What is it about the etched line that gets me? I’m still not sure, but I think something to do with the scratched, ragged nature of it. Also, a certain, almost photographic nature to it, the same thing that attracts me to old silver type photos. A certain darkness. Most of my ‘lines’ these…
I know the importance of rest, the trouble is, it’s so hard to enact in this world I live in. Emerging out of the (rather wet) summer holidays, I was starting my run up to leap into all the things I said ‘I’ll do in September’, when, mid-leap, Covid felled me. I seem to…
When I moved to South Bristol in 1998, as a student, the area was run down, cheap to live in, and the only places to go out were small, scary, ‘old man’ pubs. The area’s changed beyond comprehension now. Some might call it gentrification, but there’s certainly a lot to be grateful for in…
Conclusion: Much more of a slog. But still worth it. If you don’t know, the 100 day project invites people to do one thing everyday for 100 days, recording it, or not, on social media, usually Instagram. The idea being that all those little bits of creativity teach you something, and added up, mean…
I will be opening my house and shed studio on the weekend of 23rd and 24th September, and this time I’ll have a guest. Glass engraver and artist Jess Bartlett- aka The Corbeau Press- will be joining me showing her beautiful, delicate and light filled glass engravings of nature. I’m taking the opportunity to…
I recently visited Tate Modern and caught the Maria Bartuszova exhibition. No, I hadn’t heard of her either. It could be that my knowledge of Eastern European 20th century, female artists is lacking. There again, it could be that our collective knowledge of Eastern European, 20th century, female, artists is lacking. The exhibition was…
I was lying in bed, thinking about death- as you do- and imagining looking back over my life. Would it have been a life of selling art or making art? An art business or ‘being an artist’? I suppose the former has ‘grubby’ (why?) connotations of doing things for money, the everyday-ness we all…
Does Bristol need another arts trail? Turns out the answer is yes! As house prices go up in the North, West and South of the city, creative types have been upping sticks and moving East. Hence a lovely new local, weekend arts trail- BS4. It’s on the 24th and 25th June. I’m sharing a…
Yes, I’ve been pulled in by the lure of ‘going big’ as most artists do at some point. Having been essentially a printmaker, working on paper, for most of my career, I’ve recently been straining at the leash. I want to make immersive art, gestural and bold- and the feeling won’t go away. The…
I’m lucky enough to have been given, by Artspace Lifespace, 3 weeks working in one of the Vestibules at City Hall, College Green in Bristol. These are very grand (and big!) ‘porches’ either end of the building- I’m occupying the one near the Cathedral. I’m having so much fun working most days in there-…