleased with them, as you can tell by the photos - especially when I suggested they were attached to their headbands as unique hair accessories!

Matheea with her Scarlet Aranna beady spider.

The sisters wearing their beady spider sisters.

Evie proudly displaying her Amethyst Sparkle spider

Winners awarded prizes

2011-05-04T15:55:00.001+01:00

Apologies for the delay in writing this and posting the image - my mind has been a bit distracted by other things of late.

Here are three of the four talented winners in the competition we held to design a Mother's Day card at the Craft Fair last month.

Pictured left to right are Chloe Gray (6), Laura Jones (15) and Mikey Kellaway (8).

The cards were judged by the adult members of BADS and it was a close thing but winning the 1st prize in the 10years and under category was Chloe Gray, whose simple yet heartfelt message on the front melted our hearts - and everyone adored the little bumble bee she'd added to the scene. In second place, Mikey Kellaway was praised for the amount of time and effort that he had spent in creating the card.

A clear winner in the 11 to 16 year age group was Laura Jones. Her drawing skills impressed everyone, particularly the shading she'd created on the vase of flowers, the heart and the table.
Second place went to 14 year old Amy Burnitt, whose card stood out from the others due to the inclusion of an image of her mum created through a combination of drawing and collage. Unfortunately Amy could not be there to receive her prize. Congratulations to all the winners - we look forward to more entries from them at the next craft fair (which will probably be a Christmas themed competition).

L-R: Chloe Gray, Laura Jones and Mikey Kellaway.

Craft Fair Success - Vote of thanks!

2011-04-06T11:28:00.004+01:00

Well, after weeks of planning, organising, worrying and creating new items (including a few nights of waking up in a panic about the failure of it all!) the first Craft Fair I organised was a success for (nearly) all concerned. I say nearly, because one lady (who'd only booked in for the Saturday) left early (2.30pm) as she'd left her dog at home, so she obviously missed out on a few more sales for the rest of that afternoon. Also, a last minute entry for the Sunday table was taken by a lovely lady called Helen Hall who didn't really sell enough to cover her cost this time - but she wasn't put off by it and is still happy to take part in the next one, so I must have done something right!

I must begin, however, by giving thanks to all the people and companies who so very kindly donated items for either the tombola (HUGE success) or as prizes for the Children's Card Competition. So, please join me in thanking the following - I have included links to their websites where relevant so please pay them a visit, too.

Andrea Farmer - fellow Rogue Gene Collective artist, friend and talented artist. Andrea donated two sets of her button hair-grips for the tombola:
andreafarmer.co.uk
andreafarmerart.com
Andrea on etsy
Andrea on roguegenegallery

Lorna Storey - fellow East Riding Artist member and supporter of BADS - who donated a beautiful beaded spider for the tombola stall:
Lorna Storey
Lorna on Affordable British Art

Mike Finley - another Rogue Gene Collective colleague and amazing photographer, who created a set of stunning A5 sized cards just for the event, which I split over the two days for the tombola stall:
Mike Finley photography
Mike on roguegenegallery

Amanda Hunt - the third "A" of the Rogue Gene Collective (Andrea, Aitch & Amanda!) and a really lovely artist too! Amanda sent me a couple of small prints of her works, a key-ring with one of her paintings printed onto the design, and two small original works of art:
Amanda Hunt Gallery
Amanda on roguegenegallery

Georgia Coote - Georgia is another artist on the Rogue Gene Gallery website and her surface pattern designs are for sale as prints on there. Georgia also creates vintage-inspired jewellery - including necklaces and brooches. She kindly donated a couple of necklaces, brooches and pocket mirrors for the tombola stall. I was very happy to win one of the necklaces on Sunday!:
Georgia Coote
Georgia on roguegenegallery

Di Jennings - Di is an art tutor who loves to pass on her knowledge to all her pupils and regularly features them in her blog - "Painting My Way". Di sent one of her original oil paintings of poppies in a field as a donation for the tombola stall. I know Di through various online art forums, and once met her when we were on holiday in Shropshire!:
Di Jennings

Annette Cox - I have met Annette once, and chatted online to her for about 4 years now. I was thrilled when I received an acrylic/ink landscape painting that she'd created just for the tombola - as was the winner of it on Saturday!:
Annette on Saatchi website

Artists taking part at the Craft Fair also deserve a mention for donating their works to the tombola stall:
Nichola Foster - I first discovered Nichola's finely crafted pieces of jewellery on Etsy last October when I did a search for local sellers in order to raise some interest in the Craft Fair. Nichola has been supportive throughout and proved to be great company at the event as well as a generous crafter, donating a bracelet and handbag charm to the tombola stall:
Nichola on Folksy
Nichola on Etsy

Katie Railton - Katie is a self taught photographer specialising in floral photography. She was also sought out on Etsy last year for the original dates in December and stayed on board for the April Craft Fair instead! Katie donated a large floral print:
Katie Railton Photography
Katie Railton - Etsy Shop

Lynne Smith donated a huge amount of prizes for the tombola - lots of soft toys, hair accessories, jewellery and framed pictures. Her silver jewellery sets were very popular - I bought a couple of coloured bangles from her for my grand-daughters, after I'd tried them out on myself first!

Lesley Wadforth of "Health In Harmony" donated two gift vouchers for the tombola stall. Lesley is a qualified General Nurse who now runs workshops and courses on holistic therapy including aromatherapy, yoga, reiki and stress management:
Health in Harmony website

For other tombola prizes, thanks go to friends and parents of our younger members at BADS - in particular Lisa Jones, Jenny Benge and Debbie Smallwood. Also, our neighbour Margaret was kind enough to donate a couple of prizes, too.

When I originally set the date for the Craft Fair in December (which had to be cancelled due to the bad weather) I contacted a few online Art/Craft suppliers that I regularly use in order to ask for donations. I am therefore very grateful to the SAA and Fred Aldous for supplying me with enough materials to cover the prizes in the "Design a Mother's Day Card" competition and for some extra tombola prizes.
Society for All Artists
Fred Aldous

I hope I haven't left anyone out, as I am really grateful for all the donations we received - the tombola stall alone raised £132. Thanks also must go to the stallholders, without whom I obviously couldn't have run the event. They all put their faith in me for this first time venture, which really made me feel good. So thanks to Joan Hardy (Jams & Pickles), Christine Petch & Mary Wood (Wooden Figures), Lynne & Steve Smith (Silver Jewellery), Katie Railton (Floral Photography), Nichola Foster (Beaded Lampwork Jewellery), Kathy Marshall (Paintings, silk paintings and greetings cards), Anna Carter (Textile art and craft) and Helen Hall (Baby clothes and teddy t-shirts, cross-stitch cards). Thanks to Andrea Farmer too, for sending me a selection of her wearable art and small ethereal paintings to sell.

I would also like to thank two members of our youth section for giving up their time on Saturday afternoon to help out with the tombola stall - Molly Smallwood and Bethan Holloway.

Special thanks to my mum, June Greendale, for making the delicious cakes we sold and to my Dad, Albert Greendale for helping her sell them and the drinks on Saturday. I will treat you next weekend for your Mother's Day, mum!

Thanks to Scott Roberts and Steve Dale, both members of the Society who helped selling drinks and cake on Sunday. Thanks to everyone who turned up to support us.

My biggest thanks, however, must go to my best friend and husband, Keith. Not only did he help with creating the signs for outside the theatre on the day and prior to the event, he also helped with delivering leaflets, sorting and packaging the tombola prizes and actually running the tombola stall both days (as well as selling drinks when necessary). He supported me throughout and helped me fulfil the idea I'd had last year. Thank you so much.

I will be posting a bit more about the sales I made and any bits of news related to the success of the fair in another post, but for now, here's a few photos to show you:

The competition prizes donated by SAA, Fred Aldous and myself.

My stall

Mother's Day Card entries - 10years and under

Mother's Day card entries - 11-16 years

Hand-crafted wooden figures for the garden. All unique, and great gifts! These were really popular. Prices ranged from £3.50 to £5. A percentage of their sales go to a Meningitis Charity.

Back to reality..

2011-03-21T11:55:00.000Z

I've recently returned from a lovely 10 day break in Tenerife, and after unpacking, washing, food shopping etc, it's now back to reality. Craft Fair preparations are ongoing, including arranging a tombola stall, distributing posters, contacting more of the local media, trying to get more prizes for the competitions - my powers of persuasion are really being put to the test now!

However, I just wanted to share some samples of my holiday with you - I've just uploaded 186 photos to my PC, but you'll be pleased to know that I will only be showing you a small selection for now! I tend to take far more photos that I need, as I can't help but view everything as a potential subject for a future painting!

Holidays are great, and I really enjoy them no matter how short or wherever I go, but it's always nice to be back home. Our cats are always looked after by our neighbour, who comes in twice daily to feed them and generally make a fuss over them, yet it's nice that they seem pleased to see us on our return - well, at least one of them is!

Isn't this tree so much like a hand?

This sign was on the wall leading to our room - it made us laugh every time we walked past it!

Just a shopping centre, but I loved the decor and style so much!

Beautiful leaves of a palm tree in the evening.

Orca at Loro Parque being treated after a performance. Beautiful creatures.

