Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas

I would like to wish everyone a very happy Christmas. I hope all my artist friends have a very productive year in 2014.

"Poinsettia" - acrylic ink

Painting with vodka!

OK - a little light relief.

I am taking a break from sorting my studio out, which is badly needed, and having a cup of tea and checking out the blogs of the artists I follow (which amount to quite a few). Some of these blogs are intermittent (I can be accused of that), some very short - a picture and one sentence at most, but some artists are extremely generous with their time, writing up many times a week and giving fabulous tips.

An American lady, Karen Margulis is one of the latter. She is a pastel painter and not only has a frequently updated blog, but also videos online, giving tips and inspiration. I know I don't do pastels very often - they are, in my case, very time consuming and of course very fugitive in terms of smudging etc. However, I love the results when it works and would like to do more. That is why I went to Sarah Bee's course at West Dean recently.

The difference between Sarah Bee and Karen Margulis is the underpainting. Sarah underpaints with textured gesso and acrylic paint - Karen with pastel. However once the basic underpainting has been put on the page, Karen then applies liquid (generally in the shape of water or rubbing alchohol) to blend across the page. She then puts more layers of soft pastel on top.

I was very amused to see her latest blog, where an online student didn't understand that it was rubbing alchohol that was being used and used vodka instead! Karen then decided to try it out herself and obviously, although drying times were longer, it gave interesting drips and marks, where water and rubbing alcohol weren't so good. Just goes to show that one can use anything in painting - I have to admit to half the kitchen and utility room being up in the studio for some use or other....

This blog reminded me of something I read by David Bellamy, a watercolourist. He often paints en plein air and in unusual locations. When he is up a mountain and it is very cold, he doesn't use water, but vodka, as the freezing level is lower. The suggestion then was that if it got really cold, he could always drink some!

I wonder what else people use in painting that is out of the norm. I know when I was doing my A level at adult education classes and then the OCA degree course, I tried out all sorts of things - just to see what worked. I suppose that was the start of my love of mixed media.

Anyway, in my present sort-out some of the miscellaneous items in the studio are coming back down to the ground floor to their original homes. I need to have a clear view of what I have in the studio, as I am planning a refit in the spring. At present I have no running water (have to go down two floors to clean things) and it is in the eaves, so haven't got any decent shelving, just a pile of plastic boxes from Staples! What is planned is a basin and draining board, but also shelving wherever possible, fitted into the sloping roof. However, what is in there at the moment is too much - but some of the things I have were related to strange lessons during my education period. Now I am a free agent, I know what style I want to do and what equipment is required, so a tarting up of the room is in order, I think.

Going back to the alcohol - I think if I had a bottle up in the studio for painting, no-one would believe that was what I was really using it for!

If any of my readers are interested in pastels - do check Karen's website out : Karen Margulis

Now - back to the mess that is my studio - onwards and upwards.....

Hilton Christmas Fayre - success

Really enjoyed today. Nina and I were pretty successful with the smaller items we had made. As predicted, we didn't sell our larger work, but it wasn't the platform for that type of sale. However, having my mounted work on stands seemed to lure people over - people wanting to know if I had done cards of a particular painting that was on show etc.

We had a good location - away from the door, which was letting cold air in - and great lighting, although we did bring our own as well, plus some fairy lights to make it more festive.

The anemone (picture just in front of me) was particularly popular and I sold quite a few of the cards with that picture on it. The bookmarks went down well and I will definitely do those again for the Carnelian exhibition and Open Studios in the summer. Also sold quite a few of the keyrings. Interestingly, having designed a few Christmas cards, it was my normal cards that sold the best. Lesson learnt - do what you love doing, as it shows in your work. I found it difficult to paint solely to make Christmas cards - I paint what I love and if I decide that it would convert into a card - great - if not I still have a great painting. My best Christmas design has been saved for us to send out to friends and family. I didn't want to sell those at the fayre as some of those people would receive them from me!

