Dreaming about India and Slow Stitching

 I have already started counting my days. I am dreaming and this dream is soon going to come true. Our tickets are booked and yes! We are going to India during the summer holidays.

I am so excited and looking forward to go to India and visit my family. This time of the year Delhi is quite hot but we will go from there to my sister who lives in the most beautiful part of north India called Manali. And she runs her resort called Zahir Adventures. Here is the link if you are interested in having a look.

Anyway, as I am thinking and dreaming of being in India already, I just had to pull out some of my mothers old saree's which she kindly gave me to use in my work. I feel very lucky to have all these treasures and by making something out of my mothers old saree that she wore  is my way of holding on to my memories of India and my family. It is hard at times to live out of your own country but we learn, adapt and I have got immense love and support here in England and have made lots of good friends too. Some of the families I know here now are like my own family.

I have also pulled out these lovely gifts from my mother too. She bought them from Manali last year, when she went up to my sister. I am so excited to visit her, can't wait.

But while I am waiting, I just thought to make something from all my treasures from India.

I have also included my rust dyed cloth, which you saw in this post here.

The yellow piece of the saree is so fragile, that it keeps ripping as I stitch it. I remember my mother wearing it when I was a little girl.

This is how it looks now, and it is so special to me that I want to keep it in one of my journals. So its part of one of my charity shop bought old hard cover books now. I am happy and going to stitch maybe something else, with my rust dyed cloth and some vintage lace I bought, from the charity shop as well.

Camping in the Peak District

Tiffany (our caravan) was out again. Yes, it wasn't long since we went camping but the weather was nice and would have been a same not to go anywhere. So we drove to the Peak District. We camped in a farmers land, that's what we like with just few caravans. There were only Two caravans and a very small tent other than us there and the field was so big that we were all spread out.

As we were not far from Ilam, we went for a walk there. This is the tea room which was packed...

We sat outside and had a cup of tea.

 Saw some land sculptures.

 This was Emily's favourite spot to sit. She called it home.

Was not easy to get her out of there.

Of course, we always collect woods and pine cones. So handy for campfire, cooking in my new outdoor wood burner and maybe some possible future craft work.

And... I can never have enough photographs of these beauties.

They look so adorable and full of character.

Little Emily wanted to give them a hug. She ran, and ran and ran after them for a hug.

We followed her.

 In the end she gave up sadly as the sheep ran away from her. Poor thing.

I gave her my sketchbook to draw them...

But she decided to draw herself instead.

The Lamb watched Emily while she was drawing in mummy's sketchbook.

Then, it was my turn. I have so many photographs of these sheeps from before already so I decided to cut one around and use it for a quick mixed media  work in my book.

I always carry lots of different vintage emphera, Variety of scrap decorative papers, paints and anything and everything almost with me. These are really done very quickly and are not a perfect image or finished work but its more about capturing the essence of  a place or of that particular moment. I don't like planning my paintings at all. Once all dry, some journalism would be done here.

"The Seed of your next artwork"

"The seed of your next artwork lies embedded in the imperfections of your current piece. Such imperfections (or mistakes, if you are feeling particularly depressed about them today) are your guides - valuable, reliable, objective, non- judgmental guides - to matters you need to reconsider or develop further. " - David Bayles and Ted Orland, Art and Fear.

The book I have been reading at the moment seems to be the right one for me. It is called 'Art and Fear' by David Bayles and Ted Orland. There are days in the studio when I walk in and everything seems to work smoothly. There is confidence and excitement. Joy and happiness in heart. This week wasn't one of those weeks though. I have been working on three other paintings, much smaller than the one's here now are just not working. I had to leave those three small canvases and start something new. Speaking of new, the above two paintings are new paintings, but I did have a painting underneath them. The work that I never liked, the work which never saw the light, at the exhibition hall. So I decided to paint over them.  After almost the whole week spending time in my studio finally I have completed these two work that I am happy with. The bird that I wanted to paint, just didn't look right to me on the canvas above, so had to go. Tough decisions had to be made. I am though happy with the results. But the bird has to appear again, maybe in another canvas. Another day when it feels just right.

Meanwhile I need to think about the three little canvases. Small work is always more challenging for me. I like painting big. I feel I can express myself better whereas in small canvases I need to plan more. And, I like working spontaneously.

Weather forecast for the weekend is looking quite good, maybe I need to go for a long walk, or catch up with my knitting projects. I need some time off my studio this weekend. I wonder how you overcome your artists block?

Camping in Wales

Camping in Mid- Wales was so relaxing. We camped quite remote and spent quiet a bit of time by the river across the road by our campsite. We saw nobody there the whole day, except innumerable birds and the sky at some point was full of red kites. We lit fire and the girls and hubby roasted marshmallows. I sat down by the fire and knitted and heard the red kites whistle above us. We were very close at times. I never saw a red kite flying in wild so close to me before. This was heaven. The black bird sat on the tree for ages. He must have been warm from the fire too.

We went to the Devils Bridge Waterfall. It was magnificent.Very steep down and the all the way up. We walked a lot. I felt it in my legs while I lay on my bed. This is the type of tiredness I don't mind. At times I feel I was born to be in the wild. I love nature and being outdoors gives me immense happiness. The beauty of nature, the colours all around us makes me feel like starting a new work always. So I did as soon as we were back. I have now started a new painting. A new journey, a unknown path which I like to follow through my paintings. It makes me happy.