Typical palm tree against a perfect blue sky.


I loved this display of the Bird of Paradise plants in the foyer of our hotel.

SOLD - Textured Heart Trinket Box

2011-03-06T18:10:00.000Z

I'm pleased to announce that another one of my little wooden trinket boxes has recently been sold and in the morning will be posted to its new owner. This time, the sale was through the Affordable British Art website, where I've been selling work for approximately 4 years now.

Textured Heart

I may have to get my skates on to make sure I have enough stock now for the Craft Fair!

Countdown to Craft Fair

2011-03-03T17:35:00.000Z

In just over 4 weeks I will be taking part in the Spring Craft Fair that I have been planning on behalf of Bilton Amateur Dramatic Society. I have been contacting the local media and on-line events based web-sites in order to promote the event as much as possible in the run up. Eventful have enabled me to use a widget from the entry I added to their web-site in order to countdown the days until the actual event, which is quite handy!

I will be writing more about the Craft Fair as the weeks go by, and post any updates on here regularly. Thanks to Andrea Farmer for posting it on her blog already - she will be selling some of her ethereal landscape paintings and wearable art via me on the two days!

If you know anyone who lives in the East Yorkshire area and is looking to buy or browse some original pieces of art in many forms, please share this blog post with them or use the poster to advertise!

Mini Painting No.2...

2011-02-28T14:48:00.000Z

Very quickly, this is a painting done using a brush combined with a glue spreader (much more pliable than a plastic palette knife) which represents the view from my studio here in East Yorkshire, one grey February morning!

First of the new batch..

2011-02-27T15:25:00.000Z

Here's a quick preview of the first in the new batch of mini paintings I'm working on. I will be uploading it to my Etsy shop soon, with the rest following over the next few days, hopefully. I've also recently been working on another magnetic notepad and a hard-backed notebook.

This one is a slightly different size to my other mini paintings as it is rectangular in shape instead of being square. The easel is the same size, however.

This one is named "Berylline". She can be placed on the easel in any position, I just happen to like it this way up for now.

Don't forget, you can also see more of my mini paintings in my Etsy Shop at Arty Aitch.

Alice goes to Essex......

2011-02-25T18:57:00.000Z

I've recently sold one of my magnetic notepads and it is now winging its way to Essex! The notepad, Alice, will be a surprise for the new owner, I believe - so I will not reveal anything other than to say thanks very much and here's a photo of it before I posted today:

I will be uploading more mini paintings and notebooks over the next few days, but in the meantime don't forget you can always browse my Etsy shop if you fancy buying any of them. Just click on Arty Aitch.

Two tulips for sale!

2011-02-22T16:13:00.000Z

Having now completed the second painting of a tulip head, they are both on sale on my personal website and at Affordable British Art, also online.

If you haven't time to look at my web-site, this is the latest offering, entitled "Tulip on Black" - not a very imaginative title, but as apposite as I could muster!

To see more of my work, visit any of the following web-sites: helendavison.co.uk , Rogue Gene Gallery or my page on the Affordable British Art web-site.

If you would like to see the decorative crafts that I currently have for sale on Etsy, don't forget to check out my shop at Arty Aitch.

MAKING A MARK: The exhibition checklist

2011-02-18T12:10:00.000Z

I must draw your attention to this excellent post by Katherine Tyrrell on her blog "Making A Mark". It is a really useful checklist for when you may be entering your work into an exhibition.

MAKING A MARK: The exhibition checklist

Knit 'n' natter

2011-02-15T11:33:00.000Z

On Saturday, I spent the afternoon at a Knit and Natter session with my sister- who is a knitter (albeit sporadically), and met a group of really nice women. As my only attempts at knitting have ever produced trapezium-shaped rectangles, I thought I would take some of my long-forgotten cross-stitch kits instead, so that I wasn't just nattering!

Organised by a local company called Little Houndales Knits, the session was based there -in the home of owner, Kath Foster. Little Houndales Knits are suppliers of home-spun yarn from their flock of Suffolk X sheep (although I have to admit, I'm not entirely sure what the 'X' stands for!) as well as stockists of many more yarns and accessories for knitting including Noro, Debbie Bliss, Araucania and Louisa Harding.

They have a website detailing prices for the yarn etc here:Little Houndales Knits and also have a page on Facebook if you wish to join: Little Houndales FB

My sister had taken with her a baby blanket that she'd started knitting when she was pregnant with her daughter, who is now 20 months old. She was really pleased to have received some help from Kath with the pattern, as she was struggling to work out where she'd got to with it. I was happy to sit with a cup of tea doing some cross-stitch that I had almost forgotten I'd had. I was even more pleased when i was joined by a young girl called Tess (whose mother was also in the room with us) who showed such an interest in the cross stitch that I let her do some of it - we had a great time, and because I managed to find a small piece of aida, I could give her some threads and a needle to take home with her and do the design she'd created on it - a tortoise.

I will be going to these knit and natter sessions again (they are to be run twice monthly, I believe) whether I take up my version of knitting or not, as it was such a change to be in a different sort of creative environment. Furthermore, Kath was so hospitable that we stayed a lot longer than the 4pm end time advertised! The Little Houndales company was only established in September 2010 and already it is proving very popular - word of mouth and personal recommendations have obviously helped, so I will be doing my bit too. One of the other things that I'm looking forward to seeing next time is their Mafana bags, which they will be stocking soon - check out the images on the website to read all about these: Mafana Bags.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T12:24:00.000Z

I am happy to share this lovely Treasury that I have been featured in on Etsy - A Parade of Hearts. This celebrates Valentine's Day and is curated by Barbara from BarbaraCrochetStudio. My mini canvas painting and easel, "Textured Heart" is featured in the middle row on the right, above.

If you want to view the Treasury in full, click on this link and then you can click on any of the individual items to view them in detail: A Parade Of Hearts

Thanks again Barbara.

Latest painting slideshow

2011-02-10T22:40:00.000Z

I have done something I promised myself i would do ages ago - take photos of a painting as I progressed. Finally, I've done it and created a slide-show with accompanying music to show you how the painting emerged. I plan to do more of these in the future if I remember before I start painting! This one is done in acrylic and acrylic inks on a canvas board measuring 9 x 6inches.

Dealing with disappointment

2011-02-08T12:01:00.001Z

I always tell myself that I am good at dealing with disappointment in life. Being an optimist, this is usually an easy thing for me to deal with. However, I wonder if you ever really learn to deal with that initial pang of disappointment when you receive news that is "bad" rather than "good". Is there anything that you can do to prepare your mind and body for the outcome?

I watched the postman arrive this morning as I was hanging up some washing, knowing that there was a chance of a letter I'd been waiting for to be delivered. I thought (irrationally and with a higher than usual level of superstition, for me) that if I didn't actually collect the post from the doormat until he'd walked away, then if I piled the letters up without looking at the envelopes first, that my letter would contain good news. I also thought (again, superstition took over at this point) that because Keith was out at the time, that was significant to me receiving good news. You will have guessed by now, of course, that I was suitably disappointed to read that my two entries for the Ferens Open Exhibition had both been UNSUCCESSFUL. I wrote that word in block capitals because that's what they do on the letter they send you - just in case you misinterpret the wording, I suppose! What tickles me, is that even though you have been UNSUCCESSFUL (you see, that word is now indelibly printed on my mind in block capitals) they still enclose an invite to the preview evening. Is it just me, or is that not just a bit insensitive? It's like that programme I remember from my childhood - Bullseye, when they used to say to the contestants "Here's what you could have won". Fair enough, I will still want to go and have a look at the other entries, I'm sure the exhibition will be fantastic and I am genuinely happy for all those people that were successful. However, I'm not sure I want to be there on the preview night knowing full well that my two paintings are hidden away somewhere waiting for me to collect and bring home when all around me are the "winning" entries.

I tend to get over disappointment fairly quickly and try not to take it personally, but it's still not easy when it's something you've set your heart on. I'm sure I'm not alone here, so thought I'd share my thoughts with some of you that will have no doubt experienced similar rejections throughout your art career.

I am wallowing just a tad in self-pity, but at the same time I'm concentrating on my latest creation - I've painted a small acrylic and ink painting on canvas board of a tulip head. I took photographs along the way as I created this and am now in the process of trying to remember how to use Proshow Gold to create a slide show of the photographs. Then I will be posting the whole thing on here, hopefully! It's a useful distraction to disappointment, but I may also have to consume some chocolate at some point today, too!

These flowers, which Keith bought me a while ago, are a cheerful image to leave you with!

New painting completed

2011-02-04T16:05:00.000Z

I've finished a painting in the past couple of days or so which is another of the collaborations that we like to do as members of the Rogue Gene Collective. This is the one that Amanda Hunt sent me on Wednesday. Sorry Amanda, I think I may have beaten you to it this time!!!

