Betwixt and Between

 

old life and new in the garden
© Teresa Newham

It's a special period, the time between Christmas and New Year. Things are just starting to stir in the garden; the church is still celebrating Christmas Time, harking back to the old tradition of daily feasting and jollity during the Twelve Days of Christmas; some people call this week Betwixtmas and spend it watching Netflix in their PJs; and many of us fortunate enough not to be working have been taking time out to rest, contemplate, dream and plan.

all Christmas-carded out
© Teresa Newham

Since the excitement of Open Studios and the Harpenden Arts Club exhibition back in September and October, my art life has consisted almost entirely of printing up old Christmas cards to sell in aid of the church building fund, and creating a new one for friends and family. This week I put the few remaining cards into storage, freeing myself to think about other projects.

waiting since September
© Teresa Newham

I'm hoping to get started soon on a design for a linocut which has been sitting in my sketchbook since September.  As quite often happens, the delay in getting around to doing anything with it  has been a blessing, as several ideas have floated to the surface in the meantime.  I also want to see if I can adapt an old sketch and turn it into a Japanese Woodblock print or two - it's hard to resist the lure of the Skelligs . . . 

an old sketch to simplify
© Teresa Newham

Mainly, though, I've been content to relax and leaf through my books, including A Year Unfolding by Angela Harding, which I was given for Christmas.  There's a new Moleskin watercolour sketchbook which I'm looking forward to using outdoors when the weather improves. Laura Boswell's latest video The Twelve Gizmos of Christmas has given me a few ideas, and the February (!) edition of Artists and Illustrators dropped through the door this morning. Time to look forward to a Happy New Year!

enticing and inspiring gifts
© Teresa Newham

Calendar memories

 

January & February
© Teresa Newham

Every November I put together a calendar of my best photos as a Christmas present.  I hang one in my studio, too, to remind me what I was doing this time last year.  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 version turned out to be very, very local . . .

March & April
© Teresa Newham

Apart from the January pic of the countryside near Ware (actually taken at the very end of December 2019 but I can't imagine that the scenery changed much in 48 hours), this year's crop of photos were taken within half a mile of our house; in the garden, the nearby lanes, and on our housing estate.

May & June
© Teresa Newham

A few, such as February's cherry blossom and August's close-up of Agapanthus flowers, are my experiments with the Canon EOS DSLR I bought myself last January; the rest are purely opportunistic  iPhone shots, of which July's apple tree is my favourite.

July & August
© Teresa Newham

I'm hoping to make a linocut based on September's picture (one of several projects I have in mind once I've taught myself the basics of Japanese Woodblock) and I'm already gathering images for the 2022 calendar;  I could do one of views of my favourite field alone . . .

September & October
© Teresa Newham

The November image is one of a series of photographs which inspired my watercolour Harpenden Common in Autumn, taken back in November 2019 while walking to the station on my way to a meeting in London about the January 2020  Journeys in Hope exhibition.  How long ago all that seems now!

November & December
© Teresa Newham

violets

violets
linocut by Teresa Newham

For this mini linocut (it measures no more than 7 cm x 15 cm) I didn't need to go far for inspiration.  It was the beginning of April when I first spotted these pretty little flowers in a sheltered corner of the back garden.

violets in the garden
© Teresa Newham

I was working on other projects, so it wasn't until a few weeks later that I started making some sketches of possible designs of both violets and celandines, which were flowering at the same time.  I had intended to make a full size piece, but in the end I chose another subject for that, which is still in progress.

working out wildflower ideas
© Teresa Newham

At the moment I've abandoned my bench hook when cutting, preferring to use rug liner - the sort that prevents rugs sliding about on laminated floors or carpet.  I find I can turn the lino much more easily, which helps when creating curves; but as ever, I have to be extremely careful that the direction of the cut is away from my hand.

the cut
© Teresa Newham

The violets are gone from the garden now, as are the celandines, and other wild flowers are gracing our gardens and hedgerows at the moment.  I wish I had time to make a linocut of them all, but there's an unfinished project to be getting on with . . . !

the finished print
© Teresa Newham