1000th Blog Post : Studios; quilts; doors, ceramics, travel; plants; drawing, Kew; museums, City Lit; stitching

 My 1000th  blogpost had crept up on me unawares! While I haven't been blogging so much of late ,   using Instagram and Facebook more for sharing what I'm up to, I still find it a useful tool as a 'reflective journal' when I've been doing courses to  record my thoughts and investigations.

 I decided to look back  in an organised  random way ( if that makes sense ! )at what I was  doing on 100th, 200th etc   and actually the main themes  of  what interests me  ( plants, art , textiles, travel)  all come through  even in a relatively  small selection.

My first post in August   2007 was on moving from Ealing to Brentford   and showed the studio space I  was leaving behind so it seems appropriate  to show my current studio arrangements  for the 1000th.  I would never have anticipated the traumas of losing my job and moving  to a new town  and life but after nearly 4 years I'm more settled and  revelling in the opportunities it has given me. Enjoy!

 Post 1 :magsramsay.blogspot.com/2007/08/sewing-space-old-place

Post 100: magsramsay.blogspot.com/2008/07/100th-post-labyrinths-and-elements

Post 200 :magsramsay.blogspot.com/2010/01/tunisian-shop-advertising

 Post 300:magsramsay.blogspot.com/2010/11/ancient-shards-new-materials

 Post 400:magsramsay.blogspot.com/2011/10/deductive-monotypes

Post 500:magsramsay.blogspot.com/2013/02/cherubs-at-haberdashers

Post 600 : magsramsay.blogspot.com/2014/05/across-foot-of-mount-oxa

 Post 700: magsramsay.blogspot.com/2015/08/sketching-ceramics-at-V&A

Post 800:magsramsay.blogspot.com/2016/12/drawing-tuesday-keys-and-kew

Post 900:magsramsay.blogspot.com/2018/03/contemporary-collage-week-9-cubomania

 Post 1000:  I still haven't worked out a  decent  design wall space ( I currently use  to top landing - Ian's claim I'm taking over the whole house is not without foundation ... )  but I really like my studio space with its cutting  table raised on sand castle buckets and the combination  of wall and trolley storage.

 Most of all I love my 2 sewezi tables : 1 currently has my Bernina  sewing   machine set up on it and the other with a wooden insert in  by the window I use for hand stitching ( when I'm not sewing on the train ) , looking out over the green, 

Drawing Tuesday: Keys and Kew

 Drawing Tuesday this week  was  at Richmond Museum - I chose to draw the  keys for the gates of Richmond Park, firstly  a quick outline of the shapes  and how they related to each other and then in more detail  in 4B pencil.  Quite a challenge particularly following the labyrinthine  intricacies of the  teeth or bittings  themselves. Some were double ended  which made me wonder how you carry them?  

Afterwards we had an excellent lunch at the 'Tide Tables'  underneath Richmond Bridge  and then I used the opportunity of being in the area to revisit  Kew with my 'Life Pass'

 It's  over a year since I've been  back, some things like the parakeets flying noisily overhead  and the Pagoda tree are still the same

 But there had been major changes to the Broadwalk and installation of ' The Hive'  and my colleagues  were finally installed in  the Jodrell  after  literally decades of various proposals for moving the lab.

 It was lovely to see them and catch up and I had a guided tour of their new facilities - very strange to see familiar items of equipment  ( even my still-labelled bench trolley) in a different location.  I'm invited back in the Spring.
What felt most odd however was catching a 65 bus to South Ealing  for the Piccadilly Line ,  passing the bus stop very close to my old   home  in Brentford but not getting off.

May Boat Friday

It's a while since I walked along the river looking at the boats so I left work around 4.30, fed up of filling in COSHH forms. I had my teeny paint kit with me and my mobile phone - neither of which gave great images but useful tools for looking - the tide was really low giving a different perspective.  I was using cream coloured cartridge paper in a sketchbook and struggling to use a pentel waterbrush (hardly my travel sable mix!). It made me sympathise with all those put off watercolours by starting out with poor materials and a tiny brush - it does make a difference although at least my paints were artists quality. The results were pretty terrible,still,  it made me think about simplification and what the key elements were. The photos were pretty awful too but I used their low quality to my advantage - increasing saturation and applying 'underpainting' and 'palette knife' filters in Photoshop do the job nicely.

