On Sunday afternoon as the gallery closed for another week, five female artists from west Cumbria descended on the gallery to put up an exhibition called Telling Stories.  It took us about two and a half hours to put up the exhibitions with a little help from James and Dave.  We were very pleased with the outcome. The work is of a high st...

When I managed to get an exhibition slot in the Tolbooth in Kirkcudbright last November, I travelled up in my van in the late summer and spent three days photographing and painting the buildings in the town.  This year I returned to paint more buildings in the wider area of Dumfries and Galloway. My next exhibition in the Tolbooth will be in J...

Here are the paintings I have done of Beckermet. I got a very warm welcome from the community and enjoy the tea and coffee drop ins at the Reading Rooms. 

Here are some of my Cockermouth paintings. If you see something you like, get in touch. Some of the paintings are sold but they are scanned and can be reproduced as giclee prints.

I'm sharing my pen and watercolour paintings in a series of blogs. The full list will shortly be on my website. Use my contact details if you see any you would like to purchase.  First are some of my Whitehaven paintings. Many of the originals have been sold but all have been scanned and can be printed.

I've been so busy lately, travelling and then filling up any spare time with commissions that I haven't blogged or updated my website for ages. Soon I will have a list of my street and building paintings. To see the images, you just need to request. There are so many to show now so it is easier to read the list and then ask...

 Two years ago I bought this little pack of Khadi papers. 100 sheets of A8 papers. I had no idea at the time what I would do with them but I do love little projects and knew something would spark my creative interest. Ive always loved our lighthouses here in Whitehaven. So, for a coastal competition, I painted the lighthouses of West Cumbria o...

 What to do on a wet Friday afternoon. We opted for a short walk around the harbour and a pop into the Beacon to see the Lowry exhibition.  In the light and dark, changing gallery space on the top floor we were greeted with a colourful display of art work produced by local schoolchildren with guidance and instruction from Alex Jakob-Whitw...

 A Crit group is a group of artists taking turns to show their work, while the other members of the group offer their opinions on it. Critique based on the word 'criticism', usually has a negative connotation, since to criticize something usually means to point out faults. So it sounds like it could be a scary experience. But eight artists gat...

I stayed with friends in a lodge in Cropton Forest. One of the days we set off for a visit to Staithes. A sunny day and it was a pleasant drive over the North York Moors and out towards the coast. I've visited many of the towns and villages on the East Coast on childhood holidays and with my own family when our boys were young and our preferred tri...

Happy New Year and a special thank you to all of you that bought my art last year. This year is a special birthday year for me and I've got lots planned so I'll be doing more travel and hope to paint more buildings outside Cumbria though there are still many buildings I want to paint in West Cumbria. I've had my eye on a number of industrial sites ...

 The bulk of my career, my working, waged life has been in Education. If you include my own school life, I was involved in the education system for 42 years. I've been a pupil, an undergraduate, a teacher and an adviser. I still go into schools sometime, it's such a joy to work with children. I'm looking forward to a project in Beckermet Schoo...

 I was away last weekend at my own gallery event so missed out on the opening day of The Shipping Brow Gallery. It was much anticipated and is a great asset for Maryport. The Gallery stands at the bottom of the brow in Maryport, a striking blue and yellow, calling out to be explored.  The ground floor, reserved for local exhibitions, curr...

On our return to Kirkcudbright, I was filled with trepidation. I was excited to have received an order from The Tolbooth Art Centre for eighty cards but no idea whether any paintings had sold. When we arrived, Michael told us I had sold three paintings and thirty-six cards. Naturally I would have liked to have sold more paintings but happy that it ...

We could have done a day trip up to Edinburgh to see the Grayson Perry exhibition but combining it with James's birthday we decided to take a long weekend break.  Thanks to seasoned Edinburgh visitor, Sal Calvin, for recommendations on good central hotels, we booked The George on George Street.  First inconvenience of the day was wak...

 We arrived in Kirkcudbright on the 31st October just as the Tolbooth Art Centre was about to open at 11 O' Clock. It is 40 miles from home as the crow flies across the Solway but 100 by road.  My husband, James helped me unload and stayed around to help with the hanging of 16 framed paintings of buildings and streets of Kirkcudbright. We...

 Kirkcudbright is a lively fishing port in South West Scotland, nestled in a sheltered bay on the River Dee. Beautiful coastline and rolling countryside surrounds this pretty place of wide streets and colourful houses. Whitehaven, on the other side of the Solway, once a thriving Georgian port built by the Lowther family through the exportation...

 I'm an artist and my days, weeks and months are filled predominantly with art. One third of the time I'm making, one third I'm promoting and one third I'm selling. But that doesn't mean I can't have fun along the way. I try to coordinate my deliveries with meeting up with friends for a walk or lunch or a visit to a museum or, yes you've guess...

So today I took part in an art day led by tutor, Rachel Metcalfe. The room was full of eager participants from Gosforth and District Art Society.  Rachel is a visual artist specialising in abstract landscapes. She is a Primary School teacher and also a tutor for adult Cumbria learning, so she has an abundance of talent and experience. Encourag...

 I've had such a busy, but enjoyable week of art and connection. Early in the week I had my delivery and collection day at Castle Framing. Not so much to drop off this week, just a commission, two prints and an original to frame for the upcoming 'Coming Home' exhibition at Florence Arts Centre.  I had quite a lot to collect though. I mana...