July Log

July 1st - 6th

Again, working very hard. Mostly it's steaming, sewing in labels, finishing off work for the dry-cleaner in Holsworthy (which I took in on 3rd) making some more cards, preparing handout leaflets about my course, finding things such as tissue paper, display items, checking calico for my exhibition stand at Art in Action, etc.

The last two pieces of work I did before stopping for the dry-clean were two shawls worked on 14 mm crêpe de Chine. I did about 5 layers of dye and wax and built up a network of lines based on drawings of the grass tussocks on the moor here at Hatherleigh.

This image shows the work finished on the frame, before I removed it to iron out the wax and then steam it. I am looking forward to seeing it back tomorrow. Dry-clean collect! It is a development from the original Savannah design (which were more about colour and tone) and the interim pieces based on more simple lines, and in fewer layers.

I have then started a batch of twist-dyed scarves which require steaming but not a dry-clean, so I left them until last.

We went down to Falmouth today to wave Berri off to Lymington for the next phase of her voyage. Just less than a month to the Fastnet Race. For more information of my brother's long voyage, click here.

7th - 12th July

Art in Action preparations in full swing. All scarves are now dry-cleaned, washed, priced and labelled and I am just realising there are some I must still photograph. I am putting a summary of the year's work so far below on the What's New page: this also shows the finished shawl illustrated in the entry above.Our very hot weather means four days inside a marquee at Art in Action could be quite a trial.

I will update after the show: if you are coming, I look forward to meeting you.

13th - 18th July

Back home last night after Art in Action. Yesterday was the hottest of all four show days and it was made worse by very high humidity in a plastic, rather than canvas tent. The show was ultimately a success for me although the first day was appalling, with people drifting past without even glancing at my work. Scarves were not the thing of the day.. we heard a very cut-glass pair of women remark "lovely colours, but I don't know about you, I'm just awash with scarves.."

There is no feeling quite like being passed by at a Fair, especially when others around are seemingly doing well. You just sit there wondering what you have got so wrong. Is it the work, the presentation, an inauspicious meeting of planets and stars, or what?? It wasn't my prices because no-one ever approached to see what they were. I can't even blame the heat as the woollen jackets in the stand next door were selling very well and visitors had no hesitation in trying them on. It was just the particular crowd that came with other things on their minds.

On Friday and Saturday the mix of people changed and I had a set of people who were interested in the work, tried things on, bought more than one piece, were old students or potential students etc etc. None of my expensive pieces went although I sold some of the wider 15 x 72" Tussock scarves prices at £62.00. Several purchasers bought more than one scarf so they spent larger amounts in one transaction. The twist-dyed work sold well at £24.00 and £26.00 as did the 8 x 54" scarves in Grasstops and Tussock designs. I didn't sell any Savannahs...

I am hoping there will be some follow-up from potential students to my October course. I met a lot of people booked in or hoping to book in to my three workshops for the Guild of Silk Painters Celebration, also in October.

It was good to catch up with so many friends and students, meet suppliers and galleries people and see artists whose work I admire. Highlights: Jacqui Carey making braid, Clive Bowen and Svend Bayer making seemingly effortless pots; the Sujuni and Khatwa textile makers from Bihar for their sheer charm; Jenny Crisp's stunning willow baskets; the hand-weaving of Geraldine St Aubyn Hubbard and also of Gloria Pitt, an Irish weaver new to me; the exquisite jewelery of Leonardo Pieroni; Robert Race's witty moving toys and automata and Phil Koomen's work with wood.

I think it was a particularly good year at Art in Action, with an incredibly high standard of selection consistent throughout. It made me feel privileged and rather proud to be there and part of it all.

As usual the organisation invited all exhibitors to a beautiful dinner and entertainment in the marquee on Saturday night. There were 50 tables each seating 10, and we sat under long pale green hangings with tall glass column decorations on the table filled with dark red cherries and lime and white flowers and leaves.The details included a tiny organza lime green ribbon tying each napkin, and a mass of small candles. The food was excellent and afterwards we were entertained by a choir, a sackbut ensemble and finally, Pepa Chacon and Antonio Madigan (guitar) who performed flamenco.

At Art in Action artists are never regarded as commodities, as at so many other Fairs and shows. The Saturday dinner is an expression and example of the care - and old wrinkled cynic that I am, I must actually use the word love- that goes into the preparation and organisation of this unique event.

No event is without its own humour and overheard remarks often prove the best material for a much needed laugh. Overheard by fellow exhibitors was this gem: "Everything's so expensive here. Why can't they have some cheap things, like a proper craft fair..?"

19th / 20th July

Definitely two days of blank brain. I mindlessly hoed the garden today, where the trenches of the Somme were recreated at the beginning of May. Now it's gone so hard with the heat it looks like those photos of cracked desert, but nevertheless some grass with attitude has started to make its home there. What exactly is it surviving on? Two runner beans have matured on the quiet and we each had very solemn mouthfuls to celebrate the fact that our veggie garden is doing its thing. The textile event of today was the acquisition and fitting of a new ironing board cover. Floral design - made me wonder about the art director that selected this design over all others available. No point in paying for anything too good? Or was this the best? Is it worth paying for a really good design because people will select that one rather than the one featuring spiders, spanners and green bananas.. what is there, after all, to distinguish between one ironing board cover and another? Who knows, and who cares?

