NATURAL BEAUTY - Yvonne Diaz Exhibition

By Martin Dawber

It comes as no surprise that living by the sea and close to The Lake District, local Crosby artist, Yvonne Diaz, takes her encouragement from the inspiring regional landscape.

For her exhibition of recent paintings at the ArtHouse (28th May-25th June) she has tried to capture the awesome beauty and resonant energy of Nature.

“My preferred medium depends on the subject of the piece. Typically, I work in oil and cold wax medium, but I also use watercolour, acrylic, charcoal and pastels. In addition, I use printing inks when producing collagraph or lino prints.”

Originally from Essex, Yvonne moved up to the Northwest when she undertook training as a primary school teacher at Liverpool Hope University.

“Art was part of my Course and my passion and early in my teaching career I was given responsibility for managing the Creative Arts. Through this role, I was lucky enough to be part of the Creative Partnerships Initiative in the early 2000’s, when I had the opportunity to work with many artists and hopefully enrich the lives of the artists of the future. Since retiring three years ago, I am now able to really concentrate on my own art practice.”

Although Yvonne’s own approach is methodical and focused towards intended outcomes, she also likes to work instinctively and allow for ‘happy accidents’ along the way.

“When working in oil and cold wax medium, I usually work on a plywood substrate which I prepare with a PVA medium on both sides to prevent warping followed by two layers of gesso. I usually begin with expressive mark making in charcoal and acrylic ink. I then add thick layers of colour, applying and scraping back over several sessions using a variety of tools. I then refine the composition and apply glazes to add depth, clarity and definition. Sometimes I add collage and ash to create texture and interest.”

Although there is an inevitable nod towards the landscapes of JMW Turner, Yvonne own individual handwriting is more multifaceted: “I’m constantly drawn to figurative artists such as Jenny Saville, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye and Egon Schiele. I’m also influenced by Richard Diebenkorn, David Hockney, Edward Hopper and Helen Frankenthaler.”

Always willing to share her own intuitive passion for Art, Yvonne’s lifelong addiction will be amply celebrated in her current showing.

“I have always been a creative person and could not imagine life without art. For me, it’s what get me up in the morning and brings me joy. I like to think that my work brings joy to others as well.”

There are facemasks & hand sanitizers available at the ArtHouse should visitors wish to use them.

We talked about the price increases within the Construction Industry. There have been further increases since the last article and it doesn’t look like things are going to change any time soon.

So, let’s talk about ways of making things cheaper, being more creative with what we already have in the house and making use of unwanted things that have been hanging around for time!

Wikipedia states “Upcycling, also known as creative reuse, is the process of transforming by-products, waste materials, useless, or unwanted products into new materials or products perceived to be of greater quality, such as artistic value or environmental value.”

This has become so popular, especially during COVID times. With just a little imagination and perhaps a coat of paint or some new hardware, an old cabinet, table, or chair can get new life as something fresh and unique. Upcycling is not the same as recycling.

RECYCLING - Recycling takes consumer materials such as plastic, paper, metal, and glass — and breaks them down so their base materials can be remade into a new consumer product, often of lesser quality.

UPCYCLING - When you upcycle an item, you aren’t breaking down the materials. You may be reviving it, such as an old table. Sanding it down and repainting it. Also, the upcycled item is typically better or the same quality as the original.

Upcycling is incredibly beneficial for the planet. It accomplishes several things at once: It reuses materials we already have, and it creates something new.

Giving used products a new life reduces the need to use unethically sourced or unsustainable materials, like plastic, to create new products. Think about shoes made from recycled water bottles. Not only does upcycling plastic prevent a build-up of plastic waste, but it also provides new shoes without using new resources.

Upcycling may sound intimidating. (Turning plastic bottles into quality shoes certainly doesn’t sound easy!) But there are plenty of ways you can upcycle and contribute to the circular and sustainable economy.

This is an old rug that has been transformed into a cute pinboard. Simply attach a dowel with some string and make it studier with cardboard 

Pop into a Vintage Shop on the weekend and treat yourself to some “old fash-ioned” cups and saucers and look at the transformation. You can turn a teacup into an eye-catching candle to display 

1Preparation is key to upcycling. Plan and ensure you have the tools and equipment needed to do the job. Give all furniture a wipe down before you start, otherwise, you could get an old cobweb stuck to your paintbrush! And factor in time at the end in case you need to make any corrections to your work. Sometimes the excitement of getting the job done can mean we rush things.

2Be imaginative when you see old pieces. Old ladders make great places to display plants, and old washing machine drums make great outdoor plant pots. Creative ideas can give a new purpose to something that would have otherwise been discarded.

3If you see a piece of vintage furniture for sale on the high street that you like, the chances are that you can find something very similar in a charity shop, at a car boot sale, or on sites such as Gumtree. You may even find something similar in your granny’s attic! With a bit of paint and some imagination, you can create something beautiful at a fraction of the price.

4Make sure you match the era of the piece of furniture with the style of upcycling. An old 1950s G-plan sideboard will never look good painted in pastels and then distressed to give a shabby chic coastal effect. Be sympathetic to the original style – for example, a piece like that would look great painted in a bold colour, or decoupaged using geometrical wallpaper.

