A shed load of stress

The drama of house buying and selling is a shed load of stress I can do without. At last I can see the wood for the trees - but it's not over yet. I am reluctant to put anything in words in case they jinx the whole performance. I am putting this blog on hold until I have got something creative to relate and a new home to go to.

I am hopeful- as I said above, that the new home is coming together and the really exciting thing is I hope to have a studio! No more cellars, garages and spare rooms but a proper studio!

I have not made very much for a while. I am aware the Bollington Exhibition is on the horizon but I have made very little in the last couple of months. Giraffes! yes I have made some giraffe heads which I am pleased with - pictures before I pack. The trouble is the Bollington pieces have to fit in glass cabinets and therefore be necessarily small so I am a few pieces short. I will have to get stuck in Mondays because my studio at home (in the cellar) must be packed up in the next couple of weeks.

Watch this space - I will be back. x

Where did July go....?

Earth and Fire at Rufford Abbey, was not quite what I expected. Being used to galleries I took a while to get my head round 'selling'. Eventually I took the advice of new friends and potter colleagues, redressed my sculptures on the stand and 'joined in'. It worked and I sold some pieces - a couple of zebra even made it to Denmark!

Afterwards I took stock and took some pieces up to Todmorden and completed a couple of commissions for friends - owls, both apparently keeping the neighbourhood cats out of the gardens!

Another commission stemming from the Parsonage exhibition, has been giving me some trouble - animal (dog) portraits are a minefield as I remember writing before. It's Midges' whiskers and beard - can't get them right but I think I have at last got the answer - use paper clay for the whispy hairs and the over all shape of the head isn't corrupted. We will see how it goes.

The final post Parsonage commission is almost finished - a labrador, a labrador puppy, a kiwi bird and some spinach - don't ask! Chris, one of the people I shared the Rufford Abbey stand with, gave me great advice about how to keep the legs straight in the kiln - fire all the pieces standing on a slab of the same clay. Works!

I entered two ravens into the Open Contemporary in Stockport. The big black one - 'Mormont's Bird' and a 'White Bird', I was surprised and delighted to have the white one accepted AND it won 2nd prize! I really thought the black one was the better of the two but heyho.... . I was also very, very surprised and delighted with the prize money and egged on by the girls to 'treat yourself' rather than pay bills with it - I toyed with the idea of an ipad, then a new mattress (ours is 30 years old) even getting as far as John Lewis when - well cut a long story short - the pony got a new saddle!

Last week Janie and I went up to Bollington to the Arts Centre and met David who is in charge of exhibitions. When I first approached the Arts Centre about an exhibition a couple of years ago, I had several wall pieces and was working on some more but the nature of the beasts have changed and whilst I will have enough pieces of sculpture to fill the glass cases they have there - I will not have enough to fill the exhibition space. So... Janie will exhibit some photos and we will have a joint exhibition! We haven't got a title yet but when we have this blog will be the first to print!

Must mention that Becca sent me a painting by means of congratulations for the successes this year - a little picture of a hare on the moon with a raven flying through space like a comet. It is beautiful, I was so touched by her gift. Thank you Becca. You get that house sold and leave the badlands for a better life up north! x

Oh yes - after resisting for so long at the eleventh hour I have entered the National Open again. I put in a chalked batik. Here it is -

THANK YOU!

Missed May but I'm allowed!

The exhibition was BRILL!!!! Hard to sum it up without sounding like 'the great I am'. The closest I can get to it is - if I was a musician and went on stage and sang all my own songs and gave my best and then the lights went up and there was a whole audience clapping and cheering - well that's what it felt like. I staffed it everyday and talked and talked to everyone - 80 preview day then 60 and 40/50 odd over the BankHoliday. I sold a lot of pieces, including big ones and I think one of the reasons was they were affordable - only 20% commission, that made such a difference to the prices. So everyone was happy - friends and strangers bought pieces of sculpture they could afford but non-the-less felt special, I got some £s and the beasts did not come home to languish in my cellar. The left overs are coming to the Earth and Fire Ceramic Fair at Rufford Abbey later this month and then anything left then can go to galleries while I get on with the commissions I picked up.

I couldn't have done it all and been so successful had it not been for Joy and our other 2 friends Sue and Janie.They were marvellous. Joy dressed the whole exhibition, Sue did my sales book and Janie made and served Pimms all Friday.Photos below.

What a marvelloue venue AND they have asked me back next year!

A GREAT BIG THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO SUPPORTED STONE ZOO BOTH BEHIND THE SCENES AND BY BUYING MY BEASTS.

Mad March Crows

Get this fabulous poster/flyer my son James has designed! It's all go for the exhibition now - new display tables, new sculptures and an up coming trip to Ikea for lights. No expense spared when it's on your own patch!
Joy and I went to see Becca's exhibition in Nuneaton - and yes it's true - it does close at 3 o'clock. The exhibition was fabulous and I am so proud of you Becca for taking up the challenge of exhibiting. AND GUESS WHAT? Becca is a fan of Game of Thrones too! I thought there was only me and a friend John W who were over 60 and in to it. That is the reason the house is full of ravens and crows - together with our new found routine of feeding a pair of crows who mug us for dog biscuits when we walk the dog.
All for now - computer being challenging and I don't want to type all this a third time!

