Hearts ( well it is still February- just!)

23 February 2017

Valentines Day doesn't really do it for me. I guess it is just not my thing.

But I do like a heart motif! I use it a lot in my work.

So I had a happy afternoon in the studio.

I did go into the studio with the intention of doing a few cards (both Valentines and birthday) but first of all got very carried away colouring up some old dictionary pages to add to my paper stash.

I actually grabbed my Gelli Plate and really went for it - ripping pages out of the dictionary like a woman possessed and just getting colour down on them.

This pattern was created with an old credit card.

Some pages I just smeared the paint on. This will all get cut up after all.

Do you remember that chocolate packaging here? Very useful for getting some pattern onto a gelli plate.

And actually rather lovely in it's own right!

The upshot of that was that I quickly ran out of drying space and had to go and walk the dog while a batch dried (mind you she wasn't complaining).

And after all of this activity I made a batch of little cards, which will come in very handy to boost the Open Studio stock later in the year.

read article

Daily art therapy

11 February 2017

Dear reader - if you peruse these little meanderings from time to time you may know that I have been a bit active since Christmas. But while I have been laying down new background papers, something has been missing from the creative process - an artistic itch if you like.

When it's cold and dark I find my studio very unwelcoming. It's a conservatory off my bedroom. A lovely size and fabulous light but freezing cold and when it rains it's like being in a snare drum.

Consequently I have been finding it tough to get in there in the evenings. By the time I have walked the dogs and made supper the evening is in full swing and it's too easy to slump on the sofa watching some junk on tv.

And this is where Instagram has come into its own.

A few artists post frequently and seem to do something daily. And I have been really inspired by Alisa Burke, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and Laura Kemshall.

Alisa Burke posts frequent little sketch book videos filling her little journal with flower sketches.

Julie Balzer went mad in December with a little daily stamp carving.

Laura Kemshall recently posted a blog post about how her studio was in turmoil and how a little portable arts caddy was a fabulous way to grab a few minutes on the coffee table.

Inspired, I grabbed my holiday art bag and a new sketch book ( I seem to have a little stash of new art books - how did that happen?)

I'm keeping it very simple. A little water colour palette, a koh-I- noor inks palette, a tin of Inktense pencils and a pencil case ( which in all honesty needs a bit of an edit).

The book is A5 with good quality paper able to take water. And I'm keeping it to 20 minutes.

And it has been a brilliant exercise so far.

You can follow my progress on Instagram. I don't post them all. Only the ones I really like!

And one final benefit - which I hope isn't a conincidence - but it's usually the last thing I do and so far I have been sleeping better. I'm really hoping this benefit will continue!

Thanks so much for dropping by, and if you are doing a 'sketchbook page a day' or something similar pop the link in the comments so we can all pop over and share the love.

read article

The Golden Hare

4 February 2017

Dear reader, on Sunday I needed a diversion.

This was the day after the Trump immigration order. It felt overwhelming. I'm one woman, in England. I feel desperately sad for all Americans I connect with via the Internet. No one in my virtual tribe supports this man. But what can I do? I feel powerless.

So a little jaunt out to a little gallery about 30 minutes from my MK home. It may seem trivial and flippant but in these stormy political seas occasionally a beacon of normality can, perhaps, hold you on course.

Anyways, it was a dismal day and even the dogs were a bit 'meh' about the weather. So we all piled into the car for a little adventure.

And what a fab little adventure it was.

The gallery is called The Golden Hare Gallery. It's in Ampthill in Bedfordshire. Come in and have a little look round.

Ampthill is one of those places - sort of always at the back of my mind ( I know not why) but never visited. Maybe I see it signposted a lot. Who knows.

Anyway, I did not know what to expect.

A grey, January day does not do the town justice ( a small town, but not a village - it has a Waitrose! Will that reference mean anything to foreign readers?)

Certainly historic - the road in then the little market square was lined with buildings which seemed modestly Georgian - simply elegant red brick frontages. But the town felt a bit dissected and dominated by roads. Not great for mooching around and there did not seem to be many shops open to mooch around, except for said Waitrose - which seemed to be heaving.

But we were after one particular little shop - the gallery called Golden Hare.

A quick look at the website told us that the name comes from the Golden Hare amulet hidden by artist and author Kit Williams in the 1980s.

In 1979 Masquerade, a picture book, written and illustrated by Kit Williams, sparked a treasure hunt frenzy. The book, a beautifully executed picture book ( Williams was an artist) concealed visual clues to the location of a jeweled golden hare, created and hidden somewhere in Britain by Williams. (Never mind treasure hunt, the book sold thousands of copies and must have been a bit of a treasure for both artist and publisher. But I digress.)

The hare was actually buried in Ampthill Park - hence the name of the gallery.

Now I had discovered this gallery via the power of the Internet - or to be precise the joy that is Instagram. I follow it and love the little visual hors d'oevres served up daily. Time to go see for myself.

It's a sweet little gallery - a lovely space beautifully curated. The owner, a lovely young lady called Laura, has selected a beautiful range of artists work.

I was thrilled to see that she has a range of work by two local artists - Laura Boswell and Dianna Tonnison. Both are based just outside MK and I have been to both their studios during Open Studios season.

Laura is a well know printmaker. She uses a Japanese wood print technique, using just one print block for each layer of the print, cutting into it for the next layer and thus in effect destroying the block as she goes ( does that make sense?) Her studio is just outside Winslow, my last home from home. And as well as visiting during Open Studios, I used to see Laura out running sometimes when I was walking the dog.

Dianna is a ceramist but in a very painterly way. She makes wall art of fruit, vegetables and notably fish.

She also does prints onto recycled wood panels.

I visited her studio and garden a few years ago. (She is in a small village just to the north of Milton Keynes - a lovely studio space and I had studio envy, I remember.)

And I was also thrilled to see that she has Este Macleod work too.

Now Este Macleod is an artist whose work is very familiar to me, again through the internet. But it was quite a surprise to see it in the flesh. The pieces were smaller than I expected. I have no idea why I had assumed that the pictures would be bigger, but in fact they were quite modest in size.

But stunning! The colours just sing out!

As well as pictures and wall art, The Golden Hare also has a beautiful selection of jewellery.

Beautiful earrings by Amanda Ray.