Oh Boys!

31st October 2011 - Hector James and Felix Jack my sons are born


Paradigm shift - I can only feel, I don't have words to describe it. I have relied on others to do so for me.


Thank you to Marisa for saying 'suddenly it seems that everything in the universe is suddenly exactly where it should be'
Thank you to Tim for saying that 'suddenly it seems that there is an extra dimension in the world'...I am reminded of the experience of seeing a magic eye picture for the first time, except that the picture is my life, it is the experience of seeing my life in an extra dimension, not just an external image.
Thank you to Kate Bush for Aerial. Hector and Felix are my sea and my sky. They are my suns. and Aerial has given me a frame to that moment so that I can revisit it.

Preserving the Orchard's Harvests

Producing palatable presents - for those requiring the prevention of rot (particularly the cabin fever variety)

Put a date in your calendar (in october ish) to forage for sloe berries and apples
No matter what the weather, (in fact it's even more refreshing in the wind and rain) go and collect a bucket or two load

NB it may be useful to bring a step ladder or a stool - keep your harvest location secret

2 recipes for sloe berry produce

• Apple and sloe berry Jelly (v v tasty especially with meat and root vegetables)
• Sloe gin by Si (below)

Sloe gin recipe

• Wash sloes and freeze (when ready to make gin, take sloes from freezer and defrost)
• Sterilise some bottles 
• Fill a bottle to 2/3 full with sloe berries (no need to prick berries as this sometimes makes the gin cloudy) - remember to weigh the sloes before putting them in the bottle
• pour 1/2 the weight of the sloes in granulated sugar into the bottle
• Fill the rest of the bottle with gin and seal the bottle
• Turn the bottles daily until the sugar's dissolved
• Leave to rest for a minimum of 6 weeks before drinking
• After a year decant the sloe gin from the bottle (this will ensure that the sloe gin doesn't go off) 
• Soak the sloe gin berries in sherry for another yummy drink

A Heavenly Yarn from the Orchard

A remedy for those in need of inspiration

A simple graft for the protection of future harvests

Visit shop to pick up yarn and hooks unless you have some already.

Raid drawers to find an old button

Go to Crafty Anna's Blogspot to see free apple cozy pattern

Use You tube to learn how to crochet

Make apple cozies till you are totally exhausted

Sleep determindly and with conviction

Repeat until you find you have re-awoken to the root of your inpsiration

Then act on inspiration

WARNING: Crochet is addictive

THANK YOU- to Norma for two beautiful knitted baby blankets and to Tracey for the crocheted baby blankets to keep the boys warm this winter.

Select the right palette of words

I totally under-estimated how long and how hard it would be to write text for my 'book'.

I'm currently on re-write version 6 (or so)

I'm really grateful to Hazel for her feedback....she's taking the 'this isn't working' approach to editing rather than the 'change it in this way' approach. Never having worked with anyone to edit anything before I'm finding it really helpful.

Firstly the time between re-writes, when you're not looking at it is good ( I reckon my sub-concious does a great deal without explaining how)
Secondly the type of feedback means that all the decisions about how to change the text are mine, so I'm not beginning to feel detached from it.

Best bit of feedback for me so far was - 'The language is very grey at the moment, whereas the pictures are very colourful. How about visiting a dictionary / thesaurus and collecting some favourite words and then playing around with them for a bit.'

It has amazed me how limited my vocabulary has become over a decade of writing finance papers and emails for work and little else. Each of the new juicy words I re/discover feels so refreshing! and each new word I use opens up new vistas in the text.

People keep asking me who my story is for... At the moment it feels like it's for myself...This is really not a very commercial proposition I know!.....I have started using words which are just not fashionable for children's stories which is what you might expect the story was if you glancingly picked it up. I like to think that it doesn't completely matter if you recognise the words or not, that they should be tasty enough for you to get some flavour from them anyhow. I like to think that there are other people in the world with not dissimilar tastes / interests to me and that maybe that means it's okay to be totally self-indulgent! I like to think that it doesn't matter that I don't know in advance what I'm doing and that it's okay to make stuff up as I go along. Actually thinking about it....I think it's just that this is all I can do, and the only way I can do it, dress it up how I like.

Baby steps

It's already the middle of the summer! So much has changed since March when I discovered I was pregnant and wouldn't be able to afford the time or expense of going to Falmouth. 

It was April when I discovered that I would be having twins. This was a big shock. I never had any idea that I could have twins...It wasn't in any life plan. They've rocked my world. Suddenly understanding that life is able to surprise you and will not turn out how you expect is one of the most wonderful things to discover. Everything is full of potential and hope.


Thinking about making art while looking after two new people who need lots of attention is like considering an impossibility. But when you are also filled with hope, maybe it's a bit easier.


I set myself a target. 


I would produce something during my pregnancy (as well as the babies). It didn't have to be big.  At first this was extra hard because of feeling ill and tired. Then it was easier, but had to fit in around preparing my home for their arrival.


I kept thinking - it should be about being pregnant - it should be about twins, but when it never really felt right starting something so new and different. I needed baby steps. I needed progression. So, I finally wrote some text for my Beastie and the Golden Cat illustrations. I've been trying to do this since November 2009....I don't know why it's been so hard!


