Hilliard Society Exhibition 2025

I am delighted to report that all six of my submitted miniature paintings will be exhibited in Wells as part of the Annual Hilliard Society exhibition.The two miniature portraits are not for sale but the other four can be purchsed at the exhibition or online for a limited period. Please refer to the society's website for more information.

The Royal Miniature Society's 125th Anniversary Exhibition

Yesterday we travelled down to London for the day to see the RMS exhibition at The Mall Gallery. I had entered seven paintings and was delighted to have all paintings accepted for the show. I was delighted to learn that I had won two awards. 

The first award was the Society's award for the best collection of five or more works. I entered a set of six gilded bird paintings which I had been working on earlier in the year. 

The second award was an Honourable Mention for the Golden Memorial Bowl. This was for my painting Wren with Ivy, shown above.

It was lovely to meet up with friends old and new and to see close up all the wonderful miniature exhibits.

The exhibition runs until December 5th, details are on the Society's website. Entry is free but you need to book a ticket.

Most of the paintings are for sale and would make the most beautiful gifts, also on sale are greetings cards featuring the artworks of our members. Please visit if you are able, I think you would be entranced.

Good News!

 

I was delighted to learn that my gilded miniature painting entitled "Golden Silence" was voted as a joint winner of the most popular exhibit in this years Hilliard Society Exhibition held in Wells last month. Although the exhibition is now closed it continues online and as I write this painting is still for sale.

You can find details of the online exhibition here- The Hilliard Society 2021 Exhibition

It has been an inspiring time here in England, we have had sunshine and showers and everything in the garden is growing apace. The Swallowtail butterfly miniature is a recently completed piece.

The decorated Jay was a private commission for a bird lover who's name begins with J.

Busy as a bee!

 

Hello again, I hope all is well with you and yours. Spring is always a busy time, longer days and warmer temperatures are always welcome and bring a new found energy to create, garden and explore.

I have been busy painting bees, inspired by the many bumblebees in my garden at the moment. It has been fun to add gilding to these paintings.

In fact I have been getting carried away with gilding, there is something so entrancing about the shiny metal that becomes addictive!

This painting of a Wheatear has been given the treatment, using both flat and raised gilding in the borders.

Finally, I have been busy with preparations for this years Hilliard Exhibition of miniature paintings to be held in Wells Town Hall. The above painting "Golden Silence" will be one of the many miniatures on show.

More details on their website.

 June 5th - 12th 2021

(closed on Sun 6th June)

O is for Owl.

January and February are always something of a struggle for me; my energy and enthusiasm levels are low and hibernation seems like a pleasant notion. At last the days are getting longer and despite the cold and rain there are welcome signs of spring. We travelled down south through the Avon valley region and saw some rather alarming floods. Bradford-on-Avon was open as usual but the river was dangerously high. It was so lovely to see primroses growing in the ancient churchyard.

We had a trip to Llandudno in North Wales and visited The Owls Trust, primarily to see a White -faced Scops Owl in order to complete a commission. Despite the howling wind and cold I managed to photograph many of the owls and had a guided tour by a knowledgeable and friendly guide. The miniature painting was duly completed and delivered.

The Illuminated letter O shows another bird I met at the sanctuary; this time an Ashy Faced Barn Owl which is now endangered. The lettering style and decoration were inspired by historical illuminated letters, in particular those depicted in Owen Jones's Grammar Of Ornament. The border has been gilded in gold leaf, the rest is water-colour on hot press paper. It measures three inches square, and yes, I do need specs and a magnifying glass!

So this is Christmas...

As always, December arrives and as usual I am unprepared for the Christmas festivities. I tell myself there is plenty of time and then find myself running around like a headless turkey! Decorating the house was something of a challenge this year due to our new four legged friend and a squeaky toy has been bought, wrapped and hidden.

Most of this years artworks have been executed in watercolour but I have enjoyed returning to print making. The “Stellar Hare” relief print above has been proofed and this one is having some festive gold paint applied by hand. I printed a small edition and have sold several through my Etsy shop Acornmoon which is now closed until the New Year in order to give me time to enjoy friends and family gatherings.

At the end of November and into December I took part in the annual exhibition of The Royal Miniature Society at the Mall galleries in London. As a full member I was allowed to exhibit not only miniature but also some larger works. It was a very enjoyable event and a good time to meet up with friends and family visiting London.

I decided to use some of the images from my miniature paintings to produce a small collection of ceramic brooches and pendants, also available via my Etsy shop.

