Those of you who have seen the crafting stash in my kitchen (or read previous blog entries) will have noticed that I have a bit of an obsession with Stickles Glitter Glue, whether this be the original or the Tim Holtz 'distress' varieties.

It is a rare thing for a card or piece of art to escape the inclusion of a little bit of sparkle and I prided myself on having a pretty comprehensive collection of colours - or that was until I popped in to the lovely Arty Crafty in Godalming at the weekend.

I couldn't believe my eyes with all the colours on offer.  The problem was because I have so many it was difficult to know for sure which ones I already had!  I picked five that I knew I definitely didn't have and will compile a list so that I can be better prepared in the future and pick up any missing ones when I next visit.

The only other problem I have (apart from being a few pounds poorer) is where to store these new little gems . . . ?

Last Friday was that special date on the calendar known as 'Crafty Friday at Steph's'. It's been three months since I got together with Steph, Tamsin and Karen and that has seemed a really long time.

Once food was out of the way, including the scrummy strawberry based pudding, it was time to clear the table, break out the wine and chocolate and knuckle down to some serious crafting!

Tamsin had managed to to stab herself in the hand while gardening the previous weekend and had a puncture wound that had been super glued back together (it was under a dressing and not on display thankfully!).  This meant that she couldn't easily make the jewellery that she had planned and so Steph gave her a copy of Tim Holtz' first book to look through.

For those seasoned crafters amongst us, we all know the delights of Ranger products (just how many times have I mentioned Stickles glitter glues on this site?) and the guru of all things grunge and distressed in the Ranger product line is Tim Holtz.

Tamsin was reading up on the 'distress crackle paints' and it stated that you can "use this on paper, photographs, grunge board, wood - infact anything that you are fed up of looking at and want to change".  At this Steph said jokingly "Like Stuart?" (her hubby) at which point more than one snort of laughter erupted from around the table.  We all had visions of Stuart falling asleep and then Steph creeping up on him with all her Tim Holtz products (and she has plenty) and 'distressing' him!

Steph's daughter thought that this was really mean - but the vision will be there for ever more now.  It still makes me giggle to think of it - what 'distress' method would one employ - crackle paints or an alcohol ink patina I wonder?

This is a belated entry from the 17 June. I have had PC issues this week and sadly missed the boat to share this in 'real time' as Bucks Open Studios finished today.

17 June 2012

I spent today with Cath over at Emerald Gallery - along with a Smart car full of my mixed media 'treasures' to share with visitors so that they could better understand how I go about producing my pictures.

I've mentioned before that I like to take step-by-step photos when I work and decided to nip in to Jessops in the week and get a set printed so that I could display them on A2 size foam boards.
Being an 'open studio' event I also printed some pictures of my studio space (my kitchen) to show that you don't need to wait until you have a 'studio' to be creative.  It also showed that when I work  I use the cats scratching post platform as an extra work surface!

The photo below shows some of the items that I brought along - plus, if you look closely, the fab biscuits that Cath provided along with lots of cups of tea to keep my crafting energies up!

We had a steady flow of visitors and it was great to meet and chat people about what I do. It was really lovely that some of my chums from Marlow Art and Crafts Society popped in (Wilma and Alan and Janet and Joe) to give their support too - thank you it meant a lot.

At the end of the day I dropped Cath off home, but not before a short break in the journey to take a look at some very fine fellows!

Taking part in Bucks Open Studios has been a really positive experience and I have met some lovely artist / makers as a result. It has reinforced in me that making things makes me happy and it has really encouraged me to try and work out a schedule so that I can do more.

After all of the excitement yesterday morning learning that my pictures had sold from the Marlow Exhibition, I had a fabulous afternoon helping Cath over at Emerald Gallery to get ready for Bucks Open Studio - the private viewing of which takes place this evening!

I say 'helping' in the loosest of terms. I learnt that I am 'not yet competent' at putting hooks in the right place and should not be left alone with a hammer as tried to knock a nail through a brass fitting which was never going to happen! Cath on the other hand was more than 'competent' and by the time I left, all the pictures were hung in collections 'by artist' and looked great.

I don't want to steal Cath's thunder on the picture front so will just share one shot here - as I'm sure not many of us will have seen the gallery space in this 'minimalist' state before . . .

Looking forward to meeting the other artists this evening over a glass of wine - and wish everyone a successful show!

Popped down to our exhibition yesterday to replenish my greeting card stock and had a LOVELY surprise - someone had bought both of my original artworks!

My chums Val and Maureen were stewarding on Tuesday and Val told me that a group of four people came in who were passing through on a boating holiday. They were moored down in Higginson Park and saw the sign for the exhibition and wandered in. The gentleman who bought the works said he never expected to be heading back to his boat with two pictures - but had never seen anything quite like them before! (as he handed over a cheque I take that to be in a good way).

I took a few pictures while I was stewarding on Saturday and share these below.

The exhibition runs up to 5.30pm on Sunday 10 June so there is still time to pop in  . . .

My feet ache - what a day!

We have all been busy down at the Church Hall setting up our Jubilee Exhibition.  I'm delighted to report that we had to put up more screens as we had so much work submitted. This is an open exhibition and we have some guest exhibitors showing work alongside club members which always makes for an interesting mix of work for visitors.  I have my eye on one picture in particular and will be taking my cheque book along when I steward tomorrow . . !

We introduced a new category this year for 'first time exhibitors' and have six entrants which is really encouraging for all of us - and it's not everyday you get your work shown in the same show as an RA Summer Exhibition exhibitor too!

I've put in two collage works based on Marlow Regatta - the picture below is me in my brothers garden sharing one work in its unmounted form. I'll update my gallery section in due course with these so you can see the finished works in their framed glory (along with the five Henley Royal Regatta works for Bucks Open Studio's - it's been a really busy arty week).

I love this picture as have used the faces of Ben's nephews and chums in place of the rowers in my original photo and it really makes me laugh to see their grinning faces looking out at the girls on the riverbank.  I've taken step-by-step photos and will share some of these in future posts.

Hope to see you in Marlow for our show.