The painting is on a canvas measuring 16x12 inches. I have decided to call it Nocturne and I have used mainly acrylic inks for the foreground layer of painting here. I started off with a glaze of yellow ink over the whole of the brown area at the bottom of the painting, then I added the "starburst" styled shapes with a metallic teal coloured ink in the night sky, as I see it - using a dropper, which often made the ink spots merge into one another. I added some transparent umber ink to certain areas of the brown/yellow section and added some yellow 3d dots along the horizon line. Then I added some metallic blue acrylic dots within the teal ink spots, and finished those off with tiny dots of white in the middle of each one. I added tiny white dots to all the yellow 3D dots (I must be going a bit dotty now!) and created lots more teal coloured ink spots and white tiny dots in the sky area. Each teal spot was painted with a line of highlight and shadow to create a 3D shape, then I used the same teal shadow colour as a final ink wash over the brown/yellow landscape. I remember playing a piece of music called Nocturne when I was learning the piano as a child, and it was a very sad piece of music, but I have such happy memories of playing it, as I really liked the tune.

You can buy the painting from the Rogue Gene Gallery or my personal website, www.helendavison.co.uk

Collaborative Paintings

2011-02-02T14:18:00.000Z

This morning I received a canvas which had a background painted on it in preparation for a collaboration between myself and fellow Rogue Gene Collective artist, Amanda Hunt. There's something quite exciting about doing a collaborative piece, since you never know what to expect either way - whether you are painting the background or the foreground. In some cases, as with the latest one uploaded to the Rogue Gene Gallery (Mildred Pearce) the collaboration was between 3 artists! I painted a textured background using some 3D acrylic paints and a mixture of interference medium in shimmering red with the 3d paint in crimson. This created a sort of terracotta shade overall - although apparently the colours will shine through as different hues depending on the direction of light. I also added touches of gold acrylic to the various raised areas of the 3D paint.

So, this is the original background that I sent to Kos Marton:

Having struggled to come up with a suitable foreground (the ideas don't always appear immediately with collaborations), Kos did a seascape but wasn't entirely happy with it. Therefore, Rob Kirbyson added a third layer and it became the painting "Mildred Pearce" - which is a 3-way collaboration and I think a very successful one. It wouldn't have existed without everyone's input, and even though you can now only really see the textured marks from the original background painting, it's obviously a collaboration.

Now that I have received a background from Amanda, I am just as excited at creating something that I would not normally do. The possibilities with collaborations are much greater, I think, than with painting or creating alone.

Here is the background I sent Amanda previously, which she is going to create the foreground for:

This morning, I received this background from Amanda:

The artist who completes the foreground decides on the name of the painting, which is fairly logical really since it cannot be named in advance unless all collaborators know exactly what they are going to be painting. I suppose that would be another way of collaborating, but it's not the way we are currently working and I think I prefer it this way!

I will post the completed paintings when they are both finished - I think Amanda and I are racing to see who does it first, but if my track record is anything to go by, she will win!

You can see Amanda's work on Rogue Gene Gallery here or by visiting her personal website at http://www.amandahuntgallery.com/

Rob's work can be seen on Rogue Gene Gallery here or on his personal website at http://www.acrylicsandoils.com

Kosana's other works are on the Rogue Gene Gallery here.

Mini Art Show

2011-02-01T15:46:00.000Z

The South Street Gallery, Scarborough, are hosting their 2nd Mini Art Show soon and I will be entering 7 post-card sized paintings this year! The exhibition runs from February 17th (12 till 5pm) to Sunday 3rd April 2011, ending at 4pm. . Last year's show was a great success, with many of the paintings being sold on the opening night (one of mine included!) Let's hope this year is just as good, especially since the gallery will be donating £1 to St Catherine's Hospice for each postcard sold.

You can find out more about the South Street Gallery and their future exhibitions on their website at South Street Gallery. Alternatively, join them on their Facebook Page here.

Here are the paintings I will be entering - some of which I have created solely for this exhibition.

Ruby

Aureate

Celestia


Regalia

PC Emerald

PC Crimson

PC Cobalt

Exhausted, Emotional and Expectational!

2011-01-29T15:35:00.000Z

Well, now that the play is over I may be able to start thinking of something other than drama! What a week it's been, however. Last night was amazingly good, with a full capacity audience. I was on car park duties last night, which was a very cold job as the temperature plummeted to minus 2 (which felt like minus 10 for me!) but it was nice to see our regular patrons turn up - it feels like greeting family members sometimes, as they feel as though they know you so well even if you don't recognise their faces at all. After that, I helped out with the refreshment/front of house duties for the rest of the night, so didn't get to sit with the audience, but luckily we do have a monitor in the foyer so that we can at least see the play on that. It was such a good audience, too. Very responsive to the unfolding tale right from the start. That always gives the cast a boost and in turn they give a better performance, I think.

It was the night for a lot of the cast's family, too - my parents, my younger brother and my sister were there, as were my aunt and uncle, so even though I wasn't performing, I was still nervous as I wanted it to go well. Dave and Carol's family were also in last night, as were Adam's parents and sister. All reports so far are very favourable, I'm pleased to say! We will be having a week away from the adult rehearsals now and only meeting up with the Junior and Youth sections next week. I was quite emotional at the end of the night - even more so when I was presented with a Thank You card and a bottle of red wine (how did they guess???) from the cast and crew! That was such a lovely surprise, since we tend not to go in for gifts at BADS unless it's a director's first time, so I felt exceptionally appreciated. We all went out for a curry afterwards and I tried a chicken Methi for the first time, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Having a late meal meant we didn't get to bed till gone 2am, so I slept in till about 9 this morning, then was soon out of the house to take my two entries into Hull for the Ferens Art Gallery's Open Exhibition. I managed to get parked on a meter not far from the gallery and just had a few minutes free to have a quick look around the gallery after I'd unpacked and left my entries there. I don't very often go into the centre of Hull these days, despite the fact that the Art Gallery hosts some fantastic pieces of art and various exhibitions - I sometimes get claustrophobic in anywhere vaguely museum-like and have to rush out of the building immediately so it's not something I regularly do.

However, I was so pleased to have seen one painting in particular, by an artist called Victor Newsome. I've tried to find the image online, but there's not much of his work out there. The painting was done in acrylic but what amazed me when I looked at it was the fine details of the shading. In order to create each shaded area of the painting, he'd painted tiny cross-hatches - really effective and a method I will certainly employ in one of my future paintings. The painting was of a nude submerged in a bath, although you could only see her head and chest. Her head appeared out of proportion due to the fact that it was positioned further forward from her shoulders and her hair was made up of hundreds of narrow lines of colour.

I wish I could show you the image of the painting - but if you are in the area please try and get to the Ferens and have a look yourself, it's worth it. He started his artistic career as a sculptor and studied at the Leeds School of Art. You can see some of his works online if you google his name, but not the one I saw today!

Oh, and the two paintings I entered into the Open Exhibition (which starts on Saturday 12th February and finishes on Sunday 3rd March) are "3 Wide Men And An Interloper" and "Red Rocks" - the same two paintings I had in the East Yorkshire Open Exhibition at Sewerby Hall last summer.

Scenic Painting - the process

2011-01-26T16:30:00.001Z

Now that I've managed to stop myself from doing any more to it, I thought I'd share the images of the scenic painting on here. I can still see flaws in it and would have liked more time to spend making it perfect, but ultimately I had to leave it and let the cast have their dress rehearsal with a finished backdrop.

I can honestly say this was the most challenging piece of art I've ever had to create. I started off relishing the challenge and looking forward to creating such a big painting. Over time, however, that enthusiasm waned slightly and as I progressed, painted over, and repainted certain elements I started wondering how on earth Rolf Harris does those huge paintings he was famous for when I was growing up!

The plan was to create the illusion of a Spanish Villa - the terraced area overlooking the garden and surrounding countryside of the Sierra Blanca. I researched images of the area- it stated in the play that you could clearly see the mountain range in that area (the Sierra Blanca takes its name from the Sierra Blanca mountain range of which La Concha, the mountain that towers above the urbanisation, is part). I also wanted to feature a bougainvillea bush as it's mentioned several times in the play.

The first job we had, which we (my husband Keith and I) did soon after the New Year was over, was to paint the walls of the inside of the "Villa" with a magnolia colour. We'd already built the set in September/October so most of the rest of the work was electrical and decorating along with ensuring everything was safe.

Stage one commenced on January 3rd - as you can see, we have so far painted the walls of the villa and the living room door. We are at the point where we are about to erect strip lights above the two arches on the upstage wall - these will help to convey the light of an outdoor scene. The back wall is as yet untouched.

Day 2 - January 4th. Having completed the painting (two coats of magnolia) on all the living room walls, we started on the back wall, covering up any previous wall covering with white at the top and a magnolia effect on the lower half - this would soon become the wall of the villa's terrace.

Day 3 - January 5th. Not much has changed in this view - I've blocked in a basic sky and straightened the level of the wall, since I forgot to take the spirit level yesterday! It's also had another coat of magnolia. As you can see, the strip lights are already shedding a fair amount of light in the two archways.

Add caption

Close up of SL arch showing gridded plan

Close up of terracotta wall tiles painted onto the lower edge of the "terrace" wall.

Day 4 - January 9th. A long time was spent today painting in the top of the terrace wall, the shaded areas to give some texture to the surface of the wall, and the tiles at the bottom of the wall. Keith helped by marking out a grid on the wall for the plan of where all the mountains would be placed - if you look at the close-up images you can just about make out the pencil lines and in one of the images you can see the plan I was working from. I also blocked in an area of green as a base colour for the garden.

