clean floor

It may seem strange  to show the studio floor but I want people to know it exists! 

With muscle from the lovely Mr f. I have managed to clear a vast space in the studio. Boxes are stacked, wood is piled, sculpture is stored and all is right with the world, my studio anyway. I shall now go and invest in Radox. 

Mark of Beauty

My fabulous chum Jenny Page reminds me that the Union Gallery in Edinburgh are showing the Mark of Beauty exhibition until 9th September. Trevor Jones put the show together, a slideshow of images by many different artists. Links to the gallery and to Jenny are below. If anyone gets to Edinburgh, do let me know. 

http://uniongallery.blogspot.co.uk
http://www.uniongallery.co.uk

http://jennypage.wordpress.com

 www.jennypage.net

http://jennypagefineart.blogspot.com

East West

SnyI am delighted that to be shortlisted for the East West award and will be showing at La Galleria, Pall Mall, London in October with 'Sny'. http://www.ewaaward.com/artists/judges/index/1743/page:1

studio dog and more

  Trumpet fanfare, drumroll.....this is the new studio dog Polly, a 10 month cocker spaniel with extra large ears. I found the huge gap that Betsy left when  she died earlier this year too much. Polly needed a new home, I needed a dog, it seems like a good solution. She seems entirely unruffled by noise and even slept through the chainsaw, I have checked she isn't deaf, she is just 'relaxed'.

 I thought I would go easy on the chainsaw for a while and I am still gluing up clay, a quiet activity that doesn't disturb any one. 

spaghetti

I have spent quite some time threading a sculpture together, a great deal of dedicated radio , in order to go from a heap of spaghetti, above, to.....

......organised, threaded, completed small sculpture. There is so much 'spaghetti' it doesn't wobble either!

surgical proceedures

I am keeping my promise and getting on with some work at home while my studio is inaccessible. I started a portrait of the radio journalist Lee Kumutat some while ago. See above A great start was followed by both of us being too busy with other things. I am now back on the case and today I felt ready to prepare the head for firing. Below is as far as I got before I  cut her in half and started hollowing out. Lee has complained of a headache.

busy old and new

Me dogs is barkin! I have been on my feet all day and I am glad of a sit down. I had to meet Shikha and Gareth from work this morning as City Lit has been invited to propose a series of art classes for the Chelsea Pensioners - the ones in the fab scarlet coats. We went to have a look round to see if this is practical and we were bowled over by the place! A stunning setting, a 300 year old hospital built for ex army personnel with glorious gardens running down to the Thames and hosting the Chelsea Flower Show each year. Will I be eligible for freebies?  It was a step out of London hurly burly, incredible facilities for the pensioners and not an Ikea set of drawers of a B and Q lampshade anywhere! I ate dinner in a refectory that would give Hogwarts a run for its money and sat at a table next to the one which the Duke of Wellington was laid out on after he died. This did not affect my appetite.  I think carving classes will work really well there. 
From one extreme to another, we adjourned to see the contemporary Korean artists showing at the Saatchi gallery which actually was quite interesting and whilst I admit to feeling that it was going to be a duty visit, I enjoyed myself. Richard Wilson's tank of oil, a room full of oil, was particularly striking, playing with the notion of space and perceptions of reality. He is not Korean though! 
I followed that with Yoko Ono at the Serpentine and then a splendid dinner in the Africa centre for the Olympics in Hyde park. Fully fuelled, I went to the opening of early career RBS sculptors at Christies, very posh indeed! A magnificent space showing excellent work. 
I now need to get some work made and some applications done, nothing new!