Christmas Markets

Now that the exhibition is up and running, my thoughts can turn to ... Christmas! 

Yes, I know, it's only October but so that you can plan your Christmas shopping in plenty of time, here's a note of the events where fatcat felt will make its last appearances (more on that to follow ...).

The Handmade Show

4th November 2012

10.30am to 4.30pm

Perth Concert Hall, Mill Street, Perth

 

Perth Christmas Market

24th November 2012

10am to 6pm

King Edward Street, Perth

 

Perth Christmas Market

8th December 2012

9am to 5pm

King Edward Street, Perth

 

If you're in the area, please pop by to say 'hi'.

Happy international day of felt!

Here's a quick pic of part of the exhibition - more to follow once I get a chance to catch my breath.

Thanks to everyone who came to the opening on Friday, it was lovely to see old friends and meet lots of new ones.

I'll be at the gallery every day until Sunday 14th October, we're open 10am to 5pm (7pm Friday and Saturday) so it would be lovely to see you if you are able to pop in. 

We're at The Barn Gallery, The Bield at Blackruthven, Tibbermore, Perth, PH1 1PY.

Tonight, we celebrate!

Please feel free to pop in to the preview evening ...

7pm until 9pm tonight (Friday 5th October) at The Barn Gallery, The Bield at Blackruthven, Tibbermore, Perth, PH1 1PY.

only one week until we open!

New Exhibition Opening: The Dying of the Sun - a meditation on fire

Saturday 6th to Sunday 14th October 2012
(Sunday to Thursday 10am to 5pm, Friday and Saturday 10am to 7pm)
 

The Barn Gallery, The Bield at Blackruthven, Tibbermore, Perth, PH1 1PY

An exciting, new exhibition is set to open at The Barn Gallery, Tibbermore, on Saturday 6th October at 10am.

The exhibition showcases the work of a select group of artists who have created a diverse range of work to celebrate the fourth International Day of Felt.

The exhibition also features informative displays on the history and processes of felt-making, including a hands-on display highlighting the local fleeces that Tracy and fellow artist and partner Morgan Downie used to create the centrepiece of the exhibition.

Participating artists include ... Angela Barrow, Andrea Bustelo, Penny Dixon, Morgan Downie, Nic Glennie, Lyn Griffiths, Laura Guida, Mattie van den Heuvel, Katharine Huggett, Veronika Ivanov, Jackie Lunn, Tracy Markey, Tessa Mendez, Jane Mercer, Mich Nouquet, Rhonda Rogalski, Linda Thomson, Elena Ulyanova, Shannon Welsh, Yvette Williams Elliott, Joss Wrigg.

For more information, please visit www.thedyingofthesun.com

 

 

The Dying of the Sun - a meditation on fire

Well, it's only a couple of weeks now until the exhibition opens, so making and organising are continuing frantically here!

If you would like to come along to the preview evening on Friday 5th October, please send me a message and I'll send you an invite.

Fårönatta

The wonderful island of Fårö celebrates the end of the summer this Saturday with Fårönatta ... if you are anywhere in the vicinity you should get yourself there, it sounds like a fabulous evening.


Restaurang Simunds (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Restaurang-Simunds/117260525023171#!/pages/Restaurang-Simunds/117260525023171) is offering a range of food and entertainment for the evening ... grill, bar, music, Icelandic horses, and a market with lots of goodies including the first international appearance of fatcat felt!


I'm only just back from my first visit to Fårö and busy preparing for the exhibition so I'm really sad to be missing it, if you do visit, please share your photos so I can see what I missed.


Here's to a great Fårönatta.

It's not too late ...

... to take part!

If you would like to submit work for the exhibition or items for the collaborative piece, please get in touch - we'd love to hear from you.

Deadline to send images is 31st August (although we can be flexible, but only by a few days!).

The exhibition website, where you will find all the details you need, is now up and running at:

www.thedyingofthesun.com

Please drop by, I'd love to know what you think.

hello again!

well, it has been a little quiet round this site recently ... i've caught the facebook bug! and that's where i've been spending SO much time - it really is addictive once you start.

you can see what i've been up to at ...

www.facebook.com/FatcatFelt

the dying of the sun - a meditation on fire

although there's still plenty of time before the exhibition, if you would like to participate please send in a photo of your work as soon as possible.

we've had some fab entries so far but would love to have a diverse range of work from talented folk around the world so we have extended the deadline to send photos until the end of august.

the duration of the exhibition has also been extended, it will run from 5th until 15th october so that visitors have two weekends to visit and enjoy the work.

we have also started a website for the exhibition at www.thedyingofthesun.com, it is still a work in progress but we're hoping this will become a great place to show teasers of the exhibits and for you to promote yourself and your work.

we are a little short of flames/smoke/sparks for the collaborative piece so if you know of any willing helpers please let us know, otherwise angela and i will be making nothing but flames for the next two months!

if you have any questions, need an extension to the deadline or if there's anything i can do to assist you to participate in the exhibition, please let me know.

looking forward to hearing from you.