Craftsman Magazine sent me a copy of the August issue in which I have a small editorial feature. I can't believe it's nearly August. We have nearly been in Devon a whole year.

Reviewing the pieces I need to send out to a gallery, I realise I will actually have to do some work this week and next after all. I had hoped to have a break to do some drawing and generate some new ideas.

21st - 24th July

Brain not much improved and procrastination has taken the form of tweaking weeds out of the spinach, dead-heading pansies and having unkind words with the caterpillars on my nasturtiums.We went to the annual performance of open-air Shakespeare (Midsummer Night's Dream) nearby and ate a sumptuous picnic before the thesps got going - a fun but very professional all-male production, with fairies in sparkly chiffon and large boots. As annually, the production seemed to coincide with the evening working of a combine harvester in nearby fields and so the effect was rural, but a bit 21st Century. We also had a trip up to the sea and watched the waves at Welcome. A Welcome Break, one might say, but wouldn't.

I am thinking of making a garment to wear to the Guild of Silk Painters Celebration Dinner in October so have been rabbiting (or do I mean ferreting - that's my current brain for you) around to find some patterns and ideas. The celebration dinner menu arrived yesterday and I have to choose from it now- it seems odd to have to ponder on what one is going to eat in two months' time.

Local gardens were open today and we spent a happy few hours looking at other people's amazing onions, cabbages, sweet peas etc and finished up with a modest cream tea at the end of it. Hard work, looking at gardens.

I did wash out some Hua Li scarf blanks, however, and will try to organise myself to do some work tomorrow. Unless the caterpillars are back, in which case it might take while to show them the way out again.

25th July

And I did start on two Hua Li scarves. But not before looking idly out of my studio window to see two sparrows hopping around the Sacred Runner Bean Grove making sandwiches out of my bean flowers. Each flower = 1 bean and I am not having it. In one of the immaculate gardens we saw on Sunday - the one with the incredible prize onions - I asked the gardener about his flashing and twirling collection of CDs, swinging off string tied to bamboo sticks, and whether they were effective in keeping the birds away. Apparently, yes. So the IT department was consulted and a collection of defunct disks appeared. They were ancient updates for Mac OSX which were given to us in the days before Broadband arrived. So out we went with disks, scissors and a helping of ingenuity to make the things twiddle frantically from the bean frame. Our sparrows, being Bill Gates PC birds, are now terrified by Apple's archive updates and must go elsewhere for sandwich fillings.The next thing to deal with is the cats. I am not over-fond of cats, especially their toilet habits which are normally exhibited in the gardens of others.

The Hua Li's are going ok but I am in one of those situations where a gallery has asked for more of them but I haven't done any for a while, maybe since last year. They are just simple stripes or whooshes of colour with no resist, but it has to be done carefully so it doesn't look El Cheapo and the colours work. I have lost the inspiration plot which makes it harder work than it need be. It's hard thinking oneself back into the head that made them enthusiastically first time round. Perhaps one shouldn't do it. You'd have to pay me an awful lot of money to do another Feather scarf .

26th - 31st July

Difficult to believe another month has gone by. It has felt incredibly packed and busy but I must admit that since Art in Action I haven't felt able to do much. No frustration attached to the feeling, just a fundamental need not to be thinking about making work. I read recently of another scarf-maker who is facing an order of 350 scarves for the autumn and just don't think I could be into that. I couldn't care about each individual piece if I were to be up against such huge numbers. I value the situation I'm in that allows me to work the way I do.

So I have been working in the garden, having a tidy-up in the studio, thinking about some new ideas, and sending out three packages of work to galleries to replace sold or unsold work. I don't like unsold work to hang around too long looking tired.

Time for a scarf picture, but one of the scarves from before the show. I think I sold it. It's from the last batch I did, on shorter crepe de Chine, and Open Tussock is my personal code for it. Still based on grass studies

And here are two pictures from before the moor was shaved earlier last month, when it was just glorious in colour and texture. The tussock isn't the inspiration for the scarf above, but if you can imagine it all died down in the autumn with stems less sprightly, that's the general idea. The one on the right picks up the amazing soft pink which the grass heads take on so that there is a rippling pink sea above the green stalks when the wind blows and the sun shines.

Alex and Pete are gearing up for the Fastnet Race and all too soon they'll be off back to Sydney. Strange to see the references in the Log to his "going home" - although he has been living in Australia for 40 years or so, I still think he really lives here and has simply gone away for a bit. Readers dipping in to my log for the first time : this is to do with my brother sailing round the world and you can read more here.

I am taking a short break this week but blog burglars beware: do not beat a path to the door with jemmies as we have very efficient and alive house sitters with sharp teeth and black belts in judo. News of where we went will be written up when we get back. I will then have to think seriously about work for the autumn because my work stocks have gone down and I have at least three major things lined up for the autumn, as well as some teaching. See you next week.