Illustration friday - Repair

"Painstakingly The Watchmender completed his Task"

I finally managed another submission for Illustration Friday, so I'm feeling pretty smug! This is pretty foolish of me actually, as the only reason I have it done is because I completely omitted to do the things I SHOULD have been doing. Such as ... making a start on two comissions with deadlines, altering a pair of curtains for a friend, which I promised to finish a week ago, taking the dog for a big walk ( she did get a little one, but it was hailing , and I just woosed out), planting winter salads in the green house, and a multitude of other houseworky sort of jobs. This original is for sale here, and I will list prints on Etsy.

I did at least manage to bring the remainder of my pumpkin harvest indoors, out of reach of the frost. This is a good harvest for us, and I'm going to show you a picture. ( All you pumpkin growers from the US, look away now, lest you laugh at the miserly size of my crop!)

They look pretty good in the kitchen alcove in front of the Tree of Life . The two pictures on the side are two of my favourite Arthur Rackham crow prints,and the central one above the alcove, the owlwoman, is a print by a friend , Virginia Lee.

A Gypsy Spectacle

I first came across Theatre Zingaro about 10 years ago, when I accidentally saw a documentary with a friend, Pip, about the founding of the company and the making of their first show 'Opera Equestre'. I was blown away, stunned, astounded, to put it mildly! It was the most beautifully moving and intense piece of theatre I had ever seen, combining incredible horsemanship with magical storytelling accompanied by the haunting sounds of a company of Berber musicians.

Bartabas, founder of Theatre Zingaro, is an unrivalled horseman, and a showman in the purest gypsy tradition. ( He is also the founder of The Académie du Spectacle Équestre (Academy of Equestrian Arts) in the Grand Ecurie of the Palace of Versailles - see the Youtube video at the end of this post for a sampling of his classical Haute Ecole work)

Pip and I followed their progress, and watched all the DVDs, and dreamed of making a trip to their purpose built amphitheatre at Aubervilliers, Paris, to see them perform. Tragically, Pip died suddenly and unexpectedly a couple of years ago, but last September, her husband Patrick, myself and three other friends made it to Paris for a weekend to see the latest show Battuta, a frenetic, passionate and moving show, which would have touched Pip's bohemian soul.

Battuta is a wild and exhilarating Gypsy spectacle with the musical accompaniment played by Moldavian fiddlers ( This was the icing on the cake for me - one of my favourite bands is Fanfare Ciocarlia, a Moldavian Brass Band - if you feel rather unsure about that, listen to them first - it's like nothing you could imagine!) With geese, and a dancing bear (not a real one, I hasten to add) a gypsy wagon made from a 2CV, and spectacular horsemanship, it is the most inspirational performance I have ever seen. I urge everyone to see it if they can!

In the rougher Parisien suburbs, lies Zingaro's home. Comprising a couple of beautifully crafted wooden buildings, and a collection of painted caravans and wagons to make anyone with a drop of gypsy blood in their veins envious! The first building, the original wooden' big top' is now a canteen serving hot beef stew and warm spiced red wine and houses the costumes from previous performances around the walls. Only the French could make a canteen this cool - trestle tables, and sawdust floor, roll ups and red wine and the smell of horses, and smoke drifting in from the bonfire outside the door ( I can't imagine Health and Safety regulations in the UK allowing anyone to light a huge blaze in the middle of the city, let alone without any barriers so that the general public can stand around occasionally poking the fire!)

The larger building is effectively a huge wooden circus tent, with integral stables. You enter up stairs and then along a gallery over the stables, lit with chandeliers, able to look down and see all the horses ready for their performances. It was truly amazing!

Thanks for putting up with the superlatives - I promise not to go overboard again!

