Heather Cutler- Blog

Wednesday 4th July Will the monsoon ever come to an end? I can understand why in some hot countries, with proper monsoon seasons, people can sometimes go stark staring mad. It really is putting a dampener on my painting ambitions the studio feels damp and miserable, and in order to paint effectively I have to have the doors wide open, but as a consequence I have to brave the rain coming in. not good!!±! Still the garden is loving it , everything is growing well the only trick is getting to taste anything before the slugs and snails. I have unashamedly become a Serial Killer of anything fat slimly and brown or sporting a shell. Had a very pleasant surprise yesterday, had Email from my sister in law Sally, she works for the Guardian Newspaper, thanks Sally! ( could you mention me in your next edition of Family page ' Struggling, family orientated, women Artists" hows that for a title) and to the rest of the 299 million of you out there! hope your having better weather than I am.

Friday June 15th Went to see Doug Fitch earlier in the week. Although have know him for along time and have been up to his pottery its the first time I've been when he's been fireing the kiln. It was very exciting , hot, and facinating and believe it or not a swallow was building a nest. Doug had to dodge an incoming bird every time he went to tend to the fire boxes. Not alot seems to put them off once they' ve decided on a location not even heat and naked flame. Still its not firing every day , though last time it happened Doug had to put a fan on the nest when the fledglings were in there. They all survived. Weathers crap today, so been catching up on a few things, but also been doing a little painting, going quite well whenI can give it some time!

Thursday June 7th Poppy and I have just spent 10 minutes in the delightful company of a swallow .It seems to have a determined desire to build a nest on the curtain pole in my studio. It , and its chosen mate, have been checking it out and had a little go at building, but I put a stop to that by locking up and going away for a week. I do not know if it was same pair or just coincidence but had they also checked out my kitchen for similar domestic bliss!! Today , I think it can only be Mrs swallow, came again and sat on the pole perhaps looking and dreaming of what could have been. At least I hope that thats the plan. Although I feel blessed that they have chosen me for company I don't think that the noise and mess will be condusive to my current plans to get down to some painting.

Thursday May 10th What was I saying about to much of a good thing?? I know thats its great for the garden but its turning in to bloody monsoon weather, three days of nonstop drizzle, enough is enough!!!! you really can't do anything and after getting spoilt day after day by glorious weather last month this really is hard to take!! what is it with this country and its weather ? I jokingly bet that last month was our summer arriving early and that this would probably be it ! I wish Id bit my tongue cause you can see its going to come true.

Tuesday May 8th At last some rain!!!! this will be the first day in quite a few weeks now that I haven't gone straight to the allotment and got on with the things that needed to be done while the weather was so great. Unfortunatly( I can't really believe that I'am going to say this) you can get to much of a good thing! Whereas normally this time of the year you plant things and just let them get on with it, meaning nature does the watering for you, I've been slogging round with my trusty watering can nearly every day . As a result of this uncommon amount of good weather I have not been blogging. It's good to be back in front of the computer while the wind and the rain whip away outside the window. Because lets face it, its only when the weather is so that you should be sitting in front of a computer. I think I might be on my own in this opinion? I've not just been gardening though I have been doing some work. Finally got some good results with my bags , with a design that I really like and has the full sense of recycling but in a fun way. I have got a painting in to an open exhibition at the Thelma Hubbard Gallery in Honiton. Now that everything is in the ground and the weather has returned to normal English summer time I can concentrate on getting my bags in to production and hopefully sell a few!!!

Wednesday April 4th Oh no! Disaster, I am unable to do any heavy lifting , digging etc until my elbow stops hurting. I've been having difficulties with it for most of the winter but since working on the allotment its got slightly worse and spread to my shoulder. So had to call on the lovely Al, whose a physio (but also a splendid photographer). He has worked wonders with just one visit, but needs to do a bit more work on it to get it right otherwise gardening and summer league skittles down at the Half Moon will not be enjoyable. Might have to miss a few games at the beginning of the season, but sure the team will cope, just have to be careful I don't lose my place. Have to admire Als professionalism, he could have given me dubious treatment, rendering me hopeless for the whole of the season, then we might not beat the pants of his team, like we did last year!!!!

