Fitzwilliam Museum

Friday was spent in the Fitzwilliam musuem. The staff were particularly amused to see me sat on the floor with a sketchbook with my two little artists in residence doing the same. I am not the most patient of sketchers but there is enough asian and greek pottery here to keep me inspired. (And an exhibition of Howard Hodgkin's paintings to oooh and aaah over.)

I've said this before but I really must draw more. Pah. I can hear my old art tutor now - my sketchbooks at college were drearily empty, to my shame I would much rather have the paints out making a mess and if I hadn't discovered collage when I did I suspect that my art career would had died before it had begun! No such worries for my son though, he will make a wonderful illustrator should he choose to do so. He thankfully doesn't seem to have inherited my lazy gene. You can check out his wonderful drawings on his blog.

Up With The Lark

Larissa from Giggleicious and I have been friends since college and the birth of our daughters has created a sudden and unexpected urge to get out the needles and knit, sew and crochet lots of goodies, some of which you can see in our newly opened etsy shop called Up With the Lark! Ok, so it's full of Larissa's things at the mo as I am very good at starting things but not so good at finishing them but go and drool over hers until I catch up. Above is the adorable Bertie from Larissa's monsters range.

2 Years Blogging!

Where did the time go? I only thought I started this a year ago but 2 years have skipped by. I've never been very good at keeping diaries so memories of my past are jumbled up randomly in my head so it is weird to look back in the last two years in chronological order. What has struck me most is the journey I have been on and the progress I have made, a lot of it as a direct result of starting this blog and the amazingly talented people I have met along the way who have inspired and directed me in ways I'm not sure could have happened otherwise. I love being at home with my children but from an artistic point of view this can be very stifling. Up until my two year old was born life had become a bit of a treadmill; I was making a reasonable and necessary living from making wedding stationery but there wasn't room for much else, creatively speaking. I don't remember exactly how I came across blogging but I was on maternity leave and free to explore and rediscover my art again. Blogging seemed a good way of focusing and putting down in words the muddle in my head, and looking back at my first posts it was a muddle! I've still got a way to go but the future is looking good, oh and thank you to everyone out there in blogland, you are all wonderful!

UK Street Team - Etsy

Some of the UK Street team at etsy are planning on going to New York to meet fellow etsians and take part in their trunk show at the end of this year. Of course this is going to cost a bit so we are all donating to the street team shop to help out. My little note or greeting cards are for sale there - go check out the other wonderful items available too!

Vintage Scarf Top

Please excuse the blurry photo but just look what came in the post today, this gorgeous scarf top from the lovely Greygoat at etsy. Made from two coordinating vintage scarves it ties at the back with a huge black bow and is so flattering in all the right places! Thank you so much Grey, it is stunning!!

Front Page Glory!

Woohoo my UK treasury is on the front page of Etsy. Well done guys and gals!!! It won't be there for long so go check it out now!

Printmaking Workshop

Last Thursday Kamal and I helped out at a printmaking workshop for local children which was loads of fun! I haven't done printmaking since college and it wasn't something I really took to but this time we used really simple techniques and water based inks and the results were fantastic. The first group of prints were using a technique called drypoint where the image is drawn or 'scratched' into a sheet of acetate with a sharp point then the ink rubbed into the scratches. The second group shows 'press print' where we used polystyrene (similar to pizza bases) and the design is pushed into the plate and the ink rolled over the top to leave white lines. The kids took to it really easily and I got to have a go too - see my birdy? Think this is something I will be trying at home, apparently if you don't have a press you can use the back of a wooden spoon. Watch this space!

A Rose is a Rose

New little photographic print available on Etsy!

Colchester Zoo

School holidays are here hooray! These are a few pics from a day at Colchester Zoo.

Inch by Inch

Teeny inch square pieces of art for the 100 inchies in 100 day swap.

UK Etsy

Etsy are currently running a poster challenge around their very addictive treasury feature, if chosen they will become real prints that they plan to distribute as publicity posters at events etc. There is a ever increasing number of UK Etsians so we are of course keen to promote UK sellers and here is my contribution. The other entries can be seen here http://www.flickr.com/groups/388218@N25/pool/. Fingers crossed a UK entry gets picked!

