Reflecting

Posted on July 6, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Acava Studios, Art, Blogging, Eleanora street, Lfe in lockdown, Life, Memory, Spode site, Spode studios, Staffordshire, Stoke, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

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This is from last year or the year before when I was taking photos at Spode and manipulating them in the layout app that I use to mirror and duplicate photos.

I haven’t been down to my studio at Spode for months with the lockdown, it just didn’t feel safe. The studios are not easy to socially isolate at, with mixed toilets and narrow corridors. I need to go back and build my confidence again. I’m still paying the rent though. I won’t give up on the idea. Just wait! I hope I will soon be creating there again

Market@48 today

Posted on November 24, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Display, Eleanora street, Life, Market stall, Market@48, Painting, Potbank Hotel, Ready to start, Spode, Staffordshire, Stoke, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

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Stall set out, three minutes till opening, then we will see what happens. I’ve got more under the table than on it. We are in a hotel, so we’ve got departing guests wandering past. We’ll better go!

Craft fair

Posted on September 29, 2019September 29, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged #market_@_48, Art, Craft fair, Eleanora street, Fun, Potbank Hotel, Spode, Staffordshire, Violin, Weather2 Comments

Well, it rained. As you can see from the photos. Even so it was good to do the craft fair at spode today. I met some lovely people who were very helpful despite the fact I was having a bad morning. I’d arrived after very little sleep and getting up later than I intended.

It was lovely to hear classical music being played by a violinist, he was really good. Sadly I didn’t get his name.

I didn’t do that well. I don’t know if I was too close to the door, or if my art was not trendy enough. I sold a few things and some people took cards with my details on. I am shattered but happy. I may not have made a fortune, but made some good friends.

Doves or pigeons?

Posted on September 18, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged BCB, China Halls, Eleanora street, Kingsway, Midlands, Spode site, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Stoke-upon-Trent2 Comments

I know they are ceramic, but I’m not sure what species? They flew across the China halls, landing on a tower and on the ceramic land and vegetation. BCB installation.

Good friend

Posted on September 8, 2019September 8, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Eleanora street, Embarrassing, Friendship, Modesty, Nerves, Spode open days, Spode site, Staffordshire, Stoke, Stoke-on trent2 Comments

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I’m here at the Open studios and I keep getting tongue tied. I need to explain about my art, but for some reason I become shy, it’s like trying to display my mind to the world. Cut off the top of my head and scoop out all the swirling thoughts time…. But… My good friend came along today, she greeted people cheerfully, asked them into my studio, said how I was a good artist, (by this time my head was in my hands with embarrassment) and encouraged them to think about commissioning me to do some art for them.

I was really pleased and mortified at the same time. I think it’s that British thing if too much modesty. It’s a learned habit that makes you feel like the “I’m not worthy” characters you see on TV or in books. Do you know what I mean? I felt it was far easier to just say “hi” as people walked past.

Thank you my good friend!

What Spode means to you?

Posted on September 7, 2019September 7, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Blogging, Eleanora street, Memories of spode, Spode, Spode site, Spode studios open days, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Stoke-upon-TrentLeave a comment

One of the things we did at the Spode open days was encourage people to get involved and either draw pictures of spode, draw a design, or write what Spode meant to them on a card. We got a few responses. I think now they are there they may be more on Sunday. The idea was that people could respond to the art exhibition we are holding in the foyer from artists who either work in the building or who have been involved in other projects there or who previously worked in the factory.

Who is he?

Posted on August 17, 2019August 17, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Design, Eleanora street, lithograph?, Plate, Pottery, Print, Spode, Staffordshire, Stoke, Stoke-on trent, What is it?Leave a comment

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There are some windows in Spode covered in various circular prints. This one looks like a photographic negative and appears to be someone famous although I don’t know who.

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There are other patterns overlaid. This must have been a particular place for some sort of work within the factory but I’m not sure what?

I’m quiet because I’m painting.

Posted on August 14, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Blue and white, Eleanora street, Landscape, Muted colours, Painting, Spode, Spode site, Staffordshire, Stoke, Stoke-on trent, WindowLeave a comment

I’ve decided to paint this one. I like the reflections and the blues and whites which remind me of the Willow pattern colours. I’ve turned the canvas to landscape rather than portrait and I’m concentrating on the lower two thirds of the photo.

I like the photo, but I wanted to simplify what I was doing. I’m hoping to get a good representation of the clouds and I want to get the flaking paint and the other details in the reflection in the windows visible but subtle. I will try and post updates and I might take a break later to blog.

What Spode means to me.

Posted on August 13, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Art project, Eleanora street, Life, Photography, Spode, Spode site, Staffordshire, Stoke, Stoke-on trent, what does Spode mean to me2 Comments

Series of photos taken at Spode today, 13.8.19. I will select one or more image to paint. The idea is to paint industrial archeology and also sky. Some include reflections and sights through to windows on the other side of a building. Many have clouds reflected in them….

I also did close-ups of things like hooks and taps and an old pair of rubber gloves.

Which is your favourite if any?

What spode means to me?

Posted on August 6, 2019August 6, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Artists at spode, Deciding what to paint, Decisions, Eleanora street, Exhibition, Landscape photos, New art project, Project, Spode, Spode photos, Spode siteLeave a comment

There is an art project /exhibition coming up at Spode. It’s based on the question ‘what does spode mean to me?’

As I only recently got my studio there and it has been a pottery site for many years it’s hard not to feel the industrial archaeology means the most to me. I did not take a factory tour when it was open so what I see is flaking paint, rusting iron and damaged brickwork and furniture.

I painted a tiny picture several months ago of peeling paint round window frames and the glass next to it. I think I may do something abstract along those lines.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Eleanora street