What I really enjoyed was seeing everyone. Obviously friends came over, but so many other people from the village I hadn't seen for ages came over for a chat, which was really nice. It was great - lots of people I know in the village had no idea that I painted and it was nice to show them what I did.

Here is a picture of Nina (in the foreground) and I. Nina was obviously dressed in a more festive way than me!

We have already told the organiser (a dog-walking friend) that we are up for next year! There was a discussion about doing this type of sale more often at other venues. I may be up for it, but not too many - I want to stay true to painting, rather go commercial. However, it is a great way of getting your work out there to the general public.

Update on Christmas Fayre

Well - Christmas Fayre in the village is tomorrow. Been busy getting the cards into clear cellophane bags, making up tags with ribbon and packaging them, making the key rings etc. Also got delivery today of the bookmarks I had ordered - so I think everything is under control!

Tags are now attached to smart ribbons I found in similar bright colours, which makes them look much better - selling them in packs of four. I found that black backing card worked really well to show them up - looks much smarter now. Thought I had done loads of them, but once they get put into groups of four, I suddently realised I should have done more - oh well - too late now as the paint would never dry in time....

Did the same type of packaging for the key rings. Thought it fun to make up something like this with mini works of art in them. The way the acrylic ink mixes on the page produces some really wonderful effects - think I'll keep a couple of these for myself!

Whereas the last two products are proper works of art in miniature - acrylic ink on thick Bockingford watercolour paper, the bookmarks are printed  professionally. Found a company that did these bookmarks in aluminium and you can upload as many designs as you want - so this is the range. I had to limit the designs to ones that would reduce down to this tall rectangle. Some of the designs I have don't work in this format. As this was an experiment, I only went for five designs. Anyway, really pleased with these - they only arrived this morning (cutting it close), but are now smartly packaged up in a similar style to the other products, so visually on the table everything works.

Now just hope the weather is OK, so people turn up. Will be really interested to see how these new products (ie not my normal paintings and cards) go down with the public. If they work, I'll do them again for the Open Studios in the summer, as it is nice to have a range of things on offer.

What's happening after the Christmas Fayre? Well - apart from debating whether I attempt going for the Cambridge Drawing Society - which means having four paintings to submit to a panel of judges - I really do need to sort the studio out. It is a complete mess and I am hoping that some work will be done on it early next year - a basin for a start and maybe shelving, as everything is stored away in plastic boxes at the moment and very old melamine furniture (that goes back to the ark!) Sounds like I am going to busy - oh - except Christmas is coming and cards have to be written and presents bought. Don't think I have enough hours in the day for all this....

Christmas Fayre in Hilton

I have been very quiet on the blog recently. I have actually been busy doing art, but not enough time to upload things on this site. I have done another trip to West Dean - absolutely great course with Sarah Bee who paints with pastel on top of acrylics. Very intriguing technique and one which I plan to do more of when I have a break in other things.

However, everything is focused on a craft fair in our village this coming weekend. This is a fund-raising event for the Church, which Nina and I are very happy to support. Pauline Lee, another friend, is bringing her pottery - can't wait to see what she's been up to recently.

Obviously I am having to rethink what I put on the table - there isn't any room for a browser, so I am only going to take my smaller mounted work. However, I have got some new designs done for cards - some Christmas one, which can be seen here,












and a few new ones from paintings I have recently done. So I'll be taking these, along with other cards I have done previously.














I have ordered some bookmarks of some of my paintings, but I don't know whether they will arrive in time, or if they'll have to be used for the next exhibition, which will be in the spring.

However, I have been trying a few other things - making gift tags and keyrings out of my work. This is specifically for the craft fair, as people tend to want to buy little items at these events. It will be interesting to see if they are popular.

Every key ring is different, as obviously it is an original piece of art work - but has been done in my trademark bright acrylic inks. Don't mind if they don't sell - I would like to keep a few myself! A few examples are here.

I have done a few different styles of gift tags - one design shown here.

