whole caboodle

outgoing mail art

2012-01-28T15:45:00.002Z

outgoing mail art

2012-01-27T17:38:00.002Z

outgoing mail art

2012-01-26T15:14:00.002Z

outgoing mail art

2012-01-25T18:31:00.001Z

outgoing mail art

2012-01-24T17:31:00.002Z

outgoing mail art

2012-01-23T17:26:00.002Z

outgoing mail art

2012-01-22T16:07:00.002Z

outgoing mail art

2012-01-21T19:21:00.001Z

outgoing mail art

2012-01-20T17:01:00.001Z

outgoing mailart

2012-01-19T18:59:00.002Z

outgoing mail art

2012-01-18T16:46:00.002Z

outgoing mail art

2012-01-17T17:38:00.002Z

your special bird book

2012-01-16T16:02:00.002Z

outgoing mail art

2012-01-15T20:02:00.002Z

outgoing mail art

2012-01-14T16:37:00.003Z

outgoing atcs

2009-03-10T22:01:00.002Z

here are some atcs that i have made ready to be posted out , please email me if you wish to get involved in any of my projects thanks!!

circles from sioux B

2009-03-10T22:00:00.002Z

circle from treena!!

2009-03-10T21:56:00.002Z

circles from jose manuel figueiredo

2009-03-09T16:10:00.002Z

circles from elaine rounds

2009-03-09T16:08:00.002Z

circles from caitlin

2009-03-09T15:54:00.003Z

circles from caitlin- thankyou so very much!! :)

book project

2009-03-04T15:29:00.004Z

decorate the covers, i cover them in paper and sand the edges, the title has inked edges

then stick the covers on to the ends of the concertina book and yipee you have made a book!!

book project

2009-03-04T14:45:00.002Z

make the end covers for the book. cut these out of mount board, 10.7cmx7.7cm

circle from angela behrendt

2009-03-04T14:39:00.002Z

circles from anne l braunschweig

2009-03-04T14:38:00.001Z

circles from pierpaolo limongelli

2009-03-04T14:37:00.002Z

circle from michel della vedova

2009-03-04T14:35:00.001Z

paper monday

2009-03-02T19:03:00.004Z

i just like this paper i bought from crab apple crafts dont know what im going to do with it as yet but ill probably keep it in my collection of paper stock. Because scrapbook papers go out of stock and you find you cant get hold of them again ever, i tend to keep one of them back, and when i need it i scan it in and print out a copy. cheating i know but hey ho!!

book project

2009-03-02T18:48:00.002Z

colour copy the collaged pages and then cut the copied pages out. there should be 16 of them. glue them onto the zig zag book as seen in the picture (in the right order!)i find a good quality glue stick is good to use.

circles from judith skolnick

2009-03-02T18:46:00.002Z

decorated circles thankyou

circle from elke grundmann

2009-03-02T18:44:00.001Z

spotty circle

book project structure

2009-02-28T14:34:00.004Z

make strips of paper from an A1 sheet measureing 59cm x 10.5 cms

mark 7.5 cm intervals and fold into a zig zag concertina style

join two strips together using strips of paper folded and glued on the back

this is how the book pages will open, if you look closely you can see the join

book project

2009-02-28T14:20:00.003Z

each of the segments represents a page. so i have collaged and added text to correspond with my broken down writing structure.
for instance page one is collaged and says today i walked to town, when finished there are 16 different pages ready to be colour copied on two sheets of a4 paper

needful things through the post

2009-02-28T11:44:00.003Z

today i received my package from phoophie.com some fab writing paper and some patterned deco tape. i tried to buy this in the uk but it was cheaper for me to have it sent from the usa. cant wait to use it im so into paper at the moment

book project

2009-02-28T11:28:00.003Z

fold a piece of a4 paper in half

undoo it and fold it in half again

fold in the outer edges to the middle and then the paper should be creased into eight segments as in the picture

glue on paper of your choice i used old book pages from a wildflower guide. keep refolding along folds so you can see the segments. each segment will be one of your pages

book project

2009-02-26T22:03:00.005Z

here is some books i have made and i wanted to show them as this is the kind of book that i am going to be making stage by stage on this blog, it has 16 pages and i need to consider what i want to put on each page. taking my inspiration from my previous post on "blog writing" ( see older posts) i have divided my writing up into 16 bits so i know which piece of the story goes on which page so