5Spend a few extra pennies on good paintbrushes. Cheap ones leave bristles in your work and don’t give good coverage. All good paint brands now have their own paintbrushes which work wonderfully well together. Wrap brushes and rollers in tinfoil or clingfilm in between coats to keep the brush moist and then clean them as soon as you’ve finished painting or waxing.

6Collect odd old socks (clean ones, of course!) as they are great to use to apply wax to furniture, providing they are not too fluffy, as any loose fibres will stick to the wax.

7Have fun and be bold. You are not bound by the constraints of what is available on the high street. There are so many colours to choose from and a wealth of ideas on Pinterest to inspire you. There should be no end to everyone’s creativity!

8Remove old drawer knobs first so you don’t paint around them only to find when you remove the old ones, the new ones are smaller, and you have a space with no paint.

9New products are launched all the time which seem to make the impossible, possible. For example, protective outdoor paints and sprays mean that you can be creative with outdoor spaces and create the look of an extra room in the garden quite easily. Think outside the box, gardens don’t have to be full of teak furniture! There are some amazing new easy crackle glaze products out there which mean you can age a piece easily. This is great news if you find second-hand mirrors or frames as these can be made to look super expensive.

10Once you have finished your pieces, make sure you protect all your hard work with wax or varnish to give it longevity. After putting so much effort into making something re-loved, give it the respect it deserves by finishing it properly.

11Don’t be afraid to try and get started, I always say that there are no mistakes in upcycling – only lessons learnt.

I hope this has given you some good ideas and tips in UPCYCLING! It is worth considering and saving yourself some money and enjoy some creative times!

YOU CAN ALWAYS GET IN TOUCH WITH ME FOR ANY FURTHER HELP OR ADVICE:

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Imagine waking up and not being able to move, not being able to speak and wondering if you had died? That was me back in 2014. Overnight, my life as I knew it had gone. In reality, I had been building up to this point for many years.

That’s the nature of burnout. For most people who experience it, it seems to come out of the blue, yet a part of them had the feeling for some time that something in their life wasn’t right. For me, it was as though I wasn’t inhabiting my body anymore. I was there and at the same time, I wasn’t.

Looking back, it’s obvious to me that I had been conditioned to think that I was invincible – a real “SuperWoman”. You know the woman who can have her cake and eat it, only the cost of the cake, in my case, was a life changing illness. However, I now know that with the right perspective on things, I can have my cake and eat it too, at no detriment to my life. Quite the opposite in fact.

But what perspective is that? It’s the one that says that I am powerful, that I can do amazing things and I can create a life I love on my terms.

On International Woman’s Day this year, I spoke to a conference of women in Paris sharing a message to the audience on women taking off their childish dress – a metaphor for our ego formed when we were young children – enabling them to consciously choose who they want to be, how they want to work and not wait around for more laws and traditional business structures to recognise their needs.

Ironically, it was exactly eight years previous to the day of delivering that speech when I found myself with my unwanted life transformation. What I now realise is that the childish dress had ruptured and, instead of consciously choosing my new life, I kept trying to repair the dress and stay the same. Ultimately, with my fresh new perspective, I have been able to connect with a life that I have designed. One in which I chose the outfit that suits me.

Today, I help people and organisations to choose their outfits, metaphorically speaking, by providing transformation solutions designed for their situation.

For busy women, it’s my Activate the Goddess Within™ which reconnects them with their true nature in order to create balance in their lives. Something I would have appreciated of having access to before I hit burnout.

The concept for this gentle transformation solution came to me in 2020 as a fully formed idea. Based on Roman Mythology the system has seven Goddesses who represent our energy states. The idea started with a journaling process, developed into a daily practice and then into a transformation system that includes meditations and the use of liminal space.

In 2021, I started the testing phase with women who I invited to take part. This is what one of them had to say:

“Being introduced to the Goddess archetypes and making them part of my daily routine has made an incredible difference to my life. I now feel much more balanced and in touch with who I am as a person. For the first time in my life, I put myself first and as a result the people I love get a much better, happier version of me.”

To say the results were pleasing was an understatement. And not just for them, it was the same for me. The Goddesses are now fully integrated into my own life.

Our true nature as women has been suppressed for millennia: we are powerful creators. This suppression has led to dis-ease, to mental ill-health and worse. And what’s interesting to note is the impact this has on the men in our world. Significantly increased suicide rates for both men and women, as an example.

When a woman is able to bring herself back into balance, she is able to reconnect with her true desires in life. Those things and experiences that she just loves to do. For me, it’s been dressmaking and fulfilling a long-held dream of designing beautiful clothing for women. I’d held back from this dream because of conditioning within the education system and within my own family.

I was deemed to be “bright” and excelled at a number of academic subjects including mathematics. When it came time to choose my ‘O’ level options, I was strongly discouraged from what I loved doing which was known as needlework back then. I was told I had to do subjects that would lead to a “proper career”. By not pursuing what I loved, unwittingly I had created an imbalance in my life. I was now following a career that was designed by others and their beliefs of how I should show up as a modern woman in the world.