Mountain line drawn in and basic sky colour blocked in.

Low line of clouds painted in at the top of the mountain range.

Day 5 - January 10th. I pencilled in the mountain range first, then blocked in the basic sky colour, as seen in the first image for today. Then I added a low line of clouds at the foot of the mountain range, and finally I painted the individual mountains, using my gridded plan as a reference.

Day 6 - January 12th. Didn't have much time to spend on the painting today as we were starting rehearsals with the Youth section again after the Christmas break and needed to do the lesson plan etc. However, if you look closely you can see that I've painted out the clouds that I did last time and repainted the whole of the sky. I didn't like them!

Day 7 - January 14th. Keith decorated the "hall" wall with some plain white textured wallpaper today (you can't actually see it in any of these photos, will show full stage later). I blocked in the mountains and created a new sky/cloud formation. I've also pencilled in other areas ready for painting - a house just beyond the garden, and the corner of a swimming pool which is supposedly in the garden.

Day 8 - January 15th. Most of the greenery has been blocked in now, the basic house colour painted in and the shape of the swimming pool painted in - you can just about see it on the left of the arch. I've added the rough shape of the bougainvillea too, along with a few small trees in the distance.The mountains in the distance have also been lightened to give the illusion that the they are much further away.

Here you can see I've added some basic colour to the bougainvillea bush, painted in the roof, window and side of the house, coloured in the swimming pool and surrounding area and added some houses in the very distant green hills on the right.

Day 9 - 18th January. Branches, leaves and more colour added to the bougainvillea to give it some shape and definition. A creeping ivy styled tree was added to the side of the house.

Day 10 - 19th January. I wasn't at all happy with the effect of the swimming pool in the garden - it just didn't look credible so I decided to paint it out and just have lawn instead. I added some highlights to the bougainvillea bush and painted several different washes over the various levels of green in the distance - and added some hedge lines here and there to help delineate them.

Day 11 - 21st January. I painted in the suggestion of another small bush creeping over the wall in the SL archway, changed the appearance of a tree positioned in front of the house, in the SR archway and added some more greenery to the creeping plant at the side of the house.

Day 12 - January 23 (Dress Rehearsal day) After adding some shadow on the wall for the bougainvillea plant and the green shrub SL, I also added a path down the centre of the lawn and a low wall at the perimeter of the garden, I enhanced the buildings in the distance that had been painted over with washes, and added a few more splashes of colour to the bougainvillea leaves. The set was dressed with fairy lights for the two arches at the back (to represent evening approaching) and three of my pieces of artwork - as can be seen in the images below. One of them is a collaboration with fellow artist Rob Kirbyson, the Baobab tree. He painted the background and I painted in the tree, All three paintings are still for sale, so if you come along to see the play and are interested, please see me at the theatre or contact me via email to enquire about the price.

"Reading Between The Lines" and "Baobab"


"Watching Paint Dry".

I am happy to report that last night, at the end of the play, one of the women in the audience spoke to me about how much she enjoyed the play. She then asked if I'd painted all the scenery, to which I said "yes" (I was cautiously replying because I didn't know what she was going to say about it, good or bad). She then said "It's brilliant". Result! All that time spent painting, planning, repainting etc has now officially been worth it. I always say that things are worth doing even if just one person notices - so my job is done!

My next piece of artistic output will be something much, much smaller - a postcard painting for an exhibition in Scarborough to be handed in for Monday!

I would like to thank Anna from http://nature-trail.blogspot.com/ for allowing me to use some of her photographs of bougainvillea as reference images for the scenic painting.

Opening Night success

2011-01-26T11:31:00.000Z

Last night was the first night of our 4-night run of "Heatstroke" and I'm pleased to say that it was a hit with the audience. The cast of 6 did me proud, as did the backstage team of Keith (Stage Manager) Josh (Sound & Lighting) Amy, Shannon & Steve (Front of House).

It was the first time on the stage at Bilton for two members of the cast, Scott and Adam - and I was so pleased for them both when they obviously slotted into the production so well as though it had always been a part of their lives. Eloise was also making her debut in an adult production (as opposed to a Youth production, which she is normally a part of) and she rose to the occasion, playing to the audience. I was particularly pleased that they all managed to wait for the laughter to die down a bit before delivering their next line, making sure the audience didn't miss anything.

As ever, the Tuesday night audience consisted mainly of members from various old people's homes across the city - several different Lions clubs organise trips for them and we have always been grateful for their support - even if they do imagine they are watching TV instead of seeing a live performance. We have had some hilarious comments from audience members previously - they don't realise that the cast can actually hear what they say out loud and that it could be distracting.

The funniest remark I had was when one old dear saw me in the foyer and it then dawned on her where she was. "Oh, we're at that place, aren't we? What's it called? The theatre - oh, I thought we were going somewhere else." "Oh, didn't you realise you were coming to watch a play?" I asked her. "No, I thought we were at that other place" she replied. "Oh well, it's a nice surprise for you then, isn't it?" I asked her. "Oh, yes, I've been coming here for years, we never miss them - I've seen you before - the daughter, sister, mother, wife." That was funny enough, but at the interval when I happened to see her again in the foyer, she asked me how my Mother was. "Oh, do you know my Mother?" I said, thinking it must be someone I'd not met before who knew my Mum from her involvement in a choir or such-like. "Well, I've seen her lots of times, on the stage here - blonde hair." Then it slowly dawned on me - and the chap standing next to her said "No, Ethel, that's not really her Mother, is it?". I explained that my Mother didn't go on the stage and then she said "Oh, no, I don't know your Mother" as she trundled off with her tea and biscuits....

I was so nervous prior to the start of the play, it was as though I was acting in it, but thankfully I was relaxed enough to enjoy the performance sitting in the audience. It's so much nicer to watch something you've all created after months of rehearsing with an appreciative group of people. A director's job is quite lonely at times, but last night was just the opposite. I'm looking forward to the rest of the week now (and the curry afterwards on the last night!).

Forthcoming production

2011-01-16T18:54:00.000Z

The poster above is to advertise the forthcoming production by the amateur dramatic society of which I have been a member for over 20 years. My mind is overflowing with things to remember at this stage prior to a performance - it seems that this production in particular has given me even more things to think about.

A brief check-list would probably be something along the lines of:
1. Poster designed and printed.
2. Performance Rights applied for and paid.
3. Newsletter designed, written, printed, folded, stuffed into envelopes and posted to our patrons.
4. Front of House staff organised.
5. Source all props required.
6. Publicise on websites and pass on media contacts to resident Publicity Officer
7. Clean and tidy theatre including toilets, dressing room, stage and auditorium
8. Paint the required "scene" on the stage (the biggest job of all so far)
9. Distribute posters locally.
10. Check cast have all costume required.

I can at least say that most of those items are checked - however, I have been painting the back wall of the stage (an area of approximately 13.5ft wide by 8ft high) to represent the terrace and views out from a villa in the Sierra Blanca region of Spain. This painting is becoming so much a part of my life that I am dreaming about the next stage each time I close my eyes! I have repainted whole areas of it on more than one occasion, and am sure I will still be adding to it right up to the opening night. I am also desperately trying to locate several ceramic ornaments/vases or money boxes cheaply that will break easily each night. Keith, my husband and fellow BADS fanatic, has already tried in the local Poundland, Wilko, Home Bargains and Boyes (a general store that often has really cheap household items) but to no avail. I went to Pound-stretcher this afternoon once I'd had enough of painting some bougainvillea that so far looks like some strange alien purple cloud formation (even though I know it will look better than that when I've finished, I hate letting others see my work in progress so am obviously stressing about this now). Pound-stretcher had some vases in that were £3.99. I would rather not spend that much per night (plus extras for rehearsing with) so am determined that tomorrow I will spend the morning scouring charity shops instead - and have a day off the painting!

Anyway, I have really enjoyed directing and producing this play, it still makes me laugh at rehearsals and the cast have all been very reliable and happy to be directed by me (or at least they appear to be).

You can read all about it on the Facebook Event I have created here.http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/event.php?eid=182877285069255

I do plan to post photos of the scenic painting in progress, once I have the courage to share them!

First sale of 2011

2011-01-05T17:16:00.000Z

I have just made my first sale of the year via Etsy, which seems to be proving a very useful site for me in terms of sales. It is also a good place to connect with other arts & crafts people from all over the world.

I sold one of my decorated note-books, which are probably the most popular of my latest craft creations. The one I sold, above, is called "Tidal". I will be posting it tomorrow. I don't think I will ever get over the feeling of excitement I get when I open my emails and discover someone has bought something I've created - there's nothing quite like it!

New notepads ready for selling

2010-12-20T15:10:00.000Z

Here's a sneak preview of some magnetic notepads I created ready for the Christmas Craft Fair that I had to cancel! I have only taken a couple of shots of them in their cellophane wrappers just to give you an idea of what they look like. I will probably be posting them on Etsy in the New Year, or I may even just save them for the re-scheduled craft fair in March/April!

I have modified the design as I've made more of these - the paper I use is always upcycled sheets of paper from various sources - usually printed programmes that are no longer needed or rejected newsletters from BADS. I figured that you only ever write on one side of the paper anyway before throwing it away, so thought it was a good way of utilising the spare sheets we always have in the house. I have also ensured that each sheet of paper is perforated, using a hand held perforating roller - this makes the job of tearing your sheets off the pad much easier!

