Tag: woodland

HooperHart 2024 Calendar

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It’s nearly a whole month since Open Studios finished and I am happy to say it went very well.

There were lots of new faces, interesting chats and healthy sales, all of which I am very grateful for. It was the first time I’d taken part and I didn’t really know what to expect, but it was all good, and the (mostly) warm and sunny weather definitely helped!

But looking out of the window this morning those sunshine-filled days seem very distant now…

There are weather warnings in place for most of Scotland with roads and railway lines closed due to flooding. The vibe is wet, windy and wintery! With weather like this there’s no denying we are approaching the end of the year, so it’s a good time to let you know that my 2024 calendar is now for sale online!

I’m very excited about this – it’s the first time I’ve designed a calendar and I wish I’d done it before! It was a hit at Open Studios and is selling fast in my Folksy and Etsy shops. It features 12 photographs of my original dioramas, with each month illustrated by a miniature scene reflecting the time of year – all inspired by the wonderful wildlife, countryside and coastlines of the British Isles. The calendar was printed by a small local company in Perthshire and £1 from the sale of each calendar to Hogscroft Hedgehog Rescue.

I hope you like it!

I’ll be back soon with more new products and a timetable of events for the coming months. In the meantime coorie in!

Thanks for reading

Cal 🙂

Hello February!

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I don’t know about you but I’m usually quite relieved to get January out of the way and this year is no exception. February feels to me like the start of the year proper, so to celebrate I’m offering free postage on everything in my HooperHart Folksy and Etsy stores! No need for a discount code – zero postage has already been applied, and will continue for the whole month.

Dream Wheels

A wee update on what I’ve been up to as Rudy and the Rowan Tree, the offshoot I use as a place to experiment and try out ideas which are unrelated to my Hooperhart work, and often more playful – I love creating my HooperHart pieces incidentally, but sometimes it’s nice to mix things up a bit! I’m currently loving making spirograph-inspired hanging decorations using embroidery thread and wooden discs – I call them Dream Wheels and you can find them on Folksy and Etsy Free postage also applies to my Rudy and the Rowan Tree stores for the whole of February!

Gift vouchers are go!

In other news, I wanted to draw your attention to my newly launched Gift Vouchers.They can be emailed directly to the recipient so make gifting super easy! They are exclusively available from my HooperHart Folksy store. There’s so many gorgeous products on there you might want to make it your go-to for gifts in the future though – all made in the UK to boot!

Thanks for reading and have a fabulous February!

Autumn Almanac

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Another summer of record-breaking temperatures comes to an end…spectacularly in Perthshire with torrential rain and flooding replacing scorched earth and water shortages.

As we move into September, I’m trying not to focus on the implications of these extremes in the weather and staving off the melancholic thoughts by looking forward to my birthday (it’s a big one!), enjoying the changing colours on my daily walks, and planning the rest of the year’s making.

Wooden Autumn Decorations by HooperHart on Folksy
Fox Brooches by HooperHart on Folksy
Starlit Fox mini framed diorama by HooperHart on Folksy

The calendar is filling up with festive events and it’s looking like I’ll be a bit busier with these than last year, now that things have returned to normal (whatever that is!). Keep checking my ‘SHOP’ page for details of where you can find me in person this winter. See you soon 🙂

New Beginnings

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We’re now halfway through June which means it’s been 6 months since I last wrote a blog entry!! Okay, it has been a busy 6 months with lots of life changes but still – 6 months!! So I thought I’d do a very quick one so it doesn’t look like I’ve abandoned it completely 🙂

So we moved to country (and closer to the coast – yay!) 20190528_165315.jpg

This is a photo from one of our dog walking routes nearby our house. I would have definitely have described Rudy as a ‘townie’ but he’s getting used to the sheep, cows and lack of pavements. At first it was a big re-adjustment for both of us after a bit of a traumatic move full of doubt and regret (long story), but after a couple of weeks out here I realised just how stressed and tense I’d felt for the past five years, and how much more laid back about everything I am now. The idea was to simplify our lives and relax more and so far we’re on the right track (and it’s amazing how being near the water has a profoundly calming effect).

