Caravan Doodles

Not sure I've mentioned it before but I like to do lots of doodling when I can and am member of a local Illustration collective Set of Drawers. We get together quite regularly to talk, show and celebrate illustration, and once a year we hold a themed exhibition and a Big Draw event, as part of the National Campaign for Drawing. This year's exhibition is on currently at Newcastle Arts Centre, entitled Babes In The Woods, inspired by woodlands and creatures of the forest. I was thrilled to take part, not least as it gave me the perfect excuse to feature those lovely ladies, Helga, Betty and Liberty.

Betty's Summer adventure

Here's just a taster of our wee trip to France, Belgium and Switzerland. If you'd like to see more there's album hiding away here on Facebook

So very British

This weekend the Olympic torch made its way through our city. We had a bird's eye view from your friends apartment on Grey Street.

Like mother, like daughter

Going through some old pictures and found this one of Lil, her poodle and one of her very cute little caravans.

Jubilant Celebrations

A super quick trip to London (for work purposes) this week turned in to a lovely treat. The atmosphere in our capital was inspiring. The city is really gearing up for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations and there didn't appear to be one street that's not lined with bunting.

With a two hour wait for my train I serendipitously became the owner of a wonderful new book entitled Tea and Cakes by Emma Block. The launch was taking place at Watermark Books in the new Kings Cross.

We managed to sneak away for a couple of days with Betty to the very lovely village of Wolsingham.

Making hay while the sun shines

All this glorious weather has meant Betty and Liberty can have that lick of paint they've been yearning for these past few months, or in Liberty's case years.

It hasn't been all work though. These few sunny days have also meant two other things... bicycle rides and picnics...

Helga and The Nomadic Village

 

For the next two weeks Helga will spending  some time on the company of 35 international artists as part of The Nomadic Village, an artist residency produced in collaboration with Isis Arts and Klaus Maehring. Here's a bit more info on the project, taken from Isis's website

From 21 May to 3 June 2012, County Durham is housing a village within a town, when a 'Nomadic Village' of over 30 international artists makes its temporary home in Wolsingham. The artists are living and working in camper vans, caravans, marquees, a converted police bus and even an adapted milk float based at the Desmesne Mill Picnic Area in Wolsingham. The 10-day project provides space for professional artists working in a variety of mediums to live and work, engage and interact with the local community and produce work that responds to the location and situation. At the end of the Village, on Friday 1 June, there will be a public exhibition, and during the Village there will be open afternoons for the local residents to visit the artists at work.

Some snippets of the ladies...

A new framing app has meant the girls caravans had a photoshoot at the weekend.

In all their instagram effected glory, I present to you Liberty, Betty and Helga (in that order)...

 

Rainy days

 Where's the sun? It should be here by now. We're having an awfully cold spring and far too much rain for this time of year, which is very annoying as it means we can't finish Betty's coat of red, nor Liberty's new racing green exterior. It has meant though that we've spent a couple of weekends catching up with chums and doing lovely things like pub lunches, country walks, charity shopping, auctions and antique sales.

It's also meant that we could focus on Betty's interior, which is coming along quite nicely with a little help from Cole and Son's lovely hummingbird wallpaper.

OooOOoooh Betty

A real quick post to show Betty's transformation mid make over... She's a real beaut.