Inspiration for February

Window Wanderland started in 2015 by Lucy Reeves Khan as a project to create a community festival filled with light and life over the winter period. Simon Whalley from the Eden Valley Artistic Network thought this was a great idea to bring to the Eden Valley. Window Wanderland was implemented this year with the help of Penrith Town Council and Stephen Macaulay (President of Penrith Chamber of Trade).

Windows started to be decorated in Penrith at the beginning of December 2020. Appleby, Kirkby Stephen and Alston Moor have now become a part of this wonderful scheme to bring light and joy into the dark winter nights.

Margaret Jones from Penrith Art Clubs contribution

This window is the Registrars window. Created by Rae Lusby and Sandra Nicholson at Penrith Library.

Perhaps on your daily walk there are a few windows in your village that have been decorated with stained glass style images. The window creations are easy to produce and just involve black paper, coloured tissue paper, tape/glue and a small imagination. Window Wanderland in Eden will finish at the end of February 2021. There is still time to join in!

Thanks to Gwen Bainbridge for letting me use the above unaccredited images.
To learn how to get involved with the E.V.A.N project please go here, and here is the Facebook page to get inspired. To read more about the concept of Window Wanderland and the many places in the United Kingdom and beyond who are participating, please visit the official page.

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Grayson Perry is back on Channel 4, Sunday 31st January 2021 at 19:00 recapping series one of Grayson's Art Club. Series two starts at the end of February 2021. He is asking you to create something for his show, this can be on paper/canvas or a sculpture. This time he is asking for submissions in advance, the projects he wants you to get involved with are:-

Family, Nature, Food, Dreams, Work and Travel.

These are to be submitted by a specific date on his website. I think this is a great idea even if you just participate without submitting. Here is the link to his website.

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If you are in a creative black hole pick up a pencil and just doodle. There are some great adult / mindfulness colouring books out there to get you started without even thinking what to draw. I love Johanna Basford's colouring books, but there is a whole host out there to choose from. I have recently seen a Zen Colouring book on the magazine stand at Sainsburys. Other authors are available, many Supermarkets and Newsagents stock various types of these books. You never know 10 minutes of colouring in someone else’s design may bring your mojo back?!

A partially coloured page from Millie Marotta's Tropical Wonderland book

“You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have”
Maya Angelou