I'm glad you're alive! at OpenHand OpenSpace Reading

A couple of weeks ago I went to see 'I'm glad you're alive!' an exhibition by two artists who have studied at Winchester School of Art. Peter Driver is due to complete his degree this year and Lydia Heath finished her BA in 2013.

I haven't visited a lot of shows lately as I had a baby 8 weeks ago, so this was the first she'd seen and the first I'd seen since she was born and it was a brilliant first show to see, despite the fact that I had a big distraction at the time.

Me and Merry look at Lydia Heath's work.

Above, woodcuts by Peter Driver.

The above woodcut 'Loving the Alien' was a particular favourite of mine, I love the colours. I actually bought this print for my wall at home, supporting fellow artists and all that!

A washing line of woodcuts by Peter.

A photographic piece by Lydia Heath.

Rich drinks some mulled cider and admires some of Peter's woodcuts.

Lydia's installation in juxtaposition with Peter's woodcut and photograph.

Collage and 'I'm glad you're alive' print by Peter.

Visitors to the exhibition could pick up a free 'I'm glad you're alive!' print.

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The woodcut plates themselves were one of my favourite bits of the exhibition. Much the same as when I saw Chuck Close's exhibition last year, there is something very beautiful about woodcut plates.

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More of Lydia's work.

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Merry seemed to enjoy herself too some of the time and so I'm sure we'll be popping to some more exhibitions soon.

Kerri Pratt : Urban Trace

I've been looking for local galleries to visit and had heard of the New Ashgate gallery in Farnham. I went for the first time a few weeks ago. There was a lot of work on display, but upstairs was a show by Kerri Pratt, and of all the work in the gallery, I found hers the most interesting. It reminded me a bit of the work of a friend of mine, Tessa Gray

http://www.axisweb.org/p/kerripratt

http://www.newashgate.org.uk/pages/biography/8909.html

It's been a busy year

It sometimes feels like I've not achieved a lot this year, when I look at what I've done artistically. However I did complete a three month print studio internship at the beginning of the year and set up a studio at home. I made a print edition for an exhibition during the summer and I also made 50 wedding invitations, 50 orders of service and 50 thank you cards for my wedding. I've also visited quite a few gallery shows.

Lately things have finally calmed down. Getting married and falling pregnant this year have both taken a lot of my time. Now that everything wedding is over, I've been in my studio playing around with oil paints and mushrooms (more on that soon).

Here are some pictures from the year, as I notice I've posted very little about what I've done, mostly I've just posted show reviews.

My studio is all set up and it's lovely to sit at a desk and mess about

 Hops left over from wedding decor. No idea what to do with them, yet.

 Thank you cards for the wedding. Simple linocut, handprinted at home with waterbased lino ink.

More lino Thank You cards.

I started printing with blue and moved on to orange.

Wedding invites, Linoprinted hops

Recently I've been collecting pinecones and spraying them gold for Christmas decs. 

A linocut I made for a fellow Moomin fan as a Birthday present back in January.

Anyway, I am due to have a baby any day now, so will I actually get more artwork done next year? Who knows. I will try though. Maybe the first few weeks will not be very productive, but hopefully I will find a balance. 

For the next few hours/days before the baby arrives, I will be making prints and painting, so I hope to post some more things soon. I've had a good 2013, seen some great work, bought a couple of lovely prints, made some fun work and learnt a lot through reading and my internship. I've especially learnt a lot about Linocutting and hand printing. I still have a long way to go though. I hope everyone had a good 2013 and I wish you all the best for 2014!

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Analogue 2013