April has been such a busy month what with the school holidays, craft fairs, Glenfarg Folk Festival and preparations for Open Studios which is in two weeks time!
We had some lovely sunshine during the first week of the holidays and headed over to the East Neuk of Fife for a nice day out and to distribute some Open Studios brochures to caravan sites and other businesses.
This is Ruby Cove, our favourite little beach for a picnic and a bit of beach combing.
Although it was sunny, it was still cold. You can see the snow on the hills to the south across the Forth estuary around Edinburgh.
We had great fun all piled into the camper van. It belongs to my Mum and her husband but we got to stay in it for a couple of nights for Glenfarg Folk Festival.
I have always had a day dream about having a camper van but I have to say the reality of a family of four staying in a camper van doesn't appeal so much when your 15 year old son is suddenly
6'1"! Here he is with an amazing piece of drift wood we found on the beach.
I think we'd need a bigger van or a Winnebago to accommodate us all comfortably!
I do love finding interesting things on the beach to take home.
When I discovered this lobster creel all tangled up in seaweed, at first I fancied it for the nice wood that was half worn away. But after wrestling it free, I realised it would actually make quite a nice shelf as it was! Here it is hung up in my wee shed with a few beach finds and little Louis Mulcahy pots displayed on it.
My daughter who is nearly 8 now is an avid little artist and I just had to share this picture she drew last week.
She uses one of my Highland Cow notebooks to draw in and took it upon herself to copy the front cover.
Here is the original.
And here is her imitation of it.
How cute is that! I love the fringe.
I have been making like a mad woman but haven't got around to photographing everything yet. I suppose I am hoarding my stock a little bit for Open Studios! I have a lot of wall space and shelves to fill!
I have made some Sheep Jewellery available in my Etsy shop though.
Rings £18
Pendants £22
Brooches £18
I've had a great response to my new mugs.
Here is one all wrapped up that I sent directly to the recipient as a gift from her daughter.
I'm enjoying using my own mug here at home. Being porcelain and not stone ware or china, it makes a great cup of tea as well as a good coffee.
You can find my Online Shop here
We are finally seeing some signs of Spring here which is such a relief after all that snow we had up to the beginning of April.
The daffodils are still not in full bloom but are showing more signs of opening.
I really hope we get a good weekend for Open Studios.
I will be having a preview evening on Friday the 3rd May from 6pm.
Come along for some wine and nibbles and a sneak peek at all my new work.
I'm hoping to have lots of new pictures made and have a couple professionally framed already.
You can see the reflection of the hedge in the glass here but it gives you an idea of how they are looking. I have another couple of smaller pieces going off to Robertson's today.
Here are some snap shots from other artists participating in the 2013 Open Studios event.
Remember you can download your free brochure and browse all the artists and areas from our website here.
From top left Audrey Reid Jewellery,Chloe Brown Illustrations, Moyra Stewart Ceramics, Helen Glassford Fine Artist, Ann Leitch Collection, Sharon Black Art, Beth Pollard Designs and Glass by Kathryn
From left to right, top to bottom- Ian Ledward venue 36, Aileen Clarke Crafts Venue 32, Jean Ashcroft venue 31, Dianne King venue 50, Siv MacArthur venue 42, Michael Robson venue 4, Poppy Cyster venue 26, Sarah Honeyman Stained Glass venue 1, Jane Duckfield venue 45, Jan Wightman venue 36,Derek Robertson venue 69, Pvalentega - Graphic Artist venue 16, Morag Muir venue 63, Kate Murray venue 40, John Smith venue 8,Perfectly Formed venue 10, Kirsty Lorenz venue 34, Laura Appere venue 18, Mhairi Lafferty venue 13, George Young venue 53, Marianna Lines venue38, Lindy Knowles venue 20, Lynsey Ewan venue 33, John Bonington venue 24, Lindsay Mathers venue 75
So the next two weeks are going to be pretty mad for me. I have so many things I would still like to make!
Yay for spring arriving finally!
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking I might need to get my mum one of your brooches for Mother's Day!
Hope the Open Studio will go great this year too!
Thank you Pili! :) I'll get that off to you ASAP. I really need to get off this laptop and do some work! Where to start though I don't know....
DeleteLovely pics Aileen! Excited to see (what I presume is) mum's mug featured here! Woo :-) Back from my first craft fair of 2013 and I'm fair puggled. Your post made me really smile though. Helen and I are FINALLY going on our honeymoon in May, up the Pacific Coastal Highway....in a 70s VW camper van, in a glorious shade of turquoise! We can't wait :-) Helen is working in San Diego for the first few days, presenting at a conference, but it seemed too good an opportunity to miss. We also have serious dreams of owning a camper but I can see with 6 of you, it's not so ideal...!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fantastic opportunity to go campervanning Rebecca! Congrats and I hope you have a wonderful time :)There are only four of us but seriously, I was a squash. My son actually slept in a tent lol. I kept getting the ridiculous urge to start step dancing like in that episode of Father Ted hahaha
DeleteRuby Cove sounds and looks like my kind of place, Aileen. Glad that you and the family were able to get away for a little while and just enjoy the beach, the fresh outdoors, and the camping van. I also have always wanted to own a camping van, and just take off to explore and enjoy the countryside, the seaside, the mountains...wherever the road took us. That 'Father Ted' episode in the camper van is one of my all-time favourites - with Graham Norton doing a 'Riverdance' inside - hilarious!
ReplyDeleteI'm continually inspired (and impressed) by all the beautiful things you create, Aileen. And I will be forever amazed and in awe of how you manage to get all these gorgeous pieces finished, sell at markets and fairs, write wonderful blog posts on a regular basis AND have time for yourself and the family, and all that goes along with family life. Do you have any time left at all for sleeping? :)
I wish you and all the other crafters and designers the very, very best at Open Studios - I wish I could be there, not only to buy, but to meet you, and for the craic itself. I predict it's going to be a brilliant event.
I need to order another notebook from you, now that the one I bought is now nearing its last page. It's such a beauty of a notebook - every time I take it out of my bag to write/doodle/sketch, that cover just brings an instant smile to my face. Beautiful! And maybe with the next order, I'm thinking of treating myself to a brooch as well as one of your new mugs. It's all good, and I'm delighted for you, Aileen!
Thank you June! Lovely to hear from you. I have been terrible at keeping up with replying to comments recently but yours are always very much appreciated. I'm not sure if I am keeping up with everything at the moment but it's the last push now for the busiest weekend of my year so the housework etc can wait! lol. We've got a good system going now that I have moved out of the kitchen. It's an open plan room with a seating area and fire place so as long as it's tidy and I contain my crafty mess in my work space, the rest of the family don't mind :) I have great plans for new things but might got them all made in time for OS but here's hoping. I'll take lots of photos and give you all a virtual tour here on the blog. You'll have to provide your own tea, coffee or wine while you're reading it though :)
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