Pictures from the Cafe Gallery show

Twilight No 10, from my Twilight series, went out to a show. It is the blue one at the top.
It is oil and acrylic on linen, 30x40cm, made this April and May.
It was in Southwark Park at Cafe Gallery Projects.

Art you can wear.

I am trying a new thing.
I made some brooches using tiny versions of the original prints that I have recently started making. (See 2 posts earlier for a definition of those.) The pins are lightweight, sturdy, fun, and really quite lovely. They are 5cm square (2 inches). They made their debut at the Open Studios this weekend. I wasn't sure how well they would be received but they were very popular! I am so pleased!

Here are some pictures. I will be making some more for the Open Studios weekend part 2 coming up. Hope to see you there!








http://www.chocolatefactoryn16.com

This weekend at the Open Studios

Here are some pictures of my studio this weekend at the Open Studios. Part 2 of the Open Studios is next weekend so if you missed this weekend, all is not lost! I am working on more brooches (see next post) and gathering up about 40 paintings, small work on canvas and studies for larger pieces, that I will be priced £30 to £100.








http://www.chocolatefactoryn16.com

Misuse of terms

I have to say something.

I think that most people that misuse the term "original print" do not do so on purpose, they do not mean to be lying. They are not aware of the facts and are laying claim to a term that belongs to another group of artwork. To have an original work of art (a watercolour painting, for example) scanned and then reproduced as a print means that there was an original and that the printed items are reproductions. They are not original prints.

An original print is one that is made to be a print as its original form. It is not a reproduction of a watercolour painting, for example. The original version of an original print is the print.

This can be a woodcut, lithograph, photograph, screenprint, or digital print. They are multiples of the same image, but that image has never existed except as this print. An original print is not a copy of another artwork.

A print made from a scan of your painting can be a limited edition, it can be signed, it can be a giclee print (which is a fine art term for an archival quality ink-jet print), but if your print is a copy of a painting it cannot be called an original print.

Now you know.

Open Studios private view

Yay!
Just got back from the open studios. It was a great night!
It stopped raining just in time.
Loads of friends came, well spaced throughout the evening. The mulled wine I had in my John Butler tea bowl / mug that I love, warmed my cockles and his bowl warmed my hands.

I met lots of new people and had some really good conversations. I do love that we all stand around and talk about my art! I sold some books and some of my new brooches that I made with my prints. Giraffes and colourful autumn leaves are definitely irrisistible!

We are open for this weekend and next weekend. Please stop by for a visit! (I have chocolate coins! If there are any left...)

http://www.chocolatefactoryn16.com

London Snow

It snowed in October and I made this.

London Snow 3
An original print of a manipulated photo by Julie Caves. 2008

Chocolate Factory N16 Open Studios

I have some new paintings and some prints of paintings. If they are finished in time I will also have some brooches of paintings!

As always, I will have a selection of small paintings and studies on canvas and paper that will be at very affordable prices.
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28 artists open their studios in this great studio complex in North East London. Fine Art, Ceramics and more. The first two weekends in December.

OPENING TIMES:
Saturdays 6th & 13th December: 10am - 6pm
Sundays 7th & 14th December: 12pm - 6pm

It's Open Studios time again!
Discovery time!
Fine Art, Ceramics and more.
Come and browse.....come and buy!
Cash and Cheques only please.

http://www.chocolatefactoryn16.com

Handmade Confessional

Buy Handmade Video from Etsy on Vimeo.

This weekend in London

London is very wet.

Cafe Gallery Open Exhibition

I have a small painting in Southwark Park at Cafe Gallery Projects.

Open Evening:
23rd of November.

My new Etsy shop

I am a painter and a maker of contemporary book art. But I used to be a jewellery maker and still make the special piece occasionally. I built up a fantastic collection of vintage beads back in the late 80's and have finally decided to sell most of them off as they are doing no one any good in boxes.

If you love pretty baubles or if you make jewellery please visit
my shop on Etsy.






When I finally get it organised I hope to have a shop for my paintings, prints and book art as well.

Watch this space!

The work has just begun.

Saturn Smith on Open Salon reminds us to celebrate the Obama victory, but remember it is only a beginning, there is a lot to repair. The win must be made to matter.

"Every day is a work day in a democracy ".

Buy Handmade

Off to CREATE on Monday!

I have been selected as a delegate for the next two CREATE conferences, next week in Bristol at UWE Ashton Bower campus and the following week in Belfast at the University of Ulster, Stranmillis University College Campus.
That is almost two weeks of talks and workshops about my favourite subject, Colour!
It sounds like it will be even more amazing than the last one in France in February.

