It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.... Well, maybe just a little

Lots of snow in the Lake District today but just freezing cold and rainy here. Living by the sea has many advantages but I do miss the snow. The Open House is first approaching with just a week to go so Christmas always seems to come a bit earlier than it used to. Ruth has got some fantastic decorations again this year - in addition to her fused glass presents, the stars and the iridescent baubles, she has mistletoe and abstract trees.

New Cards from Vicky Scott (and some you may have seen before)

Vicky's cards always go down well at the Open House and she has some new designs alongside some older favourites. There will be a fantastic selection of cards for all occasions, not just Christmas. Many of the cards are prints of her highly detailed paper collages. The work involved is incredibly intricate. Why not stock up and use throughout the year?

A Bit of Peace and Happiness

Interesting that the dove is seen as a symbol of peace whereas it's actually a quarrelsome, territorial bird. Remind you of anyone who's now trying to come across as reasonable and conciliatory despite the vitriol he's been spouting over the last few months. However, after the events of yesterday I think we'll all just settle for whatever reminds us of peace and hope.

Here's Ruth's dove in progress and completed. The bottom two pictures show how it glows with the light behind it.

Doesn't Time Fly?

I can't believe it's now only 23 days until the Open House begins. Now is when things really start getting a bit frantic. I've spent the day mounting photos and bottling up fruit liqueurs so at least I feel like I've actually done something constructive with my day. The flyers arrived yesterday so I need to start getting them out. Please come along to see our work - all the same artists as May but with lots of new art and crafts to look at.

Black Cat Day

Slugger Mayzie 5th May 1998 - 7th March 2016

Poppies Are Not Just For Remembrance

They are also for eternal sleep, imagination, consolation, pleasure and fantastic extravagance - take your pick - and that's just the red ones. But I do like it that such a showy flower blooms with such abandon in the fields and the roadside. And there are few flowers (except Honesty with its stunning papery seed pod) that look so beautiful at so many stages of their life cycle. Here's a series of photos I took this summer.

45 Days to Go

So the countdown to the next Open House has started... 45 days to go. It's at this point that most of us start thinking "must get on with some work".  Not so Ruth Mullan who has been super busy and creative with lots of new stained and fused glass on the go.  Here is an owl in various stages of construction. Can't wait to see it in real life.