It's quite fun trying to make things that are more accessible to people. Paintings can be viewed as rather expensive and I know I often buy other products when I go to an exhibition.

I have signed up for the Cambridge Open Studios next year, so all these things may be of use when I do that. It looks like I'll be doing the Open Studios in conjunction with Nina Sage, which will be fun - we've done a few exhibitions together now and work well together and our subject matter is the same - the natural world. Obviously information about that and also the next Carnelian exhibition will be posted here nearer to the events.

New section in Portfolio

I realised, having done lots of sketching whilst in West Dean, that I actually hadn't got a separate section for my sketchbook work. This omission has been remedied as of today.

Under the Portfolio banner on the top right-hand side of the Home page, there is now a separate link to my sketchbook work. This is generally done whilst I am out and about, travelling on holiday or, in the case of last week, wandering around West Dean's beautiful walled garden. I apologise, this hasn't been done in date order, as locating photos of the work on my computer took rather a long time!

Most of the work is done with my favourite implements - the Rotring Art Pen (with a fine nib) and the Pentel water brush. These are very compact and easy to travel around with. I tried taking coloured pencils or conte sticks, but frankly I don't get much time to sketch, as I am usually with the family, who wouldn't want to hang around for too long. Using the water soluble pen combined with the water brush is ideal - getting the shading and nuances of the object right, which I then combine with a photograph (I always take a compact camera with me) to obtain the correct colouring if I want to pursue the subject later on. If in a complete rush, then I can just sketch with the pen, adding the water washes later on when I have time.

However, a few of the sketches in the new section are using the pen with watercolour. These worked really well and maybe something I decide to do whilst out and about. I have a small travelling watercolour set - maybe I will attempt doing this whilst wandering around, as this shouldn't add too much to what is in my bag.

Anyway - hope you enjoy looking at this new section. I find it really relaxing doing these sketches and plan to do more of them when away on trips.

Purple Printmakers exhibiting in Oxford in September

Two of the Purple Printmakers are also members of the group I am in - The Carnelians. These are Nina Sage and Sherry Rea. They have an exhibition coming up soon in Oxford - so if anyone is in the area, do go and have a look at their work, as they do some fabulous prints:

Green Templeton College, Oxford University

Printmaking Revealed

Stables Gallery at Green Templeton College, 43 Woodstock Rd Summertown, Oxford OX2 6HG

An exhibition of fine art printmaking by The Purple Printmakers (Nina Sage, Sherry Rea, Jo Tunmer, Tania Durrant and Lesley Corbett) in the Green Templeton College, University of Oxford.

This exhibition will provide an insight into the creative processes of printmaking.  It will include a wide range of fascinating printmaking techniques from the traditional, such as etching, to the cutting edge, such as solar plate. Examples of linocuts, collagraphs and monoprints will be displayed.  Some examples of works will be shown along with plates that the prints were taken from.  This will be an informative and visually exciting exhibition of contemporary and innovative artwork.

The Launch Exhibition will be on Friday 20^th Sep from 7pm.
The artists will be on hand and will be delighted to discuss their work and demonstrate techniques during the Launch on Friday evening and at the Green Templeton College Alumni weekend on Sat 21^st Sept from 10.30-11pm and on Sun 22^nd Sept from 10-12am.

The exhibition will be held at the Stables Gallery at Green Templeton College, 43 Woodstock Rd  Summertown, Oxford OX2 6HG.

West Dean College

I have just returned from a fabulous week (yes, a whole week) at West Dean College near Chichester. Never been there before, but I can see that this will be the first of many trips there. The whole college is dedicated to the arts - so everyone there is on an arts-based course and it has been great to be with so many creative people.

This is a view, looking from the side, of the front facade - looks awful, doesn't it! Don't know how I managed to survive 7 days there!!! The gardens are immense - and the walled garden is amazing and an artist's dream in terms of sketching and painting. Only trouble is that the course was fairly full on, so I didn't manage to wander as much as I would have liked.


