120602 open studio today

We have open studio this weekend June 1-4th 2012 so if you live in and around Worcestershire come & visit our amazing studios in the city of Worcester (Four Seasons, 74 Battenhall Avenue, Worcester, WR5 2HW – open 10-5pm daily). We have over 100 paintings & prints on display including my new regal portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.  What better way to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee than with an arts trail showcasing and celebrating  the creative talent of Worcestershire. Over 40 other artist/designer studios are open this weekend so do take a look at the Worcestershire Arts Trail website for further details: www.worcsartstrail.org. We’ve had visitors come on foot, on bicycles and some have driven but whatever your means of transport this Jubilee weekend you’ll be assured of a warm welcome. All donations from cups of tea sold go to The Childrens Society. Please feel free to share this with others to ensure Jubilee Weekend is an out and out success. Cheers!

120513 tree planting

I love my garden, and at this time of year I have a one to one with each of my plants. Tonight all the acers in the front garden were given their annual Spring cocktail of goodness AKA liquid fertiliser via my watering can to help them on their way and bring oodles of Spring growth to the fore and front garden. As the last drop of goodness dripped into the ground I could be seen gently caressing the leaf of each tree and whispering sweet nothings into its metaphorical ear; very Prince Charles. Whilst all this was going on my other half was valliantly firing up the bbq and cooking the smokiest, most  flavoursome cuisine of the year so far……and, hey, all on a Sunday night, with kids’ exams the next morning. Normally we’d be tucking into a roast, but for parents worried about their kids’ exam results we by contrast relax and lose ourselves in the summer time pursuits of gardening and eating al fresco which ultimately  keeps us sane. Yesterday I planted a tiny oak tree grown from an acorn (ask me where in thirty years time) , and today I planted a pear tree that has been patiently waiting to be planted since last autumn when it was bought.

Goodness; I’ve just looked at this post and noticed that the drawing is larger than normal; but I like it and shall leave it like that. All the marks and incidentals take on a presence that can be examined at a closer scale. Look hard and absorb; take in and enjoy!

120511 unleash your creative potential

I occasionally run workshops and  am running one in a few weeks time on May 27th at Worcester Arts Workshop. Join me for two hours of creativity with oil pastels and coloured inks for a two session competitively priced at £10: I guarantee you will walk away with a delightful still life work of art YOU CREATED YOURSELF! My goodness, the places are being snapped up fast so do HURRY to express an interest if you’re remotely tempted . There are 8 places per session and other workshops available so check out the Worcestershire Arts Trail website: www.worcsartstrail.org for further details. If you want to do my workshop 10am-12 or 1-3pm email me and I will let you know how to book (haywardpowis2@hotmail.co.uk) . I shall be doing a demonstration and I am looking forward to meeting a few new people in the run up to the arts trail.

120507 gone walkabout

I have just been along to the annual Cropthorne Walkabout (or Cropthorne Splashabout as my husband called it in view of the weather). It was lovely with gorgeous gardens, stalls, magic shows, Morris men, cakes, teas and live jazz; the very best of British. Some of the views from the gardens beyond the river Avon over the Worcestershire landscape were truly magnificent but I was surprised Holland House wasn’t serving teas; last time we went we were queuing round the block. We bought two lovely art books on a book stall: Eric Ravilious and the Newlyn School, plus a Barbar book (the child in me couldn’t resist) , and I have just planted the plants I bought on the plant stall. And all in aid of Cropthorne Church. Incidentally I read in a magazine in the hairdressers recently that the Queen doesn’t like variegated plants which surprised me because I do! I think they can be used very effectively in a garden to create all year round interest. Without them the gardeners’ palette of colours would be severely diminished, don’t you think? There you go, you learn something new every day. Anyway I hope lots of local people come along and support the Worcestershire Arts Trail in a few weeks time. I’m sure they will.

120505 laughing out loud

For those of you who are interested – like Vasari – in lives of the artists you can do two things; the first is to come along to our open studio weekend 1-4th June 2012 here in Worcester (see www.worcsartstrail.org) and see what we are up to (I’ll give you a hint: there’ll be mind boggling new abstract work at venue 32) and secondly to come along to Worcester Arts Workshop on the evening of Friday June 22nd to hear me talk about alcohol and its affects on the life of an artist as part of the evening of humour as part of the Worcestershire Literary Festival (see www.worcslitfest.com). I dare you not to laugh!

