Spring inspiration

Hello!

I have been neglecting the old blog for the last few weeks. Things have been fairly busy - firstly finishing my Cambridge collection, which was finally dropped off at Cambridge Contemporary Art at the end of March, then getting back to work on my forthcoming exhibition Paperworks at Masham Gallery. For this exhibition I've made a great little collection of new pinned pieces, and for the first time in nearly a year, a new giant map collage! This piece is inspired by spring, and the beautiful array of unusual buildings and stunning landscapes on the road between Leyburn and Aysgarth in Wensleydale. You'll have to come along to the exhibition, opening on May 18th, to see exactly which places I've included in the piece, but one thing you can clearly see here is that I've included one of my favourite features - a hot air balloon!

I'm also starting to prepare for the North Yorkshire Open Studios, which runs during to the middle two weekends of June this year. This will be my second open studios event, and again I will be exhibiting at ArtisOn along with Ian Scott Massie, Josie Beszant and Charlotte Morrison. I'm planning to have lots of new pieces (including some new linocuts hopefully) on display so you better come down and visit me. Visit the NYOS website to see all the other artists taking part and plan your route!

Well, better get cracking.

Have a good weekend!
Rosie x

Looking ahead

Hello!

This week I have made a start on my final piece for Cambridge Contemporary Art's exhibition 'Cambridge at it's Best', which opens on April 6th. I have spent the last few months putting together ideas and have ended up with 6 pieces, 5 of which are now complete and below.

The Fountain, Trinity College

King's College Gate

The Round Church

The Wimpole Folly

The Bridge of Sighs

I shall be delivering them to the gallery in just over a week, so this week I have started to look ahead to what's next. I have two 'big' exhibitions this year (shows that I have helped organise); The first is Paperworks at Masham Gallery in May, the other is Down Hidden Tracks, with Charlotte Morrison, at Fountain's Abbey in September. Time seems to have flown and everything is suddenly a lot closer than I imagined it to be - luckily I have tons of ideas and plenty of materials so now I just have to get on with it!

My obsession with follies is continuing, constantly giving me new possible subjects for work. I am so intrigued by these often bizarre buildings, and never realised how many are in this area. I have just finished a picture of one just outside Richmond called Culloden Tower - built on the parkland of Yorke House (now demolished) in 1746.It's a beautiful tower, and one of a number of follies in that area.I took a few shots of the pinning process, so you can see how the piece comes together.

My next few pieces will be over buildings at Fountain's Abbey - probably starting with St.Mary's Church, and another piece of somewhere in York!

Watch this space!

Pins and paper

Hi!

I've just been uploading some pictures of the two pieces I've finished this week, and couldn't help noticing the amount of work I've produced so far this year. I feel like I've been going straight from one project to another, and my work output certainly reflects that. I'm really pleased about this, as not only have I increased my productivity by a good amount from last year, but I'm pretty pleased with the pictures themselves. I know using phrases such as 'increased productivity' doesn't chime with the romantic image of an artist following their inspiration, but it's great feeling like I have lots of work to do, and even better knowing that I'm getting through it. There have been a number of times in the last couple of years when I was desperate for a project, and a deadline, so having lots in place this year is a good thing.

It seems I have the humble dressmaking pin to thank for this, as this latest collection of my work has proved very popular so far. I must admit I really enjoy the process of pinning the papercut pieces, and it's much cleaner and less gluey than my other papercuts!

Pinning my latest papercut.

If you are interested in seeing some of my new pinned work, visit The Biscuit Factory in March, Cambridge Contemporary Art in April and Masham Gallery in May - that way you'll see brand new pieces in their relevant locations!

Here are the new pieces I've finished this week:

The Round Church, Cambridge

King's College Gate, Cambridge

Have a great weekend!

Rosie x

Pictures of Home

Hey!

This week I've not been up to much actual 'making', so I'll keep this blog brief. In a time when I have a huge amount of pieces to make, suddenly I feel a bit restless and distracted, and don't feel like doing much. Typical! I've been looking at Cambridge a lot lately as I'm involved in an exhibition at Cambridge Contemporary Art in April, but I had the urge this week to jump ahead and make a start on my work for Paperworks, the exhibition I am curating at Masham Gallery in May.

I'm really excited about this show, the selection of work will be amazing and will certainly showcase the medium of paper brilliantly. I'm also excited about the work I will be supplying for it, as I feel I can have a crack at some subjects I've been meaning to work on for a while. Such as York!
York has been my home for over 3 years now, and yet I have only ever made one York collage (of Bootham Bar, below), despite the unbelievable array of beautiful buildings here. I would like to think that this year I'll get a chance to work on lots of York pieces, and I've started with one of my favourite buildings, The Treasurer's House, located behind the Chapter House of the Minister.

