royal opera house
the start of the year has seen the conclusion of the delivered training for the current cohort of royal opera house practitioners, freelance artists and thurrock teachers participating in the 3rd cycle of creative connection, click here for more.
the triads are out in schools completing their mini projects based on principles of co-creation and collaboration with young people in schools.

news from the studio
work is progressing on the commissions i received following the '@home' show in december. larger convex and concave forms have arrived and am working on free standing surfaces and objects too inspired by a visit to the v&a museum. i will be applying for brighton art fair again this year and looking for further exhibition opportunities alongside open studios in june.

palace art fair
the palace art fair was a success with me being awarded the 'best of show' prize. the new concave and convex forms again garnered a favourable response.

since being back in the studio i have placed a large order for new forms for continuing this area of development within the work from the incomparable andrew jeffay at www.artiststretcherbars.co.uk and have been down to cornellissen's to invest in better quality and finer pigments. let the experimentation begin.

coming up
i will be exhibiting in a world aids day exhibition organised by positive east at the east gallery, 214 brick lane. contact me for more details.
also i will be holding my second annual '@home' show in soho, london. a chance to see the developments in the work over the year in a domestic setting and to meet other buyers and collectors. if you would like to attend email me, invite only.

brighton art fair
this month saw me take the new curved works i have been labouring over in the studio to brighton art fair. it was a busy and successful show with many interesting conversations with fellow artists and new audiences to my work; that were browsers and folk invited from my blog and twitter. photo credit to @masakepic for coming along to talk gesso and tweet about the fair. it was also a profitable event, sales were up and it was great to sell three new convex forms to a long time admirer and hear that they will have a place in his home in italy.

palace art fair
i will be showing in october at fulham palace at the annual palace art fair. i can be found on stand 1 right by the entrance to the new garden pavilion and by the credit card and wrapping stand. come say hello.

studio work
with brighton art fair dates looming next month, work in the studio is progressing. the curved forms have been covered in gesso and are smooth in readiness of the application of of my rehearsed marks followed by further reduction of the surface to reveal the traces of the pigment captured within the crystalline structure of the calcium. my archeology of marks.

a recent research trip to the 'concrete ears', second world war acoustic radar at denge, near dungeness was inspiring with uncanny similarities. the maths of the two forms being very similar. notes made,, photographs taken and extended research on the site and history of the project will inform what marks i address to these wonderfully concave surfaces.
these works will be shown for the first time in brighton, so please come along to stand 3, email me for tickets (subject to availability) 23-25th september.

open studios
june saw good visitor numbers to the studio and over the three weekends and i gave 'gesso demonstrations' and recipe cards away. some extracts and images of these are available on the blog work is developing well with the new surfaces and forms that i will be taking and showing for the first time at brighton art fair in september.

brighton art fair dates
are 23rd - 25th september. I am showing on stand 3 and have a number of 241 tickets should you care to come along, email me. see you in september.

move it, freeze it, write it
this month has seen the conclusion of my creative partnership project in school with a class of year 5 students in chadwell st mary, essex. we worked with the amazing dance practitioner katie lowe on a movement and sculpture project to improve literacy. truly a transformative project for all invloved, exceeding all expectations. a full report will be available from the royal opera house, creative partnerships office, thurrock.

additional work for royal opera house is coming to an end with the participants of creative connections going back to the host schools and running their mini interventions, exploring co-creation and collaborative approaches to creative learning. we are looking forward to recruiting for a third course

finally news from brighton art fair is that i have been accepted and will be showing in september. new work is ambitioned with my gesso surfaces becoming three dimensional. watch the blog for developments.

the palace here i come
i have been selected to exhibit at the palace art fair in fulham london. 6th - 9th october. i have been allocated stand number 1 in the new garden pavillion. news is that some other familiar and talented artist friends will be there too, natalie martin will be nearly opposite me. looking at the organisers blog it has been an overwhelming year for number and quality of applications and i eagerly await to hear if i will be going to brighton in september.
if you would like invite details then please email me.

