Cornbury Sunday 2012 (by sarah)

There are a lot of photos here, just click on any you want to see bigger :) (WARNING lots of CUTE)

Sunday Morning at Cornbury Music Festival loomed large and again I was the first to rise,s o I went to the lovely on site showers and then went and bought Kava Coconut milk from the brilliant site store and began making breakfast and stuff. Jean had instructed me not to run away again as she didn't like me being missing Saturday morning when she woke up!

Though the baby didn't stay over with us again as she is still so chesty she did have a good explore of the campsite :) Whilst her sister decided to roll down the hill in her sleeping bag - this is traditional for camps we are on. Last day come rain or shine she gets to find a hill and roll! This time she was disgruntled as I wouldn't let her go any further and there were spiky plants she was worried she would roll into!

We didn't see the giant rainbow birds again but we did see some Road Rage Grannys ridding their shopping trollies - Jean thinks it might have been the same people just doing a new pretend.

We had a go at Welly Wanging - Alaric almost won me a pair of wellies but the welly skidded half an inch over the line and it had to be the whole welly in the circle :(

Mary Mary not quiet a fairy, has lots of flowers you know! She also kept trying to run off with other toddlers which was fine until they got pushy as toddlers do and being small she was being bowled over by babies 3 months her junior!

Alaric really wanted to make a fish as did I but Jean didn't so Al went and made one anyway but just the frame as we didn't want to be taking a gluey drying thing home with us!

I love stilt walkers! This time it was a larger than life Lord who kept trying to join in the Morris Dancing!

Jean has a habit of finding people who will blow bubbles for her - this I found is quadrupled when she has her sister with her!

We still could not find any childrens ear defenders so Jeany did not want to go to near the stages but that didn't stop her and Mary from dancing to the songs!

The girls loved the ribbon maze which Jean had spent large parts of the festival making as she did last year at the festivals!

We liked the Morris Dancers especially as they had girl ones dressed in funky blacks highlighted with different colours and there was a Big Cheese too who actually had a cheese hat :) I had to stop the girls trying to join in, I spotted the symptoms - wiggling and inching forward in the hope mummy and daddy wouldn't notice. But big sticks and stomping feet wouldn't mix well with little girls so I had to be mean!

Mary managed to join in the crafts this year - well painting - with just a little help. Jeany was so excited to be helping Mary to paint!

There was one group of people running the most fantastic kids workshops! This was the Going Native one which Jean loved!

She even made a bow and arrow which she got a bit annoyed with having done actual archery - there was a feather and no knock on the end of the arrow. No arrow rest she could cope with but no knock....

Here is a pic of my family festivaling it :)

I ran the sock puppet making so Jean made several - this is her with one of her creations whilst wearing her angry birds hat from Wychwood Festival.

And then after face painting and candyfloss and Jean winning a badge from the Qi elves for her question about recursive acronymes (it was her own question too! I was relieved that it was a different set of people to the ones I'd asked my question off!). It was time to go - with me moaning about a certain Will Young who's lovely voice was mullering once again, one of my favourite songs - warrble warrble - how much warrble? rolls eyes.

Saturday of Cornbury (by sarah)

If you want to see bigger versions of the photos just click on them.

Rainbow Birds - Jean had us tracking these birds all over the place! Though she was worried they were going to lay an egg on me due to a seam on their bum :)

We had a lovely breakfast at the campsite before we headed off to run my workshop.

Jeany's photography

We had a very sleepy Jeany after she had done loads of crafts so we had a late lunch with iced drinks from Cafe Nero were we heard the lovely Yvonne Lyon.

Later on we went to the Riverside Stage and everyone was fed up with my camp food so we bought some noms to eat whilst watching the acts.

I thought the singer here had an amazing voice. I think they were called Satsangi.

