The Art (and Food) of Inspiration Part II

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"Oh I do like to be beside the seaside!"

Print available from http://www.willowandstone.co.uk/made-in-the-uk/oh-i-do-like-to-be-beside-the-seaside-print-unframed-.php

My art has a strong coastal influence, in particular from the British Coast. The rugged white cliffs of Dover, the soft sandy coves of the Scottish Islands and the wistful beaches of Cornwall all hold a special magic for me. I spent many summers in my childhood on the Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall, swimming off boats for beach picnics, spinning for mackerel and rock-pooling. I never remember what the weather was specifically like, but nothing remains more vivid than the feeling of sand between your toes and the gentle salty smell of seaweed. I tried sailing lessons, but I remained hopeless and never understood how to steer. For this reason I am a very willing passenger or even more keen to wander the shore searching for treasures of bleached driftwood and creating pictures in the sand. The sense of freedom staring at the broad expanse of sea, the glittering surface and the ever changing spectrum colours that the sea gives around the British shores always helps with inspiration for our prints. The seascape is pure escapism for me. I hope that the seaside prints bring that bracing fresh air into an interior and the shimmering shapes and childlike wonder of staring into a rock pool. With this is mind we created our 'Norfolk Crab' print.

(Image Copyright of Duck Egg Designs and blind made by the wonderful Katie Mosa http://www.katiemosa.com/)

So to inspire and to add a little of the coastal spirit to your interior we thought we'd share with you a few of our most favourite coastal spots and a delicious recipe perfect for a Sunday, or any day really, feast!

Norfolk Coast -Holkham Beach

An enormous expanse of sand. Beautiful, perfect for escapists. White sand and huge skies.

The Roseland Peninsula

Small coves of unspoilt beauty, here is Portloe. For interiors inspiration I love the thick rope of the boats and the battered paint, a natural shabby chic effect!

Winchelsea

An idyllic quiet spot, that creeps up on you; more sheltered than its neighbour Camber and worth it to see the Romney Marsh sheep grazing adjacent to the beach.

Camber Sands

Wild, windy and a huge gorgeous beach. Lovely in the winter and ideal for kite surfing for the more adventurous!

Northumberland 

Untouched and rugged these shores are sublime stretches of sandy beaches, perfect for some solitude and reflection.

Isle of Harris

You could mistake this Scottish coast for the Caribbean. Startlingly blue sea and incredible wildlife.

Here is the most delicious recipe we have found. Always one that we re create in Norfolk with fresh mussels, a yummy bottle from the local off license and a hefty crusty loaf!

http://www.raymondblanc.com/Portals/14/docs/Sept%202010%20Moules%20Marinieres.pdf

Take care and don't eat any mussels that remain closed after cooking or open in the preparation stage and have a good read of Raymond's advice.

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The Art of Inspiration (Part I)

I have just started work on the new fabric collection for Duck Egg, that is once the tent had finally been put after the poles were danced around the garden, the bins put out, the family organised and my attempt at mending a broken drainpipe with gaffa tape (fail). Sometimes I feel a little blank and then I turn to my faithful sources for inspiration. Looking at our inspiration board I realised that they say a lot about who we are and I wanted to share them to give an insight into what makes Duck Egg tick. I hope you enjoy our little mini blog series on our top 3 Duck Egg inspirational fail safes. First off...


Inspiration No. 1

It took me a while to appreciate Chardin (1699-1779). However slowly but surely his depth of colours, his simple yet faultlessly accurate rendering of objects and the pure simplicity of his styles sets him aside from his peers. He is a very old modern artist. I return to Chardin again and again to look at his shapes. Whilst the exuberantly elaborate Rococo was swirling its way across canvas and edifice, Chadin slowly and carefully carved his own niche. I love how he bucked the trend of historical tableau's that were all the rage and ignoring the mild hysteria inherent in such works he created beautiful soulful still life paintings in particular, as well as paintings of domesticity. He always kept his work simple and cosequently they are enduring. The seemingly mundane and the overlooked take on exquisite sheen and are elevated as something to treasure - worthy of a wall space. It is this captivating quality which intrigues and inspires me. He resounds throughout the canon art. Cezanne goes to show how relevant Chardin's work was to a new age. (I also love that he was mostly self-taught. Wow.) Always worth seeing them in the flesh too and a trip to Paris is definitely essential! This one in the Louvre forms gentle curves through the shapes in the apples proving less is more.

