Greetings from Blue Door Studio (Emma, Sarah, Lyn and invited  friends Tom, Jonny and Carol) and apologies for not posting this sooner! Sarah and I have been part of the Creative Peninsula 2014 and  last Friday both Sarah and myself had stalls at Craft in the Square in Conway Square Newtownards Co Down. It was a great success and drew interest from Belfast Bangor and beyond. 

That was followed by much tidying and sorting of  unframed work ready for the Open Studio event. We have already been open for 3 days and will open again tomorrow Sunday  for the final day from 10am - 4pm.

So far we have been encouraged by our visitors who are keen to ask about our use of mediums and subject matter. So if you are free tomorrow do call by and see a range of art work large and small and meet a wood turner, jeweller and a leather worker and printers and painters! You will get a warm welcome.

Facets of Art exhibition coming up soon!

We would like to invite everyone to come along to our exhibition in Killyleagh Library next Saturday morning to share the refreshments and to view our work! Then maybe head to the famous Pic Nic or the Dufferin Arms for lunch followed by a visit to Kingfisher Craft Gallery and so on!

Another charity exhibition this time it's in aid of Marie Curie, St Colmcille's Scouts and Guides &St Joseph's   Primary School. Again Sarah and I have work in the show. It is on for 3 days so hopefully you might pay a visit .Please note Chris Deaden will do a watercolour demo on the Saturday  and Bill Gate will do a Portraiture demo on the Sunday!

 Sarah and I are exhibiting work in this worthy exhibition which opens tonight and finishes on Saturday. There is always a lot of variety of subject matter and medium which makes for an interesting visit. Please excuse the rumpled invite I blame it on my rather large handbag where things gravitate to the bottom of the bag!

Pastel Society of Ireland Annual Exhibition

I will be exhibiting with the Pastel Society of Ireland from Saturday 5th April until Monday 5th May. It is a selected exhibition of members work. I have 5 pieces in the exhibition 2 are Titanic related and the other 3 consist of  landscape scenes around Killinchy and a still life painting of pomegranates. Everyone is most welcome to the opening and to all events like demonstrations by members.

You can find out more about the exhibition on the society's facebook page here.

Hope you can make it!

Charity auction in the Mac

Last week I was exhibiting two pieces with Carrie Neely in an online auction. Painting on top is called Harvest 1 and the one on the bottom is called Community. Unfortunately the photos do not indicate actual size please go to www.32auctions.com/artfornspcc for further info.

Although the auction and exhibition is now finished I hear some pieces are still being sold - check out Carrie Neely's facebook page for more info! 

 More info about the exhibition...
Art for NSPCC Exhibition and Silent Auction organised by NSPCC volunteer Carrie Neely of over 100 works of art and sculpture in aid of NSPCC Changing Childhoods Appeal Northern Ireland. Exhibition of all artworks can be seen at The MAC Belfast over three days on the 24/25/26th March 2014 (10am-7pm). Facebook event / art for NSPCC Twitter / #artforNSPCC More info / www.carrieneely.com
 Sponsored by David Scott Tiles www.davidscotttiles.com

Exhibition up and running

Unable to blog since I realised I needed to concentrate on getting some painting done for the Land air and sea exhibition in the Castle Espie Gallery . This exhibition included both daughters and myself and I didn't want to let the side down! The exhibition was opened on the 2nd May by the most colourful artist we know, yes Paul Walls. He generously gave up his time to come and do the honours! Not only did he wear one of his super colourful shirts but also looked very dapper in a smart tweed jacket! Lots of friends and family and friends of friends turned out for the occasion. The exhibition continues until Sunday 9th June.There are 43 individual pieces of work on show.

Snow gone now strong winds and heavy rain

You can paint snow, photograph it, watch the birds feeding etc. Strong winds and heavy rain does not inspire me to paint! So it's time for more still life painting or a case of trying to find that photo you left somewhere for just that rainy day!Invariably you can't find it and get side tracked by other things! Like tidying up! So here are a couple of photos of still life subjects which may come in handy!

Suggestions only to get the one with the paint and brush going!

Snow damn snow!

Was so looking forward to the Pastel Society of Ireland's first event of 2013.Last night was packed and ready to go for the one day pastel workshop lead by Betty Christie. I love her work and was keen to learn some new techniques using collage with pastel. Unfortunately it had to be cancelled due to the snowy conditions. This also meant that the Annual Poster Competition was also postponed. I had spent yesterday painting a pastel picture for that competition. I had bought some pomegranates

and before we devoured their delicious contents I decided to use them for a still life painting! Should have taken the picture before putting it in the frame sorry!Two pastel pictures in one month that's a record for me!

