Gillian Lee Smith

2 Lessons

Portrait class 9, originally uploaded by gilfling.

Lesson number one..... when you have one free day in London to do as you please and you have been VERY excited about visiting the Letter of Van Gogh exhition at the Royal Academy.........

....... don't go to the Portrait Gallery and get so absorped in looking at every single portrait there....forget the time............and then have no time/tire yourself out so much that you then cannot go to the exhibiton that you really wanted to see.

Lesson number two........... when planning to spend the day in London sketching with a lovely pencil case full of favourite pencils and pens............. don't leave said pencil case in your suitcase so that the only writing implement you have in your bag turns out to be a leaky old green biro.

But having said all that... I had the best time losing myself in gazing at portraits centuries old, as well as some painted within my life-time, photographic portraits and portrait sculptures.... and somehow that leaky old biro made me forget about worrying about what I was drawing and just get on with it regardless!

All in all - a day well spent!

A wee gift to myself

A wee gift to myself, originally uploaded by gilfling.

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that one of the things I wanted to do this year was to make more time to make things 'just because'. I do find, as somone who 'makes and creates' for a living, that often (if not all the time!) making things for myself is always last on my list of things to do. Infact if I was to be honest, I don't always make things for my loved ones either and I would definitely like this year, to remedy that.

So in an effort to kick start this more relaxed approach to creating, I gifted a few craft books to myself and am itching to begin making time in the evenings, cosied up under a blanket crocheting and knitting things for my home, accessories for myself and gifts for friends and family (infact I have already started!). I am a 'Novice Knitter' (note the capitals for emphasis!) only knitting and purling to a beginners standard with no clue of increases and decreases and yarn cross overs and such like. As for crochet, which I have used in many of my accessories, I only have a rudimentary understanding of how the stitches work and much of what I do is by luck rather than understanding a pattern.

So this year I have a few things that I definitely want to make - a granny square blanket, a pair of socks, a hat and some wee homely things to perk up our rather plain, neglected and boring decor. Amongst all this is a desire to gain some balance between my work life and down time and enjoy the leisurely, relaxing process of taking my time over making things ... just because I can.

PS - the books above are, from the top to the bottom

Lacy Crochet by Chronicle Books
Luxury One Skein Wonders by Judith Durant
200 Crochet blocks for blankets, throws and afghans by Jan Eaton

(links are all to amazon.co.uk)

I have already started a crochet doily and small mat from the lacy crochet book, bought some gorgeous silk yarn on sale to make either some wrist warmers or a scarf from the luxury yarn book and planning to sort my yarn out and figure out the colours I still need to purchase in order to begin the collection of granny squares I need to make that blanket! So I am well on my way and have been loving curling up on our new sofa and just enjoying the slow rhythm of crocheting.

(Next post I will show the few art books I have also purchased to aid me in my journey back into painting!)

Eloise

Eloise, originally uploaded by gilfling.

Eloise

Whitewashed walls and old wooden doors fill the small cottage where Eloise spends her days and nights. Muslin drapes cast ghostly shadows as they billow out from the draughty windows with many panes of thick distorted glass made butter yellow by their sunlit glow.

All colours are pale and hazy, all except the trail of wonderfully coloured buttons that litters the floor and winds from room to room, ending in a corner where a rickety old sailor’s chest overflows with collections of these candy tinted delights. Eloise adds a new pair of buttons every day to add a touch of vividness to her otherwise faded attire, a simple delight to brighten her day.

Hello friends!! Well I am so behind in blogging my 'list of things past/present and future' and the list is ever growing so I thought I had better at least make a small attempt at getting through it.

This doll was actually completed a wee while ago and I am only now getting around to editing the photographs and writing the stories. She is part of my very exciting collaboration that I may have mentioned a while back with my very good friend Debbie Bryan who has recently opened her own shop and studio in the historic Lace Market here in Nottingham. We had discussed working on a collaboration some time ago and these dolls are the result (with more to come!). As well as beautiful knitted scarves, Debbie also works with resin, creating buttons, brooches and cufflinks to which she adds the most wonderful textures and inclusions. Her larger brooches contain hand remnants of the past and other wonderful delights - go to her website to see! Anyway as I had been using vintage buttons for a wee while on my dolls it just seemed the perfect opportunity to use some of Debbies hand cast buttons, which are completely unique and just add that extra dimension to my characters both in their costumes and in their stories. Currently they are exclusively sold in Debbies Shop & Studio.

As a celebration of our collaboration, Debbie is holding a 'meet the artist' (Me!) event and tea party on Sunday 13th September - see here for more details. I will be there working on some of my characters, there will be tea and cake. I would really love to see you there.

(PS you can see more photos of Eloise and other characters here)

A sneak peak

Crochet trim, originally uploaded by gilfling.

Hello there!

Well it is nothing short of chaos in this house at the moment - all the boxes for packing were delivered the other day and left me with an impending sense of panic. After all - if we were struggling to find room to put the 'flat pack boxes' - how on earth were we to find room to stack the full and 'ready to be moved boxes'??!!