'interesting' times!

so, it's been a year and a half so far!

i haven't been blogging for a while now as i really don't like to moan without purpose and, to be honest, that's about all i've felt like doing recently!

i feel like i've been sick for most of the year - pneumonia, sinus infection, norovirus, kidney infection and for the past two months i've been in and out of hospital (thank heavens for the nhs) with more tests to come.

i'm really not very good at being unwell (but then again, who is?!) and it's been quite a difficult time. i know that there are folk far worse off than me and i am so thankful that we have free healthcare in this country but i have been feeling a little sorry for myself!

oh, yes, and at the end of july i am to be made redundant from the day job.

so, life feels a little up in the air just now.

and while i'm having a whine ... what about this weather?! what happened to summer?!

exhibition and collaborative opportunity

well, i am very excited to be able to let you know that i am organising an exhibition with my lovely friend angela barrow, we'd love to have as many people as possible participating so here's everything you need to know ...

Call for submissions:

the dying of the sun - a meditation on fire

To celebrate the fourth annual International Day of Felt, Tracy Markey and Angela Barrow invite you to participate in their exhibition to be held at The Barn Gallery, Perthshire. The exhibition will run from 5th to 12th October 2012.

There are two opportunities available and artists are welcome to submit work for one or both of them.

Main Exhibition: Artwork can be 2D or 3D and must contain an element of felt. However, mixed/multi media pieces are encouraged. Artists can submit up to three pieces for consideration. Please be as creative as you wish with your interpretation of the theme!

Collaborative piece: With your help, we are going to create a huge fire inspired piece to form part of the exhibition.

We are seeking pieces for inclusion … think flames; smoke; sparks; embers ... these will then be assembled in situ to create one large piece of work.

Your piece(s) can be any size, shape and combination of colours, as long as they are made from felt (other textiles can be included but should not be the main material).

To register your interest, and receive further details, please send an email to Tracy Markey, narkeymarkey@hotmail.co.uk, by Thursday 28th June 2012.

If you wish to be considered for the main exhibition please include three images of your previous work along with a description of the piece(s) you propose to submit for the exhibition.

* Image taken from an original by Morgan Downie

looking forward to hearing from you!

oh and please feel free to share with anyone else you think might be interested - let's make this an exhibition to remember :)

i'm baaaaaaack

well, i'm finally back on my feet and starting to catch up with life again.

thanks for all of the good wishes i received, much appreciated, and they certainly helped :)

so, i have lots of news to catch up on but one very BIG piece of news which i will share in my next post ...

bleurgh!

so, it's been a bit quiet round here because i've been sick. m shared pneumonia with me and then i ended up with a sinus infection too!!! for the past two and a half weeks it feels like all i have done is sleep and cough. i'm hopefully on the mend now so i'm looking forward to catching up with everyone's blogs soon :)

messing about on the river

although i'm still a little wobbly in the canoe, i'm not entirely averse to going out when it's lovely and sunny!

up till now we've only ever paddled in lochs but the other day thought we would try some paddling in one of our local rivers.

i had imagined that we would just sit in the canoe and let the current sweep us gently downstream but it was a little more hard work than that!

we were so lucky that the river wasn't too fierce as it really highlighted that we still have much to learn ... when m was telling me to 'sweep right', i wasn't sure if that meant 'on' the right or 'to' the right so we didn't always go in the direction we thought we might :)

it's amazing the effect the current has on the canoe too, especially if you have water joining from the side that's flowing at a different rate. then there's learning to read the water, apparently you can tell where the rocks are, whether it's shallow or deep.

and then there were the rapids that m didn't mention until we rounded the corner and saw them - luckily they were only teeny, tiny ones and we were through before i knew what was happening!

so far, i have always sat at the front of the canoe, but after a brief stop at a little island, we decided to swap around. good grief what a difference that made! after we shot straight into an overhanging tree and veered left to right a good few times, we thankfully found another shallow where we could swap back again - it's amazing how bad i was at steering from the back!

when we were stopped, we had a bit of a look around and found ...

otter tracks

i think these are heron tracks

and possible signs of beaver activity?

we had such a fab time, although next time i'll be checking the route book too ... what m had thought was 9k, actually turned out to be 17k! how many corners did we go round thinking, it must be round the next corner surely? then the wind got up!

still, it was the perfect excuse to go for a chippy tea that night, i think we earned it :)

at long last ...