A painting on-line

I have a painting on a gallery page for the Art in Woodstock entries.
Interior Space 100

Colour Group meeting at the V&A

The Colour Group of Great Britain meeting today was at the V&A Museum. Very prestigious. The four speakers covered conservation of art objects mostly, with one talk about how the mystical meanings of colours change with the time.
It was very interesting and we paid a visit to the famous Ardabil carpet in the Islamic Gallery and learned more about the carpet and the amazing care that has gone into the protection of it.

Going to Liverpool!

Tomorrow I am off to Liverpool for a conference called When Vision Explores Art. It is part of the Festival of Science in the European Capital of Culture. It is hosted by a group I am a member of called the Colour Group of Great Britain. It will be an all day meeting in the Victoria Gallery & Museum at the University of Liverpool. I have been looking forward to this since May.

As they say "This event will bring together scientists who study visual perception and artists. It explores how visual art can help us to understand cognitive mechanisms of vision and how the brain works. E.g. why do Bridget Riley’s paintings make your eyes go funny? We will try to provide answers to such questions based on our knowledge of how the human visual system works."

I am very excited. As it starts early I will be going up from London the day before. This means I can go pick up some of my work from View Two Gallery and go see art at the Walker Gallery!

BABE

The Bristol Artists’ Book Event.
Save the date. Come to Bristol on April 4th and 5th, 2009 to see 50 stands of fantastic artists’ books! The The Arnolfini gallery is a great location. I am very excited! I have really been looking forward to going again! I signed up today!

I am working on three big book projects so I will have new books to show. Come by and say hello.

Summer Ghosts

This Cathy Cullis artists' book Summer Ghosts looks interesting.

Steve Lambert and Keri Smith

In Keri Smith's book The Guerilla Art Kit there is a page called Steve Lambert's Superhero Exercise. It is a simple idea that helps you focus on what message you want your art to carry out into the world. It also caused me to go find Steve's website! Yay!

Recycled books for journals

These look really well made at: Tyler Bender Books

The Daily Palette

This is nice: The Daily Palette

Over four years of daily posts highlighting an artist or writer.

Cassy Sachar

I really like the artists' book TLG Notebook by Cassy Sachar.
Go here to see it.

It looks like she is having an exhibition here in London at The Reading Room, 21 Crooked Usage, Finchley, London N3 3HD
A small exhibition of bookworks by binder and artist Cassy Sachar
Dates: Sun 7 Sept 11am to 7pm and Monday 8 Sept to Wed 10 Sept 2pm to 8pm
www.cassysachar.com

A Touch of Red

This is one of the photos I have entered in an exhibition in Bristol entitled 'Colour and Landscape'. Hosted by CREATE - Colour Research for European Advanced Technology Employment

13th -23rd October 2008 at the Bower Ashton Gallery, F Gallery, School of Creative Arts, Bower Ashton Campus, UWE, on Kennel Lodge Road in Bristol, United Kingdom.
Private View: Monday, October 13, 2008 Time: 6:00pm - 8:00pm

Please click image for a larger version.

The Incredible Shrinking Studio

I took these shots of my studio sometime in the last year.

Since then it has only gotten worse.

Garageland magazine

Garageland is a fantastic London art magazine put out by Transition Gallery . I am a subscriber and have every issue. (I even have 2 of issue 6 because I wrote down the wrong issue when renewing my subscription...) It takes hours to read one because they are really full and I want to read everything. "Conceived, written and illustrated by artists" it is by turns funny, clever, irreverent, and mysterious.

Postcard drawing

This is the tiny drawing that is in the corner of the postcards in my two sets, where the stamp will go. (You can see it in the set picture below.) It is by H Locke.

It shows someone reading a book and waiting lovingly and patiently while the artist works on the computer.

We make books, however you define that, and people are waiting to see them and hoping we keep making them.

Now available at the i-Candy Gallery shop in Hastings

My most popular artists' book works are these two postcard sets, Have a Nice Day and Compliments Slips.
They are now available at the i-Candy Gallery shop in Hastings.
Their web site is: iCandy Arts

Bookmarks collection

I have been working on a series of bookmarks that are about the relationship between the bookmark and the reader. There are 20 so far. Here are three. Click image for larger view.

My hands are my palette

I often use my hands as a palette when painting with acrylics. Here is an example at the CREATE Conference in France in February.
The image is from the CREATE website.

Certain Trees Book exhibit

Certain Trees: the Constructed Book, Poem and Object, 1964-2008

I went to see this show yesterday at the V&A.
If only they weren't in cases and you could handle them!
But many are one page cards and objects so you see a lot from just spending time examining the cases. If you like concrete poetry, puns and word twists, or the history of artists' books and small presses you will find this exhibition interesting.

