Found!

Whilst having the requisite January studio clear out, I found these collograph plates that I made in 2004.  I still love a pile of bowls, and some of the other work I have created along the way refers back to these images.  They were a turning point from design to creating a picture, and I don't recall using the sun and moon in my work before these.

Josephine Gomersall Designs

Always up for a snoop I was very pleased to visit the studio of my friend Josephine Gomersall and be able to take a few snaps.  Josephine is a multi-talented designer creating ranges of jewellery and home accessories as well as bespoke splash backs and window art.  Her studio is strung with beautiful images and ephemera.  Very inspiring!

Year of the Dragon

I like Chinese New Year.  It comes along at just the right amount of time after our New Year to make me take stock of where I'm at.  Our New Year comes too close to Christmas to allow for proper reflection and is too busy a time to make any sensible resolutions!

My horoscope for the year suggests I might become 'a hot item with the reporters' which is resolution number one!

I recently started going swimming and to yoga.  I want to be healthier but also find some quiet spaces between all the busy-ness.  I feel much more balanced already.  So my second resolution is to be at peace.

In my hibernating phase I have been enjoying the luxury of reading.  I was given 'Baking Cakes in Kigali' by a friend who lives there.  It is a heartwarming book that reminded me to celebrate the blessings of my life.  I've also discovered the magazine 'O Comely' with it's strap line, "keep your curiosity sacred".  So that is my third goal.

On reflection I realised how little of my life I want to change which is a lovely place to be.

Kung Hei Fat Choi!

Special request

Just before Christmas, I asked my Mum....'What would you like for your birthday?'....'A needlepoint kit of one of your designs' came the answer.  'Oh' I thought!

Never one to shirk a challenge, I ran through several options for printing, before plumping for painting directly onto 12 hole needlepoint canvas.  I wanted to create a painterly quality in the design.  I tailored the palette to a job lot of yarns that I bought on ebay and inspired by this piece I did in 2010,

I created this:

Mum was really pleased, especially as the interpretation of the painting allows her some creative input into the finished design.  I'm inspired to start one myself....after I finish a few projects that I've already got on the go.

Happy Birthday Mum. x

Donna Wilson at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

I really enjoyed Donna Wilson's quirky exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park.  Aware of her ceramics, I was less aware of the textile based work.  I loved the riot of colours and shapes in the installations as well as her framed and wall mounted knitted trees and flowers.  The exhibition runs until 26th February.

Next stop Ferrers Gallery

There are only two days left of 'Patterned Presence' at Loughborough Town Hall then I collect my work and hot foot it over to the Ferrers Gallery to take part in the exhibition In Print which runs until April 3rd.

It's been a busy start to the year.  I'm working on two new print designs and planning Art Fairs for the Spring and early Summer.  I've just put in my application for the Saltaire Arts Trail so fingers crossed I get accepted for that.

A good rest over Christmas means I've some ideas setting my mind alight.  I've also been working on a birthday present for my Mum but don't want to spoil the surprise so I'm going to keep you in the dark until next week.

Time keeps on slipping into the future

Happy New Year!  A little belated but it's wonderful to have arrived in 2012.  Not quite ready for it but have been scribbling in notebooks and wondering what's in my envelope of possibilities.

A few of my favourites from the holiday have been:

Favourite film: Coraline

We all hid behind the blanket for this one.  A reminder that the grass isn't always greener.....


Favourite present: The Gift by Carol Ann Duffy and Rob Ryan

Although I had seen this book before, I had never read it. About the circle of life, it became 'mine' when I reached this page and read:

"The young woman had art in her hands, and she became a painter. She had her own small house in the town now and worked there in a room generous with light.  In the evenings, she walked through the town to her parents' house or to friends' houses.  She had love in her heart and fell for a friend of a friend of a friend.

Soon enough she moved to a bigger house in the town with him. She had a child in her belly and by the year's end was a mother, painting her pictures as her child slept in her cot next to the easel. Time passed slowly and brought many people who wanted to buy a painting.  Another child was born."

Favourite Day Out: Yorkshire Sculpture Park

I really enjoyed revisiting Yorkshire Sculpture Park as a family.  Though it was a blowy, rainy day, the inside galleries where the Jaume Plensa exhibition runs until January 22nd, gave us plenty of refuge from the elements and the whole day was restorative after the rigours of Christmas!

We had a wonderful New Year celebration with good friends, that I am just about recovering from!

Wishing you and yours a 2012 stuffed full of possibilities.