A love of stationary and a bit of drawing

A new year always means the chance for a new diary and some new stationary.  This year it's safe to say I went a bit bonkers on the stationary front. I love buying my yearly diary from Sticker Stack as they source their products from Japan and Korea which means lots of beautifully designed pieces. This year I got the same diary as I did last year but in blue as it was the perfect size and has a really nice layout inside. I also bought some sticker sheets from them and a nice pen too.

In Memory

It has been a very odd start to the year.  Just over a week ago the world lost David Bowie and then a few days later, Alan Rickman. Of course I didn't know either of these men personally, nor did I ever have the chance to meet them in person. That doesn't mean however that I feel a great sadness at their passing. These were faces and voices that I knew growing up.

I decided that the best way to honour their memory was to do it in the best way I knew how, by drawing them. They were both in their own unique ways, incredibly inspiring individuals and I can only hope this does them even a little bit of justice.

cross stitch has entered my life

I've always been intrigued by cross stitch having once tried it at primary school as part of a Victorian project. We got given a piece of large weave fabric, a giant plastic needle and some wool to cross stitch our initials. I remember enjoying seeing the shapes appear on the fabric and the simplicity of the stitches that it took to create them.

Even though I'd loved it I'd never tried it again until now after being given a cross stitch kit for my Christmas of a pattern based on one of my favourite artists, L.S. Lowry. During my Christmas holidays I was sitting for days at a time working away on the street scene.  I got quite a large amount done and now I'm back to work the progress is slower but I'm getting there bit by bit. 

The kit is by a company called Bothy Threads and if you're interested in starting out or already do cross stitch and fancy a new pattern, I'd highly recommend checking them out. The kits come with an easy to follow pattern, instructions, the full range of coded threads needed, and the fabric. I got the embroidery ring for Christmas but you can easily pick these up in most craft shops including Hobbycraft.

The reason I started up this time was also because I wanted to get into creating my own images with thread, whether that be with cross stitch or embroidery. The latter is my next venture and I'd really love to try and create my drawing style but using these materials. `As well as that I also just love it as a form of relaxation. Cross stitch is incredibly easy once you get started and just like when I was wee,  I love seeing the image slowly appear on fabric. 

This is my progress so far! I'm working on the right hand side of the image first and once completed I'll move on to the left.  I finished of the blue of the roof today and I really love the colour scheme as a whole.  I often use these colours in my own work. I will be posting my progress as I go along so expect another one soon!

If you're in the Dundee area, there is a new sewing club called 'Say It Ain't Sew' which is an excellent opportunity to start sewing if you're interested in starting a new hobby.  I can't make it myself as I no longer live in the city but if you live in the area it'd be a great place to try out something new!

2016!

So it's 2016 and I've not been about on here for a bit but I have been working on some bits and bobs and I thought it was high time for an update! I hope everyone had a very lovely Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

2015 brought some great opportunities for me. When you're busy working full time at your day job, it becomes difficult to work on your personal projects but thankfully every now and then you manage and I hope that becomes a more regular occurrence this year. It has certainly been paramount to increasing my confidence in the creative work that I do and also shown me that I can do it.

One of the opportunities that came my way was from Creative Dundee to create the image for the PechaKuchaNight Dundee Volume 13. PechaKucha is a presentation format where 20 images are shown for 20 seconds each and the PechaKucha nights allow creatives from all sorts of disciplines to talk about their work and inspirations. I wanted to highlight something connected to Dundee in my image.  Working in the museum, I see the Tay Whale skeleton everyday I thought I would bring it back to life and incorporate it into the image (along with some whale family).
I was really happy at with the positive response my image received and it was a really great opportunity and experience to work with Creative Dundee. Certainly a big confidence boost.

