Here we go . . .

a) . . . again

b) . . . here we go, here we go

c) . . . it's Christmas!

or  . . .

Here we go round the mulberry bush

Which is what Cliff and I were doing at Ickworth Hall gardens in October.

All in the interest of research for my illustration for the 'Special' 13th issue of Gardens Illustrated magazine - which is on the news stands in the UK now, lovely gardening reading matter nestling twixt the December (Christmassy) issue and the January issue which kicks off 2016.

I remembered seeing a Mulberry tree somewhere in the Italianate garden near Ickworth's famous rotunda, when we attended a summer evening outdoor performance of Round the World in 80 Days. It took a few circuits of the garden but in the end we spotted 2 small Mulberry trees with leaves turning to golden yellow.

On the shady side of one tree the leaves were still fresh and green and we found fruits!

It's always good to see plants growing rather than working solely from photos  . . . back in the studio I made careful sketches

 

And then started to think about how to illustrate Frank Ronan's pen-portrait of the Black Mulberry and its juicy purple fruits.

I wanted to include some of the historical and culinary references – blended together on a 17th century tin-glazed platter with a slice of mulberry pie and a silver spoon.

Here's the finished linocut, printed in a deep purple, alongside the illustration on the final page of the magazine.

Going back to the nursery rhyme . . .

Here in a 1951 book 'Fiddle-de-dee an other Gay Way rhymes' illustrated by Jennetta Vise.

One possible origin of the rhyme is from Wakefield women's prison where the prisoners exercise yard had a mulberry tree in the centre. There's no need to clap your hands or stamp your feet to warm yourself this December, the seasons seem to have forgotten to 'do' Winter! Spring bulbs are growing, some daffodils are even in flower, and garden birds are behaving as if they are thinking of building nests!

Hold on . . . the coldest weeks here on the corner of Suffolk/Cambridgeshire/Essex is usually late January and early February so cold and frosty mornings might be around the corner.

And finally . . .

Over on Instagram I'm posting an Advent diary of random thoughts leading up to Christmas.

 

Wishing you a happy and peaceful Christmas

Celia

xx

A festive wreath ... and December's Gardens Illustrated linocut

This morning it's bright, sunny and cold, it actually feels a bit like winter, which is a lovely change from the mild damp and cloudy weather of late. It was a good excuse to spend time in the garden collecting materials to make a festive wreath. 

My inspiration this year is the design of a small wreath I bought from a lovely local florist to hang on our newly decorated porch door . . .

I cut lots of box branches and made little bunches of bright berries and some faded Hydrangea flowers to nestle amongst the bright greenery - the doors in the front yard are now dressed up for the festive season.

Way back in September when I was anticipating the arrival of Frank's article for the December/Christmas issue of Gardens illustrated magazine, I really didn't expect the topic to be Californian native flora in high summer!

The plants Frank mentions in the article were unfamiliar to me, so the only way to start was to sit down and do some research and sketch the plants from photographs.

The more I thought about the illustration the more I wanted to end the year and the final page of the December magazine with something traditionally festive . . . how could I give the composition a Christmas twist?

I let that idea float around for a few days and two possibilities formed: 
- a path through a magical landscape of candle-like plants
- a festive wreath.

I collaged my sketches together in a wreath shape - this might work! And framed the view of Frank's Californian canyon and his new love, a shrubby tree Arctostaphylos glauca (which is closely related to one of my favourite evergreens for winter berries and flowers – Arbutus unedo or the Strawberry tree) and similar Christmassy looking bauble-like berries and tint lantern-like flowers. 

Here's the finished linocut and the printed illustration on the final page of Gardens Illustrated.


But wait . . . what's this email from GI HQ?! Gardens Illustrated publish 13 issues a year! . . . so there's one more to go before the year ends. I'll tell you more about that before Christmas.


Meanwhile in real studio time the January 2016 illustration has already come and gone and this morning I've received the text of Frank's column for February . . . and it's a gem!



Celia
xx

Merry Christmas!

It's time for . . .

twinkly lights

cosy evenings

and frosty walks

Wishing you all a peaceful
and happy Christmas

Celia

xx

How to make a Merry Christmas rubber stamp

When I blogged about my 'Winter Evening in Bull's Wood' print and the cards for sale from Suffolk Wildlife Trust, I promised to blog about making a rubber stamp to print a Christmas greeting inside a blank card.

Of course there are many Christmas greetings rubber stamps for sale in craft supply shops and stationery shops, but it's fun to do your own – here's how I did mine . . .

