Having space to be able to make is the thing that helps keep my life in balance. It is especially nice to be able to walk down the road, arrive, and tune in to what I was doing last time and connect again.. A typical day for me is lots of lovely people, a busy café and probably some washing up or some coffee making and lots of listening, planning and encouraging at The Olive Tree Café. Its then time for a dog walk, and hopefully some time down at my studio, unless it is Silent Witness on the telly! Loads of people and things inspire me, and like many, our beautiful countryside and landscape does too. Sometimes a cold rainy walk at dusk or to Barbury is the best. My studio is a bit of a hotch potch with a ) ash of enamelling and wools and cords everywhere. There are usually 3 or 4 things on the go, as I have the concentration of a gnat. I’m so lucky to have the space to do it.
I used to run the craft studio at TWIGS. When I left that, the thing I missed most was making with people and sharing that creative process. It is lovely to be doing some workshops again,-Make and Cake has been established nearly 2 years now, and I keep saying I will do some felting and some enamelling. It was lovely to do a couple of young carers workshops last year. I enjoy sharing my materials and gathering for new projects. I am looking at ways of combining some felting with enamelling, and enamelling onto good old copper piping . There are also some Chinese lanterns almost finished, I think I could happily spend all my time trying out different seed head forms…but then that would mean some concentration.
With thanks to Lynette Thomas for images and compiling artist statements.
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