Blooming Marvellous!

Well, we are now well and truly settled into the New Year, and I don't know about you but I'm desperate for Spring to burst into bloom and fell some warmth in that sun of ours!
When finally we get to February (which seems to take AGES!), I do feel the plants and bulbs itching to pop out of the ground, and now, the other thing which is bursting into bloom, is me! I am 19 weeks pregnant, and very, very excited!

Mother and Child. (part of a triptych)

I was demonstrating my Fractured technique at Virginia Water Art Society last night, and we were discussing pregnancy and art. Do the hormones which are racing around my system alter my creativity? Does the choice of subject change, or the colour scheme? It got me thinking.....and I thought, I wonder how interesting it would be to do a sketch, drawing/painting, every day from now, until the birth day?
My lovely husband bought me, for our Anniversary, a beautiful leather bound sketchbook. Seeing as I have this, gorgeous red book, it would seem rude not to use it!

My leather sketchbook, waiting to be filled!

I will post my drawings one a week, as every day might be a bit ambitious (and along with a full time job, a 5 year old and preparing the nursery time will be of the essence!)
It will be intriguing to see what I do!

The Three Swimmers- Virginia Water demo piece

Other things that are happening are submissions for exhibitions and competitions. I love this time of year as you really can do 'what you want', unless of course there is a theme!

I am yet again attempting to get work accepted into the very difficult Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. There are so many entrants, and a very strict/unpredictable judging panel. This is what I have decided to enter, it is relatively small and a watercolour, but quite contemporary.

A town like Valparaiso

I will be back soon! The Pregnancy and Art project will now begin! 

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New year.
I don't know about you, but after all the festivities, I really enjoy getting back to 'normality', whatever that is!

My creative juices have been flowing since the holidays ended and the sketchbook has been getting filled with ideas!
I was sitting down drawing with my 5 year old daughter last week and ended up doodling a sketch of a tree. It really came together in my head.

This is the sketch, and typically it was done on lined paper!
After a week of pondering and deciding what surface to do it on, I settled for my favourite, pastels on Colourfix paper.

'Tree of Life'. by Tiffany Budd. 45cm x 45cm. £200

I had a wonderful start to the New Year. I received an e mail from an exhibition organiser, who is also an interior designer, requesting my floral paintings urgently! I call her up and it turns out she is wanting to buy 8-10 originals for the Viking River Cruises boats. She came to my studio and ended up taking 12. Just brilliant! So, if you are lucky enough to go on one of these cruises, in Holland, you may see my florals in your room!

Now onto my next project. The Derwent Art Prize!

As far as you can get!

As is with every year, there are particular months in which deadlines and results of art competitions come in. The last few weeks have been the results! I submitted work for various competitions and Open Art exhibitions, of which I have had some (but not all) success.
Of the ones which were successful, they are as follows:-
UKCPS (UK Coloured Pencil Society) Annual Exhibition at Nuneaton in October with 'Cressbrook Dale'.

AppArt Open Exhibition at Milford, Guildford in October with  my contemporary floral's 'Nymphae Ishwata' and 'Solo White'.

The one I am particularly excited about is the International Cricket Art Prize. 'The organisers invite artists to submit a painting or composition that depicts life in and around the game and sport of cricket, in settings of backyard, park, beach, street, village green or social-cricket.' 
I absolutely love watching and, when I can, playing cricket, so this was a great subject for me to have a go at. I actually submitted last year, but was not successful. But this year I managed to get into the shortlist. It is now winging it's way to Sydney Cricket Ground, Australia, hopefully in time for the exhibition at the beginning of October. There is a substantial cash prize for the winner, so keep everything crossed for me!
The title is :- 'Going for a Catch' and is done in my Fractured style. I tried to evoke a feeling of movement and speed. The judges obviously got it too!

I have also just finished being part of the organisation committee for a new Arts Festival, which happened on Saturday. I was the main exhibitor as the Rector initially invited me to exhibit, and it sort of grew from that! We had a potter, glass designer, watercolourist, oil painter and a jewellery maker. It was a great success and raised £900 for the church! Here are a few photos from the day and the displays.

My next project is to begin a collection of miniature paintings. Whilst on my holiday in Dorset I popped into a beautiful gallery, and after purchasing some items, I ended up having a great chat with the owner and suggested I try some miniatures, which she may, or may not take for the gallery. In any event, I'm doing a little collection. Watch this space!

Our Great Britain

Today I hung my new solo show 'Our Great Britain', once again at Thames Ditton Gallery Library. It features 25 paintings and prints, framed and unframed. There is a wide variety of styles and themes, all linked with the UK, which will suit all tastes!

This is what the exhibition looks like after hanging! I'm really pleased with how it all looks.

