Like a red red rose . . .

I'm just surfacing briefly, it's been very busy around here.

I was on a nice steady path and then, like you do when you're a freelance, you get offered a job and say yes and all of a sudden it's work overload for a while. It also go a bit colder – well quite a lot colder! In fact last Friday night was the coldest I've ever experienced – not just at home but anywhere (and I once went to see Polar Bears in the Arctic) it was -16C (that's about 3F). And to top it all we were due to travel by train to Liverpool the next morning! Amazingly we managed to catch a train and get there and back for the second very cold night, only -12C this time.

On Monday I worked solidly and got all the digital illustration files uploaded in time for Tuesday morning's deadline; so yesterday, even though I got lots of bitty scrappy things done – like insuring my car and sowing the Crimson Flowered Broad Beans in pots in the greenhouse, I felt a bit spaced out and brain dead.

There was no bouquet of flowers arriving at the door the brighten things up, but Cliff seemed very cheery when he phoned to say he was on his way home from work . . . oh well, Valentine's Day is only some commercial sillyness isn't it?

"so . . . er . . . did you . . . um . . . get some nice flowers?"

"No"

"No? . . . oh?!"

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Later . . . much later . . .

A weary delivery van driver was found searching for our house in the dark. He handed Cliff a box and then looked at the pile of boxes still in his van, "I'm the courier's IT man, I'm only doing this to help out! There's no way I can find all the houses now, I'm giving up" he said.


Not a bouquet this year, but a beautiful little red rose bush – I hope it goes on to flower every year.



Right then! Must get on . . . a VIGB* is arriving at Purple Podded Peas HQ on Friday and I have to get the spare room ready.

And an email has just arrived with another digital illustration brief . . .

Celia
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* very important garden blogger

"How do your hens like the snow?"

That's the question I've been asked time and time again this week – well, basically they don't like it.

We've swept some path ways through the snow on the paving outside the back door; and there's an area almost clear of snow, under the large pine tree – they stick to these zones and don't venture across the snowy wastes.

There's a trodden path from the paved area to the hen-house, the track Cliff and I make as we go back and forth to let them out, clean up the hut and collect the eggs; but I noticed another dirty path had appeared in the snow . . . it goes from the area under the pine tree, then halfway to the hut, it stops.

This evening I spotted the flock queuing up along the path . . .

Poor Ginger-Spice, she didn't want to jump/fly did she?! she thought I was going to carry her . . . but YAY! brave Ginger did it in the end :-)

There's a chance we'll get another flurry of snow tonight, but then a thaw is forecast . . . there will be a big sigh of relief from Ginger.

Celia
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Pattern cutting not just for tailors

This morning I met up with Gina of Fan My Flame, to see the current exhibition at Smiths Row in Bury St Edmunds; it's called Block Party and is a touring exhibition organised by the Crafts Council. If you are interested in contemporary crafts or have ever done any dressmaking using a paper pattern, then you'll find this fascinating . . . in fact if you've never been to a modern art/makers exhibition and haven't a clue about pattern cutting, I'd recommend that you go along, you'll find all sorts of amazing things from plastic surgery techniques to beautiful ceramic pots and a tweed whale. If you can't get to any of the shows, there is an excellent Block Party website, which is where I found the 'share' button for this excellent introductory film . . .


Negative Space. from Crafts Council on Vimeo.

After the exhibition, Gina and I had a quick look around Smiths Row Shop (where we both sell a selection of our work) before heading off to that hidden gem of cafés – The Lounge in Hatter Street, Bury St Edmunds. Both Gina and I stuck to our 'healthy eating' regime and ignored the cakes! instead we had the delicious Parsnip & Butternut Squash Soup.

What a lovely treat, well worth traveling through the freezing snow-fields of Suffolk for.

Celia
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PS Gina . . . I admit to succumbing to the temptation of Waitrose's 'essential crumpets' . . . well they did say 'essential' and I needed something to top up my trolly so I qualified for free parking . . . that's my excuse, anyway ;-)

White, not crisp – salted and unsalted

Last night we had tickets to see 'Neighbourhood Watch' at the theatre in Cambridge; snow had been forecast to fall at some time on Saturday and it seemed as if the whole country was 'on amber alert' as the Met Office had labelled it, but undeterred we drove into town and as we neared the outskirts of Cambridge the first skimpy flakes were flying past the car windscreen.

At the interval we bought our ice-creams and stood at the theatre door watching the snow accumulate, the street was white and huddles of bicycles were disappearing under fluffy white blankets of snow. The mood of the audience returning to their seats, was a mix of excitement and slight trepidation of what the journey home would be like . . .

 

. . . a tad hairy to be honest! Cliff seemed confident driving my 'tardis' with it's new winter wheels, but as we passed a rather crunched little hatchback we worried about whether the car behind us would be able to brake without sliding into the back of us!

