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.........

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'

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!

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.

Hello Autumn and Hello Vince.......

The weather has told us otherwise up until today, it has been so warm and the light so exquisite. The studio door has been wide open until last week which I am truly grateful for as I have missed the beach and thinking about it too much and attempting to conjure it up is a great mistake for me, it freezes my imagination.
The door being open has had another significance it has meant my new companion can run around...it is two years to the month that 'Sophie' my lovely dog died. It has taken up until now to be able to accept a new dog into the house. 'Vince' is a present from my partner for my significant birthday I celebrated last month. We are getting to know each other and he is a wonderful little character growing and changing daily.

I have a solo show next month so apart from Vince that has been my other preoccupation it starts on the 17th November and runs until 23rd December. The Beaux Arts Bath Gallery is a beautiful listed Georgian building with a very intimate feel. I am really looking forward to seeing it all hung especially the largest piece I have made... 'When sea meets sky'........

There is also the small matter of Lee Green Open Studios in the middle two weekends of November....more details to come. x

Looking back and moving forward

I have had a good long break from the routine but have not stopped thinking about making my work I never switch off from the thoughts but its good to stop the physical action of making it. It has been a great summer and I have had no desire at all to leave these shores. 

I have been invited to show in a beautiful gallery in Bath in November so have started the process of getting this show together. Thinking how I want this large body of work to look and what story I want to tell. I am now well and truly back to the studio with one distraction coming in the middle of this month....a big birthday. A chance to have a big party to match it and get together with my dear friends and celebrate!!!

'The Process'

'Sweetpeas & Tamarisk'

80x80cm

Using social media has become a valuable tool to create an audience, this works on many levels and gives an opportunity for one to get some feedback on new work before it goes out into the real world.
It also allows friendships to develop which supports and encourages which when one works alone is a very special thing.
Some days a few words of encouragement just make all the difference.
I am working at the moment on a large body of work for a solo show and I have started on this in the last couple of weeks and my mind is full of a story I would like to tell. The first painting is finished and I have for the first time taken pictures through the week of my process and the painting coming to life...........