Projects and deadlines

Hello! 

I thought I'd drop into my blog for a few minutes before getting down to work . . .

First, thank you for all the kind concern about my Ginger Studio Assistant, he has taken all his medicines and is so much better – in fact he is very chipper!

Next, another thank you, Cath Greene has awarded me this:

a Liebster Award for this blog. You can read more over on her blog Cath Greene, as with all memes it comes with rules, questions, nominations. I rarely take part in these, I know some people love them (#artchain on facebook is very popular at the moment) but I find them a bit of a chore - I doubt they are meant to be – maybe because I would want to take time and do the task well and think carefully about who I'd pass it on to and I really do have a lot of more important things to think about already this week . . .

Which brings be on to projects and deadlines

When I started this blog I was working full time on projects for publishers, supplying dozens... no, many 100s of illustrations for educational books. There were deadlines too, some were very scary indeed! For each publisher I drew a different style of digital artwork, sometimes I would have to swap styles 2 or 3 times a day. I began to think, "what if I was known for just being me?" – but what was me? This blog has really been about my search for my own 'style'.

Last year I had a solo exhibition of my prints, I was hugely grateful to Helen at the Church Street Gallery for inviting me to do this and everything was displayed beautifully (I didn't have to do a thing except deliver the work, turn up and enjoy) BUT - I have to admit that I didn't enjoy the experience, it was outside my comfort zone. Maybe that aspect of being an artist isn't for me, maybe solo exhibitions will always be weird/uncomfortable experiences? Will I do it again? Maybe, but I'll wait for the right time. The problem is me - incidentally,  neither do I enjoy coffee, scented candles, strawberries dipped in chocolate or musicals.

I love working on my own designs and prints, I really love producing my own range of cards and marketing them. But a little bit of me missed working with other creative people - writers, editors and art directors. I thought, wouldn't it me nice if occasionally someone asked me to contribute one of my designs to be part of their project . . .

. . . then, BOOOM! this happened . . .

So, if I'm not around on here, or Twitter or Instagram or Facebook (but I don't like FB much anyway) I'm sure you'll understand why. And, I'm sorry not to be able to tell you what the projects are but they'll gradually be revealed over the coming months. And I'll blog about them.

In the meantime, I still plan to make time to enjoy some walks outside and work in the garden - especially when the sky is blue! And I'll put my photos on Flickr.

A Bullfinch on the Cherry Plum tree

in our garden this morning

Well, I'd better tackle one of those projects!

Celia

xx

Winter Evening in Bull's Wood - linocut and cards

Last year's festive season was only just out of the way when I was contacted to talk Christmas Cards for 2014! It was a request from Suffolk Wildlife Trust for a donated image suitable for one of their cards.

I had a think . . . my prints suitable for Christmas cards were already being sold as my own card designs; in 2013 I'd produced some Christmas cards in the most economical way I could without compromising quality and I realised that customers either wanted much cheaper cards OR preferred to buy Charity Cards. So as Suffolk Wildlife Trust is one of my favourite charities, I decided to offer a brand new design and invited them choose a subject.

Suffolk Wildlife Trust suggested I illustrated a winter scene in one of their lesser known reserves – I selected one that was not too far from my studio . . .

Bull's Wood

It was a mild late January afternoon that I arrived at Bull's Wood . . . of rather, a farm yard where I could park 'tidily' before heading off down a track towards woodland a couple of fields away.

Stepping into Bull's Wood is like being transported back in time, it is a small remnant (about 30 acres) of 'the many woods of Cockfield' which where recorded in the Hundred Rolls in 1279, and those woods had probably existed for centuries before then and were in constant use by villagers who harvested poles and timber, grazed animals, foraged and hunted. The ecosystem of the woodland is entwined with lives of the people. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries the woodland was destroyed as fields were enclosed and ploughed up to plant crops. Somehow Bull's Wood survived and today it is managed by volunteers who coppice the Ash and Hazel just as it has been done for a millennium.

I walked around the wood getting to know its specialness. The strange shapes of the ancient Ash stumps, the textures of the branches and the scale of the tall Oaks. I took photographs for reference of particular details, but mainly I let a composition come together in my mind.

I wanted to depict Bull's Wood on a cold winter's evening, so would need to do some research and work from experience and imagination. At home I put down my ideas in my sketch book, including animals I knew would be in the wood on a December evening . . . a Tawny Owl roosting in an Ivy covered tree, a Roe Deer in a clearing near the pond and a flock of Redwings arriving from Scandinavia to feast on the berries.

It was Spring when I carved the detailed lino block and a wood block from which to print the red colour to make the trees glow in the setting sun.

