News Archive - Claire Leggett

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A nice start to 2026

What a lovely start to the year to wake up and find that Patternbank had sold my design Hydrangeas.

I never quite know where they end up or who bought them for what reason, but it pleases me no end that they find a place out in the world.

The design came about during my artist in residency at Winterbourne House & Gardens back in 2020.

Its a nice reminder going into a fresh new year about patience, consistency and to keep showing up.

22 January 2026

2025 Review

On this last quiet day of 2025 I thought I’d take a little look back and capture some of 2025 here.

Creativity and business

I leant hard into painting in the first half of the year beginning with a series of 4 ‘things on a plate’: Lemons On A Plate, Chilis On A Plate, Eggs On A Plate and finally Tomatoes…On A Plate!

My favourites from the year are Wax Berries and The Visitor with this last one seeing me push some boundaries in my usual still-life set ups.

I got a new client in the The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital and enjoyed delivering painting workshops as part of their pain relief offering.

I taught lots of you, encouraging your skills and talents and teaching different techniques: Stitched Bird Hedgerows, Introduction to Gouache, the Spotted Dog Art group and my usual half-termly courses at Warley Woods, Bearwood and Birmingham Uni Winterbourne House & Gardens all made an interesting teaching programme for me.

Birmingham Open Studios in September was my most successful yet in financial terms but also visitor numbers.

I began 2025 wanting to find a residential or day course to develop my art practice but nothing got me salivating. So instead I conjured some home travelling with art making for me and fell running for himself. Scotland wasn’t very successful due to the early midges this year and that large expanses of loch are a bit boring to capture without much mountain of foliage to help.

The Lake District was a much richer more giving environment for both our activities.

I also did a few online creative inputs – BRIGHT Playdates with Ali McKenzie and a couple of Helen Wells classes – both got me drawing more than I would usually and I enjoyed it.

Home and family

For the first half of 2025 life ticked over in a regular manner this year – my current streak (everyday learning) for French on Duolingo has reached 2031 ‘pas mal’! I’ve completed 6 jigsaws this year and as we haven’t travelled very far (Lottie 🐶 is 15.5 yrs) we’ve had done lots on the house instead – new roof, solar panels, decoration, new fence.

And then the year ended with the quick decline in my dad’s health and his peaceful passing.

Grief trumps creativity and lots of travelling to Norfolk (where my mum still lives) added to the busyness which funerals and death brings about. The year has ended like Nature intends during Autumn and Winter with drawing in, quiet and a letting go of things.

2026 is the Year of the Horse and the internet reliably informs me that it promises to be a ‘lively and forward-moving period, filled with energy, optimism, and opportunities for growth’. I’m totally up for that.

Thank you for being here, your interest and support and reading to the end! Happy 2026, Claire x

31 December 2025

Lino printing

A painting translated into a lino print by © Claire Leggett

The art group I host at Warley Woods Community Trust has been lino-printing for a few weeks now and it has been an unexpected hit!

A gouache painting of a bird in hedgerow by © Claire Leggett.

The negative/positive concept is a head bender and there’s a lot of cutting both of which usually put people off but they’ve pushed through the pain barrier! 💪🏻.

This is my demo piece which started life as the painting above and I translated it into a linocut and printed it.

Green Chillis

Here’s the second of my ‘things on a plate’ series – “Chilli’s on a Plate”. I particularly like this ‘ birds eye view ‘ way of working. It means placing the still life on a table lower than the one I’m working on so that I can see an angle downwards. It really helps the composition be a little more dynamic.