First in a new series, inspired by my children

I am working on some new themes for this year’s work, one of which is a series of panels inspired by my children, trying to capture how they view the world and the tales that capture their imagination. The seed of this was planted in the summer when I made them a mermaid window for their room, read about that here The first finished piece is called ‘The Fox and The Moon’ and expresses the excitement and wonder my girls enjoy in our garden at night. When the familiar becomes other worldly and the local wildlife come out to play! Amazingly we also have a hedgehog, bats and slow worms in our city centre garden, much to their delight! The panel itself is composed of bright primary colours and every piece of glass has been altered in some way; kiln formed glass  textures of the moon and the tree, lino cut printed houses and fox (which have then been fired in the kiln) and acid etched details of grass and stars. It should be framed soon, ready for sale on my website or gallery exhibit, not sure which yet!

New Year New Ideas!

I have been very busy this month experimenting and working on new ideas! This has made me very productive in the workshop, but not very good at writing my blog! Anyway………

I am learning to print on glass using various techniques. Firstly I have been making some lino cuts and direct printing

onto glass this way. The results have been varied and though I very much like the effect I am finding getting the right consistency of the paint a bit hit and miss, however, using a roller not a ponce or a brush to apply the paint has helped greatly and I have made a new range of Valentines items as a result, available on my website . I am also experimenting with  firing photograph images onto glass (coming out of the kiln today!) and I have 2 new series of work coming along nicely in my studio. So lots to tell you about in the next few weeks!

 

A creative Christmas break

I have not been in my studio since Christmas Eve, a well needed break for my hands and mind from the world of glass and a chance to concentrate on my family and home.

The festive season really started for us when we had a Winter Solstice celebration with friends whilst watching the sunset over Budleigh Salterton Beach on 21st December. The day had been very cloudy, but just as we got to the coast the clouds cleared and we had an amazing sunset! I think these photos will be incorporated in my work sometime soon!

I have small girls and I had spent much of the run up to Christmas looking forward to making some Barbie clothes my girls and their best friends, I followed the instructions on this lovely blog http://sewspoiled.blogspot.com/2011/01/barbie-clothes.html, this is ‘Marrying Barbie’ and her friend ‘Bridesmaid Barbie’ (my feminist inner voice sighs at my children’s obsession with ‘marrying’)

While I had the Sewing Machine out its been new cushion cover time and a chance to recover the horrid   kitchen chairs which were getting a bit 60s in the wrong way!

My children’s Christmas gifts were a world of craft activities and stickers which they have been racing through enthusiastically, one of the best of which was a kirigami mobile kit. Basically its lots of pretty printed paper with shapes printed onto it which you cut out and assemble into long strings with coloured thread and sticky tape. We have added a couple of large bits of driftwood to hang it and now we have a lovely family art work in the living room…..bets on how long till the cat or one of the kids wrecks it???

The break from formal work has given me the head space for lots of new design ideas and I cant wait to get started on 2012! But before that starts I am looking forward to seeing out 2011 in style with a fire, food and friends. HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! I hope 2012 is a good year for you all x

Capturing other people’s memories of long summers by the sea

Just lately its been all about craft fairs and exhibitions, which means making lots of the things that I know sell well, which can make me feel like more of a machine than an artist! But bubbling away in the background I have been working on a series of panels for a customer who has previously brought large exhibition pieces and now wanted something special to her family to give as Christmas presents.

The design brief was to capture their childhood summers in Devon sailing around the coast and walking the coast paths picking blackberries in the late summer with the sea and the cliffs in the background and here are the resulting 3 sizes of panels, the largest will be housed in a bespoke wooden frame tomorrow (the glue is still drying in the local carpenters workshop), the medium panel is edged with sea glass and both have kiln fired painted details.  The yellow boat is cut from lovely mouth blown glass as the family boat was very important to their holiday’s. The contours of the cliffs are picked out in swirly cinnamon baroque glass which adds texture and the sea and grass are from water glass which mimics the ripples of water, especially when the sunshines through it and creates shimmery water reflections. The opaque glass used for the sails adds a good contrast to the transparent glass and leads the eye to the centre of the panel.  The smallest panel is a simpler version of the big ones with acid etched berries and leaves.

The colours and simplified forms of the design give the panel a retro feel; its wonderful being involved in creating such special Christmas gifts and I am really pleased with the results, I hope they are too!

The amyorangejuice machine is in full swing!

The machine being me, in my studio till all hours at the moment! But its all very exciting, I have a whole load of events going on at the moment and over the next few weeks and I thought it was about time I put keyboard to blog and told you all about them!

I spent Friday night hanging my part of the TAAG Plant Life Exhibition in Teignmouth. This is only up for  a week, so get there before the 2nd December to have a look! As well as my work there are some wonderful pen and ink drawings, amazing 3d photography and various other excellent perspectives on the theme.

