Monday 2 November 2015

'A pea souper'

There has been thick fog in London for the last couple of days which has mirrored my mood some how not having much clarity. Lots of change is on the horizon and I have to be patient. I thought patience was one of my qualities but how wrong can I be, infact I am feeling inpatient and it doesn't work. 
On a lighter note as the nights draw in one has the urge to snuggle in....hanker down and as the world gets a bit smaller it's the little things that have the biggest impact and this simplifies life which for now is valuable.
The cosy studio, blankets on the bed and soup....the soup season.
This month also brings the 16th Lee Green Open Studios which is unbelievable, it feels like a celebration because if all goes to plan this will be the last here at Stable Cottage....the end of an era for me. Sarah Gursoy-Heuser is joining me again this year with her beautiful prints and other wares so it will be good fun and am really looking forward to it.......

Thursday 20 August 2015

A little corner of West Wales.........

Have a look at www.coldatnight.co.uk and I defy you not to want to visit in one way or another, I have been looking at their instagram feed for quite a while. Instagram enables you to get the flavour of a person or place which is totally different to the Face Book kind of way. Images and very few words leave much more scope for your own mind to wander and get an idea of a persons vision, passion.....thats if their ego isn't getting in the way!
Not a bit of it here and I chose my camp as there are two and a place to lay my head and cook with my man and my dog and this was it, home for the week....

We were really lucky with the weather and we walked and walked....the coastal path is just spectacular and I have legs of steel and a free head. We all slept like logs, here is a little taster.........

Back to work now but with a little bit of West Wales securely fixed within my head which feels really good.........

Tuesday 14 July 2015

Finding The Time...........

With this months delightful offerings of warm sunshine, Coast Magazine's great article and participation in RA Summer Exhibition things have been busy, these things take time away from painting really. They also feed the energy thats needed to fuel the compulsion to make the paintings too.
Walking by the coast on a warm day in a delicate breeze enhance my senses and I seem to see the delicacies of the colour and shape of the landscape and what I find in it in a different way. Maybe because of the warmth things slow down and this allows the observation to become more detailed....I don't really know but I revel in it.
The other distractions are the necessaries....what would be good would be a combination of PR,secretary,cleaner,yoga teacher and chef to come and work with me......
Management of time is probably one of lives constant dilemmas and we probably all need to just count our blessings.........

Friday 22 May 2015

It's been a while.........

I have not posted for a while and I have missed it strangely, I think because I have been painting away for a show in 2016 my mind has been elsewhere. I had some great news yesterday that has certainly put a spring in my step and that is that I have two pieces this year hung In Royal Academy Summer Exhibition! I feel super excited and am so looking forward to seeing them there.
The process of selection has changed to a digital one in the last couple of years and there are a couple more hurdles to cross. I was selected but not hung last year which feels like a tease, being accepted or rejected by this particular institution runs deep.
I am a great fan of Norman Ackroyd and he was on the selection committee this year and I wanted to hang my little (5cmx5cm) so badly. So next week I am off to Varnishing Day....Yipeeeeee
I am also being featured in Coast magazine in The August edition, an article about my past spending lots of time at my beach hut thinking and enjoying my surroundings. Looking forward to seeing that too


'The Visitor'

Tuesday 3 February 2015

February musings.....

'Lillies Vase'
It is now the strange month of Febuary....we are now in the thick of it with the sweet knowledge of spring being around the corner. I was showing at London Art Fair at the end of January with Jonathan Cooper and whilst visiting the fair I stumbled across this beautiful painting by Winifred Nicholson which has everything I needed at that moment and at every time I look at it. The warmth, the delicacy and the strength all at the same time.....wow.

Winifred Nicholson
 I am in essence a printmaker that found painting so from time to time I hanker after print. Because of the the chemical process of etching I have not had my hands on a piece of copper for many years. That is until last week when some beautifully rocked mezzotint plates landed on my door mat.
The steps are tentative because I have never used this method but I rummaged around for my etching burnisher and scraper looking for the light in the beautiful velvet black.I am going to submit the outcome to The Summer Exhibition so we shall see.There are new canvas's ordered a solo show in the pipe line so much work to do so I better get on with it!


Monday 5 January 2015

Babbling brooks and big big sea and back.........

Christmas was a totally different deal this year, I dreamt of babbling brooks and big big sea and that is exactly what I got. We walked a lot and because of the big sea big sky and big weather things seemed to slot into place. Vince discovered the beach for the first time and was run ragged.....he loved it.
After such a refreshing interlude being back in the studio is a great pleasure, bring on the grey days of January because I am snug as a bug in a shed.