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.

Heroines

 

These nine paintings represent literary heroines I have become fascinated with over the years. They are Cleopatra, Tess, Scarlet, The Other Boleyn Girl, Vianne from Chocolat, the second Mrs De Winter, Mariette Larkin, Rosemary and Agent Starling.



The Virtues on Pinterest

I have been meaning to put my virtuous arts and crafts on Pinterest for a while and have finally done so. You can find them here at https://www.pinterest.com/lornafinnigan/the-virtues. I started my virtuous project in 2007 when I became interested in the seven contrary virtues, which correspond to the seven deadly sins. After the contrary virtues I began working on other sets of virtues which now form the basis for my 'Little Book of Virtuous Haiku'. The following is a brief listed guide to 'The virtues @ the Star Heart Cafe'.

Seven contrary virtues (seven deadly sins)
Humility (pride), Chastity (lust), Abstinence (gluttony), Diligence (sloth), Generosity (greed), Kindness (envy), Patience (wrath)

Theological virtues
Faith, Hope, Charity

Cardinal virtues
Justice, Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude

Nine fruits of the spirit
Joy, peace, patience, goodness, faith, mildness, modesty, charity, chastity

Virtuous apparel
Kindness, compassion, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness (and above all) Love

Star Heart Virtues
Faith, Hope, Grace, Peace, Love, Joy

Fe-Man Virtues (Feminine and Manly)
Modesty, Kindness, Patience
Loyal, Valliant, Earnest

I find that letting the virtues guide me helps me be a better person and lead a better life.

Patchwork Doll Quilts



 

I became fascinated by patchwork quilts after watching the bedrooms episode of Kirstie's Homemade Home. After further investigation on-line and further inspiration from the doll quilts of Jess Brown, I thought I would have a go at making them myself. My quilts have a rainbow theme and mostly use up remnants from the dresses of my Star Heart Dolls.

 



 

 

Versatility Greetings Cards

These cards are based on designs I created for my WebFlowers web-graphics project. The website graphics weren't going anywhere so I took the elements and created six sets of six cards in six different colours. These were also not too popular, so although I still stick to the six designs and six colours for my card designs, I use more variation in them and sell them individually, an idea which seems to have much more mileage. Below is a summary of my ideas behind the different greetings on the cards

8Track Music Mixes by AmiloFinn

I've been thinking about and listening to a lot of music lately and decided to put some more music mixes on the AmiloFinn 8Track channel at http://8tracks.com/amilofinn . I already had music mixes for 'Music from the Movies', 'My Music Collection' and 'Lorna's Songs'. I have now added 'Travelogue', 'Out of this world' and 'Music from the Dawn of Time'.

  

'Travelogue' is a selection of ten of my favourite songs about places and travel, starting with Northern Lights by Renaissance and ending with Empire State of Mind by Alecia Keys. It also includes Egypt by Kate Bush, Penny Lane by The Beatles and Kashmir by Led Zeppelin.

 'Out of this world' is a selection of songs I like listening to when I want to escape my everyday earthly worries. It features songs about the stars, the moon and the planets and includes Space Oddity by David Bowie, Walking on the Moon by The Police and Champagne Supernova by Oasis.

'Music from the Dawn of Time' features renditions of some of my favourite Baroque, Classical, Romantic and early Twentieth Century keyboard music that I found on the SoundCloud, including Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, Chopin's Revolutionary Etude and Debussy's Arabesques.

Rainbow Ballet

Rainbow Ballet is based on one of my earliest animations, Ballet Class, which has been on my LornaJHart YouTube channel since 2008. It is set to a song I wrote in the early nineties called Jazz. I recently updated some of the images from Rainbow Ballet to use at the start of a new ALF Creations compilation film, Showcase, which is available on the AmiloFinn Vimeo WebPage. Below is a picture of my original rainbow ballerinas from my Webflowers Webgraphic project.

Secret London Part Two



In my short story 'The Assertiveness Group', the heroine, Madeleine, and her lover, Dorian, visit three unusual London museums: Leighton House Museum, John Soane's Museum and the Hunterian Museum. On 25th March 2015 I visited the three of them with my mum.

I'm not sure what I was expecting in the Leighton House Museum apart from the Arab Hall, however what I received was an unexpected treasure. Beautiful, sumptuous and amazing are just three of the adjectives I would use to describe Leighton House. The museum is an exquisitely kept artist's house, full of rich colours, deep reds and vivid blues, polished tiles, Arabian rugs, stained glass and heavy wood. Our visit coincided with an exhibition of Victorian romantic art; the pre-Raphaelites, Edward Burne Jones and John Waterhouse. We were also fortunate enough to have a very informative guide who was telling us how important the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition was to artist's reputations, careers and fortunes. It was all very illuminating.

 

John Soane's House is the London residence of a well known nineteenth century architect. As well as his architectural plans and drawings; it is stuffed full of 'things' he collected throughout his life, including sculptures, plaster casts and cork models. My favourite part of the exhibition was the guide's explanation of the Hogarth series of pictures 'The Rake's Progress', which follows the antics of a rich young man from inheritance to madhouse; a sobering tale indeed.

The Hunterian Museum is the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. It has a large collection of specimens in preserving jars from the insect, animal and human worlds. The two aspects of the museum that meant the most to me were first the art collection and the view that medicine and art were once not considered to be the poles apart occupations they appear today, but once doctors and artist worked together particularly in the field of anatomy. The other part of the museum that moved me most was the part devoted to the pioneers of plastic surgery in the first world war; the surgeons who worked at putting injured soldiers' faces back together. It was marvellous and humbling to see how the doctors helped the wounded soldiers get back some semblance of normality. The overall feeling I got from the museum was the ides of how fragile human beings really are.

Digital Collage

I have long been a fan of retro and vintage digital collage and recently started to create my own digital collages. I had a feeling that although they have an 'easy' feel about them they would prove to be more difficult to do in practice and this has been the case. However I do feel I am beginning to get the hang of them. There are some good on-line tutorials about creating them and I have a board devoted to my own digital collages on Pinterest.

Craft stall at URC Eastcote

I took part in the URC Eastcote Charity Morning on Saturday 21st March, in aid of the Macular Society. The event was quite well attended and I managed to sell some of my craft items, the cards were the most popular, followed by the gadget pouches and the lavender scenters. I was working on Christmas cards at the beginning of the year and look forward to having them on my stall in the Autumn.