seedbedstudio

Wild garlic, gooseberries and Damien

2009-04-15T01:26:00.000-07:00

I love the associative workings of the human mind.
Yesterday I was driving along the backroads from Bandon to my home reminiscing on a really helpful vegtable growing course I had attended recently in the hollies, an experimental project on sustainable living, in my area. I was also thinking about the wonderful vegatarian cook book "Wild garlic, gooseberries and me" by cafe paradiso owner Denis Cotter that I was reading the night before, and how wild garlic was something I hadn't spotted for a long time. Just then I passed through a wooded section of the road and I started to drive past a drift of wild garlic in all its glory beside the road. I stopped the car and picked some. On another occassion I probably
would have driven straight past this small crop of the wild and free, oblivious. How selective we should be on what we feed our minds as well as our bodies.
On the mind fodder note, I attended a talk last night in the Celtic Ross Hotel , Rosscarbery on blogging as an enhancement to your business hosted by the West Cork business network and given by Damien Mulley, a seasoned blogger and communications afficianado.In keeping with the theme of the night, a lot of attention was focussed on blogging as a platform to demonstate your expertise in your area of business. As well as trying to build business through my website,the attraction for me of the sites and bloggers that I visit online, is that my digging and foraging often yields a much appreciated lifeline to 'common sense' a cultural building block that is so abscent in the media mainstream and life in general. Expertise, or the lack of, in government, companies and individuals, has been so exposed of late, that we need to come up with new words and ways to describe the direct and interactive accumulation and sharing of knowledge that the internet promotes. Just a thought.

"Early spring" 15x15cm acrylic on canvas 2009

2009-04-01T01:24:00.000-07:00

thought for today

2009-03-31T05:55:00.000-07:00

"What we need more of is slow art: art that holds time as a vase holds water: art that grows out of modes of perception and making whose skill and doggedness make you think and feel; art that isn’t merely sensational, that doesn’t get its message across in ten seconds, that isn’t falsely iconic, that hooks onto something deep-running in our natures. In a word, art that is the very opposite of mass media." — Robert Hughes

Millie Twinkles!

2009-03-27T09:38:00.000-07:00

yellow field

2009-03-26T15:53:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth Gilbert rocks!

2009-03-18T09:16:00.001-07:00

Instead of listening to the 'same old' 'same old' recession depression on the airwaves , I tune into Ted.com which has inspirational speakers on moving forward in life. Elizabeth Gilbert whose book 'Eat , Pray, Love' is a must read, gave this brillant twenty minute talk on creativity. Skip the news, tune into this woman and enjoy!

Note to self in these troubled times

2009-03-07T06:59:00.000-08:00

Conventional knowledge is death to our souls,
and it is not really ours.
We must become ignorant of what we've been taught,
and be, instead, bewildered.
Run from what's profitable and comfortable.
If you drink those liqueurs,
you'll spill the spring water of your real life.
Forget safety.Live where you fear to live.
Destroy your reputation.Be notorious.
I have tried prudent planning long enough.
From now on, I'll be mad.
--RUMI, "A Spider Playing in the House"
written in the 12th century

eco-couture and the charity shop

2009-03-02T12:54:00.000-08:00

Went to Marylebone High Street Cancer Research UK shop in London last week while on an escape from the country. On my wish list was a desire to check out a really interesting collaboration between a group of indy fashion designers who have formed a collective called Revamp, and Cancer Research UK.
The designers recycle the charity shops unsellables into designer clothes and accesories which they sell in Marylebone and online at the Cancer Research UK eBay store. Profits are split 50/50 between the designers and the charity.

Dress by Jane de Bono from Revamp.

Love the idea. On the day i visited there was small quirky collection of clothes and accessories for sale and the finish on both was really impressive. The prices were mid-range boutiqueish which for unique pieces was a steal.

Hand and mouse

2009-02-24T11:03:00.000-08:00

I really enjoy playing around in photoshop and spent last night making the header image for my blog, which was a fusion of a dried flower that I scanned
into photoshop and the custom shape tool. My photoshop forays probably explain my
preference of late of building up a lot of texture when it comes to painting.
I love gettting stuck in with a palette knife!