on page 1 'today i walked to town"
page2 i'm not the best walker
page 3 my feet get sore
page 4 and my back hurts-
page 5 from all that careful walking
page 6 i do around the muddy bits.
page 7 but i do like to jump in puddles
page 8 and throw the dog a stick
page 9 i walk to town so i dont have to see the cars
page 10 i go through the fields, along the canal
page 11 and across the big river bridge
page 12 its very beautiful and......
page 13 sometimes i collect posies
page 14 i love to skip in my wellies
page 15 until i remember to do-
page 16 that careful walking again!

circle from the shepherd

2009-02-26T22:00:00.002Z

here is my beautiful flower circle that i received through the post complete with bulbs which i have planted in my garden, thankyou so much

needful things

2009-02-25T16:40:00.002Z

ooohhh look i found a baby sewing box in the charity shop complete with a mouse pin cushion, i had to buy it i need it very much..

circles from nicole eippers

2009-02-25T16:32:00.003Z

circle from aunty a

2009-02-25T16:30:00.004Z

circles from chantal casamayor de planta

2009-02-25T16:28:00.002Z

circle from mark greenfield

2009-02-25T16:27:00.002Z

circle from angela behrendt

2009-02-24T22:09:00.002Z

a circle spider woman received from angela behrendt germany thankyou

blog writing

2009-02-23T18:50:00.006Z

i find it really hard to write in my blog. i could write about what i do each day but my family wish to remain private and not blogged about and im a private person anyhow so a diary just isnt the answer for me. so then there is the other stuff, all the information and research that i do in art related things but then i worry about writing that too and its so difficult to explain and this isnt a discussion for an essay. i am much more interested in writing a kind of coded journal in a child like way as this supports my book works that i produce. this isnt easy as its difficult to get into that state of mind but anyone who has read my books will know what i mean. i am in the process of making a new book so i am hoping to show my work in progress and hopefully reveal some of my working methods. i hope this is fun to read and encourages other people to have a go at making books.

i begin by kind of writing about an event

today i walked to town,
im not the best walker
sometimes my feet get sore
and my back hurts from
all that careful walking
that i do around the muddy bits
i look funny when i walk

i walk to town the long way round
so that i never have to see a car
through the fields
along the canal
and over the big river bridge
its beautiful
especially knowing spring is on its way

i bought some raspberry bushes
and a climbing white rose
i sound all green fingered
but i am not
i just listen well to other peoples stories
"place garlic in between your roses"
i hear myself say
as long as youve got your own recycled bag
you'll be alright today

my studio space

2009-02-22T20:07:00.004Z

i like the quick video clips flobberlob has on his blogspot, and i wanted to give it a go with my camera so here is my space x

out going mail

2009-02-22T20:04:00.002Z

here is some out going mail i have made, ive even made a nice circle for someone. i am hopefully going to receive some lovely circles through the post soon!!! fingers crossed

sewing mail art

2009-02-22T20:02:00.002Z

here is the mail art i received on the theme of sewing. i have uploaded it onto the sorting office blog if you want to see it in more detail.

domenico severino & treena

2009-02-20T21:32:00.002Z

i love julie arkell

2009-02-19T17:05:00.002Z

i love julie arkell and i was so excited when my friend showed me her real doll made by the real julie arkell. i wanted one so much that i decided the only way was to make some of my own. not quite the real thing but i love them..... and im making more too

garden drawings

2009-02-19T10:41:00.002Z

here are some more sketches of my garden done in felt tip pen. they were timed from a 10 min quick sketch down to a three min i hate felt tip but its what i had to hand and i just wanted to mark make quickly.

