Iris's First Day at School.

 (Luckily the hair bands stayed at home!)

9/11 - Ten Years Ago a Tragedy Shook our World.

Today, eighty-eight 7,000 watt lights (visible from 60 miles away) 

will help New Yorkers remember their lost ones. 

Visit Arthouse Meath at Top Draw London.

If you are  visiting Top Drawer London,  Make sure you stop at The Arthouse Meath - stand LL15 and say hello.

A busy Friday getting ready...

Unfortunately I can't make it, so

Good Luck x

To visit the Arthouse Website follow this link.

To visit the Top Drawer website follow this link.

Lunchtime....

The Firebird A Russian Folk Tale.

This is the tale of the Tsarevich Ivan and his most noble quest to catch the firebird who has been stealing the golden apples of his father, the Tsar Vyslav Andronovich. With the aid of a kind grey wolf, the young prince completes his quest and wins the heart and hand of his own true love, Tsarevna Elena the Fair. Turn of the century Russian book illustrations are beautiful. This fabric is an homage to Ivan Bilibin, Boris Zvorykin, and all the other great artists who created those timeless classics. This fabric has been made By Cean Irminger a mosaic designer  using Spoonflower. (shop here) It makes me wonder if my Itchycoo stories could be used in a similar way.

Dinosaur Light Graffiti Cool

San Diego resident and  Los Angeles local Darren Pearson uses a combination of intense flashlights, long exposures and lots of creative energy to make these beautiful dinosaur light sculptures.

It's Coming Down.

When I saw the Grand Canyon it took my breath away. Like David Hockney I wanted to capture its grandeur by making a montage of images. I loved his 1998 painting, A Bigger Grand Canyon (Below) A set of  sixty interlocking bright, acid coloured canvases. I planned to paint my own smaller version. If you look at my final painting you would never guess its American roots because it bears no resemblance to the sketch underneath. It took me 6 months  trying to work out how I was going to do it. 

 David Hockney's 60 canvases above with a study below.

During a visit to Australia in 2000 I saw a huge number of aboriginal artworks. I found myself profoundly affected by their style, earthy tones and reference to nature. Back home I started to paint, I abandoned my plan and just got on with it and went with wherever it was going to take me. This was my first dotty picture, it's 24 canvases - painted with a tooth pick. It took a year to paint. 3 years later I see it for the first time as a whole picture. I painted each canvas in 2's only taking the meeting edges together. Luckily when it did go on the wall it worked. It was only after seeing it up and having that space of 3 years that I could face picking up a paintbrush again. Pink Sock Soda Pop was the catalyst for all my subsequent paintings. 

It was influenced by a (flipped over) Paul Smith Ad! 

 So 9 years later it's coming down!!!

 Details

 How High? This High!

How Old? - not sure...

 Putting them up wasn't great either. As they were the cheapest canvas I've ever used, brought in from when I was cabin crew working back from America - they are all slightly out of shape. My kind framer tried his best to rectify this, however as no frame was the same a bit of blue tack and duck tape became it's best friend by helping to butt up or space across. 

 Poor Giles.

Our sitting room has 52 holes that he has filled- each needing to be drilled, filled, sanded, re filled - sanded and then again just to get the wall back to normal. 

Our hallway down stairs has 25 holes.

That's just the start.