Moving this blog ...

I am moving this blog to a new home on the Wordpress platform, as this is where my garden journal is hosted and I have decided to keep everything under one roof - so to speak.
My first post is up to-day after more than 6 months away from the studio.

Although it has been a wonderful time - I did have a slight "something is missing" feeling - and of course it was art. I am struggling to get back to a place where I am working creatively - so my entries on my new blog may be a bit sporadic to start with. Please bare with me!

Part of the reason that I have not been in the studio is that I have found work as a gardener - it pays slightly better than art! Plus I have been working in my own garden - which I am passionate about.

Now the nights are drawing in - and the weather is changing - fingers crossed the studio is where I will settle for the winter.

EDIT

Update March 2020 after a long break I now have a new website Karen Hall Art

Pink Artist Project

In January of this year I discovered Monicas Blog - Girl Gone Thread Wild.

She put out a call to textile artists - to make a 2 inch pink square for a project she was doing to raise awareness and money for breast cancer research.

The response she received from textile artists across the world was amazing. The pink squares 490 of them, flooded in. Monica used them to create a doll called "Love Squared".

This doll is now being raffled for charity and if you would like to donate/enter the draw please check out this link for all the details.

Monica has boundless energy and her enthusiasm and joy are amazing.

On her blog are the details of the the pink artists - and the journey to make the doll a reality -

Please take a look.

And remember:-

GET CHECKED.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday - Totem for the Sun

Fragments

Thursday is the Spring or Vernal Equinox - this is a time associated with "The Greenman" and above is a picture that I did some years ago.

The original drawing was based on my middle son, when he was a teenager, and this son has also been on my mind these past few weeks, as his wedding takes place over the Easter weekend.

I think that part of my reluctance to be in the studio this past month is to do with my feelings around my sons wedding.

Or let me re-phrase that my feelings around becoming a "Mother in Law"!

Two of my sons are getting married this year. For the past month - I have not set foot in the studio - but I have been tending my garden like there is no tomorrow.

I love my two new daughter-in-laws-to-be. I am overjoyed that my sons are getting married and I am just so proud of all my children and their partners.

Yet somehow these imminent weddings have affected me more than I knew.
I thought I had embraced my age and in some ways I have - apart from the occasional moan about the fact that various parts of my body seem to be hurtling towards the ground - Gravity has a strange effect on the over 50's!

However at another level - I know these weddings are also a milestone in my life, and for the past month I have been in the grey time, the liminal phase of neither here nor there. Somehow, not the same mother I was - and - not yet the Mother in Law I will become.

Tending the garden has been my metaphorical rite of passage - cultivating the soil, pulling the weeds and moving stones. A way of separating from the Mother I was, actively nurturing my children (Although in truth - I have not had to do this for a few years) and moving towards the Mother I will become.

Now - I send them joyfully into this new and exciting phase of their lives, while I take my new place as the "Mother in Law"

This is work in progress that I started to-day. It is going to be composed of fragments. Fragments that I have saved over the years - from pieces that didn't work out, experiments, bits that I liked - but never got around to working into a picture.

Perhaps another metaphor for where I am just now.

Digital Art Journal Entry

Please click on the picture for a larger view.
Art Journal entry
Sketchbook pages from 1991

As I am not in my studio very much just now - you may find me in
An Artist's Garden

Absence and Award!

I have not been in my studio for two weeks. The reality is that I probably wont have much studio time in March.

However, despite not being here Threadspider has passed on this to me.

Which I really appreciate.

The idea of the Excellent Blog Award, is to award it to 10 more people whose blog you find Excellent Award Worthy.

I would like to pass this on to:-

Seth at the Altered Page
He writes a very interesting blog, I particularly enjoyed his "pulse" series of interviews.

Jude at Spirit Cloth - her blog and her stitching are a mediation

Michelle Ward - whose work I think is amazing and she is so generous, with links, techniques and her writing.

Monica Magness at Girl gone thread wild. My experience of Monica's blog is one of such joy and vibrancy. In particular the Artists Squares she has organized.

Kate Smudges - who has just celebrated her first anniversary with her blog Kate Smudges in Earth, Paint and Life, and I feel that Kate's blog is like sitting down with a friend for a cup of tea

Also - Sandy at Garden Path. I have only recently started following Sandy's blog, and I am enjoying her images and her Haiku.

Apologies for the brevity of this post - normal creative posting will resume when my muse returns from being out to play!

Wolf Moon

Wolf Moon is now finished - in this picture it probably does not look a lot different than in the last post - but there is more stitching on it. I don't know why but all the close ups I took of the piece today showed a real haze on the layer of organza (with light reflection I suppose) - but it is not there at all when you look at the real piece. It is quite hard to photograph - which will be a problem if I want to have giclee prints made from it. (OK not a problem - a challenge!)

The full moon in February is known among other things as "Snow Moon", or "Ice Moon"
It is hard to think about a "Snow Moon" given the wonderful sunshine that we have had over the past few days, so I think the inspiration for this moon will come from the snowdrops in the garden.

Tomorrow I am going to spend some time in the studio working on this theme!

What has happened to the spell checker on blogger?
When you are dyslexic it is a real problem if it doesn't work!!

No Apologies

Well - actually I do have one apology to make - and that is I am so sorry that I have not replied to all of you who took the time and trouble to leave a comment on my last post.

So thank you;-
Shirley, Dobby, Sharon, Threadspider, Paula, Judy and Linda I valued your input.
I have not looked at the piece since I posted it - and as I said in my last post I have done a bit more stitching.

BUT THE SUN CAME OUT

So I have been working in the garden and at the weekend we walked.

"A little piece of Heaven"

I feel so much better now that I have had some sun on my face. When we walked at the weekend , the weather was so wonderful that we were in T-shirts. What bliss.
(humm - the spell checker on bloggger does not seem to work - apologies for spelling errors)

Comments Welcome

This is where I am up to with "Wolf Moon" the "mount" around the edge is only paper. So that I can get an idea of the composition of the finished work. The piece has not been pressed - so it does look a bit creased!

I am now in a position where do I .............

1) leave it as is with minimal hand stitching

or

2) Do hand stitching all over

Detail 1

detail 2
(Actually the wolf has a little bit more stitching on it since the photo)

Your comments are welcome

Candlemass

Good walk to-day.

This is a vain attempt to loose weight before one of my sons wedding ...
7 weeks to-day - eek

Pink

"It is better to light a candle,
than to curse the darkness"

I read this earlier in the day and it seems very apt for me right now.

Following on from my last post - I am still sad for my youngest son, who is now travelling lighter than ever - as the burglars also took his suitcase!

But in "blog land" today I came across this on Monica's blog. (girl gone thread wild)

Monica is going to make a doll and a quilt from 2 inch squares sent to her by fellow bloggers. The square can be in your chosen medium, with a cloth base, so Monica can sew the square to the doll - please see her blog for inspiration.

The doll will be sent to Art Doll Quarterly, and then auctioned. The proceeds will go to help fight breast cancer.

The square must be with Monica by the 1st March 2008 - so there is plenty of time if you want to contribute. Do check out Monica's blog for all the information. HERE

I started my squares to-day.

2 inch squares - work in progress.

Please click on the images for a larger view.

The Sun Came Out To-day .....

The sun came out to-day so I went for a good walk with a friend. Sunshine Exercise and Good Company - just what I needed.

There was a lot of water in the river, after the rains we have had.

I was so glad to see the sun.