Studio

After a few lovely days away I'm back home and catching up on lots of jobs, not least of which is my current studio re-jig. I'd felt for a good while that the space just wasn't working for me in the way I need it to so August became "re-jig the studio month"! I've dispensed with some rather shonky lightweight furniture, which frankly just wasn't man enough for the job, and have put another vintage kitchen larder cupboard in. I tinkered about with the lay out so that I could create a small office space which will be be a great boon I hope. With all the furniture moved about and the lay out settled I started putting stuff back in the studio and that's pretty much still the stage I'm at. It's not moving as fast as I would like but I'm grimly determined to have it sorted by the end of this coming weekend! There, now I've publicly declared myself I'll have to knuckle down and finish it now! ;oD There will be before and after pics when the deed is done but as a little taster....

This is taken from the hallway looking through doorway into the studio. Remember this, it's going to look soooooo different the next time you see this corner!

Henry Moore

A couple of weeks ago I visited The Henry Moore Foundation at Perry Green in Herts for the second time. I really enjoyed seeing the sculptures again, the backdrop of the grounds they're set in is just lovely, also, touring Moore's house and his studios again were great. I loved discovering about Moore's technique and process last year when we visited and with that knowledge seeing his work again this year was even more enjoyable. I shared some of my photos last year but couldn't resist taking more this time so apologies if I'm repeating myself!


Working Model for Sundial. It was quite a showery day but I liked the different perspective the rain gave the sculptures.


Detail of King and Queen.


Close up of some textural detail on Large Figure in a Shelter.


Large Figure in a Shelter.


Three Piece Sculpture: Vertabrae


Three Piece Sculpture: Vertabrae


Roof detail of Hoglands.

Life Drawing

I've been going to a local life drawing class run by my artist friend, Richard, at his studio since last November time and have been plodding along trying different media...charcoal, coloured pencil, pencil, pen and, most recently, PanPastels. I tried ordinary pastels way back before Christmas but didn't get on very well with them at all but these pastels are something else, they're really smooth and soft, easy to apply and I'm really enjoying using them. I'm no pastel artist nor am I much cop at the life drawing itself but I enjoy going and think I'm making a tiny bit of progress and I intend to plough on and try to keep improving little by little. These are three of my drawings using the pastels:

The Reiki Pendant

I have alot of catching up to do and I thought I'd kick off with my latest pendant, now going by the name of The Reiki Pendant! ;o) For those of you who aren't knocking about on FB with me (feel free to join me if you're not!), a brief explanation...I made myself a new pendant, choker stylee, a couple of weeks ago, the base of which is a metal piece, think it might have been a napkin ring in it's former life. I wore it that evening to a complementary therapies workshop I've been attending. The subject that night was reiki. To cut a long story short, we did reiki share where everyone takes a turn to receive reiki from everyone else. During my turn I could feel my throat pulsating and getting really hot and when we'd finished the metal of my choker was almost too hot to touch! My throat chakra was chucking out some serious heat! So, here it is:


The main piece started life as a napkin ring or one of those things you hang on decanters maybe and I straightened it out and wielded my drill on it. The danglie is comprised of a vintage fishing piece wrapped with coloured wire and various beads and part of an earring. At the moment it's on black velvet cord which just ties at the back but I may change that for something else.


Close up of the metal piece.


Close up of the danglie.