His way of framing domestic items has inspired me with my photography, and the little man and I experimented today with some Chardin inspired shots for the website...

And while I must retire to peeling the vegetables I shall aim to do this in a suitably Chardin-esque manner amongst artfully strewn fare ...

before retiring for a (large) glass of wine a from a tumbler aside a hearty chunk of bread. Chardin really is inspirational simplicity.

Duck Egg TV

The Duck Egg team have been in somewhat of a whirlwind! It is only on a Sunday night when the little rascal has exhausted Daddy, who has gone to bed (wrong way round), whilst he is happily bouncing around in his cot that I have managed to sit down and take stock. What a crazy couple of months! Duck Egg TV is coming to you shortly!

In April Duck Egg after idly browsing through our tweets came across an interiors challenge for an makeover programme airing on Channel 4. After coming to a grinding halt in the renovations work and being overwhelmed by the delightful yet daily chaos of our lives, we jumped at the opportunity to be involved in an exciting interiors programme aiming to help DIY amateurs such as ourselves! A beloved interiors specialist was to present and knowing that we shared similar tastes, we sent off an application. Glass of wine in hand, a Marks and Spencer lasagna to the rescue and we filled out our form! The next morning dawned with bright sunshine and rather hurriedly I uploaded and sent off our application with the little man whooping and laughing as we set off for another of our eagerly anticipated journeys to the Sussex coast. I hardly dared hoped someone somewhere sitting at a desk sifting through hundreds of similar pleas, might read it.

Needless to say the application had not been perfect. I cringed at the spelling mistakes, what I thought were jovial comments and the mild hysteria that had ensued in our application, fuelled by the alcohol imbibed to gain the confidence needed. The whiff of desperation was palpable and in fact it stank of it. However, that Someone Somewhere saw Something in it and the rest as they say, is history! We were assigned a winning team and together our passion for transforming our Victorian cottage was reignited and we were underway with the planning! (I also was concerned with my outfit planning aiming to achieve practical yet sophisticated however always seemed to find the closest thing to hand that didn't look like I had stuffed it into a drawer. My wardrobe options were therefore drastically reduced!)


Along the way we have met some amazing collaborators. We have been inspired by beautiful interiors and refreshing design ideas. No one was as perturbed as I was by the space restrictions and the inventive ideas for storage were inspirational and have really influenced the way we are building our business. Interiors aside, we made some fantastic friends and the support and fun we had on the journey to create the programme and makeover our rooms were as much a bonus as our beautiful sparkling made over rooms! We filmed on location, hunted down treasures which will become family treasures, our little person was in heaven with the camera equipment and we all learnt a whole new skill set. The whole experience reaffirmed how talented our British craft society is and how genuinely encouraging this group that we are endeavouring to join is towards one another. There are so many unique skills out there and we are amazed every day on twitter by the people we meet and the unique items they create. The idea of our Duck Egg community is taking shape and when the website launches we can not wait to involve our new creative friends! Because that is what Duck Egg has become; from a  nascent shell as creative entrepreneurs, we are tentatively sticking our beaks out and finding that the world is an exciting and welcoming place!

The fabrics are done, and whatever response we find, we are proud of what we have achieved. The designs fulfilled my brief and are, I hope, a fresh take on shabby chic. I wanted them to have a sense of humour, be a little eccentric and  add a relaxed timeless beauty to any home. They also feature on the programme and of that there will be more on our next blog post on Duck Egg TV... Thinking of which I had better stir myself and deal with the devastation of toy cars, banana, soggy rice crackers and solo socks that now adorn our made over home! (But it's so stylish that even housework feels slightly glamorous now in these surroundings..!)

Renovations and how to create a vintage floral arrangement

Renovation requires epic amounts of patience! The little man and I are moving back and forwards from Grandparents and at each stage when we hope to return, something in the new house decides to pack up and refuse to work. This week it's the boiler. Poor hubby is enduring the inclement June, wrapped in woolly duck egg windowpane rugs and brisk cold baths at home. We are very lucky to be enjoying the home comforts of spoiling Grandparents and beautiful gardens. Whilst our nascent plot is ravaged by slugs and hubby's stalwart midnight gardening forages are keeping it going, it has been lovely to sit back and marvel at the fruits of more experienced gardeners and more mature gardens. I am really inspired to tackle our plot and the lawn which, I am reliably informed, has reached gargantuan proportions. In a humble way to thank my parents whose hospitality we are currently trespassing on, I have been arranging their abundant flora, which happily for me has a strong vintage feel. Heavenly scented tea roses, heavy lavender heads and frothy peonies. With this in mind here are some Duck Egg ideas on arranging vintage posies perfect for weddings and thank you's (I hope!).

