A drinks party, a Mary Rose Commission and the Blind Volunteer
We have now reached the year 2007 in my story blog. I had been invited to a drinks party and was introduced to Rear Admiral John Lippiett who is the Chief Executive of the Mary Rose Trust. He asked me what kind of work I did. I know from experience when people find...
Chichester and Emsworth Art Trails
When I first started painting I visited a cross section of artists who were part of the Chichester Art Trail to find out how and where they worked. Feeling confident about my own work, and having a commission and three solo exhibitions under my belt. I contacted the...
Guernsey exhibition, Specsavers and Condor ferries.
2006, my third year of painting was one hell of a year and gave me so much more confidence. Before I tell you about my second Commission I should let you know that I was also offered a third solo exhibition by the Guernsey Arts Council. What was going to be so very...
Introducing Whaam to Whaam
When the Touch Tours Department of Tate Modern gave me a commission to make a tactile version of Wham I was not given a deadline. In fact they insisted I take my time. It normally takes me, about a month or so to create one of my own tactile paintings, so I...
Commission for Touch Tours at Tate Modern
The success of my Tactile Exhibition at the Salisbury Gallery, took place in 2006 and the subsequent media interest, renewed my search to find at least one gallery that shows tactile paintings. Success at last, the Touch Tours collection at the Tate Modern had a...
First the blog, then the book.
I have recently been contacted by someone who asked if my blog covers what is happening now. It is not. The blog started a little further back,where I discuss my having attended college and University later in life. It then moves through to how I taught myself to...
TOUCHING THE PAINTINGS MAKES ME HAPPY
Prior to the opening of the exhibition in the Gallery at Salisbury Library I felt I had to be proactive and make sure the public knew that it was on. I sent details to Meridian South, BBC Radio Solent. the local press, local blind clubs and organisations. I also...
12 months and 22 tactile paintings.
It was only a matter of weeks after my first show that I was able to secure a second solo exhibition in one of the Art Galleries at the Salisbury Library. This time the show would run for three weeks. Twelve months to create 22 tactile paintings. I already had...
The stars of the show were the Tactile paintings
The launch of my first solo exhibition at The Oxmarket at Chichester was hugely supported by friends and family, as they would do, I got great feed back, lots of sales and felt really good. I really wanted to see what the public response to the tactile paintings...
Where do you go to touch art?
During one of my frequent visits to art galleries, I walked in front of an elderly woman. I turned to apologise. She told me she could not see and had lost her sight recently, she also said that her greatest loss. I asked her if there was anywhere she could go to...
A Solo Exhibition, the challenge, the Oxmarket
It is all very well making lots of paintings but after a while you wonder what to do with them all. Most of the time I gave them away to anyone who liked them. At about the same time, and as part of his Gap year, my husband and a friend went to Base Camp on...
Influence of Women’s hour and how to create a narrative painting.
Having made one contemporary painting called Freedom, it did not mean that I could create another one. In fact for a few days I could not think of anything to do. Whilst waiting for inspiration I really needed to paint something so I went back to copying, using...
My Space, my time, my Gap Year.
Deciding when to spend time in the studio was not as easy as I thought. In the very early days I just drifted in and out of the room and whilst it made me feel very happy, it was not really productive. I needed to work out a selfish, uninterrupted routine, just...
Light the fire and let the painting begin
Once my studio was restored, I spent wandering in and out, sitting by the fire, at the table, looking at the materials, and I got so much pleasure from being able to do this. The fire not only warmed up the bricks, it also warmed my heart. Instead of painting on paper...
The Artist and her studio
When I returned from Cornwall, with a burning desire to paint all the time, I needed to create a studio. The old empty stable attached to our cottage would be perfect. It had remained untouched because we had no idea what to do with it, and no spare money to spend on...