2009-02-18T11:30:00.002Z

ive been clearing the garden and its made me think about basics so i decided to do some quick drawings and try and get back into feeling art.

circles

2009-02-17T20:44:00.004Z

im really into circles at the moment and will be sending out circles for people to decorate and post back to me here is some outgoing post i have assembled

hopefully the decorated circles and collages will inspire an artist book but for now here are some joint collages and some circle inspired painting

massimo medola & treena

2009-02-17T20:43:00.002Z

isao yoshu & treena

2009-02-17T20:42:00.002Z

lupin & treena

2009-02-17T20:41:00.002Z

jose manuel figueiredo & treena

2009-02-17T20:40:00.002Z

mark greenfield & treena

2009-02-17T20:38:00.002Z

ed giecek & treena

2009-02-17T20:37:00.001Z

frips & treena

2009-02-17T20:36:00.001Z

salamito luigino & treena

2009-02-17T20:35:00.001Z

A1 wastepaper & treena

2009-02-17T20:34:00.003Z

the haddock & treena

2009-02-17T20:32:00.001Z

lothar trott & treena

2009-02-15T20:53:00.004Z

pierpaolo limongelli & treena

2009-02-15T20:51:00.003Z

salamito luigino & treena

2009-02-15T20:45:00.006Z

MOM

2008-08-30T09:04:00.003+01:00

I recieved some documentation from the museum of museums wanting me to participate in their collection.They asked me for souvenirs and tickets from a museum and i realised that i wanted to use my own small museum for this project. I havent really thought about this as yet and have only the "pieces" sorted and labelled into boxesand I havent thought about tickets and bags!! The museum takes form of selected textile pieces that i have made which i like to think of as souvenirs. so i am at present sorting out my tunnel top library documenting my textile pieces (which can be seen on my hair-loom site) and of course making books, making mail art and thinking about my textiles, life is busy busy.........

presents by post

2008-08-03T11:02:00.003+01:00

I have recieved a lovely present from Sharon Hughes, she sent me a book which she has illustrated which i will put into my library thankyou ever so much, the images are so beautiful, and i got a fabulous atc and card for my sorting office project . im so happy!!!!!

Pocket full of flowers

2008-08-01T13:38:00.001+01:00

Pocket full of flowers

I go walking on my own and I get ever so cross when I meet someone “hello” I say “yes what a beautiful day” but really they have ruined my dreams of walking through undiscovered lands and making great discoveries……
Well I like to pretend

I love to look at the flowers and I always promise to look them up on a clever book to learn their names, but the books are so complicated with even varied varieties so I give up.
But I know some flowers by their colours

Yellow means dandelions which apparently make you wee, and eventually turn into blowing clocks. These make flying fairies which if caught can make the most fantastic wishes come true.

Yellow is also the colour of buttercups which tell you if you like butter or nit when placed under the chin. This is not true as my friends chin went a lovely shade of yellow and he doesn’t like butter one bit

White means daisies which are mighty fine for making a chain to wear on your wrist or head, although there never seems to be quite enough daisies to make the chain long enough and your finger nails are never quite the right shape to make stem holes.

White is also the colour of cow’s parsley which is lacy and my most favourite flower. It’s just a shame that it is poisonous and especially to cows.

Purple means foxgloves which are also poisonous and if you touch them you must always wash your hands especially before tea. There are lots of purple and pink flowers but I don’t know how to describe them apart from they are small.

Blue means bluebells. Well they don’t need an introduction, everyone knows bluebells. They smell like heaven and hyacinth bulbs which live under the stairs as advised by Blue Peter.

I pick a few flowers and hide the sprigs in my pockets away from the countryside rangers. I take them home and press them to remember the days I tried to learn the name of my pocket full of flowers.

Hitty

2008-08-01T13:35:00.001+01:00

here are my wooden driftwood dolls made when i visited Blackpool, they are inspired by hitty dolls.
Hitty is a wooden folk doll made popular by the children’s book “Hitty her first hundred years” by Rachel Field, written in 1929 and illustrated by Dorothy P Lathtrop. In the book Hitty relates her life’s adventures as a gift to her first owner Phoebe Preble. It is a story of lifestyles, morals, beliefs and events that shaped the lives of the people Hitty encountered during her life. The book was inspired by a wooden doll found in a NY antique shop. The doll is on display at Stockbridge mass library Museum.
Hitty is carved from mountain ash (which is said to be lucky) by a peddler in gratitude for winter hospitality ands then given to the daughter of a New England sea Captain. During her first century as a toy she survives dangers and different owners and narrow escapes. Hitty travels the world from Bombay to New Orleans. (Travel doll think about Stanley dolls) although she wants to get back to her roots in Maine. On her travels she meets famous people of the some such as opera singer Adellina Potti, novelist Charles Dickens and a poet john Greenleaf Whittaker. She endures trials by water, fire and plain neglect, she is lost stolen borrowed and displayed, auctioned abused and hidden. Hitty writes a journal about her adventures. She keeps comfort in the fact that her name remains intact sewn in red cross stitch in the hem of her petticoat.
As Hitty was a travel doll she got bought many souvenirs on her travels such addresses nice clothes, hats trunk a bed, bench wardrobe be and desk. Today people buy replica Hitty dolls and take them travelling using photographs of the doll to document their journey.