It is on from today until the 11th August. Open Tues-Sat 9am- 5pm and 7pm on Tuesday.

Address is - Mercer Close, Thames Ditton, Surrey KT7 0BS

A trip up north!

Next month I will be travelling up to the Derwent Pencil Museum to hold a 3 day workshop and demo session. I will be showing and helping visitors create my Fractured landscapes in Coloursoft Pencils. The dates are 3-5th July at Keswick, Lake District. If you are around then, please pop in! There is lots to see and do at the museum, including the worlds largest pencil!

 

Also in July, you may be aware that the Olympics are starting (!!) Therefore, I decided to get in the spirit of the sports and am exhibiting a new collection of work entitled, 'Our Great Britain'. This not only will have sporting paintings in it, but also a collection of British landscapes not dissimilar to the ones above I will doing at Keswick.  It will be at Dittons Library Gallery once again. After the success of the last one, they have invited me back to exhibit once again. The dates for this are :- 17th July until the 11th August 2012. Thames Ditton Library Gallery, Mercer Close, Thames Ditton, Surrey.

This is the type of thing you can expect!

The Speed Skater. 13cm x 18cm Watercolour. £100

The Cyclists. 50cm x 20cm. Watercolour. £120

The Diver. 13cm x 18cm. Watercolour. £100

This time of year is always busy. Lots of contests and deadlines seem to loom! I entered the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition once again this year, and once again I was rejected. I was not surprised as there were over 11,00 entries, for not much wall space! However I was not too unduly disappointed as I had a lovely studio visit from a young couple, who found me on the Surrey Artists Open Studios website, who promptly purchased the rejected painting! It was meant to be. This is the painting they gave a good home too. It was one of my favourites.

Crummock Water. 50cm x 60cm. Acrylic.

I am also in the process of creating new paintings for contests and waiting to hear news from the ones I've entered. Always a nervous time........!

Great Britain!

My work at the moment is taking on a truly British theme. What with the Olympics and the Queens Diamond Jubilee in 2012, it's obviously taking a hold of my creativeness! I feel very patriotic.
I wanted to paint a piece that evoked all of this and this is the first one I came up with.

Iconic Britain. A4. Coloured pencil. SOLD

I posted this on the Facebook page and within an hour I had sold it! I am now selling A4 prints of this and also transferring them to black t shirts. I am beginning to develop a range of merchandise with this style of design on and have also come up with this.

This design is basically a black and white pen version of the coloured one. And will be printing this onto bags, T shirts and mugs. My next idea is to do a painting using bicycles and the movement evoking them.

The exhibition 'A Little Bit of Everything' at Thames Ditton Gallery Library has now finished. It was a great success, so thank you to the library for letting me hire the gorgeous space for 3 weeks. I will be doing another one later in the year, I'll keep you posted!

I was fortunate enough to visit the now legendary David Hockney exhibition at the Royal Academy last month. After all the hype and press coverage from it, I was expecting to be blown away...and I was! His use of colours and paint are truly phenomenal. The i Pad room was a favourite of mine as was his landscape paintings created from memory. He sees so much colour!
Before I went I did another i Pad drawing inspired by a trip to BoxHill in Dorking, Surrey. There is definitely an element of Hockney in it! This is the link to the i Pad video of it being created.

Box Hill- Walk into the Woods

I was so pleased with this that I transferred it to canvas using acrylics.

Walk into the Woods. Acrylic. 26cm x 30cm. £120

That is the joy of digital drawing, it may turn out awful, but it may turn out better than you thought it would!

Well, better get back to the studio, got some more demonstrations to prepare for and exhibition paintings to paint!

New Exhibition- A Little Bit of Everything

So there I was, visiting my local library choosing some books for me and my daughter today, when I noticed that their lovely art gallery area was empty. Now, I have a real soft spot for this space as it was where I had my first ever solo exhibition. The staff have always supported me and my work, which I am extremely grateful for. I asked if there were any artists exhibiting work in the next couple of months, and there weren't! So I decided, why not? Let's do it!!!! I have now got 5 days to get it all ready, and as well as that, another demonstration to do at Tandridge Art Society. I will need a holiday soon! 

The exhibition will be a mix of styles and themes, with a price tag to suit everyone.

The dates are 15th March until 5th April. Tues 9am-7pm Wed 9am-5pm. Please come and visit, there will hopefully be something there you like. Here's a little taster.

All at Sea- Watercolour. 56cm x 46cm. £150 (reduced from £200 for this show)

Solo White- 40cm x 50cm. Acrylic and Mixed Media. £150 (reduced from £200 for this show)

There will also be a selection of unframed originals for sale.