Deborah Hay – ways of making art

"Dance became a way to learn without thinking" I am fascinated by Hay's radical and non linear thinking about the body and movement.  It resonates with my personal way of making visual art, an approach which seems entirely intuitive and directly…

Movement journal

   HERE ARE SOME NOTES TO KEEP TRACK OF WHERE I AM AND TO HELP ME FOCUS AND FIND DIRECTION 7th November  Dance Base - Monica de Ioanni - lovely intro to contact impro16th November Weekend  Jam Festival   Classes People  Ideas…

Venice Biennale 2019

26th October 2019 I was in Venice to visit the Biennale at the weekend.  It was hot beautiful weather, but it was also a Saturday and it seemed the whole of Venice was enjoying the show before it closes in a few weeks. I took…

Nottdance 2019

 It is much too soon (about a week) to write very much about the experience of joining Nottdance for a day. I would just like to thank the organisers and everyone involved for a very special experience.  Here are a few prelim…

The Painting Game the latest

Oh what a struggle to move from looking to something else.  That something could be analysing shapes back to their limits, somehow finding the essence of the image, expressing emotions, or something as yet unrealised.Reading about…
Carton #2

Our Place on Earth RSA Architecture Forum 2019

RSA Architecture Forum 2019 Our Place on EarthThis year’s Royal Scottish Academy Architecture Forum will challenge the popular idea that ‘people make places’ by demonstrating that our ‘place on earth’ remains a powerful and…

Fabulous horse artists – George Stubbs, the King 1724-1806

This week I was in Palace House, the National Horse Racing Museum, in Newmarket, Suffolk.  Newmarket is Horse Central and I was so happy to be there.  But the reason I went this time was to see an exhibition about George Stubbs, especially…

Fabulous horse artists – Orovida Pissarro 1893-1968

One of my customers told me about this artist, known in her lifetime as Orovida.  She was the grand daughter of French impressionist and neo-impressionist painter, Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) but she was a British artist who lived and worked…

Mankinholes near Todmorden, Yorkshire – another technological revolution

I just spent a week running a small youth hostel near Todmorden, Yorkshire.  It is called Mankinholes and is in a tiny hamlet up in the hills above the valley where the town is located.A tiny hamlet with a huge history.  For this…

The painting game – beyond looking

I have always worked with dye on fabric, but I am now experimenting with acrylic and oil paint as an alternative source of colour. In my textile work, I used the dye in a very natural, expressive and abstract way.  It has been challenging for…