‘Why have art in your home?’, may seem like a very odd thing to write about but it saddens me when I see houses with nothing on their walls. I know we are all different and that obviously I have a vested interest in people having art on their walls but the sadness isn’t to do with any monetary reward but to do with feeling as though people are missing out so much as art, like a ticking clock or open fire or the smell of baking, all make a house feel like a home .
Read MoreTeacups, Geckos and Greens !
Being in lockdown makes us all do funny things be they good bad or plain weird. So with that in mind I seem to be fixated on looking at green things and am still making ‘Gordon“ the giant Gecko , out of chicken wire and garden netting, with Polly our daughter. It’s probably the result of spending so much time in my garden! Although Gordon is being made to crawl down the outside of the house as one corner is always very shady. We still want to paint him and we need to work out how to do his eyes and not to mention how to attach him to the wall!! As for my interest in greens well I think it must be a need for calm which is what my garden gives me and I know we are very very lucky to have one.
Here is how we made him so far …..
I am back at my studio every Monday to paint and am thinking of opening for appointments only on what would have been Heritage weekend at SUNNYBANKMILLS, Farsely. I am in the Twisting Gallery. If you are interested in coming to see my work on the 11th /13th September then please email me on nelartforlving@yahoo.com
#Allaboutthejugs continues in a pandemic and Giant Gecko news !
I am still loving painting a ceramic jug every week on a Friday and am up to Jug 48 Button Box. As the weather has turned colder it’s time for more indoor creative pursuits such as sewing and knitting and that jumper I started 5 years ago to get finished!. I can’t wait until Tuesday when I will have two jugs out of the kiln it’s like being sent a present every week. I love also that what ever is going on my life is reflected in the designs that pop into my head. So when I am gardening it’s plants and the potting shed and butterflies and insects or vegetables when inside buttons and wool etc etc.
Polly our daughter and I are planning to build a Giant Gecko sculpture in the garden for no other reason that we have a shady rather dull corner in the garden and thought lets just go for it and se what happens . I got as far as drawing it out and then it started to rain so we are hoping for another better weather window to start that!
Lastly we are on Week 10 of Createwithnel. Where by there is a creative theme each week and you make what ever you like and send it into to me at nelartforliving@yahoo.com by wed at 11am and then I will post them all on facebook by 5pm and on instagram or on here a bit later. So that you can see what other people have created. So here is last weeks challenge WORDS. Happy Sunday everyone xxx Keep safe Nel
Getting Creative in Lockdown - Gates,lizards and garden diary
I have finally finished my garden gate and fence and I am so chuffed with it although I do wonder whether I have just built an enormous pigeon perch. If they start sitting on it there’s going to be trouble !!! Some how our garden now being enclosed and it having a nice entrance makes the whole garden seem more inviting and lovely. Or may be that is just me?
Polly and I have been watching the The Big Flower Fight on Netflix and so it has inspired up to make a giant lizard to go up the side of the house as we have a rather uninteresting and shady wall in the garden. So that is the next project that I can’t wait to get started on. It will be interesting working together on something as we haven’t done that since making a giant Pterodactyl when the kids were little!
I am still painting lots of the plants in our garden and the irises,peonies and roses are currently absolutely gorgeous it’s hard to know what to paint first. Here is just a selection of them. I will be doing more studies of them for #artistsupportpledge this week.
We are now up to week 8 of my #createwithnel And this week it was shells. Thanks to everyone who joins in regularly and those of you who just dip in or watch what everyone Is up to and hopefully gets inspired.
I do hope that anyone is doing okay and that during these extraordinary times that you have been finding different things too do and finding time to relish small things. I know we have and having more time to cherish my garden, life being slower has been a good thing. I know that this is a very difficult time and incredibly challenging for many and as I am classed as vulnerable we are in something of a bubble. We are so grateful to those who are working so hard on the front line and those working tirelessly in the background to work out the logistics of getting us through this crises. A big thank you to all. We will get through this together xx
It's Virtual Chelsea Flower Show week and so I'm painting my Irises in my Garden !
Everyday this week I have painting my Iris collection as they come out there are several yet to go ! It has also been our 30th wedding anniversary that we would have spent apart. So it has been great to celebrate that together which included lunch cooked by Polly our daughter served in a gaint clam shell as it was yes… our pearl wedding anniversary. We continue to be blessed with good weather and so like most people who are lucky enough to have gardens and to be able to work from home we are getting on with what we can at home.
