What is Urban?

For me Urban means a variety of people living in close proximity. Different cultures, different colors, different expressions and attitudes - but somehow, in all this diversity, people belonging to one Urban place.

London is the ultimate Urban. It embraces the whole range of different people from all over the world. It is like the whole world in a capsule. And in its variety it is beautiful.

After living in London for 24 years, I no longer feel that I belong to any specific nationality. I am a Londoner, a universal being.

So Urban also means transcending the individual identity and forming a more global attitude.

What is Urban?

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Funny thing this blog of mine, the urge to write is there and I am sitting down to write, but I have no idea what to write about. I think I will show you the picture.
This is a picture of my life: it's work in progress.

 

My two lovely builders Mr. Andrzej and Mr. Arek just shouted 'Bye' from downstairs. They have  finished for today, it's after 5pm (they work from 8am). It is their last week in our place and today they started to install the kitchen cabinets (which I had assembled from the flat packs). They are still finishing the complete rewiring and other bits and pieces around the house. We are all quite tired and tempers begun to appear...

My role so far consisted mostly of getting building supplies and trying to coordinate work stages, various specialists and managing the budget (it's not big, I tell you). From next week onwards I will be on my own during the day (D. goes to work early and comes back late) and another stage in our renovation will begin: preparing and decorating the walls and the floor: my favorite.

Wish me luck.
Y
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Taking one day at a time

I am in a strange stage in my life when I am extremely busy and at the same time it feels like time stands still and there is no change. The house renovation is going very slowly. I was hoping to take some 'before and after' photos but all parts of the house are in a permanent 'before' stage.

I feel strangely suspended. Almost all of our life comforts are gone. The things we usually take for granted: the central heating, the bathroom, the toilet and the kitchen take on a new meaning and are reduced to the mere essentials. Did I mention that we are camping in one room?

A deep tiredness sets in and to stay motivated I have to remind myself of our achievements:
- Eco boiler: fitted
- Bathroom tiling: almost done
- Bath: fitted but not working yet
and so on....

But there are some bright moments: yesterday we discovered some newspapers hidden under the floorboards, dated 1950:

There was also a nice piece of wallpaper which we discovered under two other layers of wallpaper:

Unfortunately this wallpaper is in a bad state so we cannot leave it uncovered, but we left it for a few days, just to look at it. It probably dates from 1950 when the house was built. Our house is one of 5 modern houses in a row of Victorian houses. They were built on the site of the buildings destroyed by the bombing during the Second World War.
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Taking one day at a time

Work in progress, studio in transition

I am working on my next Hatome upcycled lamp today. Here is the glimpse of it, sitting on the dining table in our living room. Yes my dear friends, this is how I work now, surrounded by the packed boxes, getting ready for our move back to London....

We almost moved several times, there were some delays (the buyer of our flat changed his mind just before the exchange of contracts, then the owner of the house we were buying died of old age). But we couldn't bring ourselves to unpack and for the last few months we have been living very simply using just a few unpacked things. It is a proof that you really don't need many things....

So I have been using our dinner table for a studio. I am not even planning how my work room will look like in the new house, just trying to stay detached from this whole subject. I am having fun with the lamps, that's the most important thing :) This lamp should be ready tomorrow.

I wonder how other people work? How many of us are using just a table for a studio?

Yolanta

Work in progress, studio in transition

Making chestnut animals

Yesterday we had some bad news about our house purchase and it made me feel quite upset, then ... I felt somehow detached. I went for a walk. I wanted to be in nature. I started collecting  chestnuts and leaves, and I remembered how, as children, my sister and I used to make little toys with them. With this memory, I was transformed into the state of contentment, a feeling so familiar and at the same time, so rare. As adults we have glimpses into the state of child-like innocence, when we feel unconditional joy of being alive. This happens when we are exactly in the present moment, not thinking about the future or the past.
 

So I decided to make some chestnut animals. I used chestnuts to make animals' bodies and heads, and  matchsticks to make their legs, necks and tails.
 

I pierced the chestnut with small sharp scissors to insert matchsticks.
 

I made two grown-ups and two children:
 

And here is one animal baby going to sleep in a bed made out of a match box, lined with soft leaves:
 

This post is dedicated to my little granddaughters Savanka and Zoe who live in the USA.   

Happy chestnut animal making :)  
Yolanta

Making chestnut animals

Beachcombing - another kind of collecting

My house is by the sea, on the South-East coast of England. I have been living here for over two years. One of the reasons I moved into this area is to be able to go for long walks by the sea and be inspired by it. I had a feeling that living by the sea will somehow change me and my work as a painter. And I wasn't disappointed.

I go for long walks whenever I can. And I do beachcombing, which is one of my favorite activities ever. I pick up various objects offered by the sea and waiting for me to be collected.

I come back from these expeditions tired, with wet trousers and shoes, with pockets full of treasures and very happy.