'fields and sky' 2009. acrylic on canvas. 20cmx20cm.

Ladies tea party at the Web blog awards

2009-02-22T02:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I swapped wellies for something a little more glam, and not knowing what to expect, knocked on the door of suite 201 in Cork International hotel. I was there to join a motley crew of 30 female bloggers that had signed up to attend The ladies tea party, an annual opportunity to have a girlie tête-à-tête before the main event of the night, the web blog awards,.
I have to say that from the moment I stepped over the threshold of suite 201 I had a really good time. The organisers of this gathering, Sabrina who is as effervescent in reality as her blog suggests and Ciara (who was in the middle of a hair care moment!),were really welcoming, and delivered as promised,a chillax zone,and a space before the main event, where women could relax and bond through their mutual interest in blogging. I'm all for that.
For the next 3 hours, armed with a glass of curious wine , and fortified by delicous nibbles from the other sponsors piosa cakes, and ifoods,I chewed the cud with faboulous women from all over the nation, and now have a face to place with lots of blogs including the following;
The Biopsy report
Maman Poulet
Clasheen by Nicola Brown
Gingerpixel
Grannymar
Jamaica in Cork
ClubW
Nathalie Marquez Courtney
Unfortunately I had to skip the awards ceremony due to another commitment, but I was told by all who attended last years, that its a great night out. By the time I left,if the mood in the tea party room was anything to go by,I'd well believe it. Sign me up for next year!

Revolution from within

2009-02-20T06:58:00.000-08:00

A book I am devouring as we speak, is Gloria Steinem's book of self esteem, 'Revolution from within'.Written in 1992 it is as relevant today as when she first penned it.
What inspired me to buy it, was a recent interview with the author on Oprah. My eyes were out on sticks when Oprah announced that Gloria Steinhem was in her seventies! She looks as her photo below reveals, at least twenty years younger.

Having reached the 50's myself recently, which I like to describe as the youth of old age, I am of that generation who still know who Gloria Steinem is, and was reminded by her presence on Oprah, that here is a woman, who has something to teach those of us behind her about lifelong growing. I vowed there and then to research more into what makes this remarkable feminist tick, and googled her.
Hence the arrival of the afore-mentioned book to my home a few days later. (God I love the internet) and thus far it is proving to be as thought provoking as its title suggests. Its also one of those books that you can dip into out of sequence, an approach to reading, that mirrors a re-assuring quote from the preface ; 'Nature doesn't move in a straight line, and as part of nature, neither do we.'

Progress not perfection

2009-02-11T08:06:00.000-08:00

Never start a New Years resolution in January. I often have, and by the end of the month I'm
invariably bogged down by failure.
This year I am trying a different strategy and stayed under the duvet for January. Have to say that i'm seriously ready for change now, but not in a rushed way. More quietly confident that this will be my best year yet in spite of the cloud of gloom and doom that envelopes the nation.
One of the goals for 2009 is a commitment to blogging on a regular basis, hence the post today.
Another one is to adopt a healthy eating plan, but to also indulge in my passion for cooking
anything I fancy once a week. So heres last saturdays inaugural effort. Yummy cupcakes, inspired by lilivanilli and iced and decorated in collaboration with Millie my 9 year old. Not bad eh!

Nature Journalling weekend at seedbedstudio

2008-07-28T12:57:00.000-07:00

My nature journaling course uses easily learnt mixed-media art techniques that can be repeated at home, participants create their own hand-made, layered art journal, full of color, images and words. Most of the raw materials: plants, flowers and leaves etc ,are found close to the studio. The process creates a beautiful object - with a rich layered surface.

The first day began with a look at images that I made which show the various techniques that we would use on day one in action.

By the end of the day lots of images adorned the walls of the studio!

One of the tecniques learned on day one, was how to carve stamps from erasers.

A technique used to great effect in this beautiful stamped page by course participant Steve Pennington.

On day two I showed how images that were made on day one could be scanned into photoshop
and used as elements in a digital collage.

The rest of day two was spent making the nature journal covers....

.......and attaching the pages to it.

'journal clasp with ceramic beads'

By the end of the course, everyone left with a striking handmade journal ,and the confidence to continue this rewarding activity at home.