Woah... Been a while, longer than I expected! Potentially a good reminder of how time gently slips away. I have a new addition to my family that has taken up much of that time but in a most worthwhile fashion. So a fresh being bought into the world, a little lad who is lively and has a smile that melts hearts. Truly a blessing.

And I've moved, we've relocated back to Scotland so that the boys can be close to their family and so that we can all have some more space, which has creatively been a real boon. I'm creating, been an interesting few months drawing and redefining 'my style' or one of them at least. Been good to pick up pencil and paper once again...

So first off I worked on a map for a friend's book which she's gradually compiling, we met occasionally in the park near my house so that the kids could play whilst we discussed her vision. I was still in Sussex at that point (as was she, she's since moved back home to America) and we basically talked and walked and ate cake and then tried to find our children who had seemingly vanished into the shrubbery and lost all ability to hear our summons. Anyhow, We discussed how a map of her vision would be a good starting point, as it is a key part to the navigation and compartmentalising of her various topics to do with nature and the seasons. I roughed some sketches, spent some time tweaking freehand pen drawings and trying to pinpoint how to tie it all in. Because of our location in Sussex I thought it would be rather apt to base it on our locale and try and marry up some of the local areas of natural beauty and interest with those from her concept. It started to take shape...

The Dead Fish

This is one of the illustrations I prepared for Emmanuel Williams book the A-Z of Imaginary fish. I've just been posting up examples of my work on my facebook page which I started up a couple of days ago https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kitchimama/223358467714892
This poem was rather a poignant tale (so tempted to put tail) of a fish that brings wreaths down to the dead ones and places shells on their eyes - I liked the imagery and thought I would post it on here.

Masquerade

I've always had a fascination with masks - quite simply I love the way they conceal - but reveal in equal measure. It's always interesting to see how people respond to each other when they have a mask to hide behind.

This mask has been constructed in stages, I used a shop bought mask as a template (had cling film stretched over it to prevent sticking). The layers were built up gradually, using different colours of cartridge paper and pva glue, so that I could tell what had already been done. The leaves were made out of wire and bent to form naturalistic shapes, reminiscent of the green man motif often found in old churches. Once enough layers had been made (to make it strong enough to retain it's shape) a couple of layers of tissue paper were added to give it a smoother finish - then I applied gesso, and again built up the layers. Finally sanding it to give a finer finish.

The whole mask was sprayed with red oxide coloured paint, which gave me a blank and uniform canvas. Then details were applied with acrylic, as with so many of these things I got a little carried away as the idea had been to keep it simple but I found it such an enjoyable process I kept coming back to it to add some more... finally having to put my paint brushes down due to time constraints more than a end point

They were Bluebells! and they were lovely - my grapevine was all wintry hibernation but nestled at it's roots up came the bluebells and now they have had their glorious show of blue they have slipped back into dying elegance and tuned white and withered. But all is not lost for like taking a baton from a runner the grapevine has burst into fabulous life and even has tiny grapes peeking forth from between the leaves.... now this may all seem a bit over the top, but I love having a garden and whilst we were on the road in our van it was the only thing I really missed about having a house, (that and having a bathroom which admittedly I did occasionally miss). This is the year I will get to see my white poppy bloom - we had a near miss with it yesterday when boy child nearly wiped it out with a basketball, but fortunately it survived the ordeal unlike the ones he decapitated in the past... I am so glad he's old enough now to understand that whilst pulling the heads off flowers might be immensely satisfying... it's really not the done thing R.I.P my alliums.

aye well here's the nub of it - I've been working as a face painter and keeping my little lad occupied (home educating = not much time to myself). But I have very excitedly amassed some new supplies - I've been gradually buying bits here and there for making my icons, which so far have been a labour of love. Today I put in an order to Cornellissens in London for the last of my pigments (for now) and hopefully will be getting the gold leaf soon (the real stuff, no fake nonsense) I have to admit I could have done it all a lot sooner if I hadn't stuck to my belief that it all had to be pure in some way - I feel like it is an alchemical process creating these things. I bought a very nice glass muller and slab for hand crushing and mixing my pigments, have prepared all my gessoed boards myself including making the gesso to a traditional recipe, which is centuries old. and learnt how to water gild and make egg tempera. Which I have wanted to learn about since I was a teenager and finally I have! - yay, persistence! For anyone who is interested in such techniques, I attended a course at West Dean College in West Sussex, England. http://www.westdean.org.uk/ which is perhaps the most extravagant thing I have ever treated myself to, but was worth every penny, gorgeous setting, skilled tutors and yummy food - what's not to love? Not only were we taught the relevant techniques for making icons in the byzantine style, we were taught some of the history, symbolism and spiritual connitations of these pieces. My only complaint was that I ran out of time to complete my piece which simply put was because despite the tutors warning that I was picking a complex one for the time allotted, I had to go and pick it. The tutors name is Peter Murphy and you can see examples of his work here.... http://www.petermurphyicons.co.uk/ truly a lovely bloke and extremely patient. Now I finally have my pigments ordered I can hopefully finally finish the piece from the course (plate type thing in hand and hand, lettering etc) and get a move on with more pieces, it'll be fun deciding on new themes - they might go a little unusual... watch this space as they say!

Etsy

Well, the sun has been shining and I've been out lapping it up. I love spring and have a childlike love of watching buds bursting forth and the progress of the mystery bulbs in my garden, which once upon a time was an orchard so may well be bluebells... or similar! Everything is starting to shake of it's winter lethargy including me - so thought I better post something up!

Well first off I've finally got around to putting some of my things on etsy - a fabulous website, which I've had an empty shop on for a couple years filled to brimming with good intentions. But now I've got some of my cards on there and will be adding gradually to it over time...

http://www.etsy.com/shop/KitchimamaCreations

If you've not perused this virtual artisan arcade before I highly recommend it - it is hugely inspiring to see so many people making and producing all over the world.

A Step Further...

Enjoying working with my new material... only one draw back, the eeney weeney pots didn't nearly go far enough, and it's bloomin expensive stuff, so I'll have to wait a wee while till I can proceed with the next phase - as already stated these things kind of have a life of their own, so I'm kind of intrigued as to how it will resolve itself, tempted to call him 'goat boy' at this stage!

Puppet Project

Today I began the head for a new doll/puppet and as these things quite often have a life of their own I thought you might join me and see where we end up. So, this new character was made with tin foil as a base and an air drying polymer clay called 'Apoxie Sculpt' for the details, I decided to have a go with this new matrerial (for me) after my last puppet making venture went up in flames after I accidentally set alight to the arch angel gabriel I had been cooking in my oven... after having spent some considerable time (and money) on him I wasn't best pleased. So a polymer clay that doesn't need cooking sounded pretty good - if a little pricey for the amount of clay provided! Anyway, they have a way of making their own identity known - this one for instance was meant to be female but insisted on being male - and bears an uncanny resemblance to my father, to whom I'm about to add some horns... oops, really not intended. The clay itself is odd for want of a better word, it's pretty tricky to sculpt but gets more pliable the more it's handled, but for a while there I wasn't sure if I would get any kind of result at all. It's fairly waxy and the surface was cracking at first whenever it was manipulated, as I persevered though it did gradually come together. So this is it so far, I'm about to add some more and will attempt to post up my progress. Wish me luck!