open studios
the proof for my entry into the seos guide this year has arrived, checking dates and times that i am open it is a gentle reminder of only having 9 weeks in the studio. a feeling of little pressure is good to inspire commitment to action. i have decided to add days that i will be demonstrating to the open days this year. mixing and working with gesso will be my offer.
if you would like to know more about my open studio, drop me an emall or follow my blog as the weeks run into days leading up to the event. offers, early bird news and invitations will be released on the blog and via twitter.

november saw my return from a trip to the arctic circle; russia and norwegian border down the coastal route to bergen. an amazing trip full of awe inspiring sights and experiences, more of this on my blog colour was the most breathtaking mix of an ocular, physical and emotional response. and having a chance encounter with a colour scientist has lead to further enquires about a 'sci-art' project in the new year. colour chemists or sci-art collaborators reading this, mail me.

south east open studios 2011 is open for applications, visit www.seos-art.org and apply online to take advantage of the 'early-bird' discount, amazing value for £95 for the whole year.

i have been appointed as a creative practitioner for a creative partnerships project in a primary school in thurrock. move it, freeze it, write it! will be a movement, body sculpture and cross curricular literacy project. this commences in 2011 and will be a return to the education and socially engaged work i built my early career doing across the yorkshire region and at yorkshire sculpture park.

october saw me join gallerist and exhibition organiser patsy dixon from the liberty gallery and guy portelli, sculptor from television's dragons den fame as a guest panelist for the selection and hanging of the inaugural tonbridge open arts exhibition. it was a fun event and one that saw a diverse range and high standard of work submitted from local artists. work submitted, selected, hung and previewed within 9 hours. every town should hold one.

south east open studios dates for 2011 are the 3rd - 19th june and applications from artists, makers and groups are open from the 1st december online at www.seos-art.org we are holding the price for another year at £95 for early bird applications received before the 25th december.

i am having at '@home' show in soho, london in december. if you would like an invite mail me.

following the commercial and critical success that my new work received at brighton art fair last month i will be taking, beside my daily 10x10cm studio collections, new larger works as of yet unseen. i am continuing the enquiry of making marks upon a gesso surface. repetition and rehearsal; brevity and depth.
'a bold new direction'
'fabulous random colour explosions'
visitors said.

i will be located at stand number 9 in one of the two courtyard pavilions. i look forward to seeing you there.
if you require any tickets (for friday through to sunday, or the private view on thursday) email me including your postal address and I will send them to you.
first come first serve.

new gallery page live. check out here for new work that will be appearing at brighton art fair this week.

this september sees me at brighton art fair for the second year, come visit me on stand 2 to see new work. i will be taking a mix of larger work from the studio and look forward to having extended conversations and making some sales, work starts from £35.

If you cannot make the september dates, come visit me in october in london, at palace art fair in fulham.

this month you will also see a new gallery page uploaded onto the website. this will demonstrate the developments made this year and chronicle the change in scale and palette. work seen on this site is available for sale, enquire here to arrange viewing the work or to see further examples or to discuss a commission.

with recently completing the creative connections pilot project for the royal opera house, one of the last residential days saw myself lead a 2 figure body cast/drape workshop. a powerful image was created and I was reminded of the magic of the materials and process. thanks go to the co-creators of the sculpture that we left in the middle of the formal lawn of the hotel.

august is quiet within my consultancy life, the art-world seemingly going on holiday like some historical industry shutting down for the month, giving their ‘workers’ respite from the long hours and poor conditions. allowing me to escape to the studio.

surfaces and my language of marks prevails, within the daily collections and larger pieces. however with the recent experiences of getting ‘stuff’ under my nails, thoughts move towards form. i will post to flickr developments over the coming weeks as I complete work towards the collection that i will take to the brighton art fair over the 16th - 19th september.