Tea time treats

On Saturday we met friends for lunch at The Dyke's End in Reach, the pub lived up to it's glowing recommendations. We wanted to try all the 'light lunches' on the menu – so we did! We ordered all six and shared them between the four of us and we had room for 'afters' – sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce. The waitress probably spotted we might be 'trouble' when I was egged on to wear my birthday present . . . a Gisela Graham felt hen tea cosy.


Later in the afternoon we went to Anglesey Abbey to see the water mill. Although the mill was still open the millers were just packing up for the day, so we missed seeing the corn being ground, however we did buy some of the flour freshly milled from Hereward winter wheat grown on the Wimpole Estate south of Cambridge. The bag of flour came with a recipe leaflet, one in particular sounded especially delicious:

Patrick Anthony's Sultana & Pecan Nut Bread
This was demonstrated on 8th July 1996 in Anglia TV's live broadcast from Anglesey Abbey commenmorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of the 1st Lord Fairhaven. It also celebrated his rescue of Lode Watermill from dereliction, it's repair and landscaping. This recipe celebrated his American roots.

mix together in a large bowl:
400g wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon mixed spice
75g sultanas
50g chopped pecan nuts
50g brown sugar

then add:
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 tablespoon honey
500ml buttermilk with 2 teaspoons of baking soda mixed into it.
(I used semi-skimmed milk as that's what I had at hand)

mix thoroughly and pour into an oiled loaf or cake tin
and bake at 180C for an hour

serve buttered

Even better, serve toasted and buttered with a nice cup of tea :-)

Diversity

Reach Arts Fair
Saturday 5th April 10am – 4pm

in Reach Village Centre
between Cambridge and Newmaket
near Anglesey Abbey (NT)

On Saturday I will have a stall at the Reach Arts Fair, previous fairs in this small village on the edge of the Cambridgeshire Fens have been a great success. The stalls are bursting with beautifully hand crafted things - pots, jewellery, basketry, prints, photographs and much more – not to mention the teas (the cakes alone are worth the trip!). Before, after or during the Grand National, the doors will be open! The cards pictured above will all be available from my stall, along with original framed and unframed limited edition linocut prints.

The "to do" white board in my studio office is full of lists and dates and the occasional red tick! The downside of being freelance is that sometimes work is slow to come in and then when it does there is so much the only realistic thing to do is to share the work with someone else or turn it down. This morning was one of those moments - I weighed things up and realised that with working on Saturday (Reach Arts Fair) and Sunday (Cambridge Open Studios proof-reading day) not an option, I had to say "no". I had to keep the existing projects on schedule. In the old days I might have worked through the night – these days a work-life balance is more important . . . which means that on Sunday evening I should have time to curl up on the sofa and loose myself in The Seeds of Kokopelli – a manual for the production of seeds in the family garden – a directory of Heritage Seeds. As Rebsie predicted (see previous post) the book didn't drop through the letter box - it's way too big! Derek the Postman rang the doorbell early this morning and handed over a large padded envelope. Inside was not only the book (440 pages!) but also three packets of tomato seeds, which I'll save to plant next year.

One year of blogging!

A year ago I wrote the first posting on my new blog Purple Podded Peas. I had no preconceptions, I was just curious about how blogs worked and as I like the idea of a diary but have never kept one going for more than a week, maybe this would be good way of recording work in progress in my studio and garden.

I didn't realise how enjoyable it was going to be! I love reading all your comments, thank you for taking the time. The most stylish Oscar acceptance speeches are short – so I'll just say "Here's to the next year of blogging!" . . .


In the greenhouse the Purple Podded Peas are growing. This year not only the home saved seeds of Pea 'Purple Podded', but three other purple podded varieties: 'Victorian Purple Podded', my choice from this year's Heritage Seed Library catalogue. 'Carruthers' Purple Podded', an Irish pea with beautiful flowers was a seed swap from Rebsie of Daughter of the Soil who also sent me another Irish purple podded pea, 'Clarke's Belthony Blue'. I was thrilled when Rebsie offered to swap some her her amazing pea varieties, the one I had my eye on was the 'Salmon Flowered Pea', I sowed them yesterday in a pot in the greenhouse. Yes there's more (for those who thought peas came in three varieties – frozen, tinned and mushy – this obsession with peas will seem close to madness) 'Golden Sweet' is alleged to be one of the peas used by the pioneer of plant genetics Gregor Mendal, I grew it in 2006 and it didn't do well, in 2007 I found one little plant growing among the Broad Beans, the seeds I sowed yesterday were from that plant. And – 'Carouby de Mausanne', if you only grow one pea try this French mange tout, definely the best I've ever grown.

This is the first of a new series of digital illustrations that I'm working on, The Heritage Vegetable Collection from Magic Cochin, cards and prints will be for sale on my stall at the Reach Arts & Crafts Fair on Saturday 5th April.

Pea 'Purple Podded'
© Celia Hart

Backstage

Behind the display on my stand at Saturday's Arts & Crafts Fair in Reach Village Hall, my supply of small change was efficiently tidy and I was sustained by the delicious (and nutritious) flap-jacks and the unbelievably delicious mulled fruit juice*.

Thank you to everyone who came along!


