Just Right

 'AGAINST THE LIGHT  - Two brothers are viewed very differently by each of their parents.'

This is a caption to go with one of my paintings which a visitor commented on during my Open Studio weekends, recently. (you can see the image on my latest Facebook and Instagram posts)

He said I had offered just enough information for him and his partner to try and work out what each painting was about.

Obviously my tours (restart in September)  are very different, in that I give visitors more details about the seven paintings I have chosen to talk about. With Open Studios, the public visit my garden gallery and ask me questions about any of the pictures that particularly interested in.

One more weekend to go - hope its a bit cooler!

Speak To Me

 Sixty seven visitors came to my Open Studio this weekend so I was kept quite busy. 

One woman fell in love with my painting Hinaki  (you can see it on my latest Instagram and Facebook posts) and wanted to buy it.

She said that the painting  really 'spoke to her' as she had lived in New Zealand for along time and wished she was back there. (Hinaki means eel trap in Maori culture)

I explained that I never sold the final picture but had a range of preliminary canvases to buy, on the same theme.

Alas, I didn't make a sale.

Off Grid

 You can see from the photo on my latest Facebook and Instagram posts that I am still working on the painting 'Dreamtime'. At the moment I am experimenting  with different sized metal grids to stencil mechanical dots onto the canvas.

I am trying to show that the puppet theatre is gradually disintegrating and printing the dots off register is hopefully going to achieve this.

I can only stipple a few dots at a time though, as the paint has to dry before I can do more.

Power Of Objects

 The Director of the Norris Museum in St Ives came to visit my pop-up gallery yesterday because she had been interested by my use of objects to make paintings about family life. 

There is a beautiful contemporary art gallery within the museum and she felt I could be a good fit to display my paintings and installations there. She seemed to like what she saw and (fingers crossed) I might get an exhibition there next year (or even the year after when I turn eighty!)

Ruminating In The Rain

 One of my visitors remarked that he liked my word 'ruminating' when I was describing how I worked   over a long period before starting a new painting. This was in answer to a question about my methods of developing a  piece of work.

It poured with rain on Saturday during my 'Artist At Home' event (though that must have been better than the heatwave on Friday!) but I still had some interesting people call in, keen to find out about my paintings.

I'm Home

 I've been getting ready for my 'Artist At Home ' event recently. This takes place next weekend (the poster is on Instagram) from 12pm - 4pm as part of the Ely Arts Festival.

I haven't tided the studio because I believe visitors should see it just as it is, but I will sweep the floor in the garden gallery before Saturday. I've also been experimenting with different locations for the new paintings which have been framed, as I need to be sure they won't get knocked over in the crush!

Hope to see you there if you are visiting Ely.

Hurrah For The Jubilee!

 Yesterday I led Ely's jubilee parade  in my 1931 Morris Minor. I was relieved that the car started and even happier that it didn't break down during the proceedings. There was also a worry that my lone windscreen wiper might not work, but luckily the rain held off.

You can see the video on my latest Instagram post.

Without being to obvious I hope it will advertise my latest openings as part of Ely Arts Festival and Cambridge Open studios, where the car will take centre stage - complete with  bunting!