A Peeking Pixie & a confession about inspiration

Hullo friends!

My head is all hurty from trying to install a widget on my website...I tried and tried then tried some more but I still couldn't get it to work [I suspect I'm being a bit dim] - thankfully, Martin (tech support) is on it, I hope!

Sooo whilst he does his thing, I'll tell you about my pixie pal.

When did I first spy him? Let me look [flicks through sketch book] ahh yes...I first spotted the wee fella on the 22nd of April of last year (yup, 2011). I finished doing what I was doing and rushed off to jot him down along with some ideas and then forgot about him for a few weeks.

He must have been whispering to me because, on the 9th May, I had another sketching session of another couple of ideas. And that was it. He whispered every once in a while just as a gentle 'don't forget about me' reminder, but I could never find the right way to create him...you now, I couldn't fix on the appropriate medium (is that correct?)

Then yesterday, after having a couple of attempts at lino cutting, the night before [well technically it was Soft Cut cutting but what they hey] I decided to have bash at turning my wee pixie pal into a stamp.

He was ever so fiddly for a novice like me and I was quite concerned that I would fail to capture his little expression - shy but hopeful, and so very inquisitive - but I did! I confess to having done a number of little happy dances accompanied by excited giggles. I think George worried his old mum had finally lost her marbles [ that happened eons ago but let him have his illusions ;)] and happily set about printing some little Moleskine journals had been waiting for just such an occasion.

So he's free, my little Peeking Pixie has been let loose in the world and I think he's going to have a blast.

Okay, the confession about inspiration time....this is where I first saw him, well actually just the top of his hat [he was too shy to peek properly at this point].

Can you see it?

This is the view from where I was *ahem* sitting [yup, I was 'paying a call' as the polite folk say...hey inspiration crops up when you least expect it!]

After I'd showed George my stamp yesterday evening, he then excitedly took me on a tour of all his Door Pals...you know the little creatures and people who hide in the knots and grain of your wooden doors? No? Go and have a look now [when you've finished reading], I bet they're dying for you to finally find them! We have some shared ones and we each introduced one another to new Door Pals. Ahh, he is his mother's son, poor kid ;)

Top left: this is a strangled goose to me but to George it' a ghost

Top right: we both have this one - a big beaked bird with a raised eyebrow

Bottom left: a little critter with a brown muzzle and a crazy-dude fur fringe

Bottom right: this one is George's own and his favourite...two peachy bum cheeks ;)

Do you see creatures and friends in strange places? Do share...

Sarah
x

inactive...inspiration

Whilst the serious making is on hold for the time being, I thought I'd share with you some of my recent inspiration...Cloth•Paper•Scissors.

Probably not new to any mixed media artists out there and it wasn't new to me either but, whilst inactive & needing inspiration, I asked the mister to buy me the latest issue whilst he was out & about (the newsagent in the Town Hall car park in Skipton stocks a wealth of hard to get publications & a lot of them arty/creative).

Back he came with the Jan/Feb2012 issue & I swear I have never devoured a magazine quite so thoroughly & with such pleasure! I carried it around with me for the first week, dipping in & out of certain articles as they caught my fancy & trying out one of the tutorials...Word Birds by Ann Ellis.

I have wanted to try collage for a long, long time but seeing the amazing creations other people dream up, very much stopped me from trying it myself. Silly really but when I see collage and mixed media art I'm always struck by how free the artist must be to pull it all together so naturally...I was worried I wasn't 'free' enough & that anything I created would look forced. So, with the idea of filling a whole canvas being a monstrously daunting task, I hadn't bothered even trying.

Until I came across these birds! They were the absolute perfect size to break my teeth on...and so I just got stuck right in, drawing and cutting out 8 bird shapes and their wings [this is another problem I have...I can never just try 1, it had to be 8 *shakes head at self* ] & then pulling out tissue papers and the like ready to make. Now I will say that after gesso-ing all the shapes (I'd used old Graze boxes which are brown in colour & I didn't want this showing through) and pva-ing 6 of them & gluing on the torn tissue bits, I did start to think I was wasting my time.