www.Lotzdollpages.com

mail

2008-07-15T10:16:00.002+01:00

today i recieved some fab mail from A1 wastepaper, thankyou, see atc project at the sorting office for more images

recycled mail art

2008-07-14T11:27:00.002+01:00

well here is some mail i recieved that i have recycled into joint ATCs for the ATC project

luigino Solamito & treena

jason rodgers & treena

ATC workshop

2008-07-12T11:09:00.002+01:00

I did a small workshop at Mid Cheshire college. It was great fun and i was really impressed by the work the staff made. here are some of the results.

Sorted Library

2008-07-11T17:44:00.004+01:00

at last my library is now sorted and ready for people to visit, i could just do with some book donations. please get in touch if you wish to visit or donate an item. thanks .....

this is a book dontated by Alan Carr thankyou

hair ball walk

2008-07-06T18:29:00.003+01:00

here i am walking again and finding hair balls, where do they come from? i also find them in the corners of my house where the wind blows the dust. I made a book from hair once, and called it hair ball existance. It has been lost somewhere at manchester met uni, i wonder if it is hidden in a corner somewhere. anyhow i have decided to make two new books, one is the rose garden and one is a version of my hair-ball existance. watch this space...

Shoe stop

2008-05-25T15:14:00.005+01:00

Yes i do love shoes. these are a very small number from my collection. When i was small i used to love going to see my nana as she had tiny feet and the most georgous colourful shoes. I used to play with them and loved to look at them in her wardrobe. She had some too which were forbidden shoes , too lovely to wear. I have some of these "too lovely to wear shoes" and keep them at home on my book shelf!! i am thinking of making a little book about my memories of my nanas shoes. What with that and my books on sock monkeys i think im starting to have a tangledfoot fetish.
watch this space!!!!!!!!

my blythe

2008-05-25T15:11:00.002+01:00

At last ive managed to get two blythe dolls. I have wanted one of these dolls for ages and now i have two, (although they are the petite blythe ,) i couldnt afford the eleven inch dolls, but they might be small but they are still so beautifulXXX

Clockwork Birds

2008-05-25T15:03:00.002+01:00

I have clockwork birds in my garden who hide under the bushes and hop along the soil and grass. They cant fly very well in fact one of them flew into the window and broke his neck. As you can see this wasnt nice at all and i had a little cry when he died. I put him in one of my best boxes and buried him in the garden. One clockwork bird less in the sky...........

ATCs

2008-05-25T14:54:00.005+01:00

here are some atcs which i recieved through the post and i had to show them to you as they came in a wonderful box, and i so love boxes. These will be put into the sorting office as soon as i can. They were made by Karen Lawrence a designer at Scrapz www.scrapz.co.uk I buy stamps from their online shop .They stock my favourite "catslife press " and "cherry pie art" stamps, as well as paper artsy and paperbag studios. i love rubber stamps. I have them all on display in my house!

ouch!!!!!!!!

2008-05-13T11:36:00.002+01:00

hello, well im ready to put up the paper doll exhibition, but i cant do it yet as ive fractured my elbow. its so frustrating. i have been recieving some atc, s ready for my next call and they look fantastic.please be patient ill soon put them on the sorting office blog,thanks to everyone wh0 is taking part,please pass on info and try to get as many people involved as possible.thanks

sock holes

2008-05-05T21:40:00.005+01:00

Here is a little teeny book i have made that contains my daughters sock holes, ive asked her friends if any more sock holes could be saved, and i particulary like white ones!!! Caitlin if you read this have a look see if you have any lovely sock holes ............

