A Dartmoor Scene

Just finished this little Dartmoor clapper bridge scene, for a house in a little village on the Moor. yet again my work is destined for a toilet window and it does make me chuckle how many bathrooms and toilets have one of my stained glass windows in them!

As usual I have cut the glass, painted my designs on to the pieces and then fired them in the kiln, before leading up the panel, soldering the joins and cementing all the gaps to make it water tight. I have added lots of little details to to give the piece interest including a little rabbit in the grasses and some fish swimming about in the river.

Permanent sunshine

I just fitted this panel into a new garden room in a 1970’s house in Dawlish, so now they can have sunshine however dull and rainy it is outside!  And its pretty dull and rainy today!

The customers really liked Art Deco period style and so I used the colours and stylised forms of Deco to create this  very long, but very short panel

This is a 2 metre long, but only 25 cm high traditional leaded panel fitted in front of a double glazed unit and will be beaded in when the room is decorated.

Small Town Vandals wont spoil our show!

Several of the sculptures in our TRAIL were vandalised last night, I think it is the first time we have really been affected in this way! My Do Do had been pushed over, thankfully no unrepairable damage done and its all intact. Liz Lockyear’s  Igloo was used as a party room by the local al fresco drinkers; which I found quite amusing until I realised they had also collapsed the structure by pulling it down, which is miserable for her and she had to do lots of repairing today, its back up, but not quite as sturdy as it was before. Several of the other sculptures had minor injuries, but mostly suffered shock. It is our 10th year and there has been so much good news for us with TRAIL being included in the United Nations Its Our World online art exhibition (a huge international event for young people aged between 4 and 19) so we will not let some thoughtless people bring us down!

I wish people would take Michelle Greenwood-Brown’s advice to Love your Planet!

recycled ceramic mosaic
Michelle Greenwood-Brown

In better news our Art in the Sun exhibition is looking glorious and open all week from 10-5pm. It is a lovely setting with a barn and woodland full of art. Its being held at  Ben Yates parents home and he has a fabulous darkened room with all of his light up sculptures making it a magical experience for young and old.

Moor Inspiration

We can see Dartmoor from our garden and yesterday answered their eiree call and headed for the hills. I get so many ideas for designs this way and Vixen Tor is my new muse. It has it’s own legend (as any self respecting Dartmoor landmark should) and it is said that a witch lives in the rocks and conjours up mists to lure travellers to  their death in the marshy bogs beneath. We could not find out for sure about the witch, as the Tor itself is on private land. But Dartmoor’s highest stone stack is a stark beauty wouldn’t you say?

Checking on the sculptues

It’s summer on the South Devon coast and the 10th year of TRAIL (Teignmouth recycled art in landscape). I enter every year and this year I have made 3 exstinct birds from broken washing machines and old junk. They are (from the left) a Great Aulk, Do Do and Solomon Island Crested Pigeon. Every day we go check on them, make sure they are happy in their roosts and that their solar light eyes still work. My kids have never known any different. An annual ritual as ingrained as leaving a snack for Father Christmas. http://www.trail.org.uk

Art in the Sun

 

 

 

 

Very much looking forward to this exhibition/sculpture garden celebrating summer in the Devon Countryside! Its a kid friendly, laid back affair – with some excellent art. Do come!

 

 

 

Aloha Teignmouth!

Having relocated 12 miles from Exeter to South Devon last winter it is amazing to have our first summer in our seaside house!  I am finally back into a good work routine (these things are so dependant on the delicate family/ life balance) and I am preparing for a packed summer of shows and exhibitions!

The new house and my exhibition schedule have crossed over in a serendipitous way and I am making some panels which just so happen to be the right size for windows in our house, so I can install them at home after they have been on tour.  Aloha Teignmouth has been designed for my kitchen door. We live in a 30’s semi with original internal doors and these doors have lovely proportions; but I cannot live with the existing frosted glass and view of the recycling boxes behind (what self respecting glass worker would) so I have made this homage to all things Hawaiian and tropical. This playful panel is intended to liven up our white and black kitchen scheme, obscure the less attractive aspects of modern life from indoors and is a great chance for me to work ‘off brief’. The view of the cliffs and beach huts in the background  of the panel is the view out of the main kitchen window; I do like it when I get to reference the settings of the windows in some way, windows after all are part of the houses architecture.

The outside world keeps on turning and Gloss Gallery summer show is already up and running, which I am pleased to be part of and as the summer holidays grow nearer I am feverishly working on my recycled sculpture for TRAIL 2014 and working towards my first Devon Open Studios in Teignmouth, I will be sharing the TAAG gallery with 3 very talented artist friends and we are all working on new pieces for that.

Anyway, the sun is shining and recycled washing machines do not turn themselves into sculptures, so I will head out into the Sunday sunshine.

The Hare and The Moon

Leaded round panel with a hare and moon painted in kiln fired glass paints and lustre. Inspired by the Indian folk tale of the same name

Stormy Teignmouth

Its been so long since I have written on my blog and sooooo much has happened since September. We have moved to Teignmouth, about 14 miles from Exeter and we are loving it! I have a great new studio and we live right by the sea.
Here was my new home town about 30 minutes before high tide, the pier is in a bad way and the waves are full of boulders and debris, but it is brilliant to be able to be so close to the elements!

Teignmouth back beach

East Cliff Teignmouth

Skate Park Teignmouth Sea Front

Damaged PierBeach

Beach Comber Cafe

My husband is a weatherman

Ivy Lane

Ivy Lane

Intaglio glass casting mold

Started on my cast glass multi-sensory window. I am making the clay base, the crushed glass then melts into the imprints in the clay when it melts in the kiln.