      

Welsh Border Life Magasine very kindly featured my artwork in their December edition.

Our granddaughter delighted us all by producing this very charming and detailed drawing of the nativity. She worked entirely unaided and I think it remarkable for a five year old to show such a great sense of design, not that I am in any way biased ;-)

I would like to thank all the people who have followed and supported my work throughout the year and I wish you all a Happy and Joyous Christmas.

Autumn News

Our big news is we have a puppy; he is a small but very lively Jack Russell of sorts. I say “of sorts” because he is very different to our dear departed Ted. He is black and tan with white paws and a bent tail and we love him, he has brought much joy into our lives. As soon as we were able we took him on a trip to The Lake District where we enjoyed a brief interlude of sunshine between the showers. He proved to be an enthusiastic walker and found many admirers in the dog walking community. I had forgotten how many people stop and talk if you have a dog!

We visited Buttermere, possibly one of the most beautiful lakes in Cumbria. The colours in the landscape were beginning to change and added a sense of warmth to the reflections in the water. I loved the woodland walks and found inspiration in the tiny ferns and mosses growing in the crevices in walls and trees. We spotted several moths and butterflies, berries and fungi, some of which made their way into my new painting “Moths and Moonshine”.

This year I will be submitting a couple of larger paintings into this years R.M.S, exhibition. You can see details of this over on my website. “Moths and Moonshine” is one of these larger works; it is watercolour with gold leaf inspired by our recent trip. The barn owl was one I met earlier; he was so tame I was able to take lots of photographs of him for reference.

Some of you may have noticed that I have reluctantly removed the comments section form my blog. I do genuinely miss the interaction with my blog friends but have found that I spend more time on other platforms like Instagram and my neglected blog was attracting too many spam posts. I do hope a few of you still find this space interesting enough to visit despite recent changes.

Autumn on the Welsh border

I have been busy painting new miniatures for submission into this year Royal Miniature Society show. As an associate member I am allowed to submit six miniatures. The sheep painting was inspired by an apple picking excursion to the home of a friend who has a beautiful orchard and farm on the Shropshire/Wales border.

The tiny water colour painting called "Hare Hill" was painted a few months ago.

The sheep painting was also painted in watercolour and has a gold leaf border.

As you can see my submissions this year vary in size, the rabbit and hare paintings are 3ins by 2.5 inches. The largest miniature features an owl and a pussycat and is entitled "They sailed away". It measures 4.5 ins by 4 ins. The portrait of my granddaughter is not for sale.

 If you are in London from 28th November until Sunday 9th December you are welcome to visit the exhibition at The Mall Galleries in London. If you are unable to visit the exhibition will be online and paintings and sculptures will be for available sale. Further details are available on the RMS website.

May sunshine and flowers

After a long and dreary winter and a delayed spring, it seems that summer has taken us all by surprise. Now the days are long and lazy, the older I get the more I want to slow down and take time to smell the roses. 

This year I decided to introduce some lupins into my garden, after being inspired by the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. I have been careful to include some organic slug deterrents which I hope will be wildlife friendly but keep the slugs away. They are made from woollen pellets and are said to make an itchy and scratchy hostile environment for slugs and snails... we shall see!

Work has been focussed on creating images for Victoria Magazine, this month the theme was France and so I enjoyed painting summer garden images. You can find a new print of the garden cat in my Etsy shop Acornmoon, link in my sidebar.

It has been a time for long country walks, wild flower spotting and listening to bird song. The bluebells have been spectacular this year.

I even managed to complete a new miniature portrait of our granddaughter. Watercolour on Kelmscott vellum. It was a labour of love!

Royal Miniature Society Exhibition 2017

I took part once again in this year's RMS annual exhibition at the Mall Gallery in London. This was my fourth time to exhibit with the Society and as an Associate Member I was allowed to enter six paintings.

Anyone can enter their miniature paintings or pieces of sculpture, the details of entry can be found on the Society's website. All entries have to be approved by the committee and it is always an anxious time waiting to see if your work has been accepted. You can enter up to five pieces as a non member, if you have all five pieces accepted in two consecutive years you can become a candidate. If the committee approves you can then become elected as an Associate Member. After a further three years you can apply to become a full member but this is by no means automatic. The Society also has members who are friends, people who may not be artists but who support the Society in other ways.

Many of the entries arrive in boxes by post, others are handed in by person, all of which involves a huge undertaking. Before I became a member I don't think I realised just how much work is involved in making the exhibition possible. Artworks have to be unwrapped, listed, judged and exhibited and all of this work is carried out by the members themselves who give up their time and energies to make it all happen. This year we helped at "hand in" day, unpacking precious artworks amidst mountains of bubble wrap, being careful not to miss any of the tiny entries in the process. It was both fun and enlightening to take part behind the scenes.