We then wizzed over to the SongBird stage to catch Hugh Laurie and The Copper Bottom Band (although due to the Qi tent I kept saying we'd seen Stephen Fry but amazingly everyone knew who I ment :/ )

If I lost Jean and Al I could just wonder over to the Alpro Bowl and find them every single time.

Ecover were there again with a cool dome for yoga and stuff, we played games and painted a giant ECOVER. Jean and Al came 7th out of 2000 odd players on the game last we checked :)

This is Dave - he was the brains behind security and had a great time dancing at the main stage.

After Alaric accused me of always taking photos of random bits of plastic I went back to the camp site and took a photo of some plastic.

I just had to photograph these guys.

Whilst I was doing my sock puppet workshop these guys did the most amazing fairy workshop!

This was the outside of the kids zone - it was fantastic!

Jean loved the Morris Dancers so we kept stopping to watch them though we only saw the women dancing the whole weekend!

Saturday like Friday saw a rainbow!

The only thing Jean asked for during the day was a toffee apple so as she had been so good we bought her one :)

This tent was next to us and Jean as predicted - loved it :) Her and Daddy want me to do similar to our tent :/

Rainbow!

Cornbury Festival 2012 (by sarah)

Thursday I was so tired - I had had a bad night of muscle spasms but was very excited about Cornbury music festival and I still had a lot of stuff to pack (like all my workshop stuff!). I ment to post these pics of the new hair before I went but forgot! If you want to see bigger versions of any of the photos just click on them :)

We ended up putting our tent up in the twilight and therefore cooking dinner in the dark - but I think Alaric enjoyed the challenge :)

I was quiet cold and woke Alaric up quiet early on Friday as I didn't realise exactly how early it was. I had restarted my iron tablets but was still suffering cramps in my leg muscles and stuff and I was bored!

It was quiet wet in contrast to last year when I got sun burnt! Not that Alaric cared it gave him an excuse to wear his cloak. It was interesting with the cloak - at Wychwood people had asked where we had bought it and were excited about it - at Cornbury we got Dickheads being very unoriginal about it. Though looking at the second pic I think the Hogwarts comment was spot on - it was just the sentiment behind it that narked.

We headed out to the Festival before it was actually open to the public so that we could work out were the workshop was going to be etc...

I took photos of funky festival things (as I always do).

These were for the top of the bins and are a funky use of empty bottles and has me thinking of some more upcycled projects :)

We had lunch back at the campsite and then headed off to run the first of the weekend workshops :) This year it was Sock Puppets which worked really well.

We then went to the Qi tent were I was expecting cocktails as it said interesting drinks in the programme but alas and alack there were none. But Alaric had fun working on my tea cosy and knitted about ten carbon atoms whilst thinking of a question to ask the 'elves'. I asked 'Where are you most likely to find naturally occuring terrestrial buckminsterfullerene (C60 also known as Bucky Balls). I got a badge for challenging them and then much to my suprise as I hadn't seen anyone else given one - I got a signed photo! I think this was for knowing the answer!

I watched Never the Bride whilst Alaric went to get Jeany from my parents.

Jean of course insisted we head straight to the Alpro stand!

I saw this cool natural lighting on the wicker man so had to take another photo!

We then saw same of Charlotte Church - she was delayed by technical difficulties and was a bit wobbly for the first song but then she was great.

We then found a very tall police man.

Then I got to watch the Waterboys :)

Jean and Daddy having a sneaky snack that wasn't camp food I'd bought with us!

We then saw the first rainbow of the weekend :)

I was really gutted actually as it was a really faint rainbow and disappeared and I headed off to get Jean some suprise bubbles for the morning but I left the camera behind and lo! Full arch with glorious storm lighting over glowing banners up in the festival grounds. It would have been a stunning photo :/

Photos of Jeany

New Hair – Tri Coloured (by sarah)

My hair is still a little damp in the photos so it will be slightly lighter and a bit more curly. I think I might stick with this for a while rather than adding the funky colours as I love the way it has turned out - a sort of Cindy Luarper cum Lulu look (if I was thinner and had straight hair that was much shorter!).

