Just had a very relaxing weekend in Staithes with family.  Caught up with friends and cracked a few bottles of champagne as Paul sold 4 paintings over the weekend!  You can see my painting of Boulby Mine in the window of Staithes Gallery and my lino cut, Helter Skelter inside.

Did very little except chill but did have a great trip on the Pirate Ship in Whitby with the family, accompanied by seafaring songs!  Lovely.

Back to work now.

Had a very busy week trying to meet a deadline!   Been marbling a library and spent loads of time up a ladder and crawling around on the floor.  Just made it by 7pm on Friday evening  then straight off to Y Ming for carafes (plural!!) of Sauvignon Blanc and the BEST  Chinese food in London.


Catching up on studio work this weekend and my grass teapot needs a trim!


Sold one  of my small pieces last week.  Exploring some new techniques.


Couldn't get tickets for Anthony and the Johnsons at the Barbican!!!!  Very sad.  Has anybody got any?


BUT have got tickets for Leonard Cohen!

Can't believe how quickly time has gone!  Open studios at the beginning of July were very enjoyable.  Met lots of lovely people and got a commission which was a real bonus.  Really enjoying work, painting beautiful chinoiserie panels  at the moment.  Backwards and forwards from London and really enjoying the buzz of the city.  Cy Twombly exhibition at Tate Modern is a must if you  have any leanings towards him at all.  It is  a great eye opener ,  showing the extent and variety of his work.  Very stimulating and inspiring.  If  you travel to London by car then go down the A1  and stop off  at the services at Stibbington. (near Peterborough).  A transport cafe, Edward Hopper style, with real food  and unbelievably cheap!  Refreshment for the body and  soul.

Just  recovering after the marathon of preparation  and the Open Garden event itself.   We had a brilliant weekend with 378+  people coming through the garden.  Lots of positive comments. Well it is  paradise!
The weather wasn't too bad.

My giant  grass teapot and table and seat covers worked well.  The seeds germinated in plenty of time and we managed to manhandle the whole thing onto the table. That was a worrying moment!

We gave our  house guests the trask of creating a  man out of chicken wire and natural  materials and they did us proud!  And Paul made a beautiful grass spiral, http://www.czainski.com/so  all in all with the various  suprises round the garden there was lots to delight.



Back in the studio now  and spending time with my bones etc!

Keeping the teapot and table cut with scissors (!!!!)is a very contemplative task so I am getting plenty of thinking time as this warm weather is really making the grass grow!!!

Tackling giant weeds in the garden!  Don't know where they have come from!
They seem to know that the open garden is imminent and want to make a show.
Not getting enough time in the studio, but have been busy tending my latest garden sculpture, which will remain a secret until the open day. Photos later, I do hope it works.

Back to the weeds!

It has been SO windy here, Very worrying because of plant damage and the garden will be open to the public in 3 weeks!!  AAAAAGH.

Anyway  I will be out there staking today, so that should help.

Very excited about my new shelter.  Paul tried to suprise me but it was a bit obvious as Steve the builder kept disappearing into the wood with barrowloads of cement!!  Now I have a great shelter for doing my dirty work!  I.E . mosaics, stone carving and other messy stuff.


Will have a whale of a time turning in to a little  outsider environment.
Began my first grass sculpture for the open day.  Hope it works!!  Should be fun anyway.

Been working on a big lino cut, some problems with registration at first but will get there in the end, looking interesting.


Been a bit of a delay in our next job but the good news is we will have more time to get the garden ready.

Been to see the exhibition 'Body Worlds' in Manchester at the Science museum.
Not at all what I expected, actually very informative and anatomical rather  than 'artistic'. That's my opinion anyway.   Definitely useful to study anatomy for life drawing.  Would like to go back to do a bit of sketching.  There were lots of medical students and nurses there.

It is very different seeing the human body like this rather than in an anatomy book

Eye opening for smokers and drinkers!!

Well the exhibition is dismantled.

I really enjoyed  the time spent chatting with  the visitors to my show.  Had some great chats, made some contacts, met some lovely people,  including  an interesting gentleman
 who made exquisite tiny origami pieces.  He has made a string of 1000 tiny, tiny cranes!!!  AND intends to make 6000 more because  that is the distance to Hiroshima. At 73  that is an amazing achievement.  The crane is an international symbol of peace.  He based this task on a story he heard about a child who had leukemia as a result of exposure to radiation at Hiroshima.  she set about making 1000 origami cranes believing that she would be healed when she completed them. Sadly she died after 600 (i think), but since then the crane has been a symbol of peace.  He made his in honour of her. I hope I got that story right!!

Wouldn't have missed the last few days for anything!

Thanks everybody including the lovely women who were manning the festival box office and keeping me company.



 

Had a really busy week!

Not enough time in the studio or garden sadly, but we will be ship shape for the Midgley Open Gardens weekend.

Will be in the Festival Shop, Hebden Bridge,  tomorrow and all weekend, so come and see my show before it closes on Sunday evening

Really enjoyed the preview on Friday. Had a great turnout and felt well supported.

Party atmosphere  continued until I got the hoover out!

Well I had been  working hard all week!!

Thanks everyone for your support.

If you haven't  seen the exhibition yet get down to the Festival Office  and see our work,  Helene's beautiful paintings work well with my work.  We are open on Friday  18th  April , Sat 19th and Sun 20th from 11am until 5pm.

Enjoyed the opening although found it all nerve wracking!

Good to see mine and Paul's work exhibited together,  (a bit  of a bone fest!)
Was interesting to hear people's positive comments and to see them spending time with the sculptures.
Didn't manage to get out much at Staithes  owing to the ARCTIC weather!!


Very busy preparing for the next exhibition in Hebden Bridge.

On line at last


Manged it in time for the exhibition in Staithes.


Been very busy  putting the finishing touches to work for Staithes but managed to get in some beach-combing on the Thames.

I think I am doing a very good job of clearing debris from the Thames!

We have seen some excellent exhibitions lately--- Niki De Saint Phalle at Liverpool Tate is well worth seeing and fascinating in her use of found objects.

On until 5th May 2008

www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/

One of the most enjoyable exhibitions I have seen for a long time  is the Duchamp, Man Ray, Picabia at Tate Modern.

It really helped me to put them all in to context.  It is very comprehensive. Give yourself plenty of time.

http:/www.tate.org.uk/modern/


Another place not to miss if you are interested in Outsider Art is The Rectory Garden Centre in Ashton-in -Makerfield run by Kevin Duffy, a charming and lovely man.  We had a visit there recently with a group of friends and he welcomed us with open arms offering us toast and tea!  It is  a visionary environment that he has been building for  31 years, with the added value of plants for sale.

http:/www.kevinduffy.info/