'The Indiscipline of Painting' Meads 'Knit, Stitch and Crochet'

Hi everyone, how's your weekend panning out? It started off drizzly this morning outside my window at Sock 'N'Soul HQ, but the sun's shining now! That's good news because I have to meet a fellow artist in town later and it'll just be a wash out in the rain.

Speaking of fellow artists, I've got something really exciting to tell you about today. My lovely friend Emma (and Coventry art guru) has collaborated with the Tate St Ives to bring a really interesting exhibition to the Mead Gallery at Warwick Arts Centre. I love the title! It's called 'The Indiscipline of Painting', and I'll just borrow a snippet from the Mead website to tell you what it's all about:

The Indiscipline of Painting is an international group exhibition including works by forty-nine artists from the 1960s to now. Selected by British painter Daniel Sturgis, the exhibition considers how abstraction has remained a site of urgent, relevant and critical enquiry for generations of artists over the last 50 years. The exhibition goes on to demonstrate the ways in which the history and legacy of abstract painting continues to inspire artists working today.

I can't show you many images of the show as there are specific restrictions on photography at the exhibition (not imposed by the lovely Mead gallery, I might add, which, unlike Indiscipline, recognises that freedom of press is important for gaining exposure), but, anyway, this should give you even more reason to go and see it for yourself!

Here're the only paintings I was allowed to photograph. They continually appear on press releases for this reason, which makes the other well-kept secrets at Indiscipline all the more tantalising, I suppose...

Emma's also come up with a rather clever tie-in to this event. The Mead runs a weekly 'Knit, Stitch and Crochet' club where any ol' villager (or townie, or urbanite) can go for a little yarn gathering and hang out with other knitwits. I often go along with Crafty Bastard, Jen, and we whip out our crochety li'l things while the others get their knitties out. You can also learn to spin, roll your threads up into a ball or sit in a corner and gossip if you prefer.*

In a move that ties the ongoing activities of Knit Club with Indiscipline, the Mead has been inviting knitters (or other kinds of yarn dancers) to knit, stitch or crochet their own abstract art inspired by their favourites from the exhibition. There's been a surge of contributions to The Indiscipline of Knitting in the past week, so there's lots of new stuff to see if you pop by in the last week of the show.

Indiscipline lacked company at first

Surge

Someone's even made an homage to one with lobsters, which is my favourite piece:

I was allowed to photograph the book, but the real thing (painting, not lobster) is far more impressive. 

Here it is! Second from left...

I'd been thinking of making a tribute of my own too, and, if you've been following my blog, you may remember my lobsters. But the thought of trapping them in a frame and sticking them up on a wall pains me somewhat. Shellfish should be free! And tasty ;-)

It's okay when we do it! This was only playfighting, honest.

True, the thought of eating them doesn't bother me at all. I'm such a peskytarian...actually, I'm a pesky-omnitarian ('vore, for picky people)

Shellfish fetishes aside, do paddle on over to the Mead on your comfy sushi riceballs, folks! There's plenty more to see here...

Do note though, there's only a week left and Saturday 10th March is the last day. Check the website for more details :)

Add caption

*Spinning, threading and gossiping are activities that regularly occur during the practices I share with my fellow bboys/girls. Things are less punny when you have to explain them, but if you have no clue what I'm on about, just click on the links to read more.

New Year Update!

Happy New Year everyone!


New year, new update...yes, I know that to most people the new year started on January 1st, but that's so the Year of the Bunny. Plus, many people have probably forgotten, or ditched, the resolutions they made on the Gregorian 1st by now anyway, so this is as good a time as any to take stock.


Besides, I'm a girl, so my sense of direction is instinctively based on cuddly animals (go past the bunny, to get to the dragon, etc) rather than boring numbers (after 2011, comes 2012 - I flunked my first maths test aged 8, unfortunately). And, yes, I do know some cuddly dragons out there.

See? 

More to the point, it's been a pretty eventful week/end. I'd submitted an interview to UK Handmade earlier in the week that's now published on their wonder web. I find it's really helped me take stock of what I've achieved until now and make my next plans of action. So, if you want to know what my resolutions are for the Year of the Dragon, do lend that interview your 龙眼, or any other 眼! I'm not fussy. Hehe.

