Planet Ruby Starrs

I'm on the Isle of Skye ...its very atmospheric... misty, snowy and still very beautiful.  I'm posting this via my mobile (a first) I hope it works. Editing this now I'm home... wonderful atmospheric walk on the hillside with fabulous views - it looks damp and misty and it indeed was - but still really splendid.  The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle head wear was a present I bought my son last time I came to Skye and interestingly he didnt like it as much as I did seemingly hes grown out of turtles!!! Hes only 30 goodness knows hes got a lot of growing up to do!!!!   Anyway his suggestion was that if I liked it so much I should wear it so I do! everywhere! And its warm and makes people smile and often talk to me...  and.... My boy also admitted if I'd have got the orange one he'd probably have worn it!!!!

I've been on a little jaunt to my home town Leeds... chance to to see my lovely children and even lovelier grand children - still cant my head round being a nana, I delivered the scrap quilt and promised the baby one from the next bag of scraps.   It was also a chance to go round the once magnificent Leeds Market - and buy fabric... yes I know its technically not allowed but I needed inspiration and possibly spots for this current project ... Leeds market is well worth a visit - Visitors to Leeds head for the Trinty Mall ( which I've only been in once) and the Victorian Quarter - both splendid shopping areas but Trinty despite having a sculpture in there by Adam Scott - the chap who did the Falkirk Kelpies is really just like any other shopping mall in the UK - The Victoria Quarter is a little bit more interesting with some bespoke shops offering expensive but original items.   For me the Victoria Quarter brings back memories of an original Virgin Records shop - with

So the brief is Dot Spots and all things Circular so very circuitously I have arrived at spotty moths... or moths on spots or moths in circles or even circling moths ..... yes its a broad interpretation of the brief but it will work out well and I hope will produce some interesting work. Despite our academic year rapidly coming to an end there is still lots to learn and do - today we had an explanation and demonstration of digital printing.  I've been lucky and last term had some of my samples printed up, its very exciting to see your own designs actually on cloth - really very fabulous if I'm honest, but I'm probably going to leave all that exciting malarkey to look forward to next year, I'm going to practise embellishment to end this year with. For this assignment we have to decide on a couple of techniques we either like or want to work up and concentrate on them and produce a collection of samples and some finished pieces.  The class was buzzing... so many di

Its been a busy week, loads of lovely friends staying, fab weekend with  friends walking on the beach and nice sunday dinner at the Sun Inn Alnmouth - a birthday for Dr Fred, final hand in for the Dr Martens project (phew..) and of course the Yuri Gagarin Space party!!!! If you've never experienced a Yuri party then you need to consider finding one for April 12th next year!!! This year we helped a bar in town Ernest's to host a most spectacular event, not just good space tunes with DJ Yuri Cosmos (aka Dr Fred) but space jesters on flaming unicycles - luminous space cocktails, good fun and lots of brilliant costumes.  This party celebrates Yuri Gagarin - the first man in space April 12th 1961... there are parties all over the world on this night and this just happens to coincide with Dr Fred's birthday so we always make a bit of an event of it and its great fun.  I never seem to have time to do my fancy dress - too busy making mirror ball suits and furry jackets fo

'Colour is a power which directly influences the soul.' (Wassily Kandinksy)

I've just had a very pleasant few days with my son, he really appreciates art and what it can offer so it was so nice to look at the various art galleries in Newcastle with him.  We also went to Alnwick Castle - I've never been before and it was really very splendid and there was a falconry demonstration which was good... (read "H is for Hawk" by Helen McDonaldson - a really interesting read).  We did the usual walks on the beach (in the rain) and wandered round the harbour at Amble but most importantly we did quite a bit on Photoshop and I feel a bit like I'm grasping some of the basic and I actually managed to get one of my drawings on a Dr Marten Boot - and more excitingly I know how I did it and could do it again!!! I used a template from the internet as I dont have access to a scanner at home at the moment so I couldn't use my own drawings and then overlaid the pattern....  and then I got fancy with the next one using the chains motif and putti

Lovely day in the garden, just generally tidying and digging over the ground to get ready for planting some herbaceous plants.  Spring feels like it has arrived at least for today.   Everywhere is full of bird song and the rooks are circling around building what can only be described as the equivalent of a high rise mansion house. Its nearly time for the annual sunflower growing competition, this is a local friendly event which I won last year but someone up the lane thinks she will win this year (was a previous winner - might be fair to say a bad loser haha )...and today while I was sitting in the garden the ducks that (surprisingly) also live up the lane just blatantly waddled in and ate my cache of  egg shells I religiously save to use as slug deterrents.... there is definitely an ulterior agenda here - these ducks have been trained!!!  I strongly suspect this is an early tactic to sabotage my sunflowers....   evil plans afoot I wonder!!!! There's a lot at stake here -