New paintings and regular art updates.
My final solo show day at the waiting room gallery is tomorrow, 22nd September 2019. Its open from 12noon to I think 5pm.
Im hoping people that couldn’t get to the opening will come along tomorrow.
It’s near Longport Station (which is being restored) and is a great new artist led gallery. I’m hoping to sort out some prints with them so they will have artwork for sale with them after the show has ended.
So that’s The Waiting Room Gallery, Longport, ST6 4ND. Maybe see you there. x
Dust rising (or Dust 19) is a group show by artists being held at Spode alongside the British ceramic biennial which is currently on till mid October.
This is me with one of the plates that have been created out of transfer prints. (if you look over my left shoulder the green patterns on the window are where the image comes from).
It’s amazing what’s going on here. We might be a bit down in the dumps but Stoke-on-Trent is so full of creativity. There is still a full time Fine Art course at Staffordshire University which is quite unusual in the current economic climate.
Stoke-on-Trent is situated in the middle of beautiful countryside. You can’t complain if you want places to visit.
So I guess what I’m saying is come visit!
In Victorian times Newcastle-under-Lyme was a rotten Borough. The citizens of the town decided to choose their own Mock Mayor and Mayoress. There is a famous painting in the Brampton museum and art gallery depicting the scene. A man stands on the market cross steps with a wooden staff and a horse tail switch. His wife is falling off a donkey. Mace bearers with cabbages on sticks are in his retinue. The town crier and other mock officials officiate.
So me and my hubby were asked to join in and have ended up being chosen to play the mayor and mayoress parts. Then we found out the mayoress was played by a man! So I had to find a dress to fit him. The thing is he suffers badly from anxiety so he took a lot of persuading. The thing in its favour is that he enjoys acting. It takes his mind off the anxiety. It’s because he’s laying a character. It’s hard to explain. If he is just being himself his anxiety is through the roof. But as long as things go OK when he’s acting he’s OK. If I am not there he can’t do things… Anyway that’s just how things are.
The Ceremony recreation is on Saturday. I’m hoping I don’t fall off the steps, fluff my lines, forget where to stand, plus support hubby…… Eek!
We went round Trentham Gardens at Trentham, Stoke-on-Trent, late this afternoon, and at the far end of the garden past the tea shop and the children’s play area are a series of colourful and interesting gardens, a bit like at a flower show. In fact some of them were show garden winners from previous places like Tatton Park. There are an allotment garden and sensory and secret, plus other styles of gardens. Best of all there was still plenty of flowers in them. It made for a very pleasant walk around the gardens. Relaxed and interesting.
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.
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I almost missed this today. We were invited up to the bridal suite in the Potbank Hotel to draw the views from the top room. The windows look out over the Spode factory roofs and beyond….
By the time I got there I was very late. I only had 45 minutes to draw. So I drew the view with the iconic Spode chimney first, looking out over Stoke Minster and part of the town hall. Then in the last 15 minutes I drew the cupola? of a building, its prominent as you look over Stoke. Turns out its an old co-op building. I only found out because as I was leaving I bumped into another urban sketcher who had not been able to get there in time. She had done research into what it was.
I might not have done as much as I wanted but it was fun. I would like to go back and do more.
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Since I didn’t get any photos if the classic cars this year I thought I would post photos from a year ago. I think they are all Austin cars? The drawings aren’t too bad. Just quick sketches of them……
What a long weekend! Two days manning the pop up exhibition at Etruria. I didn’t have much time to look at the static steam engines on display yesterday or the classic cars today. The place wasn’t buzzing but there was a constant stream of people coming in. Most of them were interested in what we were doing, what the building used to be used for, or decided to let their children make things with clay. A few people walked in took one look and walked out again. Sometimes they even asked where the tea room was.
Etruria Artists had paintings, photos, ceramics, jewellery and even painted stones on display. It was good to share the space with other artists there. I even bought a pottery frog, a mug and a whale.
So many people to talk to, to help, to explain to. I also helped a bit children with modelling clay. My friends usually do this and I just helped when they were not around. We made frogs and ladybirds, and an owl. Sadly I didn’t take any photos of the pieces as I forgot my phone.
And other images from the Forge at Etruria. I was there today and took a few photos in the beautiful mid September sunshine we had today.
When the sun is bright and low it casts deep shadows and picks out intricate details that you might otherwise miss.
The glow from the flames of the Forge added to the atmosphere, you can almost feel the heat coming off those flames.
The Forge is the domain of Sculpted Steel. You can see demonstrations of the blacksmiths work on open days at Etruria Industrial museum.
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We went to a blacksmithing workshop today and bashed metal with hammers between heating it up in a forge. It took a few hours to learn how to make a coil of metal as a keyring and a letter opener.
Our tutor was Charis Jones, who runs Sculpted Steel at the Forge at Etruria Industrial museum. She patiently talked us through the many steps to turn both a bar and a strip of mild steel into the objects we chose to make. Other choices included a snail and a poker.
I don’t have the grip I used to have and trying to hold a piece of metal in a pair of tongs was very difficult. I dropped my work on the floor a few times, and you can’t just bend over and pick up red hot metal, you have to be very careful. Luckily no one got burned despite handling white hit metal.
The hardest thing is being able to hammer properly, my wrists felt weak and my arms were aching. (They still are).
You can see our efforts and what we were trying to do in the photos. They are next to the examples of how they should look. I overheated my letter opener blade and the tip broke off. Luckily Charis sorted it out (which is why it’s shorter than my hubbies work). He seemed to take to it naturally and it helped calm him down. Very good for concentration and ‘flow’.
I think having an experience like this gives you an insight into how difficult the craft of blacksmithing is. What you realise is that it may look simple, but it isn’t!
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