A vardo adventure & childhood dreams . . .

Autumn crept up on silent feet whilst i was distracted elsewhere, I turned around and found a landscape beginning to glow with fiery colours.  Autumn, with its rich hues & smoky scents,  the  season I was born into and to which I feel most deeply connected. It is a  time for  looking back over the disappearing Summer and savouring the memories.

And I have so much to savour from those summer months,  such an adventure I had.

Since childhood I had held onto a dream to stay under canvas in an old gypsy vardo.

This Summer my dream came true and I found myself whisked away down South to spend nights curled up in a deep feathery bed  being  lulled to sleep by  the song of owls hooting in the forest and the gentle rock of a wee house on wheels or reading quietly whilst rain pattering on the old felt roof of a gypsy caravan that had once travelled the roads.



 Evenings we spent sat upon the steps of the sweetest Summer house watching a tiny kitten playing amongst the flowers, the heron coming in to land or the deer grazing at the edge of the forest.   Quiet times, healing times, memories to cherish.





 Our days were spent re-visiting places filled for me with childhood memories, the  Cornish lanes & byways of Tavistock, Calstock & Bude. Places I travelled to as a child on long Summery holidays staying with my Grandparents. Days spent with my siblings ploshing in the streams, building dams, hunting for jewelled caddis fly cases or evenings spent exploring the fields for plants & flowers, Grandad teaching us their names & the old country uses. Nights spent listening to old folk songs & stories that fired my childish imagination.  Visiting these places was such a lovely, very emotional trip down memory lane.



All to soon it was time to head home, filled with the new experiences & remembering old ones. On our way back we collected my daughter & granddaughter & they came to stay.  Three whole weeks for gathering the clan, my three children all home together & at times all four generations of us  catching up and getting to know our precious  new little addition to the family.  Making new memories. 

I sit here now on  this Autumn tinged evening and see this Summer was filled with childhood hopes & dreams & memories.  Where do the years go to I wonder? It seems moments ago I sat and listened to my Grandmother singing, only moments since I sang to my own children and now here I am a Grandmother singing those very same lullabies again.

So another season begins, life moves on and I cherish all the golden edged moments for they have left me with a  heart filled with love & a head filled with the memories.

 

Kirkcudbright Art & Craft trail & stories . . .

What a whirlwind of a few days Kirkcudbrights 10th art & craft trail was.

A wonderful weekend filled with perfect weather, the sun shining all the way. 
(me & some of my work at the Tolbooth)

 We loved our space upstairs in the Tolbooth, with its beautiful old stone walls,

plenty of light & the doves that serenaded us daily outside the window.
(Mom ~ Jean Redden & her paintings)

Mom & I spent Thursday setting up, I had 1corner of the room & she the other,

Mom paints wonderful landscapes of the surrounding countryside, flora & fauna.

The doors opened on Friday morning for 4 days of visitors and my did we have plenty of interested folk & interesting conversations.   I am ever fascinated by the stories my work evokes in the people who connect with it.  One lady stopped at my dandelion clock painting and shared a lovely story it reminded her of.  When she was small her Grandad told her  dandelions were called "bus clocks" he would tell her to blow the dandelion to see what time the faerie bus was coming along. How lovely!

(I did manage to persuade my Galloway Faeries to attend!)

 I had some fascinating conversations with children (such imagination) about making art & stories & creating.  One lovely sharing was the wee 4yr old who told me "I'm an artist you know".  When i asked her what she painted she replied "I paint things like this (with huge sweeps of her little arms) and then people have to decide what it looks like" ~ what a sweetie. 

( some of my woodland sculptures & a selkie)

 As we packed away at the end of the 4th day I decided I was happily exhausted in the nicest possible way, felt I could sleep for a week and was grinning from ear to ear from the loveliness of it all.

A huge thank you to each & every one of you who took the time to pop by the exhibition over the 4 days ~ you all helped make it a most amazing event. So many fascinating connections, conversations & new exciting possibilities have come from it.

 Now I have much catching up to do & blog reading & visiting so I'm off for a well earned rest.  Have a lovely rest of the week folks.

An exhibition at the Tolbooth & Faerie creations . . .

For the past while there has been a bit of a whirlwind a-happening in my wee studio.

These last few months have seen me scribbling & sketching, making & painting. 

 I have been carried along on a flow of creativity, desperate each day to get back to  my desk and

not enough hours in the day for all i want to do for the exhibition that is fast approaching!

