A project close to my heart

Sometimes I guess things are just meant to happen at certain times. Back in the spring when I got a call from Keri of Birds Body Casting asking me to take part in an art project in aid of Suffolk Breakthrough Breast Cancer, she had no idea I had just had surgery to remove a tumour in my breast and was about to start radiotherapy.  Of course I couldn't say no, my only concern was if I would feel well enough but when Keri explained that I had months to complete my artwork I knew it would be fine. 

 The first step was a trip to Keri's studio in Bury St Edmunds, where Keri explained that the casts were donated by women who either had or had been affected by breast cancer. I was given a bust cast and simply given complete freedom to decorate it as I wished. When finished the casts would be displayed in local businesses and shops then auctioned for charity. At this stage I did not know whose bust it was or what her story was.

All summer the cast sat in my studio and was quite a talking point for visitors and friends. I had my radiotherapy, helped to arrange a local art exhibition for 50 artists, demonstrated at the SAA's London event and travelled to the French Alps to arrange an art holiday for my students. Finally at the end of the summer when things had calmed down I turned my attention to the cast.

 
 As soon as I saw the cast I wondered if I could mosaic it, and I started drawing on it with little idea of what I was drawing. First I had a sort of neckline shape and wondered perhaps if I was going to put the top of a dress on the cast, but eventually it started to take a bra type shape. However it didn't look like lingerie, more like a sports bra or bikini. That is when I remembered how much I had missed swimming during my cancer treatment.

 It is no surprise I 'dressed' my cast - when I was a kid my stepfather used to get the Sun newspaper, and I was always upset for the ladies who had no top on, and used to draw underwear on them in black biro. I have always been more interested in clothes and fashion than life drawing. People look so much less impressive than animals when they are uncovered, it is no wonder we invented such a wide range of colourful clothing types!

 Whilst working on the cast I decided I had better finish some of my more usual panel mosaics, started earlier in the year and abandoned during hospital treatment.

Extreme close up! My biggest concern with this project was the fact that the edges of the cast were thin and definitely flexible. This could go either way I thought...

 But amazingly the tiles seemed to stabilise it, and by the end it felt more like a piece of sculpture. I was pleased to find it stood up alone too, because there was no way Keri was going to be able to hang this one by a thin ribbon, it was heavy!

Realising that the cast would be seen from both sides I decided to paint the inside. I had in mind the red soles of Louboutin shoes... and as I walked through the kitchen (currently being replaced) I noticed the test area of cornflower blue I had painted on the wall. A couple of coats and some clear varnish and the cast was finished!

Keri came to collect it and I asked for more information about the lady who donated the cast. Whereupon I was put in touch with the lovely Deborah!

 Doesn't she look great? And she is a survivor of breast cancer too. Here is what Deborah has to say about the project:

" Having breast cancer is a life changing journey and I wanted to share a very positive outcome.

Following a left mastectomy in April 2006 age 46, I had reconstructive surgery in July 2008.  Most people would never know what has happened so to share the fact that research, treatment and a positive attitude can conquer this disease means it had to be done."

Deborah and I had a chat over the internet and she is delighted with what I have done with her cast (luckily!)

The casts will be all together and on display at the Apex in Bury St Edmunds, open to the public from 2 to 3pm on Sunday 28th September.

After that look out for them in Bury shops and premises during October, they will certainly attract some attention I think!

 

New SAA Watercolour Practice Paper - reviewed!

 As seen in the SAA 'Paint Magazine September 2014...

I was recently sent some samples of the SAA’s very popular watercolour ‘practice paper’ to try. The SAA have upgraded and improved their previous product and I was given the opportunity to try it out for myself. This is a product that I have been familiar with for many years, very economical and good quality, I recommend it to all my beginner students. When you are starting out the last thing you want to worry about is ruining an expensive sheet of hand made paper! I also use this paper in my demonstration workshops and put little squares of it out in all my classes for students to try their colours on.

The first thing I noticed is that the new paper is whiter than the previous one, something that is quite important to me. As always I stretched the paper onto board before using, and left it until the next day when it was flat and dry. Stretching is not hard to do and will hugely improve the working surface of any paper.

I decided to do a little sample painting of the peach coloured poppies in my garden. Wanting to try a range of watercolour media I used a combination of my favorite Talens paints, as well as some excellent SAA watercolours, watercolour pencils and even some ‘Brusho’ pigment powder. 