Cy Twombly's Autunno

Cy Twombly's Autunno
I saw this painting yesterday at the Tate Modern and I love it.

New Painting

Butterfly Lung
June 2008, oil and acrylic on canvas, 150 x 120cm.

Caves Paintings

In addition to my investigation into colour I make figurative paintings that are concerned with communicating the way I see the world around me. Caves' paintings.

I love colour

I paint because I am fascinated by colour, both visually and conceptually. My work usually involves creating an interior or exterior space. Viewers often feel that they are seeing something vast but on a magnified level, like a universe inside a drop of water. The excitement of luminous colour and the rich variety of texture possible with paint overwhelm me with their beauty.
I want to see my ideas manifest. It is experimentation born of curiosity. My colour combinations move in a come-hither dance of attraction and repulsion, the romantic give and take of a relationship.

Love is for the Lucky and the Brave
2006, oil and acrylic on canvas,100x110x4cm

Twilight.

These paintings are some of the new work I showed at the Open Studios last weekend. It is unusual for me to make such small work. I had to make my space smaller. I found that to be able to keep my movements small and focus so close up I had to sit on the floor with the soles of my feet together and paint in my lap and on the floor. Because it was warm and I was in shorts this meant my legs were covered in paint everyday!

They are all oil and acrylic on linen, 30x40cm, made this April and May. I have titled the series Twilight because they are all based on the idea of creating light by darkening the rest of the picture. So I wanted a title that included the idea of darkness.

Click on the image for a larger view.

Book show in Milton Keynes

My small pop-up book "Regret" has moved to artworks-mk in Milton Keynes.
Saturday 12th July to
Saturday 23rd August
Looks like there are some workshops, too!
Click the flyer images for a larger view.

Pictures of the studio

Took these on Sunday near the end of the Open Studios.

Summer '08 Open Studios!

Our summer Open Studios was good fun, when I was able to be there...apologies to all who came to see my work on the Saturday. My studio was shut because I had food poisoning from the Friday night and could not get out of bed until Sunday afternoon.

Here is a picture through my open studio door on the Sunday. Paintings are on the right side and my books are on the table on the left. By the door is a new addition to the studio- 2 pots of happy daisies from Gary and Mike!

I got a good response to the new paintings. Thank you everyone.

Press and Release Artists' Book Fair, Brighton

To coincide with the Press and Release exhibition at the Phoenix Gallery in Brighton they are having an artists' book fair on May 24th. I will be there with my Serendipity Press.
For more information go to Phoenix Arts Association.

Over thirty stalls will feature limited edition, hand made books, fanzines, comics, multiples, ephemera and more. Special performances, readings, food and music will round out the event.

Re: Exhibit is open

I didn't make it to the private view on Friday but it sounds like it went very well.
Here are some images of my book in the exhibit on the weloveyourbooks site:
Image 1
Image 2
Image 3

Here is my page in the catalogue:

Stokefest 2008

The artists from the Chocolate Factory Studios will be handing out invitations to our Summer Open Studios at Stokefest in Clissold Park on June 8th. Rude Designs from the studios, designed our invitation.

I like Art

I like art that you want to look at over and over again, seeing something new each time. When I create art I lose myself in it and find parts of myself I don’t use in daily life. I hope that viewers can get a glimpse of the less-used parts of themselves.

When I make work to communicate an idea I love the philosophical realisations and moments of clarity that cause the idea of the work to be realised as communication and I use subtle humour to share my way of thinking. In my non-figurative work I make intuitive choices and savour the moment when everything reaches the balance point of vibrant composure, full of ambiguity and atmosphere. I am interested in colour, texture and movement.

Every day I am amazed, I enthusiastically paint my amazement. My studio practice is varied. My painting is primarily concerned with colour. My figurative work tries to puzzle out the different way I see everything and my artists' books are often visual lists. I use my interventions and gestures to make contact with other humans, often offering a moment of cheerful confusion.

Gold & Green Vegetable Forms on Blue, 2006, oil on canvas, 70x80cm

iCandy Arts Postcard Show

I have sent 4 pieces to the annual iCandy Arts Postcard Show at the EAT@Ours Cafe in Hastings which will open on May 1, 2008 and run throughout the month.
All work will be postcard sized and will be sold for £10 per piece.
It will be a large exhibition, last year over 600 works were displayed. The artists were from all over the country and their work was massively varied.

I sent in 4 pieces. The brief was that the work be wall mountable and 6x4 inches. But since it was called The Postcard Show I decided to take it literally. I painted on my 50% Happier postcards in acrylic.

iCandy Arts



The image at the top of the hung show is from the iCandy Arts website.