little hermit crab from dorset

i ventured out of cornwall at the weekend for a family party to celebrate my grandad's 100th! leaving behind thick sea mists after a 5 hour drive we found ourselves bathed in sunshine on golden sands ready to run into the crystal clear turquiose sea (in underwear as i hadn't anticipated swimming weather !). mysteriously most of the shells were inky blue/black apart from this little one. on closer inspection i found a dead hermit crab inside.

shells from scilly

beautiful subtle shades from worn scilly limpets

open studios 2013

a little belated but a huge thank you to everyone who came and visited me for open studios.

in between the catalogue going to print and the event itself i was invited to my sister's wedding which was something i just couldn't miss. this meant i was unable to be there on the first day. a friend kindly sat in for me but unfortunately sold a painting in the window which wasn't for sale! at first i didn't think that this would be a problem as he had taken the couple's email address. so i wrote to explain, thinking they would understand. however, that didn't turn out to be the case. they have refused to return the painting and after writing a second time, they haven't responded. they are willing to lend me the picture to exhibit but are insisting on retaining rights of ownership. i'm very sad about this as it wasn't a painting i was ready to sell. it was also sold at the wrong price - well below what it was worth. i'm very attached to this piece but really don't know what else to do. i have been trying to find out where i stand legally. if anyone reading this has any experience or advice i'd love to hear from you. and if you see this painting in your friend's house, please urge them to return it. thank you.

so apart from the shaky start the rest of the week was lovely. i met so many interesting people, among them a local crab fisherman, a guy who had the task of transporting a life size wired-together replica of the skeleton of the red rum race horse, a man who gave breon o'casey his first exhibition in london and told me about his lavender guinea foul, a man training for john o'groats to lands end cycle ride, a lady who talked to me all about armenian dancing and an enthusiastic rock-collecting drunken local who found my pole a useful support! probably the funniest moment was when a man walked in clutching a gps. it said 'you have reached your destination'. he switched it off and took in his surroundings looking very bewildered. staring at me he said 'where am i?' i replied 'well, you've reached my studio - did you mean to come here?' he still looked very confused. so i showed him a catalogue and where he was. he looked familiar and i was racking my brain trying to place him. he looked like my hebden bridge friend sue's dad but i wasn't quite sure as i'd only met him a couple of times. so i quietly said, 'you look like sue's dad' and he said, 'yes - i am'. but i wasn't quite sure if he knew who i was. so i explained and then said 'did you know you were coming to see me?' he replied 'well, i don't know your surname do i?'. so i chatted to him for a while but i must say i never really discovered if he had realised who i was and had planned to come and see me or if it had just been a coincidence.

the week grew steadily sunnier so it became quite difficult to stay indoors. i found a stripey deckchair someone had thrown out (strange behaviour in a heatwave) and snatched brief moments sitting in it in my doorway. i still don't have any electricity in the space but the wind-up grammar phone cranked out a few rumbas and night lights illuminated my lovely fireplace.

........at a wedding i think you'll find!

window display (with a little nod to former uses!)

window display of pigments

rock pigments and misleading crabs

lone flower - view from window

new wall and beach findings

boxes of coloured collections

more things from the sea

copper verdigris, turquoise, malachite, azurite, lead and rust

wall of birds

display of things found during renovations

interesting objects from nooks and crannies

my lovely fireplace

people often stop and chat in the doorway. beware - i can hear every word!

time for a crackly tune.....

family enjoying chips on the bench.

aristotle's lantern

a little while back i found the shell of a green sea urchin washed up on secret beach. it was only a couple of centimetres wide. when i got it home i found it was very smelly and had the dried remains of the urchin inside. i gave it a scrub and then dug out the inside debris with the tip of a needle. most of it had rotted away. to my amazement the last little bit came out with a tiny white seed head-like structure attached. excitedly i ran for my very old observer's book of the sea and seashore and looked up urchins. and there on the page was a picture of this amazing little thing - 'aristotle's lantern' (mouth of sea urchin).

it's absolutely fascinating. it's the chewing organ of the urchin and is composed of 50 skeletal elements worked by 60 muscles. and my one is just tiny - only a centimetre tall. you can read more about it on the natural history museum website here.

jay feathers

i'm always on the look out for blue things in nature as they are quite rare and always feel a little bit exotic. since i've been back in cornwall i seem to have found a lot of dead birds - sadly most of them  have been hit by cars - and most of them have been blue. last year i found a baby blue tit and a kingfisher. a few weeks ago i came across a dead jay whilst cycling home from the studio and a couple of days ago i found another blue tit but this one was ringed. above the number it was inscribed 'british museum london' and i had a stunned moment where i thought it may really have flown all the way down from the big smoke! unfortunately, nothing quite as exciting and neither does it have anything to do with the british museum. but the british trust for ornithology will write and tell me where and when it was ringed.