120417 new blog visuals

I am delighted entries are trickling in for my new blog about the people of Worcester. They are often light hearted and have me chuckling out loud at the key board. There are an infinite number of responses to the same question I discover and naturally each builds a picture about the interviewee. I’m finding it so revealing. I feel like an anthropologist? I like to think I’ll still be sitting here uploading the responses when I am 93, and why not? As yet I haven’t managed to upload any photos or drawings of the contributors but soon I will get the hang of it and then it will balance the visual element and be far more interesting. A few participants prefer to remain anonymous which is of course absolutely fine and I respect their privacy. If you have a moment check it out: weareworcester.wordpress.com

I ventured into my studio yesterday and started a new body of work. It leaves a lot to be desired at the moment but watch this space; I’ve made a start. Hurray! And charged up my video camera so that I can catalogue the experience and post it on YouTube. Anonymous? Moi? I don’t think so.

Incidentally I love the drawing on the left; it is so fresh and vibrant; the sort of drawing you produce in thirty seconds when you’ve discarded the first 30. Just a shame I was using cheap paper. You live and learn.

120420 new blog launch

I am finding inks a very fast and immediate way of working; handy if you’re short of time and need quick results. I like the combination of line and wash and in the drawing on the left I worked over an old drawing hence the added richness; a good way to recycle old works. If you double click on the drawing you can just about make out the scalloped edge of an Earl of Coventry Royal Worcester Porcelain piece. As always I started slightly out of control with my left hand then continue adding in finer detail with my right hand.

I have also started a new blog; weareworcester.wordpress.com about the people of Worcester.  It involves an interview where the same set of questions are asked of people; eg what do you most like about Worcester, which living person do you most admire and why. The answers are really interesting and I hope the participants and online readers will find it revealing also. It helps us understand one another. The questions are inspired by a similar interview I read each week in Saturday’s Guardian magazine and are normally answered by celebrities; in the case of my blog the common denominator is that all the interviewees are from the Worcester area, and hopefully eventually from Worcesters further afield. Long term I’d like to open it up o the people of Worcester, Masachusetts, USA, and Worcester, South Africa (where incidentally the author J.M.Coetzee hailed  from). I hope to interview people from all walks of life, young and old, male and female. If you’re interested in participating and are from Worcester(shire) please get in touch via the blog or email. I’d love to hear from you.

120414 The Hive

Today was a chance to step inside Worcester’s new Golden Hive for the very first time. It is a state of the art new library bang in the middle of the city where University students and the public will be welcomed equally and which will have an amazing new childrens’ library. Apparently. It opens in July and I can’t wait. It was a great opportunity to don my silly hat and read my childrens’ picture book, “My Magic Stick,” to a bijoux audience along with others from Worcester Writers’ Circle. My daughter was sitting in the audience on the front row and I truly appreciate the fact that she and her friend didn’t walk out. Thank you Sweetie, I’ll pay you later. 

An hour later I was on level one preparing to run a picture book making workshop in an orange pod with a yellow pod full of children on one side and a terracotta pod full of children tunnelling through story cubes on the other. Wow! Stereophonic children I thought. Imagine the surprise of my life when the workshop participants turned up and weren’t the seriouslyinterestedinwritingmyownpicturebookthankyouverymuch adults I’d envisaged and planned for but……….. more little people! So now I had quadrophonic children. Delightful! Suffice to say their ideas were far better than mine, their drawings far fresher and better, their natural marriage of pictures and text so brilliant and effortlessly created that I could easily have packed up and left them to it asking Walker Books to come on in and publish the lot. They really were that good. Each wonderful child left with their very own unique and original zig zag picture book. Well done kids! You should be running the country with creative ideas like that! And as for me I left feeling well and truly knackered but well and truly inspired which has to be THE best feeling.

120315 All the time in the world

I have been thinking long and hard about my next body of work. I have decided that my paintings will develop a new language of colour whilst my illustrations will continue their exagerrated quirky pen and ink style.  The good news is that they are all there in my head; the bad news is that they have yet to appear on paper. But they will, I promise you, they will. 

I was very taken by the Edward Burra exhibition I saw recently at Pallant House in Chichester. The experience inspired a short story called Loaded which  I intend to submit it to Mslexia magazine if I can meet the deadline early next week; but deadlines can be very good at focusing all energies, and forcing you to pull out the stops,  knowing full well that if you miss another year that’s a whopping 365 from where you want to be. Which isn’t a good place to be, unless of course you have all the time in the world. Which we don’t, do we?

*Stop Press* Sadly I didn’t meet the deadline but shan’t beat  myself up about it too much; I was busy with other things. I’ll get there one day!

Accommodation available

Our Two Contemporary Apartments are now available

* Ideal for visitors looking for a quiet stay in the heart of Worcester, UK

* Architect designed accommodation

* Private, tranquil location  * Situated in large garden

* Easily accessible * Ideal base to explore Worcestershire

Four Seasons, (74) Battenhall Avenue,

Worcester, WR5 2HW

www.worcester4seasons.co.uk

(01905) 357563