This week’s theme on #createwithnel WEEK 7 was PURPLE. So here as promised are all your lovely entries.
We have been watching Grayson Perry’s art Club and had to laugh as he had chosen the same theme as me last week HOME. It is a really inspiring programme so I woudl gibve it a watch if you haven’t already. We are also enjoying the Great Flower Fight on Netflix. I do hope everyone is doing okay and thanks for stopping by to read . Next week I am going to try and finish my gate that I have been making out of only things we have at home and bits pf palettes! Happy Bank holiday weekend
#Artistsupportpledge Little Paintings for up to £200 and #createwithnel WEEK 5 WOOD
#artistsupportpledge
The #artistsupportpledge is an initiative by Andrew Burrows who came up with the idea f artists painting small unframed works that can be posted and are up to £200 then when they have sold a £1000 worth they have to pledge to buy another artists work. It’s so helpful and great to be discovering new artists and also helping them you can see all the paintings i have done on this dedicated page. #artistsupportpledge
#createwithnel WEEK 5 WOOD
Wednesday’s seem seem to come around so fast don’t they! I hope these challenges are keeping you busy and may be also making you think about the world in a different way or just look at everyday things in unusual ways. I am touched every week by peoples imaginations and also the are going to build things. As my old neighbour used to say to me (who was retired), when he saw me being a busy bee at the weekend, ‘Rome wasn’t built in day Nel!’ , he used to casually say while leaning on our partly wall. And I used to say ‘ But I only have a day Don! Things are a bit different now although I find my creative brain now has more time to flex it’s muscles and so the things I want to do and make keep multiplying like sour dough!
i decided to finally try to build a gate and fence for the side of our house as my effort for #createwithnel WEEK 5 WOOD. ‘Gateville’ that it has now been dubbed in our house, is on going and I am now on weekend 3 as trying to build a gate from only bits of wood we had in the shed and wooden palettes retrieved from skips on our walks, certainly makes life interesting. ( SEE PIC BELOW)As you can see from the wall that I had to attach, the left hand post to, everything I had to attach things to is all wonky, as most of our house ,as it’s old, is not very true to the vertical. But it certainly gets your brain working not to mention your muscles. Those of you who ever tried to pull a palette a part will feel my pain. So the next thing i have to work out is how to make a frame to attach the circular grill off the defunct firepit to the top of the gate and then hope to hell it’s not too heavy for the hinges or post!! so Gateville part 3 will be next week!
#createwithnel WEEK 4 CIRCLES WEEK!
As not everyone is on Facebook or Instagram I have decided to post all the #createwithnel creations on here every week so everyone can see them. So this is WEEK 4 CIRCLES if you hadn’t guessed! All you have to do is create something each week that follows the theme and send it to me every Wed before 11am to nelartforliving@yahoo.com and then at 5 o’clock I will post all the wonderful creations that people have made! Easy! I am currently building a fence and a gate for WOOD week which is a bit of a work in progress as I am only making it from spare bits of wood we had at home and found wood i.e. palettes we have found on our daily walks. So enjoy here are a few pictures
Painting in My Garden and Getting Through Together
Trying to Make the Best of it.
Now is the time it seems for greater openness as we try to help others more, talk to neighbours at a distance that we should have always tried to know better but never had the time, and for many work out how to fill our days and decide what is a priority and what is not. For me often life is very busy and the time to sit and write things like this is not afforded me by all the other 'stuff' that normally pours into my day like an endless tide. But we are all on pause and much as that is not welcome and truly very difficult for those on the front line and others struggling in a myriad of ways, it is giving us time to do things in differently, I have to always hold onto the positive in any given situation, while still having moments of worry like most people, as it's important to accept that that is just how it is at the moment. But I tend to try to only focus on what I can control and do for myself and others to get through to brighter days.
