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This blog has been transferred to my new WEBSITE so please follow along there instead. 

Oil Paintings

For Open Studios this year I wanted to add some more colourful work into my collection.  I haven't painted with oils for a while and thought it would give my fingers a rest from the intensive pressure that's involved with making and printing drypoints.

We had a two week trip around Scotland at the end of May, so it was an ideal opportunity to sketch and gather inspiration for this new work.  I haven't been to the Highlands since I was about 14 and I hoped it was going to be as good I remembered...in fact it was even better.  I'd forgotten just how magnificent the mountains, lochs, valleys and views really are.  It was stunning, and also rather a daunting prospect; how to capture what we were seeing?  I decided not to do straight forward representations of the landscape, but rather to work from memory and my sketches when I got back to the studio.

I'm really pleased with the, especially how they contrast with the ones of the Fens and also other 'memories' of places, from Yorkshire to Cornwall.

Some of the paintings can currently be seen in 'Shades of Autumn' exhibition at VK Gallery in St Ives, Cambs. Open until 29th October 2022.

Cambridge Open Studios

Technically my first weekend was last weekend, but unfortunately Covid finally caught up with me and I had to semi-close. Thankfully I had a mild case and am now fully better so I'd love to see you this weekend.  I've been working on a new collection of oil paintings inspired by the contrasting landscapes of the Fens and the Highlands, so I will be really interested to hear what visitors think.  You can see a few of them in the background of the photo below.

 Please do come along the following two weekends: 

9th & 10th July

16th & 17th July

New opening times: 10am - 5pm

Smallstone, Hall End, Milton, Cambridge, CB24 6AQ

Follow the yellow flags through the village.  There are four other studios open in Milton this year, so why not follow the art trail.

I also have a few new drypoint prints, cards and wrapping paper.  Plus sketchbooks and some experimental gelli-plate prints. To find out more follow this link to the Cambridge Open Studios website and app.

Newly published designs

I'm very fortunate to still have designs licensed and published by Flamingo Paperie on a regular basis.  Here are a few that have been released in the last few months.  I particularly like the new 'Lemons' wrapping paper.

This card is called 'Four Little Boats' and is from a collograph I made several years ago.  I love how they have embossed the boats and the little fish.

These are two of my favourite new cards - Kingfisher in the Reeds (also embossed) and Long Tailed Tits.  The Long Tailed Tits design is from a new drypoint print which will be available at my Open Studios in July.

And finally, co-ordinating with the wrapping paper, is this citrusy notecard set; 'Oranges and Lemons'. They are all available from my website.

Bus Stop Competition Winner!

As usual, my blog posting has become very sporadic of late as I've been so busy.  So here's a quick update.  Back in February I was one of three winners of a competition, run by Milton Parish Council to design the artwork for three bus shelters that were being refurbished.  Everyone in the village was eligible to vote and my design called 'Wildlife in Milton Country Park' received the most votes.

Money to fund the project and pay our prize money came from a local housing developer. They were installed in April and we were featured in the Cambridge Independent Newspaper.  It was really exciting to see my artwork on such a large scale and I'm pleased to say it's received very positive feedback on the local social media platforms.

The other two winners were Chris Thomas and David May.

Black Squirrel

I've got very behind with blog posts recently as I've been so busy.  I've been working on some new designs and also experimenting with oil painting, which I'm really enjoying.  I'll begin by showing you this new card, which arrived today.  It features one of the melanistic black squirrel's that we have in our village of Milton, just north of Cambridge.

I've done a bit of research about them and they were first spotted in the wilds of Bedfordshire around 1912 and were believed to have been escapees from a private zoo, who had imported them as a curiosity from America.  They are in fact grey squirrels with a missing piece of DNA affecting their pigment gene.

They have gradually spread out as far as Cambridgeshire and we regularly have three visit our garden, now seeing them more frequently than the greys.  The card is a reproductions of my original drypoint print.  The texture of the fur was created using the à la poupée method, where one inks up the plate directly with the colour, almost like a mono-print.  The berries are chine collé; torn pieces of hand-coloured Japanese paper that adheres to the surface of the paper at the same time as printing.  The colour in the branches is straight forward watercolour!

Our village Post Office has been stocking my cards for almost a year now, so you can buy them there or directly from my shop.  Thanks to local photographer, David May, for the photo reference of the squirrel taken in Milton Country Park, which also featured on the cover of the Village View this month.

Ickworth House

At the end of September, I was really pleased to be contacted by the buyer at Ickworth House (NT), near Bury St Edmunds, about them stocking my designs.  We also discussed designing a bespoke card and coaster for them, as I have done for Anglesey Abbey, Wicken Fen and Houghton Mill.  So, in record time I delivered the finished product last week! See my Instagram highlights to see the full process.  They are also available from my website.

I am pleased to report that Wimpole Hall is hopefully placing an order soon and I am also working on a new design for them featuring their stunning walled garden.  So that will mean I am represented by all the National Trust shops in Cambridgeshire.