reminders of it all

When I found out that my work had been accepted to be exhibited at the Buxton Museum and Art Gallery I'd imagined that I'd have one of the gallery rooms. You know, the kind of thing, a nice clean white space. However, I'd been allocated the reception, or foyer, area of the museum.

And, of course, being a museum it has all sorts of objects and artifacts dotted around the place (including a very random Police motorbike that you can see above). When I went to check on the space I thought this was going to prove to be a problem.

But, over the last few weeks I've spent a lot of time at the space and now I couldn't be happier about the weird random room I am exhibiting in. In a funny kind of way my exhibition has become an extension of the Museum's collections.

The display case, above, features the work created for my woodland children's book, although you could be mistaken for thinking it was one of the Museum's natural history cabinets. I like that. I really like that. In fact, I think this was the perfect place for me to hold my first solo exhibition.

I went back there again, yesterday, to do a 'Meet the Artist' afternoon. And, I took these snaps. Unfortunately, there aren't any photos of the pictures on the walls. But that's what happens when you have your camera set at Macro. Again, I'm happy with these shots, with my drawings reflected in the glass of the cabinets.

One more thing, it got me thinking it would be good to do an 'Meet the Artist' session here on the blog. I'm always being asked questions about my work, and I feel really guilty about not replying to everyone, even though I have good intentions of doing so, I just do not get the time. So, what if we did it here? On say Monday? If there is anything you'd like to know about pens, or my technique, or my inspirations or ANYTHING then please come back and ask me.

So, that's a date. See you here on Monday.

it's written in the stars

This is an oldie, yes. But it's not on my blog, no. Until now.

I did post it, for about five minutes, about a year back, when I'd drawn it. But I couldn't bear looking at it. I don't why I disliked it so much back then. Well, apart from the composition - which I still feel is a bit contrived. I remember posting it and then deleting it later the same day.

Today, while I was looking through the Moleskine drawings that I'd saved to a pen drive, I came across it again. And, with a year or so between us I feel that maybe I was being a bit harsh back then. It's not too bad. It's not great. Not my best. But it ain't awful or owt.

So, especially as I have nothing else to post, I thought I'd give it another outing. Better owt than nowt. As they say up North.

i started something i couldn't finish

Here's a couple of photos of the contribution I made to Miguel's Moleskine for the MoleyX project.

The whole set of photos from that project, so far, can be seen HERE. And, I highly recommend a visit to the blog for a little surprise from one of our drawing blog stars.

I also made a different version of this drawing in my own sketchbook which you can see HERE. Both of these drawings include three gorgeous buttons sent to me by the lovely Emma-Jane. A kettle, a pencil and a ladybird. Can you spot them? Thanks EJ.

you are my sister

You are my sister, and I love you.

nothing's right when you're not here

Bear with me guys while I get these buttons out of my system. I wanted to rework them for an idea I have - tell you more about that some other time.

As well as being a piece of sewing equipment, in the north of England the word 'bobbins' is also used for something that's a bit rubbish. So you could say "that's bobbins, that is" about something you don't like. I hope you don't say it about my drawing though!! Ha!

you're missing

Click on drawing to view.

There's a little village, not too far away, that I love to visit. It's a brilliant place to go and draw. Every house is different. Some are hundreds of years old, actually, most are. Some are so tiny you can't imagine how people actually stand up in them. I collected all the items for this drawing from the churchyard in this village. It also has one of the best tea rooms in the whole of the Peak district. Yes, I believe I visited them all.

There is also a little charity shop there which I've never seen open, until last week. It's just a tiny room in a very old stone building. FULL to the brim of stuff. Like some other shops in this area it has the oddest of opening times - every second Tuesday after a full moon from about 9:45 to 11:15am. So I was really excited to finally find it open.

Inside there was enough room for two customers and the lovely old lady that runs it. She told me how she'd raised £95,000 for the charity since she'd started it. How the row of shops had belonged to her family for generations. How her grandparents and great grandparents used to be a butchers and bakers in the village. How that had all changed since supermarkets had taken over the world. How all the old shops were now all being turned into luxury apartments. After about an hour I had to be on my way. I couldn't leave without buying something but there was nothing really calling out to me. I was looking for something to draw but even though I was surrounded by so much stuff I was feeling uninspired. Of course, that was nothing a rummage through an old rusty tin of buttons couldn't fix...