Fruits of the Spirit

There is some debate as to how many fruits of the spirit there actually are. For my 'Fruits of the Spirit' Star Heart project I have rounded the number down to nine. So here are the nine fruits of the spirit in doll form: Faith, Constancy, Kindness, Joy, Integrity, Gentleness, Patience, Peace and Love.

Selfies from the Eighties

I was angst ridden as a teenager. Very keen on dead pop stars, Edgar Allan Poe and horror portmanteau films like Dead of Night and From Beyond the Grave. I still have similar tastes, but have lightened up considerably since then. Accompanying my gloomy self-portraits from my adolescence is a gloomy self-portrait in poetic form called 'Not a Very Pretty Sight'.

Not a Very Pretty Sight by Lorna Wadge

Someone looks out through the bathroom steam

There is a strange reassurance, things are not all they seem

Fingernails squeeze her skin curiously

In a desperate attempt to cure the acne

She can hardly see through an overgrown fringe

As she reaches for the baby soap and starts to cringe

I have heard about reflections

They make you look pretty by distorting the view

Just shows how many people gaze at themselves

Haven't they anything better to do

She looks slightly sallow and painfully thin

What a terrible state to get herself in

Her hair is reminiscent of a sad drowned rat

She wonders what she is looking at

Who could she possible be today?

When all teenagers are infamous anyway

She looks so ill, so unhealthily pale

It is not so attractive being young and female

Her eyes are anxious, dull and brown

They are looking at life when it is upside down

She dislikes herself from her head to her toes

And she is paranoid about her nose

How could anyone live with something like that?

She is wetter than the bathroom mat

Her mouth is dry, her thin lips are cracked

you can see the signs of a blues attack.

Freckles hide phobias, adolescence hides the smiles

Damp hides the scratches on the bathroom tiles

She looks rather tired, she knows it is all in vain

When I look in the mirror I will see her again

Boy Toys with Manly Virtues

After drawing my three virtuous girls with blonde, brown and auburn hair, I thought I would do a complementary project for the boys. Of course virtues are for everyone, but I did a little research and came up with three 'manly' virtues that were also contemporary boys names; Loyal, Valliant and Earnest. I made the boy dolls before I worked on the pictures which are inspired by three contempoarary heroes; Jacob from Twilight, Ron from Harry Potter and Peeta from The Hunger Games. 

Blooks and Blogs

I began following blogs in 2010, the first blogs I followed were doll blogs; Jess Brown, Tiny Concept and the Black Apple. The blog I've admired most is Emily Martin's 'Black Apple' blog, I feel it is full of good, creative ideas and has been going since 2008. When I started doing the occasional craft fair, people would ask 'do you have anything I can look at on-line?' that's when I thought seriously about doing a blog myself. The best bit of advice I found was give yourself a few months to figure out what you are going to put on your blog. So I spent a few months over 2013 (intermingled with a lot of bereavement, I had 3 significant deaths to deal with over the space of a year) thinking about my blog. Anyway, I had various questions to find answers to, before I began.

1. How frequently will I post? I thought once a fortnight, once a week sometimes, but at least once a month.

2. How many years will I keep going? Five years seemed good to aim for in the first instance.

3. Do I have enough material to keep a blog going for about once a fortnight for five years? Once a fortnight for 5 years is actually 130 posts. I didn't begin my creative blog until I had ideas for one hundred posts I could put on my blog. I also have a 'hidden theme' for each month, based on a collection of short stories I wrote in my twenties and I thought other ideas for my blog would occur to me in the fullness of time.

4. How important are followers and comments? Well, obviously they are important and this area needs a lot of thought and development.

Another good piece of advice I found is also another question, above and beyond the number of comments and followers you get.

5. Is your blog something you like and are proud of? Well, I quite like my blog, and some posts are much better than others, and there's bags of room for improvement. So it's a little like life really, you carry on doing your best even if you sometimes feel very insignificant, maybe God is watching us after all.

Anyway to continue my blog in a positive way I have now joined Bloglovin'. Above are a few books I've purchased specifically because I love the blogs they're associated with and below are two good books on how to use Social Media to get the most out of it.

Blook Bibliography

Oddfellow's Orphanage by Emily Winfield Martin. New York, Random house, 2012

The Dazzling Darkness by Paula Cappa. Milwaukee, Crispin Books, 2013

Fairy Tale Food by Lucie Cash. Illustrated by Yelena Bryksenkova. London, Preface, 2012

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Retold in pictures by Becca Stadtlander. London, Frances Lincoln, 2015

Kiki and Coco in Paris. Photographs by Stephanie Rausser. Doll by Jess Brown. Story by Nina Gruender. Petaluma, Cameron and Company, 2011

Social Media Books

 Blogging for Dummies by Susannah Gardner and Shane Birley. Indianapolis, Wiley, 2010, 3rd ed.