龙眼 ('Dragons' eyes' in Chinese), or mata kuching ('cats' eyes' in Malay) are these tasty little fruit. Named for these yummy little sclera found between their scaly brown shells and shiny black pupils. Guess there aren't many dragons in Southeast Asia though
(Credit: Pic filched from a fellow blogger)

Here's a quick update on what I've been up to (and been too slow to report on the first New Year's Day, I think I did an okay job of covering that up though, don't you? > u - Well, until now that is...)


Christmas brought me a a bit of a windfall in terms of an unprecedented demand for my Bboys, so I've come up with a new and improved version of Bboy Hollowback. He comes with his own non-slip lino and has a handgrip so strong that it's positively magnetic. This bboy never crashes his freeze!

Rock steady

Hong 10 freeze. Whooo! *jump up and down maniacally*

My work buddy had also been helping me plug my work by showing it off to friends and family. Many of you probably know that I usually make stencils and spraypaint my own packaging. Ranjit had also seen a top I painted for myself.

Rockin' that Banksy-style style at the Breakfest jam, and at work some days

Anyway, the result was a request for this T-shirt, based on my packaging design.


From my bezzie, for his cousin's prezzie! Hopefully, more of these will be trotting out of Sock 'N' Soul HQ, but I need to not spend hours cutting out each stencil from cereal boxes. There has to be a better way...

Frontside view

Backside view

While I was getting creative with stencilling, I also came up with a new packaging design for my commissions.

'Cos you get all of me when you request a commission rather than picking something up from one of my standard ranges, like Darn Stuff, or Sock 'N' Soul, or Sock 'N' Pole, or Sock 'N' Shoal...okay, I'll stop now, promise! haha...

I used those for a commission made for artist Hamish Blakely - a Christmas present from his wife. Blog report to come, but you'll see pictures of in the UK Handmade interview, and, if you haven't already, WHYYYY??? Go look now! Uh, pleeeease?


While I'm on the topic of personal goals and bboying, I just have to show you this! It's my incredibly hardworking, creative and original training buddies battling each other at King of the Bboys on Saturday, left side won, but right side got through to next battle. Go figure about judges' decisions, but anyway, I'm proud of them all.

My personal goal with breaking is to practice the moves I don't like as much as the ones I do; at least 10 times per session. I've already made huge improvements in my flares, swipes and blowup freezes using this approach. Enter the dragon! RARRRRR!


Maybe I'll upload a video of my progress sometime. Mayyybe. By the way, here's a date for your diary, Andy's organising an event which is scheduled for 28th April in The Studio at the Herbert Gallery, Coventry. So train hard, enter the battles and stand to win awesome prizes like Sock 'N' Soul Bboys and a Bboy Dynamick original.

One final thing. As of Friday, I'd been appointed online marketer at jobs.ac.uk and start today. It's going to give me a chance to learn more about social media and boost the ol' income while I take my time getting to know you, my faithful friends. And it gives me a chance to use my creativity, and academic background, and get paid to hang out on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn! Cool beans.


So that goal I talked about in my interview has come to fruition *happy face* 


This dragon is one good-lookin' year...

Happy Holidays!

Christmas is a funny holiday for me. I always resent being pushed into the festive mood as early as October, when I'm still trying to cling on for dear life to the last vestiges of summer, and the supermarkets start piling their shelves with packages and packages of sweets and chocolate for the festive season. Also, I can't help thinking of all those overpriced, overpackaged 'gifts' that stores come up with to suit various budgets - the thought of all those bits of nothingness wrapped in too much plastic and cardboard leaves a sick feeling in my stomach. I'm also far too disorganised to send out cards to anyone, and always have been. For me, these gestures are meaningless if I haven't seen the friends and family they're addressed to for too long, and if I'll see or speak to you at Christmas, then I'd much rather extend the goodwill in person.

However, I do love observing people's expressions of joy when they receive a gift that is heartfelt, sincere, and shows that the giver has put much time and thought into it. Who wouldn't, right? Okay, I guess I couldn't necessarily say we've devoted enough of our energy to making Christmas really meaningful this year, but everyone's put in a good effort, and here are some of the highlights...