 

Many moons ago  i learnt to pattern cut & sew and designed & made clothes for a living! Above, some of my designs from way back. My threads, fabrics & ribbons have long been gathering dust so I decided it was time to bring out my collected treasures & start again.  It has been such a long while since i did any sewing so you can imagine how excited I was when ideas began appearing in my sketchbook of faerie creatures & tiny costumes, bedecked with feathers & bells & shining things!

 I have had such fun making tiny heads & feet & hands, learning to make little dolly wigs. Stitching ribbon & beads, feathers & shells onto faerie costumes. Watching these wee creatures taking shape.

Now at last I am very happy to announce my latest creations ~ my "Galloway Faeries".

 Still in the final stages of finishing & adding & tweaking.

If they can be persuaded (for they are rather shy creatures) they will make an appearance at the upcoming Kirkcudbright Art & Crafts Trail 2013, now in its 10th year.

I am really rather excited about this event as my dear Mom & I are to be exhibiting here at the beautiful old 17thC Tolbooth art Centre, in Kirkcudbright, Dumfries & Galloway during the art trail. We are venue 27, upstairs on the top floor, in what was formerly the debtors prison!

Kirkcudbrigth Art & Craft trail website here

Dowloadable brochure here 

I made it into the brochure this year ~ thats my hand shown below painting "The Travellers".

As well as my faeries,  my paintings, sculptures, driftwood creations will be on show, and prints & cards. So do drop in to venue 27 upstairs at Tolbooth to say hello if your about.

formerly the debtor’s prison is now used as a gallery - See more at: http://www.museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk/member/tolbooth-art-centre#sthash.LKHV5Ved.dpuf

a wee hoose on wheels project . .

I've ever loved the idea of a life trundling along on the open road,

 pulling up in the gloaming in a quiet spot to sit and eat supper whilst listening to hooting owls.

So with such excitement may I present our new wee project . . .

 

A wee hoose on wheels (top pics).

Our little caravan was a steal at £75, big thank u's to Mr B for that find! 

It was neglected and sad, but im going to turn it into a sumptuous bohemian get away 

(bottom pics = inspiration)

My aim to do it on the smallest budget possible, so its a make & mend & find project.

Perfect cause I do love a challenge, such exciting stuff!

Playing hide & seek with my muse . . .

My creative muse is a fae wee creature, she wont be hurried, she takes her time & tarries along.

 She is flighty & when my days are filled with otherness she often goes into hiding

To coax her out I have found the very best thing is to be still & quiet & spend time in mother nature.

The perfect solution presents itself on the rare balmy, beautiful days we have had here in SW Scotland.

Then I pile my sketchbooks & pencils into my basket, make myself a coffee & step outside to work,

to the accompaniment of the bees, the birds & the babbling brook. It often starts the flow again.

When a spark of an idea ignites I carry it with me like a precious jewel savouring the hows & the whys & the what if's.  

Yet there is part of me that  holds back from setting it free, for my paintings are the  essence of me,

they come from somewhere deep inside and each time I wonder can I make it, will it work, what if?

 

 A sly shove from my muse & I let that idea go then real work begins, as I try to capture it with my brush & pen.

 It has to be just right & so often causes me heartache when a painting goes awry.

I start a piece & often find I have to set it aside until the time is right to add finishings.

"The Travellers" above & below was one such piece & has taken me more days than I care to count.

Brought out & then tucked away again as I hummed & hawed this past year or so.

I wanted it to carry the essence of companionship, two travellers walking in the gloaming, a peaceful moment.
Now finally it is finished & I can breathe a sigh of relief & happiness.
"The Travellers" is now available as prints here at Mythweaver, my Etsy on-line store. 

The painting is dedicated to my dear Grandma Day who told us endless stories & sang to us as children.

It was she who sang to me the beautiful song "The Wraggle Taggle Gypsies"
 and it was this song that first roused my interest & led me on a path to discover

more about the fascinating folklore & song & the history of travelling folk of old.

 

The Wraggle Taggle gypsies performed by Eliza Carthy, Martin Carthy, Norman Waterson & co. Beautiful.

 Some loveliness to share from my garden too x


It is not always an easy thing to be creative and many stages must be passed through before a thing of beauty that fulfills the dream is born. There are ups & downs, highs & lows, but through it all is an unending yearing to give birth to the product of your imagination, in whichever form it takes

Thank you certain folks for prompted me to ponder my own creative process a little more. x