I was on a watercolour course: "Painting Beyond the Surface - Water-based Media". Although lots of the studios were in the main building, we were based in the Orangery. This was a single studio, so the whole building was ours.

This room had wonderful light, so ideal for a painting class. It was at the back of the main house, in the middle of the garden, so we could just pop outside to paint and sketch.





It was a residential course and I had opted to stay in the Vicarage, which was further back behind the Orangery.

This building was built in 1833, whereas the main building is much older. That was originally built in 1622, although remodelled in 1805.






My course was run by a tutor called Christine Forbes. Her style is very much influenced by the Orient and loose, but vibrant colour. She doesn't appear to have a website, but here is the link to a profile page on West Dean's site: Christine Forbes .  Christine is great fun and a bubbly, vibrant personality. Combining that with a great group of people, we had a really fun week with lots of laughter mixed in with the serious side of learning.

During the course, we did lots of experimentation, trying different techniques and mediums. I won't upload these, but will show the sketches that I did whilst around the garden and when Christine brought in some flowers from the cutting garden in the Walled Garden on the estate.

I took advantage of all the wonderful flowers that were around. It was great to have some to study close hand that one wouldn't normally get in a local florist shop.

This is a sketch of a flox head. All the black and white sketches have been done with my Rotring Art Pen with a wash using my water brush. This is my normal kit when out and about sketching, as it is so compact.

There were loads of agapanthas around the flower beds. They aren't actually very easy to draw, as there are so many flower heads clustered together, so this is just an impression of it.

The Japanese Anemone was one of the ones brought into the studio, so I was able to really study it and see how the leaves and buds grew. This is something that I think I should continue. It is all very well doing loose washes in painting, but these studies mean that I really know how the plant is formed and therefore is great research.

Another study of the Japanese Anemone - including more this time, as I grew in confidence. One thing that Christine is really keen on is repeating a subject over and over again, until one really knows and understands the subject. Again I think this is good practice and something that I will hope to continue in my sketchbooks. I believe this is a very Oriental approach to art - really studying a subject and perfecting it before moving on to something else.

OK - I admit I haven't the faintest what this plant is called. It has a really dark purple series of flowers - with the top of the stem near the flower more purple, moving into a green as it goes down the stem towards the leaves.

This was one of the orange lilies that I came across in the Walled Garden. Just did a small section of the plant, but interesting to draw the partly blown heads, as these were definitely past their best and fading fast.

Some of the daisy-type flowers are quite fun to sketch. This is a yellow rudbekia, which again I found in the Walled Garden.

Found some Sea Holly - I am used to the purple ones in flower arrangements and have painted them before. These were white ones and looked really dramatic in amongst the other foliage.

This Cosmos was a really deep red, but what I loved here was the great shapes.

The last of the pen drawings was a Sweetpea. The tutor had a little jug full of them, so we could take one and really study them closely.

After the pen drawing, I decided to paint them. The first ones were OK, but not brilliant. I then proceeded to draw with the Rotring pen and then added watercolour afterwards in a very loose style. Instead of trying to do one stem on the page, as I would normally do, I did a few studies, trying to improve as I went.

I then went back to the Cosmos, with its vibrant red. Again using the pen and then watercolour.

Lastly I attacked the purple flower in the arrangement on the table. I don't know what the flower is called (and neither did anyone else). However, it had an interesting flower formation and, armed with the information that my tutor had given me, I approached in a confident manner. She tends to use just one round brush (around a 7 or 8) and a rigger. The only rigger I had was a 0, so I went off to the shop in the college (a most wonderful place, full of great equipment at good prices) and bought a number 3 rigger. This was really good at making the stems and more detailed work.

The other equipment my tutor pointed out to me was a really stubby graphite pencil. I had a graphite pencil, but it was very narrow. This was really chunky and made much better marks when doing rough sketches - so I bought one of those as well, to use when doing basic drawings as preparation for other work.

