Gilding the lily

Hello. It has been a while. Here's a small list of things what I done of late...

AAF Battersea was good. I didn't sell well but it was a good experience.

Also in March, I got "Going Outside" into a show at the RWA. I was very pleased to be chosen. Its a great show - all drawing and mark making of some sort or other. Its on until 2nd June and well worth a visit.

During April I was wrote a pitch for a large scale paper installation. It was for a grand hall in a National Trust House in Somerset. I didn't win, but again, it was a really valuable experience. I've made contact with some good people through it. Also it got my brain really working and pushed some of my ideas in a new direction. 

Then earlier in May, I did the North Somerset Arts Trail. My friend Amy Shiner  and I showed our work in Amy's house.  I had lots of fun hanging out with a friend and avoiding my own housework! We even made a bit of money.

I'm tempted to stay true to the blog form and "tell all" how terribly busy I've been and how life is just a whirlwind! But...


Life is quite mundane most of the time, I find. My artwork is about trying to find some beauty and purpose in that. Instead of gilding the lily, I gilded this paper cut clothes peg instead.

More sooner, maybe.

Going Outside

This is the final one done for AAF Battersea. It was a longer haul to the finish line, than I thought it would be.

I've had a better go at describing the folds where the fabric is double in places. The next plan is to do lots of smaller pieces - both experimental in ideas and process. I never thought I could stick with one material for any length of time. But I've developed a real fetish for paper.




I'm off to London to the see the show on Saturday and also to go to Falkiners, the best paper shop in the world.

All the work while crying.

I'm showing my work with Stark Fine Art at the Affordable Art Fair in Battersea, London. There are over 100 galleries exhibiting and it's a really brilliant day out even if you don't want to buy anything.

Its on from 7th - 10 March.




So. After a January spent playing or "researching", I'm now working on 2 new pictures. A courier's coming to collect them next Friday so it's a race against time as usual! 


I'm full of new ideas at the moment. I'm working on lots of small things really trying to push what I'm doing in another direction. It still involves removing material from sheets of paper so not too much of a departure. 

I do love paper.

Playing with scissors

Well, I actually finished it fairly quickly!

Its going to the framer on Friday along with another one not started yet - I am on an over optimistic roll here!



Inspired by my fun with scissors, I made this. Eight pairs in various states of openness. It is quite long so not very practical.

I'll be selling them along with my other mobiles from this Saturday 24 Nov - 2 Dec at Wrington Arts Trail.

The venue is Glaisters, Church Walk, Wrington. My stuff is for sale in a gorgeous pop-up shop along other locally made things. You can also see beautiful paintings by Amy Shiner.



I'm off to get started on the other one now...

Arts trail part 2 - new things

My latest things. Finished and framed.

Small appliance 1
This is one of two pieces using a single line/cable to draw a doillie.


And a companion piece for the first curtain... 

Indoors, looking out

...Together with the first one. I probably have one more of these left to do. 


I'm also working on some completely new things. The ideas come thick and fast but it all takes time...

Arts trail part 1 - paper mobiles

I have been playing with my paper robot again .


This is a remake of the 1st complex cut paper thing I made. I blogged about it here. 


This is based on another thing I blogged about here. 

I made a few mobiles  to hang up along with my pictures for the Chew valley arts trail. It was an experiment to see if anyone might be interested in them. Surprisingly, I sold loads and still have orders to make! A good friend will be selling some other similar designs at a local craft market in December.

Sorry my pictures are ropey!

My workspace

I thought I'd post something about my studio. Its the old dining room of my house. Our kitchen is big enough to eat in, so this room's mine. We got the house a year ago and the room looked like this - you can't tell from this crappy picture but it was mouldy, both the the brown walls and the brown carpet.


I moved all my clobber in and set to work amongst the mould and dust. Then one day Bill and I cleared it out and pulled the carpet up. Two weeks later it looked like this. I painted the lino pale blue so its a lot lighter in there now.


I'll happily admit to being into house porn. I buy Elle Deco monthly - its a lot cheaper than doing my house up! And I look at websites full of inspiring workspaces. Mostly very sparse with a carefully placed mid century/vintage nik-nak or two. Inspiring to look at but I wouldn't get much done in that sort of room. 

My space is no shrine to design. Its functional. And its not very tidy. The making process is very fiddly and precise but I tend to chuck paper around and rummage through drawers looking for stuff. I'm sitting here with 2 cupboards, 1 drawer and a toolbox open right now, and that bureau is never closed! 

Here is a work room that I could work in. Fleur Cowles was an artist, philanthropist, publisher of Flair Magazine, aircraft pilot, and a lot more. This is her study. I think she probably had someone else do the dusting!



My studio is open for the Chew Valley Arts Trail this weekend 13 - 14 October. 

Along with my framed pictures, I'm hoping to have some paper mobiles for sale like this red and yellow one in my studio picture and also some a bit like this based on my Womans Realm pictures.

Come along and see.

Desperate Artwives

I have my pictures in this show. It opens on 28th June - my birthday! Unfortunately I won't be there for wine and nibbles, which is a pity as I'd love to meet the other women in the show.

Come to the Private View!
I am really excited to be chosen for it. This is the second show put together by Amy Dignam. The first show was reviewed favourably by Jane Martinson in the Guardian - here. There are a lot of very talented women squeezing time from the daily grind to make artwork as you can see on the Desperate Artwives website.

Mothers of course, aren't alone in this tightrope walk of the daily grind v artistic practice. Its difficult for anyone, beyond Art School to carry on making stuff. Time, space and money are all necessary. Essentially, this show puts the spotlight on women with a family making art and it is timely. Surrounded by lifestyle and craft blogs, sometimes I feel it would be easier if I just knitted and made toys for my children. It would seem, that its very acceptable to be a creative mummy if it is directed toward your children. I say this as my children are playing outside, whilst their dad is in charge for the second day in a row. I've got a deadline for next week...

I feel guilty, yet at the same time I'm pleased that I'm trying to get my career off the ground, something that will hopefully benefit my family. But this is not yet a paying job and right now I know that I'm letting people down. The people who mean the most to me. Maybe that's the difference between the Desperate Artwives and the other Desperate Artists. The emotional pull you feel as a parent is a particular context in which to make art.

Cyril Connolly famously said, "There is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hall."

I disagree. I could have got my finger out before I had children, and I didn't. For me they're my biggest inspiration.

I would say that the rubber gloves under the sink are an altogether more sinister opponent...