This Month's GAZETTE
| Issue N 2 | 1st Nov 2024 |
Poet’s Corner
by Robert Louis Stevenson
In the other gardens
And all up in the vale,
From the autumn bonfires
See the smoke trail!
Pleasant summer over,
And all the summer flowers,
The red fire blazes,
The grey smoke towers.
Sing a song of seasons!
Something bright in all!
Flowers in the summer,
Fires in the fall!
AUTUMN AMUSEMENTS
This month, in the UK, as we forage rose hips and enjoy all the seeds and nuts we’ve gathered (with a special focus on pumpkin seeds), we can make our very own granola and rose hip treats.
Elisabeth’s secret granola recipe
In October of this year, guesthouse owner and organic farmer, Elisabeth from Le Mole Sul Farfa, welcomed Helen as an art in residence in the most idyllic situation, hidden in the rolling hills north of Rome, Italy. Every morning, Helen would enjoy this beautiful granola as part of her incredible breakfast before painting all day. She loved it so much that Elisabeth gave her the (up-until-today secret) recipe. In September 2025, the pair will welcome a group of creatives for an art retreat, find out more details here. With a maximum of 9 spaces and full exclusive use of the site, it promises to be both inspiring and relaxing.
Rose hips are packed with vitamin C and are renowned for helping stave off winter colds. They are good in wines, jellies, jams and can be used to make a delicately flavoured rose hip syrup for cordial or pouring onto granola, ice cream or pancakes.
Rose hip recipes to try:
This honey and wild roseship syrup by The Forager Chef.
This rose hip tea by Cinnamon and Kale.
This rose hip syrup by Larder Love (we tried this 2 years ago with dark sugar and ended up with the dark syrup below, perfect for little Harry Potter fans).
UPCOMING CLUB MEETINGS
This month, exceptionally we will have 2 co-drawing meetings as well as our usual co-creating and co-journaling ones.
Monday 4th November noon GMT | The co-drawing meeting this month will focus on Italy with guest co-host, Charlotte Hamilton. Join them for this Italian golden hour and fill up your sketchbook with drawings of olive groves, ancient villas, zinnias and donkeys! Together, Char and Helen will share some past artwork they've created in Italy, including Helen's recent art residency, some travel journals and some exciting news regarding their art retreats in both 2025 and 2026! And all the fun little stories of previous trips to Italy... The Luma is in the club chat (for paying Club members).
Friday 15th November - 1pm GMT | The 2nd co-drawing meeting will be with guest to create a unique Winter Woodland Concertina Card with guest co-host Mel Chadwick. The Luma invite is coming soon in the club chat (for paying Club members).
Friday 22nd November - 5pm GMT, noon in PA | The co-creating meeting will have a guest, Margaux Kent, from Peg and Awl and together we will create some exquisite little Christmas gifts. As a special treat this event will be FREE and paid subscribers got the Luma invitation exclusively first in the club chat. This would be a perfect time to invite friends along. There is a limit of 100 guests and Margaux will also share on her socials. There will be a recording and it will be in the archives. Click HERE for the invite and bookings. More info on what to expect will be sent out in coming weeks.
Friday 29th November - 1pm BST | The co-journaling society will be held from your own spaces, kitchen place, living space or studios via Zoom, to spend time reflecting and writing, or visual journaling too. All club members to appear with their favourite materials. There will be a few prompts on screen to get you started, should you need them. You may choose to keep the screen off, this meeting will be recorded. This will be a lovely way to round up the month of November in our sketchbook and journals.
Podcast Pick&Mix
Ask An Artist Podcast - In this episode, Peter and Tom interview Evie Hatch, Artist, Writer & Pigment Connoisseur from Jackson's Art Supplies, to talk about all things colour! Evie Hatch on Pigments, well worth a listen!
National Trust Podcast - Listen to Kate Martin exploring Northern Ireland’s Rathlin Island, home to some of the world’s most unique wildlife and infamous shipwrecks. Being from Northern Ireland myself and having visited Rathlin Island many years ago, I found this episode fascinating!
English Heritage Podcast - If you missed it, one of the club’s meets in October was based on this English Heritage podcast episode where curators of collections, Eleanor Matthews and Louise Cooling, discuss the acquisition of a painting by Dutch artist Jan Wijnants, in Brodsworth Hall, South Yorkshire.
MONTHLY REPORT
Friday 11th October - 1pm BST | The co-journaling meeting was lovely. During this time, we talked about the northern lights and journaled/visual journaled our weeks. Thanks to all who came! Find the replay here.
Tuesday 15th October - 7pm BST | The co-drawing meeting was co-hosted by Pauline, La Scarlatte. The replay is available here and below is some of the artwork guests did. After looking at 3 master pieces by Jan Wijnants, we drew from our own pictures of Pauline’s neighbourhood (the Adriaan mill in Haarlem and the Kennermer Dunes near it). We also had a cute little cottage from South Yorkshire, UK from Helen’s photo gallery.
Artwork 1st row by Amy (@acyating) and Helen (@Helencstark)
Artwork 2nd row by Pauline (@LaScarlatte) and Laura (@blueflint.studio)
Tuesday 22nd October - 7pm BST | The co-creating meeting is available here. We spent time being creative in ways we don’t always allow time for, this month involved a variety of such activities, ranging from researching cute places in foreign countries, to making a crochet blanket, to visual-journaling our day. This was a success! Can’t wait for the next one in November!
The Window COMPETITION
Win a free month’s worth of club membership!
| Note: Deadline extended til Monday 25th 8pm GMT |
Take a look at 5 famous windows in Art History on Google Arts & Culture and any other pieces in Art History using the theme of windows.
Find 5 windows in your life to use as subjects to draw. This could be windows in your home, windows from a bus, a local museum, your favourite coffee shop, etc.
Your challenge is to draw these 5 windows in 5 mins each. No over thinking. Use any materials, the easier to use, the better.
Once you’re finished, either post on your socials (tag Helen to make sure it’s seen) or send 5 clear photos of your work to The Time Foragers’ Club (Helen) on Substack Chat Direct Messages.
You will receive a free month’s worth of club membership for yourself or to share with a friend. Any questions, do ask.
Thanks for reading this 2nd issue of The Time Foragers’ Club gazette.
Next month: Lots of cozy winter treats!