My Cups and stuff…….

They arrived!! Cups, plates, jugs and a tea pot in blue and red colour way and I love them!!
I am just designing the label before I start the marketing. I have sold quite a few bits already to my lovely friends that are so enthusiastic about them. My little painting did not get hung in the Academy so it is back home with me but I have some plans for it and am going to take it to Bath. A beautiful gallery there have asked me to take a couple of bits to show in their summer show so it is a good excuse to go and explore Bath.I have not been there for many years and Beaux Arts is a Gallery that fills me with excitement to show in. It is a beautiful Georgian building that was two houses now knocked into one with a very elegant gallery space.
Having a coffee now using one of my cups as I write……Have a good week xx

Happy Days

It was a great week last week in more ways than one……don't you just love it when things that you have had in the pipe line for a while come together so nicely.
Firstly I had an article about little old me published in Homes & Antiques magazine and it was beyond my expectations and looks really really good!
Secondly I had my painting excepted in 'Summer Exhibition in the Royal Academy….I will find out if it gets hung on 22nd May so my fingers are crossed.
Thirdly I went away to Whitstable for the weekend and the weather was great which meant we could sit in the sunshine…open up the beach hut…..eat outside……a little bit of heaven………..

Time to reflect……..

There is  sometimes if your lucky time to reflect, I have been working through ideas slowly but surely but have given myself some time to think about the landscape I want to make for myself.
My brother's illness…alcoholism and his time in rehab has had this unexpected effect on me. He is to me showing great courage in his honesty and it has made me think about the approach I have myself to work especially. Being so very busy all the time can be an avoidance of looking at the nitty gritty of oneself and the quality of the experience.
As a result I am having more courage myself to develop ideas that I have sidelined because they are going to take me to new places and I think I have avoided putting myself there.
So I have been accepted on 'Space Studios New Creative Marketing Programme' to help develop these ideas. 
I have also been shortlisted for RA Summer Exhibition so my fingers are crossed on that one and there are other new connections that I will keep blogging about as they evolve!!
Happy Spring to one and all especially my brother who is bloody brave and I wish him all the strength and surrender he needs………

Out Of The Grey…….

My cards were launched this month at Top Drawer with Dry Red Press and I am thrilled with them. It is difficult to get the colours right in the printing process but these are really good. I have put them up for Sale in my new shop on the website. Dry Red Press have a look for yourself……
I have also been painting for a commission which I was confident I knew what the client wanted but when I let her see the progress I realised the pitfalls of this process and that one cannot read minds.
I have now re started painting but the great thing is I feel really excited by the original painting and out of the grey of January I have this painting to look at myself and it has surprised me

It's a New world, a New dawn a New day……….

Wow was I sucked down into a vortex in December…I was consumed!
Spat out now and absolutely raring to go, I am setting up a shop on my web-site and slowly but surely I am going to show my wares…….
Painting is  coming and this weekend I went for a long sunshine filled walk through Greenwich park and along the river with my beau.
We visited my childhood and walked in well trodden steps and it stirred up my imagination and I am keen to start drawing.
So the conclusion is I am going to put my head down now and make some work in all it's different forms and I am very happy to be doing so…..Happy January everybody.

http://www.jooakley.co.uk/shop#prettyPhoto[gallery]/0/

Jonathan Cooper Park Walk Gallery Christmas Show!!!

I am very excited to announce that I will be exhibiting in this wonderful gallery in London in December. I got the little brochure through the post this morning and it made me sooo excited, it is my first showing with them and Alice and Jonathan have filled me with enthusiasm and encouragement for which I am very grateful.
You can see all the work on their online catalogue which if I was able I would post the link but I have not got that far in my computing skills!
Open Studio is finished now and Daisy and I had amazing support, we where quite overwhelmed by the number of visitors and I would like to thank each and everyone. I am now getting the house and studio back to working order because you know what they say…..'there is no rest for the wicked'!!!
Here are a couple of the pieces in the show….

Christmas Exhibition

New Contemporaries

Jonathan Cooper Park Walk Gallery

4-21st December

view online catalogue at

jonathancooper.co.uk

' Billy Boy'

Mixed media on canvas

30x41cm

'He's on his way'

Mixed media on canvas

51x41cm

Lee Green Open Studios 2013 & an Exhibition in Cambridge at Byard Art

Daisy (my daughter) and I are again opening our home as part of Lee Green Open Studios. It is a time when the house gets a good spruce up and we get to show our wares. Its an opportunity for me to show other things that I have done. I am especially looking forward to showing some of my fabric designs and seeing what you think. I am also part of a lovely exhibition in Cambridge at Byard Art this month and part of November.............

'Waiting for the sun'
showing at Byard Art Cambridge