Lost in the Wood

Gwen Owen painting in the Creu suntrap It's all change at Parc Glynllifon at the moment. Our shared Creu studio has seen been transformed by Gwen Owen's efforts to ready the workshop for the current exhibition (hopefully the start of an occasional series), 'Tranquility'. Now, 'Tranquility' is a concept I've rarely experienced and don't particularly expect or strive for. However, I'm glad it evidently exists and it certainly sounds like a desirable state. Chiefly, this bijou exhibition showcases the paintings of Gwen Owen and Barbara Larkin (most of the rest of the Creu collective are on the poster because Gwen is inclusive and kindhearted). I particularly like Gwen Owen's large square canvases with vibrant, almost abstracted, floral landscapes bursting with colour and texture. Based in her coastal studio, Barbara paints mostly in oils but also employs water colours and encaustics (hot wax) and she's a very warmly welcomed guest artis...

Me in Creu Studio, 1st weekend of Helfa Gelf Art Trail Evie, queen of the studio We're half way through this year's Helfa Gelf art trail so I thought I'd better make some kind of comment on this fab open studios event. With Evie now firmly established in our shared studio ( 'Creu') at Parc Glynllifon, participation in our second Helfa Gelf feels much more relaxed than last year's debut. Despite some nerves, last year was an incredibly positive experience: I got to know some lovely artists/ makers, it galvanised me into getting my act together, I had a chance to introduce my work to the public (in a gentle, supportive way) & be part of something I think is a great boost for the area (for artists & the public). It seems a shame then that there was apparently a bit of struggle this year to secure some of the funding to allow the co-ordinated event to go ahead. Think we've got enough signs now (more not shown!) All the artists financia...

'Love Crochet' magazine 'Love Crochet' Autumn 2013 There was thrilled excitement at Lost in the Wood cottage over the publication of my first piece of press publicity!!    'Love Crochet' magazine (Autumn 2013, issue 5) has a splendid article on craftidermy featuring some of my crochet bunny heads. I was really pleased that a lot of what I'd contributed did actually end up in the article, including the recommendations of other artists creating in other mediums such as Mister Finch's textile insects & Zoe Williams weird & wonderful needle felted creatures. It was a very small but interesting glimpse into how publications source stories and use the information provided. Hopefully it'll lead to more opportunities, especially since between us, me & my proud mother surely must have helped boost circulation of this issue! The rest of the magazine is very colourful and enjoyable too! Fittingly, this was Hector's (big grey bunn...

Evie, final week of Helfa Gelf  Ooh, there's a lot going on at the moment and maybe the blog is feeling a bit neglected, so it's time to lavish a little attention on it and do a round up of a few things. Firstly, a brief consideration of two things coming to an end. September's Helfa Gelf art trail was a brilliant experience for me as I got a lot more exposure (the good, socially acceptable kind) than I could have achieved on my own, I met a lot of lovely people and got to see their reactions to my work. Predominantly this was amusement (Evie, mounted heads, squirrel in milk jug etc), delight (crochet cakes & rack of toast) or being slightly disturbed (also Evie/ woolidermy heads). I've written before about how much I enjoyed being with the other artists in our temporary studios (see recent previous posts) so I will not retread this happy ground but it was very entertaining and enjoyable and I would definitely recommend the experience to other artists thinking...