The amazing natural creations of the sea life inspire me in my work.

The sea's forms filter through into my paintings and designs.
There is never any shortage of them. And they are free - always there, for anybody who notices them.

I use the shells to display other objects.

After storms I collect the driftwood thrown at the shore. I am going to use this lot to make a mirror frame. I am looking for a suitable mirror in the second hand shops now. When I find it, this will become my next creative project.

But mostly I just look at my finds, touch them, enjoy their subtle color harmonies and textures. There is nothing better then a feeling of being connected to nature. It helps me to be energized and to stay balanced.

Beachcombing - another kind of collecting

Collecting things

Collecting is fun. Collecting is inspiring. Arranging a group of simple objects, not necessarily expensive ones, gives me satisfaction and makes a place nice to look at. Basically, it creates the feeling of my space, of home.

Most of my things, including my collections, are in boxes now (I recently moved in with my Mr. Partner). But I keep on collecting, on a very small scale, I find things at local jumble sales and in charity shops. Here you can see some new additions to my collections. I collect Colored vintage glass, Blue and white crockery, and recently I started collecting Hearts.

Of course only the hearts are purely for decoration. The glass and the crockery are to be used every day. The objects that I collect have to be functional and uplifting, otherwise they just become a clutter.

I used to collect folk birds (wooden and clay). The collection grew very big, the birds had their own cabinet where they lived, but after moving them with me too many times, I started to have a feeling of being burdened by them. So I gave them away, one by one, to friends and family members who visited me. I only allowed myself to keep a couple of birds, they are all that's left from my collection:

Occasionally, while treasure hunting, I see something that other people collect and I get it for them. I found this lovely vintage ceramic Pug dog in a charity shop and I bought it for my sister who has a Pug dog called Kapsulka which means Capsule in Polish. Her lovely dog looks just like a capsule and it is a very fussy little dog. If it doesn't like the weather it won't go outside. I love this dog. The ceramic dog is really similar to the real one. Before I gave it to my sister it had to be washed. It looks quite happy, all clean on the dryer:

Recently I bought a very good book about collections, called "The way we live with the things we love" by Stafford Cliff and Gilles De Chabaneix. It shows some very inspiring interiors, I recommend it to you - whether you collect art, antiques, tribal, rustic or religious objects or just simple kitchenalia.

In a few days I will post something about my other passion and another kind of collecting: the beach combing.

Love to you all
Yolanta

Collecting things

Chair makeover obsession

Recently two of my very creative friends showed on Facebook some really cool examples of beautifully upcycled chairs. One friend found 4 chairs in the refuge yards in Warsaw and repaired and painted them herself; and the other friend found her 6 chairs on the sidewalks of Montreal and had them re-upholstered. In both cases the results are amazing. Since then I have been craving a chair upcycling project. I have been looking for a suitable chair/armchair on the internet and in local papers. No luck!

Now the situation is getting serious. I am starting to be positively obsessed with finding a chair to makeover! Today I made my poor Mr Partner cruise with me through the streets of our very decent neighborhood, where nobody dares to throw any rubbish on the street, in the hope of finding my treasure to upcycle. In the end I gave up - the area we live in is just too good.

I missed the familiar streets of South London, where people don't have such scruples and happily chuck away whatever they don't need right on the street in front of their houses. This proves that everything has two sides to it, the positive and the negative: the safe, clean areas are nice to look at and to live in, but they lack the treasure hunting opportunities. Of course what one perceives as positive or as negative depends on the circumstances.

Please note: no picture this time, no chair!

P.S. I just discovered a very good website for all UK car-boot sales and markets, potential sources of small second hand furniture:
http://www.carbootjunction.co.uk
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Chair makeover obsession

Restlessness of an artist

 Today I went for a long walk with my Mr. Partner. We were having a conversation and both of us admitted to feeling restless. I often feel restless and walking helps me to clear my head and to feel settled, especially when I walk in nature. I told him that I feel what bugs us is the restlessness of an artist. It never leaves you until you start painting, writing, making things, arranging your collection, whatever form of creativity it takes. There is no escape, nothing to be done about it, apart from obliging and creating. You might think it is really a curse...

My partner has been writing a novel for many years. His novel is now finished and two days ago he sent it to the literary agent. He hasn't started writing another book yet, hence his restlessness...
I asked him to write a few words about it for this blog. This is what he wrote:

"Restless, we can’t start, pause or finish.
It’s inside our bones waiting for a desert wind that never seems to come. So we take to the street, walking until the blood flows jagged in the veins, thinking, that this will shake it off, but knowing otherwise.
Time cracks its shell and seed spills along the gutters trailing ideas like a spider’s silky thread, but it is still not enough, not until light expands in the head and we see what we have always known, that without this restlessness we cannot be who we are, but with it we are condemned to be its eternally fractured victim.
So stroke the key, flattened black over white until harmony diminishes over the fifth, pull umber over cadmium until it simulates the shadow of the heart, pound ink into the shape of emotion and stretch the landscape until it reveals what lies below the skin of human condition, warm the voice until it sours so high the flap of its wing breaks the heart long before it falls with a sigh, but oh, do not kid yourself, the restlessness waits and always waits because just when you believe you have achieved this year’s perfection restlessness is there to smell the blood in the cracks and you and I, once again, are left to take to the street and walk surprised at our own naivety, as if art did not ache with its own hunger."
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Restlessness of an artist

