Me, Halloween.

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There will always be something special about something that has been made by hand. I’ve been loving this recent resurgence for handmade things, natural materials and artist/craftsperson created work.

I have always, since I was little, loved to make things. It started in our tiny back garden, where I used to play in the mud. I was never happier than when I was out there! My favourite thing to do was sit, in the mud, with a bowl of water, pouring it into the ground and making mud pies, mud houses, mud lakes, and thick flowing chocolate coloured rivers. I rolled it, squelched it, poured it, formed it..oh such fun. Come to think of it, maybe I should take up pottery?! I have never forgotten that first feeling of making something with my hands. I also liked the instantaneous-ness of creating these ephemeral mud things – a creative impatience that has stuck with me. All my life I have been “making things”, but I have never become particularly expert at any particular craft, as I have never been able to stick at one thing for long enough, I am too quick to want to move onto the next. In my heart I am still that indulgent girl rolling in mud. I still love to make though, for presents and for myself, handmade books to pictures to photography, to papercuts, you name it I have tried it at one time or another..!

This lack of patience on my part makes me really appreciate even more the patience of others to create beautiful things. The time it takes to weave something, form something beautiful from wood or stone, to paint a perfect picture, can be felt in the essence of the thing itself I feel. I really admire it, and fall in love with pieces that hold this quality of stillness..I love too how things that are well made can carry through the years, and show the marks, like the old 1930′s armchair I have in my living room with large curved arms, showing all the shadows of the hands that have stroked them and rested there..

I first discovered Angie Lewin when I became fascinated by printmaking. I bought her book “Plants and Places” and was in love with it from the first page. Filled with stories of how each picture came to be, you get a real sense of the artists process and life. The book is filled with beautiful prints, some showing the initial sketches, so it is possible to see the evolving print from pencil sketch to finished design. I particularly love the descriptions of the way that she works, talking of how “sketchy watercolours remind me of chilly Autumn days by the river or a windswept shingle beach; flipping through my pencil sketches with scribbled colour notes of common sorrel and plaintain, I remember that they were made quickly by a hill track, the sketchbook’s pages taped down against the wind.” Angie lives and works between two studios, in the wilds of Norfolk and Scotland, where she wanders hill, beach, field and lane, recording what she finds there, hunting out the tiniest detail and turning it into printed form, using wood engraving, linocut, screenprint or lithograph. I truly believe that you can feel this wild nature in almost all of her work. The prints have movement and breath, a real hunted and gathered spirit. Angie Lewin’s website is here.

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Wooden Dolls, by Elsa Mora

These sweet little handmade dolls are just one of the many things I love on the website of Californian mulitmedia artist Elsa Mora. I have enjoyed reading her blog, as she shares her thoughts, passions and journey through her creative process. She makes wonderful papercut art, paintings and more – most recently she has started to make embroidery and jewellery -

Owl Pendant, Elsa Mora

I’m really into owls at the moment, and I so love this little one – unfortunately her work sells out almost as soon as it is put up – so visit quickly! Click on the photos or here to visit her site.

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Finally, just a few things appearing at Brighton Made this year – original and exceptional design and craft from the best local and national makers.

Marion Brandis ceramics

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Annette Bukansky, ceramics

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Revolving Book, Angela Davies

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Becky Crow, Contemporary Jewellery

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For more info on Brighton Made, and other fantastic craft fairs and artists, visit the Made blog here.

Have a great week!

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