 As with the previous practice paper this one is fairly smooth, being close to a ‘hot press’ surface in some other ranges. The advantage with smooth paper is that you can get more accuracy; the disadvantage is that it can be harder to control washes. However, the paper took wet into wet techniques well and was equally responsive to flat washes and some of the mixed media I applied. The brightness of the paper shone through the pink flowers and I was very happy with the result. Due to its smooth surface beginners will find it easy to put an initial drawing down, this paper would also be very suitable for other techniques such as pen and wash, mixed media and collage.

I had hoped that the new paper would be as good as the previous one; I was relieved to find that it is far better!

The finished painting "Peach Poppies"...

 

 

A near death experience

When you get cancer people send you flowers!

So… it’s time for a catch up post. I haven’t written my blog for 6 months, and there is a reason for this, and not a rubbish one for a change.

Just after Christmas I was told I had breast cancer. The consultant tried to slip it in under the radar… “So, er, we found a few cancer cells” but I picked it up immediately because I am sharp like that. It was a bit of a surprise, I was probably the fittest I had ever been in my life - attending 3 kung fu classes per week plus a 50 lengths in the pool, not drinking, smoking or eating meat.

Now as a certified health freak I know all the statistics. I know for example that about 70% of cancers are caused by crappy lifestyle choices but that still leaves 30%, plus there is breast cancer in my family, and I have had (non-dangerous) lumps before.

 Just a small selection of my cancer leaflets...

Two things happen when you get cancer. Firstly your entire life is turned upside down. Forget work, forget the plans you made, the to-do lists, your daily routines, exercise, they are all out of the window because now cancer has taken over. The second thing that happens is you get a LOT of leaflets. The leaflets are mostly depressing. They carefully explain every bad thing that could possibly happen, from hideous side effects to the fact that your grasp on sanity is now considered to be on a knife edge, your partner may not find you attractive after surgery, and your relatives may not be able to cope. It’s cheery stuff and whoever wrote it all really needs a slap.

Whilst it had took a mere 5 weeks to get a GP appointment they got me into surgery just a week after my diagnosis and the offending lump was removed, along with lymph nodes to test if it had spread. After a mere 2 weeks of thinking I might die I was given good news, the cancer was low on the aggression scale, and it hadn’t spread anywhere, I had caught it early. No further surgery needed, just 3 and a half weeks of radiotherapy.

Yes this leaflet actually exists

I was given more leaflets. These were a little cheerier but stressed the fragility of my mental state. A lady in a long flowery skirt offered me a ‘Hope Course’ (hope I don’t get sodding cancer again), I thanked her but said I would rather poke something sharp into my eye. I might feel fine now she warned, but could ‘crash’ later; she has obviously seen my driving. About this time the receptionist handed me a survey to complete, full of intimate questions about my feelings, relationships, finances, fears. I handed it back, fixed her with the look I give the teen when she has gone out and left the front door unlocked, and made it plain I did NOT want to see it again. 

After this there was a wait of about 6 weeks for the radiotherapy to start. I got bored and decided I was going back to exercise, starting with tai chi which I had never done before, then kung fu, although I did avoid sparring. Radiotherapy was fine, although it made me tired, and burnt my skin.

More leaflets followed, including the hilarious 'Top Ten Tips for after Cancer Treatment'. I had stupidly thought I would get on with my life but no, there were many other fun things I could do. Cancer forums are one of those things apparently; cancer and forum being two words that should never be in the same sentence in my opinion.  But this tip was my favorite:

'Try to lead a healthier lifestyle' Good plan. HOW?

So before I had cancer I was an atheist, and a health freak and I am still both of those things. In fact one thing that irritated me (apart from those pesky rogue cells) was all the people who said ‘See, it makes no difference, all that healthy living, you still get sick’. Well let me tell you, cancer is a fight, and you don’t want to go into that fight unhealthy.

So, 6 months on from my near death experience things are getting back to normal and I can reflect a bit. I feel very lucky to have escaped with just a scar under one arm. I am truly grateful to all the friends, family, students and even complete strangers on the internet who showed me enormous kindness and to a health service that cured me without my needing to sell my house. But you won’t find me in a cancer support group anytime soon, I mean I would love to and all that, but I have a lot of stuff to do…

Doing up the house

If physicians should 'heal thyself' then artists should probably paint their (thou?) own houses, and I have been.

It was time for a big push on finishing the shower room in the downstairs extension. Normally 'before' pictures would be shared, but the before in this case was a driveway.

