A watershed moment

OR

thoughts while enjoying the autumnal sunshine

Thank you to everyone who came along to my exhibition at The Church Street Gallery in Saffron Walden which finished last Saturday. I haven't been to collect the unsold prints yet or check exactly what sold . . . I was a little disappointed with how quiet the gallery has been, but then again I'm not sure what I expected to happen. Should I have waited until I had done lots of new work just for a solo show? Was it silly to agree to putting together an exhibition in only a few weeks? 

Probably best not dwell on 'what-ifs'. A good number of prints including a framed 'Winter Evening in Bull's Wood' and lots of cards sold. And I've had some lovely positive messages from friends who did visit the gallery.

The past couple of weeks have felt like a watershed – between getting all my existing prints framed and exhibited and moving on to work on something different. I so want to do something a bit different! Is that a normal reaction after an exhibition?

And now for something completely different . . .

CUSHION COVERS

I'm introducing some printed fabric items into my online shop, starting with these printed linen slip-on cushion covers.

I have kept the price to enough to cover the fabric printing/making up the covers/p&p plus a little extra (after all I'm not giving stuff away!)and have decided to only sell them direct from my online shop rather than offer them at a trade price to shops/galleries.

I'd like to add further designs to the range, I can get the fabric printed in very small quantities and re-print the popular designs. Any feed back or suggestions of which of my designs you'd like to see adapted for cushions would be most welcome.

WATERCOLOURS

Some of you will know that I've wanted to get back into the habit of doing watercolour sketches. I very much want this to be a habit that becomes a small part of every day (not sure this will happen but the intention is there).
Earlier this summer I decided to treat myself to a brand new box of watercolours  . . .

of course, I had to start by doing this . . .

and after a slow start I'm gradually re-engaging with painting . . . 

I have rules -

no pencil or eraser allowed

 the Ginger Studio Assistant got bored and didn't pose for long!

discovering that limited time is actually good

not worrying about just painting over bits that went a bit wrong

and discovering that my car makes a good studio while out and about.

I haven't painted today

. . . and the sun is out! . . .

Celia

xx

PS: it may be sunny BUT it is VERY WINDY!!!

just done, still wet
today's watercolour -
the view beyond our garden.

Exhibitions in Saffron Walden and Olney

It was as I was about to go on holiday early in June, that Helen at the Church Street Gallery in Saffron Walden asked me if I'd like to have a solo exhibition . . . in September. So, taking out my trip to Alaska and recovering from the virus I'd caught while out there and preparing and going to Folk East, that gave me 8 weeks to get over 30 prints framed - if possible some completely new work - and lots of unframed prints packed and more greetings cards printed. 

The past couple of months have been very busy!

I delivered all the work to the gallery on Friday afternoon. I had nothing to do until Sunday afternoon when the doors opened for the "Preview", thank you to everyone who turned up, especially as it was a beautiful warm sunny late summer Sunday that would be perfect for sitting outside in a garden instead of coming into town. It was great to see some Twitter friends 'in real life' and also someone I worked with a very long time ago!

My exhibition continues until October 4th and is open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. 

My work is in the the front area of the gallery and Helen has arranged complementary ceramics, crafts and gifts to style the area. The back room has the gallery's usual wonderful selection of artists work, so there's lots to see.

For those of you who live in the East Midlands, the Market Place Gallery in Olney has a selection of my work in their 'Selected British Printmakers' exhibition.

Olney, like Saffron Walden, is a quintessential small market town, surrounded by lovely countryside, with lots of interesting indie shops and some lovely foodie places for lunch. Both are worth a day out.

So what next? . . . 

I need to get my head around stocking my online shop and meeting the requests from galleries for Christmas (there! I said the C word but very quietly!) But mainly I need a few days to recharge my batteries so this week I'm tidying up my studio, getting out in the garden and enjoying the fabulous weather . . . maybe I'll actually have time to use my brand new box of watercolours? You never know!

Celia

xx

New galleries, exhibitions, a magazine feature and something completely different

The last few weeks have been busy – and even more that I expected!

Just before we went on holiday in September, the arts journalist Hazel Foxon spent a morning with me in my studio to research an article she was writing for the 'arts in the east' magazine Venue. If you live in Beds, Cambs, Essex, Herts, London, Norfolk or Suffolk look out for it in libraries, galleries and theatres – it's a glossy colour mag with David Bowie on the cover and it's FREE
. . . or you can see the article here.

I've framed prints and packed unframed work in time for the pre-Christmas rush and delivered it to Edwards & Todd in London; the Jessica Muir Gallery in Long Melford and Smiths Row in Bury St Edmunds.

My work will be included in a special exhibition of "Smaller Pictures" at the Church Street Gallery in Saffron Walden, starting on 1st December and continuing throughout December.

