These beautiful little cards I discovered on Pinterest years ago have been a source of inspiration and curiosity to me for some time. I have never really known anything about them, I just assumed they were some form of obscure renaissance folk-art. Pinterest being what it is, found images seldom come with information, but I turned up a few more of these yesterday and one was titled 'Robert Coutelas'. Eager to learn more, I Googled Robert Coutelas and turned up nothing - until I went to Japan (virtually, of course). An exhibition of Robert Coutelas' work was held in Tokyo in 2016, which seems to have made quite an impression in Japan. There is a super website at robert-coutelas.com with luscious, high quality photos by Isao Hirachi of Coutelas' work (it was odd the website didn't pop up first in my search). I can't read Japanese, so I was none the wiser about the man behind the work at this point, but after some further digging I found out a bit more ...
I didn't get around to posting last weekend because of this! We had a houseful staying for Dorifest held at Driftland, which is only 10 minutes drive away from us. A team of five and three cars taking part in the festival pitched up last Friday afternoon to stay the weekend. Spirits were high and it was a tremendously exciting weekend for B and me. I could not have asked for better house guests, a nicer bunch of lads (and a lass) could not be met, and the topping on the cake was that they came away from Dorifest with a trophy. They have put together a brilliant fun video on YouTube of them driving in the competition, and also their journey to Scotland which I hope was a little more sedate.
I came across this panel in B's painting shed the other day, on the back of one of his paint tests. He makes his own paint, and tests the colours in swatches painted on small gessoed boards on stretchers. The swatch was facing the wall, revealing this small abandoned painting, scraped off, turned over and repurposed, with the stretcher now forming a deep frame around the picture. I would actually hang it on the wall just as it is. I love the texture and colours, and at some time soon I think this may form a background to an illustration. An update on my avocado roots this week - they could really do with being potted now as the leaves are beginning to look sad, no doubt lacking nutrients. See their development since February here and right at the beginning in July last year here ... I can't believe the force of nature hidden in the stones. The jar in the centre's stone split in half, leaving just what's showing above.
This is a good example of my illustration interests merging with my drawing interest. I took the crackled map-like photo from last month and collaged flowering vines and birds onto it.
It's more of a Binky McKee job and no doubt will appear somewhere in the Binky archives, but it perfectly demonstrates a collaboration - after all, I am the same person, and my life isn't all schizoid! |
Welcome to my work journal - a weekly update on drawings, work in progress, doodles and day-dreaming.
I changed the website address a few months ago, so some older links on previous posts are broken. If you click one of those and it takes you to a strange page, simply replace the .co.uk after the heatherelizawalker. with weebly.com and it will work again. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
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As well as the work you see here, I illustrate under the name of Binky McKee (my mother's maiden name was McKee, Binky was every single one of my great grandmother's many cats!)
If you would like to visit my Binky website, please click the picture above. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Dissolving PeopleA symbol on the footpath outside a local primary school gradually disappearing as the image breaks up and wears away until eventually it is obliterated by leaves and barely discernible. Photographed at intervals of several months between February 2021 and November 2022, oldest at the top.
(My shoes look so new in the first pic, and note the transition to new phone in the last photo). <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
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April 2024
(Sorry the archives don't nest!)
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A 2013 work book, still very much in use Please note all images on this website are ©Heather Eliza Walker 2013 - 2020, and may not be used or reproduced without prior consent. |