At the end of June this year I shall be holding a new exhibition at Bankfield Museum in Halifax. I was invited as part of ‘Culturdale’ – a celebration of all things Calderdale. We played around with all sorts of titles and themes. ‘The Industrialists’ – too formal. Too much about what’s gone. ‘Legacy’ – was met with much scoffing. “Too much mentioned in wills”. I was trying to come up with a title that was unique to Calderdale and what shaped it. One day I jokingly said “Okay – how about ‘Engineers and Chocolatiers”. That’s all the mills, all…

I don’t know what happened this year. I’m usually so ready for my children to be back at school – mainly because I’m panicking about the jobs that are piling up, and I’m quite ready for some quiet creative time. Maybe they’re older and easier, need less organising. They definitely help more. They are so interesting! Anyway – for the first time, I’ve not quite wanted summer to end. We had some great adventures in ‘Henri’ – our camper van. Henri is new to us and we’re new at campervaning, so this was a bit of a major maiden voyage….

I’m not going to lie; I almost bit off more than I could chew with this exhibition. Turns out that there are A LOT of letters in the alphabet. I got to letter 12 and said to myself “I don’t think you’ve thought this through…”. But I did it. I even did an ‘X’! I’ve displayed them framed all together and on little clipboards at Heart Gallery (they can be bought as the full set, or individually). You can see the individual letters here. The very last painting I completed before my final trip to the framers was this one:…

I’m counting down the weeks now until my exhibition – ‘HOME’ opens at Heart Gallery in Hebden Bridge. Painting these has got me through the darker winter months which always seem hard in the valley. It’s been good seek beautiful things here; a bit of colour maybe in the more monochromatic months. A reason to head up hill in search of a bit of light! ‘Winter Washing’ Heptonstall. Inks, gouache, watercolour, acrylic, gold leaf and gold thread. It’s been a decade since I began exhibiting at Heart Gallery. Five years since the ‘Craggs and Fells’ exhibition. This time it’s been…

It’s far too long since I last did this! I’m sorry – I’m always someone who’d rather be getting painty hands than sitting in front of a computer. Consequestly this will be a Christmas and everything else I’ve been doing, all at once kind of Blog post… I didn’t take part in the Hebden Makes Christmas event this weekend. It clashed with the twin’s birthday and I am no good at being two people at once. I either need to be all Mummy, or all work, and I didn’t want to short change them. Instead we went to see The…

For Christmas this year my Dad bought me a beautiful book of Eric Ravillious Wood Engravings… Dad and I are both huge Ravillious fans, but the book of little engravings were a revelation. Above are my favourite three: I love the tiny, styalised perfection of them! I’ve long wanted to get back to some kind of proper, formal print making. As a textile deigner I did all sorts of silk screen and block printing at college – I loved it all. But once you set up on your own, print making can be quite a tricky thing to access, so…

My new exhibition ‘Whispering Ruins’ is opening this coming Saturday, June 18th 2022 at Chantry House Gallery in Ripley. I’ve painted 10 new pieces, all inspired by North Yorkshire abbeys. I took these two lovely girls (my daughter and her friend) to York for the day in May. I sat and drew in the Museum Gardens while they explored the shops, and then we met up for cake! Not bad for a day technically ‘at work’ was it? I think this (above) might be my favourite of the new paintings. They were cutting the grass when I was drawing, so…

I’ve not posted for ages! It’s not good enough – I’m sorry. I’ve been working, just not blogging, and now I’ve an exhibition coming up. It opens on Saturday June 18th! Back in the Autumn I escaped in Daphne (Daphne is my yellow Fiat 500. It’s impossible not to be happy when driving her) for a couple of drawing days in North Yorkshire. My friend Emma, owner of Chantry House Gallery suggested ages ago (in the first lock down I think) that she’d love me to have an exhibition of North Yorkshire Abbeys. So I had a route and a…

I am auctioning this painting of Shibden Hall on Sunday, with all proceeds going to the DEC (Disasters Emergency Committee – Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal). I know that many artists have been selling their work, much of it on the sunflower theme. I finished this earlier this month and realised it was in the Ukrainian colours. It’s a tenuous link, but I’m sticking to it! Like everyone else, I’m desperate to do something to help. Evening at Shibden This little painting is called ‘Evening at Shibden’. In inks, acrylics, watercolour, gouache, gold thread and gold leaf. There’s a great deal of…