What a great feeling to be so close to fulfilling my MA proposal to create a large silk and mixed media piece celebrating time spent outdoors! The work which will be exhibited at Pateley Bridge's number 6 studio gallery in August, draws together silk and stitch markers which have been placed within my favourite walking areas, digital recordings of walks and silk work both reflecting my personal responses and showing direct contact with natural elements.

The MA course has been done through Harrogate College (part of the Hull College Group) and I exhibited a selection of work for their end-of-year exhibition earlier this month. This gave me the opportunity to speak to visitors about my practice and the motivation behind it and to act as a dry-run for the much larger upcoming exhibition. I'm glad to say the 105 handmade willow toggles successfully held the silk panels together - just another 400 to make!

Getting into the spirit of all things Easter, I've contributed 'White Rabbit' to the Ripon White Rabbit Art Trail in North Yorkshire, running March 28th-April 12th. Organised by Gray Finch gift shop, the trail marries up white rabbit influenced work with various Ripon town centre locations to celebrate the 150th anniversary of 'Alice in Wonderland' - it looks to be a fun family activity - Happy Easter!

'White Rabbit' in a (new to me) mixed media format and an example of the papermaking I've been trying out at Harrogate Collage as part of my MA course, embedding the interesting things I find when out walking, with a view to incorporating that into larger collage work. 

As winter trundles on there are signs of Spring amongst the left-over snow - the daffodils are coming up and my hens have started to lay eggs again after a very long wait! My creative world has been pulling me in new, exciting and sometimes unexpected directions courtesy of the MA in Creative Practice which I am currently studying for through Harrogate College. My research subject is perception of and connection to the landscape, the value of which is so important to so many of us. As well as studying art theory, the first term was preoccupied with exploring media and I have started to incorporate stitch, painted & printed fabrics, and found material into my textile work. As the preliminary studies turn into pieces, I shall share them here.

In terms of exhibitions I have work in a new exhibition starting 7pm Saturday 24th Jan at Kala Sangam South Asian Arts Centre in Bradford. I have seven silk pieces on display in the foyer alongside a collection of Varli paintings by Ramya Tangiralaarli - together our exhibition is 'Colours of Spring'. The free preview is to be held 7-8pm followed by 'Songs of Spring', a performance of traditional Gujrati music by Rakesh Joshi - tickets are available through the Kala Sangam website.  

'Gateway to Spring' Mixed Media on Silk

Enjoying my preparations for two upcoming events, the first being Art in the Pen.  Around 100 artists/craftspeople will be setting up their individual pens to display their wonderful wares on Saturday 16th & Sunday 17th August 10-4pm with the preview being held on Fri 15th 7-9pm (all welcome). It is held at Skipton Auction Mart, Ling Fields, Gargrave Road, Skipton, North Yorkshire, BD23 1UD.

My second event this month is as part of Nidderdale's Nidd Art Trail. I will be exhibiting alongside Justin Grimaldi & Jacqui Galloway at the Dacre & Hartwith Village Hall in Dacre Banks, Harrogate, HG3 4EN and we will be open Saturday 23rd-Monday 25th 10:30am-5:30pm with lots of lovely fine art and textiles.

Talking of work, I've recently finished 2 pieces based on still-life observations - one influenced by the fabulous textile artist & designer Kaffe Fassett,

the other by listening to 'Hamlet'  BBC i-player radio - can you guess which one is which?