Mawnan Smith church with celtic cross on left.  

Pirates gravestone...originally outside the church grounds! If you peer closely you can see the skull and cross bones and the date which I think is 1731! It has worn away a lot.  

The Lych gate with pirates grave on right!  

Back home for coffee and cake! In the background is my new wonderful juicer! I am really into juicing in a big way!  

Inspiration!

I have been inspired! I have been inspired by that wonderful woman Gabrielle! After a long dry spell with absolutely no sign of creativity on the horizon I have suddenly found my voice again and I'm raring to go. In fact I had to rush to my workroom and grab fabric and scissors and leap right in. So far all I've done is cut out shapes and place them on a background. I seemed to know instinctively what I wanted and just kept going until I'd got it all outlined and lined up. Now I have a niggle. Do I leave the pink out? Do I have it horizontal or vertical? I had to do it on a horizontal plane as I had no clear space to lay it out vertically. I like both aspects but I can't decide about the pink. What d'ye say? Looking at them on screen I think I like the vertical aspect with the pink. Hmm?
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The fabric was some that I'd done some time ago playing with stencils, rubbing mats and markal paintstiks. Ever since I got Gabrielle's DVD on Borrowed Tools I've been gee'd up to make marks on fabric and although these pieces were fun to do they didn't come out quite as I expected and wanted. However for cutting up for this piece they were perfect. See, everything comes into its own eventually. I can't wait to get Gabrielle's latest DVD which I want like yesterday! I know it will be full of words of wisdom and inspiration and give me a push in the right direction. One of my student's once asked me why I watched instructional material from other 'artists' when I could do most anything already. My reply? It was to say that one can never, ever, know everything and sometimes one could become blase with knowledge so that watching (better than reading or listening though those are pretty good too) could open up new worlds, new ideas, and new directions. An open mind is the one essential to a creative spirit. I think this is why I so love to teach because that moment when a light goes on in a student's head and she/he starts to run with ideas is so fulfilling. And the joy to me is that no one looking at my student's work could tell that I was their teacher as right from the word go I encourage, no push, them into being an individual. And I can learn so much from them too!
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My next step is to take off the backing paper and fuse some of the pieces in place. Without the crinkles of curled up paper I could get a different viewpoint! Who knows! I only know I'm breathing again!

'The Wrong Box' without the pink 

'The Wrong Box' without the pink 

'The Wrong Box' 

'The Wrong Box' 

We had just gone past Exeter when I saw this plane in a field and decided to take photos!  

Somerset landscapes 

Clear blue skies heralding a hot sunny day!  

Typical view over the fields in Dorset.  

Salisbury Plains with straw already baled in the fields.  

A good view of Stonehenge on the way up!  

Approaching London 

London suburbs complete with double decker buses!  

Overhead planes 

Leaving London 

The exorbitant motorway cafe! 

Cornfields in Devon.  

The narrow streets of Bodmin. 

Cornish fields 

China Clay pits near St Austell, Cornwall 

Aliens through the grasses. Wind turbines near Truro in Cornwall.  

Our old Espace - nearly home! 

Quick journey - there and back!

This past Wednesday I went to London and back with Martin. He wanted to buy another, newer Espace and I went with him for the ride. Also the possibility that I might have to drive it back! Not something I was going to relish but in the actuality it didn't happen that way. I was so relieved as driving in London in a new to me car wasn't high on my list of fun things to do. The Espace he has at the moment has done nearly a million miles and is 18 years old so it is time for a newer one though he will find it hard to give this one up. We got up at 4 in the morning and left around 5.30 by which time it was just getting light. The journey was good and we arrived at our destination around 10.30. We were very close to Heathrow and it was fascinating watching the planes going overhead as they came in to land. It was as if they were only a couple of feet above us. I can't say I'd want to live on a flight path! Too noisy by far! This kind of expedition isn't new to me and I was armed with a good book which I read for an hour or so while Martin prowled around the car and took it for a test run etc etc. Eventually he decided to buy it and arranged to pick it up a week later when he'd had time to tax and insure it. The most I will have to do is drive him to the station. I can do that! We then started on our journey home, stopping at a motorway service station for some lunch. For two sandwiches and a coffee and juice Martin paid over £11! He is still going on about the expense! We could have had a four course meal for that down here...well fish and chips or a Cornish pasty each at least plus drinks and an icecream! What is it with motorway stops! Complete rip off! That apart the day was good and we arrived home at 6.30 so we made good time. I took 85 pictures from the car as we travelled along and it was fun to see the changing scenery as we went from county to county. On the journey home the heart always beats faster as we enter Cornwall and I realise that we are on the homeward stretch. It was amazing how many of the pictures were good considering that they were taken from a moving vehicle going at the speed of light! Lots of inspiration and the colours were superb.
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I'm not doing a lot - just gardening, reading and swimming though I am beginning to feel the first stirrings of creativity. The workroom is beginning to call to me and I have started tentatively clearing space so that I can hit the road running when the fancy takes me. I have been making a lot of tough decisions lately and have decided to close down Farne Designs in the near future. I am still going to teach but I'm not going to be into anything else in a big way and will no longer be involved in internet sales. Now is the time for me and anything I do will be for the fun it gives me and the pleasure I get from making it. I shall still dye fabric. I have thought long and hard about this and have come to the conclusion that I no longer want or need the hassle. I nearly closed the blog down but decided that it is something I enjoy doing and I've made some really good friends through blogging. So I shall continue to make intermittent posts depending on whether I have anything to say of interest. Time has been at a premium lately and I haven't had time to read as many blogs as I usually do but there are a few that I have to read on a regular basis for the lift they give me. If I haven't been commenting it isn't because I'm not interested it's due to lack of time. Sorry! I hope you enjoy the pictures.