The only other thing I really treated myself to was some beautiful paper in sketchbooks - really rough with deckled edges. Can't wait to try experimenting with it...

One of the exercises we had to do was look at an artist we admired and try to emulate their style. I firstly copied the painting I had in front of me, realising that the artist had done lots of mark-making - resist, splattering, dry brush etc. I then proceeded to look out of the window at the scene in front of me and then painted that in his style. This is the result. Not used to doing landscape, so it worked out OK. This was the view looking out from the front of the main building, up to the hills beyond the lawn and fields with sheep.

The last entry here will be about my swap-over session. Half-way through the week we were offered a swap-over with another class. I chose the stained-glass class.

We only had 1 1/2 hours to do the other class, so obviously what we could do was very limited. Our teacher - Helen Robinson - decided that we should do some etching on a small piece of glass. This is what I manged to do - a small fushia, copied from one of my paintings in acrylic ink. Helen does some really beautiful work (I bought some of her cards at the tutors' exhibition) and her work can be viewed on her website: Helen Robinson 

I had a couple of attempts, as my first etching was more of a line drawing and Helen told me that I was to think more in terms of a stencil or linocut - blocking in. If I attempted this again, I would prepare something in advance, but obviously time was of the essence, so I had to rush it a bit. Quite pleased with the result though.

I have to say that I was extremely impressed with the end results made by the stained glass students. Most were complete novices and it was astounding what they produced. On the last day all the classes set up an exhibition of their work and we went around after lunch. I also loved the silver jewellry section - again impressed by the people who had never worked in that medium before. I had a great time walking around the printing section too - would have loved to do the printing in the swap-over, but, as I can do this at home, decided not to do it here. In the sculpture department, one of the first-time students did a brilliant figure. Most of the students did exact copies of the figure in front of them. This particular student adapted it, making the figure evolve out of a tree - the head not formed yet, so still part of the natural form - absolutely brilliant.

I am going to West Dean again - had already booked the course before this one, but am now even more fired up. Nearly all the people on my course are repeat students - I can see that this will be me. I am definitely going to find more classes. The place is really well set up and there is a wealth of courses to go on, really diverse. Only problem is that I want to go on loads of them. What to do - go on a course that would be really fun, but doesn't lead to improving my normal pathway, or only chosing courses that will further my present work - difficult..... but rather a nice problem to have!

Hilton Feast Week Art Show

Our village has an annual feast week - a week long celebration with events on the Green and in the marquee. Running alongside that is an art exhibition. This is open to all villagers and with a number of different categories, from painting to craft to photography. The exhibition is open for a number of days during this week and visitors are asked to vote for their favourite work of art. The winners are then announced at the afternoon cream tea on the Green on the Saturday afternoon.

Very glad I went along because....

alongside the "Lonesome Pine" screenprint and the "O'Keeffe Lily" in pastel, I entered the "Oriental Poppy", which I had only just painted for the Hilton Open Gardens event.

Well - it got first prize in the adult painting category, which was absolutely brilliant.

The Hilton Art Club also had a section to display their work and show what they get up to. In that section I exhibited "Laurel Berries"  (that and the "O'Keeffe Lily" are paintings I really love and thoroughly enjoyed doing - interesting they are both in soft pastels) and "Sea Holly", which is, of course, one of the latest acrylic ink/soft pastel paintings.

At least this year I had a wealth of painting to choose from - last time I only had a few and had to get them framed quickly to get them on display, whereas this time they were all ready to hang.

Getting the votes from the public is great. If a judge awards you, then it is just one individual making a personal choice. However, loads of people came through the door to view the exhibition - and the children were allowed to vote as well, so I was particularly pleased my style appealed to lots of people.



However, that isn't all.....

After all the awards for the individual categories, there is the Best in Show award for the person who obtained the most votes overall for their submitted work.

Well I was called up! Really pleased, understandably, and so glad that my work is liked by that number of people.