The business of being social by Michelle Carvill and David Taylor. Richmond, surrey, Crimson, 2013

Pop Up Craft Stall

 
'ALF Creations at the Star Heart Cafe' took part in a summer fun day in Willow Tree Marina, Yeading. We were out in the open, so the wind became a bit of an issue, but we were otherwise blessed with a sunny day. We were one of two craft stalls there and were in competition with live music, a bouncy castle, a barbecue and a fire engine. It wasn't terribly successful for us, but I enjoyed the experience.

      

 

    

 
It was also a rare occassion where I had the other half of ALF Creations, Amy, with me. She had the idea of drawing bespoke pictures of interested customers, but things being what they were, at the end of the day she had just produced a rather fetching picture of me.

Grace and her daughters

 

After creating the original Star Heart Dolls I began to create dolls inspired by virtues, starting with the rainbow coloured contrary virtues followed by the primary coloured theological virtues. Grace is grey and her daughters are the cardinal virtues of Fortitude, Prudence, Justice and Temperance. 

 

 

Faith goes to church

It's always good to take part in the St. Mary's church art exhibition. This year they asked for craftwork as well as artwork, so I took my Star Heart doll, Faith, along. I exhibited some of my old pictures and also a new copy of The Cellist.

 

Amy also had her own collection of her old pictures and also two new abstract paintings.

Other painters exhibiting were Jean Higgins with her accomplished oil paintings, the exquisite Japanese, floral inspired paintings of Phyllis King and the intricate artwork of Carole Shirwell.

Out of my Window

'Out of my window' started life as a project for my O'level art. It explores feelings of freedom and envy relating to the girl and the bird. The girl is based on the German singer Nico as she looks on the cover of her LP 'The End'. The idea later inspired my poem 'Out of my window' which later turned into song lyrics.

Scenes from a Childhood

These 'scenes' were collected when I went through all my old creative work and found a selection of pre-teen stuff that I quite liked. I wasn't sure what would stand up on its own, but thought I could turn my ideas into attractive digital collages using Paint Shop Pro. The first collage has a spring feel to it and the second collage is more Autumn orientated. Below is a more integrated, illustrated version of my childhood poem 'Out of the Door'.

Lorna on LibraryThing

 This year, 2015, I realise I have been working in libraries for the past 25 years. To celebrate I have joined Library Thing and put my favourite 25 books on there in collections entitled Science Fiction, Modern, Classics, Short Stories and Poetry. Each of my favourite books is accompanied by descriptive tags, a review and a rating.

Secret London Part Three

On 11th June 2015 mum and I visited three more Secret London locations.

The Rudolf Steiner House really did feel like a secret location. I was following an obscure map and got lost two or three times on my way there. When I had finally found the right place, mum and I found ourselves in a near deserted, lovely, curvaceous building going up and down the flowing stone, spiral staircase trying to find the discussion group debating what's wrong with the modern world. With the help of the finance manager we did eventually find the room where four older intellectuals were discussing doomsday like scenarios, I think mum and I cramped their style a bit, but they were quite gracious and mum and I remained polite and grateful.

It was an extraordinary place, all about the singular philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, and the house reminded me of Gaudi in Barcelona. After tea in the self service cafe and a browse in the library and bookshop we moved on.

Number 2 Willow Road is a surprising National Trust gem. It was built by the post war industrialist architect Erno Goldfinger, the famous James Bond villain is named after him. I don't think Goldfinger, the architect, was very villainous, after my visit to his house, I ended up rather admiring him.

The house was built in 1939 and the architect was also responsible for post war developments in social housing like Trelick Tower. I live in a post war ex-council house and I could see some elements of 2 Willow Road in my humble abode. It was particularly pleasing to see the tiny kitchen, rather plain living room, early flat pack furniture, built in cupboards, DIY bookshelves and small entrance hall. However the house is still impressive with its capacity to be 'opened up' for cocktail parties, practical balcony and the master bedroom's exquisitly hidden en-suite bathroom.

I was feeling tired by the time we reached the 'Wellcome Cafe'. so it was a case of 'for this relief much thanks.' It was a light filled, busy space and mum and I spent over half an hour enjoying our tea and cake and discussing the plusses and minuses of the Rudolph Steiner and Erno Goldfinger buildings.

After our refreshment we had a look round the Wellcome Museum properly, visitng the Medical Man and Forensics exhibition and the sumptuous library reading room.

The A to Z of Life

This list poem began life as a folder full of good intentions.

 

Kaleidoscope Girl

Like my 'Versatility' greetings cards, the Kaleidoscope Girl movie also uses designs originally from my WebFlower web graphics project. The kaleidoscope girl now also has her own set of greetings cards.