Monday 25 October 2010

Blackpool...

I always feel that many people have a love hate relationship with the place they come from. Being brought up in Blackpool, I couldn't wait to get away from it, but it has always had a strange pull. There is something about its faded glamour, the stories and the wind swept beach in winter that I find stimulates my creativity. I went to see the Illuminations this weekend and found myself again thinking that it really is a fascinating and quite unique place...

Thursday 21 October 2010

Pumpkins...

Every year at this time, I see pumpkins in the shops and think, I really wish I knew what to make with one of those. Now I think about it I don't think I even know what pumpkin tastes of, but they just seem to represent autumn so well. Maybe this is the year I'll find something (other than carving a face) to do with one...

                                          from here

I wish...

I had a view like this from my house, I'm sure if you live surrounded by natural beauty like this, the day to day issues of life seem insignificant. I took this picture in Scotland in a place of amazing beauty.

Saturday 16 October 2010

Temple of a thousand bells...

I don't think I'm going to get anything creative done this weekend, we are having a carpet fitted in our house which we have been renovating for three years (very exciting!). I did however visit Liverpool Biennial yesterday so I will have to content myself with the inspiration I saw there. I particularly liked Laura Belem's piece.

A room...

This is a room in an English Heritage house we visited in the summer, I love its faded glamour. I took lots of pictures of the wallpaper and I'm hope to take inspiration from the patterns somehow...

Wednesday 13 October 2010

Autumn inspiration...

I often take inspiration from all types of pattern, stitch, wallpaper, textiles and patterns I see everyday in nature, squirreling them away for some future use. With the perfect autumn days we've been having I've been thinking about the colours of the leaves, the amazingly clear skys and the changing of the seasons, and how I might use this as an influence. These finds seem to some how reflect autumn for me...


Inspiration found from here, here, here, here, here and here

Sunday 10 October 2010

Stories and cushions...

Some glimpses of what I'm working on at the moment. Working with thread is such a time consuming process, but I like the way you get to absorb yourself in the process. I also enjoy the thought of who might have owned this cushion before and the stories it has seen before I started adding my layer...

Thursday 7 October 2010

I have to see...

I meant to go and see this exhibition of Su Blackwell's work at the Bronte Parsonage Museum a few weeks back, but couldn't go at the last minute. I will certainly go before it ends, friends have told me it is beautiful...

Monday 4 October 2010

Thread doodles...

This is a pattern I've been playing with...

Bright morning...

This morning I had to get up very early to take my mum to the train station. I got to see a time of day I'm not normally witness to, and the start of a beautiful autumn morning...