... i've finally taken the plunge and set up a facebook page for fatcat felt! i've only got as far as adding some pics for now but hopefully soon there'll be lots of exciting goings on to share with you all :)

come visit at fatcat felt's facebook page

let's go for a little walk ...

i was feeling restless the other day and couldn't really settle to anything in particular.

not wanting to spend the whole day watching tv or playing on the internet i decided to throw myself out the door, despite the drizzly rain, and get out for some fresh air. and i'm so glad i did!


i stopped to admire the view from the car park






then i went up the hill


followed the path round


over the bridge


into the trees



through the forest


behind my favourite tree, along a hidden path, and down the lane



i stopped awhile to enjoy the view

and along the way i saw (i'm not 100% sure on my flower i.d., so please feel free to correct me if i've got it wrong) ...

wood sorrel

violets

lovely rusty bits

nettles, perfect for the soup or dye pot!

lichen

horse hoof fungus

not waving, but ...

greater stitchwort

very yellow gorse

unfurling ferns

feather caught in the grass

shiny black slug

cuckoo flowers

and celandine

what better way to spend a couple of hours :)

yum!

black forest gateaux cupcakes ...

maybe it's because i'm a child of the seventies but i really do love black forest gateaux!  you hardly ever see it on restaurant menus any more and then when you do, it never really lives up to my expectations - yes, i'm getting fussy in my old age :)

so, i decided i would make it for myself.  but, not wanting to eat a whole gateaux to myself, thought that a few wee cupcakes might be kinder to my waistline.

and they were just delish!  the sponge was chocolatey and moist, there were tons of gooey cherries and a (un)healthy dollop of cream and dark chocolate to top it all off - i will definitely be making these again!

if you fancy having a bash, here's a rough recipe (i halved these amounts and got seven large cupcakes) ...

for the sponge:
340g/12oz golden caster sugar
340g/12oz unsalted butter
6 eggs
240g/8½oz self raising flour, sifted
100g/3½oz cocoa

= cream the sugar and the butter together until light and fluffy.
= beat the eggs in one at a time.
= fold in the sifted flour and cocoa powder.
= half fill the cupcake cases with this mix and bake at 170 oC / 325 oF / gas mark 3.  i think i left them in for about 15 mins before checking them.
= to test if they are ready, insert a skewer into the middle, if it comes out clean, they're done!  if not, pop them back in the oven for a few mins and test again.

for the filling (i was lazy here and bought ready-made, but it was very tasty!):
a can/carton of morello cherry pie filling
2 tbsp kirsch

= reserve a little of the liquid from the pie filling and mix with the kirsch.
= pour this over the cupcakes so that it soaks into the sponge.

= once the cupcakes are cool, carefully remove a core of sponge from the middle of the cupcake.  try to leave a little sponge in the base so that it doesn't fall apart when you remove the case to eat it.
= fill the middle of the cupcake with the pie filling, don't fill it right to the top as this will give you space to put a wee slice of sponge back on the top.
= slice the 'plug' of cupcake you removed so that you have a thin disk of sponge to place on top of the pie filling.
= eat the remaining sponge pieces - you don't want it to go to waste!

for the topping:
600ml/21 fl oz double cream
200g/7oz dark chocolate 
couple tsps of the pie filling

= whip the double cream until stiff and plonk a dollop on top of the cupcake.
= grate some dark chocolate over the top of the cream.
= add a wee blob of the pie filling to top it all off.

stand back to admire your handywork and ... enjoy :)

stone circles

we went looking for stone circles the other day - there are loads of them around here, plus standing stones; cup marked stones; cairns ... plenty to keep us busy.

i don't really know that much about them but i am fascinated by them, so we've got a couple of good books to swot up on and we're starting to discover all of the ones close by.

the first one we were looking for was actually marked from the road with a sign, so we knew we were heading in the right direction as we climbed the hill up to the field, even though we couldn't see it.

the conversation went something like this:

m:   can you see the stone circle yet?
t:     maybe we're walking in the wrong direction?
m:   let's just get over the brow of this hill and we might get a better look around.
t:     oh!  there's a herd of cows.
m:   don't worry, they won't bother us if we don't bother them.
m:   ah, you know that stone circle we can't see?
t:     yeeeeeessss ...
m:   do you see where the cows are standing?
t:     yeeeeeessss ... oh

apparently cows appreciate stone circles too!

they really are quite beautiful creatures but i prefer to appreciate them from a slightly greater distance.  m did manage to shoo them off briefly so we could have a very quick look but they did seem very interested in us and what we doing at their stones!

what a week!

from sushine and shorts to snow and scarves - within the space of a few days!

much as i did enjoy our mini-heatwave, it really didn't feel 'right' that it was so warm so early in the year, i mean the tulips hadn't bloomed yet and it was scorching.  plus, i wasn't getting anything done ... as soon as the sun was shining i dropped everything and got myself outside!

having said that though, i didn't exactly welcome the snow!  my poor wee plants are looking very sorry for themselves this week as everything has been severely nipped by the frost.

here's hoping for more 'normal' spring weather this week :)

today's to-do

is to hand card this pile of shetland fleece ...

anyone a dab-hand with a carder?!

i think this calls for a pot of tea :)