1.  Going to lock up the porch door on the 23rd, having worked till the wee hours to breathe life into Disgruntled Dino (SUCH a crochety li'l thing! ;), I found a lovely surprise on the step. Amongst a selection of gorgeous goodies sat this li'l guy, made by my pal Jen - we get our knitties out every Thursday, which always has us in stitches.* Tired from hunching over my work for several hours, this was a sight for sore eyes!

Taking pride of place on our tree. Thanks, Jen, for bring some festive cheer to El Grincho.

2.  Oh, Christmas tree, oh, Christmas treeeeee...say what I like, the pile of unopened pressies is always exciting. So full of possibilities...

With pressies under (and all over) the tree...

3.  The Pandy's favourite pressie (he's probably just being polite): the Disgruntled Dino wot I made him, to celebrate the many evenings we spent watching Planet Dinosaur together. Oh. And my crochet obsession.

This dino didn't hitch a ride to the in-laws, he came in bits requiring assembly. No wonder he looks so grumpy!

4.  This is Pandy's highlight: playing XBox with his bro, wearing his Crimbo tee of Santa melting ghoulie snowmen with flame thrower and sitting with Dino.

Happiness is... picking your own rather peculiar Christmas T-shirt. Guess it beats a woolly reindeer jumper.

5.  The big li'l bro's take on the piñata...what's inside? Pull on a leg and you might find it goes its own Milky Way, or try giving an arm a Twirl. Only Smarties have the answer...ok ok, sorry, I'll stop now. Let's take some Timeout*...haha! [ducks]

The Philsbury chocolate boys, I found them more exciting than the presents!

6.  The bro's pièce de résistance. Months ago, he'd bought some piglets to rear on a friend's farm, he paid for their feed, fed them, patted them and wrestled them when they jostled too hard to get to the slop trough. Fast forward to December, and Mummy Dix now has half a pig in her freezer, and the bro'd been eagerly awaiting our arrival so he could cook up a WHOLE rack of ribs...I guess they were going spare* ;)

Bro [final wrestle with pig]: C'mon piggy, I fed you, now you're gonna feed me!

He lived a good life, so we could to :P~

 7.  Mummy Dix's sherry amaretti trifle and yule log, homemade rather than being dragged home from Tescos [yumma yum yum]

8.  Mummy Dix's homecooked dins of toikee and the trimmings on Christmas Day. Yeah! 

P.S. the reason I've put dessert first is because we cheated and ate those on Christmas eve =P~ 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everybody! Health, love, and laughter and peace out.

*Well, someone's got to tell the cracker jokes, right?

Contemporary Christmas Art Shopping

Here's a new idea for artists. Speed Objet D'Arting, a new term and concept conceived by my fabulous friend and Coventry art guru, Emma O'Brien with artistic upcycler, Jessica Timmis.


The event took place last Wednesday evening and was pitched as speed dating for artists (without the dating), which, I suppose, really just leaves you with speed for artists. Actually it turned out to be more like Alcoholics Anonymous (or Artists Anonymous) because we had just the right turnout to sit in a big circle with some wine, and tell each other about our work. And, really, that beats talking at speed for 2 minutes before moving on to the next alcoholic...artistically-inspired person and repeating the same story over and over again. Also means you can eat cake and mince pies when it's not your turn *greedy grin*


Much fun was had, even for an ol' weed (read: tea) drinker like me! In fact, so much fun and banter that there's no photographic evidence from the evening. I mean, c'mon, we're talking about speed for artists and anonymous alcoholics here. If I showed you pictures, I'd have to kill you. Ps. this is my imaginatively fashioned excuse for the fact that the photies have somehow become irretrievable...maybe the fault of alcoholic artists, maybe gallery ghoulies...who knows?


Over the week, our work has been arranged in a most lovely fashion at The Lock Gallery, run by Emma, which will be open this Wednesday for an evening of Contemporary Christmas Art Shopping. If you've never been to the Canal Basin before, the gallery is at Studio 23; see directions below See, aren't I helpful? *beam*

Walking directions:

If you're walking from Coventry city centre, follow signs to the Canal Basin, cross the bridge that goes over the ring road, then cross the road and turn right. The gallery is Studio 23. Don't enter the Canal Basin, otherwise you'll get a bit lost, like I did last week!

