Odds and Ends

Well, at long last we seem to be getting some spring weather, though the trees seem very reluctant to burst into leaf. To celebrate this here are two pictures of Joe and Emma's lambs. I love lambs and have had a daily dose of lambs by following herdyshepherd ‏ @herdyshepherd1 on Twitter, he has a herd of Herdwicks, just beautiful.

Art Week is looming and I have managed to make a few new things. These pouches with some lovely fabric that I got from Home Grown Pillows on Etsy. It was a scrap bag and it contained lots of lovely fabrics.

At the beginning of the year I thought I was probably setting myself up to fail by having too many weekly goals. I run out of energy very quickly and have done so once more. So there are no new photographs and I am behind with my weekly designs. A month since my last blog post. I am going to take another break. In a few weeks time I will be having a major operation and will be out of action for some time. Hope to return later on in the year. Wishing you all well and a great spring summer.

Another of my iPad drawings, I did for a friend who has moved to France. A great way to switch off whilst car has to be repaired unexpectedly.

Did Not Expect This

Woke to a covering of snow on Sunday morning and gradually the flakes became bigger and bigger.

I liked the tangled pattern created here.

The eucalyptus tree bowed down by the weight of the snow.

I think I have mentioned that I am trying to create a pattern a week using a postcard calendar of designs as inspiration. For last week it was a  collection of keys in blues. I was not feeling that creative so just went for a key shape and came up with this. Another of my warts and all.

The snow pictures are my Oxfordshire weekly pictures and this weeks are two of places in Oxford that I took at the beginning of the year. This is the green man, you can read more about it here.

This is one side of a porch support on a building close to where the photograph of the green man was taken. It is just off the High, near the Radcliffe Camera.

It Has Been a Strange Week

Last week we celebrated Livy's 18th birthday. It was a lovely party. I took my Father and on the way home a deer ran into my car. Felt very sad but knew of the right person to sort it out. I made this needle case as a part of her present.

Then heard in the week that she did extremely well in her A level exams. Feel very proud of my niece.

This afternoon I needed to lift my spirits because of the greyness. I went for a walk in the rain on the meadow. Listening to the few songs on my phone. I had stopped to look at the work going on across the meadow on the railway edge. Dancing away to Lola when I realised I was being watched by the workmen. Made me laugh and cheered me up. I only have a few songs as I said, they are all ones that I have never owned in any other format but felt they were good to walk to.

Lola, by the Kinks

Horse with No Name by America

Eloise by The Damned

Dancing in the Moonlight by Toploader

Dancing in the Street by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas

Mambo Number Five by LouBega

Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody by Lois Prima

Leader of the Pack by The Shangri-Las

Do you have certain songs that make you want to dance?

Then because I had been on the meadow this weeks photograph is of it when it was much warmer last summer.

Happy week, lets hope that the snow stays away.

Two in One

Going to start with a bit of bright green, moss, taken near the Radcliffe Camera, Oxford on new years day. I thought it was spring like. Week eight for my project.

I decided a few weeks ago that these notebooks needed a new life. 

Having dismantled them I made some tags with heart shaped free machine velvet pieces, which I machined on added some decorative tape.

Because the backs had paint and ink from their former life and stitching on them, a plain white luggage label sorted that out along with more tape.

A few cards along similar lines.

Week nine of my project is a view of the bridge at Hertford College.

We have had the glimmer of sunshine but not a lot. Was very cold at the Woodstock Farmers Market yesterday and  was very sad to discover that The Tube Gallery and cafe had closed, used to love going there for a coffee.

Happy, creative week.

Catch up Two

Here are a few photographs of the outside of the University Church. The entrance porch which is on the High

The tower taken from the Radcliffe Square.

Then the tower and part of the main building taken from across the road.

I have been doodling away on the iPad again, trying to do something rather than hearts.This first one has been created with several layers the others are just one layer.

I  love the work by Raoul Dufy and I was thinking about the open window paintings he did when I did this one. Feast your eyes on some of his amazing work here.

I added a new water brush tool to the Procreate app. Having read about it on Robin-Marie blog. This is the first time I used it.

I am not so pleased with this one, but feel in life things have to be shared warts and all.

My first tree doodle using ArtRage which I find better for blending paint.

Hope you are well and for those of us here in the uk, I wish that soon we will get some blue skies. This grey is not good. I keep on looking for signs of leaf buds on trees, need some green too.

Catch Up One

I know yet again I have fallen behind with my ideas of blogging on a regular basis. I have been totally absorbed in working on my Godparents family tree. I started it three weeks ago when I had to take horrid antibiotics and did not have energy to do much. It has been interesting to see how one family that stayed in a part of Dorset for sometime has been easy to work out. While the other one married into the same family three generations apart and the same/similar names make for a lot of detective work. I have spent hours on my own trees and love the research work. I am back to a William Spencer born 1640 on my Grandmothers side of the family. I even held the register with his baptism recorded in it. That felt very special

Photograph for this week is of a carving in the University church.

I did a very simple iPad drawing of this carving.

Then altered the colours in iPhoto.

Will try harder next time.

Snow Again

To start with another one of my hearts created using ArtRage.

Bridget came to stay at the weekend and we went off to Blenheim on Sunday despite the greyness and rain it was still beautiful. Bridget remembered that we all went there as children to see a firework display, I just do not remember that. I am often surprised by how my siblings and I have different memories. I woke up to a good covering of snow yesterday morning. Thought it was a good reason for the photographs to be off near Blenheim taken late last year when we had a very sharp frost. The first one shows the gate that is on the road going to Stonesfield and Charlbury. The others are just along the road to Charlbury.

Finally a frosted heart shaped leaf, photograph taken in a garden.