A new adventure

Last week I was invited to show my work to a lovely group of ladies who make up the textile group Eclectica.  I have seen the group's work at various exhibitions over the last few years.  I thought that maybe now was the right time to apply to join them.

I was encouraged to take lots of work to show them.  I took them at their word and filled a suitcase.

The two display tables soon morphed into four!  I put my work together in groups.  This table had a variety of work that has no overall theme.

Here are my canal inspired textile pieces and sketchbooks.

Off now to another country!  And my work and sketchbooks based on Florida.

And no sharing of my work would be complete without Venice!

As I prepared to take all this work to the presentation, I realised that whatever the outcome it had been a useful exercise.  I have never put everything together like this before.   The sketchbooks usually live on shelves downstairs whilst the textile pieces are either piled on the spare bed or in bags for life in the same bedroom.

I found that after I stopped shaking that I enjoyed talking about my interests and my textile and mixed media work.

The day before I had been talking with a friend about how to be proud of your work without being prideful.  She sent me a link to a blog post by Ken Reid.

I like what Ken says: When you accomplish something and feel really good about it, that isn’t pride. It’s delight. 

Being proud of, or prideful about, your work means that you need everyone to know that you did it. Your delight is not in the work itself but in the recognition from others that you hope your work will bring. 

To have delight in your work is simply to enjoy it and be amazed that it came from your hands, or mind, or words, or what have you.

So whilst I am putting this blog post about my work out there, it's because I have found a delight in what I have done.  And yes I am amazed that I did it, especially the sketchbooks.

I'm also delighted to say that I have been invited to join Eclectica.

I'm excited to be starting a new journey with this group and will let you know how I am faring as the year goes on.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Planner mania

I feel that using this planner is like a mix of the journal I was keeping last year and the scrapbooking I did years ago.  I am finding it really enjoyable although somewhat time consuming.  But being creative is much better than scrolling Facebook and Instagram.

I showed you the setting up of my second planner in this post.  I am really using it as a journal rather than a planner.  And my diary/journal/planner featured in this post.

Today I am featuring my main planner/journal.

In last year's journal I put a photo in almost every week.  In this journal I decided I would use the last page of the month (which is supposed to be a Currently page for February), as a photo memory page for the month.

Here's the calendar pages for February.

This week's pages

And next week's pages in production.

I'm still watching lots of YouTube videos especially Planning With Bumble (MaryEllen) and Scrappy Wife (Elisa).

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice
 

What a surprise!

I have been following along with Hilary Beattie and her Saturday Sketchbooks classes.  I desperately want to call it Sketchbook Saturday!  But either way on two Saturdays each month Hilary generously shares copious amounts of information about working in sketchbooks.

In January she suggested we recycled our Christmas cards into a concertina sketchbook.  I put gesso over the cards and some acrylic paint.  I also stamped on the background with wooden blocks.

Hilary decided to make an imaginary village but I decided to make a version of Venice.  Surprise! Surprise!  

I cut out the shapes of buildings and bridges.  I also made some trees.

There are a surprising number of trees and green spaces in Venice.  Did you watch the opening episode of Monty Don's Adriatic Gardens?

I used my gelli plate to print the buildings and trees.  I had made the shapes from textured wallpaper which made fabulous designs on the prints.

I glued the various prints using both the cut out buildings and trees and the pieces of paper they were cut from.

I gessoed and painted the reverse of the zigzag book. I used different stamps

I used the left over prints and the wallpaper masks to make a different version of Venice.

Here are some closeups.

The second side definitely still needs work.  And the above end piece needs some additional pieces.

But for now I'm happy with what I have.  Colouring in windows and trees can be a pleasant activity in between other larger bits of work.

Of course, a zigzag book like this doesn't have to be about buildings and trees.  It could be jugs, vases, dancers etc.

What theme would you choose?

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice