Saturday 22 May 2010

Big Final Weekend!


Well hello there chaps, I'd like to invite you all to our big final weekend at Gathering Threads on Saturday 29th May 11am-4pm, details above (click on the poster to make it bigger). Let us know if you're hoping to come (just so we have enough biscuits!) by emailing me at hello@koodles.co.uk. We look forward to seeing you there!

Saturday 15 May 2010

Read all about it!

We made it into this week's Newbury Weekly News, yay! Unfortunately I was not present for the photograph, but Val and Serena posed brilliantly and they still printed a picture of my work, which is the important bit really. Not only that, but the feature on Insight, the main Open Studios exhibition, shows a photo with my piece of work in it, bonus! Click on the image for a larger view and zoom in to read it.

Wednesday 12 May 2010

On the Radio again!

I had a phone call from BBC Radio Berkshire today asking me, as a successful artist (?!), to answer a few questions from Mary about whether it's possible to be both popular and successful, which I gladly did! My dad mused how I could possibly know anything about either of those things. I said it depends on what you class as successful. Being rich and famous isn't everything, sometimes it's just about being nice.

Tuesday 11 May 2010

Lower Way Farm

I visited another lovely set of studios on Saturday at Lower Way Farm in Thatcham. Joanna Burton and her husband have completely renovated the outbuildings of the former fish farm into artists' studios making it a great little creative community. They are open 11am-5pm Tuesday to Sunday until 26th May.

Joanna Burton herself is a painter using thick, sumptuous colours and splashes of gold along with collage to create these fabulously ornate scenes of antiquities.

Marsha Swanzy is a fashion designer selling her modern, eccentric designs in vintage fabrics from her truly maximalist studio. Walking through the door, I had to stop and take in everything I saw, so tempting and inspiring!

Nuala Whales is a painter and picture framer who really knows how to enhance the image using quality classic and contemporary mouldings and mounts.

Sophie Waite is a talented young ceramicist creating vases as works of art, exploiting the clay as a soft maleable medium and showing it in its raw state.

Sue Diffey had a fascinating story to tell through her work, which is big, colourful and full of meaning that you'd never assume was there. Her abstract oil paintings are striking, yet strangely subtle at the same time.

Helen Mortimer paints on silk using vibrant colours with her inspiration coming from architecture. This results in a beautiful contrast between the soft, mellow nature of the silk and the harsh geometrical lines of buildings.

Tuesday 4 May 2010

Whizzing around

On bank holiday Monday I was able to visit some of the artists I wanted to see. I had a lovely inspiring day, driving around the English countryside in the sunshine and the rain. Here are some of the people I went to see.

Kate and Paul Kessling are two very different artists, but both creating some really beautiful work. Paul paints huge striking landscapes in oils, whilst Kate creates very fun digital prints from her vast collection of buttons amongst other things. Paul has a website here, Kate doesn't have one just yet, but you can see more of her work here.
Diana Barraclough is a ceramicist whose work I found refreshingly colourful and playful. She makes garden sculptures called "totems" which fit perfectly amongst the plants and trees.


Finally I went to see Gill Banks and Sue Crook of Frayed Edges who are both textile artists. Gill's work was quite geometrical using layered fabrics and straight lines, whilst Sue's soft needle felted backgrounds played host to some beautiful freehand stitching.

Studio Open!

We had our Gathering Threads opening on Saturday, which was fabulous fun. Here are a few pictures of my pieces.