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Thanks to the previous tenants’ hard work we have a really beautiful, fully-formed garden which makes glancing out of the window a very happy experience (oh, and I’ve just noticed the ‘cuckoo’s spit’ in this photo – it’s reminded me that I must go to www.brc.ac.uk and record my sightings just in case Xylella fastidiosa spreads to the UK).

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Well, I told you this was going to be a quick entry! It’s time to feed then walk the dog, although it won’t be in weather this alas…I’ll be back soon, however, to fill you in on some new work I’ve been making and where I’ll be exhibiting and selling this summer. TTFN 🙂

The Fox in Winter

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So it’s January, and it’s cold. No surprise there then! We haven’t had any snow yet here at Hooperhart Headquarters but I’ve got a feeling February might oblige… Myself and Mr Biscuits are snuggled up on the sofa under a variety of blankets this afternoon, watching the birds in the garden fluttering around the feeder, reflecting on the past few months and ruminating on plans for the weeks to come.

The festive season seems like a distant memory now – it’s amazing to me how events which happened three weeks ago can seem like months ago just because they happened ‘last year’. But it was a successful few months, a nice way to end the year. It’s great to finish the year with hardly any stock left, and a huge relief, as nothing is ever guaranteed.

2018 was definitely the year of the fox – I only began making works featuring foxes last summer and they have been far and away my bestsellers. I love foxes but I wasn’t aware so many other people did too! There are families of foxes living in the woods at the end of our road, and we quite often come across each other on the dog walk. I think it’s such a privilege to live in close proximity to wildlife and it lifts my spirits to know they are there, quietly going about their business.

The fox is such a symbolic animal and has been used countless times in art and storytelling to convey intelligence, elusiveness, trickery, transformation, wildness, freedom, magic powers, and so on. A forest setting adds to the sense of a story to be told…

I recently read a lovely description by Unit Twelve from their upcoming exhibition Into the Woods: ” The forest acts as a potent symbol of adventure and discovery, a place where the barrier between reality and fantasy begins to thin…the wonder and whimsy of these magical places, a whimsy that is subtly shaded by with undertones of the sinister and the macabre”. I think this actually sums up what I aim to capture in my work in general – the creation of a little window into another world, an imaginary place just a little bit more magical and intriguing than our own…

My favourite month

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Well, I think we can safely say that autumn has definitely arrived in central Scotland: the temperature has dropped, the leaves are turning, and darkness descends at a frighteningly early hour. The end of summer seemed to happen strangely quickly this year, and an Indian Summer looks like it’s off the cards. Despite all that, there’s something about September that I really love, even though it signifies the end of summer and the beginning of the long dark winter to come.

It’s a month for wrapping yourself in cosy knitwear, going for long walks amidst a kaleidoscope of colour, and coming home to a glass of sherry in front of a crackling fire…or in my reality it means donning waterproof trousers, traipsing along muddy pathways with the dog and coming home to spend half an hour cleaning said dog and draping dirty towels over the radiators! Either way, there is a certain atmosphere about the autumn which has long been a source of inspiration for creative types, and as a result I’ve been making a few items in warm, autumnal colours to mark the change in the seasons.

To see all my work currently available, click on the link in the top right hand corner or go to my ‘Shop’ page.

So here’s to a happy, cosy few months ahead, and I’ll leave you with one of my favourite photographs of the afore-mentioned dog, Rudy (aka Mr Biscuits), looking all autumnal…

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Into The Woods

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Mad Miss Morag the Lakeland Terrier has come to stay for the day (which always puts my dog Rudy’s nose a tad out of joint); whilst they are both snoozing in between bouts of general insanity, I’m taking the opportunity to write my second blog post!

It’s a bright, but chilly, Monday morning, and I’m watching a robin and a lovely little wren fluttering about in the garden. It’s all feeling rather autumnal so it seems appropriate to bring your attention to the Just A Card Into The Woods Autumn Shopping Guide!

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It’s a wonderful selection of art and craft on an autumnal theme featuring woodland-inspired items from 25 UK based independent makers, and features my Forest Diorama. Find out more about the Just A Card campaign for independent businesses here and have a read of their blog too – you’ll discover so many fantastic makers and get an insight into how they produce their lovely work.

Right, the Terrible Terrier Twosome are stirring – time to go!