It helped to

• write when I was inspired and avoid distractions till I was finished
• print it out
• leave it for a few days writing the odd word on the print out
• get someone else to read it and give feedback
• explain what i was trying to say
• be prepraed to change your mind - only keep what works
• be positive
• leave it a few days and then when inspired, write avoiding all distractions

Next challenge is to go for another round of editing and then, to check the layout and add all the admin stuff then to print off a colour proof....Am not sure what to do after that yet, but time's running out a bit!

The story of stuff - an idea for my first formal illustration project

On the A30 driving back from Falmouth on the 11th of March, following the Illustration forum
it occurred to me that I could use my next illustration project to explore 'where this book has come from and what it is there to do'.

To expand a little, it would be - a book which says somthing about itself, it's personal and particular history and it's reason for being - a bit like a diary, a bit like a family tree, a bit like a biography, a bit like a map of a supply chain, or a piece of genetic code, or a bit like a letter to a friend. It would illustrate a network - become a hub for a network and a token of connection and belonging. It could explore subtly, the reasons how and why it exists

It makes sense for a variety of reasons (and I always like it when stuff makes sense :-) )

1. I'm doing an illustration MA partly as a way of exploring how to produce published illustrated material - so, an exploration of the book's supply chain would help me to understand that process better. As part of that MA, I will have to produce a 'diary' or 'notebook' which creatively and conciously maps the progress of the work. So, it seems to me to make sense that a similar logic exists within the record and the work itself.
2. Understanding parts of the supply chain for the organisation I currently work in ( Regen SW) is vital to our ability to understand what to do in helping develop the sustainable energy sector. This sort of information can be very helpful to businesses- so it seemed that as I've had some experience of that, that it would make sense to follow this type of process in an illustration project.
3. In Thailand, Alicia Page told me about 'the story of stuff' and I could see that there is potential in this sort of illustration to communicate something political
4. I really liked the film Catfish because I like the documentary feel, and the road trip / social networking vibe; which has the sense of authenticity, & adventuring into the unknown and using an art project as a process of discovery
5. I watched a talk on TED the other day about 'when ideas have sex' by Matt Ridley. This talked about how innovation has changed society so much that we now live in a completely interlinked world and none of us knows everything about anything. None of us is self-sufficient - and I found myself thinking that very few of us really understand the value of the connections that we have with others....it makes us somewhat unappreciative of the value of each moment and the extent to which we could be grateful to the many many others who directly but unrecognised play an important part in our lives.
6. This links very closely with the thought ' None of us is as smart as all of us' which I heard at the Pegasus NLP course which I blogged about earlier.
7. I really need an adventure and I have always had a particular facination with treasure maps,  my husband and I have recently completed the game 'Lego Indiana Jones' for our new xbox (a new foray ... I've never really played computer games before) - it seemed to me that this sort of project would give me a very clear and defined set of perameters for exploration which I'm sure defines any good adverture. (I wonder whether or not I could ask WCTF to pay for any of the travel)
8. At one stage a few years ago, thought it would be fun to do a map of marmite - It always seems miraculous to me how stuff gets to be what it is and how many people and processes are involved in it. It seems like a very human and playful desire to take stuff apart and put it back together again.
9. To me, books are symbols of themselves - they represent much more than what they are. and yet, they can also seem so 'throw away'. I think I could make somemthing which would highlight the preciousness of books and play with symbols, but also to be really grounded in direct experience. I want to create a story which is aware of the symbolic, but is grounded in reality (I really can't bear stuff when it's too 'meaningful') 
10. Somehow I need to create a network of people who are interested in this work and it seems to me that one of the best ways to do this is to make the work relevant to them. Many of us are interested in how we link to others, where we sit in the world and in relation to others, so something that is personal and actively builds a network would have integrity

Other thoughts
Aesthetic - explorer / treasure / trails and maps / the internet / forwards and backwards in time
Aesthetic - my granny's trek diary and outfits / victoriana vs contemporary
People - printers, makers, suppliers, manufacturers, farmers,
Materials / resources - paper / leather / glue / thread / ink
Processes - marchinery / manufacture / travel / companies / recording
Places - journeys

The point / messages
Degrees of separation
Fluke / chance / serendipity
Self determination
Intrinsic links with others
Comfort and encouragement
Wonder and amazingness and learning

The dangers

1. Even though this is defined, it could get too big, it could get exponential- I will need to plan it clearly
2. Maybe I'll get lost in the reserach and not do enough illustrating - I will need to make sure I have enough time
3. Maybe my style won't suit it exactly - I might just have to be okay with that!
4. Maybe it will be too dull - I will need help editing
5. Maybe it will be a challenge to interest people - I will have to find a way of exciting the people who I engage in the project
6. Maybe the travelling could be too expensive - I could explore funding options (WCTF) or I could try and raise some money - perhaps find sponsorship for the people and companies involved?

NLP course with Pegasus pt1

Pegasus NLP website

So, I've just completed the core NLP course at Pegasus. we were asked in advance of attending; 'why do we want to attend the course?' I think that in the main - I wanted to use it for:
Figuring out whether or not anything we learnt on the course could help me develop my arts practice
In particular, I have been struggling with writing to go with my pictures...could i use anything in this course to help me do this?

I don't think that I could easily encapsulate everything I got out of the five days right here in one go, so I've decided that over the next while, I'll try and think about it bit by bit.