Post Open Studios

It's a month since Open Studios, and I have now recovered. It was an exhausting, exciting, rewarding and memorable experience, and I'm looking forward to doing it again next year! It was great to talk to my visitors (195 over the three days), I had some lovely comments and sold enough to pay for the entry fee in 2018. I also learned a few lessons and know what to do (and what not to do) next time.

The boost to my confidence was massive, and I'm looking into putting on an exhibition in the future. I've even written an Artist's CV.

I was working on a display piece during the weekend which consisted of small sections of silk and metallic fabrics, bonded onto a black cotton background in the style of a mosaic. it has 5 colourways with 3 shades of each colour. Each piece was then free machine stitched in place, with a different style of stitching for each shade. I was able to pick it up and put it down without getting lost, and was able to demonstrate my free machine technique to any interested people. It is now finished, and I am very pleased with the result. So much so that I have started another similar mosaic, this time with a peacock feather as the inspiration. I have also designed a tree frog to join the gecko family - the sea turtle having been sold.

So all in all, it was a bit of a gamble that definitely paid off.

Here is the silk mosaic - Gaudi meets Klimt meets me.