Our rainy Sunday

So, what to do on a rainy day? Being inspired by our holiday visits to galleries, and also yesterday seeing BB's Godfather, Keith Pettit, exhibiting his wonderful wood engravings at The Hive in Lewes, the boys got their heads down to do a spot of 'arting'.

Meanwhile the rain did pour and pour....

For BB art is far from his strongest interest, and although he can be encouraged to draw, he isn't very enthusiastic, believing that he is rather 'rubbish' at it! Hopefully he will be able to gain more confidence at his new secondary school. In the meantime, Sam decided that he'd try the next level on Angry Birds!

Whilst in Lewes I spotted a few classic records in the charity shop, so as the rain continued to pour, we listened to the oldies but goldies, which seemed appropriate on the retro record player... Bali, hi...

Lunch for Steve and myself consisted of sprouted spelt bread, with humus and black olives, alfalfa and radish sprouts, cucumber and pumpkin seeds -  no dairy, no wheat and importantly no pesticides! Even the boys with their rice pasta and pesto escaped the dreaded highly cultivated wheat.

With the sun coming out in the morning, Zaf and I had managed to collect quite a haul of juicy blackberries on his walk (despite Zaf's best efforts to eat as many berries as he could directly from the prickly bushes). BB and I decided to make apple and blackberry crumble for pudding, and even Sam helped by peeling the apples.

No sugar, just a dribble of agave syrup

The crumble top was made with oats, cashew and pecan nuts, chia seeds, dates and a lovely dollop of thyme honey. For dinner I rustled up a lemon and spinach risotto, with roasted (sweet and tasty straight from our green house!) tomatoes, sprinkled with a helping of pine nuts and a smidgin of Parmesan!

An unexpected highlight of the day was a particularly lovely bunch of jewel-coloured dahlias. They were given in exchange for two pieces of glass panels which Steve had put on Freecycle.

 There wasn't much the two furry chaps could do, other than kip in their own loveable way!

But the good thing about rain is that it makes rainbows, and we had the pleasure of two of these lovely apparitions.

Hope you had a great weekend too!

 

Creating my own Kate Tulett art

At the South of England Show this year, in the pouring rain, I stumbled across the very lovely Kate Tulett in one of the craft marquees. Kate is an art teacher, artist and generally a splendidly bonkers lady! I thought her collages were fab, and longed for one of her creations myself, but settled on a one-day textile course held at the school she teaches at in Oxted. But unbeknownst to me, my great hubby sneakily arranged for me to receive one of her aquascapes for my birthday, knowing that I have a particular penchant for all things sea related.



It was done in great haste as we only 'discovered' Kate a week away from my birthday, and the collage was a surprise, so it involved secret emails, and a hand-over on a garage forecourt.
I love my picture, it even has lines from a poem that Steve wrote for me many years ago!

Those who know me are well aware that I am a hoarder as far as fabric, buttons and ephemera go, and I like art which is both textural and three dimensional. So having a go at creating something as fun as one of her pieces was quite a challenge. Letting go, and allowing myself to empty my head of science and bees and such, even for a day, is not always easy. Nature accompanies me where ever I go :o)

And despite being amongst many (many!) children on the course, Kate was patient with all and sundry, no matter what age or temperament. I have done some machine embroidery before so I am reasonably comfortable with a sewing machine, but am always open to new techniques.

We looked at the work of Sophie Standing, a very clever textile artist and Kate explained her techniques, before embarking on our own projects. And although I haven't finished it, I'll show you how far I managed to get today.

First a sketch on muslin, then acrylic paints washed over the canvas

Here's one of Kate's pieces in progress

And two stages of other pieces of Kate's work!

Next the fabric stage, and here the photo of my garden for inspiration

Kate's desk!

My collage beginning to take shape with fabric scraps

Oh, oh! Small people upturning the giant fabric box and hiding amongst the multitude of textures and colours! Great fun!

But, of course, bees are always in my heart, and always part of my garden...

You'll have to wait to see the completed article, as there is more to add to my master-piece. However, I am pretty chuffed at the way it is progressing, and even the din of enthusiastic noise from what seemed like a hall full of halflings didn't deter my enjoyment of the day.

Many thanks to Kate and her two peachy assistants!

The Christmas Tree

This weekend BB and I put up the Christmas tree, with Sam watching on in amusement. In a break with my usual tradition of using the Nordic colours of red, green and white with lots of natural textures on the tree, I opted for multi-coloured ornaments, and added a bit of bling!

BB holding a gorgeous ball of coloured fairy lights

After a lot of hassle finding a string of lights where all the light bulbs worked, I finally got them wound onto the tree. Why on Earth don't they find ways of making it easier to detect a faulty light bulb?!

I think it's very important to include treasured bits and bobs created by the boys, no matter what the theme is. In the meantime the boys got on with what they do best...a huge tickle fight!

Final result - very colourful and not at all Scandinavian...just for a change...but still got the thumbs up from all my chaps.

Have a lovely, and hopefully not too frantic, pre-Christmas week!

All curled up

As the outdoor temperature just plummeted last night and the first frost of the year appeared, whitening both grass and borders, look who's curled up enjoying the comfort of his favourite chair!

This is our lovely Milo, he is a five year old tabby. He originally came from our local branch of the Cats Protection when he was just 10 weeks old. Milo has always been a character, so loving and easy to be around. Bless him, he even puts up with being regularly nuzzled, knocked over and pounced on by Zaf.

I wonder whether you have a feline friend who makes your home just that little bit extra cozy?

Have a happy weekend....