I think a lot of small businesses I know are struggling with quite what to do, not just from a logistical point of view but from also from a moral one, ie whether to try to carry on as best you can or whether that doesn't seem appropriate or whether doing that is not what is needed by their customers. It is a fine line to tread. Personally knowing that even under such unprecedented circumstances there is a way of carrying on working and producing art and hopefully bringing uplifting images to you, that will in some small part brighten your day, is helpful. The Arts help in difficult times, to get us through. Painting has been a great solace and inspiration to me and now running my creative themed challenge once a week (this week it's circles by the way!) is helping me and seems to give others a focus and aim also, and is forcing me to try lots of new things myself, as I do a project on that theme every week. (See below for more details and how you can join in!).
So here's to making the best of it, being kind to each other and even in isolation keeping the wheels turning!
So this is what I have been up to...
#artistsupportpledge
Wind, bugs and birds... painting outside!
Polly our daughter has had to cut her Masters course in costume short at Edinburgh University and is trying to finish all her work in my old studio in the attic , so I am relegated to the garden. I am honestly fine with that as she makes so much mess! I am happy in my garden, or I am at least at the moment as the weather has been unbelievable! What I am doing is taking up Andrew Burrow's challenge he is an artist on instagram who wanted to do something to help artists so has started the #artistsupportpledge.
THe idea is that each artist that joins paints small unframed works that are only up to £200. After they sell 10 pieces they have to buy another artists work. So I am enjoying returning to my studies of Scotland and the coasts of Britain as I still had so much reference for them and also of course doing little studies of my garden. There is a dedicated page on the website called#artistsupportpledge that I will put them on as I do them.the first four are above.
#allaboutthejugs
Thanks to Jess at Clayfever where I paint a Jug every week I have still been able to paint a jug every Friday, which has been lovely. They can't be fired every week but they are done about every three weeks. So yesterday was VERY exciting as I got three jugs back in one day they are now on the website including The Butterfly Collector which is the biggest jug I have ever painted !
WEDNESDAY Weekly Creations ! #createwithnel
If you follow me on facebook or instagram or even if you don't, I am going to have a creative theme, announced every Wednesday, just for fun, for people to create something it can literally be anything from a photograph to just an arrangement of objects, as long it follows the theme, it really doesn't matter. If you want to see what people do or send me your pictures to nelartforliving@yahoo.co.uk by 11am on the following Wednesday that would be lovely. I will share them at 5pm the same day. Don't worry if you're not creative it's just about sharing and seeing what others come up with two. So if you want to join in the theme for this week it'sCIRCLES. So surprise me and send me your CIRCLES to
nelartforliving@yahoo.com
Thoughtful Gifts for those in Isolation
In the pursuit of distractions if anyone wants to order my little Refresh Book Of up lifting words and poems or a puzzle or a notebook for a friend or a relative in isolation then I am happy to include a FREE card with a message if you email the message to nelartforliving@yahoo.com with the message you would like.
DO ALL TAKE CARE
Warm wishes Nel xxxx
#Allaboutthejugs I'm now on Jug 28 Scallop and Spiral
Just thought I would update you on my therapeutic jug painting !!! I’m still thoroughly enjoying it, honestly I have endless ideas and always look forward to Fridays now. There are several Mystery Jugs which I am going to reveal on Dec 21st in time for the Ripley Xmas Show . If you need free tickets then let me know.
It also continues to be ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT at my new studio at Sunnybank mills in Farsley. We had Radio 5 broadcasting from the mill this week trying to find out about people’s views of the up coming joyous election! I had a cough psi was at home so just listened to it on the radio!!
I do hope if anyone is going through rough time that they can perhaps find something creative to do..it doesn’t have to be painting jugs but anything as distractions are so helpful.
Sending everyone lots of love on a friday Nel xxx
A Life Times Ambition Fulfilled !!! NEW STUDIO in Sunny Bank Mill, Farsley
I am so excited about my new studio in the Twisting Gallery in Sunny Bank Mill, Farsley. I move in this weekend, it’s a life times ambition fulfilled
Read MoreJug 20 How on Earth did that Happen! #Allaboutthejugs !
In the search for a distraction I found a passion as I am STILL painting a jug every Friday and now hate to miss it ! It’s just great to do something that is so different to everything else that I do in the week. I can;t wait to see Jug 20 ‘Hook Line and Sinker’ which should be out the film tomorrow.
On other fronts well my garden iOS looking the best it has looked in a very long while, which doesn’t mean it looks amazing before anyone leaps to conclusions. I have just been discussing what to do about all the trees that need pruning today with Sophie who who is our tree surgeon. She talks about trees as if she really cares which I love.