As we headed out over the Gog Magog Hills we were almost alone on the road, the snow was coming down thick and fast and by the time we turned down the little country lane to the village we were relieved to have made it to within easy walking distance of home, should we have got stuck . . . which we didn't.

This morning I peeped trough the curtains and this was the scene . . .

Bright sun and freezing temperatures would have made everything sparkle, well you can't have everything . . . the palette of white, greys and umbers has its own beauty. When we saw that the road through the village had actually been gritted! (at 7am it hadn't so Cliff had decided not to join his walking group 20 miles away) we decided to go for walk up through the village and out the other side.

At the top of the hill we had a choice, salted or unsalted . . .

. . . we took the road less traveled

And I had fun taking lots of photos of the twiggy textures and distant woods.

I think this next one is my favourite . . .

Near the village playing field are two trees which always seem to hold on to there fruits right through the winter

and underneath, a Robin was thankful of a snack.

Back home, the snow outlines pruned structures and bright stems glow – the garden is unfamiliar under its coating of snow.

The hens are confused – most of them chose not to leave the hen-house; but Pearl was out and about – but not at all sure of what to make of this snow stuff!

My hunch is the snow won't stay around for long, we'll be back to chilly, muddy February very soon.

In the mean time, I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon sitting by a cosy fire and looking at the snow-scene while it lasts.

Celia
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PS someone's just mentioned going for another walk to see if we can spot the Barn Owls hunting in the snow - mmm? might be worth doing before I get snuggled down ;-) Naah! tea and biscuits by the fire won!

Enter February

February has arrived blown in on a chill nor-easterly, plummeting the temperatures to well below freezing by night and only just a little warmer by day; will we have snow? who knows, but today the sunshine is glorious, so despite the cold (and the wind-chill) I decided that a lunchtime walk with my camera would be a good idea.

This is the south-west corner of Suffolk, the views take in the edge of south Cambridgeshire and north Essex; here the countryside is nearly as high as it gets in East Anglia, my short route of a mile and half started at 65ft and took me to 115ft at the wood . . . so around here that's a significant hill! The village is tucked down in the valley, the church tower hardly visible among the trees.

Back home my flock is happy to be in a sheltered garden with a sunny spot under the pine tree; and look who's found a girlfriend? Cheep is inseparable from Pearl and even wants to guard her while she lays her egg!


Celia
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BTW the music is the gavotte from Gluck's 'Orfeo ed Euridice' played by Les Musiciens du Louvre (my favourite album on my iPhone this winter).

Perfect winter weekend = walk + bake + knit

On Saturday we decided to venture west for a walk in the Midlands, Cliff did a quick search on the web and found a good location . . . Pitsford Water in Northamptonshire.

 

We started our walk at the popular Brixworth Country Park visitors centre and circumnavigated the southern half of the reservoir, a total distance of 7.5 miles – just the right sort of distance to blow the cobwebs out of the mind and put roses in our cheeks!

On the way we passed some recently done hedge-laying . . .

and lots of birdlife, including a large flock of Lapwings (including one of two Golden Plovers) and these beautifully plumaged Greylag Geese . . .

After our walk we went into Brixworth village to see the church, it's set on the edge of the village on the crest of a ridge which overlooks the surrounding farmland, and it is huge . . . and very very old!

Brixworth church was build at least 1200 years ago, only a couple of hundred years after the the Romans upped and left Britain; the Saxon builders reused Roman terracotta tiles to make the massive semicircular archways. The large ground level arches (which have been infilled with stone and windows) where originally interior entrances into small side rooms, chapels or shrines off the main nave of this great basilica, maybe built when Offa was king of Mercia.

Just think how long it's stood here . . . it was over 300 years old when the Normans invaded Britain! Look at how carefully the tiles and stones have been placed to make those simple archways.

Maybe I was still thinking about those Saxon arches when I made this pear up-side down cake for our Sunday lunch?

It was easy to make . . .
- spread creamed butter and soft brown sugar over the base of a lined cake tin;
- over it, lay slices of pear and glacé cherries in pattern;
- make a sponge mixture (100g softened unsalted butter/100g caster sugar/2 eggs/100g self-raising flour) and spoon carefully over the fruit;
- bake at 180˚C for about 40 minutes until the sponge is firm;
- cool slightly and turn out onto a plate;
- eat with a generous helping of freshly made custard.

 

. . . and even easier to eat!

On Sunday evening I finished the shawl I've been knitting from Kauni yarn; I've been knitting this for months; it has been knitted and unraveled a couple of times because it wasn't quite right and I'm a perfectionist; it has traveled with me on trains down to London and up to Liverpool many times, until it became far to big to carry easily.

The shape and size were inspired by the shawls in a Kaffe Fassett knitting book from the 1980s. I chose two colourways of the Kauni yarn and then used a Fair Isle technique to create the patterns, which I made up as I went along and then repeated a few times.


