Lost in the Wood

Evie looking regal (back view) Weekends in North Wales are stuffed full of interesting arty things to see/ visit at the moment as the annual Helfa Gelf (art trail) is in full swing across 5 counties. So far, me & Evie (see pic) have enjoyed our first time involvement in it. We've been very lucky to be sharing a lovely light & airy studio with two other colourful artists in Y iard (the yard), an idyllic old courtyard of restored workshops at Parc Glynllifon (near Caernarfon). Many artists are opening up their actual studios/barns/workshops/ spare rooms for the public to potter in but others, like us in Unit 9, are renting space for the month. There's definitely some advantage to this, a cluster of artists are presumably more likely to be visited especially when there's a cafe selling huge slices of tasty cakes in the grounds, the Black Cat Cafe . I recommend the ridiculously gooey beetroot & chocolate brownie (just not for a first date, bit too messy/

Needle Felted Bee Swarm Major excitement in the Lost in the Wood camp last week when my first proper exhibition piece was accepted in The Willow Gallery's 'Natural Selection' exhibition which opened on Saturday! There's some small changes and a few more bees have been added round the base but essentially it looks like this. Each bee was sculpted from merino tops fleece by hand using a barbed felting needle which is an enjoyable but fairly slow process, then they were layered up to create a busy swarm effect. I gave up trying to count the number of  bees that went into this piece. Trying to count them once I'd already fixed quite a few on was in hindsight a bit tricksy, it's over 100 at least. The dome is a piece of old lab equipment while the base is bespoke, made by a fantastic local wood artist John Roberts of Ogwen Art and Craft . In case you're wondering why the bees are unconventionally colourful, here's the artist statement that accompanies the

Evie starring in 'The Last Days of Summer' A bitesize blog today! Helfa Gelfa has begun in style, Evie has had her makeover & is now looking pretty ravishing / sinister (depending who you ask, apparently there's shades of The Wicker Man about her) at the centre of a strange tea party. Entitled 'The Last Days of Summer', it's a mysterious picnic with a hint of things unravelling. Evie with her crochet rabbit's head (a more ambitious version of my mounted bunny heads), somehow looks both imperious & slightly wanton and exudes a definite nymphish air. She's a work in progress & will by the end of the month be (hopefully) festooned with flowers, vines, creatures & ivy.  I feel very fortunate to be sharing a lovely light & airy studio (reminiscent of a lofty garret) with two other colourful artists, painter Alison Englefield (the photos of her work give the flavour but don't do the wonderful multi layered, intricate &

Royal Mile Performers Clearly I've been having too much fun & so have been neglecting the weekly blogging. Preparations are in full swing (hint-this is code for frantically working to get it all ready) for Helfa Gelf which starts on Friday, that's THIS FRIDAY! Before immersing myself fully in this though, I just wanted to do a brief round up of the rest of the Edinburgh jaunt. In a programme heavily weighted towards Richard Herring (probably my favourite ever comedian, consistently funny, innovative & hard working), I went to another of his podcast recordings. This one featured Bridget Christie (who the next day deservedly won best show in the Fosters Comedy Award- the renamed Perrier for anyone in their 30s or older), Ed Byrne & a 5 min comic poem by another favourite Luke Wright. Also saw RH's solo stand up show, 'We're All Going to Die' which was enjoyable but not quite as brilliant as previous stand out shows like 'The Headmaster'