Monday April 2nd My god where did March go to ? Another busy week last week and weekend. 'Everything really does start to speed up about this time of year . Because of the longer days and the better weather you try to cram as much in as possible. Have to be careful though otherwise I start to stray into the outer regions of manic stage of bipolar disorder, and then collapse into exhausted heap and can't do much at all for weeks. Had a relaxing day on Friday, spent most of it with my son being a ministering angel. Children have a habit (a good one) of bringing you back down to earth with their very practical needs. It is hard trying to juggle family with your creative and personal needs, and I wouldn't advise any woman who is serious about a career in art to have children, but I’m glad I decided to not be so single minded!!

Wednesday March 28th Glorious day yesterday, and another today. My daughter came in at 8.00 o'clock last night after a good few hours of vigorous bouncing on her friends trampoline and almost the first words she said was "I love the spring" ( a lot of the time she's 12 going on 14, but the spring still brings out the child in her and long may it last!) I love the spring too, autumn and spring are my favorite seasons, summers too full of promise never realized, and well winter apart from the odd day is just miserable! Well got to get on today , quietly excited about the stuff I coming up with in the realm of recycled felt jumpers.

Tuesday March 27th Where do the days go too??? I don't know what happened to last week. It seemed to fly by. I was doing some engrossing work maybe that was why. Weather was a bit crap, but managed to get some beds weeded and some much needed feeding and mulching of roses and shrubs. also turning the corner on my search for more fun, sculptural feel to bags using recycled jumpers. busy few weeks coming up with entry dates for exhibitions always a bit nerve racking but what the hell just get on with it. They buried Harry Leg on Friday last week I didn't make it to the funeral but they gave him a good send off apparently and they've put him in the overspill graveyard at the top of the village so it"s not far for Rene to pop down to see him.I think she's still a bit shocked at the suddenness of it, although he was 80 it must take some getting over finding your husband dead in his bed no matter how old they are. Got a reminder for Chealsea Flower Show, Went last year but once you've been!! were some beautiful flowers, but everything seems to get spoilt know a days by over commercialisation!! I blame the TV. bar humbug. I've still never found out who digs the graves up there?

Tuesday March 20th Back to normal again, lovely spring morning though really hard frost last night, need to go and check my Dalia bulbs, got them in pots in my sort of cold frame, so that once threat of frosts have gone I can get them straight out in the border. I went a bit mad this year I bought 6 of the biggest, brightest ,showest ones, what the hell!!! I approve of gaudi in the garden as long as it doesnt involve begonias. and short plants. Well the plants seem fine, and all the taddies have returned to the surface basking in the shallows. The water almost seems to bubble there are so many. The banks are full of primroses. It is amazing, when you really look, at the differences in the colours. Not only are there different brightness in the yellows from typical primrose yellow through to almost white, but there are also a few pinks, which again vary from deep pink through to a almost pinky brown. When you see them altogether on a typical Devon bank, they are delightful. The bunglow next to our block of housing association homes is where Jean Rhys (The Wide Sargasso Sea) lived in the Seventies, (she is buried in the churchyard), and the bank outside this is full of the various colours of primrose. I tried to take a photo of it but you can't really do it justice. You have to see it in the flesh. I wonder if she planted any of them? I dont know if she was a grower, infact I dont much about her at all really or her life here. I've heard a few stories from people round about, who lived right where they are now, when she was alive but I would be interested to know more! There is an absolutely enormous Horse Chestnut tree in the garden I suspect she might have planted that but who knows .Viv and Saskia would know but Viv's dead and Saskia does'nt talk much!