Two weeks today and we will be on our way to our new home and hopefully a greater sense of order and space than we have now. Meanwhile we are making choices about what we need in the next two weeks and what can be packed away and as the ultimate procrastinator this is no easy task. Although I have a 'must do list' in terms of both aspects of my work - all else is really being put aside till after the move, so no room for painting or creating really. But I do hope to get the new 'studio' organised as quickly as possible as I have lots planned for the near future!

Above is a wee sneak preview of a collection of hand crocheted trims (soon to be hand-dyed) which is part of a collaboration with Debbie Bryan. These will be displayed in her new shop as part of a 'haberdashery' collection along with her beautiful buttons and hand dyed nottingham lace - all created in harmonious colour palettes for anyone wishing to personalise an outfit for a more unique look. Exciting times! It is also a great project to be working on at the moment as crochet is so transportable and compact therefore lessening the amount of 'stuff' I have to work on and carry about at the moment.

Just a wee reminder too of my give-away! Anyone who pops on over to my new website then returns to leave a comment/critique (please be honest) on my blog before end of day on Monday 8th June (really whenever I get up on tuesday morning to allow for time differences etc) will be entered in a draw to win a print of their choice - the full list of prints is listed here on this page so make sure and leave the title of your choice of print (should your name be drawn) and I will be announcing the winner on Tuesday 9th! I am soon to be adding a shop/shopping cart to my website but perhaps not till after the move so will keep you updated on that.

We are off to this event on Sunday (as an early birthday outing for me and a rest from the monotony of packing boxes) so hoping for good weather - have a wonderful weekend!

Gwenda

Gwenda, originally uploaded by gilfling.

Gwenda

Gwenda lives in a beautiful cottage where nature is not content to exist only on the outside. Fuchsia plants twist and wind their heavy flower laden stems in, around and through the sun-bleached windowpanes. Ivy and clematis gently make their way through open doors and moss grows on any given surface.
Indeed, the gradual harmony between inside and out enchants Gwenda and those windows and doors, though once partitions, will now remain forever open.

Philomena

Philamina, originally uploaded by gilfling.

Philomena’s favourite sound is that of echo’s, gliding footsteps on stone floors; the drip, drip, drip of rain that comes through the gaps in the roof of her 645 year old miller’s cottage. She delights in the shadows cast by moonlit flowers and often takes walks at unsociable hours just to watch and listen.
The sound of echo’s and the sight of shadow’s.

Philomena is the other character that I mentioned now resides inStudio 61 awaiting a new home.

Can I let you into a little secret? Promise you won't tell? Every time I come to paint these faces....and I mean 'every' time.... I have that absolute panicky feeling as if I have never painted before. I feel as if I will make a mess and I just cannot fathom out how to go about it. It often takes me 2 or three attempts to get them just so. So there you have it, the trials of a sometimes incompetent painter!

Hope you have had a lovely start to your week! I will be busy as ever and plan to start transforming some of those ideas into my sketchbook into finished pieces. I also have a whistlestop visit to look forward to from my dad and my aunts as they come to me for morning tea and cake on their way back from southern england for a funeral on their way back to Scotland. I haven't seen my dad since late November so I am excited! (Oh and if you remember this post about my hand-made gift for him, the updated report is that he has ditched the scraggy plastic coin bag and now loves his new personalised coin purse! - progress indeed)

Present for dad

Present for dad, originally uploaded by gilfling.

AAaAh..... I am hesitating before breathing a sigh of relief. I took my camera to the camera repair shop where they hummmed and aaaahed before very kindly lending me a memory card to try in my camera to attempt to establish whether the problem is with the card or the camera itself. All appears well. However I remember this being the case only a short while ago and after a time I felt like the camera was destroying the card, eating it, electrocuting it.....or something like that until it could take no more.

So yes....hesitant I am. However I am now just about to pop back to the shop to purchase a new card in the hope that £15 well spent now will be instead of the £100+++++++++ for repairs which seemed a probability yesterday. Of course that would be even better that £ x hundreds for a new camera. So only time will tell if my camera will gradually destroy this new card.

Ho hum. Enough of that, but gosh it does make me realize how dependant we (I) am on equipment and technology. As much as I can create with only a bare minimuum of tools, needles, thread, paper, brush, paint - it is the rest of the hoopla that we need to bring all this to life in a way.

So above is a wee gift to be sent off today. A very, very belated gift it has to be said. I have been planning this for ages, but as the recipient is my dad (I mentioned a couple of posts ago about his previous career in leatherwork and his artistic talent) for some reason I got a bit paralysed with the fear of it not turning out right. We shall see. I did enjoy making it though and it was lovely to carve something so personal as his intitials that will make it his and his alone.