Saturday continued in a frenzy of activity as I raced to get stock ready for my part in the wonderful Exeter Food Store’s Christmas Exhibition. I am sharing the cafe upstairs with Elizabeth Rashley’s gorgeous lino cut prints and we spent all day Sunday getting all our work up! It took a surprisingly long time (I always totally under estimate how long these things take)

but it looks fabulous, its such a treat for me to have so many floor to ceiling windows to hang my work in! This exhibition runs for all of December and I am having a special view on Thursday 15th December from 6-8pm with mulled wine and nibbles, please come along if you can!

Anyway, no time to take a breather yet, I still have 2 craft fairs and an other Christmas exhibition to hang in the next couple of weeks…more about them later, now I had better get back to the studio as I also have a commission to complete before Christmas! ahhhhh (slight panic)

Art in the Moor

Devon Artist Network’s Christmas exhibition is in full swing with a packed gallery of wonderful artwork by my fellow network members. I am always slightly overwhelmed with the standard of the other artists work and its great to be exhibiting along side such a talented bunch. From wooden carvings to large expressive oil paintings, all of the work captures a different mood of Dartmoor. If you find yourself in Princetown please take a look in The Duchy Centre, its a great base for a day out on the moor with plenty of cafe’s and good walks near by and the exhibition has something for all pockets, from £5 to £3,000, so its a great place to start your Christmas shopping!

Art for Charity’s sake

My Under the Weather sculpture installation had a month or 2 off after its summer on the seafront at Teignmouth as part of the summer TRAIL recycled sculpture exhibition but it is now installed at Exeter Northcott Theatre (Exeter University Campus). The staff were most helpful, especially the Front of House Manager Philip Sowton who had to really stretch his job description 3 metres up a ladder with a large mosaic cloud!

It took me 5 and a half hours but I eventually hung 80 recycled fused glass raindrops from the afore mentioned mosaic cloud; made from an old bit of chip board and small pieces of cloud coloured stained glass and mirror pieces stuck to it.

Each of the raindrops is made entirely from recycled glass; small shards of which I have fashioned together into raindrop shapes and fired in the kiln to fuse them together. The look great hanging in a sunny window, or outside from a tree or garden structure. They are for sale individually for £ 8 with half of the proceeds going to The Helen Foundation, a wonderful local charity committed to supporting young people in the arts through a variety of bursaries and arts involvement schemes. My sculpture is up until the 4th December, so if you are at the university please take a look and you can also see my fellow Devon Artist Network members artwork as the autumn exhibition has been extended till December.

 

3 different endings, all starting with the sea

Oh dear, I totally gave up on my blog a day! whoops. But that is because I have been double busy the last few weeks. Open Studios ended well with over 100 visitors, but now its over its straight into the pre Christmas frantic stock making! I have however, finished some bigger pieces and this is what today’s post is about!

I finished the children’s mermaid panel, which has proved difficult to photograph well cos its so long, but I am really pleased with the finished piece and the reflections all the painted and etched fishy details throw on the floor.

I am also really pleased with my new exhibition panel, based on teasels on the sea front at Branscombe beach in Devon. The painted details have come out really well as has the unconventional pebble shaped border.

Finally, I installed an abstract panel this evening in a bathroom/hallway internal window space. The design brief was to create a piece inspired by images of the patterns of rocks on a beach in North Devon. I devised an abstract panel following the lines of the rocks patterns and incorporating lots of sea glass (broken glass tumbled by the sea and picked up on local beaches. I mixed this glass with baroque glass and water glass to give some texture to the piece and some wonderfully delicate antique green salvaged glass with wonderful bubbles and slight variations. The finished piece is quite subtle and the colours match the interior decoration well. I think it has been very successful, I left the new owners gazing at it in the hallway, so I think they are happy too!

Cementing and experimenting

Today has been a real day of 2 halves, lots of cementing my leaded panels which is pretty dirty manual work and a long session of experimenting with recycled glass fusing. I created a couple of little seaside panels, an abstract wavy panel and lots of tiles for the kiln which are cooking away as I type this….we will see tomorrow if they have worked and indeed, if the glass was fully compatible! Pre kiln firing photos below, post firing photos to follow tomorrow

I had 5 visitors today, a mixture of fellow artists, local people and a friend from round the corner, very civilised! Still 2 days left to come and see me if you are in the Exeter area.

 

Another day, another open studio!

My last late night opening today and I am getting a bit cold in my studio writing this; it has also occurred to me how quickly the evenings are drawing in, autumn is really upon us now! But we have had a wonderful day of late summer sunshine and I took some photos of my work in the sparkling sun. I have had a fabulous number of visitors today, to be honest, I have lost count! it is around 20. Some local residents, a lovely friend, a couple of very experienced stained glass artists, a ceramicist and many other interesting people….one of whom came with a fabulous exhibition opportunity which is most exciting (more of that later in the year).

So what have I managed to get done? well a whole lot of glass painting, the kiln is on and should be well into its cycle by now. In there is the much broken last piece of my teasel panel, lots of small houses for tiny winter scenes and a blackberry panels pieces which I am looking forward to making up into a new little autumn piece tomorrow.

I have also completely cemented my mermaid panel and I will clean that up in the morning……more on that tomorrow. So now I am off to back away and shut the studio, ready for another day tomorrow!