Shhhh...it's a Secret Craft Fair

On the 15th and 16th June I will be taking part in a Secret Craft Fair in Loughborough. It will be the joyful union of gardening, art and craft at the open garden of Janet Currie. She will be proudly opening her garden for the first time as part of the NGS Open Gardens and will be the only garden in Loughborough to have received that accolade. Janet and partner Pete Mosley have got used to visitors being impressed by their home and garden when they host their regular Refectory Table events. So now it's your turn to enjoy it too.

I will be selling a range of garden inspired originals, prints, new decorative tiles and cards. You can read more about the event, here, and in an interview I did with Janet Currie, here.

A Slow Spring

Love and Life

Since moving in to my studio at the bottom of the garden, some of my work has been inspired by my home surroundings and my love of growing things. Looking out on to the garden watching the chickens and the birds go about their daily rituals and routines, I am inspired to keep on with mine. It really has been a slow spring but now my garden is glorying in its greenness.

The space between

What's it all about?  This life; what is it for?  Where am I going on this journey?

I ask myself questions about life, and love and spirituality and creativity and the answers I find are translated in to the themes of my work.  I like to take the time to think and reflect.  Grandma's death reminded me that I love to write.  I love to write letters, and to receive them and to have those deeper conversations on life and who we are, who each of us are as unique beings.

I recently attended a Refectory Table course called 'Telling your story'.  It gave me time to think about who I am and where I am going....in a creative business development way. As with the previous course I attended there, I hadn't realised how much I'd be looking myself in the face.  Pete Mosley's expertise as a creative mentor meant that I finished the day with a clear view of who I am and what makes me tick.

So what is that?  My creativity is a huge part of me, and carries itself in to each and every part of my life, my home, family, garden, cooking, making. But, I like the stillness in the gaps between the business of life.  I like simplicity.

I put together a basket of 'me'.  In it there is my knitting, a diary, an ipod shuffle with meditation music on, a writing pad.  Given a half hour to myself I get something out of here, knit or write a letter and feel put back in touch with myself, and with that peace within.

That peace within I try to carry in to my work.  In the simple things I find my muse.  Celebrating the shared wonder of love and light, beauty, home and family and the transience of it all.

Me time

I've been enjoying some 'Me' time and a bit of introspection. Life can seem a bit tangled and I've been trying to pull out the threads and re focus on goals, both personal and business. I've had my head in a couple of books that have really raised my positive energy.

'Never not a lovely moon' is an insightful visual essay by Caroline McHugh. Subtitled 'The art of being yourself' it's a celebration of all people and the uniqueness of each and everyone. Looking deeper I delved in to 'Instructions for Happiness and Success'. Running a business, a home and a family, it's become a default mechanism to always be worrying about what needs doing next and waiting for things to go wrong! I've been reprogramming this negativity and feeling so much more positive.

I've felt a bit lost with my creative goals. To address this, I've booked myself on a course with Pete Mosley and Janet Currie who run The Refectory Table. Hoping that they can help me plan out the next stage of my business and creative development.  I've also been remembering the power of sleep. My self care package has seen me getting to bed early, going swimming, eating more healthily and taking a break from drinking alcohol. I feel like a new woman!