You know that "what AM I doing feeling"? But I persevered & even dug out the paints for a couple of them. Once the wings were on I could start to see them come to life and quietly lost myself in the process for a couple of hours, playing with colours, sticking on embellishments & writing out little sayings.

Now, you can see that they are hugely influenced by Ann's own designs but I am so pleased with them - they were such fun to make that I'm having a crack at some of my own designs but using a similar method & hoping to use them in a different way. 

Well, I've become very sidetracked with telling my birdy story when what I intended to do was to tell you all about Cloth•Paper•Scissors *tsk* *tsk* Ms Ditsy!

I loved this issue & I think a lot of it was down to timing...the whole mixed media/collage slant plus my break from making-to-sell giving my creative mind time to think, ponder & stretch a little. Wanting to feed this stretching, I registered with the CPS site and my, oh my, there is SO much help & information & inspiration & wonderful free resources...and for all sorts of media. I urge you to take a look when you're next on the pc or your phone and having a little internet browse. You never know what it may spark off so remember...

x

Why?

Some days I walk into my little workroom, plonk down my cuppa, pull up a chair, switch on the laptop and then stop. And think "why?".

Why...

   am I sitting here alone?

   do I spend my time making things & photographing & listing & promoting?
   am I not reading my book, or a magazine or watching the telly?
   am I using up all of this time in the vain hope that my products will sell?
   am I not out walking in the countryside?
   am I not cracking on with household jobs & chores?
   am I not meeting up with a friend for coffee?
   am I sat here wondering why?

Away from my room I make great plans - I schedule time for emails/making orders/designing/researching/editing photos/listing/promoting. I draw up timetables and print them out. I scribble down flashes of inspiration on scrap paper. I get all jazzed up with enthusiasm and write copious notes and plans and ideas in my notebook.

And then I walk in here and this happens. All impetus abandons me...all my "yes, this is what I should be doing" goes *poof*...and all of my plans just seem kind of silly.

SO the question is...why am I unable to maintain the motivation and the excitement, and how do I rectify it?

To be continued...

x

follow the Flickr trail

Someone added me as a contact this week so I thought I'd take a look at their photostream, and that's where the trail started...

this made me smile so I looked further

and I loved this

then I clicked on their fave photos by other Flickr members and found these beauties

and then this ♥

and to a happy stitchery town

where will the Flickr trail lead you to today?

x

**edit: links now added to the photos Sx

Pinterest Pretties

I recently pinned this to my Quilting board but thought I'd share it with you non-pinners
It was sadly sold in December 2010 by Splendorfalls28 on Etsy...beautiful nonetheless, don't you think?

how about this for a paper cut!

i followed the trail back to discover that it is the work of Julene Harrison and you can see her work here

Inspired by a child...

My son, George, was watching the telly a while back, when he suddenly stopped playing, turned to the TV and declared "I care!".

An advert about a child having to do things an adult would normally be responsible for, and having no childhood to speak of, was being documented with the catch phrase "who cares if...".

Well the advert worked and George was sucked in and has since been desperate to help...and not just children! He would like to donate to the Dog's Trust, sponsor a child and adopt a tiger, to name but a few of his 'giving' wishes.

George then started coming up with ideas of how he could help...drawing pictures to sell like Mummy, giving up his pocket money and so on.

When George's step mum was pregnant, he drew two bears...Cuddle Me! teddy and Hug Me! bear - I took the deisgns, traced them onto canvases and painted them...Cuddle Me! in pinks and Hug Me! in blues.That way, whichever 'flavour' the baby turned out to be, it's big brother could give it a painting designed by him :).

On the most recent occasion of a charity conversation with George, we came up with a plan:

1) I would list both Cuddle Me! and Hug Me! on my webshops on Etsy, Coriandr and Folksy, and would donate the profits of any sale of these two designs to the NSPCC.

2) for Christmas 2010, George would design a Christmas card and then we'd make a chunk of them and they too would get listed to sell.

Well, it's a little too early to be thinking about Christmas 2010 (!) so we've tackled the first idea...and here they are - both bears are now for sale in my little web shops

Thanks for reading and here's to George and his plans!

x