29 August 2010
The pirate project at Saxmundham is gathering pace - we have a deadline of 22 October to finish everything and be ready for the preview. There will be a treasure trail round the town and lots of art at The Centre. The opening night should be a hoot - we're all going to dress up as pirates and Rumburgh Morris will be there singing sea shanties. Don't forget International Talk Like A Pirate Day on 19 September!
Apart from all this I have loads of work on at the moment and have sold three pieces in the last couple of months, which is pretty good going for me at the best of times - never mind in the current economic climate. The art sessions at the studio are going really well. The only downside is a lack of summer and therefore a lack of al fresco lunches by the moat. Hey ho.
Huge thanks to the wonderful Stella who has been helping out this summer but who will have to go back to uni very soon. We'll miss her a lot - but hopefully she'll come back at the end of the year for some Christmas celebrations.
25 June 2010
Our art sessions for learning disabled adults are now underway! We had a fabulous day at the studio yesterday with Jane, Alison, Mark, Chris, Jill and Peter - not to mention Reg, Steve, Dawn and Heather who all assisted during the day; Reg's contribution was especially romantic as he passed a yellow rose through the window, much to Jill's delight...
Peter, as usual, was ambitious from the start. He's making a model of The Empire State Building. Mark's Stone Age project got underway with a painting of Adam and Eve in The Garden of Eden, complete with snake and Cain and Abel fighting it out in the background. Jill is continuing her stand-up cut-outs for the pirate project we're doing at The Saxmundham Centre while Chris drew and painted houses, gardens and flowers. Jane was certainly the most productive, drawing and painting amazingly colourful houses, rabbits and horses and Alison is a natural abstract artist, cutting out and collaging wonderful shapes and patterns. All this plus a picnic lunch on the grass beside the moat... it doesn't get much better.
Same time next week - but with England v Germany in between...
5 April 2010
The studio is at long, long last finished and I've started the process of cluttering up a beautiful white space. I have been given tables, chairs, shelving and even a gorgeous old dresser by lovely friends so there is plenty of room for working, teaching, pottering, studying, staring out of the windows or just washing-up. 'Proper' work should begin at the end of the month when I'll be doing sessions for learning disabled adults. Groups will be a maximum of 6 so we should have plenty of opportunity for following up individual interests.
A group of us went up to the Maritime Museum at Greenwich at the end of last month and had a fantastic time - so good that we've already decided to go back in the autumn and make a weekend of it. I'm working with a group on a Pirates project - we've been making loads of treasure and maps - and the visit made the whole concept come alive. The model ships were amazing!
The gallery project is ongoing... Looking good... Touch wood.
31 January 2010
Well, seven long months have past since I last wrote anything in this news section, for which many apologies. I'm afraid my personal life has been a little fraught, to say the least, - but it's a new year and almost a new month and the sun is, at last, shining (even at four o'clock in the afternoon...) so there's hope in the air.
I had a call from BBC Radio Suffolk last week as they were featuring the village of Spexhall in their afternoon slot and so I went on air to talk about 'Saturday Night in Spexhall'. Probably no-one heard as my mobile coverage was minimal but it was nice to have been asked!
I've passed the first stage of a grant application to EEDA to convert some outbuildings behind my studio into a gallery and resource space. My landlord is hugely enthusiastic about this project and we're hoping that we can get to grips with cashflow forecasts and business plans (or at least that we can find someone who can...). Ideally we'd like to be up and running by the end of the summer - probably hugely optimistic but I'll keep you updated.
1 July 09
'Saturday Night in Spexhall' has been selected for the 2009 Suffolk Showcase Exhibition at Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery. It runs from 4 July to 29 August - more details on the exhibitions page.
18 June 09
This morning I started work on a short run handmade book of poems. Mostly on the computer at this stage getting the layout right, which I love, but I'm also looking forward to the more tactile side of choosing the right weight paper and getting the best colour. Last year I provided the illustrations for a wonderful book of poems, 'Colour Notes', by Marguerite Wood, published by Poetry Monthly Press. It's a little gem and Marguerite is quite an amazing woman as well as being a hugely talented writer. We're hoping to collaborate again in the future but in the meantime copies are available online for an absolute bargain at www.poetrymonthly.com
11 June 2009
Went to see the Richard Long exhibition at Tate Britain the other day and enjoyed it hugely apart from the over-abundance of photographs - which were great but there were rather a lot of them. The Zen-like poetry of his work is beautiful as is his use of maps but the stand-out for me were the stone constructions which filled one enormous gallery. The Norfolk flint circle looked like a giant tub of frothing foam or, as my wise friend Deb pointed out, a sea of tiny Anthony Gormley figures.
I have received another commission and am now desperately tidying things up into plastic boxes and dumping them in the studio in the vain hope that this might help me produce something more quickly. It won't, but has revealed a startling amount of space at home as well as the discovery of long (and probably best) forgotten pieces of work and other bits and pieces which I'd given up hope of ever finding.
We have some really fantastic work being produced in Saxmundham and some of it will be going up on the newly painted walls very soon. Only about 90% of the space left to fill now... Everyone was on top form on Monday, producing beautiful stippled paintings and they just didn't want to stop. Really, really satisfying, I think, for everyone.
16 May 2009
Having done a lot of teaching recently I'm itching to haul everything into the new studio and spend time wandering about, pottering, pushing pots of brushes from one end of a shelf to the other and staring aimlessly but happily out of the window. Oh, and getting down to producing some work too, of course...
I'm taking part in an exhibition in Farnham, Surrey from 5th to 19th August curated by Charles Bone which will include luminaries such as Sir Anthony Caro, Victor Ambrus and the late, great Pauline Baynes, the illustrator of the Narnia books. (Many years ago I had the opportunity of buying some of her original cover illustrations and foolishly decided I couldn't afford it...) The show aims to raise funds for the Farnham Public Arts Trust and as my dad is their Treasurer I feel I should give them a plug!
12 March 2009
I've just received two commissions: the first is to paint a portrait of a very fine woman who has already bought several pieces of my work (so no pressure...) It has to reflect her interests - which are many and varied - and I'm really looking forward to working on it. Mixed media, of course. Possilbly with a touch of Luminous Flux... No twigs - but quite possibly paper as she is extremely erudite (and may well be reading this). The second is slightly quirkier: to design a tattoo - something which, oddly, I have never been asked to do before. And may not be again - so l'll willingly have a stab at it, if you'll pardon the pun.
Went to wet and windy Cambridge on Sunday to the oasis which is Kettle's Yard. The current exhibition 'The Roundhouse of International Spirits' (which closes this Sunday) is wonderful. Amongst others, Ben Nicholson, Hans Richter, Hans Arp and one of my great heroes, Mark Tobey. They all worked together for a time in Switzerland and this show brings together some really fine pieces.
I did a very stupid thing last week and misread the blurb for the Eastern Open entry conditions - so the piece I entered was 20cm too big... At least I realised before I carted the thing into Halesworth for dropping off. Lesson learned.
3 March 2009
I've just started working one day a week with adults with special needs and their carers at The Saxmundham Centre. This has been made possible by the Friends of the Centre to whom I am very grateful. Our intention is to exhibit work as part of the Saxmundham Festival in October and we've started collecting objects which will be painted, collaged, inscribed and otherwise re-worked before being arranged together either in a series or as one huge construction! We might even have a go at making a totem pole...
My new studio is coming along at a frightening pace - I now have a sink all to myself and we should be painting the walls very soon. I'll miss not doing Suffolk Open Studios this summer but should be back next year with a new and improved workspace.
