Repairs and lots of outings #421

Oops, just realised it's Wednesday and I haven't done my WOYWW,  I've been doing some jewellery repairs this week, so my workbench is my glue tray.

One of the last things I made before I stopped silversmithing classes was the pendant below for my goddaughter's 18th birthday. She had lost a stone and it's taken me a long time to find a replacement that would fit. 

When I originally made the pendant, (made from scratch) I rolled the backs with leaves so it makes an attractive pendant from the back and can be worn with colours that would clash with the stones. 

Apart from my very slowly growing knitting, that's all the craft I had time for this week.

 On Thursday. I was in a team from work which won the 2017 IET (institution of Engineering & Technology) Railway Quiz. We had a secret weapon, my husband Brian. ;-) That's us two on the right.

On Saturday night, Brian and I were in London to see the brilliant singer/pianist/guitarist Jackson Browne. He was great, but it was sweltering in the Albert Hall.

On Sunday I went for a walk along the Military Canal in Hythe, with my friend Chris and her dog, Becky. The canal was built as a defence against Napoleon. The water lilies are coming out and look great. 


Tomorrow I'm off to Stoke as my mother has to have a 48h heart monitor and with her having dementia, it's probably not going to be easy.

Then on Monday,I've been invited to go to Wimbledon with a friend from Cornwall - Centre Court!!!!


More about that next week.I hope, but things are not quietening down just yet!



Still, I'm glad to be out and about.
Have a good week, all, 
hugs, Lynne xxx

Lapis #420

Hi all,
Is Wednesday coming round even faster than usual or is it just 'cos I'm back at work?


Anyway, here are my two workdesks this week - inside for jewellery, and outside for painting 

The feline supervision has been very lackadaisical this week - must be the weather!



The bits came for my lapis lazuli earrings so I had to think how to put them together. The infinity loops weren't big enough to take a lapis bead, but I thought they might have taken one of the gold knots.

In the end, tho, I preferred the infinity loops empty and used the knots for a second pair.

Finally, a thought for the families of those horribly hit by a terrorist attack, ie a van driven at them, outside the Finsbury Park Mosque in London, this week. The terrorists of the earlier attacks are not representative of Moslems. Innocent families leaving Ramadan prayers should be safe from such horrors. 

 

that's all for this week, have a good week, all! hugs, Lynne

 

Painting & Earrings #419

Hi all, it's time to share my workdesk again. If you want to know what this is about, head over to http://stamping-ground.blogspot.co.uk/, where Julia will explain all.

This week, I've been trying to improve my drawing and painting. I found it useful to find & print a picture online and to copy it, making variations.


So I was interested to see this article in the Guardian newspaper, about how children can be the best art teachers, and for them to recommend copying slowly as a way of improving.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/10/why-children-make-the-best-teachers

 I've also been watching a fantastic new series on the BBC, on the Art of Japan, and have fallen in love with a painting by Sesshu called Splashed Ink Landscape, below.


Can you believe this was painted in the year 1495? Around the same time that Leonardo da Vinci was painting the  Last Supper?? It's so impressionist. Now that's a painting I'll never be able to copy!

I've also been working out how to make myself some lapis lazuli earrings, with an infinity connector charm from the Silver Corporation.

I'm hoping I can put one lapis coin into the larger part of the infinity hoop, and dangle another off the bottom. I've just ordered them, so we'll see next time.

While I was photographing my desk, Thea decided that it's her turn to star on this blog, rather than Dino, and came and sat on me for an hour to make sure.

So have a good week, all! Please don't apologise for visiting late or not visiting, I think this circle is for us to enjoy as best we can. 


We're not all going to visit everyone or post every week, and that's fine with me, and, I hope, with you. hugs, Lynne xxx

Copycat WOYWW #418

Hi all, a busy week, this week, as I've started to work from home again, before going back to working in the office in London.

Before the weather broke, I was still painting outdoors, closely supervised by our 2 cats ;-). 

 My mother-in-law, aged 95, is in  hospital and I want to encourage her to try with the physio, or she won't walk again, so here's a card I made for her, copying Dino (and making him look a little more dynamic ;-) 

It was my birthday on Monday, so Brian and I went up to London to the Hokusai exhibition at the British Museum. http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/hokusai.aspx

My new favourite painting is the waterfall, below - the water looks so vigorous. We then had a long, lazy Italian lunch and came home.



On the knitting front, I'm trying to incorporate both patterns by making a sort of windowpane on the front - maybe a few at the bottom and a few near the top? I don't know, I'll see how it goes and how much patience I have for unravelling the inevitable snarls.

My grandfather's peonies, which are supposed to flower on my birthday,  had flowered early this year, the story of that is found here: 

http://lmcollis.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/peonies-on-my-birthday.html

That's all for this week, have a great week, all! Hugs, Lynne xxx