Hello...

I don't know where the time goes, it's an age since i last posted with all sorts of plans, which have been on my mind, but as usual life happened in between which couldn't be helped.

The workshops have finished here at Indigo Moon and we've been developing the Indigo Moon shop at full pelt, including extending some of the show room to the workshop area.  It's been a hard slog with huge amounts of work involved, but we're almost there now.

Gav has his workshop for restoration in the shop area and i have my own studio again, it allows us both to get on with what we enjoy.  It also means that Gav will be spending most of his time in the shop leaving me free to get on with the creative side of things.  More news on that soon.

I'm having a huge sale of 'older' work, unfortunately,  i haven't got around to putting it all in my Etsy shop as it was selling well here at Indigo Moon.  However there are still some pieces left which i'll photograph and create a separate page on here, if anyone's interested let me know and i'll check if it's still available.

In the meantime, in amongst all the chaos and mayhem i've managed to organise my studio and get on with some new paintings.

These are very small pieces and will be for sale unframed and unmounted.  I'd like to put together a series of small affordable art work.  It's been hugely cathartic getting back to painting, i've been experimenting with mixing acrylics, gouache and watercolour and playing about with collage.

I love working the backgrounds on these pieces, it's a technique well within my comfort zone...pushing the heavy rich paints around a substrate with anything other than a paintbrush, creating texture and a sense of space.  When i look at the background, i feel there is a vagueness, maybe silhouettes of people hovering nearby!

Some other new paintings i've been working on:

I wanted to experiment with bold lines and colours, i'm a great fan of brut/outsider art, and any sort of graffiti brings joy.  It's very hard to replicate, you have to have a command of 'unbridled' thinking (an oxymoron i know).  I just can't seem to let go enough, i get so far and then i have to 'tidy' things up, however it works in a 'sort of' way.  

I've also done huge amounts of work on my 'Boro' stitching and have now finished four scarves, "Part of your Story" 
but more on that soon.

XOXO

Hello December

Winnie the Pooh and the blustery day

I love this weather, as long as it's not too cold.  Either sitting inside drinking hot chocolate and stitching/reading or being out walking and crunching through the fallen leaves or them swirling around your feet and your hair being blown in all directions....lovely!

To be honest it's been all go here these last few weeks, mainly getting our Indigo Moon Shop stocked up and prepared for Christmas.  There's always those last minute worries about whether we have enough stock or if we have the right things, we always find it difficult...however, it always turns out to be ok and so far this year there's no exception.  The shop has changed drastically over the last year and it's definitely for the better.

As you know, i've been concentrating on Japanese 'Boro' style stitching projects, something that i'm really enjoying at the moment.  I've made two 'experimental' scarves:

This one was made from an old linen tablecloth, it was quite thick and heavy.  It works as a scarf but i knew i definitely needed something lighter and more luxurious.  The blue was a bit too bright for me too...

I set about picking out vintage fabric patches to sew onto it and having already used reds on the other one i decided to stick to different shades of blue.  I love this aspect of design, my workroom became a mass of colour (not to mention the mess!).  

 The other one was also a fairly heavy duty linen too, lighter in colour and easier to work with regarding the 'Boro-ing' as any combination of colours would have worked.

It was still a tad too heavy for my liking though so i bit the bullet and ordered some gorgeous 'washed' linens from 'Merchant and Mills'

The colours are amazing and here's the beginnings of a scarf i started making yesterday:

I can't wait to see how this one turns out.

I'm stitching away here in the shop today, although not getting much done as it's rather busy (not complaining though), but i can carry this around with me to stitch wherever and whenever i get the chance

XOXO

Workshops

I have my first two workshops booked for September/October 2015 with two great artists.  Check out the new Indigo Moon Creative Workshops" Blog here.

There is a huge amount of work to get through here to get to September, i'm hoping that in between it all i can still manage some creativity.

I'm still enjoying my boro stitching and have nearly finished the four small purses i'm currently working on:

These are an absolute joy to stitch, they're very tactile and delicious.

I will carry on working on them and hope to have them in my Etsy shop before 

the end of the month.

Please take a look at my Creative Workshop blog it will be updated as when workshops are booked and finalised.  Also i will post updated photos of the rooms as they get sorted.

XOXO

Indigo Moon Creative Workshops

George Bernard Shaw said "progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything".  

I change my mind (and life) often, if only on a small scale, for me it keeps my mind fresh and active, always thinking where to go and what to do next.

There are changes afoot here and 

i'm more than pleased to announce that i will soon be opening 

"INDIGO MOON CREATIVE WORKSHOPS"

 This is a completely new venture for us here and something i am keen to explore, develop and commit to.  

I'll be facilitating these workshops along with contemporary leading artists here in Montgomery from above my shop "Indigo Moon" (hence the name).

The plan is to provide a place and ambience for creativity with inspirational artists in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

Of course, there's a lot of work to be done to prepare for this not least setting up the rooms, it's quite overwhelming, daunting and exciting all at once.

These are just a small glimpse of some of my art collections to display in the workrooms

 Works by Cathy Cullis, Viv Sliwka (Hensteeth), Faye Moorhouse and others

 Chairs adorned with beautiful vintage quilts

 Vintage materials

 and exquisite papers from old ledgers

 A quick lookie at the rooms/area planned for change

This long corridor currently has two rooms to the left which will be knocked into one where the work tables will be set up

 You can just see in the photo another door at the end of the corridor with another room for use as well as the corridor itself...

and of course a bathroom

Think no carpet, curtains or chairs, in this corridor but  beautifully sanded (mediaeval) floorboards filled with quaint little cabinets of supplies and such.

The plan is to hold my first workshops from Mid September 2015 onwards and i'm pleased to already have some artists on board.

I will be setting up a facebook page, website and blog for the workshops but as this will take me a little longer to do, anyone wishing to be added to the mailing list for information on forthcoming workshop dates/artists please forward me your email address via tina@indigomoon.co.uk

That's all my news for now, i hope you enjoyed the photographs of pages from my stitch sketchbook.  I've been working through some ideas using ephemera and 'wool' of all things.  I found myself, whilst thinking about the changes here, knitting small squares of vintage four ply wool for use in my boro stitching.  I secured them into my sketchbook before they got lost in the mess currently being created with the work going on here.  It's very tactile and beautiful seeing them altogether and a nice creative journal of work in progress.

More news soon on developments.

XOXO