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Do What You Love interview – Russell Crook

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thebiginterview1

One of my favourite parts of Christmas shopping in London is staring at the mesmorising window displays in places like Liberty’s of London, Selfridges, Harrods and Harvey Nichols. I have often thought it would be a wonderful job to create those window displays, digging deep into the imagination to come up with something more magical, more sparkly and more inspiring than the Christmas before.  So I thought I would ask a professional window dresser (or ‘visual merchandiser’ as they are called in the trade), to share some insight into this life. 

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(Image courtesy of Russell Crook, window of Liberty’s of London)

This Do What You Love interview is with Russell Crook, a freelance visual merchandiser whose client list includes Liberty’s, Nicole Farhi, L’Oreal, Disney and British retail giants BHS and George at Asda.  Russell is from my home town of Southampton, but now lives in the arty town of Brighton on the south coast of England.

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New York part 2: My kind of city

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In this penultimate post about my recent trip to the US, I want to share some images of this captivating city.  There is an incredible air of possibility about this place, and so much to feast your eyes on…

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New York part 2: My kind of city anthro cc
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New York part 2: My kind of city anthro3 mag
New York part 2: My kind of city bellini mag
New York part 2: My kind of city building mag
New York part 2: My kind of city pavement mag
New York part 2: My kind of city windows mag
New York part 2: My kind of city too+soon cc
New York part 2: My kind of city flag cc
New York part 2: My kind of city cafe cc
New York part 2: My kind of city sign cc
New York part 2: My kind of city flower cc
New York part 2: My kind of city brooklyn+cafe cc
New York part 2: My kind of city city+lights cc
New York part 2: My kind of city lamppost cc
New York part 2: My kind of city grafitti cc

 

New York part 2: My kind of city elephant cc

If you are a fan of NYC, what is it that draws you to it?

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More posts from my recent US adventures:
New York part 1
Cape Cod
Squam Lake

 

At home: Welcome to my studio!

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“Pick one room and make it yours.

Go slowly through the house.

Be polite, introduce yourself,

so it can introduce itself to you.”

(borrowing the words quoted by the lovely Louise Gale as a comment in response to this blog post)

So that’s what I am going to do. Introduce myself, then introduce you, room by room, bit by bit. As we start to make friends with our new home. 

Here is a peek of the first one – my studio. Won’t you come in? 

fireplace

At one end it has this sweet fireplace, which will be great when winter sets in. I have just put up this picture for now while I work out what to do with the space above the mantelpiece. Any ideas?

painting table

Here’s my painting/making stuff table. There is an easel in the corner but I like making a horizontal mess! The glass table is actually more practical than it looks – it provides a brilliantly smooth surface for painting and is easy to cover, but also makes the most of the space in the room when it is uncovered. 

The wooden floorboards were reclaimed from an old school gymnasium. They are full of marks and stories – you can almost see generations of children jumping over benches and off climbing bars (and maybe even sneaking a first kiss behind the pommel horse). 


studio window chair

There are three big windows like this so they let in lots of light

drawers

Handy storage for my art supplies, and just enough space to squeeze blank canvasses underneath

books

No such thing as too many art books…

These old picnic hampers make great storage for my sewing stuff – fabric, ribbons, thread for the things I am slowly learning to make!

picnic hampers

And above them is the lovely painting from Judit at Pilgrim of the Moon (I talked about it in this post)

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One of my inspiration boards. This one includes prints by Juliette Crane and DJ Pettitt, and my Soul Collage cards that I made in California back in February.

lovely paper

I think the paper obsession, stationery obsession and book obsession may be linked…

craft supplies

Finally I have somewhere to put all my bits and bobs – paper ribbon, buttons, lovely shiny things

bonsai

My little bonsai friend (in need of a haircut)

Reading corner

My reading corner, and all important stereo –  a girl’s gotta have tunes to paint to!

So there it is, my new studio.

Would love to have you all come over to create and make mess. What’s your creative space like? What’s on your inspiration board?

