woyww - the french edition

After fun and games in gay Paris, I am now in Perigord about to enjoy a week and a half of peace, quiet and occasionally something exciting. Hopefully after being all inspired in Paris I'll also do some creating.

My desk this week has a lovely view which I'm hoping wont distract me too much. Also my desk is tidy because I have only just out everything on it. I'm sure by next Wednesday it will look much more like mine, i.e. a wreck!

I also have lots of time to visit desks this week, so I'm going to hop on over the Queen of Desks and start visiting.

 

Paris stash part deux

I may have gone a little crazy on bobbins, but how could I resist? They're so beautiful and were an amazing price: 15€ for 22 bobbins. I got them at the Marché aux Puces des Vanvers. That's also where I got the ephemera and a spoon. The ephemera is for collage and the spoon for helping me do block prints, like a baren.

BHV is a department store with a great craft section and I think I was really restrained. Some stamps, a shoe and some asks. Oh and a bag, because it was too cool not to get! The shoe is by Decopatch, a French company which is probably why I got to see a wider range of papier mâché products at a ,significantly cheaper price than back home. Like I said I was very restrained!

Visiting Sennelier was a bit of an ambition of mine. This is where great artists bought what they needed to capture their dreams and imaginings to create works that would make thousands, if not millions of people dream and imagine. Me, I bought a pen and some masks fluid!

Of course, Paris hasn't been all about stash. It's also been about feasting. I've feasted on art, architecture and food. The Rodin museum was amazing. As ever I found myself drawn to things that other people breezed past with barely a glance. I found myself preferring the maquettes to the finished pieces. There's just something about the roughness of the maquette that gives it an emotion that isn't always captured in the polished marble. Not that the finished pieces aren't incredible, just not quite as intimate.

The chance to just wander around bits of Paris and soak up the atmosphere has been wonderful. My feet hurt, but I feel recharged. Hopefully that will translate to creativity in the next part of my holiday.

 

Paris stash (part 1?)

What a day. My feet are about to fall off! I'm having a bit of a relax before I go out to dinner.

This morning I set off bright and early for Le marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen. Not the cheapest of the Paris flea markets, but big and varied and, as it turns out, lots of fun. I was a wee bit too bright and early and got there before it opened, but this meant I started at the far end and avoided the big crowds for most if the time. If I could have figured out how to get them home my stash would have included a couple of bird cages and some very are pictures frames. So all in all I've been very restrained!

I love the big reels and simply couldn't resist the cat postcards. But my favourite thing is the perfume box at the bottom of the picture. It's never been made into a box and I think I'll leave it that way. Something about those arches is speaking to me.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring, both as a tourist and for my stash!

 

woyww - the excited edition

Good morning all and welcome to What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, hosted by the delightful Julia.

There is no sign of last week's sewing on my desk for the simple reason that while the pattern worked beautifully, my sewing machine didn't. I think the word I'm looking for is buggered! I nearly threw it out the window.

Fortunately I've had other things to keep me going, such as making fairy wings for a friend. They're got brilliant, but the next attempt will be much better. You can't see it, but I've added a couple of sketches to my London page: Big Ben (or St Stephen's tower if you're a pedant) and a taxi.

The excitement, however, is due to upcoming trip to France. I've started the difficult decisions on what to take. It's not easy because I, having a long weekend in Paris, followed by a week and half in the country, followed by the WOYWW crop on my way home. The sunprint paper promises to be fun, but so far that's all I've chosen!

 

WOYWW - the pattern edition

I was drawing a pattern for a wrap skirt (found it online, check it out, it's very cool) when I suddenly remembered that I meant to use some image transfers on my London page. I'm so glad I did, because I thought I'd ruined my page and now I think it might possibly turn into something vaguely ok. How's that for confidence?

I'm hoping to make up at least one skirt this weekend, so maybe I'll show you one next week. The best part will be fabric shopping on Saturday!

In the meantime I'm going to visit Julia, who has been tantalising us all with pictures of sunny Spain, so I can browse the creative desks of the world.

 

ephemeral beginnings

As someone who loves vintage ephemera I'm thrilled by all the brand new vintage ephemera available. The real vintage stuff is in limited supply and not as cheap as ephemera should be! So huge thanks to everyone who creates this stuff.

When a friend gave me a set of Tim Holtz's Salvage Stickers, Lost and Found, I was really happy. Then I tried to use them. For me they were just too thick to incorporate into the stuff I've been working on, so I popped them in a box and hoped I'd figure it out.

Today I figured it out. I've created a background from the stickers and nothing but the stickers. And a little watercolour paint in the gaps. This is another piece that I haven't planned, but I think there'll be some gesso and maybe some crackle glaze. Or maybe not!

 

woyww - the life in the way of art edition

Life has, once again, gotten in the way if art this week and the changes to my journal page, plus the doodled ATCs are pretty much it. How sucky is that?

I did discover that some bits if ephemera hold up better to sanding than others, but we can't really call that a major artistic step. Well, we could but we'd be lying!

My page needs a wash if colour but I can't decide whether it should be a cool wash because it was very cold or a warm wash to match the warm glow I get when I think of my trip. Any thoughts on this?

Work beckons, but I shall desk hop over at Julia's on my lunch break. And right now I can hear birds singing away. Spring might actually be here. Hurrah!

 

woyww - the london adventure edition

I can't believe it's time for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday again. Not so much because time flies, but because I only finished visiting people last night!

On my desk today is the first page in my new art journal. I've stuck down some ephemera (a fancy name for rubbish or bits of crap) from my jaunt to London (2 days, 2 art exhibitions, 1 backstage tour, 3 fab meals and lots of walking and enjoying). The two little images are from the Man Ray exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. I think I'll add them as image transfers rather than just stick them down. After that, I have no idea where it's going. But that's the fun if it.

A couple of people commented on the hand on my desk. It's a mould for making rubber gloves. Another project that I don't know where it's going! Fortunately I know where I'm going: to work and then to Julia's blog to sneak a peek at desks from all round the world.

Happy WOYWW, everyone.

 

woyww - the baby bear edition

There's nothing much going on here today. But I rather like it. I feel as if I've got my desk to the perfect balance between tidy and messy. It's neither scarily tidy nor impossible to work at. In other words, it's baby bear, just right.

Julia likes short and sweet entries. Sweet? Maybe not, but it's definitely short!

 

the owl and the pussy cat

A hand carved stamp today. I've been trying lino, but I've moved to Softcut and enjoyed the process much more.

It's not half bad for a first attempt at something so detailed and I learnt a lot doing it so, all in all, well worth doing.