I decided to wait until Autumn before selling the prints, to coincide with Suffolk Wildlife Trust publicising their new cards for Christmas 2014. These are two of the finished original prints ready for the Market Place Gallery in Olney and my exhibition at the Church Street Gallery in Saffron Walden this month.

And here's another I framed last night to replace one in my exhibition that has already sold.

Winter Evening in Bull's Wood

The cards are available from many shops around Suffolk and here on the Suffolk Wildlife Trust web site. They are blank inside, so if you'd prefer a seasonal message you could use a rubber stamp (either buy one or make one - I'll try to blog about how to do this when I'm making one for the cards I'll be sending).

I'm very happy that this year the proceeds from these 100% donated cards will help target conservation efforts to turn around the fortunes of Suffolk’s hedgehogs.

Celia

xx

It starts with a seed

 

Seed potatoes

are chitting in my studio's porch . . . Foremost, Arran Pilot, Charlotte and British Queen.

Saved seeds

of Crimson Flowered Broad Beans have been planted in pots in the greenhouse.

Self-seeded
tiny seedlings around one of my Auricula plants.

Sprouting seeds
the Sweetpea seeds are starting to grow.

The Seed of Inspiration 

this was a surprise gift for being the 100th person to follow ceramic artist Karen Banks on Twitter. By complete coincidence that very same day, I'd seen Karen's beautiful framed collections of ceramic hearts being unpacked when I delivered my work to The Church Street Gallery in Saffron Walden; and when I drove past today, our work was side by side in the window display!

I've planted The Seed of Inspiration
in a pot in my studio.

Celia

xx

Snug

The room next-door to my studio has a multitude of uses . . . study, gallery, meeting room, bedroom, breakfast room, guest room. We call it 'the book room' – er, because it it full of books . . . and maps, many many maps!

But I don't think it ever looked loved, it was usually a dump for stuff in transit between other rooms.

For years I've had a plan, but never actioned it . . . what the room should be is a 'snug'.

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Snug, noun
British English : a small comfortable room (usually in a pub) with seats for only a few people

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Last week Cliff and I drove over to a nearby furniture store to see what was in their sale, and now – ta-daaah!!!!

 The studio snug :-)

The pale gold velvet upholstery wouldn't have been my choice, but it was a bargain and it's a sofa-bed too. It is also the perfect place to use my crazy patchwork quilt . . . I made it over many years and has hardly ever been unfolded since I finished it about 10 years ago.

So, now I have a convenient cosy place to sit when I'm planning ideas, or packing cards, or just putting my feet up for five minutes.

Surprise, surprise! of course the studio assistants think this has been done just for them! The trouble is they aren't very good at sharing (with each other or with me).

Celia
xx

New Year confession . . . my desk is a mess!

I'm back in my studio and raring to go . . . er, but . . .

. . . yes, my desk is a mess!

Does that happen to you when things get busy? Or are you always neat and tidy?


Celia
x

A skill-swap: willow-weaving / linocutting

A few weeks ago I received an email from someone who wanted to buy some of my prints and cards; I noticed that her email was from "SalixArts" and she noticed that my studio was only a few miles from hers! When we met a few days later we came up with an idea – a skill-swap :-D

SKILL-SWAP round one – Weaving a willow plant support

Two weeks ago, on a very very wet day, I went to Debbie Hall's workshop to learn some willow weaving techniques that would enable me to make my own plant supports (I was quite excited!)

Debbie grows her own materials and it was fascinating to learn how the different varieties of willow are suited to making different structures; weather conditions at different seasons also affect the willow's growth – for instance a late frost can kill the top bud and this results in growth being twiggy instead of long and straight

So, to work . . . Debbie showed me each stage, then I copied.

It was huge fun! I even forgot that it was chilly and tipping down with rain. By lunchtime I was two-thirds up my willow obelisk plant support. The design cleverly includes a range of techniques which can be used to make up all sorts of garden structures, supports and small fences.

In the afternoon I finished off the obelisk and learned how to fasten the top tightly with a clever Japanese basketry knot.

I was sent home with two big bundles of soaked willow and advice to make another before I had time to forget what I'd learnt. So the next day I spent a few hours creating this . . . which I'm very very pleased with!

SKILL-SWAP round two – Cutting a lino block and printing it by hand

Yesterday was my turn to teach Debbie how to cut and print a linocut, we had chatted about possible designs and she arrived with a sketchbook full of ideas. She selected a sketch of three floating feathers with the outline of a hedgerow silhouetted behind them – it had negative and positive shapes and textures.

