The Bradford Lot!

The Extended Bradford Lot!

So, it has been Easter.  I’ve done very little on the art front since it has been school holidays and I have had my little gremlins to tend to.  It has been a welcome break to not have to rush all the time and it has been a real pleasure to spend time with friends whom we have not seen for a while.  It will probably be the last time we see some of our Yorkshire friends before our move to Derbyshire/Notts, although we still don’t have a date yet, and still don’t know where we are going!  If all goes smoothly it will come into fruition probably within the next month.  Over the holiday period I have been reading Eckhart Tolle again, ‘A New Earth’.  I am also following the classes he put together with Oprah Winfrey on-line.  There is a quote in his book from the philosophical speaker J. Krishnamurti who announced near the end of his life that he had a secret, which he said was “I don’t mind what happens”.  He was talking about out-comes and our attachments to them, and in being attached to specific outcomes we generate ill-feeling in our bodies and in the world at large.  Eckhart brings it to our attention that when we can accept a situation, ill-feeling subsides (on an inner and outer level), and out of that space miracles can happen.  I am following his advice, and I feel a lot better for it.  More peaceful inside throughout a time most people would be expecting stress.  I am remarkably chilled out now actually!!  Ha hahah!  Even though the kids are running riot downstairs while supposed be cleaning out the pet hamster!  I guess I had better go see where they are up to.  Easter Blessings everyone!

Unity - On the wall.

Love is in the air!!!  St. Valentine’s Day is here!  Life is soooo busy though.  I had actually forgotten it was Valentine’s Day until nearly noon when I was almost ready to leave my honey and go out to help do some work for friends!!  We had a little kiss and a cuddle though and I had not entirely forgotten as I have been busy making this piece for him during the run up. Alas, I am home now.  It is 11.30pm and the planned romantic meal sits prepared but still uncooked on the worktop beside me.  (I chopped. – Jamie is about to work his magic, in a minute!!)   But the evening has not been wasted.  While I asked J to find me the pic I took of this finished piece, we wound up looking back through our photo catalogue.  My God!!  Things/people/situations that feel like only yesterday are in actuallity several years ago.  The signs of aging: wrinkles, fatness, baldness, children with adult teeth are so apparent now comparitively!  We have come a long way and have achieved so much in such a relative short 5 years!!  Having been with friends today who are about to open their new business soon, I was feeling a little nostalgic over having seen them mature in a similar way.  From graduates to married couple to parents to entrepeneurs, it has been a lovely journey to watch.  It is sweet to look back through our lives and see how similar events have unravelled in an almost parallel, simultaneous way.  I like been older.  I enjoy who I am.  I might have been a skinny (UK) Size 8 and had a lot less lines on my face but I wouldn’t trade it ever for what I have now.  I think I actualy look better for lines and a bit more weight.  More human!!  Yes, of course I still bitch and moan sometimes (it’s human nature) but life is a gift.  I have to remember that and try harder to make the best of each passing day.  Life is too short!!

I love this collage.  I’ve never had a great understanding of how to do it, but I think this turned out really well and I was happy to give it as a gift to my honey.  It is on watercolour paper and I’ve worked it dark to light, using elements of tissue and acrylic paint with paper collage.  I initially painted our faces in with the white acrylic paint but we looked like caricatures which wasn’t what I was trying to achieve!  So I took the original photocopy from which I had traced, tore it and collaged that over the top.  It saved the day!!  He likes it!!  It adorns the wall in our office.  I daren’t dislplay it at home as we are about to market the house and personal imagery is supposed to be a ‘no no’ when viewers come to look.  So at work it will stay, for now!  Feel free to contact me if you are interested in a personalised photo collage for yourself or someone else.

Well, the wine glasses are waiting to be filled, and dinner (yummy homemade organic vegetable curry) is smelling divine!  Time to enjoy and savour!!  Happy Valentine’s Day!

Sue & Jamie. Up Close and Personal.

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