As boyfriend struggled with the plumbing, the toilet appeared in various rooms like a sort of ceramic tardis, its 'back to wall' design making it look amusingly like it was plumbed in...

The toilet appears in the kitchen...

 and next to the fireplace...

 Meanwhile the new shower goes in, 

 Then the tiny, narrow Ikea sink, complete with cupboards made from old garage doors.

 Of course I can't resist messing around with mosaic... blue circles on white, 

 then the reverse for the tiny windowsill.

Finally a shade of blue is selected that won't interfere with my boyfriend's blue/green colour blindness.

And the room is ready to use; it's perfect but very small. Generally I prefer baths, with the exception of straight after my martial arts class, but bath's are out because now of course with are ripping out the upstairs bathroom :-)

Then it was back to work. After finishing my painting of Cornard Country Park in time for the 'Visions of Sudbury' exhibition,

The painting was entered with my 'Sunflowers behind Melford Church' painting, and both will be featured in the 'Visions of Sudbury 2013' book this year.

In between taking turns stewarding the exhibition I was working on three more mosaic hearts for a repeat customer. Georgina from Surrey adores hearts and everything pretty and vintage. This time she pushed my skills to the limit sending me both vintage china with delicate gold leaf and vintage plastic buttons, asking for three different sized mosaics:

The first and largest used her polka dot blue china and a pretty button in the centre...

the second featured gold edged pale green china and a tiny round button with little crystals, 

The smallest (just 10cm) used the remainder of the pretty buttons, in a pale pink surround.

The customer has declared herself delighted although the mosaics are not yet with her, being currently with the courier. I have ditched Royal Mail as their prices are now ridiculous, I am at a loss to understand the shares fuss when everyone I know is turning to alternative services.

In the middle of all this general busy-ness it was time for the teen to head off to Bath Uni. Discussions about how to get her there talked about driving, trains etc but then I spotted the big box laying around in the garage. To my surprise the teen was keen on the idea of being posted and gamely posed for a picture:

In the end her father drove her, and her minimal contact reports her to be very happy. Whether she is actually doing any work is doubtful, but then students of Philosophy & Creative Writing perhaps have their minds on higher matters...

Poppy Love

 

 Finally! I have finished my Pale Pink Poppies painting. I honestly don't think I have ever spent as long on a painting, it must have headed towards 30 hours. This sounds like just under a weeks work, but I don't paint continuously, usually only for two or three hours a day.

As the summer progresses I find myself becoming more and more obsessed with poppies. First there were the purple ones, the seeds sneaked from my last rented house:

Then there were the peach ones I bought at a local plant fair I went to with the teen:

These were short-lived, and I didn't manage to paint them, but I am hopeful that the seeds will mean many more next year. I have given some seeds to my friend, accountant and keen gardener. She has promised me some seeds from some amazing pink poppies, they look like big pom poms, and just appeared in her garden from nowhere.

Even the seed heads of poppies look amazing, here they are next to my beautiful Hydrangea:

As well as painting flowers, work has continued on the garden. After the wood stores and compost bins (rotting bins as boyfriend continues to refer to them) came first a garden bench:

As before, this was made from our big stash of scrounged wood, boyfriend's carpentry course last year continues to pay off...

Here is the bench in situ outside the studio:

Gimlet immediately slept on it in the sun, under it in the shade, and used it to stroll into the studio straight through the window. Like most of our DIY projects, the cat thinks they are done only for his convenience.

Next came the greenhouse base, complete with raised bed and a greenhouse kindly bought by my mum:

 The greenhouse is a tiny 6' by 4', and boyfriend made the concrete base exactly to the correct dimensions. Then when it turned up it was inexplicably four inches bigger in all directions. More concrete was added. 

Next the bed (which will eventually hold the rhubarb that was temporarily moved to build the base) was planted with a random selection of tomato plants and flowers most kindly donated by my accountant friend, and the scounged wood pile went down a little more as staging and potting bench were made:

Here is a close up of the potting bench:

It is great and I can't wait to start growing stuff next year.  

There is more to do to the garden but we are stopping here for this year as the 1970's house decor from hell is driving us mad and we are pressing on with the downstairs shower room, so that we can attack the hideous upstairs bathroom, with it's flaking wall paint, mouldy falling off tiles and a pink shag pile carpet so deep that we suspect it has it's own eco system. No one likes walking on it without shoes; I plan to have a small party the day it goes to the tip.

