Imposter Syndrome

Recently I 've returned to  preliminary canvases to work out how to portray the animals in my current painting 'DREAMTIME'.

Currently,   I'm going to make them tones of one colour, possibly yellow. I did try blue but felt it was too bigger contrast to the rest of the picture.

I'm trying to get this stage sorted before I set up a  studio at Haddenham Arts Centre ready for Saturday. I don't want to appear clueless while trying to look like the Artist in Residence.

My pop-up studio  is there for a week and I'll be working  on both Saturdays.

A Surreal Moment

It was a surreal moment when I returned to Tiptree after 38 years for the unveiling of a blue plaque for the puppeteer, Joy Laurey.

Last week we were invited to the event and when we arrived in was swarming with plain clothed police. It turned out that Priti Patel (Home Secretary) was about to do the unveiling alongside Mr Turnip - a puppet from Childrens TV in the 1950s.

He had inspired me to make two of my family paintings (which is why I visited Joy in the first place) - DIAMONDS (1987) and THE ENIGMA OF THE CHINESE MASK (1998)

You can see both paintings (and the unveiling) on my Facebook page.

What Makes A Studio?

 I've just been to London, to the Whitechapel Art Gallery to see an exhibition entitled ' A Century of the Artist's Studio'. It proved a fascinating look inside different types of spaces from the kitchen table affair to the converted aircraft hanger.

I was reminded of my first artists 'space' after we were married, when I had a corner of our living room to paint in.

I inherited a large designers drawing board (which I still use today) and kept an old tea trolley underneath it with all my paints on.  This was handy when we had three young children, as not only could I keep looking at my work in progress when I was rushing by to change a nappy or stop a fight but also I could snatch a few minutes to paint, once I had pulled the trolley out.

When we moved to Ely I was able to have my own studio by converting half the garage (see photos on my latest Facebook and Instagram posts) but to begin with, I missed all the noise and chaos swirling around  that comes with family life.

It was like being sent to your room to do  homework.

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.