Another great opportunity arose when I finally plucked up the courage to enter the Royal Scottish Academy Open Exhibition 2015. I entered two drawings, both inspired by my love of old objects.  I had spent some time in the National Museum of Scotland sketching some of my favourite pieces and this led on to drawing one of them as a final piece to enter into the RSA. The drawing is of some of the small coffins found on Arthur's Seat. In 1836 seventeen miniature coffins were found hidden in a small cave on Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh. They were found by a group of boys and those that have survived are now in the National Museum of Scotland. I drew six of them in a row for the final piece.  I love the mystery that surrounds these strange but beautifully made coffins, each with their own carved, dressed figure inside. No one is really sure what they were for, what they represent or why they were hidden on Arthur's Seat.

The second piece I drew was of another museum object but this time from The McManus in Dundee. It is an Inuit doll, probably made by a child to help them learn how to sew. I love the intricate details on the doll from the sewing to the wear from age. The selection process goes through two stages and I was completely over the moon when I found out that both my drawings had been selected to be in the exhibition. The RSA Open exhibition is still on at the moment and is on until February the 14th.

This month I also had a great meeting with Cultural Enterprise Scotland. I was looking for some advice on how to properly set up freelance as it's something I've never really known the details of. They have so much advice and information to give which was incredibly helpful and made me feel a lot more confident about taking the plunge to become self employed. I can't thank them enough for the help they gave me. It's certainly made my plans and goals a lot more accessible for the year the ahead. Exciting times!

Beach finds from Morar and Sanna Bay

As I mentioned in a previous post, I visited both Morar Beach and Sanna Bay on my holiday.  I had a lot of shells to sort through, giving them a little soapy bath and then dusting off any left over sand. 

The main collection I've photographed is just from Morar as I couldn't stop myself from picking up more and more. Once you start picking up shells, it's hard to stop.

Morar beach has so many pieces of broken shell that have been smoothed in the sea, creating lovely abstract twisted shapes. These were my favourite. There were also a lot of cowries that look like puppets mouths or so I thought. My granny loved finding cowries and was always the first one to find one on the beach.

Beach combing was definitely something that I've always been doing. Since I was very little I'd love to find pretty shells on the beach or stones that looked unusual. I'd pop them in my pockets and every now and then I'll find a collection of stones or the odd shell in a drawer or cupboard from a walk on the beach years ago.

I particularly love the shells that I found which have tiny holes in them. I've since found that these holes have been made by possibly any number of things in the sea from sponges to tiny worms. There's a lot of different creatures out there nibbling holes in shells in seems.

I also found a shell with a heart on it. I felt pretty lucky to have found this out of all the shells on the beach. 

Below are the shells I found on Sanna Bay.  The shells here were spread out so you had to hunt for them a bit more. I was also too busy taking lots of photos of Sanna since I hadn't been back there for a while. I thought these ones were particularly beautiful though.

As a little memento of my trip I took two of the smoothed shell pieces, one from Morar and one from Sanna and made a necklace with them.  The pieces hang together perfectly and I think it makes quite an unusual but special piece of jewellery. 

Just to finish, here is myself and my granny, back when beach combing was a new fun hobby I'd just started out on.

Oh Comely subscription box: Cartwheels in a box

 Oh Comely's second subscription box popped through the door the other day and I was pretty excited to see what this one contained. The theme this time is wheels!

'This box is mischievous and just a little subversive.  It invites you to come and play.'

As always the subscription box contains the new issue.  I've yet to start reading as I've been keeping it as a treat for finishing everything I've been trying to catch up on. This time the box contains items designed by illustrator Kaye Blegvad. Kaye's work is incredibly cool. Not only does she do some pretty lovely illustrations, she also makes ceramics and runs a jewellery line called Datter Industries. I have my eye on a few pieces!

If you'd like to see Kaye's work, pop over to her website here. 

As with the last box there is a contents list that numbers everything and gives a little description so I'll include these here. 

'One. Between the pages of the Wheels Issue, meet Kaye Blegvad, our partner in crime.  This box revolves around Kaye's sinister-yet-charming illustration like spokes around an axle.  You could think of it as Kaye's Toy Box, even.  Become engrossed in her art and her story on page 20.' 

