About two weeks ago I went to The Knitting and Stitching show at Alexandra Palace. I was blessed to be given complimentary tickets by my friend Kathy who had a stand at the show (have you seen her work?!?! This lady is super talented!). I had meant to write about it but following the show, I’ve felt really tired and not completely with it. I’ve been having fun doing stuff that doesn’t involve me sitting in front of my computer for too long – I think the concentration was too much through the thick head of a cold. I managed to squeeze out a few posts along the way and write one that’s going up tomorrow but that was about it. I have plans to try and get myself in gear and ordered again. I work out that I have 8 weeks to Christmas and that means the next things on my list include lots of Christmas presents. The biggest one of them is the blanket I’m making for Our Sidekick. I made another for a friend of mine and he asked could he have one too. When I was about 14 we re-decorated my bedroom and my Mum made me a quilt with dolphins on it, to go with the theme of my bedroom. When Chris and I celebrated our first married Christmas, my Mum had made as a quilt in whites and creams. I can’t quilt like my Mum but I can crochet until my hands fall off, I love the idea of being able to make something for Our Sidekick that can remind him of the times he’s had with us even if he moves on from ours.
While at the show I got really inspired. I mean like REALLY inspired add that to the stencilling workshop we had at Scone Roses and I was ready to give something a try! For as long as I can remember I’ve loved painting and colouring but I’m not that good at drawing and so have always stuck to stuff I know I can do. I used to really enjoy making art journals but the journals that I make were always different to those that I was sent as part of swaps through Swap-Bot or saw on the internet.
I was about ready to give up and just go back to stuff that I can do but then spotted this quote written in my journal.
Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad whether they love or hate it. While they are deciding make even more art.
Andy Warhol
So that was that, I got out my markers, I bought some new felt pens and some watercolours and got going, If it’s not perfect so what, if the colours clash by mistake, get over it! I have two ribbons which I tie round the book to keep it shut when it’s put away but other than that I’m filling the pages. There are two packets from tea bags, there is my shirt number from Race for Life. Some pages work and some don’t, some are taking a bit more work and others are coming together really easily. My white on the watercolours is currently a pale blue as I cross mixed the colours by mistake. I also have to thank a couple of my penpals, there’s Adrienne in Germany who talks about painting with watercolours and telling me off when I say I can’t do it, to Bobberdilly in Kansas, who is just a great inspiration, each letter I receive has a watercolour or felt pen designed drawing on the front of it. The envelopes are just as important to hold on to. I think I need a scrapbook just for the envelopes that are designed. I wanted to experiment, and started with a gradient sign that I’d seen on my way back from the Opticians after going on a little explore (“I wonder what’s down this road…..”). Even I’m now painting in my pen pal letters, this was just a little one….
I even found a French newspaper that I’d bought when Chris and I went to France a few years ago, I chopped it up and stuck it all over the page to create something interesting. However I got a bit heavy handed with the watercolours over the top and now it’s not looking so good but it’s a learning curve.
