April - Seashore

As Juliette wrote my seashore page arrived. That makes me very happy because the page I made in March is lost in the mail.

Creating this page I first painted the image with acrylic colours on S80 and then stitched with the machine using embroidery thread.

I don't know.... but after I finished the page it remains me of my Holidays in France.

Seashore

This is the page I sent at the end of March for Juliette, so I do hope that she won't mind my posting about it. I was so glad to hear that it had arrived.

The photo in the insert was taken on the island of Grand Turk in the Caribbean.

I included a description of the piece, which you can read about here. (Just click on the photo and it will enlarge.)

I had been lucky enough to travel to the Caribbean on a cruise earlier this year, and knew that this spot had to be used for Juliette's "Seashore page". The colours of the sea were truly amazing. Living in the UK, the sea always seems various shades of grey with some blues. This depends on the time of year, of course. In the region of the Caribbean, the colours were so intense, it really took my breath away. I took a number of photographs.

One shows the sand and a footprint left by the man I had seen sweeping the leaves from the beach a few hours earlier. I had woken very early just as dawn was rising and was able to watch activities to clean the beach ready for the passengers to disembark. It is truly surreal to see a huge cruise ship visit such a tiny island. It dwarfs everything around it. But life goes on as usual, calm and unhurried.

As I had mentioned to Juliette, I was reminded of a passage from a children's book much loved by my own daughters when they were younger. I was able to share the book with the classes I taught too. You can read it below. Margaret Mahy is a superb writer. I love her descriptions, they are so vivid. The photo is of a scan I made of the page in my battered, much read copy.

Should you wish to read it for yourselves, the ISBN number of my copy is this: 0-14-050624-1.

It is called "The man whose mother was a pirate."

A seashore for Juliette

Well, your page is a mass of pins at the moment, Juliette. At least I have started it. I can't wait to get rid of said pins though. Not good for the fingers............

A funny story for you. I had finished painting some muslin (loose woven cotton) when I heard a sound behind me. My cat Felix had jumped up and yes, landed on said still damp fabric............. He was stunned to a rather, for him, unusual silence when I grabbed him and marched him off to the bathroom to wash his paws. Strangely enough, there was no trace of his paw prints on the fabric....................... it was the only thing that saved my sanity. That, and his staying out of my way until tea-time.

Isn't it surprising just how quickly a human can be forgiven when it is time for food..................?

Juliette's page from Kath

A bit of a flat representation of cording and muslin waves
onto the seashore but you get the idea!

Jan page and sneak peek of February

Here's a peek of Castles - the page I'm creating in february for Carmen.
The page I made for Juliette in January- The Seashore. I've depicted the ancient Shore temple at Mamallapuram. In the foreground are two catamarans made of wooden logs and a modern fiber glass fishing boat.The ancient coexists with the modern.
The reverse of The Seashore page. A pocket on the reverse holds a magazine article about the rock sculpture and the shore temple of Mamallapuram.