The big news is that it is the first show i have done all year next week at Castle Howard and I have to be honest it seems to have been quite tiring getting ready for it so I am trying total it easy. So I won’t chat long now otherwise my labels wont get finished.
Also drum roll I have a big piece of news at the end of the month which I am REALLY EXCITED ABOUT. bUT WILL WAIT TO TELL YOU… I know I am a bit of a tease . Have a great weekend everyone xx
Wonders of water Paintings Update and #Allaboutthejugs
I can’t quite believe I am on my 13th Jug . It has helped me so much doing my Friday Jug painting. I REALLY look forward to it and actually as I couldn’t go last Friday, as I was teaching a course and this Friday is Good Friday, I’m going twice this week! Shocker!
Here are the three little jugs 10/11 and 12 which are really petite and are called Finn, Fishy and Flash, they are suitable for salad dressing, cream or simply to make your kitchen pretty!
I have been getting stuck back into my ‘proper’ painting and continuing my sea studies and have started two under paintings. Which is like laying down the colour areas before starting to apply the pastel. I have called them ‘ Jewesl of the Sea’ and ‘ Lazy River’. So here are Stage 1 one each of them here.
I will be having an exhibition of some of my ‘Wonders of Water’ painting and also some abstracts in November at Chantry House Gallery, at Ripley North Yorkshire. I will have floral work too at Harlow Carr in the Bath House in June for a month, so there will be lots of new paintings there. So things are ticking a long. But I am just taking it steady and also really working on my garden which is a long over due labour of love. Happy Easter everyone xxx
A Different Sort of Year - #AllAbouttheJugs
A Different Year Full of New Things
Okay I've got a bit of news and for once it's not great news as I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer just before Christmas. Which as you can imagine after all we went through with Polly's illness, was not what anyone needed. I have been debating whether to put anything at all on social media, but I've always been a rather straight forward person who just likes to say it as it is and for me hiding things or having to tell people every time I meet them, is more of a strain. So there, it's out there.
I am not going to dwell on being poorly and write about it in great detail, which is not to under value, on any level the good that those that have posted and written blogs (such as `#YouMeBigC )about their experiences, have done. As they give great comfort to people , as well as most importantly enabling there to be new conversations about what it means to live with a cancer diagnosis.
And so that brings me to what I want to say.
I'm going to have a VERY DIFFERENT Year and that is what I want to cherish and focus on. I want to celebrate how the arts get people through the tough times and help to distract people from their worries.
Re work ... I have had to cancel Chelsea Flower Show for the first time in 15 years. Which is both a bit scary but also a huge relief as I will be able to continue my year of painting 'The Wonders of Water' and not have to stand up for 12 hours a day!
I will be continuing to paint but will post paintings on my website and email more as well as have work in galleries and at Chantry House Gallery, Ripley at the end of the year.
I have arranged to go down to our local paint a pot place called ‘Clay Fever' to paint a jug every week on a Friday! I will be posting about this on Facebook I thought that I could call it “It’s All About the Jugs! It made me laugh and currently anything that does that is just fine by me. It will get me out of the house as I’ll have to walk there and it will be a nice thing to do if I am not up to painting in my studio. I am going to write some new poems. As we went into hospital the other day I received a lovely email about a very exciting project which couldn't have arrived at a better time. So I'll be revealing more about that in the weeks to come.
The Reasons behind my 'Wonders of Water' Theme for 2018-2019
I have always loved water from being a small child and watching my father build boats. Every holiday involved being on a boat or near water, and so now our own holidays never feel complete without a trip out on a boat or a wade in the sea, however cold it may be ! But there is another reason it’s about facing a fear.
Read More'A Year in the Garden Exhibition' OPENS this weekend and Is it okay to paint Naked?
MARCH - RHS Harlow Carr Gardens , The Glorious Heathers AND THE WINNER OF THE TWO CHELSEA TICKETS!
Well I am super late with this March Video as I will actually be going to the garden to do 'April" this week ! If only there were three off me for even four may be . Anyway I only have two months to go at Harlow Carr, and it's also Chelsea flower show very soon on the 22nd-26th May so it's my very busiest time of year. I will be at Harlow Carr on the 5th and 6th May all day for their Spring Festival so lets hope the weathers going to play ball and behave itself.