Make Good Art or Get Creative (by sarah)

This speech by the writer Neil Gaimon I found extremely powerful especially for someone like me who has to do creative things to survive.

But also the fact that I have not done things the normal way and that I keep hitting barriers such as I don't have an art degree so therefore do not count as an artist for some people. I am in a space inbetween. When I hear or read that others have not done it the normal way either it gives me hope.

Also I feel encouraged that I am not the only person who finds that trying to do projects for money fail and end up leaving you worse off than you started but the ones you do because it's a fun idea race ahead and are successful.

He mentions the changing landscape of publishing too which for me is an emotive subject - I really think I am going to continue on my own path with my blogs and getting my own CDs printed and what have you. I have tried traditional publishing twice now and both time the company has gone bust or something similar - one still having the rights to the work I'd done so I didn't even end up with it and worse they have not done anything with it :/

My first attempt at crowd funding has been a huge success :) So I am very happy with that.

He mentions throwing bottles into the sea and then they all start coming back and you have to learn to say no. And you know - this is actually happening - though I would say I have been shouting into the void and now the echos are not only coming back but are bouncing and reflecting and propagating and I am having to turn things down! (But please still ask as I may not be doing stuff that weekend etc... or like with the Stroud Water Festival - what I was supposed to be doing may have been canceled).

I do feel a bit weird though it is just like suddenly I am this person that people know of - I'm getting pounced by people who I do not know who start chatting to me about my art (ok well this has always happened quiet alot but frequency has increased!).

It is bizar but I do feel like a fake - really? Me? That thing I made in the middle of the night? That story I wrote whilst breast feeding the baby at 5 am? The knitting I did at a festival whilst listening to my favourite local bands? That really? You like it?

It is not all positive feedback mind - one of my best friends hates my songs, I was accused at the Poetry Festival of being arrogant as my business cards say Artistic Scientist and Scientific Artist. Alaric cringes at my Wiggly Pet stories and visual puns. Performance poets see me as a page poet, page poets see me as performance or worse experimental and the artists are scared or the science part and the scientists are like 'you have no PhD!' and I have people ranting at me over spelling mistakes on my blogs...

But....

That is small compared to what is coming back to me at the moment. I keep thinking I'm so lucky how has this come about? But it is such a knife edge world really - I'm getting bookings now but 6 months down the line? And also it still isn't actually making money :( And what it does make tends to be for charity.

But you know people are excited about Ballads of the Scientifica and there have been requests for a Wiggly Pet book and for t-shirts with things like my Normali Tea picture on.

If you watch/listen to Neils speech he says make good art, I would change that to Get Creative.

When I tore the ligaments in my ankle and had to be flown home from a field trip in the desert I GOT CREATIVE - I made Wiggly Pets

When I had to take a year out for medical treatment to my back - I GOT CREATIVE - I began writing and designed a series of childrens' science stories.

When I found myself having nearly died, and crippled from childbirth, boiling with anger and fear - I GOT CREATIVE - I started writing a novel and so was found in a cafe by the now Cheltenham Poetry Festival Director.

When our house was flooded I GOT CREATIVE and designed childrens activities to entrain my toddler.

When I got shingles and had to rest and give up the Master degree for the second time I found the Paleo Art community and began drawing trilobites and things.

When I was devastated about miscarriage I constructed The Punk In Pink personality.

When I was petrified of going to the hospital to have little Mary I wrote poems about that fear and about having a separated pelvis.

When we were being chucked out of our home I made a poem about how the home is not the building but the people with in.

And so on. There is an even larger list of good times and being creative but that would make this post silly long! :)

Basically as I have struggled to build my own serendipity funnel and have just reached my perceived tipping point and this talk resonated so strongly that it made me cry (yes I know that will be the hormones).

If you haven't already listen to it :) But most of all Get Creative!