INNER SMILE and HAPPINESS

About a week ago I decided to write a little each day on my face book page about my inner smile and happiness –  commenting on how I was feeling  – hoping that I could actually write something light and positive each and every day. Days 1 – 6 were easy. My smile was naturally there. Life was good. I was busily preparing art for a  forthcoming mad hatters tea party and a TIME themed exhibition. I was mega busy!  – hence having lapsed in my writing here.( Photos will follow in another post.)

Since starting the  ISH journal I had  woken each day with joy. However today, as Day 7 dawned, I was feeling a little under the weather. No, I was healthy, nothing wrong with me, yet that smile and inner happiness was merely lurking in the background.  Maybe I had been too busy. Maybe it was because the sun wasn’t bright – and I NEED sunshine. Being a colourist I don’t do well with grey. It was colder than recently and the wind was buffeting. I don’t like that either.  So I was ready and up for the challenge to find ways to bring back my natural inner glow. I am believer in following my heart – so I did just that. I knew that something that when something  “called me”  —  what I call following the pull of my heart,  it would bring me back to my normal bubbly self. So I  decided to watch some morning TV. Fiona Bruce was hosting a programme about art – and  was in the process of discovering whether a wonderful art piece possibly by Vuillard was a forgery or REAL. I was fascinated by the long winded and painstaking process  they had to go through to get the piece authenticated.I was so happy to sit feet up watching breakfast time TV! I was elated when the owner was finally given a REAL verdict. His joy was palpable.  I started to lighten up, though in all honesty SELF was still a little subdued. I knew I needed to do more of following my heart. Next I went B & Q to buy a new light fitting for the kitchen. They had exactly what I wanted and then I got side tracked into buying a few other household items including tile paint for the kitchen. I reckoned it might be cheaper and quicker than re-tiling, though not sure when I will get to start it!   By this time I was feeling a little brighter.

I next planned to go to our local community garden to do some yarn-bombing.  I am making over the  bicycle which stands by the gates to attract passers by.  I sat in the weak sunlight for an hour or so happily stitching knitted pieces to cover the bike. I was getting cold and hungry BUT still loving what I was doing. The colourful knitted pieces were piled high in a large bag. All I had to do was choose the colours, sit, sew and enjoy.

AND I DID!

 

My spirits lifted.

The Southsea Greenhouse garden is such a beautiful place to go and visit. I thoroughly recommend it.  (www.southseagreenhouse.co.uk)    All the other volunteers there are a great bunch. The area is so full of life.  A dad and small child walked by and the little girl’s eyes lit up when she saw the bike. That made my day. The simple things in life – and free in this case  – had just brought joy to others  – and suddenly I was back to being a happy bunny.

I have also found another way to bring back my sense of happiness – ie a way to balance my mood. I LOVE colour  – as you can see from the bike photo –  but sometimes I just  need the balance of black and white to regain equilibrium  —  and so I create zentangle  patterns. This particular one was of a bird. I create the designs from my heart.

Freya Perry – a black and white zentangle bird creation

It ‘s nice to know that we can choose to create our inner happiness and bring back our inner smile.  

On yer bike!

Life has been crazily and happily busy this past week, so all I have time to write today is this tiny piece.

I don’t own a bike anymore … but my friend Sue has and old battered one that she wanted yarn bombing  to create a feature at a  wonderful community garden project.   ( I am an artist and crafter linked with the centre. )  Check out http://www.southseagreenhouse.co.uk    and you can see what happened to an old  overgrown piece of land when people in the community took it over and created the most beautiful community garden.

I am mega busy  this week too –    but it was a delight to step back from my own creative work today and sit in her lounge late this afternoon – until early evening  and stitch umpteen donated knitted pieces around the bicycle frame. We drank much tea, ate cake and hot cross buns  – and nattered while we stitched!

And although it’s not finished  yet –  here’s what we got up to.

Freya yarnbombing a bicycle.

Freya and Sue Yarnbombing a bicycle.

It was very therapeutic and relaxing and was finished off with a roast chicken dinner. ( Thanks to Sue –  YUM!)

As I have said before I love my creative life.

my LOVE LIFE!

Well it will soon be Valentine’s day –  that time of year when our LOVE LIFE  is uppermost in our thoughts. It’s great to receive those cards and wonder who sent them!

.. but  I am not referring to that sort of love life – rather LOVING LIFE  itself.  I have the most amazing time, daily, weekly, monthly  – having fun enjoying being creative. I really do Love my Life. The past weeks have been spent getting ready for an exhibition  which starts tomorrow. I love colour as you well know and have a passion for it. This art work has given me free rein to indulge myself by using a variety of materials and textures  – and dipping into the rainbow.

Here’s a selection of my quirky art in the Exhibition LOVE LIFE at le Cafe Parisien in Portsmouth –  7th February 2014.

