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I recently visited the Paula Rego and Goya exhibition at the Holbourne Museum in Bath. It was nightmarish. Not just scary, but surreal, both artist producing dream-like, sinister images that felt like they had reached into the furthest corners of the subconcious mind to wrench out images. They were also intensely light and dark, working […]

What do you do when your inspiration is zero? After a bottleneck of art events recently and my usual overestimation of my capacity, I found myself burnt out and blue. I knew I needed to do something creative, but the motivation had left me. I was worn out with nothing to give. I needed to

And if it does, what makes it beautiful anyway? I did an Illustration degree 20 years ago and that time one of the worst ways you could describe art was ‘illustrative’. The same goes for the idea of merely creating ‘pretty pictures’. But can we use beauty to our own ends and what’s so wrong

The house I grew up in was always messy. So much so that my standard, default greeting when inviting people in was, ‘Sorry about the mess’, and one friend even called it ‘The Messy House’ (though to be fair the house he lived in was the other end of the tidy spectrum). This was the

The answer is a resounding yes- with a few adjustments. We’re fast coming upon the 6 week summer holidays in the UK, when family time and childcare will take up much more of my time. Although I love not having the pressure to do much, I also really enjoy making artwork and don’t want to

Recently, a second visit to Jim Ede’s house in Cambridge, ‘Kettle’s Yard’, got me thinking about how we live with art and it’s place in our everyday worlds. Kettle Yard is Jim’s masterpiece. A curator, collector, lecturer and author, Jim Ede knew he would never make great art. But he did know how to put

My weekend at Printfest (the annual print fair in Ulverston, Cumbria) got me thinking about how and why people buy art. Many of my sales during the weekend came from repeat buyers and those who had saved up to come to Printfest as a highlight in their year. I also met lots of Instagram followers

Even a week after my artistic retreat, I didn’t feel the need or want to speak as much. I felt quiet. It was a good feeling. And retreat is certainly the word- I backed away from people. Didn’t talk. No need to explain anything. I didn’t need other people to feel good, justified in my

I’ve been on a short ‘artistic retreat’- that’s what I’m calling it anyway- in Skye. I’ve always been attracted to the edge places, and though the Hebrideans and Orkadians would scoff, Skye seemed pretty far flung to me. And yes, I suppose I was searching for something ‘spiritual’, ‘divine’. Out of the ordinary. Something deeper

There is a song by Karine Polwart, the Scottish folk singer songwriter, about Thrift, the little pink flower that clings to the edges of our land. One of the lyrics goes, ‘Thrift’s gift is, Thrift’s grace is, to thrive in harsh places, And show us hardship is a limit not a failing’ I had the good luck