New to the blogosphere.......

Now, those of you who know me personally probably also know the two ladies pictured above.
However, for those of you who have not had the pleasure, they are Sally Wallace and Jenny Rumens.
I could ramble on about how lovely, generous, enthusiastic, supportive and generally brilliant they are, but they would only get embarrased.
Suffice to say, without their constant support, I wouldn't have a studio to work in, or the luxury of two seasoned experts with a good kettle, at my fingertips.
So, it gives me great pleasure to commend their blog to you.......

http://www.walrus21.blogspot.com

Get yourselves over there and be as supportive as you like. Considering that they have only had a computer for three or four weeks, I think they are doing pretty well !

Been away......

Scotland.

It's a long way from here.

However, the place is beautiful. Please excuse the sloppy montage of the view across Loch Tummell above, but I thought it was high time I got back into the saddle and wrote something. So did it in a hurry.
We stayed in a cottage at a place called Glen Isla, north of Dundee. Fantastic views, loads of heather/sheep/rain..........even narrower roads than Norfolk !

We were out and about every day. I think we covered nearly five hundred miles in and around Angus and Fife. Occasionally we came across the odd less than salubrious place, like the eatery below...............sadly we didn't have time to stop for a cuppa.







On the whole I think Norfolk could learn a lot from the Scottish approach to tourism. Just for a start, the roadsigns, road surfaces and parking, were all better.
Another thing that was really obvious as we came home, was the slightly dishevelled look to the English countryside. All the walls, hedges, and gates I saw up north, (including Northumberland) were noticeably better kept than a lot of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk.
The Scottish Glens, and lowland farms were, by and large, very neat. Maybe it's more rain or some other environmental factor, but the whole feeling was of diligent maintenance, and things being done to last.

I'm sure we'll be going back.

I suddenly realised today, we have been back a week, but it has taken this long to answer the e-mails and ansaphone messages, unpack the clothes, take my dear Mum home, and start to figure out what's next.

More on that note soon.

It lives......

Just a quick idea of what's been happening in the yard at the studio.

This sculpture of a wave is a collaborative piece I'm working on with three other artists.
Tony Eadson is the other bloke in the pictures, Annie Lloyd and Jenny Rumens are the female half of the team.........not to mention our all round admin guru, and Lady in charge; Sally Wallace.

The piece is for Salthouse 08, the annual art exhibition held in and around the church and village of Salthouse on the North Norfolk coast.
http://www.northnorfolk.org/salthouseartandevents/default.asp

It's pretty much in the bag now, I'll post some more images later.

(Oh, by the way, if you are going to be on the coast road on Thursday morning, beware of travelling rogue waves !)

invigilation

Today, I'll be mostly sitting in St. Margarets Church, Norwich, looking after a group exhibition.

If you're near St. Benedicts Street, pop in and say hello........(10.00 till 5.00).

turned out nice again

Get out and paint a bit.

That was my plan for today. In fact, it was the last thing I thought about as I nodded off last night.
Sadly as I awoke to the sound of the British summer in full flow, I quickly amended my plan to;
Lay in bed and watch UKTV History.
Even more sadly, as I was doing my best to imitate a pile of freshly laundered clothes piled inertly on the bed, Herself spotted me and cunningly issued a list of instructions disguised as a conversation.
So here I sit, having done some admin, cleaned out the e-mail inbox, paid a bill, thought about what to cook for dinner, listened to the radio, singularly failed to smile about the horrible soggy weather, and finally got wet fetching dog food.

Nice.

artist in hard work scandal......

It's true, honest.

Open Studios came and went, it was okay but generally a bit down on last year. (Footfall and turnover).
This week sees a brief foray into the city of Norwich, with a bunch of other painters and sculptors.
We are showing in St. Margaret's Church, St. Benedict's Street, until 5.00pm on Saturday. If you are in the Fine City between now and then, come and say hello.
I'm invigilating today and all day Saturday, so if you would rather keep your mental image of me as a dashing young blade with a freshly polished pallette, it might be best to avoid those days.

Thanks to those of you who started to sound concerned by my absence, it warms the cockles.

That will be all.

What's going on ?

Is it me or are things looking a bit dark ?

If you factor in coastal erosion, credit crunches, house sales in free-fall, fuel prices sky-rocketing, staple foods costing 50% more than last year, Slippery Gordon trying to fuck us over for EVEN MORE road tax, people organising the disappearance of their kids for money, more child abuse in Jersey, a Bristol teenager on remand for alleged terrorist offences, some retards STILL using mobile phones while driving, not to mention the lack of security in our voting system, the lack of an effective opposition in Parliament and my aching head and back.........it's hardly worth getting up in the morning.

In other news, I have been chained to the easel for several days. On the whole I'm very happy with the results and have delivered a good number of finished pieces to my fabulous framers.

Norfolk Open Studios starts on the 17th of May, so everything needs to be done and dusted by then.

If you fancy a sneaky preview, the Private View will be on Friday the 16th, 6-8pm.