Rainbow hair art doll

This delightful rainbow haired art doll is approximately 12 inches tall.  As you can see she loves colour too!  I was drawn to purple and dark aqua for this elfin (fairy) lady – who has soft wings.

Above is a group of art for the exhibition.  Long tall Lizzie – as I like to think of her – represents loving life itself.  She is about 3 foot tall. I created her pattern, stitched and stuffed the form and then had a ball creating her costume.  I took an old sweater of mine and felted it in the washing machine. Once I’d cut it down to fit her, I added  embellishments by hand.  I created pink tights, then  went on to makeover her sneakers  – great fun!   I painted them, added sparkle, glitter and words. (Dream.)  Hair hair is made from merino wool and her fingers sport stick-on nail art!  Like all good kids she has a water bottle draped over her shoulder. You can see close ups of this work on my facebook artist page   Freya Perry : Enchanting art.

The next photos are mixed media . A wrapped wire heart   “About time” – ( there’s a small clock on it)  makes me wonder if  ‘he’ will ask ‘her’ to marry him!   This is followed by  an aspect of a larger ceramic piece. It is hand made paper clay. The words read “spend time in nature.”

tiny part of a ceramic exhibit – come find it at the exhibition.

The final photo is a ceramic piece with a touch of yarn. I love knitting too and so does this character.

“I Love to Knit” Ceramic Art

 

The BAG LADY!

This ‘bag lady’  has lots of bags:  handbags, designer bags, shopping bags, plastic bags, ripped yarn bags, handmade bags : small ones, tiny ones, large ones, oversize ones –  and if you are getting to know me, then by now you will of course understand that they have to match my outfit or mood.  This evening’s colour is ORANGE. That’s because my photo group are choosing something orange as the topic. Not a colour that many of choose to wear quite frankly. It can look quite harsh, but it does have a somewhat frivolous feel to it. It can look quite cheap – but also elegant. That depends on the tint, tone or shade you choose to use.  It is light-hearted.   

Orange brings us creativity and fun!  I am all for that. Recently  I saw a lovely piece of fabric. I was drawn to the orange in the pattern and was ready to play. My creative urge again. The fabric was quite dramatic, so I wanted to soften it. I ripped it, knotted it and wrapped it into a ball of knitting yarn. I didn’t have a set idea of stitches. It was organic and just happened. I like to work that way. I also decided that I wanted the knots to show as part of the design. So if you want to create one – here’s how!

Cast enough stitches to make the row as as wide as you feel you want the bag to be — then continue knitting ( garter knit stitch is easy) until it’s long enough to be able to double up / turn up to form a pouch.  If you knit an even longer piece then you can form a flap. (I left the knots showing on the right side to become a feature in the design.)  Finally you stitch the sides – and then you have a small bag. ‘ Simples’ as they say!  Finally stitch on some handles. ( You could knit a long shoulder bag rope style handle.) I also added some buttons and beads to enhance the design.  I loved it and it gets many comments.  This is the result.

Piece of  fabric

 

Ripped fabric

 

ripped fabric

 

close up of  knitted “yarn”  with buttons and beads added

ripped yarn bag

 

Finished ripped yarn bag

This is another variation on the theme.

Art Knitted bag
with hand made polymer clay button

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial. I wasn’t planning to do this  ..   as with all my creative work it just happened when I was in the flow.

 

RAINDROPS AND ROSES

I love rainbows.  My  passion is colour first and foremost in my life. Over the past couple of days I have been creating rainbows as part of a textile piece for an exhibition  taking place on the 7th February.  The exhibition “Love LIFE”  has some of my ceramic art and textile work on display. The piece I am currently working on is a  over – sized art doll. Her costume is a delight. I shrunk and felted an old sweater of mine ( purple and orange) and I am in the process of embellishing it with rainbow colours in a variety of ways. There are buttons, and cross stitch and flowers and ceramic pieces.

When I create rainbows it isn’t always the complete spectrum I have to say. I nearly always start with colours that uplift and  balance me. Feeling good is always important.  I chose my colours according to my mood . One day it could be red for energy – another green for peace, balance and harmony. ( The other day I wrote about RED.)   Mostly my colour choices  fit with what I am feeling, but of course there are times when the colours I need to work with are not the colours that my soul needs on that day. On those occasions I choose to use crystals and music to bring about my equilibrium.   Today its Paolo Nutini singing about new shoes ! Red ones!   His music is uplifting as the rain beats down on the window.

Freya creating art doll costume

ed ones!

However yesterday and today  I have been happily playing with the rainbow spectrum  while creating a  costume for the art doll.  I am including a photo or two of aspects of the work.  I have created some amazing sneakers for her – a shoe make-over of a pair cf children’s shoes  –    and currently am working on her costume  which I  am embellishing with orange, pink, aqua, blue, yellow  ….  and more  —   ooh  such joy!   Everything is coming up roses as they say!