'Two. Spin the wheel, choose a face.  What face do you show to the world?  And what face do you save for friends and family? Move the wheel and you can be whoever you want.  Kaye's Face Changer is a nod to your secret self.'

As you can see above Kaye's created an illustrated spinner. I particularly like this rather hairy face. I can see myself pinning this on my wall and every so often changing the face with my mood.  Just for the fun of it.

'Three. Pin your heart on your sleeve.  Or your mood on your lapel.  We chose three favourite faces to adorn a trio of enamel badges and became so fond of them that each acquired a nickname: Closed-Eye Lady, Open-Eyed Lady and Snake Lady.  Send your own nicknames to hello@ohcomely.co.uk'

I love these pin badges so so much. I've attached 'Closed-Eye Lady' to my coat as she looks pretty peaceful. For me she is called 'Bus Nap Lady'. Something I'm partial to doing myself. I'm still trying to think of some nicknames for the other two.

 'Four. Shuffle a deck. There are women dancing and spinning and, quite possibly, attempting a handstand across the surface of these playing cards.  Slip the pack into your pocket for a spontaneous round of Pontoon, Snap or Texas Hold 'Em.'

Well what a darn pretty pack of cards. I really love the white and blue illustration. I don't have a pack of cards either so this is rather handy. I now want to make a card tower with them.

'Five. Twirl a pen.  Finally, the pages of this notebook are blank, waiting for your thoughts and doodles.  Take your favourite pen for a spin, and decide where the journey will end.'

A handy little notebook illustrated by Kaye, which I'll pop in my bag to take some notes or do a little drawing myself. 

Thanks, Oh Comely for another great subscription box. I look forward to the next and to delving into this issue. If you fancy subscribing to Oh Comely, whether it's the magazine or the box then you can hop over here to do so.

Camping holiday to the Highlands - Mam Ratagan, Glenelg, Kylerhea, Kyle of Lochalsh and Cia-aig Falls

So this is the last post about my holiday.  As you can see I really did need to split up the holiday into different posts as there were so many places we went that I wanted to include.

This last post starts of at the view from the Mam Ratagan pass. To get to this view you have to go up a very steep road which is a bit nerve racking in the car. It's all worth it once you get to the top though.

 We then headed along for a drive through Glenelg. I love this old ruin which is Bernera Barracks. The barracks were built between 1717 and 1723 by the British Government to keep the local population under control after they had risen up in arms for the Jacobite Rising in 1715. Some of the stone from a nearby broch was used to build the barracks.

 Below you can see the hermit's cave. I love looking for caves on the sides of mountains and this one here you can drive right by.

 We went across the Kylerhea Ferry to Skye which was very busy on the day due to an accident on the Kyle of Lochalsh Road. As we waited in the queue we spotted a sea eagle that had caught a large fish. Sadly my camera zoom was again not long enough to capture it properly. We watched a few other boats go by until it was our turn to cross.

 My dad took these photos for me as I wasn't at the side of the ferry so he got some good shots of the views for me including the house that used to be Kylerhea Inn.

 On returning from Skye we got some great fish and chips in Kyle of Lochalsh after coming back across the Skye bridge.

 At the end of our holiday we had a drive along to Loch Lochy and the dark mile to the Cia-aig waterfall. The pool at the bottom of the waterfall is known as the witch pool.  According to legend, Cameron clansmen pursued a witch who had cursed their cattle, forcing her to fall to her death over the falls. Rob Roy was also filmed here at the bridge and pool.

 Along the dark mile you can see old drystone dykes covered in thick moss, and as we carried along further I finally spotted a deer and got a photo.

So that has been my camping holiday to the Highlands. I had a really wonderful time and I'm still missing the fresh air and the peace. I'm pretty sure I'll be back again soon though.