Hope you're enjoying the summer!
 

Dear Friends, colleagues and followers,

I've had a really exciting June and July, I’ve been really busy exhibiting in the Brixton Open as well as running workshops in the community.

Some of you may know that I am a member of Sprout Gallery, which holds two art loan scheme exhibitions a year, where for just £10 membership you could loan an artwork for six months and then you are invited to purchase the artwork or return it. 

During this event, all three of my pictures flew out the door, with several pieces having already been sold - like ‘One of Those Days’ (above left) an A3 limited edition Giclee print which is £100.00. This artwork is also available as a tea towel for £19.99 and an Apron for £36.99, including postage. 

Two of my cat paintings - Francis and Tiger  -  have been turned into a limited edition canvas prints and are now on loan for six months. To be a part of this you need to be a member of Sprout Gallery, it is very reasonably priced and there are many other artists other than myself whose work is available.

As an Artist, it's a real compliment when someone chooses to buy or loan an artwork, as you feel like you have completed the journey for that piece of work. 

The prints are on canvas 41 x 51 cm and they are both priced at £195.00 including delivery and are available to order on my online gallery.

The original Cat painting is titled 'Francis' – I named my Cat portrait like this because as I was painting it, I felt an affinity with Francis Bacon, the painter. 

The painting is 60cm by 80cm, acrylic paint on canvas, and priced at £2,750. 

All The Women We Could Have Been

Thu 3 Aug - Wed 30 Aug, At ARC Stockton Arts Centre, IN/Visible Disabled Women's National Arts Collective  
Private View - 2 Aug, 6.30-8.00pm. Online / in person

I just finished my painting for the Invisible Women exhibition which opens in Stockport on 3^rd August 2023 with a private view on 2^nd August 2023, which I'll be attending. 

Creating pieces for this exhibition has been very invigorating because it will be the first time we will be meeting and exhibiting in person, as our work has previously taken place online and was such a fantastic experience. It will be wonderful to meet and see everyone's interpretation and their work, as I know people were as focused in the project as I was through my painting, which absorbed me completely, so much so I have done my arms in again, as, unfortunately, I get tennis elbow and a frozen shoulder which are extremely painful conditions and mean I have to be very careful when I'm painting to look after myself and pace what I am doing. 

The painting itself is very vibrant and consists of four panels and has taken me months. The colours, I would say have a psychedelic influence. I don't want to show you the whole painting yet because I want you to come to the exhibition. So, I'm just showing you the charcoal drawings on canvas to make you curious.

Currently, in the modern world with social media, I feel pushed and forced to have new creations endlessly, whereas it takes me months to create my works, yet they seem to disappear in seconds, once they're online.

So, I am inviting you to come and see the painting in real life, rather than you seeing it online. Why? you ask - well it's because the presence of a painting, the size of a painting and the smell of a painting is refreshing. It will open you up to how you receive it or how you converse with it and this particular painting is full of symbolism and characters as well as the psychedelic colours and the messaging written into the bark of the tree. There's a tree of Life in the centre of the painting that almost becomes a fire as it goes off into the night sky and also in the night sky I have a witch, I have Amy Johnson and I have the first woman cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova who was Russian, orbiting the Earth. I am not going to tell you everything in this newsletter about the painting

because I am going to do a project about witches, who are really important to me especially as they are ordinary women who were burned at the stake, drowned, lynched then denounced for being a witch which may have been as trivial as a woman laughing at the wrong thing, or being a bit feisty accused of Witchcraft because they were healers and creating potions and medicines. 

It makes me think of my Mother who taught me many first aid methods such as. soak the area of the body with the splinter in warm salt water as it draws out the splinter and then you can get a needle and you can pull it out or even tweeze this and just pull it out by the top - you might need a magnifying glass – but, that said, it works and that could have been considered Witchcraft. 

So, look out for my blog about this painting because there's a lot for me to tell you and I think I should issue it as a number of blogs to make it easier for people to digest but also due to my own dyslexia make it easier for me to write.

 Access at the exhibition

The exhibition programme is available in standard print, large print and audio.

All exhibition items have an audio track available through QR codes exhibited alongside all text and images which can be accessed by smartphone. If you do not have a smartphone a device can be borrowed from Box Office to access the QR codes.

The exhibition is on the 2nd floor of ARC and is accessible by both stairs and a lift. The gallery space is a level space with no steps.

Access - ARC | Stockton Arts Centre arconline.co.uk

Invisible Women - Arts Depot Workshop Dates

Booking opens soon. 

Tuesday 5 September 3.00-5.00pm. 
Afternoon Tea Workshop (Disabled women from local communities)

It all started for us by creating a space for older disabled women to come together and chat whilst being creative. Artistic skill was not a pre-requisite as we were going to explore a range of artforms together. And so we're committed to continuing to create spaces like that. We'd like to invite disabled women over 50 to come along, have a chat and try something crafty. You don't have to know us to come along - all older disabled women are welcome. We use the term disabled to include people with mental health conditions, long term chronic conditions, physical and sensory conditions, you might be Deaf, visually impaired, neurodivergent or have a neurological condition.

For more details please go here.

A few things I can share already:

• I will be facilitating workshops at PeerFest in Manchester on the 7 of September. Book your free ticket here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/peerfest-2023-tickets-679955624577
  
  PeerFest will take place at The Lowry Theatre, Manchester on Thursday 7 September 2023. 
  
  PeerFest is an annual event celebrating the importance, power and diversity of peer support. Lead by people with lived experience, it's a welcoming, inclusive and inspirational event. It brings people together to network and share knowledge and best practice through workshops, creative activities and debate, see national minds web site for details.
   
• I've got a show coming up in October with the South London Women Artists, as well as well as the above.

In the meantime, if you'd like to commission me to work with you please let me know as well as taking commissions on paintings and portraits, I also work with groups and run workshops.

And don't forget if you haven't already been popping to view my billboard at Reeves Corner in Croydon, or my piece at the Ortus Centre which is part of the Maudsley Hospital and Kings College Institute of Psychiatry Complex Campus it's on Grove Hill Road SE5 and it opens quite early. It does very nice salads - just giving it a plug there and look forward to seeing you all soon.