Craft

Blogging – taking some down time

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Things aren’t often noisy over here on Magpie, but they’ve been a bit quieter than usual. I’ve been having a bit of an emotional slump, which I think are related to the hormone injections I’ve been having as part of the fertility treatment. I’ve been quite flat. As a consequence I haven’t really had much to say. My intellectual muscles aren’t really engaged right now.

When not in work I have found myself drawn to a more physical existence. Pottering in the garden, making sure everything has had enough water in our uncharacteristically hot summer, and picking courgettes, which seem to be doing well while everything else wilts. Swimming in the Serpentine Lido. Drawing with pencils on paper. Cutting up bits of cloth (soaked in watered down glue to prevent the edges fraying) and paper into new shapes. Arranging and rearranging things so experiment with different forms and colours. Anything that I can touch with my hands, anything with texture.

The online world feels a bit more unreal than usual to me at the moment. A little less engaging than it has been in the past. I am sure it will pass and I’ll have a bit more to say. Soon.

Like what you see? I also make art. You can things with my designs on at my shop here. Could even treat yourself if you wanted to. Just saying

Weekend work in progress

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I’ve been working on an animation for my documentary that involves some figures playing poker. Here’s a quick peek at one of the work in progress images.

I planned for the hands to be more of a mint green but didn’t have the right paper. But I think this shade works fine – I’m pretty happy with them.

Like what you see? I also make art. You can things with my designs on at my shop here. Could even treat yourself. If you wanted to. Just saying.

Experiments with pattern

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I’ve been experimenting with different materials recently to add some different texture to my paper designs. These spirals were cut from scraps of cloth I have been collecting. Cutting cloth ‘raw’ leads to lots of fraying, which isn’t really what I want here. I like shapes with quite clean silhouettes. So I’ve been trying out soaking the cloth in different types of glue. For these particular bits of cloth I used watered down PVA glue, (which is really cheep to get hold of so that’s a plus) and I think this has worked well. The cloth is still soft and flexible, but it doesn’t fray when I cut with scissors. Which is pretty much what I want.

Like what you see? I also make art. You can things with my designs on at my shop here. Could even treat yourself if you wanted to. Just saying.

Weekend work in progress: animated sections for my Doc

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Here is a little extract from a documentary I have been working on for a long time now. I’ve been experimenting with different forms of animation and this one is pretty simple compared to some of the other things I am thinking about, but actually I think it looks really nice and clean. It could probably do with a few tweaks around speed and that kind of thing, but mostly this one has come together quite nicely.

Would love to hear any comments/ feedback.

Like what you see? I also make art. You can things with my designs on at my shop here. Could even treat yourself if you wanted to. Just saying.

Re-blog – Sometimes You Get Exactly What You Wish For fromMeditations in Motion

/ The Magpie at Midnight / 2 Comments

For anyone following the objects with meaning theme I’ve had going for a while now take a look at this great blog from Laurie at Meditations in Motion…

A few weeks ago the blogger Magpie at Midnight (who is a creative and insightful writer, you can read her posts here) wrote her first in a series of posts about “objects with meaning”. She called for other writers to submit posts, and I submitted this one, about my mother’s ring. I kept thinking about […]

via Sometimes You Get Exactly What You Wish For — Meditations in Motion

Reasons to be grateful #5 – walking in the woods with my best one

/ The Magpie at Midnight / 6 Comments

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One of the things I’ve been doing with this blog over that last few months is trying to keep track of some of the things I am grateful for, following this post about gratitude. I thought it would be fun to build up a little collection of doodles to capture these. Finding the time to do this has been a bit challenging, but I have enjoyed thinking about what to draw.

Over the last few weeks we’ve had some unpredictable weather here in the UK, swinging rapidly between spring sunshine and flurries of winter snow. We’ve been lucky enough to have time to go for 2 really nice walks in the woods, in between the snow showers and rain. I find being in the woods particularly relaxing and refreshing, and love the curving unruly forms of nature. A few weekends ago we came across some beautiful mosses, which were intricate in form and all kinds of vivid greens.

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My fiancé (still getting used to calling him that) frequently have our best, most thoughtful conversations while out walking and not distracted by other things. It is often in the woods where we discuss what we would like to do together in the future, or scheme to create a joint project. So I am grateful to have that time and space with him whenever possible. I also find that when I am walking I have some of my best ideas. I think there is something about the rhythm of walking that may make different connections in my brain in comparison to just sitting in front of a screen or with some materials. So I am grateful for that different kind of ‘head space’ too.

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Like what you see? I also make art. You can things with my designs on at my shop here. Could even treat yourself if you wanted to. Just saying.