Monday 13 May 2019

Open Studios Creativity

Open Studios is in full swing and it's been a busy
couple of weekends for us here at 
Cowparsley Studio

It was my turn as part of Open Studios to
host a workshop for those wishing to
try out something new so Saturday
saw 6 lovely eager ladies arrive
on my doorstep.

We spent a lovely creative day designing
and  making fabric postcards.
This was a very mixed ability group and 
at the end of the day everyone was thrilled
with their makes.






All bar two were totally finished, the unfinished
one will be completed at home.

Wednesday 1 May 2019

Exhibitions

This little mixed media piece is off to 
The White Horse Bookshop in Marlborough
for their annual open exhibiton.
The Exhibition runs from the 
9th May to 1st June.


If you are in the area pop in to the gallery and 
take a look.

 

Saturday 23 March 2019

The Wait Is Nearly Over

In a few short weeks it will be time for 
West Berks Open Studios.  
I, along with 120 or so other artists
will be opening my Studio to the public.
If you are in the area pop in and pick
up a brochre.  
This year I'm sharing my
Studio space with the fabulous
Shona Wheeler.


 

Thursday 14 February 2019

I absolutely love making fabric postcards.  
Most start out as one big piece of fabric which is then cut into 6" x 4" pieces before 
being layered up with the stiffening and backing fabric.
These ones complement my Rocks and Fossils pieces which
will be in my forthcoming 
West Berkshire Open Studios exhibition.




Tuesday 15 January 2019

Hagstones Collection

I have a small number of these high quality Giclee prints available.
Each one is a limited edition run of 50.
All are images of a piece of my textile work, mounted and priced at
£45 each, this includes UK postage.
If you are overseas please contact me for postage prices.


 19" high x 15" wide
 16 " square





16" square

 


16" square 

Sunday 30 December 2018

TRISKELION HARES

For my birthday earlier in the Autumn my lovely sister treated me to a mystery 2 days out.
Having picked me up at an agreed time with the instruction to wear sturdy shoes, 'layers' and to bring my compression gloves we headed off in a westerly direction.  It turned out to be not a very far westerly direction as 25 minutes later we reached our destination.  The 


in Swindon.  I cannot tell you how many times I have driven past this museum and not noticed it was there. Richard Jefferies was a Victorian writer with a passion for the English countryside.

However we were not there to look at Richard Jefferies books.  There in the woodland clearing,  a fire gently burned in the middle and around it sat 6 Bankers (wooden tables) each topped off with a square of Maltese limestone.  With my excitement levels rising we were greeted by Maya and Wolfie, our tutors for the day.  

And what a day it was......it was a choice between a Green Man and the Triskelion Hares, the Hares of course won out.  So began a day of drawing, hammering, learning, endless cups of tea and the most delicious home made soup for lunch made by Jamie from the museum.

This was a two day workshop and by the end of day one I really doubted that I would have anything resembling the beautiful hares Myra had carved.  


 

 The design drawn onto the stone and I am beginning to chase out the design.
Holding the mallet and chisel took some getting used to as they need to be held loosely
rather than be gripped firmly, something we all struggled with at first!


Action shot!  It looks as if I am holding the mallet wrong, but in carving
stone like this the head is held in the palm of the hand.



 End result of day 1


By the end of day one I was feeling quite chuffed with myself....the end result was that I had three hares, all lacking detail of course and the depth of the cutaway was not yet deep enough.  All in all a good result.

On to Day two and once again the fire was lit and more home made soup was on offer.  very welcome as although the sun was out it wasn't that warm.

More hammering  and refining today to give our hares more shape . 







 I have to admit that come 3pm I had to give up.  I could no longer hold the mallet.  Happy with my achievements I had a cuppa whilst admiring everyone else's  efforts.  There was still a lot of refining to do but I was happy to take it away and work on it at home.



The end of day 2 and me looking very chuffed with my work!





                                                     
During the afternoon we were visited by a wandering poet who started walking among us and penned  this poem.
 
 
STONE LOVE
 
Dappled Forest Light
Dappled Tapping
The Stone Carvers Are In
Heads & Shoulders Forward
The Gentle Hammers Tap
The Toy Train Taps its Sleepers
As It Waving Trundles By
Six Limestone Blocks Square
Become Green Men and Hare






Our group of stone carvers with Maya & Wolfie in front.
 
In fact, I didn't finish my hares at home.  My sister and I took ourselves off to St Ives in Cornwall for a week away and we both took our stones with us.  It is still not finished completly but there is no rush.  
 



 My Hares at the end of day 4 working on it.  I am happy with the 
shape so now I need to put the eyes in and texture the background area
around the hares and finish facing the block.  I would also like to add some words 
to the outside side edges of the block.

Wednesday 28 November 2018

Hiatus and Lost Mojo

Well, it has been a long two years since the last post!
The arrival of our two teenage nieces coming to live with us and surgery 
on my hand as meant there has been no time  or ability for creativity.

Now with the household running smoothly and the hand back to 
full mobility I can once again venture into the long neglected studio
to reacquaint myself with my mojo!

I have been experimenting with rust dyeing and eco dyeing of late and
have been using the unique fabrics produced for my latest series of works.

'ROCKS & FOSSILS'

We are fortunate to live not too far from the Jurassic Coast and have 
over the years spent many days picking amongst the
fallen rocks for fossils, not always successfully! 
It is these fossils that have been my inspiration for these works.



 A small section of the Ammonites piece.





A small section of the fish skeleton piece.

I have used a lot of free machining and hand stitching within
these pieces as well as some mixed media.

These works, along with others can be see in my Studio during
West Berks Open Studios 2019.
More details to follow.