Loving this Indian Summer & Sunshine

After the intense heat of this summer, it is great to enjoy the wonderful warm sunny days of September that have a refreshing chill as the nights draw in. I want to enjoy them to the full and keep on making cyanotypes while the sun still shines. I now have quite a collection of prints on paper and am in the process of deciding what to do with them: collage, books and book covers, backgrounds for drawings? I have plenty of ideas. I have also made some mixed media paintings on board that include the cyanotype process and three of them are currently on show at the Neweira Gallery in Westerham owned by Kathryn Hobden, a highly skilled figurative artist who trained at the RCA. My painting (above) is titled 'The Hermit's Hut" and measures 3ocm square. It is for sale, see https://www.neweiragallery.com for details. The exhibition is called "Light Transitions." and runs from 26th September to 7th November. The gallery is near the zebra crossing opposite The George & Dragon in Westerham High Street and open Wednesday to Saturday, 11am to 6pm.

I am now fully immersed into Creative Shift the artist development course designed and tutored by Sally-Anne Ashley. I am also delighted that she asked to be a guide on the course as well as in her membership group ArtHouse Community. A free preview course called "Seeing More Clearly" introduced thousands of people to the way Sally-Anne works with an intensive week of self reflection centred on your own personal art journey, it was fascinating. We are now beginning week 4 of the 12 week course and my work is already changing as a result. I am wanting to do a lot more drawing and also play around with ideas for making little scenes in boxes. This is a direct result from the public response to My Family Cupboard that I showed at my open studio in June. At the moment I am basing my ideas on Dream Symbolism, but as I find different boxes to house the work, they will influence the theme. If you are interested in Sally-Anne's approach there are full details on her website https://www.sally-anneashley.com she lives and works in Southend-on-Sea, Essex.

I have also made another batch of ceramic book covers and have now glazed them, ready for firing. Thank you Sam at https://www.handsonclay.co.uk for teaching me, supplying the materials and firing them. I will decide what content to put inside once I have seen how they turn out. It is also possible to gild the fired clay rather than glaze and I am keen to experiment with this. Here is a sample piece, it seems very stable but some practise is needed to hone the application process. I intend to present the books wrapped and boxed, to make very unusual gifts for special occasions or personal journals for precious memories. Watch this space.

As part of Creative Shift we look at our materials and processes and consider practical issues such as how to organise our studio/work space to facilitate creativity. Well, my studio is so cluttered at the moment I think I shall be spending this week having a good sort out and trying to find ways of storing all my curious objects that are going to be crucial in the assemblage of my boxes. I do love a bit of organising but it always takes much longer than expected and I am keen to get on with the creating, so the sooner I start the better. See you in November, hopefully with a tidy, organised studio and maybe a finished box or two.

Best wishes JaneS.