Be Still..... Day 3

This week in Kim's class we are thinking about creating our own individual style. This is a tricky one for me as I'm going through a period of transition at the moment......moving away  from my much-loved brighter colours and trying to achieve a more subtle, softer kind of art.
I think I may also moving away from textile art.
Whether this is permanent or not, of course, remains to be seen.... ;-)
So, I'm learning to love shades of white.....cream.....and grey. But there will always be a little purple and green in there. And maybe blue. (Probably not much yellow, orange or red though).
I'm also trying out a new art form involving collage, still life and photography. I still want to make grungy background papers....I also would like to add a few stitches here and there......and I want to use natural materials (apart from garden resources I have a huge collection of pebbles, driftwood, shells, seedheads, pressed flowers etc)
So, a work in progress.......

Back to my photo.
Kim gave us three prompts; round, white and minimalist.
I've kind of achieved the first two......but minimalist will always be hard for me!
I used a number of Kim's textures including 'magicscratches' which is one of my favourites and the text is from 'kkbeyond affirmations'.

For all those of you out there who (like me) need a confidence boost from time to time....... you are already amazing.
Thank you Kim.

Take Time.......

Texture Tuesday..... 'Take time to love the little things in life'

Kim Klassen's textures 'waterfront18' and 'februarymagicedges'.

Brian and I went for a walk yesterday along a path that was a sea of cow parsley.......

(photo looks a bit like the parting of the sea ;-)

 Such a pretty, underestimated flower......

When we got back the Abel and Cole delivery had arrived and in it there was a gorgeous bunch of young asparagus (Brian's favourite)......

.......just the inspiration I needed for cooking dinner.  Luckily I already had the other ingredients.
I put this photo of the ingredients on my FB page yesterday and promised I'd add the recipe to my blog today....... (taken on iPad with Hipstagram app).

Pea, Mint and Asparagus Risotto (for two)

1. Fry a small finely chopped onion (or a shallot) in some olive oil (I use a large frying pan for this).
2. When it starts to go transparent, add 130g of risotto (arborio) rice and fry it gently for a couple of mins with the onion.
3. Cut up the asparagus into 1cm pieces and cook in a separate pan (or microwave) with a handful of peas till tender (amounts are up to you!)
4. Add a small glass of white wine to the rice and stir. Continue stirring and adding liquid gradually (450ml approx chicken stock) for 15 to 20 mins until the rice is cooked but still nice and moist.
5. Stir in a big blob of creme fraiche.
6. Add the cooked asparagus and peas, along with some chopped mint, parsley and lemon rind. Stir.
7. Finally, grate some parmesan cheese on top.
Wonderful!

We only recently discovered risotto.....can't believe we've missed out for so long! 

(I always thought it sounded a bit yukky....sloppy rice ;-)

We also love the smoked haddock version......and chicken with lemon.
Further recommendations gratefully received!

Breathe......

Be Still 52 Week Two

This week Kim wrote about mindfulness, meditation and focusing on breathing ...... things I'm used to as a yoga-lover :-) We often practice a form of pratyahara which is a kind of sensory deprivation.....thereby helping us to focus on our inner sounds and breathing.
Try it by covering your eyes with your flattened fingers, at the same time covering your ears with your thumbs to cut out all sights and sounds. As you breathe deeply, the sound becomes very relaxing.

Ujjayi breathing is also useful for concentrating on the breath; it takes a bit of mastering, but it makes a lovely sound. In fact it's sometimes called 'ocean breath'. Here's how to do it.....
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-5823/8-Reasons-Why-We-Use-Ujjayi-Breath-in-Yoga.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ujjayi_breath

When I was teaching I often used to end the day with a form of meditation with the children. I'd put a drop of lavender oil on the back of their hands and ask them to gently stroke it into their skin whilst breathing in the smell. They loved it. And parents often thanked me for the calm and peaceful way their children left school.....bonus!!  ;-)
I daresay it would be 'banned' nowadays for all sorts of stupid reasons. I always asked parents' permission at the start of the year and no-one ever objected.....but times have changed and sadly, a lot of the fun has been taken out of school-life.

For my photo I chose lavender and rosemary....two of my favourite plants from the garden with lovely scents to breathe in.
I used Kim's textures 'magicscratches' and phoebe'. I may make this into a card and see how it looks.....

And finally.....what's on my desk?  

Planning new collages

Photo taken using Hipstamatic app on iPad.

