somethings keeping me busy

In a continuation of my honours work around tea, the activity and its associated paraphenalia here is a section of a piece I'm working on at the moment, its a represetation of  a busy tea shop in Lytham St Annes (although it could be a tea shop or cafe anywhere) and of all of the conversations going on around me. Some of the conversations were obviously emotionally charged whilst others very low key and laid back. I am only on the second stage of this piece.

The overall size is 45 x 62 cm this section being 7 x 9 cm. The digitally printed cotton is a combination of two of my sketches and I am embellishing areas of the surface pattern to represent the various conversations overheard on my visit. I won't be posting the while piece here until I've finished working on it.
so far I've used cotton and silk embroidery threads with ink but have plans for the application of other naturals and organza with probably a further injection of colour with either dyes or paints...watch this space!

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.