Secret of Vintage Jewelry

I’ve just about completed my Wales painting now, although there are some small details to fiddle around with, such as the direction of the shadows, and the figures. Here it is to date. My next painting may well be another watery Welsh landmark – watch this space.



The ancient tradition of well dressings are a feature of the Peak District in the summer months, and, although Clowne is just out of that area, we have one every year too. The colourful floral display board is erected wherever there is (or was) a well, and many villages have several.

Here's ours: it depicts the railway station that was once in the village and even includes a small working clock, set to the correct time when I photographed it.The well dressings are made by a small dedicated team. The process begins by wet clay being spread in a wooden frame with a board at the back. The water is well mixed with the clay, and the clay has to be kept damp throughout the process or it would crack.


The design is then pricked out using a paper pattern, and then thousands of flower petals are pushed into it. Often other materials are used too, such as straw, or small pebbles etc . Ours seems to feature dried “everlasting” flowers this time, which will last longer. Normally the flower petals die within about a week.


The decorated board is displayed upright near the well, and a short service is held to bless it. If there is more than one well in the village, each has its own service.


The nearby village of Elmton recently had its well dressings, using only materials from within that village. Elmton has a sort of mini festival around its well dressings, featuring craft displays in the church, and other small fund raising events around the village.


For more pictures and information on well dressings, follow this link: http://www.peakdistrictinformation.com/features/welldress.php


The summer holidays are upon us once again, and I have been at home with my young son for the past couple of weeks. We have discovered various artists on You Tube, particularly the work of Simon Tofield. Any cat owner who sees his very funny “Simon’s Cat” films will say, “That’s just so true”. http://www.simonscat.com/films.html. On a more offbeat note, the short film “Man in a Cat” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8hBjT2EekY&feature=related had my son asking if our cat had a man inside her(!)  It really is one of the strangest things I've ever seen.

Grounds for Sculpture is an enchantment. Go through an arbor and find yet another startling contemporary sculture. The garden itself is lush and don't forget to eat at Rats. Yes, Rats, one of the most romantic restaurant I've ever been to.

http://www.groundsforsculpture.org/

I have been reading Trudy Friend’s book, “Landscape Problems and Solutions”, to help me do my seascape. So many art instruction books are more about the artist showing off their work than telling you what to do, but Trudy Friend actually guides you through it properly. Her books are always about drawing and watercolours (although this one has some information on gouache). Perhaps one day she will wrote one about how to use oils or mixed media.



I have continued to progress with my Welsh seascape, and have more or less completed the sky. Isn’t it colourful? I’m glad I’ve got a good range of watercolours now. I’ve made a start on the sea, headland and boats but there is more to do, especially on the sea. This picture doesn’t show the whole painting, as I have scanned it in to save time. Once I complete it, I’ll photograph it and show you it properly.


At art group, we have continued to debate a suitable place to visit for a painting day. People have also begun to bring items in to put on display at the forthcoming St John’s church fair, on 13th and 14th August. I am taking my own table in this time, to add to the ones they supply, so that we can have a larger display than last time. The club decided against buying any folding display stands, which would have been helpful in showing our work, because they are so expensive. No one wants to exhibit in this area, other than our once a year exhibition, as they would not expect paintings to sell in the current economic climate.


On a happier note, here is one of my 4 year old son’s paintings “a fairy” – do you think he has inherited any abilities from me? Or should I be learning from him? Answers on a postcard …

So, you send out your work, get it back published in a magazine, an anthology, possibly without pay. Is that the end of that? Never!!! Once your work is published, any good thing can happen with it at any time. I just got a Facebook request from an editor for permission to use my poem, Friends for Life, that had been published in an anthology at least five years ago, in a dramatic reading. The editor's last dramatic reading (the subject is a friend's bout with cancer) raised $1500 for cancer research. Who knows what this reading will raise? For all kinds of reasons, get your work out there.
Here's my poem that an actor will read for the fundraiser:

Friends for Life


You’re 34, a year younger than the age your doctor believed
a woman should be tested.
Like malicious gossip, the cancer spread
from your breast to your lymph nodes.
Instead of 2 pert breasts, your chest now sports a mediport
to pump chemo in. Every 4 weeks for 6 more months,
you’ll be filled like your SUV at Amoco.

Listless, cake-lipped, nauseated, you lie in bed,
resting for hours to have the strength to read
a few pages of Harry Potter to your daughters—5 and 7.
The oldest hears the scream beneath your soft voice,
pulls herself back as if she’s happened upon a wicked sorcerer.
Her friend’s mother died last year even though the “C” word
was never said in her house either.

The doorbell. A flood of friends and neighbors
bringing self-help tapes, macrobiotic cookbooks,
the names of shamans and Rolphers, a brochure from a healing spa
in Romania, a gift certificate for you to fax your prayers
to the Wailing Wall, a subscription to Prevention.
I see your eyes blaze.

After you make your excuses,
we go back to your room.
“It’s always the healthy,” you say,
“who are expert at getting well.”

The phone rings. It’s your husband.
“He’s staying late at the office again,” you tell me
as you have each night since you’ve been home.

I lie in your bed beside you, running my hand over your scalp.
You look naked without your long blonde hair.
What can I do? What can I do?
I get up and make you soup.
I run the water for your children’s’ bath.

(P.S. Lisa survived and her fifth year checkup turned out fine!)

This week, I decided I needed some new watercolours to do my New Quay painting. I needed a better variety of colours than the basic 10 or so watercolour tubes I already had (plus Naples Yellow), so cue a visit to “A for Art” in Chesterfield. While I was there, I enquired about having a display of my paintings in their window. I have to take some examples of my work in to show them, and then there is a 13 month waiting list, as paintings are exhibited for four weeks at a time.

Cotman studio set - 40 different colours and built in pallettes - a bit of luxury for a change.

I‘ll probably go again when I’ve completed the painting I’m doing at the moment - by then it’s likely I’ll need to go to Chesterfield anyway for something else. There are certain things you cannot buy in this village, such as shoes, and the chocolate robots my son likes, which come from a specialist shop. Also there’s only one bank.  A for Art do craft demo days, listed on their website: http://www.aforart.com/


On Kevin’s advice, I also bought a frame for the painting before starting it, as it is a “wide angle” one, and a suitable frame may be hard to find once it’s completed. It does mean I am forced to complete the little beggar, for better or worse. I have gradually been progressing it today, and the colourwash for the sky, which is several different colours, has blended together nicely, as has the sea. I have been painting the clouds, and will be making them paler. I haven’t painted the headland yet, as you can see.


At art group, a man and a woman from the local council came to present us with a small grant. She took a photo of him presenting it to Maggie, and asked to photograph some other members too. As I’d washed my hair that morning, I agreed to be photographed next to Elizabeth. I tried to put a bit of “lippy” on, but didn’t get much chance, so I ended up with just a bit in the middle, reminiscent of Hilda Ogden on Coronation Street many moons ago. We might be featured in the local papers, so watch this space for a “Fame At Last #3” post.

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