(Lens 'John S' and film 'Dream Canvas')

Texture Tuesday......

A day late again....here's my contribution to Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday.
The theme is..... Black and White and Textured  (and a few shades of grey in my case).

I took the original using Hipstagram on my iPad and toned down the colour to almost black and white using Photoshop, then finally added Kim's texture 'Simple' at colour burn blend 76%.
You can see the original photograph in my previous post.

I have very few china, pottery or glass ornaments in my house......but lots of driftwood, pebbles and shells.
Not everyone's cup of tea I guess....but definitely mine ;-)

Be Still.......

I'm taking part in Kim Klassen's 'Be Still 52' which began last week.......that's a whole year of focusing on still life photography.

So here I am.....week one....reminding myself to stop, breathe deeply and just be still for a few moments every day.

For me, photography is about noticing the little things around me. These poppy seed heads from last year are so tiny; it would be easy to just dismiss them and put them in the compost bin.

But they are incredibly beautiful, like tiny minarets......or ancient writing tools :-)

The background is one of my mixed-media background papers.

Textures over the top.....Kim's 'Fully' and 'Februarymagicedges'.

Here's the link to Kim's class.....

And here they are again with a little Photoshop layering and altering...... and one of my inky background papers.

Thanks to my blogging friends, I've recently discovered the joys of Hipstamatic on my iPad and iPhone. 

(Thank you Lynn and Viv)

I downloaded it months ago but couldn't get to grips with it....but over the past week I have persevered and now it's my favourite app. Yes, even more than Waterlogue :-)

The basic app was free, but I have bought a couple of add on packages. Basically you can change the lens and the film to get different effects and build up favourite 'recipes'. Or you can just shake the camera up and down and get a random pairing! 

Very interesting....

These examples use 'Melodie' lens and 'Dream Canvas' film. My favourite combo up to now.

More to come soon......

Friday Finds....Bluebells and Books

Joining in with Kim Klassen's Friday Finds today.
(These are actually Thursday Finds.......but I don't think anyone will notice)

 Photo altered in PSE using two layers of  Kim's texture 'Coolgrunge'.

Beautiful bluebells from my garden plus a vintage book (Dante's 'Ad Astra') gifted to me by a lovely new friend. 

I had a wonderful day yesterday with Maggi Birchenough, Julie Mackinder and a group of her friends.
We went to see the new exhibition of work by The Textile Study Group at The Beetroot Tree Gallery near where I live. We also managed coffee at the Cachepot vintage tea rooms, lunch at Anderson's delicatessen and a rummage in Peartree Yard craft emporium, That's what I call a packed day! :-)
By way of a thank you, Wendy gave me a vintage book I'd admired in Peartree Yard....its very special and I can't wait to use it in my projects.

On the subject of books......I bought Alysn Midgelow-Marsden's new book this week.....

I know Alysn as she is the co-owner of The Beetroot Tree and I have worked for her there and attended many of her workshops. This is a fabulous book ....highly recommended! You can see some examples of her work here. The lucky lady now lives in New Zealand, but she visits regularly to teach workshops over here.

Finally......have all you iPhone/iPad users out there discovered Waterlogue app yet? I love it!!!
It's good to post on Instagram too and tag your photos to the Waterlogue link there.
Here are a few of my recent creations.....forgive me if you're an Instagram friend, I know you've already seen them  ;-)

Here's the bluebell/book photo 'waterlogued'.

 My blue muscari and pansies.

A cat we spotted in the churchyard at Edensor...plus my gorgeous white muscari.

And me!......Looking at you :-)  

(Well actually I was looking to see if I'd set the timer right on my iPhone)

Love the way the app has broken up my garden into patterns.....

Time to wade through my Bloglovin feed....I'm way behind.

Simple Joys

Kim Klassen's theme for this week's 'Texture Tuesday' is..... simple.

(Photo altered in PSE using Kim's textures 'greydayslate'. 'pinitonly6'. 'derek' and 'febmagicedges')

For me, the simple joys of a garden in Springtime mean so much; even the green bullets of the hostas pushing through the gravel are beautiful and make me happy. Spring flowers are my garden favourites; tulips, cowslips, muscari, forget-me-nots, clematis montana....... and very soon my aliums will be showing off their beauty. Bluebells are just starting to flower and then not long after the lavender will take over.
It's simple......... I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be at this time of year.....
And Angel agrees......

