annalee

Yesterday I was about to cycle home from somewhere when I saw a lovely big frog sitting right in the middle of the road. I think he was about as big as my fist. The cars kept narrowly driving on one side of him or the other and I hated the thought of him being squashed. So I stopped my bike and waited for a break in the cars so I could pick him up. Of course once I picked him up, he was trying to leap out of my hand and making an indignant squeaking noise and I realised I has no idea what to do with him. The nearest pond I could think of was about a mile away and I was getting quite wet but I felt obliged to save him by this point. It was also particularly awkward because it was dark and raining and I like some kind of little pack horse at that moment with a huge full backpack and shoulder bag on my back full of paints and books so the only place I could think to put him while I cycled to the pond was in the paper bag I had over my handlebar containing a little indigo muscari plant an a box of pistachio cakes that I had bought for my mother.

So I put him in the bag but he immediately leapt out onto the pavement and I realised that wasn't going to work. I was looking around trying to think if there might be a pond in any of the gardens nearby because where did he come from? Then I heard someone come out of one of the houses so in my head I was thinking of asking them if they knew if any of the gardens on the street which might have a pond because look, there is this frog here and he was about to be squashed by a car and I was imagining how strangely they are probably going to look at me but by the time I have imagined explaining my amphibious dilema they are right at the top of the street. I looked down at the frog and he said ribbit and jumped forward towards the gate we are standing outside. The he took one more hop through the black iron rungs and into someone's garden. I decided at this point that he had made his decision and that I shouldn't try to further intervene as I might end up doing more harm than good. I just hope he knew what he was doing and new of some secret hidden pond somewhere. I realised that this is exactly the time when they will have been coming out of hibernation so there will probably be lots of mispaced frogs and toads around the place.

This was one I found last year.



I wanted to let you know that I still have a few of my square prints. They are 8x8 inches with a matte finish and printed on fujicolour crystal archive paper and I can sign them or write you a message if you request. They are 20 per print and shipping is free. If you want to buy all four I will make a special offer of the set for 70 for this month only :-) email me at annaleeprints@googlemail.com or message me here if you're interested.

These are the ones I'm offering. You can see bigger versions here.



I'm also thinking of selling some souvenirs from my sets. Would anyone be interested in anything in particular? I am thinking of selling this corset from my Strange Creatures set first. If anyone wants to make me offer just message me.

This is the corset.

I feel happy lately. The most exciting thing that has happened recently is that after nearly 4 years since my graduation I finally have a studio to paint in again. I managed to find a really cheap space that I'm sharing with another girl while her sister is living in london for 6 months. I thought it was good to try something short to see if I actually use at first and I really love being there so hopefully I'll be able to find somewhere else through this or maybe it will be extended if she decides to stay in London longer. I'm so happy to have peace and space to work in. After I finished my degree I hardly felt I wanted to look at a paintbrush again but slowly things changed and I am getting great pleasure out of making marks and painting colours and thinking about images. I didn't stop being creative in that time but I had pretty much stopped painting and drawing. It is really nice that now it doesn't matter if I make things that don't work as no one is going to assess me and I don't have any deadlines that it make it necessary for everything to be perfect. So I feel I can work in different ways and not worry so much. I've just been learning to use watercolours which is a medium that I had never tried before and I really like the way they react but today I am going to stretch up canvases to start new oil paintings as I think that is my favorite medium.

So far I have just been playing with my photographs, doing little sketches, making books and also repairing old books at my desk but soon I'll start using the wall to make big paintings again.




There is really nice light in the studio because it's on the top floor with big high windows.



I've been trying to learn to repair old books.




Painting moths.



I learned some techniques to make books without glue or sewing too. These are just half way through but I love the way folds in paper can look.



A lot of the time I feel that my paint rags or my palette are far more beautiful and natural than anything I could create though.









Well I hope you are all well and enjoying the spring arriving if that's happening in your part of the world. I'm sure that is something to do with why I feel so much more awake lately. Thank you for all the lovely messages too x