My daughter send me a calendar she had made where she had cut out the faces of family and superimposed them on various other photos. I wanted to be able to use this calendar but it was not in the right format. So over the past weeks I have been collecting stuff to turn it into a calendar book. I had a cardboard sleeve used to package a sheet, a piece of fabric paper I had painted and stamped and Hated! some grungeboard letters etc. I covered the sleeve with the fabric paper, machined the letters on top and coloured them; then felted some wool rovings to make a cover for the spine. Next I made a concertina of folded card to use as an support for the pages and added the calendar papers but opposite each month I put another piece of plain card to add all the achievements for that month.
Here I am as the Statue of Liberty (Bert always called me Libby or Liberty when he was making a point) on the September page.
Although I hated the fabric paper, once I had added all the other elements it looked much better and it gives me hope for the other pieces I have done and ditched in my 'hopeless' box. It just shows that you should never throw anything away because it can always be reclaimed.
All of a sudden life has taken off here chez moi. I was contacted by a dear friend who lives in the US, we'd worked together for years and are now both retired. We skyped last week and caught up with all that was going on, past and present - a wonderful time.
Next I saw an advert in the freebee newspaper by a local group called Coastwise who were giving talks in the local library and during the summer they visit the local beaches for cleanups etc. I thought to give it a go so I went along on the Thursday and listened to a talk about the Atlantic Array that is proposed for the Bristol channel in a couple of years. I never dreamed that so much work had to be done before even starting the project. I know my eldest son is interested in working within the Windfarm community so I took the time to talk to the presenter and asked for a copy of his presentation.
Whilst there, the lady sitting next to me and I got chatting and she gave me information about another group called 'The University of the Third Age'. Basically U3A is a community of retired people that meets once a month and is subdivided into study groups which each member can join separately. When a group gets too big, another is formed with a slightly different name. I got a copy of their newspaper and found lots of groups listed and decided that I was interested in the 'Gardens Group' who travel round the south visiting gardens, and the 'Devon History' group. Unfortunately the Gardens group is fully booked but there may be chance to start a second group if someone has the courage to lead it.
All this is so exciting and new and could lead to inspiration for my art attempts, perhaps giving it new perspective.
Tomorrow's talk by Coastwise is about sea shells and their impact on the environment. Again I'm looking forward to the talk and maybe a few sketches whilst sitting in a dark corner.
Why am I so excited about finally finding a window cleaner???
Ever since I moved to Devon I noticed that window cleaners are as elusive as the tin that was once mined here. Today as I took the dogs for their walk round the block, there he was, finishing cleaning the house up the road. I pounced on him immediately, dogs in a tangle of leads and asked, very politely, "do you do domestic houses?" The foolish man said "Yes". Another pounce got him to admit he could have a word with his boss, come round almost immediately and assess my windows.
I don't know why I should be so happy, but if I can finally see out of the top windows that must be the bonus for this year! Extra plus was that he was so reasonable, much less than my mother pays in Cheshire but I'm keeping that to myself.
So one happy teddy meets the New Year with a smile!
