Saturday 27 June 2015

Now on sale!

Now on sale at Hair Co 2 salon, 26 The Square, Wolverton

Original art:
Born Survivor (lion)
Destiny Reborn (serpent)

Limited Edition giclee prints of:
Freesian Unique (cow)
Born Survivor (lion)
Exotic Echo (parrot)

Also available to purchase:
Tote bags (cow and lion)
Greeting cards (cow, lion, serpent & parrot)


Pop into the salon today and take a look!

#buylocal #miltonkeynes #affordableart



Friday 26 June 2015

The Final Weekend of BOS!

What a fantastic final weekend of the Bucks Open Studios event! 

I would like to say a HUGE Thank you to everyone who has visited my studio during the event and for all the wonderful feedback and support in my creative endeavours.
It has been a great couple of weeks meeting like-minded artsy folk, exchanging tips and having discussions on all things arty over tea and cake! 
I'll be posting pictures of the visitors tree as it takes shape, so do keep an eye out on the blog for your colourful felt leaves. if you provided your email or home address, do keep an eye on your mailbox for a lovely surprise during August!

#bucksopenstudio #successfulevent #seeyouin2016

Tuesday 23 June 2015

Finding time to create

Loving the guidance given in this blog by Jason Horejs, owner of Xanadu Gallery. His blog offers sound advice for better controlling time in your week, in order to create and be successful.
http://reddotblog.com/control-your-time-and-become-a-more-successful-artist/

The idea is, you plan your week by creating categorised to do lists and assigning due date to each task using a free version of the online software Todoist: https://todoist.com/

The core of this planning guidance came from Micheal Hyatt's blog
http://michaelhyatt.com/ideal-week.html

In essence, it's best to plan your week, allowing some flexibility for when ad-hoc tasks crop up:

1. Create a template of your week
2. Schedule your time into blocks
3. Allocate blocks of time according to priority
4. Become more efficient and focussed
5. Complete your most important work

I'm going to give this a try, starting with using the Todoist app. I'll let you know how I get on!

Thursday 18 June 2015

Art Trail by bike!

As my studio is closed today, I decided to visit some artists a little further afield and as the sun was shining, my bike came along too!

I started with a visit to Gawcott Church, a beautiful bright building where a group of ten artists had their work on display, some members of the Milton Keynes Society of Artists. 
I was met by hosts Jill Varone and Irene Foster, who kindly offered a cold drink - most welcome after a long cycle ride from Wolverton! 

For more details of the MKSA visit the website www.mksa.org.uk




Also in Gawcott, I visited glass maker Tlws Johnson, who took me through the fused and cast glass techniques. Around the corner, was painter Paul Bursnall, who produces distinctive harbour side paintings in bright acrylics. He offered a useful advice on using quality varnish to finish a painting - thank you for the tip Paul :)

Back on the bike, and a little way down the Preston Road, I came to the Chafor Wine Estate. The plan was to follow the art trail and see art by Stephanie. As I was there, I also got the chance to sample the tasty local wines on offer at the vineyard and chat to owner Tim about setting up a Vineyard in England.

My final port of call was The Woolpack at Buckingham, where 14 printmakers and artists were exhibiting a wide variety of subjects and mediums throughout the pub. The display of original works looked fantastic and prints were available to purchase - it would've been more practical if I had brought the car! There were also demonstrations of the wood block printing technique and also landscape painting by Laura Tebboth, chair of Buckingham Art for All.




Monday 15 June 2015

It's already the final week!

It's the last week of the Bucks Open Studios event. 
Find out where I find inspiration, watch live pet portraiture and make (or choose colours for) your own needle-felted leaf for the visitors tree!

Come for tea (there's cake too) and enjoy my latest work. My studio is open for two more days this week and throughout the weekend: Tuesday and Wednesday 10am - 7pm, Saturday 11am - 7pm & Sunday 11am - 6pm 

Colourful collection of needle felted leaves representing visitors to the studio
‪#‎artistdemos‬ ‪#‎miltonkeynes‬ ‪#‎bucksopenstudio‬

Wednesday 10 June 2015

Visiting artists on the MK Art Trail

I spent a day following the Milton Keynes Art Trail to visit: Alena Rajtorov - weaver & felt maker, Helen Taylor - printmaker, Jenny Timms - stained glass art, Arja Parker - mixed media paintings and woodwork sculptures,  Brian Stainton - wood turning and woodworking plus Margaret Taylor - painter and mixed media. Such a beautiful variety of work and venues, Great hospitality too.

Also visited The House gallery during my time in Olney. Fantastic selection of fine art, glass, sculpture, textiles, ceramics, and jewellery. www.thehousegallery.co.uk


The MK Art Trail leaflet provides details of MK artists opening their studios and a map to plan your route. Simply download to plan a day of artistic discovery



Monday 8 June 2015

UFOs and Feltwork landscapes


It's been a great starting weekend to BOS with a mix of new visitors and familiar faces at my Wolverton studio. A collection on colourful needle-felted leaves is building up, ready to create my felted Visitors Tree after the event.
Scottish Splendour Feltwork
Needle-felted leaves


Today I tackled my pile of unfinished objects (UFOs as visitor Wendy called them!) and have finished my felted landscape of Scotland. After defining sections with machine embroidery and beading, it's ready for displaying in it's frame. 


Saturday 6 June 2015

First Day of Bucks Open Studio


It's been lovely to welcome guests into my studio today.
Thank you to everyone who visited, I'm very pleased that you could make it :) 



I now have the start to my collection of needle-felted leaves for my 'Tree of Visitors' which will be made using the wet felt making technique. 

Each colourful needle-felted leaf will bring the tree to life. 

I'll be posting more pictures as the project develops.

‪#‎feltwork #‎bucksopenstudio‬ #miltonkeynes 



Bucks Open Studios: Official Opening Day!

I now declare my studio officially open!

A display of vibrant contemporary paintings of furry farm animals and fantastical creatures. See my latest collections of tactile textile art. Find out where I find inspiration, see demonstrations and make your own needle-felted leaf for the Visitors Tree!

Limited edition prints, fabric bags and greeting cards will also be available to purchase.
Come for tea and enjoy my latest work.

I am exhibitor number 11 in the Bucks Open Studios brochure, for more details visit www.bucksopenstudios./org.uk/exhibiton_details?id=2733

The venue - all smartened up for the event


An insight into my paintings displayed at Hair Co 2


Where the magic happens!
It's worth the climb!

Thursday 4 June 2015

Familiar faces in the MK Citizen and on TotalMK!

I'm absolutely thrilled to see two familiar faces featured in the MK Citizen newspaper this week :)

Freesian Unique on the cover of Go! supplement
Born Survivor in the MK Citizen, GO! supplement 4th June 2015

Not only that, I also featured on the TotalMK website!
www.totalmk.co.uk/bucks-open-studios-spotlight-on

A massive Thank you to Fiona Pinkney of Bucks Open Studios
and Sammy Jones, Leisure Editor at MK Citizen newspaper