Post Title. 09/02/2010
 
Lots of you looking at the new hats and scarves - according to the stats list anyway - but nobody is commenting. What a shy lot you all are. Hope that doesn't mean you hate the new stuff.
I'm bashing on with it anyway.
Got to get plenty of felt and silk ready for the exhibition in October.
Actually, not much has been done this week, what with updating the site, but the ideas are flowing as usual so watch this space.
Lovely day today, sun shining, bit cooler than I would like but otherwise good. Hope this keeps up. The longer it is warm in my garage the longer I can keep felting.
Felting in cold water - yes, that is what I said - see my techniques page. For all those of you who felt with hot water, I envy you. But felting in cold water and in cold weather is not at all pleasant, so I could do with the nice weather going on as long as possible.  

 
Post Title. 08/31/2010
 
I have updated the website! Hooray I hear you cry. And about time too.
Yes, yes, but I have been soooooo busy. Lots of felting, loads of painting and of course it's been summer (when, where?) all right, not a hot summer, but still summer. I've been all over the place with the family, got loads of ideas for new scarves and some blockbusting hats. Yes, even more fanciful than ever!
I'm so pleased at the reaction to some of the hats and the new scarves too. I'm working on bags at the moment. I have taken all the old ones off the site and and am concentrating on making new styles. Some of the older styles will still be available, but with a few differences. Got to keep up to date.
I'm also working on some felt vessels at the moment, principally on ways in which they can be properly waterproofed so they can be used as vases. Not sure how successful that will be, but I have a couple of ideas.
I'm always telling people that wool is waterproof, look at the sheep in the field, but even I'm not convinced that means felted vases will stand up to a bunch of daffs and a pint of water! 
I'll let you know how I get on.

Dates for the diary: Exhibition at Ichameleon, Halesworth Thoroughfare from 15th October for one week.
 
Post Title. 03/01/2010
 
Busy - and cold!
Picture
After saying that I was going to blog more often, I have failed dismally. Wasn't well after Christmas and what with the snow and so on, as I work in the garage, it hasn't been much fun. Have taken over the dining table and am felting again with quite good results.

It was nice to get back to work. Felt a bit frustrated for a while and now I am back with a vengeance. Several pieces completed, which is good because I have to organise myself for the year ahead. One or two are a bit weird - that comes of having too much time to sit and think about what I am doing: the ordinary suddenly develops an arm or a leg or gets even more holes than my usual stuff. Still it's good to be back at it.

It is felt that is drawing me at the moment. The silk feels a little ordinary - I don't seem to have the initiative to embellish it in the same way as the felt. Perhaps because I am off beading - I noticed that none of the silks I have on the website contain beads, which just goes to show you can miss something that obvious until you have a rest and go back.
Interesting.

Today, it is very sunny and quite warm. Such a change and it gives me a real lift. I am not a snow person and was getting quite down with all that white stuff and the cold. Even the Winter Olympics made me feel chilly!

I will try to be back tomorrow. Thanks for reading, if you have been.


 
 
Yes, I know it's an age since I wrote anything, but there has been so much going on.

After Art on the Prom there was a Craft Fair in Aldeburgh, then I closeted myself in the garage almost 24/7 getting ready for the exhibition at Ichameleon. That's a little shop in Halesworth that changes hands each week, giving people like me an opportunity to show their wares. Having exhibited myself there for a week, I trundled back to Aldeburgh this week end for another two days of Craft Fair.

The Ichameleon exhibition was a great success. It was fun dressing the windows and making everything look nice. Better than a table at a craft fair. I always manage to look as though I'm running a car boot. People seemed to like my scarves and wraps and also the new item - felt flowers. These are great to make and I'm pleased with the reception they're getting.

Today I appeared 'on the sofa' on the Lesley Dolphin Show on Radio Suffolk which was slightly nerve racking  beforehand, but seemed to go all right, so I hope that will bring lots of interest too.

Now for the Oscar's bit - get your hankies out:

Thank you Lesley for making it seem so simple and thanks to Darren for setting it up and putting me at ease.

And a big thank you to my friend Dorothy Stewart who was behind it all. Once a journalist, always a journalist it would seem. She organised the publicity and gently bullied me - taking photos and dealing with press releases and so on. Brilliant.

And thank you to Jenny who helped me set up the exhibition at Ichameleon and kept me company through the week, as well as selling loads of stuff.

All those thank you's and I didn't shed a single tear. No Gwyneth Paltrow blubbing for me!

Next thing I'm working towards: Craft Fair at Wissett Wines 28th and 29th November.

 
 

Oh boy was it windy! Art on the Prom was a lovely venue - lots of space and lots of nice people, but the wind - around from the beginning of the day - decided to getup to near gale force and silk scarves turned into flags blowing horizontally and then into knotted rags as they wound themselves round one another and the pole on which they were tied. My hangings billowed out like sails and no matter how many pegs I added, they kept making a bid for freedom.
The table had strings across to hold everything down and still stuff blew off.
John said he didn't think there was much point in attempting any more outdoor craft markets, because the weather is so unkind to my silks. Reluctant to make such a sweeping statement, but have to say, the weekend left me wondering if he was right.
No craft fair this week end. The next one is at Aldeburgh on 12th and 13th September and it is inside - in the Jubilee Hall - so hopefully the question of will our stock blow away should not arise.
Hope to see a few of you there.
Thanks for reading if you have been ...