Talking of boats reminds me that the TVCQ exhibition 'Whatever Floats Your Boat' has now opened at Slough Museum - thanks to the hard work of Jane, Sandy and many others . There's various activities on this week  and I shall be going to the private view next Saturday on my return from Bulgaria ( short work trip with v. early start and the joys of Easyjet! )

Watermans Sky

A double rainbow and a spectacular sunlit streaky sky Walking home from Watermans Art Centre after a Friends wine tasting (choosing wines to stock in the bar and restaurant) and an excellent lamb pasanda and vegetable dansak. There's far worse ways to spend a Monday night....

Peeling Posters on the Golden Mile

No, not Blackpool or other exotic places but the Great West Road in Brentford. Apparently.
While there has been a huge investment and development of the 'Great West Quarter'(below) the poor ex Alfa Laval building at the end of our road is swathed in green printed fabric depicting a jewel of Art Deco architecture pending acceptance of numerous proposals for its use. In the mean time the building is a huge poster site beside the M4.
On my journey home a few weeks ago I was struck by the juxtaposition of the peeling posters on the fence around the site perimeter with its flashy modern counterpart (particularly as it depicted Japan- "Fly Emirates to Tokyo")

There must have been layer upon layer of posters which someone had decided needed all to come off , leaving amazing textures and remnants of colour.
A week later a lot of it was gone but there still quite a few large flappy bits that didn't take too much tugging to peel off....
I now have a stash pending scanning, manipulation, incorporation into something, replicating in fabric. Who knows?!

The view from my office (almost!)

The diseased trees in front of the building where I work have been cut down so now there is nothing between us and the cars in the Ferry Lane car park but a shallow fenced moat!Makes us feel a bit exposed - was startled by friends waving at me from the car park while unlocking my bike to go home! However it does have its compensations - apart from much more light , we can now see to the other side of the river. While consulting scientific journals in the upstairs office, I've watched fascinated as the boats appear and disappear with the tides and the patterns in the mudbanks change.

I particularly like the rusting metal and shapes in this old hulk, a different view from the one observed from the other bank at the Watermans

I can see me sneaking out at lunchtimes with a sketchbook and a pair of binoculars (this was the highest magnification I could get with my camera ) , looking shifty on the towpath!

Low Water

Would you believe that this is the Thames?! At Brentford, the river has islands ('Aits') in the middle and as the tide changes the main part flows down the Kew bank. This is the same spot where Ian and I had lunch at the Watermans a few weeks ago watching the tide change but I never imagine the water level could be quite so low, it looks like someone's pulled the plug out!

I loved the patterns in the mud and gravel - I'll have to look at the tide charts to see when I might get an opportunity to sketch

Snow in Brentford

Snow always catches us unaware in the UK ( especially in London) - there's always the outcry of services grinding to a halt under winter conditions that for most of Northern Europe and America is normal. But then it happens so rarely that there would be bitter complaints about investments in snow ploughs that are only used every 10 years! With such infrequent snow, when it does arrive it tends to bring back memories of previous occasions - like when I was at University , walking into college then stupidly giving blood and passing out or wheeling my bike home from work in a blizzard , a journey of 2 hours!
Pleasanter memories are of taking pictures of the snow settling on the trees at the back of my previous property. It formed the basis of my first experiments using Photoshop to manipulate the images and my very first Journal Quilt in January 2003! I used the ideas to make a larger piece ( detail above) which it is hung in our dining room. I like the restricted , restrained palette.
Snow on trees still fascinates me and I 've taken lots more photos I ventured out on a shopping expedition to the High Street , well bundled up in my waterproof and walking boots with trekking pole. The gaiters were a bit of a struggle to get into as I don't use them very often - purchased after a snowy walking holiday in the Troodos Mountains in Cyprus when I got fed up of snow getting into my boots. Worth it tho'!
I took my camera and went on a slight detour down by the canal and dock( seen here in warmer times ) - there's one of the last working boatyards along this stretch of river, repairing canal boats and barges.

Our next door neighbour Myra gave us a Xmas card with a very similar view - where the Grand Union Canal joins the Thames (in the distance on the far bank is Kew Palace).