silky things

I have just taken delivery of a parcel full of the most beautiful Cambodian raw silk in the most wonderful jewel like colours. The whole process from start to finish is like a wonderful load of magic, and whilst I was out there this year I was lucky enough to be invited to have a go. I am legendary for my granny knots which if in doubt, about the knots security tie another one, so the thought of been in charge of a loom was off the scale. Nevertheless I had a go and wove enough silk to make a belt for a fairy. It was so difficult and your co-ordination needs to be second to none. The Cambodian women were so generous with their time and sharing their skills. I am afraid I will just use the silk at the end of their process which becomes the start of my design process. The making of silk is fascinating and I spent a day working and learning with them form the start to the end. I have long been using Cambodian silk, I love the texture of it, colour and am fascinated by lying textures next to one another, like the silk and wool or with loosely woven tweed, makes my heart skip a beat! Hope you enjoy the images from silk worms munching on mulberry leaves to my finished work using the silk

hatching up a plan

Nothing makes me happier than planning journey's. Well not so much planned but loose arrangements, well this simply means flights there and then see what unfolds. So I am in just under 3 weeks approaching my 40th year of living this life and don't really have the time or inclination for a mid- life crisis. So I am hatching up a plan to do 40 journeys in my 40th year. My hope is to travel to places near and far to photograph, write, sketch, paint and then to maybe do something with my gatherings. I have been thinking about this for a while and these journeys I want to share with family, friends and strangers. So I have bought my world map to put up in my bedroom and red pins to stab into countries I dream of, and let's see what happens.

christmassing

Christmassing has already started at at the butterfly's home !
Christmassing is one of our family words conjured up by my great grandad who at this time of the year started Christmassing I think that meant sherry in real terms !

chairs

I have just finished these grumpy budgie chairs they have both been stripped back to their natural wood after hours of sanding to get off the very very thick dark brown varnish. They have both been re - upholstered using the most beautiful Italian cotton and both come with their hand embroidered budgie cushions with pom pom details. You can find them both in my shop later today. http://www.patchworkbutterfly.co.uk/ 

Sketchbook

Pages from my sketchbook - The night shift

To see more in this series, visit my exhibition at patchworkbutterfly 

b's evening stories

the house that was

in the house that was there used to live a little girl with ponytails and a little yellow hairpin that her mum had found for her. she used to go out deep down into the woods, sit on red ant nests and come home running with a little black barking dog.  she liked to sing ancient songs that had been banned years before when men had gone to war. at night – or was it forever? – a black spider would come out and tickle her on the eyebrow. the little girl would jump out of bed and play dominoes with the spider on the bedroom floor where the tiles had been coated in yellow and cream glass paint, finished off with a  black netting that made it look like a beehive. in the house that was forget-me-knot would grow on top of the kitchen table, guarding white bowls full of egg yolks stirred in with sugar, and a little bread on the side. but the house that was is no more now. the earth that shook took it away, down into its womb. and so the little girl had to make a new one to carry with her, away from the mountains.

I am very excited to share my dear friend b's evening stories - "the stories i write come knocking on my door during the day but i only let them in in the evening, when the sunlight fades and i am willing to listen. sometimes they come as pictures first. the ones that stay always leave me with a sense of wonder. i don't believe in the word 'the end' 
You can find three of her wonderful stories and photos in my exhibition space. Have a peek , they are just heavenly . b's evening stories

School

This last 2 weeks I have been working on a couple of arts projects within schools and the children are always brilliant, work hard, laugh lots, and have fun. So why is it that schools leave me with a shiver? A prime example this week was an art teacher using some kind of crowd control techniques that wouldn't have been out of place in a riot situations. Blowing a whistle to crowd control. that whistle was blown 55 times in a 45 minute lesson. So what did those children learn and why were they so unhappy in that class?  I came away feeling very sad. So was it the content of lesson, teacher, the way the lesson was delivered, sterile environment, the hospital green or sick bay yellow paint the awful smell of classrooms. I don't know. Maybe one maybe all. It made me think of the classrooms in a very poor rural province in Cambodia where a school has been built with government  funding. They learn in mother nature's classrooms open rooms created outside to learn. I spent some lovely days there working, with some children who had never encountered paint, brushes, and glitter things, working with teachers who were as excited as the children to be learning about new things. The children were very happy to learn, well behaved and full of fun. So does the space in which children learn effect their want to learn? I know for me personally those classrooms in Cambodia were richer in learning  than a lesson delivered by a smartboard over here.