Do What You Love interview – Yvonne Carmichael

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thebiginterview1

Yvonne Carmichael is the curator of Art in Unusual Spaces, a scheme which opens up empty shop units in city centres for use by artist as project or exhibition spaces, inspiring and sometimes surprising busy shoppers. Artworks so far have ranged from miniature prams to giant robots and from den-making to really short artist films. Yvonne shares her thoughts on exhibiting art from a curator’s perspective.

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Ingrid-Berton Moine’s short artist film as part of ‘Short Shorts: Very Brief Artist Films in the window of 42 New Briggate’, Decemver 2009. Part of Art in Unusual Spaces.  Photo with permission from Yvonne Carmichael

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Pottering about

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Thinking about our new garden today, and realising how little I know about how to care for it. My gardening history to date has revolved around pots of basil and the odd tomato plant on many an apartment windowsill. Our house was empty for a few months before we moved in as the previous owners had emigrated to Australia. As a result the garden has gone a bit wild.  It has lots of tropical plants in it and I kind of like it that way, all a bit crazy, but it seems a shame not to be able to even see the sunken table, never mind eat dinner at it! Time to get green fingers…

feet and pot
Photo from recent island travels in Greece – photos of our new garden coming soon!

We got our dreamy little new home!

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homesign
Sign on the wall in our ‘old’ kitchen

We’re in! 

All the wishing worked! 

Our dream has come true…

Thank you to all of you who wished for us. 

This is such a special day.

We LOVE the house,

and are so excited about turning it into a home.

 

You are all welcome for tea and home baked cakes anytime.

Over the next few weeks

I look forward to sharing a window on our little place

as we unpack

settle in and snuggle up

Do What You Love interview: Chrstina Sbarro (creator of ‘A Field Guide to Now’)

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thebiginterview1
In the first of a new series of Do What You Love interviews, I’d like to extend a warm welcome to Christina Sbarro, a woman who is on a mission to truly do what she loves. Christina is all wrapped up in the creation of ‘A Field Guide to Now’, a book which combines her beautiful writing, storytelling and mixed media art, and which is stitched together with the love of a community of supporters. 

Watch this gorgeous intro to her story here:


Here’s what she has to say to you all…

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Sometimes it’s good to be wrong

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Apologies if you are a fan of quilting, but for years I just didn’t get it as ‘art’. I had it in my head that quilts were ‘granny blankets’ from a pre-duvet era, favoured by ladies in rocking chairs who passed their days patiently stitching hexagons together into symmetrical pastel patchworks, which usually ended up in the spare room to keep visitors warm as they slept.  An important homemaker’s skill and well-loved craft, for sure, but art?

Boy was I wrong.

When in California recently, I wandered into the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, lured by a pretty scarf in the shop window. The main exhibition on at the time was called ‘Poetic License: The Art of Joan Schulze’, displaying 40-years of ‘art quilts’. As usual, my curiosity got the better of me, and I had to have a look.

And am I glad I did.

Joan Schulze - An Angel Equation
 ‘An Angel Equation’ – image reproduced with the kind permission of Joan Schulze

Inside I discovered a retrospective of Joan Schulze’s prolific career as a fiber artist, a stunning collection so far from my naïve image of ‘quilting’ that I was genuinely shocked. Moody digital photographic images on silk, fused with painted textures and markmaking, stitch and funky storybook collage in a palette of breathtaking colours. It was nothing short of exquisite, and has changed the way I look at quilts forever. And I think that is much of the point of art – to make us question our own views and preconceptions.  I might even buy myself a sewing machine.

The exhibition is on until May 9th. Do go and see it if you can. Peer at the work from up close, squint and stare, stand back and breathe it in. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Books of the week 

ART: Layered, Tattered & Stitched by Ruth Rae – inspired by my new-found interest in all things stitched(!) I bought this great book, which is full of gorgeous fabric art project ideas

ADVENTURE: The Wild Places – written by an old friend of mine, Robert Macfarlane, this book is breathtaking in places. As urban society encroaches ever further into the countryside, this dreamy book explores the few wild places left in Britain

STORY: The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister – I read this in one sitting on the plane back from the US. A delicious novel for foodies.