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Look, look, and look again
In my first blog post I mentioned that I studied for a Master’s degree in Art History with the Open University. I had a vague notion of developing a career in the museum/gallery sector, but Covid pretty much put paid to that. My degree is of no relevance or use in my day job, but…
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All or Nothing
I’m the first to admit I’m an obsessional, all or nothing person. I worry that I repeat myself too much in this blog, and I almost certainly do, but that reflects my character, for good or ill. Whenever I get interested in a new thing, my first reaction is to buy lots of books on…
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An Alternative Start to the Year
I’ve always felt as if September should be the first month of the year. A hangover from childhood, no doubt, the school year always beginning in September. A new uniform, empty notebooks, newly-sharpened pencils. For many years (in particular the first two year of high school) also a time of dread. But most of the…
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The Reluctant Stitcher Falls in Love with her Sewing Machine
When I wrote my last blog post, at the end of July, I’d admitted temporary defeat with my sewing machine and was waiting more or less patiently for a one-to-one workshop booked with Hobbycraft. The workshop was basically make or break: if I remained frustrated and clueless at the end of that, I’d put the…
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To Sew or not to Sew
In my last blog post, back in May, I mentioned how inspiring I was finding Fragmentation and Repair by mixed media textile artist Shelley Rhodes. I’m still working through all the tips and images in that book, and have also bought more books on the subject of textile mixed media art, including Shelley’s first book,…
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Putting myself back together again
I’ve written before in this blog about the urge of collage artists to collect all manner of weird and wonderful things and this post will revisit that theme without apology: it’s such a fundamental part of my identity as a collage artist, and to a large extent serves as an end in itself. My urge…
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Reviews/Reviews
I never expected to be an artist. Artists have always been people I revered for their astonishing, superhuman talents. I was a writer, that was something I could do. We all use words, after all. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a writer. In particular, I wanted to be a…
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If the Personal is Political…Then what?
It has been a while since my last blog post, for many reasons. As I mentioned in my previous post, 2024 was challenging on a number of levels. 2025 has turned out to be almost as challenging, and I’m thinking that this is how my life is going to be from now on: trying as…
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My Year in Review
In all honesty I hardly know where to start. In a nutshell, 2024 began badly and got worse. There were many times when I thought of shutting down this blog, but I kept hoping that things would get better. In particular I’ve had a few health issues that knocked me sideways for many months. At…
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All Senses Engaged
For Christmas 2023 I treated myself to three books. The first, you won’t be surprised to hear, was a wonderful book about contemporary collage artists. The other two books were about perfume and clothes. Personally, I don’t find these strange bedfellows. One reason I will always be an analogue rather than a digital collagist is…
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Coming to Terms
I was in two minds about whether or not to renew my WordPress subscription for another year as I’ve been so inactive this year, due to various ongoing health issues. In the end I decided to renew: my subscription package isn’t expensive, and I hope that knowing I have the blog might encourage me to…
Helen Kitson
Mixed media collage artist
Helen Kitson 