Home to Northumbrian myths, legends & history
Hello my name is Adriana
I live in a small seaside town in Northumberland, with my dog Doogle. Doogle is a mixed breed and looks like he is made up of 'leftover dog parts'. He has a curly top knot and big brown eyes.
I live very close to the sea and love to swim, when the waves aren't too big.
Doogle my little angel
If I was given only one sentence to describe myself, it would be....
"I'm a child of the 60's & 70's who has a passion for discovery and creativity".
Discovery and creativity are the very essence of my being and even as a small child I have always known this.
I like to explore new landscapes and find out new things - this could be physical landscapes or even spiritual landscapes (through meditation).
I have a love of the outdoors and being surrounded by nature. I dive deep into the myths legends and history, becoming 'at one' with the essence of a place. I also love to have fun and I have a surreal sense of humour.
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As for creativity, it's something I have always done and has always been apart of me. I'm only truly happy
when I'm creating something. I think I was born to revamp, decorate and colour absolutely everything.
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In the 1960's, I was a little girl living in a quiet South Yorkshire village. My Craft kits were my favorite toys and
my giant paint box. My Granny taught me how to knit. I made all my dolls and teddies, hand stitched
'weird & wonderful' outfits.
​As a teenager in the 1970's, it was all about exploring new and exciting crafts. The 70's were a fabulous time
for crafts - tie dying - knitting - crochet - macrame - weaving - beading - embroidery and sewing.
The 'weird & wonderful' outfits were now on me and not just on the dolls and teddies.
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My mohair teddybears
I once crocheted a dress with so many beads, it was almost too heavy to wear!
At school I frightened my sewing teacher with a Punk Rock Hamster - complete with safety pins and
green spiked hair. I even exasperated my Dress Making teacher, by adding a red tartan 'bum flap', to a boring pair of black school trousers.
I left school on my 16th birthday, singing a rowdy chorus of 'Alice Cooper's - Schools out forever' and never looked back.
In the September of 1979 I became an art student for the first time. I say 'first time' because I was lucky
enough to go to art college, four times over the following years. I have studied Basic Design, Foundation Art, Ceramics, Fine Art and later Fashion & Textiles.
Along side and between art college, I was a mother of four lovely creative children. Our house always had
bright stenciled cupboards and walls with large painted canvases. Giant ceramic 'seed pods' adorned the
living room and we painted animals on the stairs. My children now wore 'the weird and wonderful' colourful clothes.
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We made Wendy houses, rocket ships and nursery wall hangings. When we weren't creating, we were out exploring, finding new places to visit.
Each year we enjoyed a fabulous holiday week in Alnmouth. Sometimes we had to hide under the slide,
in the park to keep dry. We loved it anyway! Exploring the castles, going on boat trips or just lazing
around on the soft white beaches.
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By the end of the nineties, I was designing knitted fabrics on big computerised knitting machines, at Uni.
I absolutely loved the colours, textures and patterns I could create with fabric and yarns.
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After Uni, I had a business designing and making real mohair teddy bears. I sold the bears at specialised
Bear Fairs. They were a little ahead of their time - with bright, vibrant, hand dyed colours and big sculptured eyes.
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My felted creations
I moved to Northumberland in 2011 and became fascinated with sheep's wool.
Northumberland is full of sheep and at the country shows, I saw lots of different breeds.
You can do so many things with wool - Spinning - dying - wet felting and needle felting. I loved felting!
I would pursue farmers, in the hope of buying unusual fleeces, to wash and dye. Not all fleeces will felt, some
are much better than others. I made bags and hats for festivals and strange needle felted creatures.
However sadly, that all came to an end in 2020, when I developed 'a frozen shoulder' from all the rubbing.
So instead! I decided to paint a collection of dogs in vintage settings.
Why? Well because I had a vintage/retro eBay shop. So I combined the vintage with my love for dogs.
The collection grew to forty one paintings and was called 'Groovy Woof Woof'.
Groovy Woof Woof has been to my surprise, a great success. Over the last five years I've actually sold,
hundreds of prints and posters. I even had two exhibitions and have been selling at many different events
and markets.
They still sell today.
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In September 2024 I decided to move on to a new collection...
'Enchanted Northumbria' was born.
The Groovy Woof Woof collection