Speckles

       I am still at my Mum's house  - I have arranged care for her so that I can go home. It all seems precarious and scarey like walking through a minefield - potentially lethal - a big responsibility. I feel it is the only option,  - the care team look after Mum for six weeks to assess her needs and then will decide what is best and how to pay for it. On the wall infront of me is a drawing I did of her great companion before he died last year..

                                                    Speckles.

Medieval Festivals

               I have been booking into some medieval festivals to draw portraits  this summer.

             The idea is not to have time to take photographs, but here are some sights  that I did manage to capture

      

                                         Woman and wolf

                                     

                                                                

  

                                          

Yes..... another one - I couldn't decide which I liked best. The cartwheeling girl was just enjoying herself while nothing else was happening.

                          Monkey grooming .....

                 The Red Knight.......
                                           and finally - two of me drawing taken by my Brother..

   All these photos were taken at Passy les Tours which is near where I live. In fact my area is full of medieval castles - maybe that is why I feel so at home.

               Before the next festival I want to finish making the walls of my tent - they need decorating to match the top and then waterproofing. ( To waterproof  ordinary fabric cheaply you mix transparent silicon sealer with white spirit until it is thin enough to paint it on - usually 50/50.)  I meant to get further with it than I did last year,  - even though I am using old linen sheets which can be bought for 5 euro for a large double - I was still really nervous of doing something wrong - can it be wrong when I'm inventing it all anyway? Yes - I might be wrong - mistaken - an idiot  and I mind.
          ( I wrote my own motto ' Let go and die or fly' - I ought to try to remember it!)
               I want to make a large treasure chest from papier maché to store the things I am not using. Here is a bad photo of a little one I made where I keep my sandwiches - bottom right  -  (couldn't resist leaving the eagle in the picture)        I will take another photo when I get home, and when I remember).

         I am at my Mum's house in England - she is so frail I feel I cannot leave her and am trying to arrange help - it is a lot more complicated than I imagined. 

Family Christmas

                                                  FAMILY  CHRISTMAS

 

           I always make my own Christmas cards, and thought that a window would be nice.    As I managed to make 'stained glass' windows for the medieval hall I decided to have a go at  little ones. I used the same design and cut out the overall shape in thin cardboard. I could not find any thin clear plastic for sale - I wanted it like the packaging for cakes and croissants in the supermarket, so I asked the boulanger if I could have some empty cartons and she happily gave me a pile of them. I cut out the flat surface and drew the 'lead' outlines with a permenant marker pen, then mixed very cheap household varnish with food colouring to paint on the transparent colours.  When dry I stuck them into the cardboard frames using all purpose glue. (Being impatient I managed to ruin several - do not dry plastic by putting it ontop of the stove). 
         I thought I would send a candle with the cards to put a light in the window - for something to do. Then thought I'd put my family looking through the window when it arrived. The Christmas decorations turned out pretty this time so I asked my friend Liesbeth to take the photo in front of the porch.  The shape of the star on the apex is bent wire and I cellotaped a string of 20  lights to it - then read the box they came and it said 'intérieur'.  Damn. ( That's why they only cost three euro.) Not to be defeated I wrapped each bulb in cling film and tied in on - which worked! 
                                                                            

     Bill is wearing one of my projects - the waistcoat and my hat are made using the method  of 
                                                               Tunisian crochet.

More Medieval - it is now July 2017 - oops.

   When I do portraits I am very involved - there is no other way to do it.  Most people realise the importance - and I am grateful..........   I gave my web address to someone and I felt sort of ill - so -
  I am editing  out the bit where I said I don't like sharing my life with syber space because I feel lost. I will pretend I am talking to a friend. I will pretend I am talking to someone who is interested.

             I have been making a medieval tent and costume - I drew portraits at a medieval festival last September at Passy les Tours and I was where I should be.

  I am in this room -  in theory it is the 'clean' room it has my computer and sewing stuff. The other Polly made of papier-maché was invaluable for costume fitting.  When I took this photo Nick Cave was playing on the computer and there was a rainbow outside the window. I've been exploring new music. I shared my life with Leonard Cohen for 46 years and he left me.

A nice exchange - painting for music

I swapped a fleur de lys for a small medieval orchestra to accompany my baroque recorder playing. Made on the computer - by a very nice guy called Tom - a professional pianist - and the wall decoration is for his Mum Lynne. I am editing this a long time afterwards... the orchestra was too much - what I thought was good, wasn't - but I learnt more about what I need and don't need.

  

A year - desk and other things - 3rd instalment

 Also last year I tried to make my perfect desk.  To write letters, poems, memoirs  ?... I needed a desk.
   

It is made out of scraps of wood and paper and cardboard.  Here are some photos about it's construction.

You can see it in these last two photos in situe in the far right hand corner of the medieval  banqueting hall. There is still masses to do to the hall. I tidied it up for my birthday in January and invited friends for it's own birthday - it was freezing!

 ( The end wall above the minstrels gallery had been rendered in horrible grey cement - so I painted the stones back onto it.)

Above the cupboards iether side of the room I made four small 'stained glass windows'.  I cut the 'lead' from lino, put blobs of glue for the 'solder' and painted it lead coloured.  Then I glue it to perpex and flooded each section with ordinary house varnish (water based) coloured with food dyes. ( I spent all day, feeling like an alchamist, trying to work out how to make transparent paint.)

Then glued the sides to the back of the wood where I'd cut the hole, and papered some cord around the hole at the front because it finished it off nicely. 

The cupboards are for a life time's collection of craft equipment and materials - and the lights in the cupboards shine through the 'stained glass'.

I had allocated February to painting a mural for a neighbour - he had see the one in the bar ( I mentioned it in the blog - but I haven't put pictures) and had set his heart on having one himself.  He spent two years decorating the dining room. (He was a baker in Paris most of the time - he is retiring this month). Also ' laisser secher' was mentioned a lot and the Pastis appeared.   That means  leave it to dry - time to drink. He said paint whatever you want - so I based the design on the ingredients of the drinks that people consume while visiting - because that is what happens in that room.