A treasure trove of gems and books and sketching

Last week was a time for family. My daughter and Grandaughter came to stay and we had lots of lovely times together, creating clay sculptures, walking down the lane, finding treasures in the garden.

Having a tiny person in the house is such a reminder to slow down, I love that she notices all the little things, a tiny daisy still growing in the winter grass, the funny shapes of clouds, the sound of the wind whispering through the branches of the trees.,  All the little things that we often forget to take the time to notice in our days.

With visitors to entertain it was a perfect excuse to take a trip to the 'GemRock Museum' in Creetown. A fabulous collection of jewels and gems, such vibrant hues and colours. There is a crystal cave to explore and a trail of gem bunnies that a certain wee person was excited to find. I even came across a tiny carved mermaid tucked away. And to finish off we had a delicious home cooked lunch in the cafe and then a drive through the stunning Galloway forest, a perfect day out.

A few days earlier I found myself over in Wigtown, Scotland's designated book town, a must for any book lovers out there! The reason for my visit was a trip to 'Curly Tale Books', a wonderful treasure trove of a children's bookshop that has agreed to be the latest stockist for my cards! They will be in good company for the shop is stuffed with loveliness of all kinds and is run by author Jayne Baldwin and illustrator Shalla Gray - creators of the lovely 'Beltie' story books. For those of you not in the know 'Galloway Belties' are stripey black and white cows found here in Dumfries and Galloway.

 With visitors here and trips to and fro to hospital to visit my poorly Dad, who hopefully is on the mend now, my sketching took a wee bit of a back seat.  I have managed a few though and am loving the variety of topics: eye, small bird, cafe life and the colour blue, I am determined to keep my sketches to within half an hour, but sometimes it's very tempting to keep going! I would like to get it down to 20 mins per sketch soon!

For folk interested in joining in the sketch a day but who are not on Facebook,  I do have a Pinterest board for where you can find the daily topic as well here.

Do let me know if you join in and maybe we can find a way to share our sketches!

Sketching again and showers . . . .

We have had some "plowtery" days this last week. Isn't that a lovely word, it's Scottish for showery, I think it sums up this wet weather very well. There are so many wonderfully expressive words in Scots language, I especially like these for wet weather. "Smirr" meaning very light rain or a "dreep" for a steady fall of light rain. I love being inside cosy by the fire whilst listening to the rain pattering outside, but in between the showers I did dodge out to capture these photos.

The snow drops caught my eye too, nodding in the rain, tiny splashes of white against the vibrant green grass down the lane. They always feel like a sign to me that Spring is on it's way.

A couple of weeks ago I happened to hear that folk singer, songwriter Seth Lakeman was coming to play at the annual Big Burns Supper Festival, and of course had to go, and what a treat! His music has inspired me on many occasions whilst working away in my studio. One of my favourites has to be 'The white hare' , you can have a listen here.

Some of you might remember that back at the beginning of 2015 I was desperate to establish a good sketching routine (having failed miserably the year before) and so set up a Facebook group called 'Sketch-a-day', where a daily sketch topic was set and members of the group were invited to post their sketches on the page.

By the end of that 1st year not only did we have 60 members from all around the world contributing, but the group had become a gathering of lovely like minded, friendly folk, supporting and encouragement each other along the way. It also resulted in my actually doing a sketch just about every day, almost 365 sketches!

Last year life got so busy that sadly my daily sketching fell by the wayside, though I still enjoyed seeing the sketches that other members of the group put up. There were so many positives that came from that daily sketching habit, my sketching improved hugely, my confidence grew and I tackled topics I would never normally have attempted, so I have decided: new year, new start and I am very happy to report that as the group enters it's third year, I am going back to doing a daily sketch again. 

New beginnings, a move and silver linings . . .

All the best laid plans . . .
Here we are at the very end of April already, Spring has sprung and things are a-changing. New life, new beginnings, new things a-growing.
I had such good intentions this year to make lots more art, to write more, blog more and share my happenings, but you only have to be distracted for a  moment and along come all manner of things to send you off on other paths.

 Sometimes a path can be a little misty and you're not very sure where it will lead, it's an adventure, a little scary, yet intriguing and exciting too.

 As you follow the path, you come across unexpected surprises, some good, some not so, but you keep on going, you don't look back. You wonder what waits around the next corner.

If you look in just the right places along the way, you will discover unlooked for treasures, the silver linings, the pots of gold.  The stars will twinkle and the sun will shine and as the mist begins to clear, you will see a whole new world laid out before you and know that life has taken you off on a completely new adventure. 

I wonder if you guessed? Mr O and I found ourselves on a misty path these past few months, setting off on an adventure, not at all sure where we were heading as we packed up our worldly goods. It turned out we were going over the hills towards the little artist's town of Kirkcudbright, to a new wee hoose. All rather unexpected and very quick, I think in a matter of six weeks we discovered we were to move, we found a new home,  moved out and in again! 

As you can imagine, all is a bit of a blur for now but we will 'coorie doun' and gradually begin to feel settled again as we grow into this, the sweetest wee cottage with it's glorious gardens just a-waiting for us to make our mark on them and nurse them back to life.

It will soon feel like home, things will find their place and I know we will be happy here, I can feel it in my bones.