We both spent the morning carving lino, I found it interesting to have to analyse exactly how I held the cutting tool and how I used my other hand to steady the block. There was a lot of discussion about using just the right amount of pressure. Of course we were so busy no photos got taken!

After lunch we moved on to mixing ink, rolling just the right amount of ink onto the block and hand burnishing the paper to make a print.  I found lots of different paper – so Debbie could see how they all take the ink differently.

Here are some of Debbie's finished prints hanging up to dry . . .

And I learned some teaching tips too, because you never know – they may come in useful.

You can look at more of Debbie's work on her web site or on her facebook page.
The list of her workshops for Autumn 2012 are here.

Celia
x

Now is the month of Maying . . .

Fa-la la-la-la . . .

If you're about to go a-skipping round a May-pole this Bank Holiday weekend in England, you'd better wear your wellies! I won't go on about it, but if you live here in the UK you will already know that it's been the wettest April on record, May has so far been a deluge and night frosts are forecast for the holiday weekend! Never mind, eh?

So, I thought I'd do something to cheer you all up . . . in fact it was a case of "necessity being the mother of invention"! I'd received a trade order for a selection of my cards, including the 'Magical Hares' cards but supplied as single, individually packaged cards. But then, my laser printer which I use to print my cards, decided that it didn't like printing black onto the parchment card stock (what!!!!). I was rapidly wasting precious card blanks and getting very stressed! the stupid machine was printing the red 'Birds' wedding' and brown 'March hares beautifully, but the black was rubbish.

Then I had a brain wave, I'd discontinue the black version of the Hare designs (and apologise to my new customer) and introduce new colour versions . . . and here they are . . .

The colour choice was inspired by my collection of vintage embroidered linens and book jackets.

olive

fuchsia

tangerine

teal

You can buy single cards or a pack of each of the four designs . . . and there's another reason to smile . . . yes!!! FREE SHIPPING to UK mainland addresses on ALL purchases from Magic Cochin's Emporium.

I'll keep the price of cards the same until 12th June 2012, then I'll review things. I might increase the prices a little, but shipping to the UK mainland will still be included in the price of each item  . . . no add-ons (except for an overseas shipping sur-charge).


I hope you all have a lovely May Holiday . . . forget about the weather forecast, in my experience the weather reports always err on the gloomy side and it actually turns out to be not bad at all.

Celia
x

PS I'm planning to send out my next studio newsletter after the holiday weekend, so if you haven't subscribed and would like to, please click here.

The birds' wedding day

One of my aims for this year is to produce one of my small single colour linocut each month . . . I decided that the January print should be a 'Valentine's' design – last year's 'Love in the air' print was very popular (there are just 3 left) and so is the card.

I began  by doodling in my sketchbook . . .

 . . . using my fountain pen :-)

 

You see, I'd read about Poshyarns' Christmas present and scurried off to rummage in a drawer for my fountain pen – the one my parents bought for me when I went to secondary school (in the days when we had to write all our essays in ink with a proper pen). I remember choosing the brushed steel Parker 25, it looked very modern and space-age! Now it looks funky retro and I've discovered that people collect them. All those exam essays it got me through are water under the bridge, but now my Parker 25 has a new bottle of Quink blue-black and has a new lease of life!



The doodle which stood out as the one on which to base the new linocut was this one . . .

At this stage I switch to working digitally over a scan of the original sketch, in Photoshop I can work on different layers and add and take away elements quickly and easily. I decided that the two birds should be Mistle Thrushes because in our garden they are the first birds to choose a mate and build their nests – usually in the ancient Yew trees right outside my studio.

 

The design around the heart shape is made up of primroses, leaves and twigs in a texture which reminds me of Victorian paper lace Valentine's cards. When I was happy with the black line design, I printed it out to the size I needed on my laserprinter and transferred the design to the lino by painting paint-stripper on the reverse of the paper.

Then, my favourite bit, the carving. The design gets altered slightly a the cuts have a style of their own and give the finished block a unique look which is different from the drawn lines.

 

Ready to take a proof . . .

As you can see I work upside down at this stage. This is so that I can position the straight cut edge of the paper with the marks on the base board on which the the lino block is stuck; the natural deckle edge of the handmade paper is then at the bottom – which looks much nicer. (I think I got that tip from Annie.)

I like using Japanese printmaking paper, this one is very thin and useful for proofs as it's so easy to see how the image is printing as I burnish the reverse of the paper using various implements – my favourites this time were a tiny ceramic cylindrical pot and an antique nickle silver serving spoon.

This is the satisfying bit . . . ta-dah!

All looks good to go!

For the finished linocuts I used a slightly heavier and more textured Japanese paper which is made from Paper Mulberry fibre – I love it's crispness, like the pages of a very special old book.

