Wishing everyone a joyous and peaceful Christmas and health and happiness in 2018!  Thank you very much for all your interest and support over the past year.  
​

Many thanks to everyone who came to visit us at Newton Dee during North East Open Studios in September.  It was lovely to meet all who visited and I really enjoyed the company of my fellow artists.  One of these artists was Lucy Brydon, who was showing visitors the delights of gelli printing.  Last year I had a go at this and recently I acquired some gelli printing equipment (basically just a small gelli plate and a roller for rolling out paint or ink onto it. I already had acrylic paint in the studio).  Over recent days I've been having a go at printing some designs for this year's Christmas cards.  It has been an interesting experience; I am learning as I go along.  I am finding it harder than I expected to figure out what order to do the different steps in. Doing things in reverse does not seem to come naturally to me. It's fun, though, laying down layers of different colours, using stencils and found objects (leaves, ferns, fabric, wool, paper doilies) to make patterns.  the whole process will be easier once I have another roller or two for inking up the gelli plate!  (they have been ordered, hope they come soon!).  I am realising it would almost certainly be better and easier to using printing inks for this method, as the acrylic paint I am using dries very quickly.  This can also be seen as an advantage, not having to wait for prints to dry before adding another layer.  Using up materials I already have, however, is what needs to be done for now, so I will persevere with the acrylic paint.   

The next step is to take photographs of the prints, maybe tweak the colours a little, or crop the images, and decide which ones to use for my cards this year!  Onwards and upwards. 

I've been thinking a bit about the creative process recently.  It's a funny thing.  Funny peculiar, not funny ha ha.  The longer I am involved in this creative world, the more I realise just how long things take.  

I had an idea.  Just a small idea, about Christmas card designs (this was after a friend asked "so, are you doing Christmas cards again this year?"  i.e. designing and selling them).  I sketched the idea, or several possibilities, with a pen in a sketchbook.  Or maybe with a pencil, but definitely in a sketchbook.  This year I showed these possibilities to a small group of friends (including the one who asked the orginal question) who are very supportive of my creative endeavours.  They told me which ideas they liked best.  I cast aside the ones they did not choose.  This was a helpful process, as I am not great at choosing.   I pursued the ideas, both at art class and at home.  My art tutor gave suggestions about design, as did my classmates.  Again, all very helpful.  The shapes should be better defined, the design clear and distinct.  I prepared several sheets of watercolour paper by painting shades of various colours on them.  I got my scissors out.  I'm not very good at cutting out.  Too impatient to do it neatly and well.  I got out my craft knife instead (mini Stanley blade). And a ruler.  Cut triangles of painted paper freestyle.  I enjoyed that bit.  The "trees" turned out fairly random, with different coloured patterns on each one.    More cutting out produced a hill and a moon.  It all just evolved.  I had tried drawing or painting the designs prior to this, but somehow the cutting out and placing of the pieces produced something quite different.   I don't quite understand how it worked, but it did.  So I am not going to worry about understanding it, but am just going to be happy and satisfied that it did.  My friends loved the end results.  And so did some other people. That is good.

I've been updating my profile on the Redbubble website.  I have a wide range of work uploaded on the site and have my own portfolio page.  Images are available to purchase in a wide range of forms - from greetings cards to framed prints, mugs and travel mugs to tote bags and tee-shirts.  The range has just been expanded to include clocks, and there are phone and tablet covers too... something for everyone!  Feel free to have a browse and let me know what you think.  A few of my clock designs are shown here...

Happy New Year. I hope that 2016 brings you peace, health and happiness.  I was fortunate to spend both Christmas and New Year on the west coast of Scotland with my nearest and dearest this festive season.  The weather was mixed, as is to be expected at this time of year.  The days seem to take turns; a day of solid rain and howling winds would be followed by mild, balmy air breezing in from the south.  We know from long years of experience to head out as soon as it is fair.  Fair mainly means not raining.  So, we had some good walks on the glorious beaches; Big Sand, Gairloch Beach and Red Point on Boxing Day.  The latter was a very windy day and we were sand-blasted as soon as we reached the beach.  I love to stand and watch the waves crashing on the shore. The way they roll and break, the foamy whiteness moving along the crest as they approach.  It was too cold to stand for long, however. Only long enough to take a few photographs.
​We retreated to the south end of the bay and found shelter below the turf line where the sheep had formed hollows to lie in. We perched on the rounded sandstone rocks and drank tea, ate goose sandwiches (we had the good fortune to eat goose on Christmas day) and slabs of Christmas cake with marzipan and sweet, sweet icing. It was a good day.  I hope to have more like it in the coming year.

It's the first day of December - I suppose I need to start thinking about Christmas.  This reminded me about a (reverse) version of the Twelve Days of Christmas which I wrote a couple of years ago.  So, I thought I would share it with you here.  Hope it doesn't induce too much panic...

