The weeks are flying past this year and we are still in February!…Working as a collaborative artist on the Saltmarsh project with the Bioregional learning centre is something I am very much enjoying. I am working from some drone footage that was made as part of the survey of the Saltmarshes. The Ariel views and colours are truly inspiring and will certainly add material for some prints that I shall be making in the studio as Lino cuts.
I will be using my small table top press and be exploring some new papers too. I have a sample pack of Awagami papers as I feel that will really contribute an extra level to the finished work.
I shall be showing some of my works from the emerging body of work about the Saltmarshes in March this year. I shall be adding a few words at the event that is being staged, hopefully there will be some good images to share. The other artists from different disciplines will also showcase their work too so it will a great evening event.
My certificate arrived detailing my successful completion of a ten week Creative Workshop Leadership course. It was a fascinating course run the by the charity for which I volunteer as an Ambassador, Outside In.
(Above are some portraits of Tess Radcliffe made during the course)
I learnt so much from the wonderful course leader Tess Radcliffe and also from the amazing ten or so other artists who attended the course with me. I have not ironed out exactly what format or workshop ideas are going to be offered by me yet. I shall certainly share these with you once I have refined my intial ideas.
So as well as the above what else has been happening? I was interviewed by an American on line magazine and will be sharing this interview and some links to it on social media and in a blog once it has been published. I have managed to get another submission to an exciting open call off to be looked at and considered by the curators of a show at the end of this year.
The winter has been fairly cold in the studio and so this year I am going to be revamping the studio which will mean a lot of upheaval but the time has come. I plan to add a good pitched roof and do some insulating too. Once the dates for the work are in the diary I shall have to do a bit of a studio clearance so it might be worth while dropping me a line via the website if you have your eye on something in particular at a special price.
On cold days I sometimes warm up in the kitchen with a good book and do some research. I picked up this lovely book on Leon Kossoff’s retrospective at the Tate in London in 1996. the book was in the window of the local second hand community bookshop just around the corner from my home. Castle books is a really gem to have so close, but it does offer far too much temptation sometimes! I was after a book with some work by Kathe Kollowitz as I want to look more closely at her prints and mark making in relation to my own practice. It seems to me so important to look at the work of other artists, ideally at exhibitions and shows, though books are good too. I see there is a wonderful exhibition on at the Courtauld, Frank Auerbach. The Charcoal Heads running now until the end of May.
So I might see if a trip to London can be arranged as there are always some great shows on, it amazes me how much one can learn by really using a couple of days of culture in the city.
So thank you for reading and do stay in touch, sign up for the newsletter and information from the revamped studio.