I have actually won this award before, but looking at my mantlepiece, I realised it was quite a while ago - 2005! What have I been doing for the last eight years? Oh yes - doing my A level Art and the Open College of the Arts modules! Those took up rather a lot of time and so didn't have much time to do good work to enter. Anyway, I now have a great body of work for any forthcoming exhibitions, although I have a lot of ideas for future paintings as well.

Talking about future works, I have a couple of short art courses coming up at West Dean College near Chichester this year. The first one is in loose, experimental watercolour, which is right up my street - and that is for a whole week. What heaven to be in a location where there are only creative people and being told you must paint for seven days! Luckily there are family members at home looking after the place and the two dogs.... The one later in the year is soft pastel on top of a background of acrylic. Again, I love pastel and would dearly love to advance my technique in this medium. The artist for that course is someone I have been following for a while - Sarah Bee. I absolutely love her work, giving an impression of the view, rather than a more photographic rendering. Her website can be found here, if you want to see her work: Sarah Bee, Painter  I first found out about her in Artist and Illustrators, a great magazine. Since then she has been mentioned quite a few times in different magazines. Really excited about this one, as I feel I could progress well and start adding landscapes to my existing repertoire. As I love walking in the Alps and my Mum lives in Devon, I have a wealth of beautiful landscapes to choose from. Obviously the scenery is less dramatic where I live near the Fens in East Anglia, although sometimes the flat landscape can actually turn out quite dramatic with the right colours/light etc. Anyway, having found that I don't work well doing a remote learning course like OCA, this is going to be brilliant - short courses with tutors and other students and, as it is residential, I'll be able to talk to the other students in the evening as well - bliss.....

All gone quiet

No painting at the moment. Spending time catching up with all the things I should have been doing when I was painting and then exhibiting! Also studio is a complete mess with all equipment I was using piled near the desk instead of where it should be. Rather a long, tedious job, as, being in the eaves of the house, there isn't much wall space to store stuff, so it tends to move out into the room rather a lot.

Also trying to work out where framed paintings left from the exhibitions can fit in the house. Just managed to put up the ones of Amber and Shadow (present female golden retriever/red setter cross and sadly departed female flat-coat retriever). They've been sitting upstairs for a while and now have a major place on the stairs in the hallway.

"Amber"
Ink and soft pastel

This painting was done for my degree course I was on - part of the module was to sketch animals and having two dogs lying around the house made the exercise much simpler. The acrylic ink I normally use is much too vibrant for this type of subject, but luckily I have a lot of calligraphy ink sitting around from when I did more pen work. The "nut brown" was a great underlay, using it as a wash underneath and then adding the pastel on top. One of my daughters has said I really capture her - by putting the mad eyebrows (seen on the top left)! They definitely give her character....

 

 "Shadow"

Graphitint pencils

This was done quite a long time ago and then put in my plan chest with a view to framing. Typically other things got in the way and I didn't get round to doing it for ages. The image has been used as my avatar on a few sites.

Took ages to do, but graphitint pencils are excellent colours for doing a black dog. Obviously used water to make a wash underneath and then came back with more pencil work on top. When the light shone on her, one could see blue and also liver colour (must be a throw-back to a previous generation, as you can get liver-coloured flat-coats).

Luckily I have now got both framed in the same wood and they look great on the wall. Needless to say, these will never be sold, as they are too close to my heart!

Now all I have to do is Benson (present male flat-coat) and Gemma (first dog - golden retriever). Benson is a problem, as whenever I try to take a photo be puts his head immediately in front of the lens, making it a comic photo, rather than a good one for a portrait - oh well, one day.... Already tried Gemma in watercolour. However, that was many moons ago and I have definitely improved in technique since then, so will try again, as I know I can do better.

Also been "commissioned" by husband to do a couple more pastel paintings. Found a home for the O'Keeffe Lily and the Laurel Berries, but could do with at least one (if not two) more in the same size and style of the O'Keeffe one to end up as a series on one wall.