Some of the pads are deliberately not decorated on the rear side, since the paint can interfere with the sticking on of the magnetic strips, despite using high quality glue.

As you can see, I like to name these creations to give them a "personality" - the two above are named after two great aunts I remembered from my childhood. "Lucy" is a decoupage styled sheet of music which has been overpainted with gold then yellow acrylic ink.

The daffodil pad is named after my paternal Grandma, Alice Greendale. I think she would have liked it. Phyllis is named after my Nanna, who loved to wear a mixture of black and pink clothing.

Sold on Etsy!

2010-12-17T11:04:00.000Z

Geometric Green - trinket box on the left.

I have just sold another one of my decorated trinket boxes on Etsy - the above named "Geometric Green" . Most of the sales I make on Etsy seem to go to the United States - perhaps they are more keen to buy hand-made pieces than the people in the UK are! I shall have to ensure I get to the Post Office today before the snow arrives again as promised!!!

You can see the rest of my Etsy items in my shop here at Arty Aitch. Most of my items would make ideal Christmas presents - but you will need to be quick in order to ensure delivery in time, especially with the current weather predictions!

Christmas Tree Festival

2010-12-12T17:59:00.003Z

We finally managed to get our decorated tree down to the church in Bilton last weekend - it was very last minute but our tree is now up with the others in the display at St Peter's Church. I say our tree, mainly because Keith and I were the ones who decorated it on behalf of our group - Bilton Amateur Dramatic Society.

This is the first year the Church have held a Christmas Tree Festival - and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the majority of the entries had managed to get there considering the atrocious weather we've been having recently! It was touch and go whether we would even get off our drive-way onto our cul de sac to begin with, and that was after a lot of digging up of snow too!

We were asked to decorate the tree based on the theme of our organisation - so we built the base for the tree to stand on as a miniature stage, setting the scene with a 4 poster bed (made out of some mount-board and wooden dowelling) and chair to represent Scrooge's bedroom from "A Christmas Carol". Keith made the bed, I then painted and made the mattress, pillow and bed cover for it, and decorated it with a fringed valance and top piece. I made some red velvet stage curtains and used an old mini cross-stitch frame to create a "painting" on the back wall.

We then made some cardboard cut out figures (we didn't manage to get 3D figures in time - again due to the snow restricting us) to represent Scrooge and the ghost of Jacob Marley.

Keith mad some fimo tree hangings in the shape of various props - a goblet, a bowler hat, a sombrero, a book and a champagne bottle. I then painted them all and attached coloured string to hang them onto the tree with. We made some triangular paper bunting in alternating colours of red, green and white with the BADS logo written on each side - this covered the tree from top to bottom and served as our version of "tinsel". I made some 2D "baubles" using images from previous posters for plays, and several mini posters were used as little decorations too. We even managed to make a few miniature play copies. Now that we've decorated it, we are thinking of more ideas for next year!

We added an "Oscar" style trophy to the display at the side - we usually hand these out at our annual Junior & Youth "Oscars Night" and this particular one was a reject we had in. We will be holding our Oscars Night on Wednesday 22nd December, weather permitting! It was originally planned for 15th (my birthday, coincidentally) but since we've had to miss two weeks of rehearsals, it's been postponed.

Here are some images of our tree at the church. The church is lovely and warm - thanks to the central heating they have installed there.


The Tree in position on the window sill

Close up view of the stage area


Close up of some of the decorations

Our "Dressing Room" styled star!

Other groups taking part are: Bilton Primary School, Bilton Brownies, St. Peter's Fund-raising team, St Peter's Music Group, St Peter's Pop In Group, St Peter's PCC (sorry, no idea what that stands for!!!), The Royal British Legion, Stay and Play, St Peter's Walking Group, The Woodwork Group and Mrs Jean Walker ( a resident of Bilton).

We managed to take a few photographs of some of the other trees, too. Where possible, I have included the name of the group taking part - at the bottom of the photograph.

Bilton Primary School

Bilton Brownies


St Peter's Music Group

St Peter's Pop In Group

I loved the way the Pop In members have decorated tea bags for the tree, and if you look closely you can see several different musical instruments on the tree from the Music Group.


St Peter's Walking Group


The Woodwork Group

The detail was fantastic in these hand carved decorations from the woodwork group:

Mrs Jean Walker

We visited the Christmas Tree Festival this afternoon, after which we popped along to see the rather larger display at All Saints Church in Preston, our village. I will be doing a separate post about that one, however! Too many images in one post, I think.

St Peter's Church has a web-site - at www.stpetersbilton.co.uk listing all the different events that take place there - it seems to be a thriving part of the community. The Christmas Tree display was originally only going to last until this afternoon, but I think it will now stay until Christmas, so presumably whenever the Church is open, the trees are available for viewing.

"Chocolate Inspiration" featured in TAS Treasury

2010-12-10T17:49:00.000Z

I am pleased to say that I have just been added to a Treasury on Etsy curated by the founder of Total Art Soul, Cathy Savels. This particular Treasury focuses on members of the art site that Cathy created and is a great way of thanking us all for our continued support and input.

Total Art Soul is a free website set up to unite artists of any discipline across the globe and it started in January of this year. Already it has gained 1974 members (as of today - the number seems to increase almost daily!) and the forum is an active area of inspiration and helpful tips and advice to others. The site also has a blogging area for all members, as well as individual blogging facilities and a gallery where you can upload up to 2 images per day. Please have a wander across and see what you think to this global community at http://www.totalartsoul.com

I am therefore very proud to be part of that thriving community and honoured to be included in this Treasury. You can see all the items individually by clicking on the link here.

My trinket box "Chocolate Inspiration" is shown on the bottom row of the Treasury.

Octavia - latest painting

2010-12-05T19:22:00.000Z

I have just uploaded my latest creation, entitled "Octavia", to my personal website at www.helendavison.co.uk and on my Facebook page and onto my gallery at Affordable British Art.

I painted the background in cadmium red acrylic and an acrylic interference medium in red, followed by an ultramarine section at the base of the two canvases. This was then decorated with 4 semi-abstract flower designs on each canvas, using some black electrical cable for the stems of each flower. The petals of the two larger flowers were individually cut from funky foam, shaped to fit around a couple of vintage buttons as the centre of the flower, and embellished with some metallic acrylic dots. The smaller of the flowers on each canvas was created using a small red button at the heart of each flower head, and the petals were painted using blue metallic acrylic paint. Each of these petals was then filled in with some 3D acrylic paint in red.

Measuring just 5x7 inches each canvas, they make a lovely Christmas gift! They would have been for sale at the Christmas Craft Fair, if it hadn't been cancelled!

Craft Fair Cancelled

2010-12-02T11:17:00.000Z

Well, after much deliberation and discussion with the other participants, I've decided it's sensible to cancel the Craft fair I'd organised for this coming weekend. The weather is causing so much disruption that it would be hard enough just ensuring we all got there safely - never mind any potential customers!

I am fairly gutted about this, as I was really excited at the prospect of meeting all the other artisans, and I'd planned competitions and demonstrations of my work for the days, too. Plus I was confident that a lot of my smaller decorated items would have done well.

However, as I am by nature an optimist, there is at least some good to come out of it. Most of the artisans involved are happy to post-pone rather than cancel, even though it will now be held in the Spring of next year. This means I get more time to publicise, plan more competitions and hopefully encourage more of the artists to hold demonstrations of their work.

We would actually struggle to get our car into the village where we live at the moment - the snow is thickly laid on our street (we live in a cul de sac, so hardly any traffic at all comes down here apart from the residents' own cars) and up to the main street in the village even. Several cars have just been skidding along the street this morning and getting stuck. It's at times like this that I do think it would be good to own a 4wheel drive vehicle!

The snow looks lovely in the fields behind our back garden, but I am actually getting a bit fed up of it now!

Thanks to SAA!

2010-11-24T10:36:00.000Z

I received a lovely surprise in the post this morning from the SAA (Society for All Artists). Earlier this week, having failed to get a response locally from craft suppliers, I emailed the SAA with a request for a couple of art related items as a donation. I didn't receive a reply, so assumed that they too had decided not to contribute. How wrong I was!

In the parcel was a black long brush case (seen on their web-site here) and a Derwent black A5 sized sketching journal. These will be used as prizes for a competition at the Christmas Craft Fair I'm running at the theatre in Bilton on 4th & 5th December. The competition is for children to design a Christmas card and already it has generated interest from the members of our Junior section at the theatre. I have also invited the children from the local primary school in Bilton to come along - they run an art club at the school so I'm sure there will be plenty of children interested in joining in.

I also received a lovely box full of items yesterday from fellow Rogue Gene Collective artist, Andrea Farmer. Her hand-made brooches, hair accessories, bib necklaces and some small paintings on canvas board are all coming with me to the craft fair. I'm sure a lot of these will sell - particularly to the teenage girls who I know will be attending. Andrea usually sells these crafts on her Etsy store here.