I have to tell you (I hope he won't be mad at this.....) that for years my dad has carried his change around in a plastic coin bag, you know the one's you get from the bank to collect your change. I thought about carving RBS or Natwest on this and dying it blue so that at least he could pretend it was a coin bag in disguise, but instead decided on the more traditional route. My step mum will be delighted! Both of us are always mortified when he takes out a scrunchy old change bag from his pocket in shops.

Anyway stay well and have a wonderful weekend! I am off to the studio now.

In another life......

Cuff commission, originally uploaded by gilfling.

I would be a full time leather crafter. Oh yes. I know it is not for everyone. I myself was vegetarian for 11 years from mid teens to twenties and would quite possibly have been horrified at the the thought. But ever since I decided in the final year of my Performance Costume Degree to make a costume with leather armour as the feature (never having worked with leather in my life before) I was transfixed by this craft.

I pretty much 'taught' myself. My dad had been a leatherwork apprentice on leaving school and made such things as full suits of armour in carved leather, leather carved wall murals and other such wonders. We also had a table that he had made with a carved medieval hunting scene on it's entire surface. I really must try and find photo's of these things to show you - they are a wonder and he is an incredibly talented artist (a much neglected talent now I must say - I must remember and drop some 'lovingly nagging hints to take up his art again' next time I see him - in other words 'encouragement'!)

Anyhow, once the decision to make this leather armour was fixed in my mind, I of course sought advice and tutoring from my dad. Two minutes was what I got!! Ok possibly a little more - a little encouragement and the advice to just go with it and it would come with practice. So I just had to delve in and the images here and here were the result. I was proud of them and just loved every part of making that costume. It may not have seemed like it at the time due to the stresses of the course and my awful lack of time management but love it I did.

I even thought for a while after graduating that I would really try and develop my work to feature leatherwork quite prominently, hoping to work on re-enactment costumes or costumes for films (big dreams of landing a historical medieval or fantasy films etc). I attended a few workshops on leather-work and have completed a few commission such as here and here.

However life sometimes leads you in an unexpected direction and unfortunately I just cannot commit the time and dedication it needs to become a master leather-craftsmen. However I can still dream and do the odd commission as it comes up as this one did - a leather cuff with a hand crafted design - a present for a surfer/lover of the outdoors featuring his own design. A pleasure to work on and I like the result.

There is something satisfying about working with leather. No fancy machinery or electric tools - all carved with very basic, even primitive tools, completely handstitched, the feel of the material, the staining of the fingers when hand-dying (stains that remain on my own skin for 4-5 days after finishing), the comforting smell of the leather and the dye. Such a tactile craft and one that has been practiced in some form or another for almost as long as we have roamed the earth.

In another life I would be a master leather crafts-person.

Colette

Colette, originally uploaded by gilfling.

Colette spends her minutes, hours and days reading in the vast domed library of her ancestral family home. Each page is a revelation, each word full of new possibilities and dreams. From dawn till dusk she can be found curled infront of a warm log fire, lost in the imaginations of writers long since gone.

A heart filled with.........

Lavender Filled Heart (crafting 365), originally uploaded by gilfling.

sometimes hope, sometimes melancholy, sometimes joy, sometimes sadness, sometimes wonder, sometimes loneliness.

Blogging is not coming naturely to me at the moment, I am enjoying just working away on small projects, creating, thinking, pondering, hand stitching, finding a rhythm in the things that I do. Many dolls are works in progress, I am producing groups of items for the up and coming (not for a while but always sooner than I can imagine, holiday season) and for the countless craft fairs I have booked myself into for the remainder of the year. I have taken a wee break from painting due to other work, but as ever, one thing inpsires another and even as I am stitching, hand-dying fabrics, and thinking of doll stories, ideas are being born for new artwork. I love the cyclical process of what I do and how everything relates and integrates.

Last year I was so unprepared for the holday season in every way and this year I have vowed to work myself gently into it. Making the things I love to make, a repetition of tasks that calm me and inspire me. Knitting, then felting, then crocheting, then embroidering, then beading, then stitching my cuffs (I love the whole 1,2,3,4 etc methodical sequence of creating these and the object that is the end result. Just building up an inventory of items and hoping that somehow, somewhere, some people will love them as much as I do.

My accessories shop is starting to look as if I actually take care of it, and I had a moment today when I just felt satisfied and pleased. A realisation that I have finally found my aesthetic. I guess it has always been there, especially in my artwork, but today really was the first time I truly felt happy with my accessories shop. The banner, the avatar, the featured items and my recently posted items, evan the photography (something I have struggled with for such a long time) all a perfect reflection of me and the things I love to make. The colours and tones, the muted, aged feel and atmosphere that comes from the things I create. Of course I will never be completely 'there' as in reaching a final destination, but I do hope my work will continue to develop along with my aesthetic and personal taste and character that hopefully is evident through all my artwork and the things I am drawn to creating.

Gosh I had so many other things to talk about, but I guess this is where my mind and thoughts were taking me today. I do however have some very exciting news which I shall reveal in my next blog post. I do hope you are well, happy and satisfied with all that you are 'creating', whether that be objects to cherish, or finding your path in life.