Deer, Roe deer, Roe deer....

Deer have been much in my mind of late, and then I saw Tammie's invitation to this drawing challenge!  A while ago I was thrilled to find a Roe deer antler on the marshland behind our home, and made a journal entry about it.

These deer are British natives. Unlike most deer species, they are solitary, but form small groups in the cold months.  I though I'd try some wintry sketches of a buck...

 and a doe.....

 
Then this evening,  I got a tweet from the National Trust, who saw this photo I took of the Fallow deer herd at Dyrham Park. They loved it and asked if they could use it in their social media promotional material! So I'm feeling that deer are very dear today!

My 1920's Book- WIP

Well, here it is, as far as I've got.  As I said, this was a challenge. The 20's would not be my personal decade of choice for a subject, so I found it hard to get my head into  the right place.

My cover was originally, going to be some sort of geometric flowery thing, then Frances mentioned the silk I'd dyed for my cover looked like stockings! Light bulb moment and complete re-think! I did a sort of reverse applique with some tea dyed sheeting and ......

.....What's this you say, lace, and beads, and girly type things? What has happened to Jules, and her traditional austerity!?  Luckily, having decided to be completely 'not me', there are lots of wonderful laces and beads to be had  at Frances' workshops!

As luck would have it I had some thread which was also the colour of stockings! I embellished the laces with Chinese Knots,  added buttons - (which are old, probably 1920/30s) made a teeny 'pearl necklace' and  used rose petals  hoarded from some dried buds. I bonded the silk  cover to pelmet vilene for support.

Frances gave me some vintage blue lace and  1920's little matte sequins, so I could make the garter.

Now the inside is another story! I'd already made my pages in paper,  convinced I'd want lots of straight lines. You guessed it, as soon as I saw everyone else's books and ideas,  I wanted  to do fabric, but  alas, it was too late, so  I pressed on.

Here are the pages  I've started so far, they aren't complete,  I want to add more stitching and fabrics.
The inside cover is lined with tea dyed sheeting, and the pages are painted wallpaper lining paper.

I did do a lot of reading up  beforehand, and found out some interesting things which I didn't know. My idea was to create a sort of scrap/sketch  book progressing  through the decade, showing how embellishment changed through cultural influences.

 So, in  the very early 20's, organic design and Art Noveau was still very much in vogue, and the Great War was still  uppermost in minds.

Beading  was everywhere, be it clothes, accessories or household items. It became really popular, with lots of magazines devoted to it.

 I made the tiny bag previously, but it didn't 'fit' my book- so I've hidden it in the envelope!

When Howard Carter opened Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922, 'Egyptmania or Tutmania' took hold  of the West and had a major influence on styles through most of the decade. The picture on the left is my interpretation of a Palmolive advert,  headlined 'The Re-incarnation of Beauty'!

 The infamous bob was also a result of the passion for all things Egyptian!

 It wasn't until 1925  that the Paris Exhibition heralded the onset of Art Deco and the Age of Chic.

 

I had to include the Year of the Flapper - as those radical styles influenced the embellishment of the popular - especially the passion for pearls.  The inventions of new plastics and fake pearls meant now that jewellery could be worn and afforded by many women,  not just the rich.

This is an interpretation of a Vogue cover,  it just says 20's to me so I put it in!

That's it so far. I suspect this one will get put away for a bit, but it has been an interesting challenge. I learnt quite a bit about myself and what I want to do through the process of creating it, plus of course having a wonderful time!x

January Sketches

Welcome to the New Year!

I am deliberately doing things differently with this new blog, and I'd like to kick off by telling you  about the 31 Sketches in January Challenge which I'm participating in,  set up by my friend - and very talented artist, Palma Rea. You can find out about it here at her blog 'A Creative Journey' - and do join us if you are a sketcher.

 Today's prompt is 'Draw something you can't bear to throw away, but should!' So I was out in the garden this morning - drawing this poor old wooden hand fork, which  gets left outside and is on its last legs, but is so handy!

I've been doing a bit of sketching over the break too, and also catching up with my homework for Liz Steel's Sketching Now Foundations  Class, which I treated myself to at the end of last year. It's excellent - lots of well thought out content,  tips and demonstrations. Liz is a very thorough and conscientious teacher and I'm really enjoying the challenge. My ambition is to loosen up and get quicker and more spontaneous - and it's really working. I'm finishing things in well under half the time I used to spend :)  It's also made me feel a lot more confident about sharing, so here are a couple of birds  I did to remind us Spring is just around the corner! x

Frances Pickering: Late Summer at Hawkwood

First, I want to say a big thank you to all of you  still following me. I am delighted you are sharing this new journey with me, and I really appreciate all your lovely comments and e-mails.
Now -  having shared my first trials with fabric/art sketchbooks with you,  you can see  how an expert melds these 2  things together! Thanks to what I can only call serendipity - and my very dear friend Alison, I was able to attend a wonderful weekend at Frances Pickering's Late Summer Masterclass, held at beautiful Hawkwood College in Gloucestershire. Let me set the scene.....

 The college is in an idyllic spot and although it was cloudy for much of the weekend,  there were still some beautiful spots of colour in the garden and fields around.

 Hawkwood has it's own natural spring in the grounds.

The surrounding buildings are lovely too - this fabulous old barn now houses equipment for stone sculpture courses.

Crops are grown and these lovely piggies run around happily. We had a long chat and they informed me they are the best fed pigs in Gloucestershire. Having eaten far too much of Hawkwood's delicious organic food for the last 2 days I believe them!

 View from the front entrance  - green, calm and serene.

And here it is in the sunshine!

Beehives clustered under the tree produce Hawkwood honey.
It's such a great place.

Onto the main event.....

Here we are in the big sunny hall working on our books. The workshop theme was 'Black and White and Read all over'. We were limited to using black and white, shades of grey and the use of text which inspired us. This was really challenging - but so inspiring!

Alongside my excitement I was a little apprehensive, as I was very much the new girl among Frances' regular students,  but I was made so welcome by a truly delightful and entertaining group of ladies. Frances is a wonderful artist,  an inspiring and generous teacher, and all round lovely lady. She's supported by her husband, Jim, who amongst other things, manages all her administration, and keeps everyone laughing with his great sense of humour.

Frances had brought along a vast selection of her black and white books to inspire us (Do check out her website to see the beautiful colourful work she does too!) She very kindly gave me permission to take photographs, and I had a very hard time deciding what to take, but  here's the sample I chose to show you.

 So many beautiful books!

 This one is only a few inches big.

 I could live in that nest!

 I couldn't choose a favourite, but this book really calls to me,  the illustrations are so 'me'.

 Frances had also brought  some of her sketchbooks, and this one really caught my attention.

 This tiny book inspired by the Welsh coast is simply exquisite.

She has also made a suite of books to commemorate this years First World War anniversary; they are both beautiful and very moving.

I learnt so much over the last couple of days and I've come away with so many new creative ideas my head's buzzing. I'll show you what I did at the workshop in my next post.