I remember seeing a bigger antique version of this in a friend's house many eyars ago, and always hankered after one. Mine is new, but I have my own now, and he wasn't too much money - I think he's rather lovely :)
After we'd done our Saturday bits in town, we went out to Newton Forge to ask about smoke doors for the chimney - MrL wants to put one in to make it easier to sweep out the chimney now we have the woodburner in. It's nice to make the extra effort to visit a good business where they handcraft a lot of their own things; this is a particularly interesting and inspiring place. Sadly, the showroom was shut, so I sat in the car and knitted whilst MrL had a word with one of the chaps there. They don't make the doors themselves, but we have ordered one for delivery soon. Hope MrL knows what he's doing with my chimney lol
Next stop was a friend's house to visit a small exhibition she was having. She is a weaver - I always find that a particularly pleasing thing to say, conjuring up all sorts of lovely and inspiring images in my mind. Her work is beautiful, and her husband contributed his sculptures and paintings too. The point I want to make here, though, is that more often than not, smaller exhibitions, especially in the artist's home like this one was, I often find more inspiring than those big professional staged events/shows/exhibitions put on in huge venues - crowds, no touching, no meeting the artist, no knowledge of the artist or how s/he lives and works......... We parked outside the house and walked through the garden to the house, where a couple of rooms were filed with colour, texture, textiles, painting, sculptures, cards - all sorts. We could pick up the scarves and throws, turn the smaller pieces of enmtal sculptures around in our hands, stand back to really take time to look at the paintings and *see* them properly - rarely possible in a proper gallery or exhibition space. The artists were there, ofcourse, this being their home, and it was lovely to be welcomed by them.
I would urge you all to try and make time to visit artist's smaller exhibitions, in their homes and studios etc; to see the work in situ, in progress and meet the artists themselves in unhurried and relaxed settings only adds to the whole experience.
I came away hugely inspired, and determined that by this time next year I too will be able to call myself a weaver, to a lesser or greater degree.:)
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