Postcard from Portugal

Just back from a week in often sunny but sometimes rainy and really quite windy Portugal. Have arrived back to a mountain of tasks on all fronts and three Christmas exhibitions to prepare for, news on those will follow soon.

INC.creative

I am really pleased to be amongst the designer-makers whose work will feature in the new INC.creative retail space. INC.creative is so much more than a retail space though so click here to find out more.

PS Launch Day ~ Tuesday 18th October. Address ~ 11-15 Cavendish Street, Keighley, BD21 3DR 

Gannets, periwinkles and small fry

Of all the visual feasts available on the beaches of the Outer Hebrides the dive of the gannets was the most thrilling to watch. Time and again we watched these birds circle high above the waves then abruptly adopt the dive position before hurtling towards the sea at an astonishing speed. Mostly we had to observed the gannets from a distance but on the journey back to Ullapool the ferry crossed the path of one of these magnificent birds and it passed within feet of the window where we sat, an amazing glimpse of pure sleek muscle. 

Gannets, periwinkle and small fry is available in my Etsy and Folksy shops.

New Stockist

I am delighted that

Inspired Gift Shop and Studio

The FM Mall (formally Flying Horse Walk)

Nottingham

NG1 2HN

is now stocking a selection of my lino prints.

The gallery showcases the beautiful work of owner-artist Jill Perry.  

Waiting... (the Lewis Chessmen)

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In the dunes, by the sea at Traighe Uige or perhaps Mealasta?

Rabbits came and went.

Cows stumbled and lowed.

Storms rose and fell.

Sand drifted up to their knees.

And they waited.

The King settled back in this throne and resigned himself to the wait.

The Queen slumped with boredom, chin on hand.

The Beserker bit down hard on his shield ‘til small shards of walrus ivory splintered his tongue.

The bishop had his faith.

And still they waited.

Then one day MacLeod’s cow, or a massive storm or Pure Chance speared their darkness with a shaft of light, and the rest is history. 

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The Lewis Chessman were discovered in the Western Isles in the 19th century. The circumstances of their recovery are rather mysterious but this is how I imagine them in the last few moments before they saw the light of day again after centuries of darkness.  We were lucky enough to see the The Lewis Chessman Unmasked exhibition at the Museum nan Eilean, in Stornoway. I was amazed by the luminous quality of the walrus ivory and just how tactile they looked (though of course they were safely behind glass).

 

[nope, not a beachcombing find (unfortunately), just a museum shop replica]

Holiday hoarding

 

 

 

As well as armfuls of inspiration I've returned from holiday with bagfuls of materials. I love the different degrees of worm action in these four pieces of drift wood and I think I'll try to keep them together, not sure for what end yet though. I splashed out on a few pieces of tweed, a gorgeous sea blue-green from the Harris Tweed Hebrides , a little placemat and a fabulous piece of Breanish Tweed . I've started working with the  blue-green but I am saving the multi-coloured piece for something really special. The sea glass is actually my son's so out of bounds, but my eye was taken instead by these weathered buoy and float pieces, I love the way their colours have mellowed.

Here's a piece of the Harris Tweed, with wool covered limpet shells :) 

Barra

View across Bagh Thiarabhage, Barra

We spent the first week of our Hebridean hoiday on the island of Barra. We stayed in a little cottage overlooking Bagh Thiarabhage, which is one of those long fingers of sea that seem to reach into the island and tickle it under the armpit. We watched seals and oyster catchers and wondered at the crowds of gulls who gathered in anticipation of the fishing boats landing at the fish factory up the road.


There is a certain tension in this landscape between the ruggedness of the terrain (which can change from bog to bare rock to machir to bare sand to sea in a 10 minute walk) and the overwhelming orderliness of the croft system, which superimposed straight lines across the land and regularly spaced cottages. I think I’ll be returning to this in future prints.