After a beautiful summer wedding of a great friend of mine last year, I was struck by the vibrant and simple beauty of their homegrown flowers. It is now becoming an exciting and blossoming trend for smaller business to grow their own flowers for events and in particular support British blooms as well. Meadow flowers are flourishing and decorating spectacular bunting festooned marquess and also encouraging our own fauna too. Particularly poignant as our butterfly and bee populations dwindling.

My favourite arrangement has to have roses in. They remind me of my own wonderful grandparents who would tend to their roses in summer afternoons and bring armfuls into the house and I still remember the scent of roses as we all traipsed up to bathtime. Roses and their heavy and yet delicate petals are full of nostalgia. Choose tea roses for maximum visual effect and scent and for a traditional posy simply incorporate lavender. Lay the stalks diagonally in your hand and build the posy in a circular motion. Remove thorns where the posy is held, if you wish. Finish the arrangement and make it suitable for transporting by tying the posy with vintage stripy ribbon - we like Susie Watson's thick ribbon for tying and to also protect from any thorns.  

For displaying a posy in a vintage style, choose a china bowl. I like blue and white ones, or find a pretty floral one in a car boot sale. You will always use it! Perfect for a table display. Think about what colour scheme you are going to go for. Cut a piece of oasis to fit the bowl (florist's foam) soak. 

The 'greenery' or foliage you wish to use will go around the base in a circular fashion. Have a play with using different foliage and look for different subtle shades. I love sage for its silvery appeal and mint, using herbs for foliage adds a depth of scent and the variety of their leaves adds interesting texture.

For a vintage look there should be a slight height in the central arrangement, but not too high or it risks becoming formal. Then build in your flowers. Think about shapes and sizes. It will have maximum impact if you place smaller flowers alongside larger blooms. For this time of year sweet peas and elderflower heads can look very striking, cornflowers and roses, peonies and sweet peas too.

Or if you only have a minute nothing is more effective than a beautiful lilac head in a vintage cut glass bottle.

www.duckeggdesigns.com

Duck Egg's Top 3 Vintage Decorative Solutions

Duck Egg has been hatching some exciting new plans recently! In our quest to transform our new country abode we are taking part in a TV interior makeover programme. With no running water downstairs our little man and I have retreated to the ever-patient grandparents. I am sure we have far out stayed our welcome. This is my first experience of proper building work, so in order to distract myself from the deadlines long gone I am furiously creating mood boards. I am in the middle of planning our attic room at the moment, which is a guest room and a study. Currently we have been wading through the eclectic paraphernalia that seems essential yet has remained untouched in our attic, after filling the eaves to bursting point we have been left to a motley collection of lonesome golf clubs, single pairs of socks and ancient handbags filled with receipts, as well as my huge collection of books! This is the one room in the house that needs the least work, but is more challenging on the decorative front. One side of the room lacks light and although the pale magnolia walls are in good condition the rooms needs a big injection of personality. So on my quest to revamp the one room we can at least get into at the moment here are our top 3 Duck Egg vintage decorative solutions.

Problem 1: Small rooms with little light…

A great way of introducing light into a room is of course using a light colour, Farrow and Ball ‘All White’ is a wonderful bright backdrop. Emphasise any natural light coming in with a large mirror, avoid the room being dominated by it by choosing or painting a pale frame for the mirror. Add a more vintage and a less harsh feel by finding a vintage treasure and the more foxed the mirror, the softer the focus.

http://myshabbystreamsidestudio.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/louis-philippetize-square-mirror.html - Has some great mirror tips. We also recommend Annie Sloan paint for painting over an old frame, to give a textured and chalky effect.

Problem 2: Room lacks personality

The quickest and easiest way to update a room is to change the fabrics used in the room. If you don’t have time to paint your room, which can also transform a space, try adding some interest with beautiful vintage inspired fabrics; faded rose patterns give a gentle country feel, deck chair stripes in pastel shades are great for a bedroom or go for more bold patterns in bath rooms and dining rooms. A pattern can add texture and interest to a room, co-ordinate cushions and curtains or choose a similar colour palette for furnishings. (Duck Egg is also very excited to be launching our vintage inspired fabrics)

Vintage mangle cloths are a great way to add personality through furnishings.

