upheaval and exhibitions!

a quick update to let you know that Art in the Barns will be happening again 27 - 29 September and I was delighted to be invited to exhibit this year. Also - at the same time although running on to 3 October - Art Fair Cheshire will be taking place and I am happy to say that I was selected to exhibit. Please email me for further details if you would like to come.

Many apologies for not updating this section for so long. In brief, we’ve had the house on the market - I won’t go into the ghastliness of it here, suffice to say it is not a pleasant experience made worse by dishonourable people! Anyway, we are still here - not unhappy because we love our home and we don’t HAVE to sell.

website and studio notes

It’s been a while! Last time I updated this was before Art Fair Cheshire and already planning is underway for next year’s AFC! Whoops.

The update from last year’s AFC was that it was a huge success for everyone involved and all twelve of the little blocks found new homes which was a great joy. Most importantly lots of money was raised for the East Cheshire Hospice.

Since then……a painting submitted for the Open Exhibition at Tarpey Gallery in Castle Donington was accepted and shown. In the summer I was invited to exhibit at the beautiful new Blue & Berry Art Gallery in Chelford. This exhibition ran until last month and then I was asked to participate in their Spring Exhibition which is on until 6 May. I have four brand new paintings as well as a couple of earlier pieces there.

In October I was delighted to exhibit at the highly successful and wonderful ‘Art In The Barn’ as part of the Goosfest Arts Festival. Planning is now underway for this year’s event and I promise to update these notes with more information as I get it.

Paintings have been in other exhibitions, visits have been made to other artist’s exhibitions and interesting workshops participated in. Explorations into cold wax and oil as a medium continue and I am currently working on a new series including some large canvasses.

Also investigations have started into getting some help with the website. The intention is that this will be like a virtual visit to the studio…….watch this space!

Art Fair Cheshire Thursday 26 May - Sunday 5 June

Just this morning I dropped off the 16 paintings for Art Fair Cheshire at Macclesfield Town Hall. The extra delight was that the person receiving the paintings was an old friend who has one of my very large textile hangings. It was really lovely to see him again.

If you are in the area I encourage you to visit - there are so many disciplines and styles of work that there is something for everyone.

Art Fair Cheshire

Bye bye April......hello May

Hello!  How are you?  If you are in the UK spring is very slowly ‘springing’.  Despite some lovely blue skies over recent days there has been a real chill in the air.  There is so much to do in the garden and in the studio!

We did get to the Maldives in February which was such a blessing.  A completely different environment can be so invigorating.  

Art Fair Cheshire begins on 26 May so I have been really busy getting the work ready.  Lots and lots of edge painting and just when I thought I’d finished six of the ‘blocks’ I decided that they would look better black so off again.  I’m really happy with how they look -

the contrast of the high gloss painting and the matt black sides is really dramatic.  Now to wax the sides.  Then I’ve got some serious screwing (d-rings for the hanging cords), labelling, photographing etc to do.   Will you be able to visit?  It’s always such a great event with an enormous variety of art/high end craft.  Have a look at the website https://www.theartfair.org.uk.

Alongside this I have been exploring ideas that came from the sketchbook challenge and further learning about oil and cold wax including an inspiring online workshop with Laura Menzies/St Ives School of Painting.  Can’t wait to fully dive in once the work for Art Fair Cheshire is complete and packed up.

Also coming soon are some new framed paintings.  The link to these will be sent first to subscribers so, if you aren’t already, why not sign up?  As you know from the sporadic nature of these studio notes I won’t be bombarding you with emails!!!

Oh dear!

Here we are twelve months since the last Studio Note - maybe I should just admit defeat and call them an annual update!

Well, I think we can all agree that 2021 was not much, if any, improvement on 2020. Did you manage a holiday? We had a week in Mykonos in October which was lovely - total immersion in sea water was just what was needed. It was later than we would have chosen because I was meant to be participating in Art Fair Cheshire in September but that was postponed until May this year. If you are near Cheshire please visit - lots to see in multi-disciplines. If you want any further information please contact me.

Plans for 2022 are as follows -

• this month I am devoting to the Insight Creative 30 Day Sketchbook Challenge (Cheryl Taves) and deliberately trying out new things. Have you tried Golden Pastel Ground? It’s fabulous! Really enjoying pushing the boundaries with that.

• In February we are hopefully going to The Maldives for a fortnight of R&R - and more sea water immersion!

• When we are back it’s time to really get to grips with work for the Art Fair Cheshire. Alongside that I am going to be learning about using cold wax. I was given the Cold Wax Medium book by Rebecca Crowell and Jerry Mclaughlin which is sensational. As I think I’ve mentioned before I want to try and get away from acrylics to something more environmentally friendly.