Dry January

Whoops! Missed January's blog. Thought about it - honest, but just like car tax sneaking up on you on the first of the month (daughter!!!), this is an emergency posting, done in haste and not very entertaining or informative. However....

I am driving my son mad . He is trying to design the flyer for the May exhibition at the Old Parsonage. It's called STONE ZOO - a zoo being 'a park-like environment for exhibiting animals' (I left out 'live'). I will post it here when it's done - in fact I will post it everywhere.

I am remaking the first piece of sculpture I made on Brendan's course in Holmfirth - the Musicians of Brennen. I want an eye catching centre piece in the window and the new one will hopefully be better than the original. Coincidently - very coincidently, Brendan emailled today advertising new courses. Problem is as the sculpture is self financing and I haven't sold anything since Christmas, I can't afford the deposit. Hopefully he will still have places left later in the year.

Owl progress - eventually I got the hang of them. I borrowed a stuffed tawny from a friend but I couldn't get the 'lightness' even with paper clay. Then I tried eagle owls and that was much better. They look 'heavier' and fierce. The trouble with owl sculptures is that they are often stylised and cute as I mentioned last time and that is not what I wanted. Also as they just sit there it is difficult to get the life into them. I am happy so far but will reserve judgement till they are finished.

I am also starting a collection of 'bright carvings'. If anyone out there is a fan of Mervyn Peake you will know what I mean. Clive at the NPA has kindly offered to make some text transfers for me and if they work I will start to include written narrative!

Enough - January wasn't completely dry but dry enough and I'm off to open a bottle of red - what the heck I'm worth it!

Being Overtaken...

I've been rather overtaken by events recently. Mainly I've been on holiday with 'Les Girls' - we went to Oxfordshire - a first for me.

The weather got better and better but the planned trip to Oxford was a bit spoilt by the flooding - poor people - we were just a couple of hours in a traffic jam but we saw streets flooded and homes being pumped out. Had lovely walk round the White Horse and lots of nice coffees out but the best was the laughing - the way only old friends can. Like naughty children we got hands on in a local museum, played cards and stupid party games and laughed till our make up ran and we hurt our diaphragms. Peter Kay has a lot to answer for as '20 going in Jean!' was soon enough to dissolve us into tena moments of hysterics - endorphin rushes left us higher than teenagers on speed!

Sculpture - I have been a bit slack recently what with the holiday and domestic/family duties but I have a list of things I want to make. Getting a good run at it is the problem - dog walking and pony sorting break up the day and I like to more or less make the whole piece in a session to keep it's freshness. I saw the Edward Lear exhibition in the Ashmolean and will use his scarlet macaw to help me make a new piece in paper clay tomorrow.

I've got a black hare and a raven to finish at home and I am quite happy with my fish eagles so here are a couple of pictures:

I am attempting owls too but am finding it very hard to make them look 'real' as opposed to styalised and cartoon-like as it seems to me anything with big eyes can look cute, even a ferocious taloned predator that eats its prey alive! Too much information - I have been listening to Songs of Fire and Ice and that's where the ravens came from so perhaps I should change my audio tape to something about owls but I can only think of Harry Potter!

If there's anyone out there reading my blog - Merry Christmas'!

Swings and Roundabouts

Well this month's down side is I didn't make the Society of Wildlife Artists this year (note the positive attitude) nor did I sell at the Rufford Gallery. However, gentle reader, I have aquired the Old Parsonage in Didsbury for a one person show in May 2013 - I believe it will be the Bank Holiday weekend. I am delighted and thanks to Heather who put a word in for me. It is a large room in a beautiful old house in beautiful gardens. There is pay and display parking at the pub next door and plenty of eateries in the immediate area for visitors making a bit of an outing of it. When I came to Manchester as a student in !970 the Parsonage was an art gallery housing amongst other stuff - Turner sketches. It smelt of polish and there was passion flower growing all round the front door. As a student wandering round, it never occured to me I might have an exhibition of my work here. I have lots of ideas for the exhibition but really have to get my finger out and make some new, exciting pieces as I can not slip up on my own patch! Here's a link to the Parsonage -

                                        www.didsburyparsonagetrust.org.uk

Sue and I took Joy to Todmorden today - mainly to take some more sculpture to the Water Street Gallery where, unlike the Rufford Gallery, the hares are flying off the shelves! Afterwards we had lunch in the 'Worker's Playtime Cafe' (my name for it) a lovely place still stuck in the 50s and then had our usual sqabble over the turning for Uppermill on the way back. Sue declined an ice cream - first time in living memory (well not quite) because it was cold!

The black clay Joe gave me is fabulous and I am making ravens and crows and labradors from the supplies I bought on my last trip to Stoke. Yes, Ruth and I have been back again and bought more clay! We also met with Potclays Technical Manager, John Beeston, who was very helpful in helping us price the cost of firing a kiln. I also now know if anything goes wrong with our firing facilities I can have pieces fired there in an emergency. Below is one of my birds set into a piece of drift wood from Ruth's friend Barabara. I have been on a NPA arranged one day photography course and hopefully will be able to take some better pictures of my work. Definitely need a tripod.    

   

I struggled to get my panicking antelope together and flushed with success left the finished piece on the mantel piece (below). But the weight, tension and araldite gave way and front legs gave out. Not irrepairable but I will have to give in and get a piece of perspex to support the third antelope. One day when I can afford a bronze .........................