You will need a rubber stamp block (mine is a Speedball Speedy-Carve block) or a large eraser would work too.  

Draw your design then trace it onto tracing paper (or tissue paper) and turn it over so the letters are reversed. Now you need to transfer the design onto the block - I rubbed blue chalk onto the tracing paper then drew around the letters with a hard pencil. This transfers a faint mark, so it's worth inking over the letters with a non-permanent, water-soluble pen.

Now carve away the block around the letters using lino-cutting tools. The rubber block is very easy to cut, but mind your fingers – always keep them behind the blade!

The block (and your fingers) will get a bit messy! So when you've finished carving, give the block a gentle wash with a little hand soap and water then dry it gently with a paper towel.

Before printing, it's best to mount the block onto something firm and perfectly flat – either a block of wood or, as I've done, a couple of pieces of sturdy corrugated card stuck together. I used double sided tape to stick the card together and the rubber stamp on top.

Now, you're ready to print . . .

Either use a large ink stamp pad or a little ink pad that you can dab over the surface of your stamp – I can recommend Versacraft Small Ink Pads, they come in lots of lovely colours and print onto fabric and paper.

If you haven't time to carve complex lettering, try cutting a star or a simple snowflake to decorate inside the card or the envelope.

I hope you have a go.

Celia

xx

Country Living Magazine - December issue

The cat's out of the bag!

Some of you might have noticed already . . . there's a feature about me and the inspirations for my block prints in this year's Christmas issue of Country Living Magazine. If you subscribe you probably received it last week, but it will be on the news stands very soon.

I'll tell you a few behind the scenes secrets . . .

I've had to keep this under my hat for 10 months.

I designed my "Christmas 2013" designs just before last Christmas (which was weird!)

The photos, were taken by Laura Edwards early last February when Suffolk was under a blanket of snow.

I pretended to draw non-existing birds in a hedge for one of the shots.

Cheep and his hens upstage me in another photo.

The studio assistants refused to co-operate.

Before writing the article, Louise Elliot spent a whole day with me in the summer, both in my studio and visiting some of my favourite local places.


I enjoyed meeting both Louise and Laura, hope you like the feature they put together.

Celia
xx

New galleries, exhibitions, a magazine feature and something completely different

The last few weeks have been busy – and even more that I expected!

Just before we went on holiday in September, the arts journalist Hazel Foxon spent a morning with me in my studio to research an article she was writing for the 'arts in the east' magazine Venue. If you live in Beds, Cambs, Essex, Herts, London, Norfolk or Suffolk look out for it in libraries, galleries and theatres – it's a glossy colour mag with David Bowie on the cover and it's FREE
. . . or you can see the article here.

I've framed prints and packed unframed work in time for the pre-Christmas rush and delivered it to Edwards & Todd in London; the Jessica Muir Gallery in Long Melford and Smiths Row in Bury St Edmunds.

My work will be included in a special exhibition of "Smaller Pictures" at the Church Street Gallery in Saffron Walden, starting on 1st December and continuing throughout December.

I am very excited to have been invited to exhibit in two lovely galleries . . .
Cambridge Contemporary Art is a beautiful bright exhibition space within sight of King's College Chapel right in the historic centre of Cambridge. I will also be delivering some framed work for inclusion in their Christmas exhibition which runs through December.
The other venue is in Suffolk but right over on the coast – it's The Gallery at Snape Maltings, I've delivered my prints just in time to be included in the Winter exhibtion. This is probably Suffolk's most famous arts venue in a beautiful setting beside the River Alde at the end of a long estuary. The concert halls, shops, galleries and restaurants attract lots of visitors throughout the year; if the sun is shining (as it was yesterday!) the views of the river and the boats are stunning.

As you can imagine, I've been spending lots of time framing prints and writing lists; but among all the requests from galleries I received an invite from Southwold Life Boat Crew:

"We're having a tweetup on 24/11 would love it if you came.
If you can't make up your mind then how does tea,
cake & lifeboat display sound?"

Well, although I live in Suffolk and enjoy reading the morning weather tweets from the life boat station right over in the diagonally opposite corner of the county, a 150mile road trip for cake was a bit keen! I politely declined. Then I received a message from a photographer who lives only a few miles from me "I'm going, I'll give you a lift" and before I knew it I had a place reserved on a boat to go out on a training exercise with the life boat crew! You can read what happened and see Celia Bartlett's fantastic photo-essay of the day with Southwold RNLI.

