An Alphabet of Animals

If you are in London and fancy a day trip to the countryside or if you live in Kent then check out my daughter Alice's exhibition at Mascells Gallery Paddock Wood. She is not just exhibiting her animal alphabet screen prints but there is a wall which is a mood board of her inspiration, sketchbooks and working drawings so you can really see the thought processes behind her work. Here is the link to Mascells Gallery.

Stamp Album

Those of you who have been reading my blog for years know that in January I return for a while to working in sketchbooks. This year I am working up pages around favourite stamps. Their colour or design lead me to picking up bits and pieces to collage and paint in to my sketchbook.

Bright Start

I have been working in wool on to tweed over Christmas getting some examples ready for a Wool Work cushion workshop I am running in the Spring. The colours have been inspired by this print my daughter gave me for Christmas and which is now hanging in my studio. Also in the basket has been an odd slipper which I used for demonstration purposes last summer but have never finished. Still haven't!    

 

Masonic Apron

This is all I have left from this old masonic apron. I pulled off the rosettes and used them long ago but the fragile sky blue fabric is working its way in to a new collage. The masonic apron is the badge of membership for the masons and I believe that this colour and the rosettes signify that someone has become a master mason.

Remember me

My family know me so well. Here is my best Christmas present this year. I love not far from Durham and the Durham Light Infantry Museum is one of my favourite plCes in the North East so a very special present.

Exhibition round up

Today I have been catching up with exhibitions locally in the North East.
First up Katharine Morling's ceramic sculptures at the Shipley Art Gallery.

Then on to Gateshead Library Gallery to see an exhibition of work produced by artists living in Bill Quay. One of my favourite places in Gateshead and the city farm was much visited when my children were little. This screen print was produced by my friend Clare Satow who lives there and run Bill Quay Fabric Workshop

Then on to The Customs House in South Shields to see an excellent exhibition about illustrative and stitched drawing. I have a couple of pieces of work in this show. Some lovely stitched drawings by stitched artists including Louise Sambrook Underwood who had embroidered a great portrait of Wilfred Owen, Reiko Koga and Sharmistha Kar . If you live in the North east and are a stitcher then you need to go and see this.

Season's Greetings