I was delighted to have sold four paintings at the exhibition, see below. All are watercolour; the owl has some additional gilding around the border in gold leaf.

The little portrait is our grandson; this is the first time I have entered a portrait. This was painted on vellum, another new departure from my familiar watercolour paper. Although the exhibition is now closed you can still see the exhibition and some of the award winning paintings on the society's website. 

The most coveted prize is The Gold Memorial Bowl which was won this year by an artist called Raoof Haghighi for his stunning portrait "Linda". I think I am correct in believing that this was the artist's very first and only entry to the exhibition which makes it a truly remarkable achievement. Many congratulations Raoof and to all the other award winners. If you are interested in learning more about the society please click this link.

Pattern and Friendship

Ravilious and Co The Pattern of Friendship

 It has taken a while to return to my long neglected blog so if you are still out there, thanks for visiting, I hope it was worth the wait!

To tell you the truth I have been rather down in the dumps, who wouldn't be with all the recent events happening in our world? As always it is family, good friends and art which have lifted my spirits and I was lucky enough to win this wonderful book over on Dovegreyreader's blog. If you love books and quilting this well established blog is well worth a visit.

Ravilious and Co - The Pattern of Friendship by Andy Friend is published by Thames and Hudson. Not only does the gorgeous book feature Ravilious's wonderful wood engravings and artworks but many decorative patterns created by himself and his circle of friends. Numerous designs created for Curwen are featured, some of which I have featured previously on this blog. I am particularly fond of the work of Enid Marx who was a distinguished designer of textiles and also a gifted artist and illustrator.

Patterned Paper bindings

I recently took part in a workshop run by the Society of Bookbinders and we had the opportunity to put to good use an assortment of patterned papers. The top two on the photograph feature my own designs, these easy to make stub bindings are simple but surprisingly useful. The bottom left is a coptic bound book; here I used a beautiful Florentine paper given to me by a dear friend. The bottom right uses another paper, also given to me by another kindred spirit. What lovely friends I have!

Ravilious and Enid Marx often created patterns which started life as wood engravings, some were inspired by artists of their day. In these two pieces I have started by making doodles on a piece of scraperboard, or scratchboard as my American friends would call it. I have then played around with repeat patterns to create two different designs, the top one has a tile repeat which reminds me of a kaleidoscope I used to love to play with as a child.

Before I go I should mention an exhibition I took part in - The Annual Hillard Society of Miniature Paintings, in Wells, Somerset. The exhibition is now closed but you can visit it online here- Wells is a beautiful place to visit and was the birth place of the miniature artist Hilliard, hence the name. The exhibition takes place once a year in the Town Hall, it is always enjoyable and a good opportunity to make new friends in the miniature art world, both artists and collectors. There are also demonstrations by members who are always willing to share their knowledge.

I have been busy with new commissions, I loved working on this miniature version of an old Tudor portrait of a noble woman wearing the most exquisite patterned lace. I painted it in watercolour on a surface called polymin, this is a man made ivory substitute and the very devil to paint on! It does however have a lovely translucent quality and I have since learnt that it helps to dust with talcum powder first and then coat with a thin wash. (The painting is very small, three and a half inches across.)

Out and about in spring

My blog posts are getting less frequent, sometimes I wonder if this blog has run its course? So much has changed since I started blogging over the past nine years! However, I have made so many friends and connections over the years maybe I will go on a little longer.

We have been out and about quite a lot, making use of our rail cards we made a trip to see an exhibition of Bedtime Stories at The Museum of Childhood in Edinburgh that featured my Dream Quilt. This was an actual quilt made to accompany the book of the same name. Silly me, I did not check to see if the Museum would be open but fortunately the lovely curator opened it especially for us! The exhibition is still on if you are in the area, it had a nice review in the April edition of British Patchwork and Quilting magazine.

We celebrated my husband's birthday in beautiful Powys Wales, we had the most wonderful weather and enjoyed strolling round the hotel grounds. Primroses and wood anemones carpeted the woodland floor, it was truly a most beautiful setting and one we hope to return to soon.

I have been busy working on new paintings, this time for The Hilliard Society's annual exhibition in Wells later this year.

We had the family to stay over Easter, lots of chocolate was consumed and a fair few bottles of wine too. I hope you enjoyed your Easter too. X