​The photos above were taken in Singapore three years ago, on the return journey from a wonderful trip to Australia.  It was my first experience of seeing Christmas trees in a warm climate - it was interesting to see the different take on form and decoration.

Twelve Days till Christmas

It’s twelve days till Christmas
and I haven’t done a thing
- I haven’t even got a Christmas tree!

It’s eleven days till Christmas
And I haven’t done a thing
- no presents bought
and I haven’t even got a Christmas tree!

It’s ten days till Christmas
And I haven’t done a thing
- no cards sent
-no presents bought
and I haven’t even got a Christmas tree!

It’s nine days till Christmas
And I haven’t done a thing
- no bauble hanging
- no cards sent
- no presents bought
and I haven’t even got a Christmas tree!

It’s eight days till Christmas
And I haven’t done a thing
- n o    c a r o l s    s u n g
- no bauble hanging
- no cards sent
- no presents bought
and I haven’t even got a Christmas tree!

It’s seven days till Christmas
And I haven’t done a thing
- no candle lighting
- n o    c a r o l s    s u n g
- no bauble hanging
- no cards sent
- no presents bought
and I haven’t even got a Christmas tree!

It’s six days till Christmas
And I haven’t done a thing
- no panic buying
- no candle lighting
- n o    c a r o l s    s u n g
- no bauble hanging
- no cards sent
- no presents bought
and I haven’t even got a Christmas tree!

It’s five days till Christmas
And I haven’t done a thing
- no ribbon tying
- no panic buying
- no candle lighting
- n o    c a r o l s    s u n g
- no bauble hanging
- no cards sent
- no presents bought
and I haven’t even got a Christmas tree!

It’s four days till Christmas
And I haven’t done a thing
- no present wrapping
- no ribbon tying
- no panic buying
- no candle lighting
- n o    c a r o l s    s u n g
- no bauble hanging
- no cards sent
- no presents bought
and I haven’t even got a Christmas tree!

It’s three days till Christmas
And I haven’t done a thing
- no mulled wine making
- no present wrapping
- no ribbon tying
- no panic buying
- no candle lighting
- n o    c a r o l s    s u n g
- no bauble hanging
- no cards sent
- no presents bought
and I haven’t even got a Christmas tree!

It’s two days till Christmas
And I haven’t done a thing
- no stocking filling
- no mulled wine making
- no present wrapping
- no ribbon tying
- no panic buying
- no candle lighting
- n o    c a r o l s    s u n g
- no bauble hanging
- no cards sent
- no presents bought
and I haven’t even got a Christmas tree!

It’s one day till Christmas
can I do it all today?
- no turkey stuffing
- no stocking filling
- no mulled wine making
- no present wrapping
- no ribbon tying
- no panic buying
- no candle lighting
- n o    c a r o l s    s u n g
- no bauble hanging
- no cards sent
- no presents bought
and I haven’t even got a Christmas tree!

If you fancy singing it at home or in the shower, please feel free.  If you would like your choir to sing it somewhere public, please can you tell them who wrote it? (chance would be a fine thing). 
​What I'm really saying is, copyright belongs to me!  
​ 

It was time to design some new Christmas cards.  I just needed a little prompting and then I sat at my big kitchen table, got out my paints, brushes, jam jars of water and a random assortment of paper.  I stuck with greens and reds, traditional colours I know.  I was tempted at one point to paint a snowman in a snowstorm, but sanity, or something, prevailed, and I ended up with three designs I was happy with. And still am happy with.  The pictures somehow distilled and became simpler, as I tried out different ideas.  Before I started, I had a trawl on Pinterest for images of holly and hellebores (Christmas roses) and Christmas trees.  I do like Pinterest for sparking off ideas; I like collecting images onto boards, without having to print anything out.  I don't use it a huge amount, but enjoy revisiting my boards every so often, changing the cover photos and adding more images when I find them.  I'm sure I don't make the best use of it, but it works for me.  

The cards have now been printed and are available from Buchanan's Bistro in Banchory and here on my website. 

The festive season, by which I mean Christmas and New Year, is a season of mixed emotions for me.  This year, I have been trying to pin down exactly why I feel the way I do.  Mostly, I dread Christmas.  The cynical part of me finds it hard work; extra work in cooking and in buying present; writing cards and sending them, choosing a tree and decorating it, making polite conversation with relatives you see only rarely.  The less cynical part of me may sometimes enjoy choosing thoughtful gifts, thinking about friends I hardly ever see when writing a card to them, and likes to see the house decorated for the season.  I think that part of the general grumpiness may have to do with the fact that my own parents were rather good at Christmas.  I mean good at organising it.  And there is a lot of organising to be done, as I know any of you who have survived the past few days will agree.  They actually seemed to enjoy it.  My dad would acquire a ham (a whole leg) from somewhere in Perthshire - Kinross, I think - and boil it in the old clothes boiler we had in the wash-house at the back of our house.  It was the only vessel large enough to hold it.  I believe he boiled it empty beforehand to clean it.  There was a tap at the bottom to empty out the water - except in this case it was wonderful ham stock  for soup! And then he would glaze it and bake it and we would have it cold on Christmas morning, thin delicious slices of it, with melon. I now realise I have no idea where this tradition came from. I like to think it was from the one Christmas we spent in Sweden, as a family, when I was two years old, but I suspect that may not be correct.  