Although the greenhouse won't house plants until next spring it will not go unused... Gimlet is spending the summer evenings blissfully sheltered from rain showers, but still sleeping outdoors, and an alternate use has been found for the potting bench:

As usual, the cat thinks it was made especially for him!

Studio Guests and Trips Out

 Well, the studio doesn't usually house guests, there being no toilet facilities or bedroom, but my guests this month were self-sufficient and bought their own home. Yes for two weeks I was lizard sitting while boyfriend's stepsister and family went on their hols.

Sid and Steve are Bearded Dragons, and came complete with tank, sand, heaters, thermometers, salad and crickets (dinner). The crickets had their own little cage. Obviously as a vegetarian, grabbing crickets with tweezers and sending them to their deaths isn't pleasant, but I suspect they don't live too long naturally, and Sid and Steve have to eat, I doubt they like falafel or tofu.

 



I posted the above photo on my facebook page and it got the highest views I have ever had for a post; never mind the artwork, lizards are so much more interesting than a load of old paintings. A less optimistic person might be depressed by these statistics.

Sid and Steve were fun; they wanted to come out all the time. Sid climbed a lot and Steve systematically rid my studio of spiders by eating them. "Oh my god, Steve ate a spider! Is he supposed to do that?!" screeched the teen. Steve however just looked smug. Letting them have the exercise they wanted was challenging as the temperature climbed into the 30's and I had to keep the door and windows shut because of the cat. I can't say for sure that my furry friend would hurt them, but his general rule is: if it moves, slaughter it. So I wasn't taking any chances. 

I also wasn't letting him bring that rabbit into the house. So he sat and ate it on the patio whilst the teen ate her shreddies, I took pity and temporarily suspended the 'no food on the sofa' rule. Just like last summer Gimlet has gone feral, living in the back field and dining on bunnies. As soon as it rains he comes back as if nothing has happened and he has always been a house cat.

Whilst not messing around with lizards I was painting obviously. I am trying to find more interesting and challenging subjects and this painting of sunflowers behind a local church certainly was that. 

I have always wanted to paint one of those of scenes where poppies or wheat are large in the foreground and go right back into a distant landscape scene. I have never had the right photos, until my daughter's most recent orthodontist appointment. Instead of coming directly home from Haverhill (known uncharitably around here as Chaverhill - ahem), I decided to cut across to Halstead and drop some of my art class leaflets off at the library. The teen spotted a small field next to the road, chock full of poppies and with a pull in for the car. Perfect, now I have the photos I need.

As I lay on the ground and snapped away, the teen hovered about the edge of the field, occasionally wandering into shot. "Yeah" she said, "did a titanic pose..."

I had no idea what she was talking about until I found this:

 Another trip out came when I travelled to London with some of my art class for the SAA 'It's all about art' event in Islington. Here is Mr Mathew Palmer doing one of the many demo's:

The event was much improved on the last time I went, the demos and workshops more accessible, and my students joined in and had a go, painting with some of the countries' top teaching artists whilst I checked out new types of paper and drooled over mount cutting systems I can't afford. Not everyone was happy with the artistic results they got, amusingly I saw one lady in the toilets stuffing her artwork into the bin! What hadn't improved since last time was the appalling lack of air conditioning and I was full of admiration for the demonstrators, on their feet all day without wilting. I do hope they paid them well, in fact this business being what it is, I just hope they paid them!

Back home and I had to steward the Society of East Anglian Watercolourists' show at the Edmund Gallery at Bury St Edmunds. I got there a little early and sneaked into the Abbey Gardens for an icecream. I took some photos of the area called the Sensory Garden, I love the wooden structures and again I think it may be a painting subject for the future.

As the summer holidays have kicked in I am not teaching my regular Saturday art class, but there is an informal list of outdoor meet ups where we can paint together, weather allowing. This week the weather was delightful and although I was late due to private tuition sessions, I caught up with four of them here, on the edge of Cornard Country Park. The views were fabulous, and another chance to get some landscape shots:

Planning to paint my poppy field next I got ready to print a photo... and the printer wouldn't work. I spoke severely to it, but it wouldn't listen. Having several hours to wait until my you-name-it-he-can-fix-it boyfriend got back from work I admitted defeat and instead selected a photo of some pink poppies in a flowerbed, photographed last summer at Layer Marney Towers. 

It is a large painting, and like the sunflowers/church is taking some time. So far I have spent at least 15 hours on it, and I am only just over half way through:

So far I am happy with it, let us hope it is worth all the effort when it is completed!