Kate and Klimt

Every Spring and Summer I go down to Leicester to spend a few days with my friend Kate. She is retired, as she has Multiple Sclerosis. The disease has severely clipped her creative wings as this dear friend, fellow Muse and confidante through my adult life, has an amazing talent for personal style, accessorising and interior design.

I stay in the guest bedroom which is dominated with the most inviting, voluptuously dressed (in Kelly Hoppen), comfortable four poster bed I have ever had the pleasure of sleeping in... Before I get to slip under the duvet though, I have to undress the 'work of art' bed, keenly attempting to remember the order of the eight different styles of pillow, the shams, the throw, the demi throw, for when I try to dress it again the next morning.

The next morning is one of the things I love about staying with Kate. I will jump out of bed to throw the curtains open, letting the sunshine flood into the room. Then I clamber back onto that bed head at foot end and lie, staring up at the wall at the huge Klimt, Mother and Child, print above the head of the bed. I love staring at Mother and Child. The rich colours and patterns, there is always so much to see:

I have been thinking for some time about Klimt's art, so last night my art journal page was 'Klimt's Shapes'. I studied three of his paintings: The Kiss, Fulfillment, and Adele Bloch- Bauer. From these works I sketched out in black ink the main shapes he frequently uses, then coloured them in as closely as I could with my watercolour pencils. This is the finished result after about an hour of filling the page:

I am very pleased with the result, and this has led me to think about creating pages using other art forms.