If anyone had looked at my childhood and observed what I loved doing, they would have found me creating clothing for my dolls, teddies and my lovely dog Bobby. I spent hours lost in these joyful activities. What they wouldn’t have seen was me calculating the volume of my room or the impact two cars would have smashing into each other on the road outside our house.

Imagine what the world would look like if it was full to the brim of people living a life they loved? Doing things that brought them joy? And not being forced through an educational sausage machine that prepared them for “proper careers”?

During the crisis the world found itself wrapped up in, I came to realise that there was no cut-off point for grabbing a second chance at life. You are never too old to pursue doing the things you love. That doesn’t mean that you have to change career or start a new business. It just means that there needs to be more balance in what you choose to do.

My obvious next step is to do a course on fashion design. What’s your obvious next step in creating a more balanced life?

www.mirandachristopher.com

By Sharmen Frith-Hemmings

National Flag 

Dubbed the Spice Island, Grenada produces a wide variety of spices from the land. In fact, Nutmeg and mace have been part of Grenada’s history for over 100 years.

Grenada is the second major international exporter of nutmeg. Nutmeg is of significant cultural importance that it has been infused into the Island culture in many ways. Firstly, it has been given an importance of the highest nature, depicted on the national flag. Furthermore, the importance of nutmeg as part of the culture is reflected in the nutmeg spice festival. Nutmeg is a symbol of national pride and can be seen not only on the flag but on many promotional materials emanating from Grenada. The spice itself is one of the main reasons that Grenada has become known as the Spice Isle.

So, what is Nutmeg I hear you ask? The best way to explain it is, that it is the seed of an evergreen tree known as Myristica Fragrans the nutmeg tree. It is a unique species, in that the tree produces two very different tasting spices from the one fruit. The inner nut, encased in a hard shell (nutmeg) and a red lace-like covering on the shell (Mace). What are the uses for nutmeg? It is used in many sweet dishes in the Caribbean, cakes including rum cakes, Christmas cakes and regular cakes; it is used in ice cream, porridge, drinks e.g., eggnog, Irish Moss and even cosmetics and herbal remedies including soaps and creams.

Mace in itself is a very important spice. Mace is used as a preservative in many dishes including pickles and sauces. It can be used to season soups, stews, and other dishes. One of the lesser-known uses of mace is as a flavour enhancer used to bring out

Grenada Spices 

Annadale Waterfall 

Grenada Nutmeg and Mace 

National Bird - The Magnificent Frigate 

Grenada Masquerade 

the natural flavour of meats. During my formative years learning from my grandmother and family and in my experimentation with spices have discovered that a little mace in cooking goes a long way towards enhancing the flavour of the dish. Mace for me eliminates the need for reliance on artificial flavour enhancers such as Monosodium Glutamate. Furthermore, it is a very natural and organic product.

The richness of this Caribbean Island does not end with nutmeg but includes the production of other spices, such as turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and pimento to name a few more. The Spice Markets in Grenada are a sight to behold an array of colours and smells are not to be missed when visiting.

Grenada’s national dish is called Oil Down. Do not be deceived by the name, it is a delicious one-pot meal made with local vegetables such as breadfruit, Taro (spinach/dasheen leaves) and salted meat and saltfish cooked to perfection in coconut milk and a selection of local herbs spices All combined to give your tongue that ‘Ah Ha!’ moment.

Like many islands in the Caribbean, Grenada has its own festival season and this is called ‘Spice Mas’ incorporating their love of spice and their love for playing mas into one massive array of culture and colour. This takes place in the second week of August every year and is the premier cultural event in Grenada. From J’Ouvert morning to Last Lap the celebration takes over the weeks bringing together all the island to celebrate the richness of their own culture. From the traditional Masquerade dancers dressed as devils locally called jab jab to the modern carnival costumes, they parade through the streets in celebration. There is a part to play for everyone from the children to the elderly.

One unique feature of the island that can only be explored by scuba diving is the underwater sculpture park. The underwater sculpture park of Grenada is the first of its kind in the world, and one of the most popular snorkelling sites in the Caribbean. Situated in 800 square metres of protected conservation area just off the island’s western coast.

The park was created by British sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor. It is of 26 Grenadian children positioned in a circle. There are different interpretations of what they mean Some say it represents the circle of life, others say that the children represent slaves thrown off ships so many years ago. However, the true intent and the purpose were to help conservation efforts. Some damage had been done to the reefs and the statues were put in to help protect the reefs and help maintain the ecosystem with the aim of eventually, restoring underwater life in that area.

This beautiful island has a culture so rich it emanates from the pores of the people. From spices to celebrations to history there is a oneness in spirit, this island has produced not only spices but Olympic medallists. It has some truly iconic and unique features to be explored. From spice factories to waterfalls, Grenada is a truly special place and one that must not be missed on any tour of the Caribbean. M 5 Brennand Street,

Burnley BB10 1SU E info@mamashars.com N 07988 890974 F @mamashars I @mamashars