 We have been surrounded by lovely folk helping out, moving us, feeding us, working to fix up the cottage and the garden, folk sending beautiful flowers, cards and other loveliness and want to send out  a huge thank you to all, we couldn't have done it without you.

Whilst we have been such busy bee's, amidst the un-packing, the planting and the exploring I have squeezed in some sketching here and there for the sketch-a-day challenge, but I am longing to get properly back into making some art.

(The last photo is the magical view from our new wee garden, down across the fields to the sea.)

Settling in and a sketching group

The sun is streaming through the window, and I can hear the birds singing in the garden as I sit looking out from my new wee studio.  I always feel that the setting down of new roots and making fresh memories, the things that make a new place feel like home, take a wee while to happen and need quiet times and pondering times and so I have allowed the moments to tick by here as I have allowed those things to happen.

We have been exploring, wandering through still woods as the sun begins to set and  glimmer through the trees. We have climbing sheep strewn hills to catch  glimpses of sparkling sea, and we are feeling very blessed to live in such a beautiful part of the world here in Dumfries & Galloway.

The May blossom has been so late this year, it almost seemed as though it was waiting for us to settle and find time to appreciate it's tiny blooms. But at last the hedgerows are bursting into life all ready for the coming of July.

We can't wait to see what the coming month brings in the garden after all our digging and weeding and planting and a-building of walls. Next stop the vegetable patch!

June saw me run the last of my workshops for a while, so ending a wonderful first half of the year filled with meetings of  lovely folks all getting creative. It has been such a pleasure having the opportunity to share my creativity with so many and watching them spread their wings and start to discover the joys of creative play. Thank you each and everyone for coming along and helping make the workshops such special events. ( How beautiful is the bouquet of flowers I was given by the lovely ladies from Gretna!)

New workshops and happenings will be announced in September.

The 'sketch-a-day' facebook group I set up is going from strength to strength, and what began as a personal challenge to encourage me to stick to the task of sketching for the 365 days has now grown into a group with over 60 members from all around the world. It has proved so popular that numbers have had to be limited as we were overwhelmed with requests of people wanting to join and I really want it to stay small and friendly and manageable.

The group is now run by three sketchers, the lovely Valerie (who has a real eye for detail), one of my nephew's Stu (who always finds a fab and quirky way of representing a topic) and me!  Every day a new topic is posted to be interpreted freely by the groups members and then shared on the page. We have covered really varied topics and each one comes with it's own unique challenge, it makes you tackle subjects you might normally avoid! (sketch topics: Above~ hot air balloon, red and fox. Below: favourite film character, Japanese, self portrait))

I am a little astounded but very happy to announce so far we are up to sketch 173 already!   There is something very inspiring about doing this challenge with a group and there is much  encouragement and sharing of information that goes on too. I have learnt so much already and developed my style in leaps and bounds and look forward to the next 173 days!

My sketches will be on show at the 'Kirkcudbright Art & Craft Trail' from 31st July to 3rd August at my corner of the event at venue 16, the beautiful historic Broughton House.

If you feel up to the challenge of sketching daily topics such as a strawberry, a Hamsa or  some canal art and improving your sketching in the process do get in touch as we do have places to spare!

Sketching daily, a new years intention

Where do the days disappear too? I'm sure I only blinked and its January already! So a belated Happy New Year to all in blog land and beyond.  May you find moments of loveliness in the coming 365 days!

This year I felt drawn to set myself  words to live by to help me keep on track and 'Clarity' & 'Focus' were the words that fell into my lap. Perfect, for I needed a clear vision for what I wanted from my year and  I needed to be able to focus on my goals for my business and home life too. It is so easy in this busy, busy world to get distracted and  lose your sense of direction.

  A good long stroll on the blustery, sparkling beach cleared away the cobwebs and I began to form a picture of what I wanted more than anything from this new year.   More creativity, more art making! When I looked back at last year and saw just how little art I had made it made me very sad. After all I am an artist and an artist should be making lots of art. So I promised myself I would make some plans this year to change that. 

I began my new HeArt journal and set down the ways I want my creativity to manifest itself this year. With painting, photography, crafting, writing and sketching. (I have to mention that the mandala in this piece was inspired after a wonderful workshop I did with the lovely Julie Gibbons in December.) I have made lots of plans and have many things in the pipe line and cant wait to get started again.

Firstly I have set up a private 'Sketch a day' Facebook group, where every day I post a new topic to be interpreted freely.  It's a place where we arty folk can share our sketches done for the days topic and encourage each other in the process.  I am loving the challenge and discovering there is something very encouraging about doing this challenge with others. Last year I tried it by myself and lasted a week!

 These are a few of my sketches so far ~ Topics such as : Breakfast

 Something Blue ( I do love blue & white china)

 An eye (mine)

 A mug

 Already I have re-discovered how much I love pen and wash, how looking hard at something to sketch it just pulls you in and you begin to see more and more, and also how fascinatingand inspiring it is to see the interpretations and works of others.  So if you would like to join us do hop on over here, you will be made very welcome.

Another resolution to myself this year is to be a better blogger, so I shall be back later in the week to tell you all about the new workshops I have coming up!