This Saturday the 27th October 2012

Hey everyone, We're heading to Court Lodge this saturday the 27th to do some sketching, plan for the exhibition next month and just generally hang out somewhere incredibly positive. With winter well on the way, we all need a little some of something positive, so join us for the penultimate Court Lodge trip, feel free to contact me if you would like to join up or need a little help getting there :)

Calendar sketch July 2012

July sketch! Building some lovely momentum and loving how much you can get done when there are deadlines to meet :) Don't forget we are aiming for the exhibition on the 25th of November at Moorhen cottage, so book the date and start spreading the word.

Saturday the 29th of September

Sometimes things just slide together like puzzle pieces in a butter field, without planning we meet friends and if you're looking for something, it never hurts to sit down for a cup of tea :) After about 20minutes of collating bus timetables between Polegate, Hastings, Bexhill and Eastbourne, I went to sit in the parking lot to have some tea and contemplate Taxi's, and lo there sat Serogo a wonderful man from Papua New Guinea who I've met through Clare's involvement with the Free West Papua Campaign. For those of you who don't know about the independence struggle, please follow the link and have a look. As luck would have it Clare collected us both and Marian was wonderful enough to make us breakfast with some hedgerow jelly, mmm. Think it was half way through a slice of bacon that I suddenly wondered if I was eating one of the pigs from the yard, but felt quite relieved to find them both alive and kicking in their pen opposite the cows! After breakfast I took my leave and wondered into the fields, following fox tracks in the mud and finding Clare and Serogo removing docks from the field which has to be done manually as pesticide's are off limits for organic establishments like Court lodge. and then... an apparition... two people in their pajama's, fun-fur coats and wellies broke through the mud of the horizon and approached to offer me red wine! Smiled into my soul bones when strangers give the biggest, most wonderful hugs, and shook my head all the way back to Brighton, a smile nesting in the corner of my mind, at the improbability of the encounter. Unfortunately I was unable to capture the moment on film but may just end up doing and artists impression of the lovelies coming down the mud track. And the big news! Tentatively, we have agreed on Sunday the 25th of November as the day for the exhibition at Court Lodge to take place at moor hen cottage. I'm thinking umbrella's, mulled wine, barrels with fire and with luck some clear or at least dry sky. I will be exhibiting the works produced throughout the year and calendars WILL be available alongside original artwork... let everybody know!

Where have you been...

For those of you who have never tried keeping a blog, there is a yearning to embellish it, to make it more interesting, readable and at the very least enjoyable. To this end, I have been casting about for pearls to post and things that will perhaps make the blog better, so far the most profound quote "FREE GUIDE TO THE CITY'S TOP CREATIVE PEOPLE AND PLACES" on the cover of a magazine in Brighton and this only for the bright pink allure of the badge. In a way, it is much the same as making a picture. As an artist, I want to transport the viewer somewhere, give them something to hold their eye, keep their attention longer than a few seconds, something that perhaps will make them think and if I am very lucky will one day be remembered and thought back on. As such I am constantly looking for new ideas, new ways of seeing, better modes of mark making... But, for some reason as this month has trickled sand quick through time, I have returned to my roots. At school, armed with only a black ball-point pen, I would doodle down margins and in the backs of text books and sometimes on desks (but I swear only to make them better!) and it is back to black line work that I have returned. Tonight I give you only this post, tomorrow I will digitise and post the results of February's sketch time.

First Drafts

On the left are the initial sketches looking north east from a field, the foto is on the right. Tonight is the night, goodness gods willing, to put some ink to paper and come up with something finished before we visit the farm again next week. I'm thinking to keep it simple in ink...