as a child i used to collect interesting and unusual feathers. i particularly liked the spotted ones from woodpeckers i seem to remember! all my life i've been keen to find a jay's dazzling blue wing feather but i've never come across one. often when i see a jay, without realising it, i still say in my head 'please drop me one of your blue wing feathers'..... but alas, they never do. so in some ways i was quite excited to find a whole one. it meant i could be a bit generous and give a wing to a friend! she has also buried the head in her garden so she can keep the skull.

the feathers are unbelievably vibrant and beautiful. an irish friend of mine said they used to be worn in people's hats for good luck in ireland in the olden days. they were also used on fishing flies to catch salmon, trout and bass.

open studios

no longer a launderette!

so i'm frantically trying to give the studio a make-over before open studios start on saturday 25th. i'm artist 149 at 22 lower market street, penryn. unfortunately i can't be there myself this saturday as my sister is getting married (at quite short notice!) but a lovely friend will be holding the fort and i will be there sun, weds, thurs, fri and the following sat and sun from 11-5pm. he will be fully briefed but may not be wearing the smock and beret i've been trying to tempt him with!

the discovery of two fireplaces has meant that i'm not as far on as i was anticipating with the studio renovations and i don't have any electricity. but i can make tea on my tranja and although the toilet's in a bit of a state it can be used. anyone with high standards about these things might prefer something less dark and draughty!

i will have a display of all the interesting objects i've found behind the walls, in nooks and crannies and in the fireplaces. it's a chance to see the studio as it progresses and i'd love to meet any historians and locals who can tell me more about the building and it's former uses (as well as anyone who has experience with old walls!).

the window cleaners came yesterday and were appalled by the state of them! they said they'd seen worse but would have to come back again today to finish the job. so it might be more than the £2 quoted. still, there was a moment where the curtains were down and light was streaming through in a way i've not seen it before which was great. i suddenly felt very exposed to the world and replaced the curtains quickly again. lots of different thoughts for how it can be permanently. maximum light but without being overlooked. when i told them i was opening to public on saturday, they laughed!

there have been some road works going on just up the hill which has meant that the section of road outside the shop has been closed. i was thinking it'd be great if it was still the same next week as i could extend my territory, put deck chairs outside and have a little street party. when asking the men at work i inadvertently made their day - "no one EVER wants the road works to continue" beamed a man in a hard hat down a hole. sadly they are due to finish on friday, unless i can conjure up some distractions!

oh yes, and i've suddenly decided to take up the floor tiles which looks much nicer. but it's very time consuming, addictive and like a hard drugs habit....... i keep having to do just one more line. hopefully most of them will be gone very soon and my state of euphoria will have been cheap and worth it.

hope to see you sometime in the week x

floor chipping addiction!

driftwood adventure

a couple of weeks ago i was feeling very tired from all the physical work i've been doing with the studio and decided it was time for an afternoon off. it was a stunningly beautiful day so i made my way by ferry to the hammock of happiness - a lovely big homemade hammock that someone has tied up on the beach for those lucky enough to find it. on my way i came across a wonderful and very heavy piece of driftwood. it was too heavy for me to lift so i heaved and shunted and rolled it above the tide line thinking how great it would be to build it into the new studio.

now i'm quite stubborn and having already struggled to move it this far i started wondering how i could get it home. the best way, i thought, would be to tow it behind a kayak. but it was too far for me to go on my own and i didn't know if it'd be possible to tow something so large. also, i'm no expert kayaker. so plan b involved borrowing a kayak trolley from a friend and hoping i could wheel it along the coast to the nearest road where we could put it in a car. 

it turned out to be a long and epic adventure! and one that has left me still aching two days later. a very kind friend agreed to help me and between us we wheeled it over rocks, along the beach, up some wooden stairs, up some muddy steps, along the coast path, over two styles, through a small stream, a lot further along the coast path and finally to the nearest road.

one of the most interesting stages was when i set out alone and eventually came to the first style. we realised that there was no way we could tow it back the way we'd come which involved going up the very steep hill and across a dry cow-hoofed field. so my friend retraced his steps to move the car to another further but flatter pick up point. i met four elderly  people out walking who warned me i was about to come to a style. they were all a bit cynical. i then met a lovely and very enthusiastic couple with a baby coming the opposite way and the man insisted on turning around and coming with me back to the style so he could help me over with it. brilliant! all was going well but then i came upon the second style. i waited with my wood. there was nobody around. finally a lady approached but her black labrador was terrified of the wood and took many attempts to summon up enough courage to pass by. she was friendly but more concerned about her dog. a very trendily dressed man hurried by without acknowledging me at all. he didn't look like he'd want to get dirty or do any lifting. and then a very friendly lady offered to help and we got chatting. by the time we'd finished my friend turned up and she left saying that she'd come and see it in my studio! it was interesting to experience the range of people's reactions as i waited stranded by a style with a piece of wood i couldn't move on my own. in some ways i wanted to stay for longer and turn it into a social experiment!

tips for next time :

1- make sure the tyres are fully inflated

2- wear gloves as the rope cuts into your hands

3- use a ratchet strap instead of rope to tie it to the trolley

4- bring food! 

5- advertise open studios on the side!

ready to go

back in the studio serving as a temporary bench