and I do like a bit of art on buildings.......

I'm not really sure what the attraction is, maybe the visible texture of the bricks through the sign, just a brick quilt really (& more controlled chaos perhaps?) but I love painted posters, much preferring them to billboards, sadly you don't see many of these any more, this one is in Blackburn.

the Lion atop of the Lion Hotel in Leominster's Broad Street, wouldn't mind seeing him stretched out under a bush in my garden

the Victorian Arts & Crafts Shop in Poulton-le-Fylde

We shopped in Poulton-le-Fylde this week and as I needed some bits & pieces popped into this great little shop in the Market Hall.  I'm always mesmerised by controlled chaos and couldn't resist embarassing myself by asking to photograph the button & thread displays. The staff were very kind, probably feeling sorry for 'the Everpresent' who was patiently smiling, watching my antics. I also noticed how busy the shop was and of how friendly the interactions between staff and customers were. I'm old enough to remember when this was how most shops were, of how at home you were made to feel and of how great the service and advice was.  Of course I also have my favourite internet shops for supplies and goods but oh it was nice to touch things and look through all the stock. The variety of wool was staggering. So thank you Victorian Arts and Crafts, we really could do with more like you.

come in Number 3, your time is up....

this delapidated lake boat is sat on the sea front at Lytham St Annes, Lancashire

it caught my eye with its ruination, it had been used as a planter but even the plants had given up

plenty of rust and lichen growth

this rusty three has decided that I should form a photo collection of unexpected numbers

Ait seems quite resilient though, even fire has not had much destroyed it

but the most captivating feature for me is of how the flaking paint has taken on its own identity and is now impersonating a seascape

perhaps its trying to emulate the seasape it actually looks at..........

Textile Art from the Sea, a sea urchin memory

I had a wander on the beach the other day and found a sea urchin skeleton, virtually intact but oh so fragile. I'm ashamed to say I didn't have my camera with me but was able to do some quick sketches and then some work in my sketchbook one home again. I then felt compelled to try and recreate it in textile, using wire to make the frame I then stitched torn pices of raw calico onto the frame with black embroidery cotton. It's about the size of a large satsuma and I find myself  handing it quite often and I'm feeling a slight compulsion to make a sea of my own out of hundreds of them. Thankfully though it doesn't smell like the real thing.....

for another piece of Textile Art from the Sea go to May 13 2011 below......

Controlled Chaos...a section of my work room a.k.a. my toy room

This is where I spend so much of my time in a sort of controlled chaos. Chaos because there just isn't enough room to fit everything in, in fact the only thing I can now squeeze in is dust it seems! It has so imprinted me that some of the work I'm doing at the moment is 'Controlled Chaos' I see pictures of wonderfully tidy art studios and gaze at them in wonder. Perhaps (Christmas Hols?) when Alan the Everpresent builds my cupboards along another wall to the one pictured here, I may be able to again take full control of it all, until then should I go missing send the search parties in, I will be buried here somewhere, still I will survive, as long as there is music and/or Radio 4!

one section of my toyroom where many treasures are captured

so much stuff!

cat memories, including my own precious human pusscat daughter Becca

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my gnomes (less than 4cm tall), yes I know a bit strange

even stranger, a tiny doll (less than 5cm tall) my sister Zoe found in her garden and generously gave me. She is sat on rocks loved ones have given me, I'm a cheap date when offered a gift from someone on their travels I ask for a small rock.

old tinware

something else I like to collect are vintage tins, this one is for gramaphone needles and is only 5cm wide. It still has a couple of rusty ones inside . I especially like the bird motif and the rusted look to it.