Cream walls can be a wonderful backdrop for showing off wall art. I have a commitment issue with placing things on my wall, but I am beginning to enjoy adding my vintage finds on the wall. I love architectural sketches found in antiques shops placed alongside family snapshots.

Problem 3: Bathroom flooring

This is something I often come across in interiors. Stone floors are fabulous especially with the added benefits of under floor heating. However structurally and expense wise this is not always possible. Carpet often suffers with the wet of a bathroom, especially if there are little fish that escape when out the bath. We have white painted floorboards which were great until our house became peppered with white recently and we discovered the floor had been peeling off and sticking to our feet and so we decided to re-address the issue of bathroom flooring. Keeping the floorboards is the most economical solution, but to add some vintage style and fun to bath time we are creating a checkered effect across the floor. Reminiscent of 1920s tiled washhouses, mask off the required areas and the colour choice is yours. We are, of course, going for white and Duck Egg!

 Example of painted floorboards

We will keep you updated on all our new adventures and the launch of our fabric range coming very soon.

www.duckeggdesigns.com Duck Egg Designs

'Weather warming up again?' Gardening Tips from Hugh Cassidy

Cucumber on Window Sill







'How long will I have to look at these plants on my window sill?' 

This was asked yesterday by one of the boys, about his bedroom window sill, where I (or should I say 'we') have some seeds sown indoors in a heated propagator, which has been very successful, and they have since had the heat turned off and the lid removed.

 Tomato and basil on window sill

Of course the next step would have been to pot them on and transfer them to the greenhouse, but with the weather the way it has been, I have held off on this process, 
A) because with the cooler weather the plants would have had a set back & 
B) because the space is limited in the greenhouse as the plants in there should have been hardened off to put outside or into cloches. 

Well, with the change to warmer weather, the gardening wheel will begin to turn again. Plants from the greenhouse will be hardened up to go outdoors, plants from the house will be transferred to the greenhouse and more seeds will be sown on the window sill. 

(Note to self: don't be to hard on yourself in 2012 for only getting to sow your tomato seed in March; earlier sown plants have been 'checked' by the turn in the weather over the past few weeks.)

Of course we can sow seed outdoors, directly into the soil, particularly the hardy annuals, such as sweet-pea, snap dragons, etc.; and veg such as broadbeans, peas, some lettuce, and so on.
Personally, I prefer to start them off in the coldframe or greenhouse in pots, and then plant them out.

The cold frames I use are very basic, inspired by Geoff Hamiltons's version in the 1990's. They comprise of a large cardboard box, with the front cut to about 9 inches in height and the sides cut to slope upwards to the back, normally about 18 inches in height. Some years when I have the time, I paint them a nice bright colour, other years they are left au-natural. For the covers, I use plastic, held in place by staples and clothes pegs, other times they are left completely uncovered, depending on the need.
Now, you understand, these coldframes for me are a gardening basic, that really do serve their purpose, and usually last until winter. If you want to get a few years out of one do what Geoff Hamilton did and paint with gloss paint, store it in a shed over winter, dust off in spring ... Happy days!

As for the window sill? Well it'll be a little time yet before it's cleared!

Avoid those raindrops and have a great week gardening!

http://hughcassidy.blogspot.com/

The Duck Egg Community is growing!

We are so thrilled to have some wonderful new contributers coming to our blog. We have some experts in the field of all things shabby chic coming to impart some words of wisdom and help with matters very much close to our hearts from craftspeople we have met to some amazing social media presences!

The Duck Egg community is vibrant and growing (like our uncontrollable lawn, beautiful, verdant and abundant!) After thousands of blog reads we are so grateful, to you, the readers, for sharing our ideas. The big part of us starting Duck Egg was for support and a platform for up and coming talented entrepreneurs, to share thoughts and unique ideas. We are hoping to share the wisdom of specialist in their fields from makers, bakers and growers and eclectic mix of inspirational crafts! What a journey and what friends we are making along the way!

Our latest blog features gardening tips from Hugh, with brilliant ideas on what to do with those plants still languishing on your widow sill... Watch this space we are looking forward to posting tomorrow...

Email:  info@duck-egg.org.uk