 I hope this finds you safe and well. Happy New Year! I know it's a little late in the day to be sending such greetings, but I feel as if I am stepping rather tentatively into 2022. This time last year we were in lockdown once more and it's quite hard to believe we are now free to be out and about and that everything is opening up again. I find myself blinking in the rare glimpses of winter sunshine, as if coming out hibernation, starting to believe that it really is possible to move forward again.  Delighted to say that I donated £55 to the World Wide Fund for Nature, from all the Christmas card sales at the end of last year! Many thanks to everyone who bought cards - much appreciated. I received a lot of positive feedback about the designs, which is encouraging me to explore other avenues along similar lines. Watch this space...
I've been updating my website shop - a continuous task, like painting the Forth Rail Bridge, which never ends, but is nonetheless very satisfying. I've added a range of items back in, including some original linoprints.  Back in the studio The winter skies here can be very dramatic and are an endless source of inspiration. The trick is to have everything ready to go - paper stretched onto boards, paints, water and brushes organised. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Of course, in real life that's not how it goes - I've finally got back into the studio to do some painting - above is a work in progress. Or maybe it's finished? I've been adding islands into my seascapes recently - decision, decisions!
Coming up
The lovely Gairloch Museum is reopening for the season next week, on Thursday 10th February. I'll be along to check on my cards and sketchbook stock in the gift shop. I'm looking forward to taking part in Poolewe Tuesday Market again this year - from the end of March until the end of October, all being well. I'm hoping to be there most weeks - I'll let you know dates as soon as I know. It's also looking likely that I'll be exhibiting some artwork at Inverewe this year (I was to have had an exhibition in the cafe there in 2020, which of course did not happen). It will be great to see art exhibitions happening there again. You can find out more on the Galleries @ Inverewe website. Many thanks for your continued interest in my work. Wishing you peace, health and joy in 2022. Jennifer
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Many thanks to everyone who came to visit us at Newton Dee during North East Open Studios in September. It was lovely to meet all who visited and I really enjoyed the company of my fellow artists. One of these artists was Lucy Brydon, who was showing visitors the delights of gelli printing. Last year I had a go at this and recently I acquired some gelli printing equipment (basically just a small gelli plate and a roller for rolling out paint or ink onto it. I already had acrylic paint in the studio). Over recent days I've been having a go at printing some designs for this year's Christmas cards. It has been an interesting experience; I am learning as I go along. I am finding it harder than I expected to figure out what order to do the different steps in. Doing things in reverse does not seem to come naturally to me. It's fun, though, laying down layers of different colours, using stencils and found objects (leaves, ferns, fabric, wool, paper doilies) to make patterns. the whole process will be easier once I have another roller or two for inking up the gelli plate! (they have been ordered, hope they come soon!). I am realising it would almost certainly be better and easier to using printing inks for this method, as the acrylic paint I am using dries very quickly. This can also be seen as an advantage, not having to wait for prints to dry before adding another layer. Using up materials I already have, however, is what needs to be done for now, so I will persevere with the acrylic paint. The next step is to take photographs of the prints, maybe tweak the colours a little, or crop the images, and decide which ones to use for my cards this year! Onwards and upwards.
Once again, the year has flown by and it's time again for North East Open Studios, when artists and makers across northeast Scotland open their doors to the public. There will be potters, glassmakers, jewellers, painters, photographers, weavers, embroiderers and woodworkers, to name but a few. There will be exhibitions in village halls, garages, living rooms and sheds, studios and workshops. This will be my fifth year taking part. As usual, I am not as organised as I would like to be. I will be collecting some last minute orders of greetings cards later on this afternoon. And stocking up on real coffee and raspberries for making muffins in the morning. I have not finished hanging my work. The Cabin is clean and tidy, however, so that is a good start. I'm looking forward to meeting new folk, welcoming back friends and people who have visited before. To help people plan a day out visiting venues which are close together, I am delighted to be part of the North Deeside Road Trail - 13 artists within 15 minutes drive of each other. I'm venue number 214 this year. I look forward to seeing you in the next ten days! Open daily 10am - 5pm, except Tuesday and Thursday (closed). Open late till 8pm on Friday 18th September. Here's the map - you can click on it to download a copy.  |
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