Sunday 18th March What a difference a couple of days make! Took poppy for a walk and got blasted by horizontal sleet bourne on a freezing wind. But not to be dettered by a little inclement weather we went on to the allotment and started a little bit of weeding on the rasberry bed ready for some lovely well rotted mulch, curticy of Orchard Farm. I felt most sorry for the wildlife, last week they were busy enjoying the lovely spring weather next there plunged back into depths of winter. I had a seething mass of recently hatched Taddies in my pond a couple of days ago, I looked in today while mulching, not one to be seen! Iam hoping that they've retreated to the depths and not all sucumed to the cold. All feeling a little weary after busiest weekend in Cheriton's social calendar( bar the carnival) folk festival weekend. Not so busy as usual (I think it was the weather) though still packed in both pubs with people singing and playing and drinking, well you've got to join in have'nt you!! Got my Mothers Day present from Doug Fitches stall at the 6 Potters spring sale. Rang the bells before concert in the church for the Festival. Went to a Jumble Sale in Sandford. Went to get poo from Orchard Farm, Phil drove his first tractor watched over by vetran driver Jack just 15. Phew !! Who said the country was Boring!!!

Thursday 15th March Yesterday I did something that I haven't done in ages!! Knitting! I am so glad that its become fashionable again (for years its been a wasteland of polyester 4ply in pastel shades) Not only is it calming (as long as your not tackling anyting like socks or have made the mistake of joining a knittting club) but the pleasure derived from looking in wool shops (on a parr with material, haberdashery and paint shop looking) is nearly as good as sex. Aquiring the objects of my desire would be as good as sex, but my budget and common sense restrict me to mearly looking. Sometimes the need to possess is just too over whelming and you sucum. It was a hank of the most glorious combination of wool and silk in chunky lengths of the most gourgeous colours, I practically sherieked when I saw it, moments like this are hard to fight and left the shop with a lighter purse and much quilty pleasure. It hung in my shed where I work and I just gazed at it for a full two month drinking in its beauty! Am I sad?? Yes I am, but I have long resigned myself to this perverse side of my nature, I now accept that I shan't win every battle with my wanton lusts, and derive solace from my lovely newly knitted scarf.

Wednesday 14th March According to my web designer (my better half) I have to put something on my front page before I start blogging. I am afraid that I like blogging more than having to make some succinct statement about who I am and the rest. I just can't do it. I am much better at rambling, also my web designer tells me not to make my blogs too long! Ok! today I will be mostly making bags!

Tuesday 13th March My first blog mmm! I found out the other day where blog came from 'web log' take take the b the log and !!! I didnt know that? makes me feel a bit like captain Kirk. I dont think Captain Kirk and his crew ever went anywhere as lovely as Devon on a beautifully sunny spring morning, with all the birds singing, that fresh breeze with just a hint of the cold, thats slowly leaving us, and with the promise of the days to come in its scent (mmm lyrical!!) Poppy (thats my dog) wont rest till weve been out and about,and this morning was really nice, crows were building there nests, buzzards were circling one another getting ready to make theirs, the geese over at Orchard farm were making a real racket getting ready to do what ever it is they do? It really is very difficult to get down to any work and thats where the idyll ends, reality is that you've still got to get on with things even when you live here, and the reality is, that reality, is always there to take the edge off. People are still broke, people are still lonely, people are still divorced, people are still sucidal, people are still very sick, and in the winter elderly faces that youve known dont re- appear when the good weather comes. Harry Legg died the other night in his sleep. He still kept his allotment perfect till last year where he'd grown veg for 50 odd years, he also had a big garden at home and he did other peoples gardens. It wont seem the same at the allotments, he is the last of the old boys to go,there were still quite a few when we had our first allotment, MIke , John , Harry. I'll also miss seeing him on his motor bike though he had'nt ridden it for a while. And Saturday night down at the Half Moon wont seem the same with out him. But the spring means more potatoes chitting, more seeds need sowing, more beds need digging and it just wont wait, you got to get on! There I've rambled my way through my first ever blog, I think therefore I blog. I might get on with some work now! PS I have to thank Doug for my lovely bloggy mention and the inspiration to see that blogging is useful! It is cathartic.