Studio Notes no. 222

Hello Everyone

The past few weeks have been busy and challenging, working in the prolonged summer heat… I hope you have been staying well. In this post I am going to attempt not to grumble about weather/health/thestateoftheworld and instead offer you an eclectic mix of my recent work!

Sometimes, things you have quietly put to one side find you again - as a gift from the past.

I had a look through the large pine cupboard in my attic - it’s an old French pantry cupboard that I bought several years ago now. When you visit here, it’s one of the first things you see, in the sitting room. Anyway, I use it for storage and many of my ‘works in long-term progress’ find their way inside for a rest. These dolls were there, in a box of uncompleted dolls. They did not have faces but I had stitched, stuffed, painted a bodice on one of them. And now, it seems, is the right time to complete this pair.

And so, unable to paint due to the heat elsewhere in the flat, I decided in the past few days to sit and stitch and knit their features. And one thing I must say is I do not follow the rules of stitching symmetrical faces - oh dear no. Who wants a symmetrical face? We’ll leave that for the eerie cyborgs of this world. No, I like to ‘freestyle’ and make sure they have character.

Then I found this piece of patchwork I had made some time ago. It is an extra piece that did not make it into a final cloth. This piece is just the right size for two skirts. And so that is what it will become, all being well and if neither of these ladies decide it does not suit them. (You cannot make a doll suit a skirt, she either likes it, or she does not).

I hope to have these dolls completed soon. There’s a lot of work to do yet. They seem to be very particular about their needs as simple, folk-hearted dolls. Yes, I will be offering them for sale, separately. And another good thing is - I found the paper pattern I had made for them. Just sometimes, ‘past Cathy’ is helpful to ‘present Cathy’ and actually puts things like little paper doll shapes in the box with the doll. Who would believe I could be that organised?

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Many thanks to everyone who has purchased or simply visited my shop recently. I really do appreciate your interest. This is always a slower time of year, though to be honest, this year has been completely unpredictable in so many ways.

My next shop update will be this coming Wednesday 19th August at 7pm with a preview from about 4pm. I will be offering a mix of new work including new drawings. There is a link to my shop at the end of these notes. I have a couple of paintings currently available.

Two new drawings. They both measure 15cm x 12.5cm

I really enjoyed drawing my recent ‘lucky dip’ series of drawings. Thank you to everyone who purchased one. Inspired by all the recent pencil drawing, I have decided to make a series of larger group portraits, so here are two.

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I really do love making books. As a book lover this makes perfect sense. The conversations between pages, the opportunity for surprise, variety and storytelling - there is a freedom in books and the book form for me, as a visual artist.

You maybe have seen recent artist books I have created and I do intend to make more.

A recent idea I had was to spend time this August making a series of abstract collages. I had thought about offering them as a ‘lucky dip’ of some sort. However, when I started to work on them I realised each collage as very much it’s own little creature. So a lucky dip felt less feasible.

As I painted, cut and glued, and spent time considering the collages I was making, I came to realise how I was gravitating toward collecting them together - and putting them in books. So the plan changed. It just felt more natural to me. Yes, some of the collages would work by themselves but they made me feel hmmmm… and I wasn’t happy with that hmmm, if that makes sense.

And some of the collages / pages are more colourful than others. Soon I realised I might like to make at least one book that was dedicated to black and white.

I will continue on with putting these books together and seeing where they take me. I will share videos of looking through them, once the books are completed/filled. They are intriguing companions to have in my studio as I work on more figurative ideas.

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New Writing

And to finish this week’s notes a recent poem… (and my apologies if the line breaks are a bit off if you are reading on a phone screen.)

Miss Hemstick

After visiting the ironmongers, Miss Hemstick realised

prior to today, she had not known the difference

between screws and nails, not really.

Not in a confident, buying capacity. She needed

to fix a door and was astonished to be told all

that was required was spray in a can.

Miss Hemstick walked home via the park and sat on a bench

to eat an imaginary cake; tiny birds, shabby in their summer feathers,

gathered at her feet to peck at the hard crumbs of her dreaming.

Sun glinted on the bird heads as they ate. Miss Hemstick became aware,

she stared into their shapes, their lean bodies something more:

metallic, fading into light, back again to iridescence.

How do you do that? Miss Hemstick whispered to the birds.

She thanked the birds for allowing her to feed them.

*****

Thank you for reading here and for subscribing to these notes. Please do leave me a comment and let me know what you might have rediscovered in a cupboard recently!

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A coffee is always welcome, thank you

SHOP