New Commission for St Lukes and Our Lady of the Rosary, Trench, Shropshire.

Well the giant brick is up and I need to go and photograph it but as it's raining I am working on my newist commission for a new church/community space in Shropshire. It is next door to a primary school where I went to meet the children to see if they had any ideas to contribute to the design. There were two designs which were used to culminate into one final design and as you can see here I have already started to carve the final design into the wet brick.

And the final picture taken before it was wrapped for the night.

Off to do some more so will update more pictures soon.

a lovely weekend in London town

Quite disappointed that the streets aren't actually paved with gold and I never met a chimney sweep but hey I spent an arty weekend in London last weekend. 

It started with a walk through Hampstead Heath up to Parliment Hill over looking London. It was more like a warm Autumn evening than a cold February day but it was lovely to see wildlife and lots of birds in the centre of such a big city. Saturday we went to the Hockney exhibition at the Royal Academy but sadly no pictures were taken in there. It is an amazing show with his sketchbooks, ipad drawings and paintings of the East Yorkshire landscape really made me want to visit there as I have not really spent much time in that part of Britain. 

We tried to get tickets to Grayson Perrys Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman but it was completely sold out unfortunately. But of the two the Hockney was amazing.

We also found an amazing ice cream parlour called Gelato Mio who make a strawberry sorbet to die for. 

Sunday involved flying homemade kites made from the Evening Standard on the Heath in bright sunshine. We tried two different designs which need modification for next time but it was really good fun. I actually can't believe how busy it was there. Up here we go out to get away from it all but the heath was as busy as a Saturday morning supermarket shop!

Sunday afternoon was spent wandering around the Courtauld Gallery looking at the Mondrian Nicholson In Parallel exhibition. I loved the Nicholsons especially the hand carved ones where no rulers were involved. 

The day ended with a stroll along the south bank to Tate Modern where the birch trees are lit beautifully and my photos don't do them justice at all. 

It was a fab arty weekend thanks to a lovely man and fab friends who got me tickets to the Hockney. Thanks to all responsible and hopefully London inspired work to come. Watch this space. 

Man in the Wall - part 3

I almost forgot that I had posted the process for the Man in the Wall on here last year. It was delivered on time and on schedule and I did have some pics sent to me via the Interior designers but in a pdf so I couldn't work out how to post them here. In the end I googled the place to see how well received the work had been. There are some good reports and I found this.

So if you are anywhere near Wimborne in Dorset with a camera and fancy a drink please feel free to bob along to The Man in the Wall pub on the main street and capture it for me, ta.

a lovely birthday week

rocket stories Y2

rocket story telling seat made with the infants of Casterton Primary School, Burnley.

I had a lovely birthday week thanks to all my lovely friends. It started with a EPIC drive through the snow last weekend after a girlie day in Harrogate and there were lovely meals with friends throughout the week. 

I worked with the lovely Y2s at Casterton who had patiently had been waiting for the weather to get better to finish their storytelling seats. A childrens rocket and a more adult sized dragon with wings. I think you can see there were some good results even if the ground was still solid in places and I couldn't feel my fingers at some points.

My actually birthday was spend at a lovely cafe in Grassington called The Retreat with the mill lot, Joes art dealer Simon and the lovely Stephen.We all could eat afters as they catered for freaky eaters as well! 

I also went to the beach via a nature park in Fleetwood where I worked with the ranger service and some young people looking at the regeneration of the surroundings after a power station was pulled down on the site. We created clay identification panels and this was the first time I had seen them. The installation left a lot to be desired as some were the wrong way up but at least they were in!

The sea was very calm even though the life boat was returning from somewhere but it was very misty. We did collect lots of lovely beach finds though. A lovely week was had a lot calmer than last year but it was very lovely. Thank you all involved.

New work delivered today to the Heart Gallery, Hebden Bridge

NEW- daisy vases

 Hot out of the kiln yesterday so actually not that hot with all this snow! But my new work has been delivered exclusively to The Heart Gallery in Hebden Bridge today. The sun was out in Yorkshire and I had to take layers off as I got out of the car at lunchtime. It was gloriously sunny compared to the snow and freezing fog in Barrowford this morning. 

daisy chain beakers

Daisy chain posy vase

selection of daisy daisy vases with drawings on the inside too

Hoping that these new pieces evoke a feeling of spring. I delivered them just in time for the Wedding Exhibition 'I do' opening on Sunday 12th Feb 12-5pm