Studio Life
Welcome to the latest life in the studio episode, and it's been a busy week for me. I've continued my new series of motorbike paintings and weirdly I'm loving doing these. I don't ride a bike, and have never been on one, but I just love the engineering coupled with the aesthetics of these machines. I plan to continue these as people seem to be enjoying them and I've sold two of these during the week. I am taking requests if anyone has a favourite motorbike they would like painting.
I have also enjoyed doing a couple of local sketches, one of Accrington and another of Great Harwood. I do like to try and inject a bit of sun to these sketches in what are if social networking is to be believed are dumps. I have to say I see them differently, and all you need to do is look above head height to see how wonderful our local towns are, even if they are not good for shopping!
There have also been two watercolours done in a larger format, but I can't show these yet until the project they are designed for comes to fruition, but I will show them in a future post. It is a very exciting thing though!
iPad Art Sessions
Finally from me, I will be delivering a series of four iPad art classes at the Haworth. This will begin with a free introductory session where I will demonstrate how art is created on the tablet through a variety of sketching and painting apps. This session is scheduled for Friday 15th February 1.30pm - 3.30pm and it is designed to let people decide if iPad art is something they would like to try before buying any apps. Subsequent sessions will be held on every Friday afternoon throughout March.
Other Artists
That's it for me, so what else has been happening at the Stables.......
The week started with 'Bee' aka 'The Dinky Stumpet' aka 'Busy Bee' ran one of her fortnightly children's art and craft sessions on Sunday afternoon. These are free and there is no need to book, all materials are supplied too. The theme this week was keyrings, and it proved to be very successful and popular. Keep an eye out on social networking for future events, or drop in at the studios to collect a timetable of events which have been planned right through 2019.
Bee has also remounted her 'Scavengers' exhibition in her space. This looks at the children working in the Victorian cotton mills and how they climbed in between the machinery to clean the looms, a very dangerous and often fatal job.
She has also been working on some fabric insects and her first offering, the Moth, looks amazing in its new home and not at all scary.
Personally I'm hoping that there are more of these as they are very clever indeed and very well presented.
Catherine Lansdale our resident portrait artist, has been very excited to have taken possession of a retro industrial plan chest donated by the gallery in their annual clear out. This will enable Catherine to store her materials in her studio, especially her large sheets of paper as she does to tend to work big. All the other artists have wondered how the heck she would manage to fit it in her space, but she is obviously an expert in Tetris and has managed to fit in a desk and a bookshelf in there too, and we are looking forward to seeing more of her now her art materials are close at hand and not messing up her house!
It has been great to see Just Imagine NW back in the studios as they start their huge list of performances and classes during 2019. Also lovely to see their leader Danielle back in costume after having had her baby just before Christmas. I was amazed to learn that they have over 150 characters and themes to choose from and their new Practically Perfect character is amazing as is the Greatest Showperson. Look out on their Facebook page for information and for details of booking them for parties and events. One thing they are doing is creating a feature wall in their office and I am really excited to see what they do. Their very own Sam Newsham is in charge of the project and viewing his previous attempts at murals, this should be something to see!! I do still miss that elf though.
It has also been good to see local artist Leo Crabtree back in the studio after his latest spell in hospital. He returned with a spring in his step and immediately cleared away all his succesful Christmas offerings and changed his display to show the diverse offerings he has. No visit to the studio is complete without a visit to Leo's studio, but be prepared for a chat as Leo loves talking about his methods and working practices. We might even make you a brew if you ask!
You can find Leo beavering away in the studio side of the studios.
Finally we are delighted to welcome Hannah Roach to the final vacant studio space. Hannah, who has recently returned north after a spell in Brighton where she had studio space on the seafront is going to be a great addition with her architectural sketches and colourful landscapes. The bonus is that she is a friend for Leo, who has been a bit of a Billy no mates over the past couple of months after Gabriella Golden relocated to the Motor House side. We are looking forward to seeing what she produced and I'll be showing it here in future episodes.
Remember we are always open to visitors, and we love to show both our work and the wonderful environment we work in. Pop in if you are visiting the Haworth Art Gallery and say hello....
Oh and don't forget my iPAd art awareness session on the 15th February. If you want to book onto this session just drop me a line, my details are on the 'Contact' tab at the top of the page and I can be found on Social Networking. I'm only one click away from you!
Thanks for reading...