This watercolour and pencil study was made plein air last week under a wonderful shady tree. I had thought the waterfall area would be my subject but too many people nudged me further on and this is the result!

I’ve just taken an order across to the Platform Gallery in Clitheroe of these cards of my work. They are some older paintings along with the new Ammonite drawing one from this year. Thankyou The Dandy Arthouse Yorkshire for a great job in the printing as usual!

Fern fronds in our backyard sketch

I have had a new card printed by Dandyarthouse in Yorkshire in advance of the Self and Other upcoming show in Bolton. It is one of the sketches from my sketchbook exploring sea things and rocks that link to ‘The Waterbabies’ responses for my puppet experiments. If you would like to order some do get in touch with Dandy folks!

Hi everyone, I have been writing and reading for my Project Management module for my Artshealth MA over the past couple of months so painting and making have taken a bit of a back seat as I try to nail this, which is proving illusive but am gradually getting there I think. Planning for the Self and Other show is happening as well, which is going to be in August with a preview on Saturday afternoon on the 18th August so put that in your diary. It will be at Neoartists exhibition space in the shopping centre in Bolton. Am still drawing though and here is one of the ferns in our backyard to prove it! Onward and upward. Some interesting leads for volunteer work for my MA in puppetry for adult survivors of sexual abuse, but don’t want to jinx it by saying what it is! Feelers going out though and it is feeling more real which is great.

I have my clay masks back from being glaze fired and am super chuffed with them. I tried different types of clay namely stoneware, paper clay and black clay. They all had their pluses and minuses. I’ll set about making the canvas bodies next. The text comes from sections of Charles Kingsley’s ‘The Waterbabies’ . I had great fun writing it on the faces of these models over patches of white matt glaze.

It’s been a bit of a quiet time recently and have just been sketching in my book for the ‘Waterbabies’ explorations as discussed recently on this blog. I am waiting for my clay masks to be glaze fired so that I can set about making them into larger puppets. Some ideas about how to proceed are floating around so will share on here when I have got further. Meanwhile here is a sketch based on Gordale scar shots, as this is one of the special places mentioned in the ‘Waterbabies’ and the Ammonite sketches were done from life and just seemed to fit the theme. They are treasures of mine and are wonderful fossils. The doll drawing was made from one of mine from childhood.

Here are two of my first mask experiments for the proposed larger puppet of this fierce character from ‘The Waterbabies’ story by Charles Kingsley. I hope to use textile and stitch for the body as I have on the other smaller puppets. Text could also become part of it all. ‘The Waterbabies’ is really about how we abuse each other emotionally so it really fits with my work at the moment and especially for my MA for adult survivors of sexual abuse. We are really so fragile as human beings in so many ways, as well as being courageous and brave,  and I think Kingsley understood that. Will keep you posted how the puppet develops as the masks are fired and decorated. My puppets don’t seem to mind being shared especially as they are so interactive as they become animated, so the making of them is all part of it.

This has been a bit of an inbetween time really. I have a wonderful first edition of Charles Kingsley’s ‘The Waterbabies’ which I have been reading for the first page turning. It was not one of my childhood books, and reading it in adulthood has been a very moving experience. I am going to make one of my puppets in response to it on a larger scale, and will post some shots of my experiments soon. I have been sketching a little and am sharing these here. These are of the treats Mrs Bedonebyasyoudid gave the children and Tom in the story. They may become part of the puppet too, we’ll see. I made a large triptych before Christmas in response to the loss of my father, which will go on exhibition at the forthcoming show in summer for ‘Self and Other’ which I am co-curating for Neoartists in Bolton. I don’t really want to share shots of that on here before it is shown, so you will have to come to the exhibition for a viewing! Details will be posted on here nearer the time so keep an eye open.There are some great artists and poets participating and we are getting excited about it all. I can honestly say I am delving deep for this, and not everyone will like what I am doing, but I accept that it’s all part of it. Click to enlarge and see detail as usual everyone.

This glove puppet is one of my proto-type experiments for my Artshealth MA to use puppetry for social and personal connectivity, in proposed workshops with adult survivors of sexual abuse. Here is my interpretation of The Dong. I made the body out of some canvas found at dad’s house when clearing. I decided to write the words of the first verses of Edward Lear’s famous poem on the body before making it. I used one of my favourite crow feathers to write with after priming the canvas. I didn’t mind that the primer flaked off when I turned the body the right way round after stitching it. It seemed to add to the distressed quality of the Dong. I have been stitching the tails and flaps as well and adding pieces of dyed paper. I will share my latest additions in the next post. Dad read me the poem in one of our last conversations together. He was great at reading poetry and brought the whole thing to life in a very unique way. The puppet comes to life it its own way when animated by the hand inside the glove of the body. I really need to film it!