veg and art, what more could you want?

Hurray! It's 5x7 art time again organised by the lovely Tiffany! I'm so excited, and this time there's an exhibition too, which is just brilliant, I need to get my thinking hat on! Anyone can sign up, so if you fancy it...

Now for an update on the vegetables...

So, this weekend I:

Earthed up the potatos...


Weeded the shallots, they have all split now, which is good, and also rather pretty!


I planted some more purple broccoli because I don't want to run out this year...


And re-potted the cucmber, sharp spiney stems stuck in my fingers


Look what the tiny sprouters that took so long to push through have grown into! Could they be the beginnings of flowers??


Some one got there before me with the kale...


And after all that hard work I took a well earned rest!

Gocco!

Well I said I would talk about this yesterday, but I was too full of curry. So now I've had a nice sleep and a nice cup of peppermint tea I'm feeling much better, so here goes...

The print gocco arrived! All the way from Japan. It was excruciating because I had it delivered to work, so I had to sit there all day with it right there on my desk, with all its lovely stickers and Japanese writing, just knowing what was inside but having to do my work instead. Aghh! Im sure my work collegues were fed up by the end of the day with me looking at it and patting it and telling them what it was and what I was going to do with it...



Have been looking at these for ages, I did some etching at uni and I've been really missing it, and print making in general. Have been doing some kind of etchings onto acetate and printing those via the means of photocopier and acetone (like the grass on the 5x7 art I sent to Peggy).



But it's not quite the same. So I thought I would treat myself to one of these and see what I can come up with...

Christmas come early

Well today packages are like buses, you don't get one for ages then two show up at once...

The first one is very exciting...



...but I will tell you about that tomorrow. What's more exciting is my mail art arrived! Hurray! Its a beautiful print and painting from John and I'm so pleased!


'Deadley Game of Chess Part 1 (Pigeons vs Eagles)'

All the way from New York too. I love this mail art swap thing. And I love getting packages! Good day today.

Happy day

Thank you so much to Peggy for her lovely comments about the book I sent her. It was made as part of the 5x7art swap, and she received it today. Here is one of the beautiful photos she has taken



She has written about it here and here

I really enjoyed making the book. It began its life in the month I spent at Cove Park in the Scottish Highlands. I was given the opportunity to stay there for a month, and it's a fantastic place. I had a studio space and a lovely pod to live in, surrounded by grass and hills, water and sky. It was an amazing time.



So the idea was to create something that was inspired by walking through the grass. Some of the grass there was up to my waist, and every morning I would walk up from my pod to the studio through the grass and wild flowers and it's one one my clearest memories of the place.

But the book never really captured that whilst I was there. I suppose I was too close to the real thing. When my stay came to an end I carefully packed it all up into a box and came home. But a few months later it seems to have setttled, and when I signed up to the art swap I got the box full of messy bits of paper out and stareted to play...



I think it worked out better this time. I added some drawings of grasses on handmade grassy paper, and wrote some words about how the place made me feel. And then posted it off to America, to Peggy. And she seemed to like it, I'm glad it's found a good home.