Christmas Craft Fair

2010-11-10T08:43:00.002Z

The organisation is in its final stages now for the Christmas Craft Fair I am holding at the theatre in Bilton, Hull. The theatre itself has been home to the Bilton Amateur Dramatic Society for the past 60 plus years, 20 of which I have been involved with!

The craft fair started out as an idea to bring together all the local crafters on Etsy, Hull. I have since had to widen the net a tad to include a few more local artisans, but I'm sure it will create a varied fair with affordable yet quality gifts for all.

Excluding myself, there will be a photographer specialising in floral subject matter. Her name is Katie Railton and you can see more of her work on Etsy at http://www.etsy.com/shop/katierailtonphoto or on her personal web-site here. As well as selling prints of her photographic images, Katie also supplies personalised or blank greetings cards. She exhibits regularly in the Yorkshire region and also has a blog page on her website. You can follow Katie on Twitter , too.

Jonathan Le Vine is a jewellery maker who has a shop on Etsy, where he sells "Unique hand crafted jewellery.... Gifts for ALL occasions.... I sell hand crafted items worldwide from my Yorkshire workshop in the UK.... including.... Pendants, Cufflinks, Earrings, Brooches, Tie pins etc. Tactile Thuya Wood gift boxes & geology specimens." You can visit his shop by clicking here. I am particularly looking forward to seeing some of his ear-rings and cufflinks - I feel a Christmas gift for my Dad emerging there (that's the cufflinks, not the ear-rings). Jonathan also sells a lot of his work on ebay - I love the Thuya wood box he has for sale on there.

I will be writing more in the weeks to follow, promoting the fair and the people taking part as I do so. Please make a note in your diary for reference and if you know anyone else who may be interested in attending, pass the details on.

The Forbidden Corner

2010-11-03T13:56:00.000Z

Last week it was half term for most of the children here in the UK. As a birthday treat for our eldest grand-daughter, we'd arranged to take her and a friend to a place called The Forbidden Corner in North Yorkshire. You can read all about the history of the place here , but it is the sort of place that is hard to describe well enough without actually visiting it. I had heard about it via a friend on Facebook - I'd seen some photos that looked interesting and asked where they were taken. Once I'd been on the web-site, I thought it would make a great day out for Matheea's 9th Birthday.

So, last Tuesday we set off - leaving our house at 9.30am with Matheea, home-made flap-jack and a carton of juice for the two children nestling in a cool bag along with some fruit for snacking on too. We collected Daniel and left Hull shortly before 10am. I'd bought a small bag of Haribo sweets for them as a treat during the day, too. The two hour and 10 minute journey was mostly a happy one. Daniel and Matheea were playing noughts and crosses and hang-man in the back of the car, we chatted about all sorts of things and were all excited about exploring the venue. Matheea was guessing about the sorts of things we would see - she'd already heard from her Nan that there would be a surprise when you enter the place. Small monkeys were mentioned, I believe!

We were almost at the entrance to the driveway leading up to The Forbidden Corner when all went quiet in the back. I asked Daniel if he was OK, he said he felt a bit sick. I said "do you think you're going to actually be sick, or do you just feel sick?" He said he just felt sick, so I just said to let us know if he thought he was actually going to be sick. We turned the corner into the driveway and then a gushing sound emanated from the rear of the car. Unfortunately, Daniel had not had the time to tell us he was going to be sick before it rushed out of his mouth and onto the seat between his legs. It all happened so quickly and there were several more outbursts before we had chance to pull over. I then realised that a full bag of Haribo sweets had been consumed by them on the way there, along with several pieces of flapjack and most of their cartons of juice. This was evident on the back seat of our car. My immediate thought was "How can such a small child hold such a large amount of liquid?" I managed to get Daniel out of the car and stand him at the verge, then Matheea climbed out of her side of the car and promptly threw up twice on the grass verge. I am usually quite an optimistic person, but even I struggled at this point to see the positive side! Matheea then said "Can we go home now?" which urged me to focus on making the best of the situation and trying to cheer her up into actually enjoying the rest of the day!

I may have been silly in giving the kids a bag of Haribo sweets - not thinking for a second that they would simply eat the whole bag in such a short time - but I was at least slightly prepared for a clean-up operation to some degree. I had taken a full pack of wet wipes with me in case Matheea or Daniel needed to wipe their hands or face during the day. The whole pack was used to mop up the mess on the car seat, from Daniel's coat (which had been on the floor in front of him at that point, so didn't get too badly spoiled) and from the trousers where he'd been sitting in it. All these wipes were then stored in a carrier bag I'd taken to put rubbish in. We couldn't quite get rid of the whole of the sick, and there was no way Daniel could sit back down on the seat of the car where he'd been previously, so we were grateful that we had a sheet of thick polythene in the boot of the car to place on the seat. Once Daniel had put his coat on and Matheea was in a better state of mind, Keith drove up to the car park and us three took a walk in the fresh air to meet him there. First job was to try and get Daniel some more trousers - I'd hoped they would sell them in the gift shop, but no such luck! Tee-shirts, sweat-shirts and hats were the only clothing on offer. We had planned on having some lunch in the cafe before entering the Forbidden Corner itself, but after the sickness episode, nobody felt like it much so we just had a drink - water for the children! I sent Daniel's mum a text message to let her know what had happened, and so that she wasn't too shocked when he turned up at the end of the day with smelly clothes!

I felt sorry for Daniel as he had to spend the rest of the day wearing the trousers, but he was not at all perturbed by this and both him and Matheea thoroughly enjoyed the day. Here are a few photographs to give you an idea of the sort of things we saw.


Matheea & Daniel at the entrance

The whole area was like a treasure trove of sculptures, gateways and underground tunnels leading to even more doorways. We'd not been in for long when Keith went ahead of us along a path and got soaked with a sensor triggered water spray! As it was a cold day, he did not relish this very much - I'm afraid we all laughed, which didn't really help, much, either! We soon learned that there were many more of these hidden along the routes, and the only way to avoid them was to time your crossing in between the bursts of spray! Had it been a hot sunny day, we may well have enjoyed getting a good soaking, but we mainly avoided them!

The first thing we encountered was a huge "mouth" which we walked through, and which burped loudly as you walked through it - hilarious for the kids! Above are Daniel and Matheea in the mouth.

There was a maze, which we explored for what seemed like ages, and along one of the many paths in the gardens we saw a statue of a naked lady with a tattoo on her buttocks - again, the children thought this was extremely funny. I forgot to take a photo of that, but I'm sure we will be visiting again next year, so will try to get more photographs then. The views of the surrounding countryside and of the land at Tupgill Park were stunning. I especially liked looking down at the field of deer - we took a walk down a tree-lined path to get a closer view of them, too:

We were lucky that the rain held off for the time we spent in the grounds, as it had been raining constantly on the journey there. It was a bit cold, but not too bad, and as lots of the areas to explore were underground (with scenes reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland), we managed to stay dry and warm for the day.

I thought this glass sculpture was beautiful, and further along the adventure, we even got a view of it from inside and underneath. So much thought has gone into the planning of this place - it has such wide appeal, too. Even if you just wanted to go for an interesting stroll in the gardens, you would enjoy it, I'm sure.

Inside one of the tunnels, we entered a huge circular room through one of many gothic styled wooden doors, and there was a water pool in the centre. Daniel was eager to explore every other doorway that was around the room (there were at least 5 or 6) and the first one he opened actually started a water fountain and music in the centre of the room! Magical. Along some of the corridors there were recorded voices whispering to you as you went by and there was one door in a corridor that made a loud knocking sound, which prompted you to open the door and this is what you were greeted with:

Matheea & Daniel on a wooden black boar!

At almost every path, there were engraved notices with rhymes giving you clues as to which direction you should take - although even these were not to be taken seriously, as you often ended up in a dead end and then had to retrace your steps.

Once we'd thoroughly explored the place (apart from the tiniest tunnel which neither Keith or I wanted to attempt to crawl into) Daniel and Matheea wanted to go back to the mouth and have a go at punching the uvula of the mouth! The resulting burp pleased them enormously!

I would heartily recommend this place to anyone either with children or not - although I would imagine that it would appeal more to children over the age of 6 perhaps - some of the effects can be a bit scary for younger children, and toddlers could find it difficult to explore without stumbling, I would think. Adults will also enjoy it, as there really is so much to see - I would love to visit the herb garden in the summer, as even though I could still smell a lot of the herbs, it was past its best, really.

You need to book your tickets prior to visiting and you get allocated a time slot so that there are not too many people trying to get into all the different areas at once. Booking can be done online or by telephone - just visit their website for details.

Dress Rehearsal - Carousel

2010-10-29T13:16:00.000+01:00

Well, I wasn't on top form last night for our dress rehearsal of Carousel, but it went remarkably well. I think there were several hitches, which is usually a good sign for a better opening night. From a personal point of view, I think the most ridiculous thing I did was to wear my corset upside down. Funnily enough, only one person actually noticed, and by that time we were all on stage for the opening scene anyway so it was too late to change! Fortunately, I only wear it for the first scene so it wasn't that ridiculous. My defence was that I don't often wear corsets, so I just slipped it over my head and asked someone to lace me up from behind!

