This year continues to race along at breakneck speed. Already I can see the evenings are getting shorter, and it's darkening by 9.30 when it used to be light until 10.00. It's supposedly full summer, yet the hedgerows are full of ripened blackberries. Way too early, and the apples on my allotment trees look as if they're almost ready too. The seasons are out of whack, aren't they? Climate change is scary, and we've not even begun to experience the worst of it yet. Maybe I'm burying my head in the sand by retreating into crafting? But what can any of us do on an individual level, besides buying less, recycling more, trying to vote for politicians who'll respect the environment.
I'll continue making things, meanwhile trying to do my bit to lessen my personal carbon footprint. These little patches are just calico with lettering inked on them and watercolour paint around the edges. I've slow-stitched this one to make a fabric tag, adding a silver coloured charm of a pair of scissors. Plus tiny gold sequins.
I've also had a couple of bags of earring fittings delivered, so have started making myself simple dangly earrings.
They're the kind of earrings I wear a lot, though they're also the kind I lose a lot. Especially in winter when they get tangled up in the pashmina style scarves I love to wrap around my neck.
I'm working on my mammoth sized junk journal, adding all kinds of quirky or colourful things that catch my eye.
I'm trying to improve my drawing skills, and came across a good tip. Namely that you can find an image you like, such as a portrait, and try copying it. Inevitably you don't copy it precisely, and my interpretation of this painting, 'Dolly' by Kees Van Dongen is - well - let's say it's not about to end up in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. But I had fun, and at least it's recognisably a person! Until I saw 'Dolly' I hadn't come across Van Dongen, and it turns out I love his work. He was a part of the Fauve movement, and Professor Google informs me 'Fauve artists use pure, brilliant colour aggressively applied straight from the paint tubes to create a sense of an explosion on the canvas.' There are other paintings he's done of women that I want to try at creating. I can only get better with practise ... can't I?!!!
I'll round up this blog post with some book talk. I finished 'Tapestry of Treason' which got better the more I read of it, and I genuinely didn't know what fate would befall the not-entirely-likeable heroine, Constance. Judging by her behaviour and her family's involvement in treasonable conspiracies she was lucking to avoid losing her head to the executioner's axe. I'm now engrossed in another Leonora Nattrass book, 'The Bells of Westminster. Apart from anything else, she has a wonderful way with names. So far we've got Benjamin Fidoe, Robert Delingpole, Henry Quintrel, Lindley Bell and the unpleasant Mr Suckling. Our heroine Susan has early on declared that she would never agree to marry the latter, in a large part due to not wanting to go through life as Susan Suckling. Totally understandable, don't you think?
I've bought two new books - I mean secondhand, from the charity shop, but new to me - as well as this flower press. I was only thinking the other day of pressing flowers from my garden, and how I'd have to dry them between the pages of heavy books. Now, I can avoid doing that and use this nifty little press instead.
Okay, that's all for today. Hope you're well, and thanks to any of you who popped over to my fledgling YouTube channel. I'm continuing to make videos, and gradually figure out what I'm doing. As I said before, it's a steep learning curve.
Have a good weekend. x
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