LATEST NEWS:
In two weeks time on Saturday 1st December I will have a stall at the Arts & Crafts Fair in Saffron Walden Town Hall.
So if you're in the area why not get in the festive spirit in this historic market town - lots of lovely shops, delis, cafés and the traditional market in the square outside the Town Hall.


* The girls in the kitchen told me it was equal quantities of apple juice and orange juice with some thinly peeled orange and lemon skin (peel? zest?) and sachets of mulling spices. Heat through and serve. Other versions they recommended use black grape juice with the apple and orange and an orange studded with cloves, cinnamon sticks and fresh ginger.

Christmas Arts and Crafts Fair

I've been busy getting everything together for my stand at next Saturday's Christmas Arts and Crafts Fair at Reach. I will be selling Festive Tree Decorations, gift tags, hand bound notebooks , framed and unframed prints and cards.

Emma has been working hard planning this event and has invited a fantastic range of talented artists and makers to take part. So as well as my prints and designs and Emma's beautiful silver jewellery there will be baskets, indigo dyed textiles, photographs, pottery, stained glass, paintings and much much more! And if you can come along you get to enjoy some of Cambridgeshire's best home baked cakes and biscuits accompanied by steaming cups of tea or mulled wine - all in the lovely renovated Village Hall right in the heart of the historic village of Reach at the end of the ancient earthwork, The Devil's Dyke. A local legend is that the Devil came unannounced to a wedding at Reach church and was chased away by the guests. In anger the devil ran away and formed the groove of the Dyke with his fiery tail!

STOP PRESS . . .
opening soon - my online shop - details on the blog very shortly.

Tree decorations

I usually start thinking about Christmas in November (at the very earliest) and try to ignore the plethora of yuletide acutriments that take over the aisles in the supermarkets. But this year I've been making early prepartions and have made these hand-printed tree decorations for my stall at the Reach Christmas Arts and Crafts Fair on Saturday 17th November. And these decorations aren't just for Christmas - they'd look good decorating branches and twigs at parties and celebrations all throughout the year. So put a note in your diaries now - and escape from the madding crowds on high streets for a civilised hour or two in the historic village of Reach, between Cambridge and Newmarket at the end of the Devil's Dyke. There will be an array of locally made arts and crafts to buy as well as some delicious seasonal refreshments.

Reach Arts and Crafts Fair

Saturday was a busy day - it was amazing to see how 9 artists and their helpers could transform a small village hall into a arts and crafts gallery and tea room for a day in just an hour and a half. Thank you to everyone who braved the horrid weather and ventured into the Cambridgeshire fens to Reach Village Centre. The word had got round in spite of the Cambridge Evening News deciding that a double page spread photo of Charlie Dimmock and a daffodil was more "newsworthy" than the feature about our art fair.
Today I received the first art briefs for a new illustration project - so there's lots to read through and think about before I get down to sketching out the illustrations, maps and diagrams and then getting down to work at the computer.

Reach Arts and Crafts Fair

Today I have to get everything ready for my stall at Reach Arts and Crafts Fair on Saturday. We hope Emma's hard work publicising the event and the features on web sites, radio and local papers results in lots of visitors. Maybe the promise of excellent home-made cakes will be too tempting to resist.
The linocut above is my most recent limited edition print and is based on sketches of a Buff Orpington hen - I love their soft roundness and gentle character. I was also thinking of tile designs when I was working on this print - both islamic designs and the work of William de Morgan. I like to start with a carefully observed sketch and distil it into decorative patterns without losing what I wanted to capture in the original sketch.

Welcome to my Studio (and Garden)

Welcome to Purple Podded Peas - my blog about what's happening in my studio and garden. When I'm not working on a design or illustration project for a publisher or producing a new linocut, I'm usually in the garden and at this time of year it's the vegetable garden. As the weather is amazingly warm, 18C it's a pleasure to be outside and I enjoyed a few hours hard work moving compost into the "squash mound" from the compost bins.

But it's time to get down to some work in the studio. On 24th March I will have a stall at the Reach Arts and Crafts Fair, Emma who is organising it, rang this morning to say the Cambridge Evening News would be sending a reporter/photographer along next Monday to do an article about the event and she wants as many of the artists as possible to be there for the picture. Also this morning I received information about the Cambridge Open Studios "Taster" and Launch exhibitions, so I need to select some new work to submit for selection.

My recent linocuts show images of animals sometimes within a landscape or surrounded by patterns inspired by the tiles I saw last year in Cordoba. I like pictures to have story to tell, either a personal experience or an ancient tradition or fable.

My work is inspired by Japanese woodcuts. I admire the elegant simplicity of the designs, underlying wit and superb craftsmanship. Linocut printing, a similar process to woodcut, needs a combination of skills apart from creating the design: I enjoy cutting the blocks knowing than unlike digital artwork you only get one chance to get it right! Inking the block carefully is crucial to making a good print, knowing the stickiness of the ink and the sound the roller makes on the block when the ink is just right. And finally pressing the paper onto the block – which I do by hand like the Japanese printmakers, rubbing the back of the paper and judging how much pressure is needed to get a clear print. I've just bought two new barens from Japan - these are the traditional tools used to press the paper onto the inked block. Mine are plastic (I'll have to save up for a real wood an plaited bamboo fibre one which are hand made to order!) and I found them on a very useful web site 'Baren Mall' and a week later they were here in my studio.