Better get sorting that room out, so I can get started....

Busy weekend.....

Last weekend was pretty manic. We started off on Friday setting up the Open Gardens exhibition. Then, on the Saturday, Nina and I took a stall at the Eltisley Fete, displaying our cards and mounted works:

My work here - browser had quite a few works, but reserved my newest work for the Open Gardens the next day.

And Nina had her works on the other side of the table.


A very exhausting day - extremely hot, but luckily it was an open marquee and we grabbed the end pitch, so had a nice breeze coming past us! The cards were, as usual, popular. However, it wasn't quite the event to sell paintings - even mounted ones. It was officially a donkey derby with added attractions and we were doing it as a favour for one of Nina's friends.

On the Sunday morning we returned all the Eltisley stuff to Angela's garden and finished setting up. We had been asked to keep to the theme of gardens and plants - and looking through the windows at our work, it blended in very well with her garden.

My paintings were directly in front of the door, with Sherry's table, with her cards, just in front. Our biographies were on the table outside and the board leaning against the plants on the right was there to announce when Amanda and Gareth were performing.

A view past the table looking down Angela's garden. This was before the event started - it got quite crowded, as over 200 people attended the Open Gardens and I am sure most came through Angela's garden!

The three artists (Nina, Sherry and myself) were allocated two stands each. As my paintings are rather large, I only managed to get four paintings on each stand, whereas the others got more on. My technique is easier when done large, but I am starting to do some smaller works, as not everyone wants such a large painting in their house. The latest ones (nigella, hibiscus and calla lily)  are smaller, but by the time I had done those, I already had enough for the stands (and I only picked them up on the Saturday morning from the framer, so cutting it very fine....)

This is my second stand.

Just inside the door was my table and browser - which was now full of the new paintings I had done over the last month specifically for this exhibition. I had ordered new cards as well - they worked particularly well in this small size and gave a vibrancy to the display.

We received good feedback on the paintings and managed to sell a few cards - thank you MOO.com for making them look so professional!

Sherry was sadly away for the event, so we manned her section. This is Nina and Amanda. Amanda had done a beautiful poem, which was written out in calligraphy and put into a wonderful picture with cut-out flowers. Unfortunately the sun was shining on it when I was taking photos beforehand and so the photo doesn't come out well. Didn't realise until we were dismantling and it was too late.

She and her husband, Gareth, also performed quite a few times throughout the event, with a piece that Amanda had composed especially for this occasion.

They started off near the exhibition, but later on moved to under a tree (it was a very hot day). Lovely backdrop of climbers going up the tree behind them. Should have taken a photo of that, but by then loads of people were milling around and didn't get a chance.

A lot of the visitors said how much they enjoyed the fact that Angela's garden had all these other things going on. Obviously her garden stands well by itself (she is, of course, a Chelsea award winner), but I think the music lured people in, as they heard it over the garden wall and then we added another dimension with all the art work.

We knew that this was not the forum for selling paintings, as people were specifically coming to view the gardens. However, I think it was worth doing - not least because it was raising money for Macmillan. It was great to show friends and neighbours what we could do and, with the sun shining, the whole day was very enjoyable, albeit rather tiring!

There were quite a few other events going on in conjunction with the Open Gardens - one gentleman has a steam train in his garden, giving rides to people (shame I missed that, as I was manning the art show). Then of course the ladies from the committee for the Village Hall put on a great afternoon tea, which I believe was extremely popular! The people involved in the Open Gardens raised a lot of money for Macmillan Trust, which is absolutely brilliant and was, after all, why we all did it.

Last of the paintings for the exhibition

Right - going to stop painting now and get on with the boring stuff - like printing labels etc! Here are a few of the last ones:

While having a "strategy" meeting with the girls about the exhibition (which was, of course, done over a very nice casual lunch in Sherry's garden), I saw the nigella she had in the garden. Kindly she gave me some, so not surprisingly I went straight home to paint them! Just the right type of architectural shapes for my style of painting. They have a lovely maroon tint to them, which I accentuated for this painting.

