pigment and water

I thought you might like to see what i've been working on during the last couple of weeks.
I've been drawing and painting which is a refreshing change from all the little pieces of fabric i'm usually surrounded by. It's small watercolour commission of a client's Sister's house, for an anniversary present (so keep it a secret until the party's over)!

I'm really pleased how it's all come together. To be honest I've had the sketched outline complete for the last 10 days, I just needed to undertake the watercolour 'bit', which was a little daunting seeing as I let too much time go by since drawing it out. I should have just gone and painted it when it was all still fresh in my head and fingers, but I didn't, but it's turned out alright and i'm very pleased that it's now complete and can go to it's new home.

So my next job is to photograph it properly for my records (woeful pre 2008) and to lovingly package it up and send it off to the client. Fingers and toes crossed that she and her sister will love it as much as I do.

I have to say that that's one of the nerve wracking parts of making a piece of work for somebody else, what if they don't like it? Touch wood that hasn't happened yet.... however I try and give each client lots of options when commissioning work and do make lots of notes so I can get a really good feel for the piece of work they really want.

I'll be brave and post feedback when I get it!

Happy painting!
Cat x

open studios

The Garden Party (c) C.Rowe 2011


What have I been doing since the end of March.... really no posts in April, what happened to my aim of at least one a month?
Work mainly. I had to hit the studio hard with some long hours of work on the lastest Birthday card range for Art Press and I've been working on two new series of work, two, yes two, it felt right and happened quite naturally. I didn't realise how busy it would make me! Oh yes and I managed to fit in a trip to Paris and London where I took SO many photographs my camera and I were fit to burst with excitement, but that's a post for another day.

These two new series of work started from drawing lots of pictures of gardens, flowers, plants, greenhouses, ponds and gardening tools and living where I do in Cornwall the seaside just crept in, as it always does, so the result is two series running along side each other. Some just feature gardens but others are of the Cornish coastline with subtle hints of gardens in them, the odd agapanthus plant, bench or hedgerow.

This work will be showcased during Cornwall's Open Studio event at the end of this month.



Open Studios Cornwall is in it's 7th year and has over 200 artists, across all art disciplines, taking part. It runs for one week at the start of each summer, 28th May - 5th June, and sees artists throw open the doors to their studios.

It is a marvellous opportunity to meet the artists behind the work, see where, and sometimes, how it's made, dicuss their influences and inspirations and buy the work directly from them, an enriching experience for both artist and art lover.

The Open Studio event really showcases the best art that Cornwall has to offer, breaking the mould of traditional Cornish art with an electic range of contemporary work from a diverse pool of resident artists. The unique event is the brain child of Creative Skills and takes art lovers on a tour of unseen Cornwall, from remote cottages and chapels to beach side studios and historic buildings often away from the well trod tourist path.

This is my 3rd yr taking part in Open Studios and it's the highlight of my year. It really is a wonderful opportunity to meet people who are interested in what I make. It can be very daunting opening up my studio space to complete strangers, but everyone who has visited me here at the studio has been lovely and always so full of enthusiam. I have started to build up real personal relationships with those who have bought my work, making so many wonderful new friends, something that doesn't happen when you sell through galleries.

My opening times this year are: 28th May - 5th June, 10am - 5pm, except the 2nd June until 7pm.

Find the studio here via my website

It would be lovely to see you if you can make it.

C x

le jardin

Just a few photographs taken today in the garden. It never fails to inspire, sculptural, fresh, tactile and it has the most stunning palette of colours, I adore it.


The onions have gone to seed.



Sweet peas and honeysuckle.



Poppy heads and artichokes.

left handed life 2

Sweetpeas from the garden 10.7.10
Agapanthus 10.7.10

More drawings using my left hand, mostly flowers again i'm afraid but they are so bright and cheerful and seem so forgiving! I've tried drawing things with harder lines and edges but they all appear as if they've been drawn on a boat in a force 8 gale!

left handed life

Two weeks ago yesterday I broke my right (drawing hand) wrist and have been in a cast since. After the shock of not being able to use my right hand to do any of the things i'd usually do, having taken for granted these things for 29 years, i've been learning to use my under-used left side (I have most definately been right sided dominant).

It has been the most unusual and frustrating experience, marks, lines, shading that I would have normally expected to or were used to making using my right hand I couldn't reproduce with my left. I have had to go back to nursery school and learn to write and draw all over again.

Until I can cut up fabric again with a pair of scissors ( I could go out and buy a left-handed pair) i'm just sticking to practicing and playing with pen and ink.

The images above are my first attempts at drawing and colouring with my left hand... it's been akward, annoying and very frustrating but some how rewarding in the end as I hope through the process of using my left side more, to become a more even and balanced creative person.

blossom

I took these photos of an apple tree in blossom this week. I've always loved this time of year when everything is blooming and life is springing up all over the place. The petals all look so delicate and charming and this year i've learnt of a Japanese tradition called Hanami, when a picnic is taken under the blossom of an apple or cherry tree. The idea of this really caught me and i've been looking out and spoting trees in bloom since.



Perhaps because spring flowers are all so pretty and come in such a graceful pallet i've found these influences creeping into my recent work and i've just finished a set of new greeting cards which I hope to post later this week. The designs all seem to have flowers in them and all use a fresh and light range of colours. Quite delightful.