Tie ball box

2008-05-05T21:30:00.004+01:00

I have made a container for one of my grandads tie balls,

New popcorn

2008-05-05T21:24:00.004+01:00

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This is my new popcorn book, and i have managed to paint some pegs red and white too for that finishing touch,

Glasgow book fair

2008-05-05T21:15:00.003+01:00

Well here i am at glasgow book fair. I have a few new books " paper snow" and "bluebells", also a different variation of popcorn!! it went really well and Winchester vought a few of my books which made me so happy. I used to look at Winchester all the time when i was studying at manchester. They had some great information on their web site. I have books in a few collections now, British Library and Bristol UWE and now Winchester fantastic...
I liked Glasgow it was a city with a big wide sky , and i could hear seagulls LOL

play journal day

2008-03-06T22:15:00.003Z

I recieved my copy of art and life no 9 (above )and some rubber stamps from teesha moore (see link on my blogs i read) I wish i could visit her retreat, anyway inspired i started my journal which is just for me and not for any exhibitions, it was so much fun.

I had to use all my new watersoluable crayons so yes it is a bit bright. maybe its the new me!!!

paint

2008-03-06T21:37:00.004Z

i am taking part in an exhibition called paint at the kitchen Gallery, i will be melting paint at the opening but this is one i prepared earlier!

UWE Bristol books

2008-03-06T21:29:00.002Z

here is my new book 'paper snow' which will be on show at bristol UWE as well some of my older work (seen on my Hair-loom blog)

Cleaning out mail art.

2008-02-10T20:18:00.000Z

I have been sorting out mail art as it does pile up, and i found two lovely letters, One from J horton UK, and one from E.M Rounds USA. I decided i liked these so much that i want to keep them just as they are and archive them in my tunnel top library. thankyou so much for these, i love keep opening them.

J. Horton

E.M Rounds

I also Like to recycle mail art and post it out, here is some that is now hopefully somewhere else !!!

Play Journal ATC Day

2008-02-05T21:38:00.000Z

I decided to have a play today and a rest from making my books. I wanted to make something from nothing, without spending lots of money on craft materials

first i sanded some playing cards

and i sanded an old small xmas card ( i bought them cheap in the jan sale coz they had cute envelopes)

i covered the card in old paper torn from a stamp book

and then i painted it lightly with emulsion

i covered the playing card with an image from a magazine

collaged onto it pricked it with a pretty pin and washed it with a wash of strong black coffee

then i made another

and then i made some more collaged playing cards

going back to the covered small xmas card, i cut it, washed it in coffee and collaged it with some small paper flowers

then i covered the back of the playing card with an old ticket and wrote something about my day and what the image or card represents to me

then i used photo corners to stick the playing card inside the altered xmas card ( i would of used blu tack if i was desperate!)

here they all are

i threaded some string through the edges so that i could tie them shut

i then made an envelope from torn pages from an old childrens book. i washed it with coffee and threaded string and a made tag through the flap

and here they are all wrapped up ready to be opened!!!

january gone

2008-01-30T23:02:00.000Z

well i can not believe january has nearly finished. where does the time go? i have a few shows coming up, more about them later, but for now here is some mail art i have produced. this is some of the correspondance i have sent out to the participants in my sorting office exhibition " post office" thanks to everyone involved.

My next call and project to be exhibited in this space is paper dolls.as well as 2D images i am looking for 3D smallish objects for this space. And of course i have lots of spare barbie dolls too, which i can post out to people. They can be altered and i can provide photocopies with instructions for making clothes for the barbies. if anyone is interested in altering or clothing my barbies please let me know ........

here are some paper dolls i have made from altered mail art. please see the sorting office blog in my links, for the images of paper dolls being sent to me.

new year

2008-01-07T20:44:00.000Z

hello, im a chicken now. my blog will be about my art work this year and my projects in progress. Due to problems including cost i have had to stop doing as much of my mail art. I will still be posting in the uk and to selected mail art friends. thankyou for all your contributions