Where to see over 100 Samuel Peploe paintings!

Just love Peploe's work and hope to get to see over 100 Peploe paintings in the Scottish National Museum of Modern Art in Edinburgh.I am intrigued by the Scottish Colourists who seem bold now in 2013 nevermind when they emerged in the early 1900's . They sadly went out of fashion just before World War II. Fortunately they were 'discovered'in the 1980's. This second still life really shows how Peploe was influenced by French painters such as Cezanne and Manet. Samuel Peploe died in 1935.

New Year and a new me!

I am hoping that this year I will be better organised and more productive art wise! I'm already a week late but at least I've made it to my blogspot.Currently considering what to paint now that I've tidied up the studio. In May Emma and Sarah and I are exhibiting in the Castle Espie Gallery , Co Down on the shores of Strangford Lough in May this year. I need 10+ pieces of work that I'm pleased with that really means painting loads! Have been out with my new camera taking pics of the lough for inspiration here are a couple to let you see what I was looking at!

I'm back !

A number of commitments took up all my time and energy since August 2011 but I'm back with more art related stuff and renewed determination to improve my painting! So here goes... I generally paint in Acrylic but recently I've been getting out my oil paints ,watercolours and yes my pastels. I have enough art materials stashed away I could open up my own art shop! So given the general financial situation I have decided to make use of all my hoard. I also have enough frames to last me for years so should I paint something I'm pleased with I will hopefully be able to frame it myself. The studio is really quite spacious but filled now with half finished paintings and frames and some works by my two artist daughters. Anyway here is a recent painting framed up in one of my ready made frames! It is acrylic and is quite textured

The painting is 10 x 8 ins no title as yet!

It's Saturday so it must be Venice

Arriving on a cruise ship in Venice is an amazing experience! This ungainly ship glides along close to the buildings in order to get to the docking area. All these photos were taken standing on our balcony. We were so high up we could see most of Venice and could look up the canals as we passed. The first photo shows several cruise ships already berthed in the dock.

Still in Pompeii

Just a few more images of Pompeii. As we neared the end of our tour the place began to fill up as more tours arrived. Hence a lot of photos had more people in them than I would have liked! The photo of the garden was taken in one of the grandest houses. The tranquil garden would have been surrounded by the house and other outbuildings.The seated figure was a caste taken from the space left by the person who had died (from gas inhalation).

It's Salerno so it must be Thursday!

From the picturesque port of Salerno where in WW2 the Allied forces disembarked to start battling their way up through the mountainous hinterland.We on the other hand were on a coach heading for Pompeii and 79AD. We will see Mt Vesuvius and a once thriving empire left in ashes following a volcanic eruption. The 3 photos in the post show Mt Vesuvius , a beautiful fresco in one of the houses and a selection of artifacts found on the sight.It is intersting to note that the fresco artist knew how to show perspective as early as 79AD!

It's Wednesday so it must be Rome!

Did not get off the ship. A lazy day and no photos! Instead read an excellent book on Michelangelo borrowed from the ships library. His journey through life was complicated but he brought so much to his art.His story is inspirational!
I picked a photo of David where for the first time Michelangelo turned the head of his subject to create more impact.Prior to this statue other artists always had the head looking directly in front.
Tomorrow we head for Salerno.

More pictures of Pisa

It's Tuesday so it must be Italy!

Docked in Livorno. As a small group we decided to avoid the recommended cruise outings and do it ourselves on a budget. Amongst the 6 of us we has a variety of skills and all could be put to use! From Livorno we took a bus to the train station having bought both bus and train tickets independently and got discount. All this was done with our basic Italian i.e. we could say please and thankyou and sign! Since no one had a street map the Pisa tourist office was visited to find a free one which had the famous Leaning Tower on it.We had a great day out in a beautiful city.

It's Monday it must be France!

Didn't stay long had a bus to catch! Whistle stop tour of Nice but enjoyed galleries in the narrow streets of the medieval town of St Paul de Vance.

Where have I been?

Don't know where the time goes but having attended another funeral (of one of my peers) I've decided to make every day count. Here is a photo of Barcelona airport, HONEST!realise I should have cropped the bottom of the pic but here it is warts n all! This was the start of my grand tour!