Bootham Bar, 2012

The Treasurer's House, 2013

I'm looking forward to working on more, and after a walk around the walls last week I am full of inspiration.

One more thing - I will be dropping off four new pictures at The Biscuit Factory in Newcastle this weekend, which will be on display as part of their spring exhibition from March 8th.

Have a great weekend!

Rosie x

Pencil to paper

Hi!

This week I've been spending a lot of time researching subjects all over the country for various galleries.In the next few months my new pinned papercuts will be popping up in Haworth, Newcastle, Cambridge, and some brand new pieces in Masham Gallery. It's a great excuse to spend time trawling the internet, scanning maps and going out in search of the perfect folly. It also means I have a lot of drawing to do.

I never used to be a big fan of drawing - I've always liked the idea of having lovely sketch books bursting with beautiful illustrations, but in reality I was never pleased with my drawing style and frequently abandoned new sketch books after 'spoiling' them with one bad doodle. Recently however I've really started to like my drawings, and now a detailed line drawing of my new subject is an indispensable part of the process. As well and making sure I have all the proportions and composition right, I like the fact that I have a proper example of 'prep' - something I can compare the final papercut to, or pull out if I ever want to tackle the same subject again. For the last year or so I've been doing all these drawings on A4 office paper, something I enjoy using as it's such an easy surface to work with, a good size for my pinned pieces and it's cheap! But as of this week I finally decided to take the risk of starting a proper sketch book- one that hopefully I'll be proud of. Here are a few snaps of my drawing collection...

My style of drawing reflects my style of artwork in general - I don't like to use shading, and instead prefer to reduce a building or landscape to a series of solid lines, and then create depth another way, whether it be through the texture in the paint, or as with my recent work, the arrangement of the cut paper. I can attribute this style to my first term at university, when I discovered the work of a Scottish artist named Chad McCail (whom I was lucky enough to have a tutorial with) whose paintings and drawings are incredibly detailed, yet simplistic looking due to their lack of shading and tone. As well as introducing me to gouache paint (which I love and use exclusively now), he also made me realise that I didn't have to try and draw everything in that sketchy, still life way that I'd been taught in school. I loved the idea of flattening a landscape and ending up with lots of solid, clean shapes, which apart are completely abstract, but fitted together create a scene.I have worked with lots of materials and in totally different styles since then, but I ended up returning to those original ideas years later, and they shape my work today.

Tenby Harbour, 2012

The first two subjects to enter the sketchbook are for pieces going to Cambridge Contemporary Art in April. The Wimpole Folly which is just outside Cambridge, and the Round Church (drawings below). This week I also finished a piece for the Imaginarium Gallery in Haworth - The Beamsley Hospital.

Better get back to my drawing, have a great weekend!

Rosie

New year plans

Happy New Year!

I was intending to have written my first blog of 2013 before now, but I'm pleased to say that I've been pretty busy so far this year.

Being January, my first unexciting task is tackling the annual tax return. But luckily I have plenty of more interesting things to get on with too, such as getting some pinned papercuts ready to deliver to The Heart Gallery this weekend. It's a beautiful gallery filled with some fantastic work, and situated in the heart of Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire. The Heart gallery was one of the very first places to display my work 4 years ago, so I'm really pleased to going back. I've made three pieces inspired by the local area;

Gibson Mill, Hardcastle Crags

Lund's Tower, Earl Crag

and The folly in the woods, Cottingley

Next month I shall be taking some work to The Imaginarium Gallery in Haworth, so I am already planning some more West Yorkshire pieces.

I was really excited to be contacted last week by the Cambridge Contemporary Art gallery, who have invited me to take part in their April exhibition this year. It is such a gorgeous gallery that I had the pleasure of visiting in 2011, and I have wanted to have some work in there ever since. It also means that I have an excuse to research all the beautiful buildings in and around Cambridge, and maybe do a piece on the Wimpole folly, an amazing tower nearby.

I've also spent some time this week researching and applying to some more creative events. I am going to be enjoying my second year of North Yorkshire Open Studios in June, but I am also hoping to take part in Art in the Pen in Skipton again in August, as well as the Saltaire Arts Trail and the Art Market in Holmfirth. Fingers crossed I am successful...

So as you can see, with this lot plus the Paperworks exhibition at Masham Gallery and my joint exhibition with Charlotte Morrison, Down Hidden Tracks at Fountains Abbey in September, it's shaping up to be a busy year. I better get back to work!

Have a great weekend!
Rosie x