London Town

2007-11-18T23:16:00.000Z

Hey Im off to London, and will be at LAB at the ICA with the Righton Press,

Tangled Knitting

2007-11-18T22:58:00.002Z

I like train rides,
they give me lots of time to think about THINGS and knit,
A train ride means i dont have to drive,
I,m a very Careful driver,
and this seems to make people CROSS
they drive very close and flash their lights.
A train ride means i dont have to park,
I went on a train to visit my mum- and we did things,
like walk to the DAILY shops for milk and bread,
we talked about the world today,
My mum doesnt like the world today or teenagers,
she thinks teenagers are SCARY and should do,
national service or become plumbers.
I said that was silly.
my mum also worries about digital television,
and how she will record a program if she,
WANTS to watch another channel.
I worry how my dad will manage with all the wires,
with funny gender connections.
Talking about the new world and tangled wires,
makes us both sad.
So I concentrate on the good things in Life
Like Christmas Baazars, Onion marmalade and JAM,
and mum concentrates on Line dancing
which she is very good at nowadays,
Sometimes I listen to line dancing music,
I do it on my IPOD on the train,
then,I can only hear my world
so I watch peoples eyes, very carefully,
to see if there is an alarm, like a FIRE bell,
People think im staring, but im just looking hard,
So I concentrate on knitting and look at that instead,
Knitting is very hard with an IPOD on,
The wires get tangled in my hair,
and wool gets WRAPPED round my wires,
Knitting and listening to my Ipod gets me very tangled indeed!!!

L.A.B and sitting room

2007-11-09T09:46:00.000Z

Ps, my artists books will be at the I.C.A in London, 23rd-25th Nov ,for the London artists book fair, If you cant make it there you can see them on my link to art, Hair-loom.blogspot.com.
Also one of books is touring with the Sitting room exhibition, I am not sure where it is now? holland i think

House Wellies

2007-11-07T18:15:00.000Z

Funny isn't it how blogging makes you feel such guilt if your not posting as often as you would like too. I have in fact been resting my head ,trying not to think too much about art and trying not to spend my time wishing I had more time. I can spend a whole day wishing I had more time. Time is odd, do i really want a world without time where i eat just when im hungry and go to bed when i am tired?, days merging into each other like they did when I was a child on school summer holidays. Time measured by the seasons, or even daylight like it was before the "night time electricity!' But hold on, i wouldnt want to live without electricity, i mean how could i cope without doing the ironing or more importantly ironing at night !!!
In my attempt to forget about time and control my obvious desire to iron I have been filling my time with walking and running. Im not the best runner and Im very impressed that I have managed to do a whole 15 mins without stopping. at first my legs hurt and my friend suggested that I should perhaps rest inbetween runs and not try to do every day. I mentioned the fact that I used to run a mile or two frequently in my youth, every single day before breakfast, she mentioned the half marathons she used to run before breakfast! So now taking her good advice I have rested my legs but have slowed down further into a kind of brisk walk.

Today i went rest walking and wore my green wellies instead of my runners. i actually prefered it but found myself running again across the farmers fields. it was fantastic i had forgotten how much fun it is to run in wellies. Ditch the trainers welly running is by far superior. I felt like a child again all skippy and happy and reminisced about play acting G-Force with simon and david,( but thats another story.) I jumped in piles of crunchy leaves, collected flowers such as cow parsley ,spun sycamore helicopters and waved at all the boats sailing past on the river. in fact i had so much fun in my wellies that I really didnt want to take them off when I got home. so now Im thinking of buying another pair and using them as just as house wellies. I wonder what joy they will bring!!!

My lovely friend

2007-11-01T19:33:00.000Z

Here she is,the famous Kathryn Edwards yea!anyone want to go see her play in manchester???

Tree Killing Witch

2007-10-24T14:22:00.000+01:00

I happen to have unfortunatley met the tree killing witch. For as long as i have lived in my house and before the witch moved here there has been lovely trees at the bottom of my garden. These trees are shared and enjoyed by lots of surrounding neighbours,and no one is quite sure of who they belong to. They provide a screen from the main road and stop some of the noise of the cars. The birds nest in them every year, the squirrels climb in them and the badgers live under them. They are one of the reasons i like to live where i live.,and why I bought my house

Yesterday to my horror I found some men in the trees chopping them with chain saws. They had been ordered by the tree killing witch (who hasnt lived here as long as the rest of us) to chop them down. i explained that the trees didnt belong to the witch and were enjoyed by lots of people and I begged them to only chop them down about half way. They agreed that this was a good idea. But when i nipped into town to put up an exhibition the tree killing witch demanded that they were chopped to the ground and when i returned home there were no trees. This has made me very very sad and i am sorry that the nasty selfish inconsiderate tree killing witch ( who i think hates anything that grows) decided to kill tunnel top trees, and make lots of people and animals sad. Im so sad she came to where i live.

