Planet Ruby Starrs

We have recently inherited a large number of paintings, photographs and hand rendered drawings from Dr Freds family.  Its a wonderful documentation a long history of his life in the south of England and quite a lot of his parents and family lives before he even arrived.  There are hundreds of photographs all waiting to be sorted and cataloged - a winters evening job (weeks, months, rather than evenings I suspect).  It will make interesting reading... His dad was a talented artist and we have a lot of lovely drawings which we now need to find a fitting home for... And then ... there are the oils, we now have a large collection of ornate gold frames with various pictures inside some hand rendered oils - mainly landscapes, some with extremely sentimental value as they are painted by friends and family and some rather tacky nondescript prints which obviously some one liked along the way but are really not our cup of tea.  Some of the paintings are quite large and ...

A wee mini adventure in-between house clearing chores took us to London town to enjoy and rather stunning space spectacular concert at the Royal Albert Hall this last weekend.  This was my first visit to this venue and we had a brilliant night out.    Dr Fred and I were guests of two very dear pals who treated us to a private box, we made a serious effort - you know brushing hair and  proper clobber and all looking the bees knees we had a very enjoyable evening - fab meal at a nearby Lebanese restaurant and then superb music from various composers (including John Williams) performed by the London Concert Orchestra with Raymond Gubbay, accompanied by a laser light show and indoor fireworks.  ET turned up as did Superman and Darth Vader - the music was amazing - varied and it surprised me how much of it I instantly recognized from the various film sound tracks - many movies that I have grown up with over the years... The next day we got up and organised ...

I've been decorating!! I warned our landlord and hes very open minded... He knows I will put in back to neutral when (if ha ha) we leave, but in a bid to banish the beige I have started a rethink of the house in general.  I'm struggling to find the right colour for the living room - it has to be right, a reasonably peaceful hue but not pale!!! The dining/ kitchen area though is another kettle of fish.  It a much darker space having the sun room tacked on - leaving only one window for light so it needs pops of colour and something to make it lively!!! so.... taking inspiration from my recent college work and some of the designs I did for fabrics and wallpapers I have come up with a slightly refined version which now adorns our dining room... not everyone's cup of tea, kettle of fish but its our dogs dinner... We live in rented accommodation and I'm loathe to spend much mulah on fancy wallpaper - so we have to be inventive and experimental - some hand rendered and p...

A complete break from college stuff as my daughter and her two children and myself headed off to France for an adventure.  For the girls it was the first time on an plane and it was pretty amazing, little legs was totally entranced by the whole experience, she soon got over the disappointment that nana wasn't driving and spent the whole time sat on my knee spotting her house - nanas house ( I wish ....we were over Jersey at this point) - there were actual boats but I wondered whether the 'whales ' she spotted were real... Then a serious rip off taxi ride to the camping Chateaux de Galinee in north Brittany, the same price for 20 mins 10 mile as an adult plane fare!! And the next bit of adventure - a caravan - which little legs thinks is called an airport!! and best of all a huge HEATED swimming area with wave machines Jacuzzi jets, and water slides - heaven for our water babies!!!! I totally renegaded on my promise to go on the water slides but no one seemed to care - the...

 The Northern School of Art Degree Show.   This is the Textiles Graduate show at college, looking stunning!!!  It will be my turn next year in the meantime I went to have a look for continued inspiration!!!! Elizabeth Medley my favourite in the whole show, lots of drawn laser cut painted colour, layers and shapes, beautifully displayed in the dye lab.  Its a show well worth a visit if you are anywhere near Hartlepool.  My main interest was in the Textile and Surface Design Graduates who put on a stunning collection of diverse fashion, furnishing and wallpaper designs.   Other factions of the college were also having their graduate shows which were very interesting and Level 5 Textile students - thats me and my peers - studios were also open to the public, with all the corridors dressed with our work as well it looked well splendid. Ali Wilkes, industrial inspiration using organic natural shapes and forms - lots of hand and screen print...