Friday 18 December 2015

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE...

So here it is again, that festive celebration that gives us all an excuse to deck the halls.
This is now an annual post with the usual suspects appearing. The vintage lanterns have been up for a couple of weeks now to get us in the festive mood.
Rudolf now finds himself on the wall.
The gnome from my childhood Christmases is in pride of place on the mantel piece and
has now been joined by a flock of vintage robins this year,
 a gift from the talented Caroline McCatty. Frosty fairy, from one of our annual fairy swaps has made a return visit.
Creepy or cute, you choose?
I have a marvelous collection of hand-made cards
this year, thank you for going that extra mile at such a busy time.
The tree is now up and 
encrusted with my favourite decorations.
And there are more fairy lights in places you just could not imagine.
But the highlight of the festive season is the fairy swap I do with Caroline, this year the theme was Frightening fairy and once again Caroline has won. So del Toro in nature, I am so lucky to have yet another McCatty original!!
My fairy became a little too corpulent to accommodate a growler that sounded more like a cow than a frightening other being. But it is the joy of making something for someone.

We have been making and swapping fairies for years now, do you have a Christmas tradition you would like to tell me about?

Thursday 10 December 2015

AND THE WINNER IS.......

Thank you to everyone who gave me such useful feedback about Create for Christmas, the set of craft workshops delivered at the yard:ARTspace to encourage handmade festive loveliness. As a self employed artist things that seem a good idea in one's head, sometimes proves otherwise when discussed with others.
Everyone who offered suggestions and thoughts about these specifically targeted sessions, both from my blog and my facebook page have been popped into Grandpa's bowler.
So Elaine from Kitsch and Curious, you are a lucky winner, please let me have your address so I can get your prize in the post.
I had so many replies that I decided to pull 2 out of the hat so Tracey Turner, let me have your address too.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to offer an opinion, it has been very valuable market research, so watch this space, I suspect Create for Christmas may make a return next year.

Thursday 3 December 2015

TIME GOES BY...SO QUICKLY

Can you believe that December 4, 2014 was my last class at Hampen Factory and during the run up to that Christmas, I and lots of lovely chums were doing this..SUE OF THE YARD
I look back at the photographs from this time last year
 and wonder how I got from this
to this?
Well with the help and
commitment of my super friends,
the ones who physically painted and built, who offered exciting workshops and gave me the moral support to keep pursuing the idea of the yard:ARTspace. I could make a long list, but you know who you are and a great big thank you.
Thank you also to the talented people who came and used the yard by coming on courses and workshops, producing some of the most gorgeous work I have seen. Again you will get a taste of the talent from previous blog posts.
The end of term saw lots of experimentation and
gum arabic transfer, done here on beautiful Liberty fabric.

I have lots of exciting stuff planned for next year, sign up for the news letter at the top to stay in touch, check out the website www.theyardartspace.com or keep an eye on the yard's facebook page