Crisis of conscience

I have next Friday booked off from work.  Do I go to my Contemporary Textile Workshop, the last session of which I did not enjoy and which I have done zero work for.  Or stay home and get stuck in with my new (early-but I'm not complaining) birthday books?

Peacocks travel best in pairs

Where Flowers grow there is hope

Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all

This is based on one of the photos I have snapped on one of my many cycling adventures. Again this is derived from a well known phrase which is derived from the Tennyson poem In Memoriam:

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

This summer had a loss and when I was feeling particularly sorry for myself I would think the situation was hopeless and that it had all been for nothing. This was not the case and I know that at least I had had a chance and that it can happen again. Referring back to the previous work Life is Risky - it is better to try than not to try at all.

Proverbially English II

Many hands make light work.


All good things come to an end.

Proverbially English I

These are like old friends to me now - I first conceived of them when participating in a postcard swap based on the colour spectrum. I added a further theme by using proverbs as my inspiration. As some of these postcards were going to far off places (one went as far as Australia) I decided that the proverbs, where possible were English. Further to that I found the proverbs I chose helped me think about my creative process. When I created the postcards I made a twin - so I had record of what I had done and a connection to the card that had sent overseas.


Mighty Oaks from little acorns grow. This proverb was chosen to remind myself that its okay to start with something small even if it is just a small seed. Presented with the horror of a blank canvas and no ideas. Just one small idea can be played with, thought about and enlarged upon. Ideas can also be like magnets attracting further ideas until you find a large project on your hands. If you're really lucky a finished piece.


A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner. I think I have learnt the most when something in my work has gone wrong or hasn't turned out as expected. Even if it is to never do that again!


A Stitch in Time Saves Nine. A devotee of the leaving it to the last minute movement I still recognise the wisdom of such advice. As a school girl I did leave some key essays to the very last day before handing in but I always got away with it. Unfortunately paint has to be given time to dry, fingers can only sew so fast and take so much punishment (especially as I never bother with a thimble).

Life is Risky

The title was taken from a quote from a video that M was watching as part of his counselling skills course work.  The man who said it is Carl Rogers one of the founding fathers of psychotherapy research : "Life is risky. To take the responsibility for being the person you would like to be.....".  This year I have taken some risks they have all borne some fruit some of it welcome, some of it not so welcome.  The unexpected outcomes have not been happy times but I do think I have come out stronger and I am more aware of silver linings in situations which I may not have wished for.  You can look at things in a negative way but you can also recognise the good. 

This piece can be viewed in two different aspects - the view shown above represents the idea of growing and blossoming, the view shown below represents the idea of falling and tumbling.