There were 3 incidents that I know of where someone tripped over or crashed into one of the stage lights rigged up in the wings, which must have been slightly distracting for the people on stage at the time, and I know that the straw bales created a lot more mess than anticipated. Sally, who is with me in almost every scene, was elbowed in the face by our Chairman in the wings at one point as he gesticulated over-enthusiastically about something or other. A few lines were missed here and there, I started singing at a time when it was only a solo part (but soon shut up) and at the curtain call I noticed that the backdrop had the word HITACHI across it because the scenes that had previously been played out across it were finished!

As they say, however, it will be all right on the night. If not, we've certainly had a good laugh as a team and I will never forget the experience. I've also made another good friend, as Sarah was proving invaluable to me last night helping me with my costumes (all our dresses fasten up the back with hooks and eyes - impossible to do yourself) and generally looking out for me in my slightly washed out state.

The outfit I'm wearing in the opening scene is the one shown here worn by Jo in last year's show - it's the cerise outfit and the pointy bit of the corset was therefore sticking up at the top rather than pointing down at the bottom!

You live and learn, eh?

If you haven't booked your tickets yet and still want to come along to watch one of the performances, we do have some seats left so you could turn up and get them on the door. Alternatively, ring Bob Harrison on 01482 327007 to book. Prices are £10 for adults, £8 for seniors and £5 for children. Performance times are 7.30pm tonight, 29th October, 2pm and 7pm tomorrow, 20th October, at the Middleton Hall, University of Hull.

Christmas Craft Fair

2010-10-25T17:29:00.000+01:00

I know it's early yet to start using the C word, but I just thought I'd share my plans for a craft event I'm planning this year, since it's the first one I've organised. It will be held in the auditorium of the Bilton Theatre, home to the Bilton Amateur Dramatic Society (of which I have been a member the past 20 years).

I have already contacted several of the sellers on Etsy who are in the list of "Shop Local" when I do a search in Hull, East Yorkshire. I'm hoping to have 6 or 7 various artisans present - either for one or two days, whichever they can manage. The idea is not only to create a unique selling event for local creative talent based on Etsy, but if it proves successful, it will also raise some funds for our Society as well as promoting the theatre at the same time.

Lowlander Dye - Trinket Box & Mini Painting with Easel

Decorated notebook

I will be selling my decorated notebooks, trinket boxes, magnetic shopping pads, mini paintings and hand-made cards. I have bought some more notebooks today for decorating, and Keith is planning to make some more notepad holders for me to paint.

I may even make some more fudge and tiffin to sell.

Cranberry & White Chocolate Fudge

Tiffin

Other artisans already interested include a photographer specialising in flowers, an illustrator who creates wonderful cat designs and a jewellery maker/handbag creator. More details will be divulged once I've confirmed all the sellers - with links to their Etsy shops. Next thing I will be designing is an application/entry form - no craft fair is complete without one!

Etsy Sale

2010-10-22T11:20:00.000+01:00

I am pleased to report another sale via my Etsy Shop this morning. Another Etsy member contacted me last week after reading a comment I'd made in a Treasury, which led to her looking in my shop and picking this notebook to buy.

The nice thing about Etsy is that a lot of the members there also regularly buy items from each other, so the word of mouth reputation really does help to increase your presence and validate your shop. This particular book is called "Daydream" and it has been purchased as a gift from a mother to her daughter.

Carousel

2010-10-15T16:40:00.000+01:00

I can hardly believe it, but show-time is almost here again. I will be singing in the chorus with Hull Musical Society at the end of this month in a production of "Carousel" by Rodgers & Hammerstein. It's a musical that I would have hated when I was growing up. Come to think of it, I pretty much disliked most musicals as a teenager (apart from Grease, Sound of Music and Oliver, that is). I don't think I "got" them until I actually started to sing the songs myself - there's something really ridiculous (in my mind) about people doing their normal business, walking down the street or having a picnic, say, then suddenly bursting into song. Cheesy. Corny. I like music of all descriptions, and love singing, so you would think I'd have always been into musicals. I think the American films of musicals are the only experience I'd had - they put me off and I thought they were not at all cool when I was younger. I preferred acting to singing, too. I think the first musical I went to see live was "Les Miserables". I found it very emotional and just loved everything about it - the music, the story, the characters and the set. I remember my husband and I being two of the last people in the theatre at the end of the show, we were both still trying to recover from the tears we'd shed!

The only singing I had ever done prior to joining Hull Musical Society last year was in the school choir aged about 12. My involvement in amateur drama was purely drama and I never even thought about doing a musical show. However, I have come to enjoy singing as much as acting and am so glad I joined, even if it does mean I get less free time in the evenings and on a weekend leading up to the production.We have had our share of bad luck with this show - that's often part of the tale you tell once it's all over, but also had some great laughs along the way. A lot of the dialogue in Carousel is difficult to understand, as some of the words are not ones I'd heard of before. The funniest one is when we are in the "Clambake" scene (which is by far the cheesiest scene of all in this show, if you ask me) and one of the men are talking about Nettie having a "catnip" fit. Well, that in itself made us laugh, but what made it even funnier was when one of men said "Catnap" instead. Well, of course we then continued the theme with as many ridiculous cat related words as we could - as if a catnip fit wasn't ridiculous enough! We had a cat-flap, cat-crap, cat-clap cat-litter, etc. The problem with laughing at rehearsals, for me, is that once I start I find it incredibly difficult to stop. I start shaking and tears run down my face - it's that old situation of knowing that you really shouldn't be laughing, but you just can't help it. I think we have had so many things go wrong, we are all just waiting for the next disaster.

To give you an idea of what has happened - the man who would have been the main director was involved in an unfortunate accident in July when he tripped up outside his house and dislocated his kneecaps. He's had surgery and has been in leg braces since then, but is still not fully recovered. We therefore had to bring in a new director. One of our key committee members then announced he had to go to China for three weeks in October, so would not be available for the show. We had two more of our male members also opt out for various reasons, so were getting really low on men. We had the services of a professional choreographer to help us with the dance routines - but he had to leave after about 3 weeks in order to work elsewhere. One of our members, Corinne, was planning on taking charge in this area, but she damaged her knee and had to opt out of the rehearsals for a short time (it was her Dad who'd dislocated his patella, too!). We struggled to find anyone to play the part of Jigger for several weeks (although now we've found him, he's proving to be very capable) and then our Starkeeper was taken ill with an ear problem (which will take months to recover from) so Ian, our Chairman, has taken on that role. A week or so ago, another member dropped out for health reasons, so the character of Mrs Mullin has only just been replaced by someone from another society. Finally, the man playing Mr Bascombe has broken his knee by falling off his bicycle. We have managed to replace him with one of the members who'd originally planned on not being involved!

Frustrating, tiring and full of incidents - I don't think I've forgotten anything, but I do know that the old saying "The Show Must Go On" usually applies because we can't afford for it not to! Cancellation fees are enormous and besides which, it will be "All Right On The Night".

Fortunately, we have some stunning singers in the lead roles. I love listening to Andy Collinson, for instance - he is playing Billy opposite his real-life partner Roz Shallcross. This show is the first time I've heard Roz singing to her potential and she has got such a crystal clear voice, it's breath-taking - she's a first-rate actress, too and really brings out the emotion in the character of Julie. Jane Bradley is playing Carrie with great humour and I have thoroughly enjoyed watching her performing opposite Roz in the scenes they have together.

I have missed a rehearsal this week because I've been suffering with a bad head cold/sore throat/flu type illness. It started last Friday evening and I probably shouldn't have gone to the rehearsal on Sunday afternoon but I felt ok-ish at that point. I got worse instead of better, however, so really couldn't make it to the evening rehearsal on Tuesday, which was annoying but couldn't be helped. I think I am starting to feel better today at last, my voice is still a bit croaky but with drinks of honey, hot water and cider vinegar I will be singing about catnip again before too long!

Favourite song from this show has to be "You'll Never Walk Alone". I also like "If I Loved You" sung by Julie, it has such a strong emotional feel to it. I do find that actually being part of a musical show often changes my mind about music and songs I previously either disliked or had not interest in whatsoever. Familiarity with the music probably helps, and some songs are just really good to sing out loud!

Anyway, here's a copy of the poster for our production, which is to be performed on Friday 29th October at 7.30pm and Saturday 30th October at 2pm and 7pm. Tickets are available from Bob Harrison on 01482 327007 and are priced at £10 for adults, £8 for seniors and £5 for children. You can also buy tickets on the door if you prefer.

Charity Concert in Selby

2010-10-09T11:30:00.000+01:00

I have recently been sent details of this charity concert which some of you may be able to go and see - Demelza Stafford will be singing at Selby Abbey on Saturday 16th October 2010 at 7.30pm. Demelza has a beautiful soprano voice and has sung as a guest artiste for the Hull Ladies' Musical Union on several occasions, proving extremely popular each time. She will be joined by Yoko Huso on piano. Hull Male Voice Choir will also be perfoming at this event, which is being held to raise money for The Prostate Cancer Charity. Tickets are £10 and available by calling Elizabeth Stafford on 01757 702846 or by going online to www.demelzastafford.com

Please forward or share this with anyone you think may be interested. Many thanks!

