Jen Wood

I’m busy at work creating an exhibition to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee with the More Arts team, using clippings and cuttings from 1950′s magazines.  It’s made me pretty excited about all the different arts and cultural things that are going on to mark the event, so Three Things this week features Diamond Jubilee related arts and cultural offerings.

1. Hand Embroidered handkerchief – I was visiting my Nanny over Easter and talking to her about celebrating the Diamond Jubilee.  It reminded her that she  had this beautiful handkerchief, which she hand-embroidered in 1953 to mark the Coronation – apparently it took ages as I can quite imagine.  Still in pristine condition after nearly 50 years – it’s far too special to have been used for wiping snotty noses!

2. Face Britain – The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts has been inspiring children across the nation to create self portraits and upload them onto the Children & the Arts website.  Tens of thousands of children have taken part, and their images will be projected onto Buckingham Palace to create a giant montage image of HM The Queen.  Projection artist Ross Ashton has been commissioned to create the montage, made up of thousands of children’s self portraits.  Be the first to see the projection tonight, Thursday 19th April 8:30pm at Buckingham Palace.  The montage image will also be displayed on over 400 JCDecaux digital advertising screens across the UK.

3. Planning a Diamond Jubilee party?  This British Tea Party handmade mini bunting is an essential piece of Jubilee party kit.  Created by North East based digital artist and graphic designer Laura Cartwright, you can buy the bunting online here.

Image © Laura Cartwright www.lauracartwright.com

Recently I was having a discussion with an artist about brooches.  We were talking about how they are an underrated piece of jewellery these days, which people often don’t think about wearing. I have a small collection that I like to use to add to plain jackets and scarfs, bringing a bit of decoration into lots of otherwise plain outfits.  All my brooches have been given to me by my mum who has a talent for finding fun pieces, many have come direct from artists and others sought out in second hand vintage shops.  Here are three of my favourite brooches from my collection.

1. Handmade many years ago by a parent at Alder Bridge School in Aldermaston

2. Handmade in Northern Ireland from Painted Earth, Newcastle County Down

3. I love this one’s graphic style, people are always intrigued whenever I wear it!

1. Searching out giant decorative egg sculptures in The Big Egg Hunt in London featuring over 180 big sculptures created by artists, this one is by Caio Locke. Keep up-to-date with the project on Twitter by following @thebigegghunt

2. Dr Hauschka Neem Hair Oil for smoothing frizz and calming natural curls.  I’ve been having a big spring clean at home, and it’s nice to treat yourself to a spring spruce up too.  This hair oil can be used as a nourishing treatment by massaging into your hair, leave in for up to 60 minutes depending upon dryness of your hair, shampoo twice and condition.  You can buy Neem Hair Oil here.

3. Super-cute crocheted spring blossom yarnbomb by crochet lover Dilly Tante.

Image © Dilly Tante www.dillytante.wordpress.com

This week’s Three Things post features three blogs which explore and document local people and their relationship with the towns and cities they live in.  I’ve been feeling the post-travel blues the past few days so have chosen three blogs investigating local community and people from places that I visited on my round the world trip.  All the blogs were featured in last Wednesday’s G2 magazine, add them to your bookmarks and check in when you’re in need of a pick-me-up.

1. Delhi – The Delhi Walla blog is jam-packed with cultural information, a vibrant celebration of food, culture and books from India’s capital city.

Image from my visit to Udaipur, India, Sep 2012

2. New York – Every Person In New York is definitely a blog to keep popping back to.  In an attempt to draw every person in New York, it features a sketch completed and uploaded every day of (sometimes) unsuspecting people going about their everyday business on the streets of New York.

Image taken in New York along Highline Park, Feb 2012

3. Ottawa – Hello Ottawa is a fun hyper-local blog introducing some of Ottawa’s residents through beautiful photographs and friendly interviews.  Makes me want to go back again right now.

Image of snow sculpture taken during Winterlude in Ottawa, Feb 2012

1. Feeling creative this first week of Spring I have been designing invitations for my Granny’s 80th birthday celebrations.  The best bit of any project is always seeing the final printed versions, which me and a few helpers ran off at home (not advisable!).  They are inkjet printed on beautiful GF Smith paper, and then trimmed down to 12 x 12cm square with a guillotine.

2.  Artist Jo Sinclair of JoJoJewellery in Berkshire has been getting into the Spring spirit creating a special brand new butterfly necklace design.  Have a look at her silver clay work and other designs on the JoJoJewellery website and NOTHS page.

Image © JoJoJewellery – www.jojojewellery.me.uk

3.  Very excited that my Limited Edition Dr Hauschka Lipstick – 14 Beige Opal has arrived in the post!  It’s a gorgeous nude shade with a shimmering warm tone, perfect for wearing with Spring pastel colours and a subtle day time look.  The packaging is lovely too, presented in a box with debossed gold typography and block colour panel.

1. My mum introduced me to Golden Monkey Tea Shop in Warwick this week where you can buy a fabulous range of loose tea from Mocha Rocha Rooibos to Ginger Black – I’ve never been so excited by tea!  It’s a really cute little shop and also sells lots of teaware and tea-making gadgets, and a selection of handmade goodies by Poppy Treffry, like this one which I fell in love with immediately.

Image © Poppy Treffrey – www.poppytreffry.co.uk

2. News that Jelly, an arts organisation in Reading, is launching  an exciting new project Reading Is The Gallery. I love the unexpected nature of this idea, that we will see artworks pop up in unusual spaces and in different ways. People of Reading: keep your eyes open!

Image © Jelly – www.jelly.org.uk

3. The One Show featured my favourite group of graffiti knitters last night, Knit The City.  Watch the knitters in action here (about 09.48 in), and visit their website to read about their latest yarnbombs.  This pic (Squishy Banksy Rat Stencil) is taken from one of their recent projects Permission to Yarnstorm: Tate Britain Unexpected Artworks, which shows what happens when two sneaky stitchers were let loose with a bag of wool in one of London’s biggest Art Museums, Tate Britain.

Image © Knit The City – www.knitthecity.com

Tomorrow I will be launching a brand new weekly blog feature Three Things.  Expect to see it up on a Thursday, neatly introducing three innovative/ exciting/ alternative/ news/ arts/ culture related things. I hope that it will bring a little inspiration and creativity into your Thursdays, so watch this space.