I still use the recipes mum had from "Lady Edith in the Belfast Newsletter, about year 1!" for plum pudding, and her mother's recipe for Christmas cake, from about 1930.  I keep meaning to write them out, or copy them into my recipe book, or type them up, but I never do.  They are both written on yellowing paper, in my mum's handwriting and somehow become more precious every year.  I never quite manage all the old traditions - we used to be summoned to the kitchen to stir the plum pudding mixture with a large wooden spoon, and to make a wish.  The smell of Guinness mixed in with suet and dried fruit brings back those memories every year.  And there would be sixpences, wrapped in greaseproof paper and inserted with a knife into the heart of the pudding, before it was set alight on Christmas day, with brandy heated on the stove and a sprig of holly, which we all hoped would catch light, stuck on top.  There would be table fireworks, smokey and messy and all the more fun for that very reason.  This year we were lucky enough to be given a pack of them by an old friend - fab!

There are a lot of expectations at this time of year; perhaps it is that I feel that our Christmas won't quite be up to scratch.  Does it matter if the turkey isn't cooked just quite right, if we forget to chill the bubbly or take the cheese out of the fridge so that it isn't freezing cold and tasteless?  No. We are lucky to have food on our table and wine in our glasses.  And everyone will be too full to want cheese, anyway.  Does it matter if we don't stick to the old traditions, but make up some new ones of our own? I think not. Family is a transient concept; it's who is around at the time - the gathering on Christmas Day may be all older people, or a group of twenty-somethings, or three or more generations all gathered together, with little ones who are entranced by the magic of it all.  It might be siblings and their offspring. Perhaps it is the transition which makes me unsettled, or even a bit sad - the fact that I am slowly but surely (actually, there's no "slowly" about it) becoming part of the older generation - there are not many of my parents' peers still around.  Every year at this time this process becomes clearer, as I receive another letter which tells me of another passing.  

I think I understand these mixed emotions a bit better now.  No matter how much we would like it to do so, Christmas cannot stay the same; nor should it.  It evolves and changes as we and our families and friends change.  We can make it whatever we want it to be.

 I signed up for a couple of Christmas Fairs this year.  Last weekend I was at the Aboyne Playgroup Fayre in the Victory Hall in Aboyne.  I am pretty much a novice at setting up a table, but tried not to let it show too much.  I have a list, which helps.  It means I don't forget vital things like table cloths, sticky labels and pens and a flask of coffee.  Actually, there was free tea and coffee for the stall-holders at this event, which was great.  I managed to make not too bad a fist of setting out my stall, in the end (you can judge for yourself - photo above).

I'd been assigned a table at the top of the hall, next to the face-painting.  It was fun to watch a series of children be transformed into dogs, butterflies and (a sign of the times) angry birds. More fascinating, for the people-watcher that I am, was to see the personalities of these small beings, already well developed.  The confident ones strode up to the chair, sat patiently while the art was applied to their little visogs and then picked up the mirror to admire the results.  The shyer ones had a small motif drawn on their arm or hand.  And the shyest didn't want their faces painted at all.  Or perhaps it's not shyness; perhaps it's just the difference between extroverts and introverts.  The sparkly blue butterflies went out into the world (or hall, village, Deeside) saying "look at me, I am pretty!", whereas the unpainted ones did not wish to draw attention to themselves.  Perhaps they feel beautiful enough as they are. 

Santa's grotto was behind me on the stage, so I did not get a chance to observe the small people there.  But I could see the steps leading up there.  Again, it was fascinating to see what went on.  The small people who dragged mummy or daddy up the steps, desperate to tell Santa their wishes.  The mummys and daddys trying to persuade their offspring to to go and visit the man in the red suit with his long white beard and big black boots.  Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. I'm sure there were a few tears in that grotto.  But hopefully more smiles than tears.

This Sunday I will be at Redwood Winter Fair in Echt Village Hall from 10am - 5pm.  (The Fair is on both Saturday and Sunday, but I will just be there the one day).   There will be face-painting, I believe.  Hope to see you there!

PROCRASTINATION

Putting off the evil hour
Running away from chores
Owing much to others
Costing us much more.
Running rings around ourselves
And setting pointless tasks
Stand and watch the world go by
Till someone comes and asks…
Is it you that does this job?
Not I, you sadly say,
Another does these things
That I once did, one day
I only think about it now
Or talk about it, even
Not doing things is not the way

                                                                                           To get oneself to heaven.