sub zero

BRRRRRR!  I'm afraid going to the studio is still out of the question, I would get brain and finger freeze before you could say 'icicle'.  It was -13.5 degrees C in Carlisle last night, -9 at 8am this morning and the weather girl said that the best we can hope for today is -3 degrees C.  As my studio was originally built as a slaughterhouse, warmth was not a top design priority, and although a false ceiling has been put in and insulated with kingspan foam board it is impossible to heat effectively.  The concrete floor pulls any body heat straight down through your feet, and as my snow boots died towards the end of last year and haven't been replaced with anything as effective yet it would be silly to try and work. 

The pretty ice patterns from Ed's studio windows that I posted a couple of days ago were on the inside of the kitchen and bathroom window this morning.  When I opened the shutters in the living room to let some light in this morning I received an icy blast of air and promptly shut them again.  Although it will be a little gloomy in there today, I would rather retain the heat in the house than let it fly out of our old single glazed sash windows.

I spent most of yesterday writing a series of art and craft courses for the local borough council.  Hopefully I will be delivering them to groups of adults from March.  These courses are provided free to anyone who cares for a child under 5 years of age, but I suspect that this isn't widely known as it seems to be a regular group of twenty something ladies who come along.  I have proposed courses in ceramic bead, button and broach making, yo-yo patchwork, glass etching and sandblasting, glass fusing, mixed media collage, personal visual diary making, printing and mosaic.  As Children's Services budget has been cut by £140k this year I hope that I will be able to find most of the materials I need from Free For All the arts and crafts scrap store that I help to run.  I will have to buy some clay, but by concentrating on making small items, one bag should go a long way.  I will encourage participants to bring along scrap fabrics and glass items to supplement the ones I can provide from my stash, and I know that I can find tile grouts and fixatives in the Community Re-paint scheme.  I will just have to wait and see which courses are selected to go ahead now.  I am also going to contact the local adult education centre and Spinning Yarns, an art group for isolated older people with the list and see if they are interested in taking any of them up. 

I'm going to plod on with my website today, and also finish off my article for the CGS magazine.  I have to condense it into 300 words, which is always a struggle for me.  Need to get all the computer work finished by 4pm when the sun goes down as that is when my fingers get too icy cold to type.