Sewing Machine Days

"Queen of The Pumpkin Patch" - the only little ACEO I've had a chance to paint this week, mainly because I've been busy sewing for my sister. She has a fab kids clothes company, Blow-Pipe, which uses vintage and recycled fabrics to make great jackets and hats. I occasionally help out at times like this when she has more orders to complete than she can manage. I quite like it - it makes a nice change for me, and keeps my hand in cutting and piecing. We are both lucky that our mother was a textile artist and dressmaker, and we were taught to sew almost from the cradle, and were both making or adapting our clothes from our teens. It is one of the most useful and versatile skills I have, and I am extremely grateful for it. My sister went on to study and get a degree from the London College of Fashion, while I opted for ceramics, but that early grounding has left me confident cutting patterns and making clothes ( or curtains , or costumes, or anything else that might need creating!)

This weeks it has been hats - dozens of them in beautifully soft coloured fleece. The best part is going through the huge vintage fabric collection, and choosing linings for each individual hat. It's great - no two are the same, and I get to put together all sorts of beautiful combinations.

This is my all time favourite jacket - those vintage poppies are sumptuous. If there had been enough fabric for an adult jacket I would have been swiping it!

The finished collection! Most of these ones are intended for Wonderworks, a really exciting annual craft exhibition / sale in Chagford, on Saturday the 22nd and Sunday 23rd of November.

Illustration Friday - LATE

Mavis was bicycling along the lane to the Post Office, when a small bird suddenly flew out in front of her, causing her to swerve, and spill her packages in the road. By the time she had picked them all up, and adjusted her shopping basket, she was too late for the morning post.

I originally had bigger plans for this weeks Illustration Friday , but then reality set in, and I had to acknowledge the fact that I have deadlines and commissions waiting, and must stop procrastinating. So, I just did a little bit of procrastinating , and came up with this mini illustration, entitled " Mavis was startled on her way to the Post Office "

And another offering, a little gothic portrait to get you in the mood for halloween, called "The Haunting of Mrs Wilkins". Mrs Wilkins could always hear the voices behind her, the incessant whispering of her husbands two previous wives - constantly speculating on the likely manner of the 3rd Mrs Wilkins demise. Both are for sale on Etsy :)

Prizes, a Poppy, and Painted Shoes

Okay, first things first! The Blog Giveaway was drawn tonight, and the first name out of the pumpkin bowl was Maggie Summers! Check out her great blog A Latte A Day . Maggie, you need to let me know your snail mail address. You can email me at dbarlowart@aol.com

Congratulations! You know, that was really good fun to do - though I feel terribly guilty about people who didn't win. Thankyou so much everyone for taking the time to leave a comment. I think I will make this a regular thing, maybe monthly?

Secondly, here is a quick ACEO for this week, entitled Luna Hare. Up for auction on ebay later tonight.



And finally - the real reason I haven't done much work this week! I'd been having one of 'those' weeks - you know the sort, where everything that can go wrong does, culminating in a shopping trip to Exeter. I haven't been shopping for about six months, partly because there is never a penny to spare, and partly because I hate shopping, with a passion. Nevertheless, the girls REALLY needed some tights for school, so I steeled myself for a trip. Once tights were sorted, I wandered round a bit, as I have had a burning desire for a pair of red shoes for a couple of years. I saw a couple of pairs, just the shade I wanted, but at £60 each, I just couldn't justify it. I got steadily grumpier throughout the day, and came home and threw everything out of my wardrobe, all the old clothes that I don't wear because they no longer fit, or I just don't like them, and then Da Da! I found a pair of handmade shoes that I no longer wear because they were a rather unpleasant shade of yellow. Well, a trip to Bowdens ( the best shop in the world - but that must wait for another post) turned up a cherry red pot of shoe polish, and an hour later, with as much shoe polish on my hands as on my shoes , I have a pair in just the shade I want! This has led to a flurry of mending and making do, and upcycling old clothes.

A rummage through my fabric boxes has provided a gorgeous selection of fabrics, and I have added a strip of this beautiful striped fabric to the bottom of a red knee length skirt (which made me look even shorter and squatter than usual) to make a great full length skirt. I also dyed a nasty grey parka a lovely chocolate brown ( had to boil it up in my enamel bread bin as none of my pans were big enough), and I'm now going to jazz it up with these fabrics. My absolute favourite is the printed needlecord in the centre which I got at a garage sale in the village. So this might mean not much painting for a few days. But you know, there are times when a girl's just GOT to have some new clothes!