New prints for spring

I had a lovely time last week making four new limited edition prints.


Ernest was a guerilla knitter

First up is 'Ernest was a guerilla knitter', there is a lot of love for Gorillas in Bristol, we had a gorilla sculpture trail round the city in 2011.  One of the sculptures now lives on a street near my home.  Over the winter someone decided to give it a jumper [see here] and this was the inspiration behind this print.




Rosa showed us her new hat
[Raspberry beret]

















The second is a print that was a request from my youngest daughter who after having watched me make prints named after her cousin and her older sister suggested that there should be one for her - so here is 'Rosa showed us her new hat', subtitle: 'Raspberry beret'

The last 2 prints are companion pieces:  ' Urban wildlife part 1 - ...one named Peter...' and 'Urban Wildlife part 2 - ...one named Paul'. 


Urban wild life 1 and 2 -
...one named Peter, one named Paul

The theme of urban wildlife is one I would like to continue in the future, and I currently working on new designs.  These prints are literally hot off the press, but I hope to have them out to some of my lovely galleries, and up in my etsy shop, by the end of the week.


Southville Arts Trail

photo taken by Steve Broadway

It was the Southville arts trail this weekend and once again, along with various artist friends and family members we exhibited our wares in the basement of my parents' home [which just happens to be my studio]

 

We probably had more than 500 people through the door over the weekend.  I always enjoy the busy atmosphere of fun and creativity that the trail brings to the area. 

 

However by the end of Sunday I am always entirely pooped! I just needed to take a day off yesterday to drink tea and catch up with myself.

 

Now I need to get busy making lots of new stock thanks to our lovely artist supporting community.

 

[Exhibitors this year: Sarah Duncan, Jen Orme, Hannah Hickman, Stuart Low, Hannah Broadway, Steve Broadway and me]

SOS - Save Our Studio

I am in the brilliantly fortunate position to have a light, dry, warm studio space to make my work in [this has not always been the case].  And not only that, I have it totally rent free - I know I am super lucky.

My studio space is, in fact, also my [very generous] parents' basement, which has been designed to be used as space to make art.  My parents are both creative and are very involved in the local art trail each year.  So not only is this their creative basement space, and my studio, but for one or two weekends a year, it also becomes a gallery space - all the clutter is schlepped upstairs to make way for visiting artists and ourselves to exhibit. We all love doing it, and enjoy having our community look round.

The big removal, and then return, of all our studio stuff is in some ways a brilliant way to wipe the slate clean and come back to the studio fresh.  In another way, however, it is physically exhausting hauling all that accumulated stuff up and down the stairs.  Some how things never quite go back how they were before, this can be a good thing, and other times, even though its slightly hindering productivity, I ignore it, because I'm lazy, and I carry on working around the clunky mess and just get used to.

But in the run up to Christmas I had been very busy making and selling my work, that when I returned to my studio in January - having dumped everything, in exhaustion, prior to the holiday - it literally looked like a bomb had gone off - seriously messy.  Something had to be done!

The true horror of the task ahead!

So for three days I have sorted through every box, shelf and draw and been very ruthless, and got rid of an awful lot of stuff that I have been holding onto for the 'perfect craft project'.  I have mended things that were broken,  I have relocated things that haven't been in an easy-to-get-to place, and generally made the whole space just a lot more efficient to use.  I actually feel like I can breath again, and am really looking forward to getting back to work again on Monday.  The joy of a newly clean and clear space was perfectly illustrated, by my daughters' instinctive reaction to kick off their shoes and dance about in their socked feet - a celebration!


A place to be creative and dance!



Roll up, roll up

I did my first art market of the Christmas season this weekend, at the Made In Bristol gift fair, held in the Colston Hall, Bristol.  I was selling my lino prints and jewellery.

I had a jolly old time, especially because I just happend to be selling shoulder to shoulder with my sister, Hannah.

