Monets Garden, Giverny France
25 July 2018This past weekend we nipped over to Normandy, France to visit Monet’s garden in Giverny. It’s been something I’ve wanted to do for years and HB had a spontaneous moment of birthday gifting and made it happen. I’d heard a lot before I went about how small it was, how many visitors crammed in to […]
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Coming up roses
6 July 2018Here to talk roses! They’ve been brilliant this year until a few weeks back when we began this tropical weather we’re enjoying in the UK and a month in they’ve suffered from lack of water. This week I’ve dedicated myself to trying to paint some before they’re completely passed it but they’ve wilted as fast […]
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SDAG Nottingham
18 June 2018On Saturday I had the pleasure to be back in Nottingham with the Spotted Dog Art Group. They rose magnificently to the challenge of abstracting landscapes through colour and brushwork. As you can see here from the landscape inspiration, use of colour and being able to see things differently were the keys to success. And […]
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Gelatin plate printing
21 May 2018One of my favourite ways to work is with a gelatin plate for mono-printing. The process itself is messy-fun and the result, although not always what you expected to get, is always something interesting and useable. When we’d been to Amsterdam a few years back, I did a lots of gelatin plate printing of the […]
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Spring flowers
16 May 2018This year has been a brilliant one for my Hellebores which have quadrupled in size. I’ve been wanting to paint them for some time but couldn’t bring myself to cut any when there were only one or two flowers – but this year is quite different. I’ve been playing around painting onto darker grounds than […]
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The Rhythm of Light
23 April 2018There is a very small but sweet exhibition of some of the Scottish Colourists work from The Fleming Collection on show at the Barber Institute atm. Peploe, Cadell, Fergusson and Hunter were four friends who shared the same ideas about colour and style and were inspired by French painters experimenting with capturing light through colour. […]
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Muscari
13 April 2018The last few weeks have been very busy with HB’s 50th birthday celebrations and I had lots of kiddie classes to teach over the Easter break. However Spring flowers wait for no-one so as soon as these bloomed I made sure to grab some time to paint them. I’m glad I did – it turned […]
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Lisbon
25 March 2018Just back from a few days away in Portugal – Lisbon and Sintra. Here’s Lisbon looking moody (read that as bad weather) My umbrella, gloves and hat were the best things I packed. When in Portugal you must partake of the Pastel de nata – a Portuguese egg tart pastry that it’s famous for. And of course […]
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Expressive Watercolours workshop
17 February 2018Yesterday I had the absolute pleasure of running an Expressive Watercolours workshop for Birmingham Carers in partnership with Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery. A lovely group of ladies (it turned out, although that’s not a requirement!) enjoyed sometime playing with watercolour, salt, wax and gum resists. I always love working with people and seeing the […]
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