No positive news on the health front I'm afraid....when I go quiet at least you know why. I can't seem to focus on arty stuff and blogging when I don't feel good. Are you like that too?

But I have managed to finish my five needlecases which I hope to sell on etsy very soon. I just  need to make a few more to go with them ...... ;-)

Such a problem deciding on a price.........I spend ages on each one. I can't bring myself to ask a lot though; I'd be too embarrassed.

Here's another view of my own little bluebell wood :-) We are very lucky that we only live 20 mins from some beautiful bluebell woods in Leicestershire. Can't wait to visit this weekend.

Hopefully back soon......

Friday Finds (on a Monday)......'She wore flowers in her hair'

This is my contribution for Kim Klassen's 'Friday Finds' challenge (sorry I'm a bit late.....wasn't too well on Friday).
I have two 'finds'...a book and a planter.
I've been wanting a head planter for some time and finally spotted one in our local garden centre. I'm intrigued by how the look of it will change as the trailing plant grows and the pansies are replaced with other flowers.
We have a walled garden, which isn't always an advantage, but it is good for attaching things like this on to!

I altered my photo using Kim's textures 'Golden' and 'Magicedges'. I love the magic series....it always amazes me how a black texture can affect an image in the way it does.

The quote is from 'The God of Small Things' by Arundhati Roy (winner of the Booker Prize 1997). 

I love the description of the character Ammu...

'On days like this there was something restless and untamed about her.... she wore flowers in her hair and carried magic secrets in her eyes. She spoke to no-one. She spent hours on the riverbank with her little plastic transistor.....she smoked cigarettes and had midnight swims. She had a delicate chiselled face, black eyebrows angled like seagull's wings, a small straight nose and luminous nutbrown skin. Her shoulders in her sleeveless sari blouse shone as though they had been polished with a high-wax polish.'

I have the book on my Kindle but am only 15% through it. I'll let you know how I get on.
Have any of you read it?

I adore this time of year when every day there are new finds in the garden. I had a quick trip round with my camera this morning whilst the sun was shining. Angel wondered what on earth I was doing crouching on the ground getting that low-angled shot.
I treated myself to a Nikon camera a few weeks ago; there's so much to learn!! I'm still trying to get to grips with the aperture setting...... love those soft, blurry backgrounds :-)

Thank goodness for the warmer days and the beauty of Springtime; they lift my spirits when I'm feeling down. When we do meditation (in my yoga class) we sometimes have to imagine a favourite, soothing place......I always think of my garden.
Still searching for a diagnosis for my health problem .....I'm paying for a series of ultrasound scans later this week. 

Back tomorrow with Texture Tuesday and a recipe..... 

Texture Tuesday......Quiet

I bought this lovely pot of white muscari at my local garden centre this week for only £1.40....bargain!
I have a garden full of the blue version which, although we moan about it, I do actually like very much.
But this white version is very special, it seems to have a special serene quality.....and it smells lovely too, which is a bonus.
So above is my offering for Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday....I have cheated slightly and used the word 'silence' instead of  'quiet'  ;-)
I used a few of Kim's textures, but the main one was 'Phoebe'.

Muscari Aucheri 'White Magic'

Still plodding on with my needle cases.

These two are almost finished....

 And my fabric weaving now feels like a single piece of cloth.......ready for embellishment.

Off now to look at my Bloglovin' list. 

Have you discovered it yet? Its a great way of keeping up to date with your favourite blogs......and for finding  new ones.

Back soon....

Texture Tuesday.....Colour

Kim Klassen's theme this week is colour....not a problem for me ;-)
I like to take colour schemes from nature whenever I can and one of my favourite examples is pistachio nuts; I'm always amazed by the funky colours inside those shells.

Gorgeous, aren't they?
(My own photo above altered in PSE using Kim Klassen's texture 'Phoebe'.)


I love working with shades of purple and green......

My latest needlecase collage (still under construction)

I've been struggling with the usual health problems again for the past fortnight and have decided to see a nutritionist. He's incredibly knowledgeable about the workings of the digestive system, so I am feeling hopeful!
I have lost almost two stone over the past 18 months and am now down to 7st 10lbs, which I really don't want to be, and I'm starting to look scrawny :-(
When you get to my age you need a bit of flesh on your face!
I am excluding carbs from my diet, eating organic food,  keeping a food diary, cooking with coconut oil, using Ecover cleaning products.......if anyone has any other suggestions I would love to hear them!

Back soon with an update.....