Driving directions:

Either take the Radford or Foleshill Road exits off the ring road. 

From Radford Road, follow signs to Canal Basin, follow St Nicolas Street to the end, which becomes Leicester Row as it rounds a bend to the left. The gallery is on your left.

From Foleshill Road (B4119), take the first left onto Leicester Row, Studio 23 is on your right.

Free on-street parking alongside the Canal Warehouse, so you can do lots of shopping and won't have to carry everything very far!

Featured artists and their work:

Alison Perry, All About the Beads

Emma Gluyas, Arty Em

Emma O'Brien, Naughty Monsters & Dead Dudes

Jessica Timmis, Upcycled Objects

Julia Gandy, Hole Button Jewellery & Cute as a Button

Julia Prior, Cutting Gallery

Laurence Tilley, Sculptural Ceramics

Paul Whiteside, Bodice Beautiful

Tony Prior, Cutting Gallery

Tracy Dix, Sock 'N' Soul

and last...but cutest, Ruby the dog!

I suppose I might post some pictures later of Contemporary Christmas Art Shopping for the benefit of readers overseas, but all the good stuff might be gone by the time I whip out my camera tomorrow evening, so for anyone based within a reasonable 30 minute drive away from the Lock, it'll be your own fault if you don't come and don't get to see Made in Coventry art objects in all their glory!

Let snail this!

Hokay, it's been over a month since I posted anything here...sorry. I've been engrossed in so many distractions. Darn Stuff! Actually, Darn Stuff has not been the culprit at all, unfortunately. It's been more like a host of incredible edibles and crochety little things that have been consuming my passions for the past month.

I've been sharing photos of my little veggie garden on Facebook since May when sowing started (I know... should've started in February or March. But you know what it's like...oh, plennty of time *flippant hand* and before I know it, it's nearly October and I haven't gone on a single mushroom forage yet *SOBBB* Ah..guess I'm a bit slow to jump on the bandwagon. Maybe retailers have a point, stocking Christmas gifts and winter wear when it's not even cold yet! Ugh.) More to the topic, I've started writing about my veggie garden for UK Handmade. All the articles I write for them will be compiled on a new blog called Middle-Aged Kingdom, so they'll all be in one place, together with recipes and a number of other articles not featured on their website for whatever reason - probably because they're too norty. Y'know I can't help a little innuendo sometimes...

Hmm. Inn-u-end-OH!    Coincidence...? I wonder...

Speaking of incredible edibles and crochety things, my tiny seedlings were being demolished by a hungry little critter during the sowing period. And they didn't go quietly when Andy brought out the pest control...

I woke up the next morning to see this little fella perched high up on a plant stick, campaigning for its rights to eat our lettuce. Let SNAIL?

'Lettuce eat lettuce!', the snail protested, waving his feelers in the air.

Luckily for this little chap, Andy liked his spirit and rescued him. His friends weren't quite so fortunate...

The Earlsdon Slug Pellet Massacre

I know quite a few of my readers are Singaporean, so if anyone's thinking escargot, yup, that's it. The brown and orange ones, at least. (No, I know escargot is French, but Singaporeans love food and will eat anything. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about here) I briefly considered it too, but you have to catch the snails live and feed them on cornmeal for about two weeks to cleanse their insides before you can kill, cook and eat them. Plus, Andy's not into chewy textures, so that plan (along with the snails) fizzled out.

Snails are actually really cute, but if they'd been less impatient and waited till the seedlings got a bit bigger, we would've left them alone and shared our abundant crops with them. But, munching the seedlings leaves us nothing for later, so they had to go. However, here's a little tribute to them:

This is Whirligig the snail.
His diet of cotton socks and polyfibre stuffing lettuce clean him in a washing machine easily.
None of this fiddly cornmeal nonsense.

I've also been making some other crochety little things, inspired by the veggie garden. Check out this peapod!

I love peas! Peas in a pod are the most beautiful sight in the world to me. Even interjections by my mad friend, Dannie Cho, that I obviously haven't seen his wife naked yet, haven't managed to ruin this image. 

