Yvonne's Sketchbook

Lochboisdale Summer Market

Phew, Now that I have quite a few retail outlets, let alone here at my studio, I'm struggling to keep up with the cardmaking and printing of prints! And that's apart from all the other work I have on at the moment (a couple of new websites for people in progress, some print work for another artist and some graphic design work for another client!). But, it's a short tourist season here in the Outer Hebrides so I have to work flat out for a few months. It's the same every year...

Thankfully at this time of year, this far north, it's light until well after 11pm so i'm able to chill out and have a late evening walk if the weather is nice.

Midnight - Midsummer's Day

I received an invitation to participate in the Lochboisdale Summer Market which sounded like a good opportunity so I said yes. The market is at Talla Chidhe and will be open Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturday from the 29th June until the last day, 7th August which is actually a Sunday but is the day of the Ben Kenneth race - usually a really fun day :)

I went down today to set all my stuff up and the organisers had very kindly given me a table by the wall and the wall had a rail system for hanging a couple of framed prints.

The official opening of the market will be on Saturday so i'll be down there for that. At other times the market will be manned by a variety of either staff or volunteers. I'll post photos on Saturday or Sunday of the opening.

My daughter and her husband are due to arrive on the ferry from the mainland late on Saturday evening so i'm very excited about that - i'm looking forward to having lots of mother and daughter knit/crochet sessions :) Kat wants me to teach her how to crochet so i'm sure that will be possible during the two weeks that they are here.

Creative Every Day

Well, even though i've been away from home for over two months i've still managed to be creative every day. I wasn't so active on the art side of things - I had taken a lot of painting and drawing supplies with me but I think I underestimated the amount of time that I would have for art! 

Anyway, I took around 3,000 photographs (nearly all birds!) which I am still working my way through and also managed to crochet every day.

I was very systematic with the photographs - whatever i'd taken during the day I would sit at my laptop in the evening and go through the images, throwing out all the ones that I wasn't totally happy with. 

30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day 27

Very little time today for putting brush to canvas or paper. As well as being an artist and photographer I also work as a self-employed bookkeeper and here in the UK the deadline for filing your annual tax return is the 31st January - some people like to leave things right until the last minute so today I've had a pile of last minute accounts to prepare. this happens every single year and I start reminding people at least 6 months previously that they need to get my paperwork to me. It's not until late January that the threat of an automatic fine of 100 pounds for late filing impinges on their consciousness and they get around to bringing me their paperwork. Aaaarghhh!

So today all I did was another exercise from the Rolina van Vliet book, working with black and white. Acrylic paint on A4 mixed media paper.

Taking stock

During 2014 I signed up for an art degree, a distance learning course with the Open College of the Arts but that has currently gone by the wayside as 2015 has been a bad year for me. Late last year a good and very dear friend was diagnosed with terminal cancer and I have spent many weeks with him during 2015, supporting and looking after him until his death on the 8th December. Advice received from another friend is "to try to focus on positives, whilst also being sad." With this in mind, and remembering how art helped so much after I lost my son in 2003, I am working every day, making art.

Not everything was bad or sad about 2015, I was able to return briefly to the Camino de Santiago in September and walk for three weeks with my best friends, I had a week in Gibraltar with another girl friend and I have been able to visit with my lovely daughters and my parents. I continue to be supported by a loving husband and I am very grateful for that - he gives me the time and space that I need, he's patient and tolerant, although this is stretched a little when, in the midst of creativity, I spread my art stuff all over the kitchen :-)

So, I've had a sense all year of life being on hold and not too much art has been done, although what I created during the summer - mostly little mixed media works, made into cards and bookmarks - sold very well both here in the studio and at the local craft centre. 2016 is almost upon us and I will be kind and gentle to myself, not too much stress, and allow myself to paint and draw what I want, when I want. I will experiment, have fun and do something creative every day - whether that be painting, drawing, working in my sketchbook, photography or crocheting. With that in mind i've signed up for Leah Piken Kolidas's Creative Every Day Challenge 

Other plans for 2016? I've signed up for Wanderlust 2016 which is described as "a year long class in mixed media and art journalling" so i'm hoping to learn a lot and most of all enjoy!