Breathing new life into an old boat

Steve had a couple of days holiday to take this week, so after we had dropped the boys at school, we headed for the beach to do some serious "wrecking". Don't get me wrong, I love going to the coast as a family, but there is only so far you can walk with a reluctant 4 year old!
At first, it appeared as though our trip was unfruitful....not much driftwood about. Then we started to find loads of pieces which were obviously all from the same boat. And then we stumbled across this....


Such a shame, really, when you see the workmanship that has gone into such a vessel.
But my mind was already planning what I could make with some of these finds...

See here, this large section of the boat? Well that diagonal stripe spoke "slipway" to me!

And from the ashes, something new was born!

You can see the lovely crackle-glazed effect still. I wanted to keep the piece almost as I had found it, so I only trimmed off the rough edges. I am chuffed with the result: I will be looking for other bits like this from now on!

We also found this long piece of quadrant painted in brilliant blue, which made a vibrant roof for this terrace of cottages!
And much more besides, but I had to put the driftwood side on hold as another collage commission was calling me!

Anyone recognise it? Clue: its on the North Cornwall coast

with a tidal pool?

Its is Bude. Only a small piece, it measures 30cm x 24cm.
Well, I feel as though I have been quite prolific this week!
Have a fab weekend folks!

Tenby collage

Well done to Melanie Wickham for guessing Tenby!

I love the colours of the buildings here, they remind me of Neopolitan ice-cream!

We have had a few lovely days of sunshine here in Cornwall this week, and with the days drawing out and daffodils blooming, it really feels as though spring is well and truly on its way!
This makes me very happy!

We headed down to the beach looking for "treasure" yesterday....

....and we were not disappointed! (Poor Steve, you cant really see from the picture, but he has 2 industrial sized buckets filled with little bits of driftwood over his shoulders, as well as the longer planks he is carrying - what a star!)

We found this big chunk of hardwood (maybe oak?) which is really heavy and quite an irregular shape. Steve wanted to keep it as a bookend....but then I had other ideas!

New work: Tobermory

So this week I left my beloved Cornwall behind - though only in a virtual sense, you understand - and headed up to Scotland to carry out this commissioned piece of Tobermory. Some of you may be familiar with the place, especially if I tell you that this colourful town is where the childrens TV series "Balamory" is filmed!




I would love to visit for real one day!

Next week, I am off to Wales! I have another order for a pretty town on the coast. Can you guess where that might be, I wonder?

Have a most excellent weekend folks xx

New collage: St Michael's Mount

I finished a second piece for the upcoming exhibition at Delamore Arts!
I fancied a change from boats and harbours, but wanted to keep it local, so chose a famous Cornish landmark: St Michaels Mount. Its the second time I have used it as subject matter, the first was several years ago when I was commissioned to do a collage for a wedding present - you can see it in the right hand sidebar!

I am really pleased with this one, and feel that I have improved with practice!

I found some really pretty patterns in catalogues which I incorporated into the sand - and even included a little bit of lace!

I am also trying to use more relevant text when I can. In the above picture are the words "air" and "white beaches"!

In other news: I am so thrilled to have been accepted to take part in the Contemporary Craft Fair in June!!
This is such a big deal for me, I never thought I would be successful in my application! Their website has been updated this week to show which other makers are participating - some fantastic artists some of whom I think you will know! It has made me more than a little bit nervous, I can tell you!! I am keen to get in the shed and start making driftwood pieces, but, Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Too cold!

Take care peeps!

Latest work: Mevagissey

It's been quite a productive week: fairly quiet on the orders front, so I've been able to crack on and finish the first of two pieces of work which will be on show at Delamore Arts in May.

I think I prefer the little snippets of the background as they are so simplified - almost like using a large brush - whereas the foreground is more complicated!

I love the colourful buildings and their reflections in the water!

Certainly makes me wish for spring, if not summer!

And here is the finished piece - it measures about 50cm x 30cm...

So... one down, one to go - and I have two commissions to crack on with after that!
It's enough to make your eyes go squiffy!

Have a great weekend!

Mini Tutorial!

Hmmm, I am writing this post, but as yet unsure whether I will publish it or not!
A few people have asked me how to "do collage". This is like asking someone how they paint! I don't know how I do it - I just do it! But, I thought I would have a little try at a blog post, to explain - mostly through pictures. I am no teacher....but I will do my best!

So I decided I would do something simple: a lemon. Except that a lemon did not turn out to be simple at all - not least because yellow seems to be the least common colour in my whole stash of magazines!! Nevertheless.....here goes!

So, this lemon! If you look at it, you may see as well as yellow, there are shades of orange, lime green and ochre there.

I started by drawing the outline and began to fill in - start with your basic light and shade. I often end up with layer upon layer of paper or fabric, so you neednt worry if its wrong at this stage (this is why I am hopeless at watercolour - when you have to get it right first-time!)

I like to use pieces of paper with a bit of text on. I try and use the line of the text to follow the form of the object.

Personally I prefer to rip my paper, but you can create lovely collages using little squares cut with scissors.

White tissue paper is a staple for me: I often use it in landscape to make the background seem further away, or take the vibrancy down a notch.

Almost finished. I feel that I overworked this, normally I would use half as many pieces, but hey-ho! I never claimed to be perfect!!

And there you have it! Not my best piece of work, but hopefully you get the idea!
Maybe I have inspired you to have a try? If so, I would love to see (yours will probably be better than mine!) Leave a link on here if you make a collage of your own!

Happy creating folks!!

Latest collage work

It's been a while since I've done any collages, and it has been great to work in this way again: using scraps of old magazines to build up scenes like this one of Polperro.

It's the second one I have done of this popular harbour village - you can see my first effort here.

This one was commissioned by a friend of mine who is moving away and wants a reminder of beautiful Cornwall.

My favourite bit is the reflections....

I have a couple more commissions in the pipeline (which I will share will you in due course, naturally!) and I also have to produce a couple more, because I am going to exhibit in a real-life exhibition!! This is a big deal for me, because I haven't exhibited in a real-life exhibition since my degree show......um, 18 years ago!

So, I'm going to be busy.....but of course, that's the way I like it!

Thanks for reading! Have a great week!

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

The title just about sums up how things have been over the last couple of weeks - and that's how I like it (I'm easily bored!) I'll share some images of the things I've been working on, shall I?

2 'secret' collages. This one was commissioned by a friend - for his wife's birthday (it's their beautiful house in Cambridgeshire).

The second one was a gift for my mother-in-law's birthday. It's a small collage of Kastro on Skiathos where we all went on holiday last year.

I was delighted to be asked by Lucy of Attic 24 to make a driftwood sculpture for her (click on the image and you'll notice the number on the door.) Her blog is an absolute joy - if you are not familiar with it, firstly where have you been? and secondly get over there right away!! (unless you wish to finish reading this post first!)

I've also been making some brooches! It started off with this owl which I made for Herbie's pre-school teacher...

Then some foxes...

And a peacock on request!

We all went to a little girl's birthday party yesterday so I made her a matching card and brooch set!

I love making these stitched cards: last week I had fun creating this one...

and I was looking at it and had an idea - which led to this!

Quite pleased with this cheerful design - I'd like to see how it looks as a print, but I think it will work really well as a printed greeting card. What do you think?

Phew! Well I think that's quite enough for one post! The weather has been glorious here for the first week of the school holidays - long may it last! Guess where we're off to today?

Yup - to 61A of course!! Have a fab weekend folks!