Actually, he's very wrong. I have seen her naked, and you can too, should you wish. Yi Lin is lovely, but Dan's harassment of the wife to say that he, naked is the 2nd most beautiful sight in the world has kept my mind steadfastly focused on that peapod. Hehe.

Click to enlarge, ok? 

I'd been dying to knit peas in a pod for years, but didn't know how, until I started going to the Knit, Stitch and Crochet Club at The Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre. I met someone who taught me how to hold the hook and yarn, and to follow patterns. The one for the peas is from Amigurumi Two! by Ana Paula Rimoli, and it's crocheted. I've decided for now that I'm not so into knitting, I have limited coordination with any activity that involves more than my own body. Sewing and crochet is just about ok, but coordinating two sticks, yarn and fingers all over the place is just too much to handle. I nearly had a fit when I saw the others at Knit Club making socks with four needles...*faint*

I also finished something super cute last week -  a radish lariat scarf! It's my pride and joy and I wear it everywhere when it's not boiling hot. This one's from Crochet Goodies for Fashion Foodies by Twinkie Chan. 

Unfortunately I got the pattern a bit wrong, so there're a few holes in the leaves. I managed to hide them a little by weaving in the ends, but, welllll, that's au naturel, right? I mean, in real gardens, you get crochety little snails munching on the radish leaves, so I decided to make one of those too!

Right, let'snail this crochetyness!

The snail pattern came from the same Ana Paula Rimoli book, but I changed the colours to look like our brown garden snails. He's got a pin that allows him to crawl on my holey leaves, cling to clothing or perch on a headband so he can be a scarf accessory, brooch or fascinator. Knowing these crochety little things, they'd most like to be fascinators. Well, at least this snail is free to roam, even if the others weren't.

Hello Dr President, this is for you!

With Singapore's Presidential Elections done and dusted, and the announcement of our new elected Pres. on Sunday morning, I'd been thinking of making a little something to mark the event. While picking through the social media grapevine, I came across this ripe little pun...


'Make sure you vote for the right Tan. If not, you may end up with a 笨 tan (moron), or worse, a 坏 tan (baddie) who will 捣 tan (mess up) and Singapore will be 完 tan (finished)' 


I've no idea where this pithy statement has come from, but I'm sure whoever came up with this won't mind me sharing it here. I love Tans. When it emerged in the press a couple of years ago that Tans are good for you, I was overjoyed! I keep a supply of them ready at home all the time...

So how about cooking one up for the President?

I could make it plain and simple...

Or dress it in something a bit more fancy.

Reckon this'll make it to the Presidential table?

*For all my non-Chinese, non-Singaporean readers, Tan is a play on 蛋 (dàn). All the candidates for this election were Tans. Naaaah, it's not so funny when I have to explain it, sorry!

A Fairbridge for all weathers

I'd been plugging the Makeshift Arts and Crafts Market at Fairbridge on Facebook for a couple of weeks now, and last Saturday was when it all happened! The fair itself was a wee bit on the quiet side, but I'm still delighted with the outcome. Although Birmingham city centre is only seconds away by car and a few minutes on foot, I guess it's difficult to convince visitors to go out of their way, past car dealerships and industrial areas to find us. We also learnt, closer to the time, that other events were also happening in the area, so there was a bit of a clash.

Well, *shrugs* certainly can't moan about Boremingham!

In spite of the quiet turnout and a bit of rain, we had a really good time! Fairbridge offered both in-or-outdoor space to stallholders for free, all we had to do was donate a tombola prize. Entry for visitors was free too so I hope the Centre made lots of money through the raffle, cake sales and other activities for their generous support of local designer-makers, musicians and small businesses.

Selling cakes galore, finger puppets, face-painting, balloons and tombola raffles all for a great cause!

Supporting local musicians...it did rain at one point, so the wellyboot backdrop is v. apt!

Do you know the Madras man...*hums*

I got a chance to catch up with my crafty chums, meet new ones, make some money, while Andy had the pleasure of eating lots of cake and getting plenty of female attention (since he was in the overwhelming minority!) There was plenty of time to wander round and chat to other stall holders, so I thought I'd take pics for a little feature on local artists and designer-makers while I was at it.

Me first, I'm a local designer-maker too! It's been a while since I ran a stall. This time I thought I'd lighten things up with a yellow backdrop. Anyone with more tips or suggestions, please let me know!

