It's a new day, it's a new dawn, it's a ....

 Oooh it's nice to be back. We had a great Christmas which went without a hitch... almost. Last year I personally saw the tree and all the trimmings and crimble wotnots go up in the loft as they always do. Could we find them this year? Save for two glass stars and a length of fairy lights the whole lot had mysteriously disappeared. I blame the Hedron Collider of course. Now it's been switched on a wormhole has opened up between it's core and our roof space and all our Christmasses past are now deepest, darkest anti-matter. Strange but true.  I was fortunate enough to have a brain hiccough one day in Ikea though and bought a massive bunch of brown twigs, and now I know why. A standby for lost trees. It kind of works too in a minimalistic fashion! The only slight twinge of regret that we have over the missing tree is we had got to that stage where there was no psychotic cat to pull it over, no dog to eat everything on or under it, and the childrens' hand to eye coordination for decorations supremely past that 'sneezed on' look that we all know and love. Oh well!

We have also had the most incredible week workwise. We have a workshop/gallery! We get the keys on the 1st Jan and we cannot stop grinning! In fact have another exclamation mark in celebration with us!  The unit is one of a well-established group in the Tithe Barn area of Bradford on Avon, and a good footfall spot too, so things are looking decidedly exciting for us. As you can imagine there is a lot of sorting to do from painting floors and walls, building workstations and counters, getting 'stock' organised and displayed etc, so posting will be a little sporadic. Photos will follow naturellement- any excuse to point the Panasonic, heh?! In the meantime Happy New Year Everyone, have a corker! 

MANY HAPPY FESTIVITIES
TO EACH AND ALL
See you soon
Mike and Serena

A good time was had........

Well we have made it back in one piece from the exhibition, but the tonne of mince pies and vat of mulled wine didn't! I think people were initially quite taken aback with the idea of a free winter warmer as they perused the art on offer, but given a few seconds all of them were very accommodating to the idea! And can you blame them? It was colder than a snowman's bottom. The picture above is the picnic area next to the West Barn where we were. As you can see another thing Bradford on Avon is noted for is it's flooding. The hills the town is built on is like a giant Aero bar made up of caves. The rain permeates through all of this and ends up at the already swollen river, which then goes pop- and gives me a glorious photo opportunity like this. Isn't he a beauty? The ducks, coots and moorhens struggled with the water flow (every now and again you would see one hurtling past at breakneck speed, looking bemused in an avian manner) but this fellow swept majestically around as if on castors.
Anyhow, I digress as ever. All this talking to lots of people over the weekend has left me with an attack of the verbals which hasn't quite dissipated yet. Coming from my little ivory tower to such a public event can be quite difficult to start with and really shows up the lack of conversational tools I own! The juggernaut gets rolling though, and then I find it hard to stop..... February is looking good! All I really wanted to say, was a really big thank you to everyone who stopped by, looked around and chatted with us. We had another successful show to end the year on, and have taken commissions to start the next year off in an encouraging way. What more can a girl want?
So a very heartfelt
THANK YOU

( and for the summer exhibition it'll be Pimms, o.k?!)

Robin redbreast.....

Woot.

Finished him. He has a happy face unlike the previous wren picture. That bird looked concerned about something, with a hint of being miffed too. At least this chappie brings with him an air of Christmas cheer. I read somewhere that Chinese postmen are called 'robins' because they wear red jackets as part of their uniform, but it was probably on wikipedia so don't quote me!

Wren on branch (watercolour and pencils, 6" approx)

A little Jenny wren as a quick posting- I have told myself I absolutely MUST finish the next one tonight. It will be a robin, so I can use it for my Christmas cards too, eh?! Genius, I can kill two birds with one stone..... oops, wrong choice of words possibly in these circumstances. Laters (forgive the informality in that, I'm in a rush and manners are the first to go, followed closely by decorum given half a chance.) :o)


And I forgot to attach the picture, after all that. What a lala. Here we go again........

Chop, chop, busy, busy......

I have been busy.

Well, we all have here to be fair. Try as I might i cannot take all the credit for working hard. It got so busy on the printing side I had to scrub clean and help out. Anyone would think it was christmas card season, and giving gifts of photo canvases to all! In the midst of all this productivity the new Garden Studio arrived flat packed, with the legend " should take two competent people 4-6 hours to complete." How rubbish do we feel now that three of us have taken 5 days and it's still not finished? Where's Nick Knowles when you need him? It's been cold, wet and thoroughly miserable weather so there was a very small ripple of gratitude when the roof went on, which quickly dissipated from my 6' 3" son. I'm sure his head would take a phrenologist weeks to read there are so many bumps on it. The instructions too have proved wearing. Apparently, the Kensington we ordered is really a Westminster with a verandah attached. I'm thinking of going to London and building a little picket fence with floorboards all around Westminster and renaming it Kensington, and see where that leads oh yes! All this DIY distress will be worth it, as space is becoming a premium here now. This studio will be ideal for displaying glass wares, and hold the new kiln arriving in January (New year, new challenge.) I can play shop too, or just have somewhere else to dolly daydream. Marvellous.

We had our first gallery interview this week and my works were accepted. I can't show until next september when there is space available, but I am still a wee bit excited, I must confess. I always got "you're not what we are looking for, I'm afraid" - without even seeing my work. Those that bothered to reply anyway! Which has just left me with the 'self-exhibiting' (oo er missus, steady on) route. Fine fun indeed, but all has to go back in storage afterwards ready for the next one.

Next one.

Heavens to Betsy, only 5 days now. I better get a wriggle on.