Video Editing

2010-10-04T12:13:00.000+01:00

Despite the fact that I don't particularly like cold, wet, windy and grey days here in East Yorkshire, I am actually quite pleased that the weather has been so for the past week. It has meant that I can continue (along with Keith, my husband) editing the video and still photography that we took on our cruise holiday earlier this year. We usually edit a combination of still and video photography for every holiday or special event soon afterwards. This time, however, we were busy preparing for a play as soon as we got back, so the editing process took a back seat.

I just wanted to share this really short clip of the footage we managed to get inside the Papyrus making factory - just a small shot, but it shows the style of artwork created . The final painting is the one we bought to have in our home, which is now framed (by Keith) and on our living room wall.

Rob Kirbyson's Blog

2010-09-24T12:47:00.000+01:00

I'm pleased to report that another of my Rogue Gene Collective colleagues, Rob Kirbyson, has started to write a blog. Rob's talent for writing is equal to that of his artwork and I'm sure if you take a look at his posts, you will find yourself literally "LOL" ing on numerous occasions!

My favourite to date is his latest post about fish, and seafood in general. As ever, Rob has managed to accompany his post with some of his own works of art - I particularly like "Hostile Organism" - it is so well rendered and has a beauty about it, yet at the same time it gives me the shivers. That's what Rob's work often does to me, however, and is one of the reasons I am such a fan.

20/21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe

2010-09-21T14:22:00.000+01:00

I have just discovered this short film about the 20-21 Visual Arts Centre in Scunthorpe, which I blogged about recently, so thought I'd share it with you as it gives a better view of the size of the place, and shows some of the works on display previously.

Cats and artists

2010-09-15T16:24:00.000+01:00

I've noticed over time that many artists with whom I correspond regularly also happen to own cats - or rather, are owned by cats, as I'm sure they will agree! I wonder what it is about us that draws us to them so much? I realise that not all artists I know are cat lovers, in fact some actually have a dislike for them.

For me, it is the fact that they are such quiet creatures, they all have a beauty about them and I love the way they walk, look at you (quite often with disdain), talk to you (oh yes, they definitely have different noise according to what they actually want) and comfort you when you are ill or feeling down. I can't contemplate life without a cat to share it. I have two at the moment and I am very emotionally attached to both of them. One of them, Oscar, had to go the vets earlier this week and I'm afraid I just couldn't bring myself to take him this time. He's had infected bites from the local bully cat before, and the last time I took him he needed a couple of stitches as the skin was so badly damaged. At one point during the examination by the vet, I had to leave the room and sit on the steps outside for a while, or risk passing out! I felt silly and embarrassed, but I just got too upset to stay and watch. So this time, Keith said he would take him for me. When I got back home after collecting our grand-daughter from school, Oscar was asleep on his tower in the living room.

He'd been prescribed a week's course of antibiotics and some antiseptic wash to bathe the wound twice daily. Plus, the dreaded cat collar was sitting on the kitchen side ready to attach if necessary! What amazes me most of all about cats is their apparent lack of pain - Oscar was a model patient at the vets, letting him shave his fur off all around the wound without flinching, and he's not at all bothered when we bathe the wound with hibiscrub. Thankfully, the antibiotics are kicking in now and the wound is starting to heal up - but I still cringe when I look at it!

We haven't put the collar on him yet, that was mainly to avoid him constantly licking the affected area - which, contrary to popular belief, is NOT a good thing for cats to do! I'm glad we haven't had to make him wear it, as it apparently can make cats depressed. How the vets know this, I'm not sure, but I wouldn't want a depressed cat in the house!

I sometimes think I maybe should have just had female cats, but Oscar is such a delightful companion, and the only time he seems to get into scrapes is when other cats try to invade his territory - he's never gone far from our house so I don't think he's the perpetrator, more the defender in these attacks.

He doesn't even look like a fighter, does he?

On the other hand, this photograph of the cat we call "Pug-face" (aka Oliver) demonstrates a true bruiser of a cat, whose owners are even upset at how it shows no affection at all!! I'm sure it was either Pug-face or a new addition to the neighbourhood - both are built to fight and really look as though they mean business!

20-21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe

2010-09-11T17:41:00.000+01:00

Last week I ventured south of the river Humber and visited the 20-21 Visual Arts Centre in Scunthorpe. Having entered an exhibition which was nearing the end of its run, I thought it was about time I took myself along to see where my creation was actually being displayed. I have been a fan of 20-21 on Facebook for a while now, but not known what the place was like really. Well, I can now safely say that it is a lovely venue. Easy to get to, very friendly staff and a well-stocked cafe as well as a gift shop (where I couldn't resist buying myself a lovely little brooch) - and on top of all that, the exhibition spaces are varied enough that several different exhibitions can run simultaneously with ease.

After a look at the Throwaway World exhibition, which I had entered (artists were asked to use a single paper cup as a starting point for a new artwork) with this creation of an African drum:

I was surprised and somewhat disappointed to see that there were only 19 entries in total for this exhibition - although the variety was wide, I'd expected many more creations! Here's the full display on the Facebook page dedicated to the 20-21 Centre: Throwaway World. The whole display was in a glass fronted display case set within one of the walls of the exhibition space.

On the opposite side to this was an exhibition of photographs by Alison Walker Smith - an arresting artist who creates some stunning images which are created using digital photography with different focal depths. They have to be seen to be appreciated, but if you click here you will find at least one example of her work. Having seen her work, my husband has been inspired to start a new project with his digital camera. I was particularly impressed with the exhibition by David Hancock - his portraits of young people playing computer games were very striking. I've seen David's work online before, here, but not seen anything in the flesh until I visited the 20-21 Visual Arts Centre, so I was very pleasantly surprised to find some of his work there! You can see his work until November 6th, so still plenty of time to pop along.

In the largest exhibition space, which is the former St Johns Church building, was an exhibition entitled "Art With A Pulse II: Tattoo Exhibitionism". I am not a fan of tattoos, although I can see the artistic merits of them, when done well. however, this exhibition was really interesting and I could have spent longer - but we'd only got an hour on the car park so time was short! I was particularly impressed with the work of Paula Hardy Kangelos whose intricately detailed bead collages were fantastic. I also liked Jo Harrison's paintings here. I think the environment really helped to show off all these works of art and I have made a promise to myself that I shall be visiting again before too long. In the meantime, I plan to spread the word about the centre, as I believe it is a refreshingly friendly gallery with excellent facilities, plenty of activities throughout the year (and more during the holidays for children) and an obviously wide range of exhibitions and shows. The cafe sells freshly prepared baguettes, toasted sandwiches, paninis and jacket potatoes to name a few. I had a coffee and a piece of home-made date square, which took me back to my childhood when my Nanna used to make them regularly - although I'm sure my Nanna (who baked lots of delicious buns and scones, etc) didn't fill the squares she made with quite as many dates as I discovered each time I bit into my purchase at 20-21.

The centre operate the "Own Art" scheme, which is supported by Arts Council England, whereby interest free loans are available to anyone wishing to purchase artworks priced between £100 and £2000.

The centre is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm. Entrance is free. Oh, and the gift shop is excellent. I bought myself a beautiful little hand-crafted brooch from Sky Moon Designs:

You can see more of her work on Facebook here.

If all this is not enough to tempt you to pay a visit to the 20-21 Visual Arts Centre, then I have obviously failed in my attempt! I just like to spread the word whenever I experience some thing or place that has had an impact on me. So there you go.I've started spreading the word.

The Holderness Art Show

2010-09-05T15:18:00.000+01:00

I have decided to enter this, even though I've only recently received the entry form and the deadline is today - it's for an exhibition next weekend, two days only. As it's very nearby (a village or two away from mine) and doesn't cost much to enter (£1 per piece) I thought I'd better get my finger out and fill in the form. Obviously, there's no time now to post the entry form, but I am just going to pop out in the car and deliver it now. These are the two pieces I will be entering:

Violin - Dedicated to Daniel. Pastel on card, mounted & framed.

Cool Sticks - acrylic on board, mounted and framed.

Right, I'd better get the entry form and dash off before it's too late!!

First Curated Treasury

2010-08-31T12:28:00.000+01:00

Well, I've finally managed to create my first ever Treasury on Etsy. I'm pleased to say that it was easy to do and I'm not going to stop now! I think they must have changed the way in which Treasuries are created. ( A Treasury is basically a collection of items on Etsy selected by the person curating the treasury)

These are a small selection of the items I included in my Treasury, but you can see the full list here

This first item is a beautiful felt headband made by my friend and fellow Rogue Gene Collective artist, Andrea Farmer.

I absolutely love this chunky necklace in a gorgeous shade of blue, it's been on my favourites list ever since I first saw it:

I also love these cerise coloured knitted hand warmers, by an online friend and lovely creative soul, Karin SF. I am a big fan of her creations on Etsy, so I'm sure I will be featuring more of her creations in the future.

Latest Sale

2010-08-28T17:24:00.000+01:00

I have just returned from a week or so away to find out that I have made a sale through the Affordable British Art website. Nice news after many days of miserable weather, I might add! The painting is a watercolour I created a few years ago - I only recently added it to the site, along with a few others in a similar style, this is the 3rd one to have sold. I may have to paint some more in different colours now. I will be uploading some holiday pics once I've sorted through them all - at the moment I'm still sorting through all the dirty laundry etc!!!

Cerise Abscape is pictured here: