Hearth and Heart

Hearth and Heart have come to s o u l s p a c e this week with the installation of our woodburning stove. It feels great - really warm and inviting. :)

Filming for arttutor.com

I went to Liverpool last week to film a couple of pastel landscapes for arttutor.com. We started late because of traffic but I was pleased with the end results and with some good editing from Jonathon, I'm hoping my dialogue will come up to scratch too. Here are the demonstration pieces.

On the Anniversary of Armistice Day

I've been feeling reflective today on the anniversary of armistice. This is a piece I painted some time ago called 'Torn'. At the time it represented a personal sense of conflict and loss but perhaps today it can represent a more universal sense of these things.

A good day

It was a good day in the studio working with acrylics, a palette knife, memory and imagination....

Forthcoming Feature in Live Ribble Valley Magazine

Exciting times - we were interviewed this week for a feature in Live Ribble Valley Magazine about Soulspace Art Studio which will be released around the 10th/11th November. Here are one or two of the pictures we took to send off to the magazine for possible inclusion....

Staithes Art & Heritage Festival 2016

We had a great weekend taking part in Staithes Arts and Heritage Festival, sitting in the very characterful 'Garden Cottage', drinking tea and talking art and poetry with so many (and varied) people. We even managed some decent sales and the 'Naked Soul' combination of Jo Lewis's poetry and my artwork went down really well. Especially pleased for Jo because it affirmed that what is deeply personal is also fairly universal - people were clearly moved by her words. Very grateful to Jim Mason who lends us the cottage each year (and lets us put holes in it) and to my sister Caroline and Husband Paul who come and support us in all kinds of practical ways each year. Feeling the love. :)

Latest painting

Here's my latest painting around the theme of s o u l s p a c e: acrylic on canvas. :)

Enjoying s o u l s p a c e

It was a good day in soulspace studio yesterday with 2 small but productive workshops. Jacqueline Smith was working on card designs and getting artwork ready for a London exhibition. So today as she heads down to London I will be heading out to Earby and Skipton to spread some leaflets about. Here's another photo of this great space - needs to be visited to be fully appreciated. :)

s o u l s p a c e

Exciting times! I am developing a new art studio space at Soughbridge Mill in Sough Nr. Kelbrook and it will be completed within the next fortnight. It will be another shared space with artist Jacqui Smith and poet/photographer Jo Lewis. I will be running drawing and painting workshops there on Thursdays and continuing to run my art workshops at Art & Soul in Padiham on Wednesdays. The rest of the week, I will be painting at one or the other studio. We have named it 's o u l s p a c e' and it will be a place where the creative spirit is nurtured and given breathing space. Special thanks go to Phil Darby, my friend and colleague from Art & Soul who has built partition walls and surfaces with 'assistance' from me. I am very excited about the space and its possibilities and am looking forward to running the workshops there. Here are some images and below is the leaflet I've designed for the workshops

About the Workshops

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Recent Moodscapes

Here are a few recent moodscapes inspired by our recent visit to the Isle of Lewis.....

Arttutor.com

I made a welcome return to Arttutor.com this week and went to Liverpool to film two landscape tutorials for them. Here are the pieces that I produced in soft pastels and pastel pencils. I often feel like I struggle between making sense in words and concentrating on the pieces themselves. I was happy with the visual outcome of these and trust that after Jon has done his magic through the editing process, it will sound ok and make sense too!