17.4.16

Hello

I'm very excited to have my online shop back up and running after a few years of being too nomadic to run it, I'll be adding lots of new artwork over the next few weeks to raise money for my Peace Pilgrimage from Ethiopia to Zimbabwe in the coming months.
More info coming soon.. :)

Click here to go and have a look












19.11.13

Totterdown Exhibition, Bristol

    
   
               
 
 


I've just got back from a wonderful weekend in Bristol where I was solo exhibiting as part of the Totterdown Arts Trail. The theme this year was 'Superstition' which I loosely interpreted with my flying bird, magpie, black rabbit and magical symbol installation, as well as the black 'Dancing Cat Party' print and a few other bits.. It was so magical, thanks to everyone who came up the hill to say hello - I really appreciate all your support and kind words! Also big thanks to my wonderful host Dot who made it all possible :)

21.5.13

Wilderland

Last year I was fortunate enough to spend six months living on a sustainable eco-community on the edge of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand called Wilderland.  "Sustainability means doing things in a way that maintains and nurtures that which sustains us" and Wilderland nurtures not just the land but the people too, creating an environment where teaching and learning are interchangeable, skills are shared, people are inspired to be the best versions of themselves and to contribute meaningfully to an amazing project, as well as finding their own path, living fully and delving deeper into themselves.


The experience changed my life, and while I was there I gained valuable knowledge about growing organic food, caring for the land, cooking for heaps of people(!), bee-keeping, herbal remedies and ointments, as well as living with a constantly evolving group of other people and all the challenges  and joys that come from that!

My creativity was flowing and overflowing, and so my main project while I was there was to set up an Art Gallery at the Wilderland shop.  The basic idea was to make a space to sell and promote art and crafts that were being made at Wilderland - partly as a way of creating an additional income for the community, as well as to encourage and inspire people there to be more creative and develop handmade skills. A huge amount of people come through Wilderland every year, and many of them are talented artists and craftspeople, so it just seemed like the perfect way for them to be able to share and use their skills to enrich the community and ultimately the public.


 Alongside this I initiated a workshop program that was designed to work in tandem with the gallery whereby anyone with a craft skill could run a workshop, and then everything made during the workshops would automatically go for sale in the gallery (depending on quality!) and the participants would also gain valuable skills to use later for their own benefit.  For example I ran workshops in book-binding, block printing (making hand-printed cards, wrapping paper, notebook covers etc) as well as co-facilitating leather and feather jewellery workshops.



As luck would have it, shortly after I arrived a guy called Ruben (Lekrmoi) turned up who totally shared my vision, and so we became the unstoppable gallery super-team, bouncing ideas and collaborating creatively in a magical and mysterious way. The first step was to completely strip, re-paint and re-decorate an empty, disused part of the shop. We collaborated on a big mural on the back wall of the gallery (he did text and I did images) which worked beautifully and brightened up the shop,  drawing people's attention to the gallery as soon as they walked in. Once the gallery was almost ready to go we needed artwork to sell(!) so I spent many a long night working away on a series of paintings, as well as hand-painted leather jewellery and other crafts.



I also painted new signs for the rest of the shop, and co-ordinated a big renovation of the outside of the shop so that the whole thing fitted together visually and had a much-needed fresh look!

By the end of the project the shop was completely transformed, and we had a big 'Grand-Opening' celebration and exhibition, and then not long after that it was time for me to leave! It was pretty heart-breaking but it felt like the right time, and I will always be so grateful for the time I spent there, the connections I made and all the lessons I learned along the way. I love you Wilderland! xxx




16.1.13

Wrap Magazine

A big thank you to Wrap Magazine for doing a beautiful write-up about my work! You can read it here
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10.1.13

2013 // Dot-to-Dot Gallery

So it is a brand new year, and a new start... 2013 - I feel like I'm in a sci-fi film!

It has been a few months now since I returned from my 3 year traveling adventure, it's been much harder than I expected re-adjusting to the 'real world' but I'm gradually getting my head around it! I'm really enjoying the chance to focus on my art and start elaborating more on all the ideas and themes that have been developing over the last couple of years on the road.

In other news, I'm very excited to be the 'January Artist' at Dot-to-Dot Gallery in Letchworth, there's lots planned including an interactive live wall, or 'living evolving mural,' workshops for kids and adults and a chance to get my paints out in a wonderful studio space, have creative fun and drink yummy coffee!

It's also a really cool project, the gallery is being run as a fundraiser for Rhapsode, an organization that looks to create ways of connecting artists with the public through festivals, workshops, schools etc - making art more accessible to everyone and spreading and inspiring creativity. It's right up my street :)
dancing cat party A3 brown 2

29.11.12

Tribe

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Spot my Dancing Egyptian Fox in this beautiful selection of tribal treasures.

Foxes in the Rain

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Foxes in the Rain // New Print available on Etsy

27.11.12

What's Black, White and Read all over?


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My tuesday morning treasury list on Etsy - I'm just trying to put off doing some actual work!

25.11.12

Hopitty-Hop down to the Shopitty-Shop!


Screen Shot 2012-11-25 at 17.06.53Happy Sunday everyone! I have been busy trying to get my Etsy shop up and running again, and am doing mammoth listing of new work including christmas cards, prints of all shapes and sizes, and some other nick-nacks. I had an exhibition in Bristol last weekend (photos coming soon) and I worked nonstop for at least a month making things for it, so now I have HEAPS of new work for sale. So far just prints in the shop but little by little there will be some originals too so keep an eye out for those..

24.11.12

Etsy

dancing cats
Just a heads up to announce that my Etsy shop is now up and running again, with new goodies being added all the time and heaps of new work. Yay I'm excited! 

10.10.12

Indian Elephant - Cox & Kings

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Well after hours and hours and hours of drawing, my piece for the Cox & Kings "Inspiring India" Challenge is finally finished. I decided to use the silhouette of a very beautiful Indian animal; the Indian Elephant, and then I incorporated images into that of things that I saw and remember from my 6 months of traveling around India, from the top to the bottom and back around and around.. My hand and my trusty black pen are both happy to have a well-deserved rest!

I was so inspired by my time there, and have been traveling a lot since then so this has been the first time I've had the chance to really start making some artwork specifically drawn from my travels in India, it's been great! Plus I also got to look through all my two thousand or so photos that I took there :)

So the drawing will be on show TONIGHT at The Royal Geographical Society, as part of a special "India" themed evening hosted by Cox & Kings - a luxury travel company specializing in luxury holidays and escorted tours to amazing places like India! There's going to be a talk by Mark Tully and lots of things to see, so it should be a fun evening x


4.10.12

Rumpus


Some little birdies told me there's a really good party this Friday - see you there!