“Inner Journey” is rich in texture and luminosity. Numerous glazes have been used. Oil on canvas 60 x 90 cm.

Cambridge Open Studios 2016

It’s so easy to get trapped in the studio buried deep in oil, medium, tempera and encaustic, but there are times when it’s vital to communicate in words. With Cambridge Open Studios ’16 just round the corner I thought now might be a wise time.

I have continued with my love of painting abstract landscapes using the same technique as last year, however, the use of tempera has been dramatically reduced. I will have 12 new pieces on show in July along with (I hope 🙂 a new style of encaustic work, which I have been experimenting with.

I’m very much looking forward to seeing some familiar faces and welcoming new visitors to my studio.

Having struggled for well over a week to link my posts from my website to Facebook I am delighted to say that I have finally managed to connect and though not smoothly; pure trial and error.

I contacted Jetpack’s customer help (for those who don’t know, Jetpack is a very useful plugin that provides all manner of things from social sharing to stats etc.) and although they contacted me pretty much immediately the solution was unsuccessful, which was to become the admin of that particular FB page. However, my persistence paid off when I simply deleted the WordPress app from settings in FB then reconnected again via the Jetpack’s plugin: Dashboard > settings > sharing > Facebook connect then Refresh. This simple act managed to resolve the issue. It is always so exciting when one can deal with ones own issues without the need to be guided by ‘young things’ who probably don’t know anymore just have an air of incredible confidence!

What I learnt from this exercise is that solutions to issues are more often than not staring right at you; sometimes we make bigger deals of simple solutions! 🙂

It seems my boys know what I like. They know I’m not one for dressing up for work in the studio. I like to be super comfy when I’m in the studio, but also as I tend to indiscriminately wipe dirty fingers and brushes wherever they rest, which is generally to the right side of my leg – overalls have been my saviour. I love the way they have personalised my new dungies with graffiti, however, I have requested further bespoke hearts on the pockets – I just hope they don’t forget and it is done before my eldest travels to Sri Lanka on 29th March for an unconfirmed length of time. You can’t beat a thoughtful, personalised gift made with love!