Hello hello!
How was your week? Personally I’m in such a whimsical mood, feeling lots of emotions all at once, like a multicoloured swatching card and when given the chance, I’m often taking the long way home just to gather my thoughts and catch up with myself. Underneath it all, I’m probably preparing for our long summer break which will have magic and wonder but probably also anxiety too. I hope your week was joyful. What colours did you see?
This week, just for fun, I sketched the interiors of this Grade II house down in Suffolk, England which is up for sale. I first read about it here in a post by its owner, India Knight. And then looked through the website she shared and boy, it’s gorgeous! All the most glorious details are present with enchanting pops of corals and pinks and reds scattered around the place like confetti (the dried petals type everyone likes). And wait til you see the garden… The bridge in the garden reminded me so much of Monet’s Bridge Over Pond series, it was calling me and I had to draw it in my sketchbook!!!
Do you see what I mean? I had the privilege of seeing one of Monet’s Water-Lily Pond paintings in person last summer in York, right up close. It was stunning. And square. Which was a fairly revolutionary choice for his time (more on this: Monet’s garden and the Bridge series).
This week I also drew picnic scenes from Jane Austen movie adaptations LIVE for club paying members. Apart from my fire alarm going off at the beginning (we had already established 10 mins earlier that there was no fire), it was a chill way to spend 45mins, deconstructing my methodology and creative process. Thanks for the positive feedback. Jane Austen was a genius and is definitely worth celebrating this year. I’ll probably do another similar study at some point soon. We’ll see.
BINGO SHEET GIFT
And then there was the club gazette drop on the 1st July with this bingo sheet! Download yours (free) in the club gazette. I still haven’t decided what my bonus for 5-in-a-row will be! But I better decide fast! What would you like to do this summer? You could use the bingo sheet in all sorts of ways. There are 25 boxes in total so it it could be:
wildlife you’d like to spot
summer flowers and fruit to draw in your sketchbook
recipes to try (that’d be amazing)
places you’d like to visit/explore
journal prompts
a photo challenge with a different theme for each box
your very own art curriculum - specific artists or art movements you’d like to read up on
SUMMER RECIPE
I also shared a rhubarb and strawberry recipe in the same gazette - cause it’s summer and end of term!!
Let me know if you get to try this or have lots of experience doing it. We’ve done it for several years now and add a different twist each time, adding to the fun and excitement. It’s become one of our summer highlights.
Other highlights of the week (in no particular order)
seeing the lavender attract SOOOOOO many hard-working bees
creating my own colourful summer bingo with colourful illustrations and then another with the kids in the printed version from the pdf in the gazette (get yours too)
enjoying how Ezra noticed his T-shirt shimmering on the wall like a disco ball (it only lasted a few seconds and I managed taking a pic and then it was gone!)
the hollyhocks in our neighbourhood (mine aren’t growing fast)
the blue skies and the wind blowing in the sweet chest trees (video below)
the very tall shasta daisies in our garden are stunning and remind me of Kathleen Kelly in You’ve Got Mail
the cherries (even more than last week)
the generous garden blooms which I can cut and cut again (mainly sweet peas, cosmos and dahlias)
watching the boys spray the back of a reclaimed canvas poster no-one wanted with left-over neon colours. I had bought these for a Miles Morales Spiderman party a few years back. This would provide an excellent base layer for a large piece
More Joyful Posts
the club gazette (July and August issue), it is there is a rhubarb and strawberry cordial recipe AND a summer bingo sheet pdf for you to print out at home
a chat celebrating summer colours with my friend Raj
a chat celebrating gardens with my friend Emma
last week’s visual journals in which I share a painting of Cezanne and an obsession with cherries
Thanks so much for reading!
Have a lovely weekend! xx
QUICK CLUB NOTES: This is a free post for subscribers but you can also become a Time Foragers’ Club paid subscriber and meet up on Zoom 3 times a month (we draw, create and journal) AND also receive a monthly video (from my studio) PLUS chat with our blossoming creative community in our exclusive threads. We have occasional in-person meet-ups too (there is one coming up in London next week). If you love all things antiques, old paper and art, once a year the club’s founding members receive a thoughtfully curated paper bundle in the post which includes some of my original art. The prices for the both tiers of the Time Foragers’ Club will increase on 1st September so now may be a good time to subscribe if you’re on the fence (or ‘swithering’ as they say in Edinburgh) as you will not need to pay more when the price goes up. You will always pay this amount.
SUMMER PAUSE: I’m going to pause all paying subscriptions from Monday 14th July until Monday 11th August - I will be out of office/studio and off to Wentworth RHS and then France with my family and old friends for a summer break, if you are a paying subscriber, you get full access to all the archives free of charge for that whole month - it’s a great time to catch up on any sessions/challenges/series you’ve missed.
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