No Show

 Do you remember the old Charlie Chaplin film where he got everything ready for a party and nobody came? I felt a bit like that last Saturday when I excitedly spent three hours preparing my pop-up gallery  for the first tour of the season and the visitors didn't turn up. I'd even had a dress rehearsal (to myself)  having not led a tour since November 2021.

The couple  did let me know two hours before that something had occurred so were unable to come - (and even offered to pay a cancellation fee), but I'd been too busy to look at my Email..

Never mind, I enjoyed getting it ready.

Reopening!

 The local paper's headline (see my Facebook and Instagram posts) announces that I'm reopening my pop-up gallery for the first time this weekend after a two year closure.

That's not strictly true. In 2020 I promoted the Virtual Tour (still available on my website) and donated the proceeds to the NHS.

In 2021 I was able to open my garden gallery and studio under the Ely Arts Festival and Cambridge Open Studio schemes. I even managed to do a couple of full tours around the house in September/October with all  doors and windows open.

However, it will be good to get back to some sort of normality and welcome  visitors this Saturday.

A Clicker Thing

Another birthday present I asked for,  was a clicker thing or, using it's correct title ' a Hand Tally Counter'.

Over the last few years I have always borrowed one for my Artist in Residence and Open Studio events but for this Summer I decided I should have my own.

Last year I had over 260 visitors across four weekends, so I certainly needed something to take account of numbers.

I don't need to use it for the guided tours though, as I only take six people at a time on those occasions.

Birthday Blue

 One of the birthday presents I received recently was a very small piece of Lapus Lazuli.

In 1990 I had been inspired by Tudor miniatures whilst making a painting called 'Limners' - about the 37 days of our Christmas. You can see pictures of this on my latest Instagram post.

The colour in the background of many Tudor miniatures is Lapus Lazuli and I tried a similar blue in my picture. I also used Ivorene as the surface for my tiny paintings, as it has  the same quality as ivory (which the miniaturist's used) but is plastic.

When discussing the painting as part of my guided tour, I will now be able to also display the mineral which influenced my ideas.