A couple of miles down the road from our house is Biddulph Grange Garden, a National Trust property I’ve visited many times since I was a child. It’s proved to be the perfect place to take an unsettled babe, so inspiring and exciting in equal measures.. He falls asleep, I get to wander and dream.

I’ve visited so many times over the past few months that I’ve begun a whole new body of work inspired by the gardens, in particular, Mrs Bateman’s garden, a small, intimate space set out in the cottage garden style, with dahlias fighting for space in its beds.

Here are some shots of work in progress.. I’ve been continuing my ongoing quest to properly understand oil paint, so there are pieces that work, but also pieces that don’t -and they get the Stanley blade treatment.. It’s interesting, working during these snatched periods of time, having to suddenly stop, coming back the next day and finding I hadn’t cleaned my brushes .. It’s nice to think it’s only temporary, although I have to occasionally remind myself not to wish my time away, he’ll be grown up before I know it.

As a parting shot I’d also like to recommend the following painting blog – happy reading!

‘(standard) INTERVIEW is a straightforward, one-size-fits-all interview which aims to provide an insight into the work of contemporary painters about whom there is little already written.’

For some reason I did a lot of preparation in the studio before the baby came, threw out bags and bags of ‘useful’ things, stretched and sized canvases, reorganised my drawers. I hadn’t been painting so well in the final months, I couldn’t settle and concentrate the way I like to and everything I made seemed wrong. Now, however, things are much better, I think I might have got my touch back..

I had been so worried that becoming a mother would take all the urgency out of making work or that it would flip a switch in me, so that I’d only be interested in babies. I can categorically say that it hasn’t made a blind bit of difference, I guess it just makes things a little busier and a little trickier logistically! I would definitely recommend it. Actually, during my worrying phase I should have just relaxed and read Amy Bernays’ blog, she makes being an artist and a Mum sound totally natural, which, of course, it is!

By the way, the images are of a new piece (finished yesterday) titled Jools, 60 x 150 cm, oil on canvas. Painted with thoughts of nature, new life and, of course, the sky.

I enjoy the slowing down after the manic rush of Christmas, the enforced rest. I find that I spend a good deal of time post-Christmas reflecting on my paintings, my year’s work. I mentally organise the paintings into the year they were painted and view the New Year as the start of a new body of work. I spend time clearing out, stretching new canvases and sizing them ready for when I begin again, in my new year.. I wonder what I will produce in the next 12 months, where I’ll exhibit, whether I’ll do any commissioned work, win a prize or grant, have work featured in print and what my absolute favourite painting of the year will be come December. Every year I have a definite favourite, something really special that in my eyes is just perfect. This year’s was Miriam and I’ll share another of my favourites, Nellie, from 2008. Nellie was snapped up so quickly, I hardly had any time to enjoy her before she was gone.I took Nellie’s name from the owner of the bakery I worked in when I was a teenager, Nellie was a kind old lady. They used to let me eat what I liked at the bakery, I put on well over a stone over the years I worked there! It was worth it, their cakes were sublime.

Perhaps I’ll soften my work up in 2011, produce something Nellie-ish, who knows? I look forward to finding out.

Happy Christmas everyone.

I’ve been in the studio, mixing purples and plummy shades for several pieces that are on the go at the moment. There’s one piece, the bottom one, a biggie at 150 x 150 cm, which feels like it’s turning into some sort of a landscape. People often tell me they can see landscapes in my paintings! I was inspired to start this piece after reading a stack of my sister’s discarded copies of Harper’s Bazaar and reading a profile of this super-cool, extremely rich family and their art collection.. They were photographed standing in front of an amazing Cecily Brown painting, and it was that painting which inspired this. I never used to be sure about whether I liked her work, but it’s grown on me as I’ve got older and read and researched more. Or should I say, looked at more pictures of other peoples’ paintings! I do that a lot, get professionally jealous, then vow to knuckle down and develop and refine what I’ve got going on in the studio.

I’ve been thinking a lot about why I paint recently and I still don’t quite know why.. Sometimes I wish I’d chosen a normal career but then I can’t think of anything I’d rather do. It seems it’s just as simple as painting being what makes me happy, although conversely, it can also be what makes me most unhappy. Does anyone else have that ambivalence about their practice or is it all roses as far as you’re concerned?

This week is about browns and pinks. I’m working my way through red pigments at the moment, learning their funny little ways and enjoying the spectrum of pinks I knew was there but had never really used.

And for you knitters, here’s the dress! Finished it at the weekend and it’s pretty much perfect, I’m very pleased with it. The dress was designed by Cirilia Rose, pattern from Twist Collective, an amazing online pattern publisher.

So, what’s this post all about then? Well, I’ve been rather quiet of late so I thought I’d share a little of what I’ve been up to. Not that I’ve been idle or anything, perhaps devoting a little too much time to knitting, but we all need our hobbies don’t we? Knitting aside, we finally decorated our bedroom, which was previously the vilest shade of pink I have ever seen. Then I hung Mildred opposite the window. It is the perfect spot for her, I could honestly never imagine painting over Mildred – very unusual for me… It is so, so nice sitting in bed and looking at the piece.

The middle image is currently in progress in the studio and might be titled Ursula, I haven’t quite decided yet.

This little one has been in limbo while I decide whether it has the remotest chance of being selected for the Discerning Eye and whether I waste my money and time submitting it.. I don’t know exactly why I fancy that show so much but I really like the idea of it.

Saying that, I had one piece trodden on it the post, back when I’d recently graduated. It’s called “Kitty Blue” and is a special favourite of my Dad’s. I remember him being quite cross about the damage. I feel that in some ways it sort of adds to the piece, I see the spidery cracks in its varnish and think about my first exhibitions and all the mistakes I made.

This one’s called Maya and was finished a couple of weeks ago (100 x 130 cm – Oil on canvas). I was trying to channel the spirit of Miriam (another recent painting), but I seem to be painting in quite a soft sort of way at the moment. I think Miriam might have been a flash in the pan… Hope not though.

]]> http://newbloodart.com/blog/postie/feed/ 2 http://newbloodart.com/blog/parry/ http://newbloodart.com/blog/parry/#comments Mon, 31 May 2010 12:15:55 +0000 georgie http://newbloodart.com/blog/?p=724 Some time last year I decided my mind was full of huge knowledge gaps art-wise and so, on impulse, I bought a subscription to ArtReview. This wasn’t the best idea, it was more a waste of money as each time an issue gets delivered I leaf through it, look at the pictures, and then put it to one side and don’t read any of it, except the bit Matthew Collings writes. I actually think I hate ArtReview! I was never any good at reading that sort of thing, my mind instantly begins to drift the moment my eyes hit the text. How I ever managed any essays for my degree is beyond me… I was actually quite good at paraphrasing text, not that I was supposed to have been doing that, and used to sit at my computer fitting together chunks of my dissertation whilst supping on this amazing beer called Hen’s Tooth.

The painting shown here is a work in progress, 100 x 130 cm. I am warming to it.