car boot finds

2007-10-24T14:11:00.001+01:00

there are not many car boots now as the weather changes, but I still managed to find a small one. I bought
a tin with a pirate picture, for treasure

some wooden puppet faces

some souvenir dolls

and a dolls that walks by itself ,shouts wee wee wee when you lift its arm, and when you lift up its little winkle ( yes it a boy
dolly) it makes the sound of a little boy having a wee into the toilet!!!!

Manchester Craft Centre

2007-10-20T16:54:00.000+01:00

I went to see my friend in the craft center in Manchester, and to put some of my books in the shop. I love this shop its called lily greenwood and is run by two artists Liz Evens and Kathryn Edwards. Kathryn is my friend who I met at university and I just love her work. She makes beautiful stitched canvases and tiny books that reveal her unique observations about people and life. This I think goes hand in hand with her song writing and her music and voice is quite amazing. I sold some of her books at the Manchester Book Fair and have one of her books in my tunnel top library. We drank lots of tea and talked about baking cakes yummy yum. They were also baking cakes on the radio!! to Hear
kathryn Edwards amazing voice visit her my space www.myspace.com/kathrynedwards
Ive been altering my studio/library and have bought some new cabinets with money i made at the Manchester book fair. Its looking more like a library now!

Of course not all my dolls have moved out tho!!

Leaves Comin off

2007-10-15T16:25:00.000+01:00

Today the leaves were coming off the trees and i went for a wonderful walk in Marbury Park. its nice there in the weekday as it is very quiet. one of my most favourite trees has got so big that it is starting to split and its too dangerous to walk near it. how sad.

My dog still thinks hes a duck, and i still think im a child as i have collected lots of leaves to make rubbings. I might even think about printing with them. I used to do this kind of thing when the girls were little but now they are grown i feel ive got to find an excuse to play with crayons and paint. I have also bought lots of vegetables and made a soup. this is to try and make me feel better. i get so depressed at this time of year, hormones dont help, neither does xmas and of course there is that wonderful "sad" but if i eat well it seems to make me smile more.

october make me feel better soup

heat tsp oil in pan, add chopped onion, 3cloves crushed garlic, two slices of bacon chopped up fine.
saute for a bit
then add, 2tspoon pesto. (i used ginger and parsley pesto) 3 chopped carrots, 1/2 chopped red pepper , 1/2 chopped yellow pepper, 2 chopped stalks celery, 2 chopped sweet potatoes, handful chopped green beans, chopped small butternut squash.
mix it all up put in big pan and add, tin kidney beans which have been drained and washed, and some butter beans also drained and washed. then add tin of chopped tomatoes.
add pint or just over of boiling veg stock, i cheat and use marigold, and 1teaspoon apple juice and season with black pepper.
put lid on simmer for 40 mins, then add a chopped courgette.
simmer for 10-15 mins.
season to taste, i blend the soup a little, tastes better next day as always! if any is left over

im also making some small tags to send out in my mail art to promote my book about the wind. they are gifts really that can be held in the hand.send me mail art if you would like any sent to you. my mail art blog

Mathew Barney sends me Barmy

2007-10-08T19:43:00.000+01:00

I have just come back from a trip to London. I went to the museums, and a fantastic pie and gravy pub, but I also managed to see Mathey Barneys Drawing Restraint 9 at the fantastic Gate picturehouse, and his exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery. I wasn't too disturbed as a few years back I saw his Cremaster Series, so i kind of knew what to expect, gooey things, phalic shapes, round objects, pain and dance, but this time i found that seeing the film and the exhibition closely together helped me to make a kind of sense of it all and almost touching the goo made it all seem so much more real and dare I say beautiful. I didnt try to understand it but just took my own interpretation and applied it to my personal work at present. I guess it simply made me think of the materials which i am using, and how i want to experiment more with wax. Of course it naturally inspired me to have a Mathew "Barmey" day and i dressed up inspired by the man himself and bijork of course. Really wish i had some giant shells. (been put right off prawns at the moment tho!!!)