Celia Bartlett ready for action at sea!

Well they say 'a change is as good as a rest', and being bounced over the grey waves of the north sea with salt water waves crashing into my face certainly blew the cobwebs away! If that's what a 'calm day' is like the volunteer life boat crews have my full respect for going out in all weathers to rescue those in danger off the Suffolk coast. Please consider giving your support to the RNLI.

Celia
x

All the trimmings

Before I take a few days off to enjoy Christmas, there's time for a final rummage in the bottom of the bag of PPP's Winter Mixture . . .

Christmas just isn't Christmas without all trimmings,
this Christmas Eve morning I decorated
The Christmas Cake

Chopped, mixed, seasoned and prepared
The Stuffings

Stirred, sweetened and sampled
The Cranberry Sauce

and Gooseberry Sauce
(because we're having Goose and have lots of
home grown gooseberries in the freezer)

With preparations well under control -
the goose and vegetables and pudding are in the larder
and giblets ready to go in the stock pot,
I'm now putting my feet up and listening to
Carols from Kings

Here's King's College Chapel yesterday,
viewed from my car as I waited at the pedestrian crossing
along 'The Backs' yesterday morning.

Thank you, I'll find a moment to enjoy re-reading your
kind comments on all the PPP's Winter Mixture posts,
I hope you enjoyed joining my Yuletide celebration
as much as I had fun rummaging in the paper bag
of sweet spicy treats.

A very Merry Christmas from me,
my under-gardeners and Spice Girls
and the studio assistants.

Celia
x

Walking in a winter wonderland

Dipping into the paper bag of PPP' Winter Mixture I picked out . . .

A Winter Solstice Walk

You can, of course, snuggle up in the warm
with a cup of tea and a mince pie and
let Cliff and me do the walking for you ;-)

Here we are on the Ickworth Estate,
you can see the eliptical dome of Ickworth House
far across the snowy fields.

Past the Suffolk Sheep digging through the snow
to graze on the grass beneath. In a couple of months
their new born lambs will be skipping over the slopes.

Through a dark forest with tree trunks
painted with frosting by the North East wind.

Look up through the branches -
giant globes of Mistletoe bejewelled with
pearl-like berries.

Follow me into a magical snowy world . . .

. . . to see the mid-winter sun
at the turning of the year
cast its golden rays over the glitering snow.

The paper bag of PPP's Winter Mixture isn't yet empty - I'll have another rummage to see what I can find.

If you're traveling this Christmas, stay safe and take care.

Celia
x

A village Christmas

Let's have another dip into PPP's bag of Winter Mixture . . .

A Christmas wreath
This is the wreath I made from the evergreens
cut from our garden. Pushed into a twisted cane ring
we've used for years and embellished with gilded
pine cones and ribbons saved from chocolate boxes.
Cost: nothing!

Decorations
We've put up the decorations -
Straw stars sent from a friend in Prague,
ceramic stars and hearts from a local potter,
little tin doves and glass drops,
wooden soldiers and some lovely
Ukrainian dolls.

The Village Church
"All for the Carol Service" reads the Church Flower Rota,
more evergreens from our garden, plus a few sprigs
of Honesty seed heads and some twirly gilded split canes
and the job's done.

Time to lend a hand decorating the Church's tree . . .


and spiral garlands round the ancient stone pillars . . .


pillars which are scratched with graffiti from the
time of the English Civil War.


Carol Singing
We regaled the pub with 'While Shepherds Watched'
and in return received a pile of loose change
and a humbug each!

We sang 'Once in Royal David's City' to a baby and his
nan at a bedroom window;
and 'The Holly and the Ivy' to the tree surgeon.

Icicles
Have you ever noticed that thatched cottages don't
have gutters? The water just drips off the overhanging
thatch - and if it's a tad nippy, the water freezes
making the most enormous icicles!

A cosy fire
After two hours singing carols in sub-zero temperatures
and trudging through the snow covered lanes,
there's nothing like a real fire to warm our
hands and toes.

Mulled wine and mince pies
Of course!
And spicy hot apple juice and cheese straws
to tuck into.

While our socks and the fivers and tenners
dried out in front of the fire!

Now we can count the donations
in the festive collecting bucket . . .

and relax and laugh with good friends.

That dip into PPP's Winter Mixture has really got me into the Christmas spirit - hope you're feeling festive too. I'll be back soon to have another rummage in my brown paper bag of Yuletide delights.