St Werburghs Arts Trail 2011

Well, a week after the trail and I think I've recovered.  It was awesome.  The weather wasn't that great and 'Brisfest' was on over the same weekend but we still had over 80 people visit us.  It was so good to talk to everyone and hear feedback.  I also find it really interersting hearing peoples own stories they have to tell, about arty things that they like doing or used to do. 

I think the trail is inspiring for both artists and also the visitors, I know that it helped me to plan the direction of my work more.  There was such a varied mixture of artists and performers taking part that there really was something for everyone.

A sale getting packaged up

My new 'Jubilee' Tea Towel design

The drawings hanging on the wall are some of my development of the Royal theme

After the weekend the shelves look a bit bare with missing sold items

My new bag designs

Thank you to everyone that came and supported me over the weekend.

St Werburghs Arts Trail 2011

I'm going to be opening our home again this year for the St Werburghs Arts Trail.  It will be on the Saturday the 24th and Sunday the 25th of September.  I'll be showcasing my new Tea Towel designs along with some new product ideas which I'm rather excited about!

We'll also be selling cakes and drinks, hopefully the weather will be nice and we can enjoy them in our new garden!  Check out the Arts Trail website for the full line up - St Werburghs Arts Trail 2011.

See you there.

The countdown has begun . . .

Only four days to go until the St Werburghs Arts Trail, I've still got a lot to do.  This mainly involves getting the space ready to hang my work, Dan's still got plastering to do in the living room!  Then we're having a painting extravaganza on Wednesday night to get the living room white washed.  My job tonight is to finish the painting in the hallway and then start deciding which pieces I'd like to exhibit.  I've got some lovely frames to use for some of my research work.  I can't wait to see what the finished pieces will look like.

If I have enough time I'd like to bake some rock buns to entice people into the house!  Fingers crossed I'll get everything ready in time.  I'm quite excited about hanging the bunting on Saturday morning, I think it will feel like we've reached a massive goal post with the house, getting so much completed.

The Arts Trail will also be the launch of my new cards, I picked them up this weekend from The Bristol Business Centre.  I'm really happy with the outcome, you'll have to come and have a look . .

If you are going to pop along to the event then Sunday afternoon would be a fab time to call by, you could follow your visit by joining in the after party celebrations . . .

Compass presents

The Official Arts Trail Afterparty @ St Werburghs City farm Café

Sun 26 Sept 19.00 - 23.00

Free Entry

Come and celebrate the end of a great weekend of art & culture, meet local artists, bring your friends, & end the weekend in style!

Live music, excellent food, licensed bar.  Keep your eyes peeled and your ears to the ground for

The Compass: Festival of Lunacy coming soon to Bristol!

Visit http://www.compass-film.co.uk/ for more info

Invitation to St Werburghs Arts Trail. The dates of the 2010 Arts Trail will be Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th September. Doors open from 11am till 5pm.

I'd like to invite you to come and saunter round the lovely area of St Werburghs whilst taking in the local artists vast array of skills.  From Illustrators, Textile Artists, Photographers and Story Tellers there are plenty to keep you entertained. 

With various sites taking place, The City Farm, The Farm Pub, The St Werburghs Community Centre, Communal Green Space at the yard, not to forget the Miners Arms.  You will definitely know St Werburghs better after you had a nosy round the different events.

If you'd like to see a map of the area showing each house that will be open follow the title link.

Looking forward to seeing you all there.  My house is number 25 on the plan.  Enjoy.

Preperation for the local St Werburghs Arts Trail

Phew we've been busy.  Since my last blog we had family to stay in August, we then commenced work on the hallway and the living room.  Hopefully I'll finish the painting of the hallway this weekend, Dan's still got quite a bit to do in the living room before we can start painting in there, it may be bare plaster walls for the trail!  Dan ripped the fire place out so needs to make a new surround to fit, which I have a feeling may take a while.  I'm sure it will be worth it though.

I've started to research companies where I can get my images printed onto cards, I found that Bristol Business Centre do a good deal.  I'm quite excited!! It seems very professional, I'm looking forward to getting a few samples next week.

Card Samples.

The inspiration for these images came from wooden printing blocks.  I've created a series of these.  I quite like the depth and the roughness to them.

I really like these images, anything paisley related takes me back to my student days at Glasgow School of Art.

My plan for the next week is to finalise the card images to get printed then start framing some of my work for the show.  I'm going to show some drawings that I haven't exhibited before, I'm quite excited about these as I've got some unusual ideas on how to display them!

House Renovating

We've been in our home now for two years and a month.  It feels like a long time, we've done quite a lot, but still have a fair bit left to do.

We've now completed the kitchen, whooo hooo.  After a lot of deliberation we finally settled on colours.  It's quite difficult compromising, when I would love to go really girly and Dan loves black and white, we aimed for a retro feel instead (I thought I can girlifie it later with curtains, pictures and
soft furnishings, I 'll just slowly ease them in!  sssshhh!!).

We opted for Dulux Apple White - A classic, clean pale green which can make a room feel fresh and alive. We used this on most of the main walls, but stayed below the dido rail.  Above we kept fresh and clean with a pure white.

Then we used a dark Overtly Olive - A calm, muted green that has an air of sophistication about it.  On the chimney breast wall.  As you can just about see in the below right image.

By using the same colour but in different shades you can create interest in a room without being too overpowering. Overtly Olive works well with Apple White.

 

The next project is to complete the bathroom, this was started about Easter last year.  

Since then we've been having a bath every morning, this started out as a luxury but soon wore of it. You get a bit fed up of getting up 20mins prior to bath time! 

Dan has been very good and made us a lovely swish bathroom. It feels such a luxury to use it now.  We have an awesome walk in shower that Dan designed and made for us.  If anyone wants a bespoke shower you know where to come! 

I have to give lots of praise to Dan as he has been  working so hard, I can't keep up with the pace he's going at.   Dan really encouraged me to apply to take part in the St Werburghs Arts Trail this year.  This has really spurred me on to start thinking creatively again.  It has also however given Dan a very tight deadline to work to.  Dan's aim is to complete the majority of the building work in the house prior to the Arts Trail which is at the end of September.  This involves getting the living room in a usable state, it has been our store room for the past two years, then also decorating the hallway and landing.  If anyone would like to lend a hand painting get in touch!!

The bathroom is almost there, we now have everything plumbed in and working.  It's quite long and thin so we opted for quite pale, light shades to make the space feel as big as we could.  However, we did splash out a bit and just added a feature wall of GOLD!  How bling!  I wasn't quite sure about it at first but I think it actually works really well.  It's not too over the top. 

As well as getting the bathroom to a more finished standard our spare bedroom needs to be completed Oooo I'd say in about 2 weeks tops!  We have family coming to stay so have a lot of work to do.  I'll upload more pics of this work soon.

     

I'm Coming Back . . . Whoo Hoo

I found out this week that I've not missed the deadline for the St Werburghs Arts Trail, this means that over the weekend period -

Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th September

Our home will be open to all whilst I exhibit my work. If you're free please come along and visit.

I'm quite excited as I haven't shown any work since, oooooo last June!

Myself and my partner Dan have been concentrating on bringing our little home back to life. It was a little run down. Now however, we have almost completed the kitchen and the bathroom and so can start inviting people over.

So, I have roughly two months to get the house in order and decide how to show my work!! Exciting!!