I worked late to finish all the printing in one session, so this photo of the prints hanging up to dry was taken with the studio lights on.

 

The original limited edition unframed prints can be ordered by emailing studio@celiahart.co.uk
This is a edition of 30 prints on Japanese Kikuchi Haini Kozo Koban. The image size is 15 x 15cm. Each print is named, signed and numbered in pencil by me. An unframed print costs £48 (which includes p&p to addresses in the UK mainland).

Cards of the design are now available in Magic Cochin's Emporium.

For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne's day
when every foul cometh ther to choose his mate 

From 'Parliament of Foules' by Geoffrey Chaucer 1343 – 1400

Celia

x

2012 . . . off the blocks!

Here we are in a brand new year, 2012, and for many it means the culmination of years of planning – the Diamond Jubilee, the London Olympics; and then there's the new calenders and diaries ready to be filled with appointments, visits and holidays. There's no time for denial, 2012 has begun.

But first, an introduction . . . meet Pearl . . . here she is posing prettily and waiting patiently for me to tidy the hen house and put more hem-core in the nest box so she has a clean and comfy place to lay her egg.


In the studio, my week is starting with a major tidy-up and tying up of loose ends and making plans. I don't make resolutions but I have sent myself some challenges (maybe that's the same thing, but it seems less of a commitment).

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– The small square linocuts, 'Love in the air', 'Night flight', etc have been very popular; so I'm planning to do more this year . . . maybe one a month.

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– My main project this year is to work on a series of multi-block woodcuts . . . I may even start a new blog about these . . . does that sound a good idea? or should they stay here mingled with everything else?

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– I'll continue the 'Mantel Pieces' project.

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– Something I must try to do better is keeping in contact with galleries that sell my work and regularly supplying new work – I need to set up a day or two each month to do this.

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– I've an urge to return to sewing – so I'm in the process of finding and sorting out my stash of fabrics; I'll sort out the wool stash too. Then I can start to make things.

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– It's high time this blog had a spring clean, so things might move around and look different soon.

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– There are other things I'd love to do . . . maybe if I list them here something might happen:

      •  fabric designs

      •  an e-book of walks

      •  illustrated magazine articles - recipes/henkeeping/gardening/walks/wildflowers

      •  work towards an exhibition – maybe of the woodcuts.

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Well, I'd better get on with it!


See you soon
Celia
x

Saxon Labyrinth – a linocut

My new linocut, Saxon Labyrinth, is hanging up to dry in my studio, it will soon be framed and ready to deliver to the Church Street Gallery in Saffron Walden to be included in the A-Mazing Art exhibition, which is part of the Saffron Walden Maze Festival, 20th – 27th August 2011.

(click to enlarge image)

If you follow my facebook page, you will have seen little tasters of progress over the past few weeks; this linocut is as much about the making as the final result, so I've put together a video to explore the path through the labyrinth . . .

This work pulled together lots of themes I've been thinking about as I work:

– the layers of man-made history in the landscape around my studio

– the proximity of wildlife to habitation

– the symbolic woodland in fairy tales and woodland as a place of exile

– the stylised images of animals on Anglo-Saxon coins

– the shared culture of all the people living around the shores of the North Sea

If you live near Saffron Walden, I hope you can join the celebrations of Mazes around the town and pop into the Church Street Gallery to see the A-Mazing Art exhibition.
All the work will be for sale, including Saxon Labyrinth linocuts and cards.


Celia
x

Perfectly packaged

Yesterday the postman delivered a package from Japan . . . I knew what must be inside – I'd made a purchase on Etsy, but it was a surprise that it had arrived so quickly!


For a while I just enjoyed looking at all the stickers and stamps on the outside, then it got even more interesting when I took out the contents . . . like 'Pass the Parcel' there was another package inside and I remembered how packaging is an art in Japan. I won't be throwing this paper away!


This is what I found inside: two fabric covered buttons (one with a 'C' for Celia on it); two pairs of chop-sticks in little folded paper packets; and some pretty decorative stickers.


Ooooo . . . there's more: little packets of tissues with Miss Kitty designs on them and a map of the Tokyo subway – these made me laugh. They reminded me of my holiday seven years ago – they are so typically Tokyo!


But, wait a minute! I didn't order any of those things, they were just little extra gifts that Mayumi had popped into the parcel :-)

This is what I'd bought from her Etsy shop, Karaku . . .


Wooden rubber alphabet stamps – and what's more it's an old fashioned type-writer style typeface, like the one I use for my studio's stationery; and they are in lovely little tins too!


Gosh! I'm going to have so much fun . . .



Celia
x