Let's see it outside in natural light where the wintery colours really glow . . .

I was fun to knit, and became cosy and organic as it grew and grew. I worked on 1 metre long double pins, but by the end it was quite a struggle to manipulate all the stitches; so although I still have some yarn over, I decided it was big enough. I probably have enough to make a hat with the leftovers.

And lastly . . .

Thank you to everyone who signed up to get my studio newsletters, there are over twenty who missed the mailing, so I'll be sending out another batch later this evening. Then the next one will be sent at the end of February.

Celia
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Studio newsletter

I've been playing with Mail Chimp!

It's part of my plan to keep in regular contact with the galleries that sell my prints and cards . . . then I thought, perhaps I should send a newsletter to previous customers and maybe followers of my blog? So I'm experimenting with setting up a mailing list specifically to receive monthly news from my studio by email . . . with links to Magic Cochin's Emporium and PPPs and my website and galleries and anything else that I'm excited about.

Above is a preview of this month's newsletter – it hasn't been posted yet, so if you'd like to add you name to the mailing list just fill in this little form (you can unsubscribe at any time, of course and I won't share your details with anyone else or deluge you with messages).

Celia
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Subscribe to my mailing list

Three cheers for Phoebe!

My senior under-gardeners are 5 years old, they came to live in our garden in March 2007 and at the beginning of April Phoebe was the first of our flock to lay an egg.

Phoebe is a Coucou Marans hybrid (Marans x Rhode Island Red) and she has the most perfect tail shape – she can manoeuvre it like a rudder. Her feathers are luxuriously smooth like an expensive silk twill scarf, and she has thick downy underwear – most practical on a day like today!

I estimate that Phoebe has laid about 200 eggs each year, so that means she has produced 1000 eggs! I didn't mind at all when late last October she stopped laying because she was moulting – she does this dramatically . . . one day one or two feathers fall out, the next day she shakes herself and stands there almost naked!!! I wouldn't have minded it she never laid another egg, we will care for her for as long as she wants to enjoy life fossicking around our garden. We've got to know her funny little ways – she spends ages laying her eggs, really taking her time and she hates any food that is sticky like plums or porridge or boiled potatoes.


 Today Phoebe laid her first egg in 2012 . . .

. . .  a beautiful brown egg just like her first one in 2007.


Celia
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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

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(Un)seasonality

This morning on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, there was an item about the number of wildflowers that were seen to be flowering in Cardiff on New Year's Day, 63 different species! You can read more about it and see the list of species, here.

I had exchanged Tweets with Wessex Reiver and said I'd see what was in flower on my lunch time walk . . .

I began in the garden, the Winter Honeysuckle (lonicera fragrantissima) is in full flower already and the scent is delightful

 

there are a dozen more plants and shrubs in flower . . .

 

Pansy; Honesty; Winter Jasmine;
Feverfew; Perrywinkle; Primrose;
Rose; Calendula; Viburnum;
Polyanthus; Flowering Box; Garrya.

Out across the fields self-seeded Rape plants are in bloom, some fields glowed yellow in the sunshine!

 

My route took me over the fields, following a footpath parallel with the Stour Brook, one of the main feeder steams to to River Stour which divides Suffolk from Essex and winds its way through Constable Country to the North Sea at the port of Harwich. Along the way I spotted a dozen wildflowers in bloom.

 

White Deadnettle; Groundsel; Mustard;

Rape; Shepherd's Purse; Hogweed;

Chamomile; Dandelion; Yarrow;

Red Deadnettle; Red Campion; Wild Stawberry.

The wide "DEFRA Wildlife Headlands" have had their annual cut by the farm contractors (the sign has been minced too!) I've noticed the birdlife and particularly the raptor populations have seemed to benefit from these areas, as we now regularly see Barn, Tawny and Little Owls as well as Sparrow Hawks, Kestrels, Buzzards and the occasional Marsh Harrier and Red Kite.

The recent storm brought down one of the Crack Willows on the bank of the brook and smashed it down over the footpath. Crack Willows are meant to crack and if left alone the branches smashed into the ground will root and new branches with grow vertically and become new trees. This won't be allowed to happen here, it will soon be moved away and the footpath with be clear again.

Behind the village church are paddocks, normally there are elegant retired race horses, but today – look at these little Shetland ponies racing to say hello!

 

 Smile for the camera!

The ponies weren't the only creatures enjoying the mild temperatures and sun today . . . or posing for the camera . . .

 

Do you recognise who this is?

It's Cheep!

Celia
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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).

_______________________________________

– 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.

_______________________________________

– 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?

_______________________________________

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

_______________________________________

– 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.

_______________________________________

– 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.

_______________________________________

– 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.

_______________________________________

Well, I'd better get on with it!


See you soon
Celia
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