I am going to show a selection of my Harlow Carr paintings at Chelsea and then reveal them all at the Harlow Carr Flower Show on the 22nd -24th June. The paintings will then move to Chantry House Gallery for a month until the end of July. When I will have a holiday !!!
It would be lovely to see you at any of these events . Thanks for following my journey. If you are not on my mailing list then please feel free to join it as I will be doing a special Preview of all the paintings which will go out first to everyone on the mailing list.
You may be wondering who has won the Chelsea ticket competition well it's you KAY PLEASE EMAIL ME CONGRATULATIONS XX
FEBRUARY - RHS Harlow Carr Gardens 'Irises and Snowdrops and Betty's'
TWO CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW TICKETS COMPETITION
How to enter just comment on my blog below and tell me why you would like to come and see my work at Chelsea Flower Show. I will Draw the Winner out on April 14th . Happy Commenting
Time is flying too quickly by and I am writing this super quickly as I have to leave for Vienna in about 15 minutes! So forgive all typos etc. I knew what I wanted to paint in the garden this month as I have had a very long love of Irises since being a small child and being aware that they were my Mum's favourite flower. they were out in their droves so I spent some hours hunting them down all over the garden. This time i took a very nice seat that hadn't yet had an outing, so I didn't get a frozen bottom this time. Always a bonus. I did finish off my day with the most DELICIOUS afternoon tea in Betty's...so all ion all it was A VERY GOOD DAY :)
JANUARY - RHS Harlow Carr Gardens ' Getting down with the Cyclamen
Well it was a beautifully bright day at RHS Harlow Carr this month. But I did choose to paint the tiny cyclamen and snowdrops which involved scrabbling around on the floor in the dirt ! No pain no gain and lets face it there was pain as at 55 3 hours spent on a woodland floor makes standing up again something of a challenge. So fortunately I had a lovely friend/customer to meet for lunch in Betty's tearoom which felt like a beacon calling me!
I discovered the scented garden this month and could see the fabric of the garden upon which so much relies in the summer. So the fences and arbours and edges, many of which are lovingly woven. I cannot believe that I am in my 8th month already . its' passing so quickly and i will be sad not to be going every month.
I will be painting in their garden for their Spring Festival all weekend on the 5/6th May and also on their Free day on the 20th March
DECEMBER - RHS Harlow Carr Gardens ' Flame Red Cornus and a Bit of Weather?'
People wonder why I paint outside in cold weather and don't just stick to the summer months. That's because I love seeking out the beauty of the landscape and nature at all times of year. I am sure it says a lot about me, that I will never be thwarted by bad weather. Billy Connolly's words always ring in my ears " there is no such things as bad weather just inappropriate clothing.' When the kids were young we took them out in all weathers and developed our own series of family saying such as when it rained 'its always good for the plants!' Lets face it if you let the weather bother you in the UK you're probably going to have to accept that you'll be inside for 9 months of the year. Then you'll be vitamin D deficient, which I gather most of us are now evidently even New Zealanders now have to take vitamin D everyday in order to maintain healthy levels due to the effects of very efficient sun cream, yep that is my monthly Radio 4 'Factoid' as they are now affectionately known as in our house. I seem to utter the phrase ' On the radio today I heard......' most days, like some middle aged long playing advert for the BBC.
Well it's now January and we have Polly's birthday to go on friday and then we have done another years worth of celebrations and all those decorations will be going back in the loft. Like so many there is that feeling of what to try to achieve this year, and what to also stop doing possibly! So my NEW YEARS RESOLUTION which I make each year BUT am writing it here on order some how shame myself into actually doing it for once is to read more. It's rather ironic that Dave and I who are both dyslexic to a degree are related to Mark who has literally thousands of books. I learn or am inspired more generally by what I see and hear. But when I do read on holiday usually I do love it. So I am aiming for a very very modest 10 books this year in the hope that having made more time in my day that that total will rise each year. I would love to hear your New Years resolutions so do post them below and lets all try to keep them. HAPPY NEW YEAR
NOVEMBER Harlow Carr Gardens Artist in Residence - Woodpeckers and Focaccio !
November - RHS Harlow Carr Woodpeckers and Focaccio Nel Whatmore ramblings of an Artist in Residence
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