Logbook September - What a summer !
Hello,
Only few days left and it’s a wrap for this season ! It has been intense, beyond expectation and once again a fabulous summer, even the weather has been mild.
I don’t know where to start as so much happened. My products are now available in 6 places on the mainland. This autumn I am creating a section on my website to help you find the stockists. They did a great job promoting my work and selling my baskets and I had to bring more in September where I did a delivery of 34 items. The third collection “A Sinuous Dance” is finally available in my online store and I have also write an article about it. I am particularly fond of this one as it show you where I am currently in my journey: exploring shapes and colours.
The Craft Fair season has been great too and I know my baskets are travelling throughout the world because of you. Thank you so much for showing enthusiasm and support in my work. I have a final day: this Saturday I will be in Grinneabhat café, on the west side of Lewis for an Artisan Market among other artists and artisans. This event is organised by Open Studios Hebrides
Open Studios Hebrides has been created in 2021 to promote and support the artists and makers living on the Isles of Lewis and Harris. I joined it in 2022 and this year again its been fantastic. Among the different events going all along the year I took part of the 2 summer weekends (July and August) where I shared a venue with 2 friends – Dotty Rennox, painter and Ed Lewis photographer and painter. I met people from Europe and America, chatted with children and adults, exhibited my work and spoke about my creative process, about plants, about history. I love this kind of moments with you and the bonus was the sales and the orders. The star of this weekend were my little bowls dyed with local plants. I was almost sold out the first weekend.
All of this contribute to nourish my imagination and my creativity. My autumn will be made up of :
Studying : Gardening and the science side of dying with plants. I am going to create a new garden, edible and tinctorial. I have 375m2 to transform in an edible and dye garden. I have received my seeds and bulbs and I look forward to read books, design this garden and get my hands covered in soil. Also I am starting an online course in botany with Royal Botanic Garden of Edinburgh.
Creating : Autumn and winter are the perfect seasons as I can retire from the world and spend time in my studio and home to make real all my ideas. Following my observations all along the year, what you like and what you would like, I am keeping this in mind to develop new designs for the collection Elegant & Useful.
Autumn and Winter are a time of preparation for the next year. I prefer to spread the work along the months and do a bit every day rather than rush myself at the end of winter. In consequences I am already working on all of this.
Finally I wish to be regular again here with blog articles and weekly newsletter. I have a list ready about plant dye I experimented in August, give you more detail about the Sinuous Dance and more …
But first thing first, this season has been very intense and all what I need now it is a break. I take an annual leave from 1st to 13th October.
My next 2 public events are :
The Artisan Market this Saturday in Grinneabhat Café
And The OH!Con in Stornoway, the Comic Con is back for a second edition and this time it is about dragons. I will have a table with all my dragons and fairies ready for adoption. It will be a good place to wear again my pixie ears and my dragon dress …
