I'm back!

It's been a busy few weeks. I had a week away -not to some hot country with golden beaches, but to my sister's place to dog sit while she went to the hot country with golden beaches. It was great fun for me though. The dogs were brilliant and very good so we all had a nice time. Well, at least I think the dogs had a good time - at least they didn't complain to me.

So after the calm came the storm. I had alot of things to catch up on and have spent the last week and a half sorting everything out. Some of the things at the top of my 'to do' list were some swaps and cards so the following are the photos so far.

This fan is for a swap with one of my ATC groups. We were supplied with a template and instructions and had to produce one fan to send to a partner. This was my attempt - inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci.

Halloween approacheth! Lots of Halloween images and papers have been floating around but inchies and ATCs are the easiest of substrates to cover. I hope the pictures will enlarge for you to read the humorous comments on the inchies.

This is my most recent page for the tip in collaboration. The farm and cat are hand drawn and the theme is related to 'Harvest'.

I have also started my new Open University course - Neighbourhood Nature. I had thought that it would take a more scientific viewpoint on nature watching but it is quite simple so far (and I have got to chapter 12 of a 13 chapter coursebook in five days). There are some experiments and observations that I have to make once the web site comes online (I just couldn't wait to get started with the course which doesn't officially start until the 1st September) so I will look forward to that in the hope that it will stretch my little grey cells a bit more. I can't help but feel that the Open University is dropping it's standards in order to get more people to take courses. As I said to a friend recently, 'They are meant to be teaching university level courses, not kindergarten courses.' But that's the cynic in me.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

A cut on the wild side

Having now sorted out my internet security problems - it took two hours 20 mins to update my anti virus and my internet connection cuts out after two hours - I can update my blog without wondering if something untoward is going to shoot down the phone line.

I have been working on some papercuts for greetings cards recently. This is one of them - a scene made up of designs by Ellen Brown. I have a few others but have not go around to scanning them yet. There are so many ideas going round in my head right now and finding the time to get them all done seems to be getting more and more difficult. I think I need to send my brain on holiday to Transylvania for the weekend. Why Transylvania? It's nearly Halloween and I have always fancied going to Transylvania.

My new Open University course materials arrived the other day - Perspectives on Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo is known as the ultimate Renaissance man but it seems that he was not all that different from other artist/craftsmen of his day. Looks like there is plenty more info to absorb. Although the course doesn't officially start until next week I am already on week two of the study book. There is just no holding me back when there is something new to learn.

Great results!

I got my results for my Open University course on the 14th September. I did so much better than I thought I would - 95%. So I ran off to sign up for my next course. Actually, it was done in a panic. I went to the sign up page to check the registration deadline (which I thought was the 19th) and found it was the 14th. So I had to sign up. Now the thinking starts and I wonder what else I could have done with the money (saving being the closest to my heart). I guess I'll have to wait and see if it is worthwhile.

Update

I had an incident with a wren this afternoon. It decided to have a holiday in my living room. Not the most welcome visitor when I've just had new carpet laid. Feisty little bleeder too. I couldn't catch it despite using my softest voice to tell it everything was going to be OK. It finally found its way out via the door. Hope it isn't away to tell its siblings about the new carpet.

Update on my news: I finished my Open University course - thank goodness. Not the most inspired course I have taken. As the old school reports often say, 'Could do better'. Just waiting for the results now. I have also been getting alot of greetings card work to do. Handmade cards seem to be very popular. Time to expand the line a bit I think but I am not sure which way I will go. I also took part in an exhibition, sold all my pieces and was invited to do another one at the end of August.

On the downside my online shop was shut down through no fault of my own. The guy running them just decided to finish up with them. The trouble is he didn't tell anyone and I found out by chance that they were gone. So now I have to think of a new idea for selling online without having to spend alot of money on it. My stuff does not sell on Ebay but Etsy seems to be popular. The trouble is that Etsy only sells in dollars - not handy for my UK based customers. I still have not managed to update my art web site due to lack of web publishing applications and I am getting really concerned about that. I might just shut it down and use Art Wanted as my base. So much to think about.

A new first

I finished my first non-realistic piece of art that I am to sell this week. The picture of it does not do it justice. The actual piece is more red and richer in colour. But overall I am very pleased with it. I enjoyed the process of making it. When I did my conventional painting my blood pressure was permanently raised. It was highly stressful for me as I was always trying to make it look how I wanted it to. I always fell short and as never pleased with the result. But I like this piece. I hope other people will.

I finally signed up to my next Open University course too - Ancient and Medieval Cities: a Technological History. I can't wait. It has been four years since I graduated from Royal Holloway: University of London where I read Classical Studies. It was a tough time for me but I NEED to study again. After this course I hope to sign up for the World Archaeology course in September. I have to admit that it feels good to get back into the academic world.