Pat
 
Art on the Prom 08/29/2009
 
Not been saying much of late, up to my armpits in silk, paint and felt. Am off tomorrow to Felixstowe to Art on the Prom. Looking forward to it I think, as long as the weather is fine.

Lots of hand painted silk scarves and silk hangings, but have also been felting silk chiffon too. I love the dyeing of fibres and combining those fibres with dyed silks into a whole new fabric. Delicious.
It isn't just the painting and dyeing, all the scarves have to be washed and ironed when then are finished. I hate ironing, but I have to confess to enjoying ironing silk. Very satisfying to see the finished effect.

So hope to see you all at Art on the Prom. Think there are 86 stands, so 86 different artists will be showing their wares. Looking forward to seeing them too. It's always interesting seeing what other people are doing.

I do feel that I have not said much on my blog yet. Still feel very new to this and a bit strange. 
Must write more often. Should have lots to say after tomorrow and a bit more time in which to say it.

Next date on the Craft market agenda is Aldeburgh on 12th and 13th September when I plan to have lots of cards available too.

 
Thanks Megan 08/10/2009
 

Just read your comment - how kind. Glad you like it. Lots more to go on the site soon, so do take another look.
Great to get a bit of feed back - nice to know I am not just wittering away on my own here in cyberspace.
Thanks again.
Pat
 
 

Great week end with the family - busy busy busy but all good. Pleasurewood Hills is our local theme park, such good fun with a four year old in tow along with grandad and a couple of mad parents.
Not so hot today, so back to work.
Have this idea to put 'tails' on some of my hangings. Collected shells - some from Walberswick, just a few miles away from us, and some from the Northumberland coast where we were a week ago.
Planning to add the tails and then put shells on the bottom to hold the hangings straight.
Will let you know how they go and upload pictures to the site when I am done.
Have also done some drawings for new hangings and ordered more silk because I was running out. Get through so much of the stuff and sometimes don't realise it's coming to the end.
Not doing too much writing at the moment (that's my other big thing). The cupboard is too hot - the heat from the computer just tips it over the edge of bearable (which is why this blog will be short!), but have sent a couple of things away to see if I can get them published, so keep your fingers crossed for me.
Well, it's back to the garage for me.
Thanks for reading, if you have been...
 
Thursday and hot 08/06/2009
 

Ah, the life of an artist.
Surrounded by hand painted silk. Gorgeous dyes. Silk hangings all around. Working hard in a garret.
Quietly putting dyes and paints onto silk scarves in intricate patterns, steam fixing silk paints, washing silks, ironing...
Er, no.
 Not today.
Not even painting today. It is far too hot.
Not really doing anything much. 30 degrees outside and the garage where I paint on silk is like a sauna. The sun beats in through the window and I can't reach up high enough to pull down the blind since I put in a wide worktop underneath. A good idea, but ... Why do these good ideas always have a flaw?
So I have spent the day tidying.
Sounds boring, yes, true, but necessary sometimes.
I did a craft fair recently and all the boxes of silks were still in the house along with several hangings, so my major contribution to the day has been to cart them all back outside where they belong.
A little sketching, musing about designs and adding something to my website and that's about it.
Feels lazy and since I have a show at the end of the month, I do need to get down to some work, but it isn't going to happen today.
So for those of you who are at the beach or enjoying the garden, good on you, go for it.
If you have to work today, then I feel sad on your behalf and a little guilty that I have been able to give in and do nothing.
Ah, the life of the artist...
 
 


I've been painting and writing too for almost as long as I can remember, but blogging is new to me and a bit scary. Unsure of what to write, but have decided to say a bit about myself and my paintings, which are on silk, and my intention to run a colour mixing course via this blog.

The daughter of Essex artist Louis Stanford, I began scrounging my father’s oils from the age of four, but after beginning a career in art, deserted it in favour of languages for a number of years. I have always been drawn to vivid colour and on returning to art, I discovered painting on habotai silk, immediately falling in love with the rich dyes and paints as well as the lustrous fabric.  Apart from commissioned work, I tend to paint whatever takes my fancy, from serious landscape and flowers to quirky animals and mythical beasts, fixing the colours by steaming and/or ironing. Each piece is treated individually, sometimes dyeing the white silk first, followed by over-dyeing, painting, gilding, even using beads and sequins on occasion. I prefer to back my hangings, tab them and hang on rods or wires, rather than framing the silks, keeping costs down for everyone, a factor that has enabled my paintings, hangings and scarves, to be sent all over the world.  I am going to use my blog to help other people come to enjoy painting. I think the problems we all encounter have to do with colour, so my future plan is to introduce a colour mixing course and I hope you will enjoy reading and maybe learning something it's taken me years to find out about how colour works.


 

    Author

    I live in Suffolk with my husband John, where I paint in the garage and write in a cupboard - that's where the computer lives.

    Suffolk is on the east coast of England for those not familiar with the place, where the wind is called 'lazy' because it blows right through you, rather than going round.

    I ran a shop in Southwold for a number of years, selling through there as well as at local craft fairs, such as Heveningham and Halesworth, but have also exhibited wall hangings all over the place, mostly at Southwold's Buckenham Galleries, The Works at Beccles and more recently at Halesworth Gallery.

    2009 Was a good year with a solo exhibition at Ichameleon in Halesworth - a good venue, which I shall be repeating in October 2010. Lots of Craft Fairs and lots of talks to interested groups like WI and Art Societies which are always good fun. Thanks to all who invited me last year - I'm looking forward to several for this year and even for next year already. 

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