Now all my work shows up against it, with hidden storage under my shelves too! *beam*

First, let's start with Emma O'Brien, Coventry's resident naughty-monster maker, who runs The Lock Gallery and monthly Cov Art Fair at the Canal Basin in Coventry and was the first arty-fartist I met in the area. Emma also works at the Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre, where she's helped start the hugely popular Knit, Stitch and Crochet Club of which I'm a big fan. More on that in a later post, but what I want to know is where she finds the time to do all this! Have you got more hours in the day than the rest of us, Emma O. B.?

They come in all shapes and sizes for people of all shapes and sizes!

She's also started making zombies. They appeal to my visceral sense of humour so much, I HAD to have one! This one has wool guts spilling out, the one I bought had a bone leg (don't misread that!) and wool blood gushing out of the wound. What macabre fun!

Bleeeeurgh!

There were a couple of gems, such as Alison Perry's luxuriously presented jewellery stand.

Dramatic and gorgeous

Yup, this one is All About the Beads. What I love most about Ali is how she gives every piece incorporating gemstones and lampwork glass beads a title, just like a rare masterpiece! Names like 'Sheherezade', 'Angels on Bare Skin' and 'The Woman Clothed with the Sun' describe her creations perfectly and make you ache to wear them. Even a non-jewellery person like myself...

Scrummy boiled sweet delights! But don't take my word for it, go see for yourself!

And it's a craft fair, so beads and, yup, you got it, buttons are out in profusion. Julia Gandy, who runs the Transport Museum Craft Fairs,  also makes unique and elaborate Hole-Button Jewellery. Her chunky necklaces and fascinators would make a great statement at a wedding...without upstaging the bride, of course...uh, unless you ARE the bride, then it doesn't matter!

Fascinating array of colours

Since we're onto wearables, these girls are part of a collective Sent 2 Coventry, together with Emma Gluyas, owner of Arty-Em Gear. I forgot to take any pics of her knitwear, remade vintage and upcycled clothing (Doh!) but you can still check her out with the link above.

Gemma Hall of Ragamuffins Vintage probably doesn't think she's an artist (I love that name!) but her display was pepped up with lovely bunting and fabric hearts for that touch of retro chic so she certainly has an eye for detail. Plus, since she shared the room and her copious hangers with us absent-minded sods who packed a clothes rail without hangers, she definitely counts as fam! Do visit her website when it's up, the garments she personally selects are truly special.

Looks the part too!

Now then... I've covered cuddly companions for your soul, jewellery to dress up your outfits, clothes to, uh, stop you going out naked, so it must be time for furnishings and accessories to make your house a home!

How about Karmen's Kreations for her calming and spiritual oil-on-canvas paintings, prints and cards? She also sells wonderful handmade throws and duck feather cushions at reasonable prices. I remember thinking how beautiful her stand looked, with embroidered table coverings, flowers and fairy lights, while I was tagging Darn Stuff during set-up. I couldn't believe it when she told us it was her first time at a fair! *pheweeeeet!* Let's give this talented lady the support she deserves!

Charming Carmen also kept me well-plied with compliments about my work throughout the day *preen* 

And now I must admit I've kept the best till last. Mel Smith's happy go loopy stand was my absolute favourite, and if you love vintage and shabby chic, I know you'll see why!

It's all in the details, every single teeny tiny one of them.

Look at all THIS!

Soya wax teacup candles, loopy storybook bunting and all kinds of wonderful treats...

Mel particularly recommends her SOS jars for students first leaving home. They contain every fiddly thing you might need but almost certainly won't have...like Blu-tack! All so beautifully presented.

Having subjected poor Andy to what was effectively one giant hen party on a Saturday afternoon (giant party, NOT giant hens!) this had to be the icing on the cupcake...look what he won from the tombola! *falls off the chair howling with laughter*

His best macho look, considering the floral lace bag and bunny poking out.

Bless his cotton socks...

Apparently the Pandy'd hoped to win it 'cos he thought it'd be just my thing. Awwwww... it certainly matches my outfit!

'Happy birthday!', he said, even though my birthday's in April...
I should've posed with my new boney-legged zombie!