Christmas Open Studio

I had a lovely weekend welcoming people to my Open Studio event. The mulled wine went down well, especially the non-alcoholic version, made from red grape juice, orange juice, brown sugar, grated ginger and cloves and a cinnamon stick. It had oranges and lemons cut up and thrown in as well; I was sipping away most of the day, with no ill effects afterwards!! I thoroughly enjoyed talking about my work -much of the time us artists are working on our own; it's great to share with other people.

I've never had a picture of me at my OS, Gina took this one and below we have Gina and her Mum.

On Saturday December 3rd I will be at Ashwell Christmas Fair, held in the beautiful church. There's always a lovely Christmassy feel to this fair and being local you see lots of people you know, so a warm, friendly atmosphere.

I am currently working on a lino cut to commemorate my grandson's birth. He is now 18 months old so a little late but I recently took a commission to create a lino cut for a child's christening, on their 1st birthday and thought I must create a print for Barney.

Here's the start of the design and work in progress.....

I've a printing day booked at the Curwen in December, at present I'm having withdrawal symptoms .. no printing for weeks!!

Alison Hullyer, a Cambridge artist, printmaker and illustrator now has a blog as well as her website - do take a look at her lovely, distinctive work. I first met Alison at her Open Studio in 2010, when I had just started my printmaking journey. When I try to add a link to Alison's blog, my post won't save, so do look her up!

Wimpole Hall Fair

What a tiring weekend but also a successful one; another step to get known by a wider audience. Sales on all cards, my birds and gift tags were steady and I sold both prints and some botanical work. Luckily a friend helped me set up on the Friday; the photo shows the start!

We ended up looking like this....

and this....

My print birds proved popular, they have either sheet music or map wings - so migratory or song birds!



Busy times!

This weekend I have a stand at a large, prestigious craft fair at our local national trust property, Wimpole Hall. A friend is helping me set up on Friday afternoon and then it's open from 10.30am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday. It's been a hectic time of mounting and framing prints, packing cards, making my print birds and gift tags. I think it will be hard work but good fun!! The photos show my studio in chaos!

The following weekend I hold my own Christmas Open Studio at my house, I've been putting up posters and delivering my fliers.

I also have work in an exhibition at a new gallery, The Art Nest in Hitchin and there's another exhibition coming up to take work to. When I retired I wondered how it would evolve .... now I know! I'd sum it up as interesting, fun, busy, a learning curve. One of the steepest learning curves has been building my website, which has been live for 3 weeks now! Take a look at

 http://www.annapye.com/

Day 4 and 5 of the walk.....

This was another long day, 18 miles to get to Hay on Wye. It was great weather and a lot of the walk was along a 10 miles ridge with beautiful views all around, We saw wild Welsh ponies, a lovely sight and lots of sheep and caterpillars!!

Not sure what I was doing! My knee survived the track down into Hay and we were pleased to find our B and B, Rest for the Tired!!

We wished we had organised a rest day in Hay to explore the book shops, but no rest for us so the next day we set off for Kington (only 15 miles) in bright sunshine. It was a fabulous walk with lovely views of the Wye as we climbed upwards.

Inspiring stained glass window in the church at Newchurch, where a notice said you could have a drink in the church; so we went in to have our lunch. Sadly, a notice inside informed us that the kettle was broken!!

 BUT, a little further on in Gladwestry there was a pub - hooray! A welcome break. Later Sue went to help a sheep with it's head stuck in the fence.... of course, as she got near, it struggled free!!

Interesting fungi....

and some more ponies amongst a group of monkey puzzle trees.

 The way down from Hertgest Ridge into Kington was uncomfortable and lengthy, but a night in a super B and B, De Lacey House and a meal at a crummy pub made everything OK!!

Cambridge exhibition and more walking....

On Friday evening I went to the preview of Angie Lewin and Rob Ryan's exhibition at Cambridge Contemporary Art. It was a fun evening with lots of people viewing the fabulous work. In my head I spent a lot of money!!

 I met Angie Lewin, it was interesting to talk to her -  I know Kate Sullivan who works with Angie and Simon, Kate is the daughter of friends of mine. Also had a chat with Rob Ryan, an interesting character - meticulous cutting.

Day 3 of Offa's Dyke

This was a long day - 17 miles to our B and B beyond Pandy.

We walked through this Bulmer's cider orchard, lots of apples but they would taste awful of course!!

We had our picnic lunch at White Castle, an impressive ruin.

Stunning scenery all around and inspiration.

 Our B and B didn't do evening meals and would drive you to a pub 1 or 2 miles away but you would have to walk back (in the dark, rural Welsh countryside) - surprisingly, another 1 or 2 miles didn't appeal so we had bought a salad that morning - not quite what you needed but tasty!! Also our room (up 39 steps!)! was designed for midgets. Beams everywhere, as you stepped over them in the floor you hit your head on the one in the ceiling! BUT there WAS a bath and the breakfast was good.

Day 4 will follow!

A morning in Saffron Walden and good news.

On Friday I spent some time with Helen at the Church Street Gallery in Saffron Walden showing her some of my prints. I'm glad to say she liked my work and chose several prints to sell at the gallery. I've always loved Saffron Walden and visited the gallery a few times, so it's exciting to have my work there. Thankyou for the coffee Helen and the tweet on Twitter!!

http://www.church-street-gallery.co.uk/

 I then went to the Fry Gallery to view Chloe Cheese's exhibition, I love the spontaneous nature of her work. I'm taking a course with her at the Curwen next week.

Oops!! My last post I didn't preview and check and left it mid sentence asI suddenly realised an item I was watching on ebay was about to end!! (I won it!!).

So this is to continue the last blog....

On the outskirts of Tintern there's an old railway station, made into a cafe where we bought our packed lunch (no shop in Tintern!).

In the grounds there were some examples of chain saw art, I liked thisWelsh knight and his faithful dog - it was a really sad legend, no wonder he looks so unhappy.

Fabulous scenery all around and lots of ups and downs!! It was on the way down to Monmouth that I discovered I'd hurt my knee when I slipped in the rain the day before - it was really painful going down, but OK going up or on the level. What a very long High Street Monmouth has!! I was limping badly by now, luckily we found a chemist open and I bought a knee support and pain killers. Our B and B turned out to be clean and basic, I wouldn't stay there again, we were the only guests!! but at the end of a day walking (13 miles) almost anywhere will do!! A huge plus was the BATH - HOORAY!!! We had a lovely meal at a pub nearby and the cooked breakfast was delicious.

Photo shoot oportunity - this is Sue at the bridge over the Monnow before setting off for Pandy; 17 miles ahead!!