It has been absolutely sweltering hot in my little studio and since my windows don't actually open I have been slowly melting, add children's school holidays into the mix and the result is not a lot has been getting created! However, I have been managing to rework some of my existing images in the cooler evenings while mulling over the idea of preparing to open an Etsy shop in the near future. For now, here's my little folk tin with an update all of its own, including a new background!
Repeat Pattern in Blue & White
It's been 3 days since the snow came to Devon, the first snow in 5 whole years and our first ever 'Red' weather warning. Everything really came to a standstill, the UK isn't equipped to deal with these weather conditions. All the local schools closed, much to the children's delight and we now have igloos and snowmen scattered around the garden. In the meantime, I have taken the opportunity to stay warm and concentrate on learning about seamless repeat patterns in photoshop. I've taken some of the icons from my vase of flowers to make this repeat pattern to be used as wrapping paper with my Mothers Day card for Folio Focus. It's taken forever to learn, but I have finally achieved what a year ago, seemed like the impossible!
The Origins of British Tea
So for Bootcamp this month our mini assignment is all about tea. Yup, anything and everything and if you love tea like me then that equals quite a lot of fun. Since I love history too I have been digging around and discovered that tea was actually bought to England in about 1662 by Queen Catherine of Braganza, the wife of Kind Charles II. It was initially extremely expensive and so only the elite classes could afford it but as time went by it became more affordable and therefore accessible to ordinary people. The little poem around the top of the painting that I've written reads: 'Queen Catherine of Braganza was rather partial to her tea. She said it kept her calm and restored her sanity. The King did, the Queen did and then the Court did too. Until the whole of England enjoyed a daily brew'.