Nigella I
(acrylic ink and pastel) 








And here is another one, using different, slightly lighter colours. Think I might do more of these, as I love the shapes.

Nigella II

(acrylic ink and pastel)

Yellow Calla Lilies

(acrylic ink and pastel)

Whilst at the garden centre recently, I picked up a few potted plants with a view to painting them. We had some wonderful white calla lilies in the house recently (from displays done at a recent party) and I had attempted to paint them. Unfortunately I haven't quite worked out how to paint white flowers with acrylic ink, as normally I would use subtle colouring to show shadows of the petals etc. Acrylic inks are wonderful, but subtle they are not! I attempted it, but it didn't work, so thought I would buy a yellow one, as I loved the shape of the flowers and the spotted leaves added extra interest. Definitely think I'll try these again.

Hibiscus

(acrylic ink and pastel)

This was another flower I picked up at the same time. One has to paint the flowers immediately they come out, as they disappear so quickly. I bought the plant with one flower in full bloom, but didn't go upstairs to paint until the next day. The flower had died and the other buds hadn't opened yet! Now, when I see them out, I rush upstairs to capture it!

This is a section of another painting - I was particularly pleased with how this flower turned out.

 

Details of Hilton Open Gardens and Carnelian Exhibition

Here is the flyer for the exhibition next Sunday. Sounds like quite a number of great gardens are going to be opened up to the public and Bruce will be operating his children's railway in his garden. Also cream teas available (and they are always good....) Shame I'll be holed up in Angela's conservatory, although I think there will be lots of visitors to Angela's garden. Angela is the designer of a medal-winning garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show and her garden looks fabulous - not a bad place to wander out into, if the exhibition is quiet at any stage! Her company is called English Eden and her website can be found here: English Eden  

If anyone wants to come and see us, the address is : Garden House, 1 Pecks Close, Hilton, Cambridgeshire PE28 9QN.

Just finishing the last of the paintings and hope the framer can fit them in! Need to add the last touches this morning, as it is Wimbledon men's finals this afternoon and I'm not missing that!

Hilton Village Hall presents Open Gardens and Afternoon Tea in aid of local Macmillan and Village Hall charities

Hilton Open Gardens

In aid of local Macmillan Charities

Sunday 14^th July 2013

2pm – 6pm

Admission by programme available from Hilton Village Hall on the day from 12pm. Suggested donation £3.

Further details can be obtained from Angela Potter on 01480 831986

Also:

Art Exhibition by The Carnelians

www.ninasage.co.uk
www.sherryrea.co.uk
www.lynn-norton.blogspot.co.uk
www.amandastuart.com

Children’s Railway

(tickets to ride, also available in advance from the Village Hall)

Cream teas in the Village Hall

Plants for sale

Children’s activities

The Carnelians  are a group of visual and music artists who produce exciting new works using a variety of techniques including printmaking (ranging from screenprints, etchings to linocuts and monoprints), inks, pastels and papercuts. They have put together pieces inspired by nature, and in particular flora, especially for this exhibition to complement the beautiful gardens visitors will see on the day.  
The Carnelians are:
 
Lynn Norton: has been influenced by the flowers she has found to create intense and vibrant works. New pieces include sea holly, abutilon and oriental poppies.
 
Sherry Rea: the focus of Sherry's work for this exhibition has been seedheads, dragonflies and trees. She has an innovative approach to texture, mark-making and its relationship to the subject and the interplay of light, colour and tone.

 
Nina Sage: experimentally layers patterns and textures taking inspiration from nature and has created new delicate works portraying gardens, butterflies and flora especially for this exhibition.
 
Amanda Stuart: has framed her poignant poem - 'Your Garden'- in a paper cut of Hilton's meadow flora especially for this exhibition. She will be performing some of her compositions throughout the afternoon.