As Time Goes By...

well, been quite a while since I've posted here, and not for any reason but I just kind of ran out of things to say...

it has been the strangest of years; worrisome at times, downright pleasant at others, I haven't minded a quieter way of living nearly as much as I thought I would have. Puttering in my studio, in the yard, in the kitchen - those are always, have always, been my favourite kind of days... I like a quiet life.

creatively it has had it's ups and downs, some wonderful "discoveries" coupled with a fair amount of frustration... waffling, dithering, and being "blocked" have all been present; thankfully I've come a long way in figuring out how to deal with all of them. It always boils down to me being far too attached to the outcome, something I am learning to let go of.

in the meanwhile, I've been using this time at home to try some new techniques, hone some skills and do something different... sketching and painting have moved up the creative ladder and captured my attention of late. When I first started reading up on and learning about sketching I found it difficult to find subjects to use for practice. It wasn't long before I realized it isn't so much that I want to be a sketcher, rather, I want to be able to sketch what interests me when I'm travelling... one of the exercises in a book I was using suggested choosing a sketch by a "Master" and try copying it. I loved doing that and became somewhat obsessed with it so I decided I would learn to sketch by copying sketches and it's been great fun, very interesting and I am already growing in confidence. Win, win, win!

this first one is a copy of one by John Muir Laws, taken from his book "The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journalling". I actually did quite a few copies of sketches taken from the various lessons in the book as well as several watercolour paintings during the time I had his book. (One thing the pandemic did was spur me to get a library card and I have been beating a steady path to and from the library ever since.) This lesson was on drawing a forest view, doing lots of detail on one tree trunk and then lessening that as up draw back into the forest.

this next drawing is a sketch adapted from a watercolour painting by Ann Blockley, a UK artist, this one taken from her book "Watercolour Workshop". Thankfully our library has several of her books! 

as for hand-stitching, I've been making cards lately... they're reasonably quick, lots of variety, nice to give etc. etc.

my latest versions have patched backgrounds of naturally dyed, organic Indian linen from Maiwa

using Edith Holden's book "Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady", I sketched versions of selected paintings and began interpreting them in stitch. 

neither are completed, I flit back and forth between them as the mood strikes

this first one is also sporting some snippets of fabric I dyed myself, long ago, whilst we still lived in the Yukon

a little snapshot of some of the things that have been capturing my attention over the course of the past year and a bit...

what's kept you busy?