• New work for the website is a necessity……I’m onto it!

• Aside from developing my practice I would really like to get this website upgraded. It’s not something that comes naturally to me and takes time away from painting but it’s really necessary. Feel free to shout at me if nothing happens!

• I will try to do a monthly studio update…..let you know how things are developing!

Do you have any fixed plans for the year? It seems like we might be a bit freer this year to travel, go to exhibitions etc and meet up with family and friends, (Have you had ‘it’ yet? After avoiding it for nearly two years I managed to catch it between Christmas and New Year along with 11 other family members and friends. Fortunately it was just a bad head for a couple of days and total exhaustion. Thank you Vitamin D!)

(No images with this ‘note’ - if you head over to the contact section there are lots of photos from my Instagram account which is automatically updated.)

Happy 2022

Sue

x

oh to be a website designer!

After spending a huge amount of time sat at my iMac trying to create the website exactly as I want it to look I’ve admitted defeat and just done a revamp! There is much that still needs improvement but it is more ‘current’ - the photographs definitely need an upgrade! Let me know what you think…….

This is what I was trying to achieve!

Into 2021 with hope.......

As the year draws to a close I hope you had a good Christmas despite the limitations imposed on us all? 2020 didn’t quite go to plan did it?! Rather than dwelling on the all too obvious downsides of the past year I am going to start the new year with positive intentions. After looking into my art practice I have reviewed what needs to be done - where I can improve and move forward. The big stumbling block at the moment seems to me to be this website so I’m currently devoting a few hours each day to create a new, friendlier and more professional (I hope) site which you can enjoy visiting. Website creation does not come easily to me but I will plough on and hope to finish it soon. Is there anything that you would like to see other than the obvious?!! I thought in these studio notes I might start taking you through the stages of a painting. One of the things I’ve done whilst reviewing 2020 is organise photographs of paintings and the process and the studio. It’s been fascinating and thought provoking to see how different some of my finished paintings are from where they started out! For example this -

became this

I hadn’t intended to stop here but it was seen at this stage and claimed by one of my sons!

From a very snowy Cheshire I will wish you all a very happy and healthy 2021 and leave you with the view from the studio!

'Recreation'

As previously mentioned, the four paintings I submitted for the ‘Recreation’ exhibition at Technically Brilliant were all accepted. The exhibition is now open. It is multi-discipline so there is something for everyone. You will find the gallery in Golden Square Shopping Centre, Warrington (next to Primark!). They are open Tuesday - Sunday, 11 - 5. Please contact me if you would like further information.

Three months later......

How are you? I hope this post finds you well and coping during these extraordinary times? Here in leafy Cheshire we have not just had the Covid-19 lockdown to contend with but extremely unusual weather. This has necessitated many more hours than anticipated in the garden either watering during the hot and dry periods, trying to rescue drowning plants during the wet, wet, wet periods and then on top of that there seems to have been a lot more wind than usual causing mayhem. Add to that trying to fend off rabbits, pigeons and other assorted creatures who think we are growing things especially for them to eat! This has meant painting has been slotted in when garden and family haven’t taken priority! I was also taught a new method of holding my pencil when drawing - after holding it in the conventional way for a very, very long time it’s not coming naturally!

I’m delighted to report that four paintings have been accepted for an exhibition starting next month. A real, live exhibition! Please come back for details when I have them!

The following photos are some of the ‘moments’ of the last three months…..I’ll be back!

Retrospective

So many lovely comments about the website - thank you. It means a lot. One suggestion that was repeated a few times, was to add some of my ‘pre-block’ pieces. The problem with that is that most of them were made before digital photography but here are some - from the tiny to the enormous! The bright colour triptych hanging is floor to ceiling almost! Its singular partner was sold at the time of exhibiting them.

Strange times.......

Life for all of us is so different from our norm. Here in Cheshire we are locked down - like the majority of the world - and trying to make sense of our new reality.

So many of us are having difficulty focusing - so much time, so many lists and yet our concentration seems to have gone. Are you finding this? Given the wonderful weather we’ve been having, the garden - and food production - has occupied lots of time as have the three new hens. The two old hens are still not particularly happy with these new beauties but it’s getting better each day. We’ve also been gathering lots of the wild garlic that grows along the stream banks at the edge of the garden.

Painting is happening but given that ‘physical’ exhibitions are off the agenda for some time I thought it would be a good opportunity to apply myself and create this website. It’s not a natural activity for me and is developing slowly. Do you think I’m going in the right direction with it? Is there too much of something or not enough? Is it too stark - I’m a bit of a minimalist so all that white really appeals to me! Let me know if you have any suggestions - suerobertsart@gmail.com

Happy St George’s Day!

#StaySafe #StayHome