OFF WE GO!

13-21 June Cheltenham Open Studios becomes the centre of my universe 

I am venue 28 and will be open 10am-4pm

for the next week.

Sharon McSwiney &

Christine Waygood will be showing with me.

Enjoy the sneaky peak here and hope to see you some time during the week.

TWO TO GET STEADY

Once every two years certain parts of my house and the whole of the garden get a deep tidy and clean, all because of Cheltenham Open Studios. I have been chipping away at the preparations for sometime now.

I have got my work sorted ready for Christine and Sharon to pop in tomorrow and add their magic.

I have had a few gorgeous finds at our local Red Cross book shop recently and

I am sneaking them in wherever possible.

I am now very pleased with this corner.

The garden is also doing it's bit,

but enjoy these poppies here, I fear they will not last to the 13-21 June.

I have packed the shed full of bargains and goodies.

And there will be a table full of sketch books to look through.

Just outside the shed this rose is beginning to flower and will add to the ambience with a delicious smell.

I hope you can pop by for a glass of Pimms on the 11th between 6-9pm. If not see you between the 13-21 June. Details for Venue 28 are here.

MONOPRINT WORKSHOP

Another workshop at the yard:ARTspace this weekend.

Monoprinting. A very underrated technique, but ideal for loosening up those creative muscles.

Layers of colour,

exciting textures, 

together with wonderfully coloured oil based ink produced some very interesting results.

Start by inking up part of a piece of plastic, Cut thin card shapes and ink those. Lay on some delicate pressed and dried plant material, this acts as a way of inking delicate vegetation to print later. 

Inking and layering, inking and layering, passing it all through a press and ta dah!

The results can

be complex and

delicate.

Soft starting points to work into with other media or

finished pieces in their own right.

Every bit of the inking process is used to make another piece. 

Generating lots of ideas and

delicious experiments.

Thankyou so much to the group for a very creative yet relaxed day. 

What's on at the yard:ARTspace can be found here.

ONE TO GET READY

10 days to go before I open my doors for Cheltenham Open Studios so I am in the process of getting my house, garden and shed ready.

The lounge is cleared and cleaned, here

is a sneaky peak of some of what you will see.

The lovely Mr Brown has helped me to tidy up 

the garden, planting up pots and weeding.

I just hope there will be a few poppies left.

The shed is taking a bit of organising,

I have started to lay out some of the bargains, both print and enamel that I have when it is Open Studios.

This year I will be joined again by Sharon McSwiney, jewellery and metal work and making her debut appearance textile artist Christine Waygood. If you are in the area we are having a preview evening on 11 June, 6-9pm. Then in full swing from 13-21 June, 10am- 4pm, 8, Commercial Street, Cheltenham, GL50 2AU.

Look forward to seeing you.

THIS WEEK I HAVE MOSTLY BEEN DOING ENAMEL...!

I have been having a week of enamel.

My lovely chum Julie Jowett has sent me some 

copper mesh which I have just

had to experiment with. These enamelled labels are now winging their way to Julia for her to add her magic to them. Hopefully some stitching intervention.

Saturday found me at the Museum in the Park, Stroud,

running an enamel workshop. Thanks to Northern Kilns for lending me this darling little kiln.

Everyone

worked

really hard.

I was kept very busy popping things in and out of the kiln.

The group of 8 threw themselves into 

experimental enamel techniques and

produced lots of lovely test pieces.

Thanks to the funding from Arts Council England this workshop was heavily subsidised.

I have been keeping my enamel hand in so to speak making these small labels using transfers on steel and copper, I am very tempted to just hang them randomly on things. We will see.