Illustration Friday - Discovery

Don't you love it when you move house and pull up the old wallpaper to discover more wallpaper from an earlier time, or old photos and letters in the attic, snippets of other peoples lives, layer upon layer, page upon page of mystery and intrigue...

Update

My online shop is now officially finished, really this time, with lots of cards and trinkets going on there as fast as I can manage - www.chalkhillstudio.co.uk - it will only take UK orders at the mo but if you live overseas and found me via my blog please drop me a line if you like something. It also has its own blog that I will get going over the next week or so, it will have lots of info about DIY weddings and parties and interviews with other artists and designers I have been lucky to meet in the blogosphere! Again it will be predominately UK based but there will be something for everyone.

I am also delighted to have been accepted as a member of Tuggle , a brand new website that was set up by a mother of two Jasmyne Sefton to support other parents who run their own businesses from home - just what we need, go check it out!

Cambridge Open Studios has also started for this year, again I haven't been able to participate this year but I am holding another kids collage workshop on the 21st and 22nd July at the Gallery in Fulbourn High Street, so if you live around Cambridge please pop in and say hi, but be prepared to get messy!

And my little monkeys enjoying a rare day out in the sun, what has happenend to the weather!

Dairy Page

This is my page for Fantazya's Diary Project.

Still here

After 3 weeks of solid decorating I've had a ton of work to catch up with so blogging has had to wait a bit. But I have had time to make crochet jewellery in the evenings which I have been putting in to my Etsy Shop along with some of my older artwork and prints at really good prices! I have also rebuilt my shopping cart at Chalk Hill and moved it into its proper home so it's bye bye to ocellus art and design forever, yeah! After months and months of faffing and indecision I am finally getting things into order and having a good clear out in the process, and boy does it feel good!

Crochet Wire

I've been making wire jewellery on and off for a good few years now, usually as an addition to wedding stationery orders and the odd craft fair here and there but I recently discovered Sybille's Magpie Magic crocheted jewellery (via Natural Attrill) and was bowled over! It is fantastic! My normal jewellery wire is too think for crochet so she very kindly told me where she gets hers from and here is my first creation! Love it love it love it - thanks Sybille!!

Back to work

The painting is done, the house is on the market and half term is over so it's back to normal for me! Just a huge pile of work to catch up on, I don't think I have ever spent so long away from the business and boy is there a lot to do! So it won't be long before you see artwork back on the blog but here's another flower pic in the meantime... better get on!!

Late afternoon walk...

at the Gog Magogs. Cambridgeshire isn't known for its rolling hills but it does have one or two, this beautiful nature reserve being one of them and this is the best time of year for flowers. And you do get and uninterrupted view across the surrounding landscape.

Tea and cake with the Finches

Finally after days and days of rain the sun came out in time for half term. Friday morning was spent at our beloved Orchard for apple pie and elderflower presse and this time we had guests! The finch and the robin sat on the back of the deckchair sizing each other up for a while but it was the finch who claimed the prize in the end, until Anya scared them away.

Colour Therapy

After three weeks solid of cleaning and stripping and painting and 'decluttering' (ie. packing things we can manage without for the time being into boxes and storing in mother-in-laws attic) we are finally depersonalised and ready to sell. If it weren't for the agents telling us we have increased the value of our place considerably in doing so I might have resented it but it is so nice to be clean and spotlessly tidy, if not a touch stark. I am suffering from colour deprevation and I am desperate to get my work out and make a creative mess. But needs must and I have satisfied my cravings by buying beautiful bright fabric from ebay. As I mentioned before I bought a stash of books for my birthday (it was on the 1st Suzie, seems like a life time ago!) and with my new crochet skills I am trying out different potentional designs for bags amongst other things. These gorgeous pieces in the pics will hopefully become the linings. I have lots more goodies to show but they are tucked away as they fall in to the 'clutter' category. Will dig them out as soon as I can!