About self discipline and the book

When I prepare myself for a period of intensive painting and the deadline of the exhibition is fast approaching, I find it helpful to read about the life of another artist, especially one I admire. It helps me to get into the mode of intense concentration and helps me to focus on what I want to achieve. As my other activities fade away (although never disappear completely), I learn to prioritize and the book helps me with this.

So I am reading an interesting book at the moment, "Full Bloom - the art and life of Georgia O'Keeffe" by Hunter Drohojowska-Philp. It is an intimate portrait of Georgia O'Keeffe and I find it very inspiring. The author says:

'After reading the book on decision making, she [O'Keeffe] opened a notebook and wrote "yes" at the top of the left hand page and "no" at the top of the right, then proceeded to confront all of the decisions she needed to make and put them in one of the categories. The simple system revealed what she really wanted to do and what others wanted her to do. It provided a core of discipline that served her well. She later explained, "The essential question was always: if you want to do this, can you do that?"

Art (and life) is about choices we make. There is a time for surrendering, for letting go and there is a time for getting a grip on yourself and being your own master, your own guru. Disciplining myself doesn't come easily, but it needs to be done. It doesn't mean starting to behave in a rigid, insensitive way, but it is a sort of training that has to be done in order to open up in the direction that I want to go. This channeling of my energy allows me to make progress and not spread myself too thinly.

My aim is to paint 8 oil on canvas paintings in 4 weeks. Wish me luck.

Yolanta

About self discipline and the book

Several projects on the go

Are you familiar with the urge to crochet or knit or to look through the pages of "Country Living" magazine (full of homemade crafts) instead of doing your "proper" work?

I am. I usually have several projects on the go at the same time, admittedly my attention span is quite short (or my boredom threshold low). Strangely I find that I am even more prone to being distracted when I have a deadline approaching or I when I am stressed. Personally meditation helps a lot (I have been practicing Sahaja Yoga meditation for many years now and recommend it whole heartily).

I am very much aware that I need to structure my time and this blog is helping me achieve that.  By writing a blog I have “given myself permission” to indulge in the joy of making, without feeling guilty about it.  In fact by this method I am actually encouraging it, but in a more organized way. We all deserve to do what we enjoy and our work should be something that we would choose to do, regardless of whether we are paid or not.

My other work projects on the go include painting for my fast approaching art exhibition in May and working as a Vedic Astrology illustrator.

There is always a balance to be found between feeding yourself (earning money) and feeding your creativity. I wonder how other creative people are dealing with it?

Yolanta

Several projects on the go

Beauty in little things

Yesterday I went on one of my expeditions to the charity shops, looking for treasures. I found two! The first one was a book by my favorite childhood writer, Tove Jansson, the creator of Moomin Books. This book is for grownups and it is titled "The Summer Book". I very much look forward to reading it on my flight to Poland for Christmas.



















The second treasure I found was a metal structure with two glass candle holders and a hook to hang it over the table. It has a ring for fastening all sorts of wonderful things to it, like a wreath or baubles for Christmas, or Easter eggs in the Spring, or ribbons for a birthday party - possibilities are endless. A very inspiring buy indeed for a whole 2.99 GBP! My lovely partner bought it for me. Thank you Mister Partner.

I love it when it happens. You have a bad day, or even a good-but-nothing-special day, and then, a smile from above, a piece of good luck happens, and it might not look like much in the beginning, but you know deep down that it is something special. What can I do? I get excited about things like this, little things.

Beauty in little things

Is blogging bragging?

This is my first blog post. The idea for this blog came to me out of the desire to make pretty things and share the knowledge; out of the determination to live beautifully, no matter of how the current  economical situation affects us and how much money is available.

I am an artist and a designer who lost her joy of creating some time ago. My intention and hope is to rediscover and feel this joy again, on daily basis. By joy I mean those moments of total inner peace and contentment that I used to feel as a child, while making my compositions out of found objects or playing with colors.

We don't need much. Simple things make us happy. Like making a nice cup of Jasmin tea and serving it in a nice cup, with a slice of flour-free chocolate cake. OK,  this might seem a little fussy to you, but if you have a little wheat intolerance, you will understand what I mean. Celebrating the present moment is what matters.

So, I am starting to write about my creative life and hope to connect with others who think along the same lines. I just had a little conversation about it with my partner and I asked him "Is blogging bragging?" I hope not.

Is blogging bragging?