Celia Hart's blog about what's going on in and around her studio.
Art, printmaking, inspirations, gardening, vegetables, hens, landscapes, wild flowers, East Anglia, adventure, travel.

Tuesday 28 April 2015

Plants & Crafts at Wyken

Before I get immersed in work I'll tell you about the event I was part of on Sunday . . .

Plants & Crafts in the Garden at Wyken 2015

Wyken Vineyards is in West Suffolk, about 50 minutes drive from my studio, I've visited many times and it is lovely!


After last week's glorious warm sunshine it was a shame the weather turned back to grey and very chilly for the weekend, on Saturday night the heavens opened and we got the rain – the first for 6 weeks! It was an early start for me and just after 8am I was setting up my stall in the 'Farmers' Market' cart sheds. I just had time to visit the exhibitors' loo, located in the cute little red cottage above, and run round the end of the cart sheds past ranks of pre-loved buckets and garden spades and forks before the customers started streaming in! 


Here's a quick snap of part of my pitch, I'm pleased to say the cards attracted lots of people and I was constantly restocking the stand.


This was my view for most of the day . . .


I had agreed to demonstrate linocutting, I hadn't anything planned or sketched out so I quickly drew sone Auriculas in pots directly onto the lino and got cutting – the lino was icy cold and hard! 

I used small ink pads to ink the block and took prints at stages to show progress. By the end of the day I'd almost completed a small print . . . I'll do a few tweaks and print an edition of these next week.


This was a lovely event, I hope I'll be invited back next year. The only downside was the weather, by the end of the day I was chilled and stiff - so it was a wonderful surprise to see Cliff arrive to help me pack up and load up the car.

After a hot bath, a glass of red wine and supper of rib eye steak and lots of vegetables, I was much revived.

The best thing about the day was all the lovely interesting people that I met and chatted with. 


I came home with a few treats for myself and our garden:
a Campanula pyramidalis Alba plant from Sue of Bellflower Nursery; a made to measure leather belt to hold up my jeans, from Mark of White Buffalo Crafts; a pretty spotty jug from Rob Wheeler and a beautiful yellow Auricula from John Hewson.



This week I'm up against a deadline for completion of two large woodcuts for the back and front of a book jacket . . . a lot of carving to do!

Look out for Gardens Illustrated, I loved working on the illustration for the May issue – I'll be back with a blog about that soon.

Celia
xx

10 comments:

  1. Sounds like a great day, Celia.And I think the reviving bath-and-supper rounded it out wonderfully!

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  2. Sounds like a fab day and great to hear that your cards did well!

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  3. One of the best things for me about going to a craft show is seeing a craftsperson at work. It's fascinating!

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  4. Thank you for answering my copious questions about your prints :) It was very nice to meet you after admiring your prints for some time.

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  5. What an amazing event...wish I could have gone! :) xxx

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  6. It is good to know that you sold some stock, so frequently these days that doesn't happen.

    I do like the things you bought and enjoyed the pottery video very much.

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  7. It's such a lovely venue and I'm glad you had a successful day. That jug is scrummy :-)

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  8. Celia, I don't think that there's a doubt that the Wyken folks aren't already sending you an invite to participate next year.

    Yes, too bad about the less than perfect weather, but even so, I'll bet that the folks who did attend the event were overjoyed to find your stand, And have the chance to see how linocuts are cut, and...to see your beautiful cards and have the opportunity to take some home.

    Drawing the auriculas on the lino, on the spot was a grand idea. Those flowers are so graphic, and ideal for translation into two dimensional rep. Oooh, I do imagine that the lino was cold and rather unfriendly to the cutting. Good that your experience could deal with all that..

    Doing the test prints with stamp pads was another wise idea. From your photographs, I really do like the look of your prints. Having the option of creating an edition later on in a more ideal printing location adds another plus.

    Continued best wishes to you on that book cover.

    I continue my patient vigil on the Gardens Illustrated search. Soon. Very soon.

    Bravo to Cliff for his excellent rescue mission, too. xo

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  9. Hello greetings and good wishes.

    Very eventful and fantastic day although tiring.

    The cottage looks lovely.

    Excellent dinner to revive.

    Wonderful day.

    Best wishes

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  10. I love your auricula print. So pretty!

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