Hannah  and I, along with my pals Sarah Duncan and Jen Orme will be selling our art at Colston Hall this coming weekend as well.  Saturday 15th December 10am-4pm and Sunday 16th December 10am-2pm - Come on down.  My advice is to come early to miss the afternoon rush!
http://hannah-broadway-pictures.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.sarahduncan.net/
http://fettleandpatience.blogspot.co.uk/

Also check out this blog post by Rin Simpson, reviewing the Colston Fair http://glassjarsandphotographs.wordpress.com/2012/12/10/made-in-bristol-gift-fair/

Catch up

It's been too long.....
I thought I'd do a brief catch up with the work [and non work] I've been doing over the last few months.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER:
Paper Scissors Stone - volume 3
Quakers Friars, Bristol

A great pop-up shop for local artists, designers and makers, set up by Made In Bristol.  I had prints and jewellery for sale.  I found this a brilliant place for me to meet and exchange experiences and ideas with other makers.



OCTOBER:
Art on the Hill
Windmill Hill, Bristol - art trail

Along with Jen Orme Fettleandpatience.blogspot.com/ I was invited by my lovely friend Sarah Duncan http://www.sarahduncan.net/ to exhibit in her beautiful home.  A busy and sucessful weekend, with a caravan full of some of the most stunning cakes parked right out side - what more could one ask for?!

OCTOBER:

My sweet Nephew, Dan's, super hero birthday present - everyone should have a cape to run down the street in!









OCTOBER/NOVEMBER:
Mexican Day of the Dead exhibition
Parlour room gallery, Bristol

An exhibition curated by House of Paper, which ran for two weeks, over the period of the Mexican festival.  Sadly, I was unable to see the show, but it proved to be a very sucessful event and my prints and jewellery seemed to go down well.

NOVEMBER:

These little creatures will shortly be flying to Australia to be the new pets of my nieces, Poppy and Alice.


and finally...

Along side the above work I have continued to supply all the lovely galleries that have supported me over the the last six months, and some new galleries too:

GALLERIES NOW STOCKING MY WORK:

-Makers, Bristol
http://www.makersbristol.co.uk/

-Glass Designers, Bristol
http://www.dadswellglass.co.uk/shop/local-artists/

-Rostra Gallery, Bath
http://www.rostragallery.co.uk/

-Just Make, Wells
http://www.justmake.co.uk/

-Lion Gallery, Leominster, Herefordshire
http://www.liongallery.com/

-Arkadia, Dunster, North Devon
http://arkadia-online.co.uk/

-Arnolfini, Bristol
http://www.arnolfini.org.uk/pages/bookshop/

-Paper Scissors Stone - volume 5, Bristol
http://madeinbristol.blogspot.co.uk/p/paper-scissors-stone.html

Woolly gifts

Whilst visiting my sister Hannah recently, I was reminded of some items that I had made as gifts for her and her [then] new baby.  I thought I would put them on my blog so that I have a record of them:

I learnt to crochet last year at the very cool Maligo WI  http://malagowi.blogspot.co.uk/.  I have tried to learn many times before but could never master it, but thanks to the help of a fellow WI-er I cracked it! Although my skills are basic I am really happy to have used what I do know [granny squares] to make something for someone I love.



A crocheted blanket for Ursula Olive Hayes
 

 



Cross stitch cushion for Hannah

Arts Trail weekend

The day after the Southville Arts Trail is always a slightly strange one.  It’s such a busy weekend, spent talking almost constantly with visitors, and the adrenalin that goes with that means that by Monday I am generally rather spaced out and unable to concentrate on anything useful......so as today the sun is shining I have decided to actually just STOP and not try to do anything [as I’ll only end up having to do it all over again].
It was a really busy and jolly event - with a mildly boozy preview on the Friday evening. Saturday and Sunday saw a huge number of people come through our temporary  basement gallery. This year there was a pirate theme and many costumes were sported.

We had most of the usual family crowd showing:

Steve Broadway [my Pa] - Photography [although he wasn’t there in person as he’s spending an 8 week placement on the tiny Scottish island of Iona - we missed him]

Hannah Broadway [my sister] - Paintings, digital prints and ‘Monkey and Robot’ books

Stuart Low [my husbund] - Paintings and architectural glass

We were also joined by three of my lovely friends, whom I met just because we happend to have babies at the same time, only to discover later that we all share an interest in art:

Jen Orme - Porcelain cups, bells and jewellery

Sarah Duncan - Paintings

Hannah Hickman - Photography

I have added these hastily taken photos of the space when it had finally all been hung and the clutter removed just before everyone arrived on Friday evening.

[Photos: from top-Jen's ceramics; Stu's glass and Hannah H's photos; Stu's paintings; Sarah's paintings; Hannah B's painting and prints; Steve's photos; and my stuff]