Just to make you jealous: a wonderful summer holiday, including drawing

A bee enjoying the lovely flowers.  I like taking photos of them but can't name any plants

We’re just back from our annual summer holiday, which was wonderfully relaxing and full of sunshine and I’m now a bit daunted by all that is coming up over the next few months.  It’s all very exciting: I’m running a drop-in art activity based on Greek myths this weekend at Holmwood House, a National Trust for Scotland property in Glasgow; I have work in an exhibition in Stirling opening on 1^st August; I’m going to the Festival of Quilts; I’ve got to get my artwork ready for the European Patchwork Meeting in September and of course, I have my classes to plan and run.  I could really use another few hours in the each day!

Adding the final details to a tree and sunset

Packing for our holiday I was getting convinced it was a bad move to take two weeks off as there is so much on, but I think that really means that the holiday was needed.  We spent a few days in Legoland for the kids (and R) and then we went camping in France.  We visited some amazing chateaux; I will write a separate post about Chaumont as it was such an inspiring place to visit for all the contemporary art on display – I really can’t recommend it highly enough.  

The food was pretty fabulous too

We also went swimming in the sea and played on the beach.  As we live in cold, wet and damp Scotland, part of the attraction of heading south is enjoying some nicer weather for a while and this year we were not let down – two weeks of hot and sunny weather.  Just perfect!

Kids hard at work drawing using my Inktense pencils

I took some paper and my Inktense pencils so I could do some sketching whilst I was away and one of the highlights for me was all three children decided to draw too and we spent some lovely hours in the evening drawing together.  It all sounds idyllic and of course, it wasn’t all the time, but having all the kids enjoying drawing (especially as one has virtually no interest in art whatsoever) is a memory I will treasure.  I didn’t even ask them to draw, they asked me if they could!

I think this started out as a volcano, but was changed along the way

As one of the new courses I am running is 'being inspired by nature', I also had a great time taking loads of inspiring photos, mainly close ups of flowers.  Looking at them now on the computer screen some of the colours look quite unbelievable and this is before I have played with them in image manipulation software.

Back home, with the piles of washing and Scottish rain pouring outside, our holiday already seems light years away (we got back less than 24 hours ago!), but it is nice to be back in the studio, with music blaring and two helpers helping me prepare the things for Holmwood.  If you are in the Glasgow area, why not come and visit Holmwood on Saturday?  There are other activities as well as art and there is also a craft fair.  Hope to see you there.

Out & About: Carradale and the quilt show

Although it is still August, it feels like the end of summer.  And it has been a fabulous one!  A dearth of blog posts from me will be for one of two reasons: either I feel down and inadequate and so have nothing I think is worth sharing, or things are going very well and I’m really busy with family and enjoying life.  Luckily this has been the latter and rather than worrying about not creating work over the summer holidays, I decided just to enjoy them this year.  So after our trip to Yorkshire in the last post, I’ve also been to Holland, the Commonwealth Games, London, the Festival of Quilts, had two lots of friends and family to stay and at the weekend there, we went to Carradale on the Mull of Kintyre to see Marjory MacKinven and Marion Robertson’s exhibition.

I hadn’t visited that area of Scotland for the best part of 20 years but we had such a lovely time I hope it won’t be 20 years until the next time.  We camped at Carradale Campsite, which led straight onto the beach  - a fantastic location.  

The views were stunning, as you can see from the harbour view (which R took).

Marjory with Liz Ferguson and some of their beautiful sketchbooks

Then, of course, there was the exhibition.  It was fabulous seeing so many of Marjory and Marion’s quilts in one room.  The theme of the work was ‘From the River to the Sea’ and both of them are heavily influenced by water in their work.  

I love Marion’s pebbles which I first saw at the Festival of Quilts last year.  

Also in a grey colourway was Marjory’s new piece based on Skipness Castle.  I think it was my favourite piece in the show.  We visited the castle on the way home.

The kids loved the baby quilts on show and were very proud of their efforts at mono-printing on fabric.  Thanks Marion for being so patient and showing them how to do it.  They were thrilled. 

I’m now back in work mode and really pleased to be so – having the summer off was fun but so is being the studio.  This week I’m dyeing and printing lots of fabric.