I am very excited to have been invited to exhibit in two lovely galleries . . .
Cambridge Contemporary Art is a beautiful bright exhibition space within sight of King's College Chapel right in the historic centre of Cambridge. I will also be delivering some framed work for inclusion in their Christmas exhibition which runs through December.
The other venue is in Suffolk but right over on the coast – it's The Gallery at Snape Maltings, I've delivered my prints just in time to be included in the Winter exhibtion. This is probably Suffolk's most famous arts venue in a beautiful setting beside the River Alde at the end of a long estuary. The concert halls, shops, galleries and restaurants attract lots of visitors throughout the year; if the sun is shining (as it was yesterday!) the views of the river and the boats are stunning.

As you can imagine, I've been spending lots of time framing prints and writing lists; but among all the requests from galleries I received an invite from Southwold Life Boat Crew:

"We're having a tweetup on 24/11 would love it if you came.
If you can't make up your mind then how does tea,
cake & lifeboat display sound?"

Well, although I live in Suffolk and enjoy reading the morning weather tweets from the life boat station right over in the diagonally opposite corner of the county, a 150mile road trip for cake was a bit keen! I politely declined. Then I received a message from a photographer who lives only a few miles from me "I'm going, I'll give you a lift" and before I knew it I had a place reserved on a boat to go out on a training exercise with the life boat crew! You can read what happened and see Celia Bartlett's fantastic photo-essay of the day with Southwold RNLI.

Celia Bartlett ready for action at sea!

Well they say 'a change is as good as a rest', and being bounced over the grey waves of the north sea with salt water waves crashing into my face certainly blew the cobwebs away! If that's what a 'calm day' is like the volunteer life boat crews have my full respect for going out in all weathers to rescue those in danger off the Suffolk coast. Please consider giving your support to the RNLI.

Celia
x

Season's end? . . . not just yet!

There's a late summer, end of season feel. . . when the rain falls you know autumn isn't far away; but then then the sun comes out the intense dry heat of harvest returns.

On Friday evening I went along to the Church Street Gallery in Saffron Walden for the opening of the A-Mazing Art exhibition, which also kicked off the 10 day Maze Festival. Thank you to everyone who came along, Helen has organised a lovely exhibition – which along with everything else in the gallery, is well worth popping in to see. I was very pleased to arrive just as someone was buying one of my Saxon Labyrinth prints; and the framed print is in the gallery window . . .

There was much excitement about another exhibition opening at the Fry Art Gallery on Saturday: Edward Bawden 1903-1989 – Watercolours, Drawings, Prints and Illustrations. I had to be somewhere else on Saturday, so I couldn't attend the private view – probably for the best, as all the work is for sale and competition to be first through the door and place a claim on the pictures was going to be high! I'm not sure I would have come out with my bank account or body unbruised! I'm sure everything will have a red dot on it by now, but the exhibition continues until 18 September so there's still time to see it – perfect for a rainy day!

Late on Sunday afternoon we went for a walk form a nearby village to a stretch of our local Roman Road, the line of the hedge running left to right in front of the wood in the middle distance, marks the line of the road . . .

This is a favourite spot of ours looking out over the wide dish of land just east of Cambridge. The farmer has put a useful seat in the shade and along the field margin is wide stretch of mixed flowers has been sown, this year the colours are a lovely mix of lavender Phacelia, Fat Hen and Bistort.


Many of the fields have yet to be harvested, the ears hang heavy and rustle as you pass through. In one place there is a trial area of different wheat varieties – I love this one with the twisted spiky beards.


On the return route we spotted a Bloody-Nosed Beetle crossing the track – his body was shining in the evening sunshine.

In fact the fields and hedges were glowing with the warm evening light . . . the Dogwood in the hedge dotted with inky black berries is starting change to Autumnal shades.



But summer isn't quite over yet . . . it's been a scorching hot day here today but there's heavy rain approaching . . . I'm going to do some work in the garden.

Oh, almost forgot! If you hop over to Linocult you'll find a little chat I had with Dailey of Live From Brooklyn, about linocuts and other stuff.

Celia

x

Saxon Labyrinth – a linocut

My new linocut, Saxon Labyrinth, is hanging up to dry in my studio, it will soon be framed and ready to deliver to the Church Street Gallery in Saffron Walden to be included in the A-Mazing Art exhibition, which is part of the Saffron Walden Maze Festival, 20th – 27th August 2011.

(click to enlarge image)

If you follow my facebook page, you will have seen little tasters of progress over the past few weeks; this linocut is as much about the making as the final result, so I've put together a video to explore the path through the labyrinth . . .

This work pulled together lots of themes I've been thinking about as I work:

– the layers of man-made history in the landscape around my studio

– the proximity of wildlife to habitation

– the symbolic woodland in fairy tales and woodland as a place of exile

– the stylised images of animals on Anglo-Saxon coins

– the shared culture of all the people living around the shores of the North Sea

If you live near Saffron Walden, I hope you can join the celebrations of Mazes around the town and pop into the Church Street Gallery to see the A-Mazing Art exhibition.
All the work will be for sale, including Saxon Labyrinth linocuts and cards.


Celia
x