August 2024
Hot on the heels (and not just because of the weather) from Open Studios in July it’s been a busy time in the studio preparing for Bath Art Fair which runs from 13-15 September, really looking forward to planning and setting up my stand, please do visit their website and book your tickets, and use the code HALFPRICEWEEKEND at checkout for a discount https://www.bathartfair.co.uk
I took the unthinkable decision to not engage with Instagram for 2 or 3 weeks and to minimise my news intake in order to have some calm time ‘out’. I feel the benefit of quiet studio time and reading books. Ok, sometimes ‘reading’ means looking at the pictures but as a visual artist images are my comfort zone and my inspiration. It was painful for the first few ‘no instagram’ days; to look, like, comment, and post a story is such a regular reflex action, an addiction. The break has been good but itching to be back, and as taking a break was only a change not a penance, I will be back to engaging with friends, artists, and followers soon.
Delighted to have a painting in the Summer Exhibition at https://www.thegalleryatgreenandstone.com which runs until the 30th August in Fulham, London.
Unlike so many sun seekers and holiday goers I am not a summer person, its my least favourite season of the year, but now the hedgerows are showing green elderberries and green blackberries, the lanes are sprinkled with green acorns and green sycamore seeds…there is promise of autumn colour and scents..I can sense the turn of the season is not far away!
July 2024
EXHIBITION NEWS: By way of introducing me as a new gallery artist https://www.galleryathome is hosting a pop up of my paintings 8-14 July. The work is available to view by appointment and will also be available online through the gallery website.
Both of my paintings selected for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition have sold. looking forward to another visit to soak up more of the extraordinary work, so much to see, I couldn’t take it all in during the excitement and buzz of Varnishing Day! https://www.royalacademy.org.uk
SUMMER OPEN STUDIO: I am taking part in Marlborough Open Studios in July. My studio is in my garden at home in Hungerford Berkshire and I will be open to visitors over three weekends, 6/7 July, 13/14 July and 27/28 July, 11am-5pm each day. All welcome! https://www.marlboroughopenstudios.co.uk
LOOKING AHEAD: Diary dates for early autumn; I shall be taking my work to Bath Art Fair 13-15 September, really looking forward to planning and setting up my stand, a mini selling exhibition. More details about private view evening and tickets nearer the time. It’s such a popular event with artists and visitors it promises to be a busy few days! https://www.bathartfair.co.uk
Meanwhile the rain has flattened my garden, the fledglings are emptying the bird feeders daily and I am trying to make some time for reading and exhibition visiting…but its proving hard to leave the studio when I am so hooked into my painting. There will be time enough for such things when the inevitable break in my flow will creep up and catch me unawares…as it does to all artists and makers at times. Natural breaks in creativity best suit me rather than writing times out on the calendar.
Happy July to all, hope you get to do what best benefits your spirit this month!
2 June 2024
Such a busy start to the year in the studio and out, lots of new work and plans so its time to share some news!
STUDIO: It has been a relief and a joy to feel excited and connected with my studio practice again and I am really happy with the paintings that have emerged. Being really mindful of what I am doing; balancing play and letting my imagination run, combining controlling the paint and letting the paint dictate to me. I have become much more comfortable about those inevitable moments when brave and drastic decisions about removing elements or repainting areas have to be made. The artist as fiercest critic of work is the only way to authentic work.
GALLERY NEWS: Delighted that I am to be represented by Gallery At Home, especially as the gallery makes its exciting move (looking forward to seeing the first full exhibition there in August of work by Sam Lock.) The curator/owner Sonia Pang is a very supportive and encouraging connector of artist and buyers. News of my work being in a two person exhibition at the gallery next year will follow soon. https://www.galleryathome https://www.instagram.com/galleryathome
EXHIBITION: For the first time I applied to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and thrilled to have my two submitted paintings selected. The works are hung and I’m looking forward to attending Varnishing Day on the 10 June when selected artists get our first view before the exhibition officially opens. https://www.royalacademy.org.uk
SUMMER OPEN STUDIO: I am taking part in Marlborough Open Studios in July. My studio is in my garden at home in Hungerford Berkshire and I will be open to visitors over three weekends, 6/7 July, 13/14 July and 27/28 July, 11am-5pm each day. All welcome! https://www.marlboroughopenstudios.co.uk
ART FAIR: Diary dates for early autumn; I shall be taking my work to Bath Art Fair 13-15 September, really looking forward to planning and setting up my stand, a mini selling exhibition. More details about private view evening and tickets nearer the time. It’s such a popular event with artists and visitors it promises to be a busy few days! https://www.bathartfair.co.uk
BITS AND OTHER PIECES… I have just completed a really interesting online course with the V&A Academy, ‘Museums Working With Artists: Collaborative Practices’. This was some brain time out of the studio and I admit the concentrated sessions every week had my brain scrambling for the right wiring to sit watching a screen for a few hours and to digest all the fascinating information! https://www.vam.ac.uk
Interesting online event recently hosted by Ashmolean Museum, leads to my book recommendation. A fascinating talk by the engaging and knowledgeable Laura Cumming, chief art critic of the Observer about her new book ‘Thunderclap’. How many of us love the ‘The Goldfinch’ painting, but what do we know about the artist, and how ‘golden’ was the ‘Dutch Golden Age’ of painting? How a painting can get under your skin and change your thinking. Highly recommend.
My son and I saw the Aurora Borealis in May on a weekend escape to a shepherds hut by the sea in Northumberland. Like so many people around the country we were staggered by our first sighting and I no longer need to have ‘travel abroad to see the Northern Lights’ on my ‘list’. There again…I can see how people become hooked on seeking multiple viewings. A very emotional, ethereal experience, and to be honest I found the slightly softer view of my eye much more magical than the sensational technicolour view the cameras capture.
May is my favourite time of year so I already feel a little sad that the cow parsley that crowds the lanes around home is already going over, along with bluebells and wild garlic, but the sound of the sky larks in the field opposite my house is literally heavenly!
One more note…..can’t really believe I am heading to Newcastle in a couple of weeks for a reunion of Fine Art students who graduated together from the university…40 years ago, 40!!!
Happy June all!