This was the wonderful backdrop I was allocated for those pieces I was grappling with not long ago. Aubourn Hall has ten acres of garden, around which were dotted all manner of interesting pieces of sculpture large and small. It rained off and on, but no real downpours and it was quite warm – how English! (apart from the warmth). On a hot summer night Friday’s preview would have been magical…. I sold half my pieces – pretty good going really.

Straight on to the next deadline, getting stuff ready for the first Open Exhibition at the Hub, Sleaford ( it’s just begun a really quirky show on beach-huts, by the way). I’ve put in four pieces including a folded ‘dream-book’, but sadly didn’t manage to finish the book I was working on. I also met two artist friends there to discuss our joint November/December show which involves an exquisite corpse! If you want to know more, keep following these posts….

…And here are the results of the past week’s labours – I’ve been able to finish off various outdoor pieces for a sculpture event this weekend, at Aubourn Hall near Lincoln. Materials include Guinness and coke cans! Much help drilling and fixing from our friend Tim Miller-Dewing, and the rain held off too.
The little piece with a tree on it appears on p.52 of the current (July’s) The English Garden, which features the gorgeous nursery and garden at Hall Farm, Harpswell, run by Mark and Pam Tatam. (Worth travelling miles for their superb plants at an amazing price, plus garden metalwork.)

Too soon to relax – more deadlines coming soon….

This is my entry to the first Ropewalk Open Competition – on the theme ‘from the Humber to the Wash’. The area feels ancient and largely untouched, though its geography is constantly changing. ‘Leogria’ (the title) is used for this part of the world in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s 12th-century History of the Kings of Britain.
A bit of light relief when I conducted a family workshop last week at the Hub, Sleaford – a marvellous regional treasure-house of craft and design. People made hats, bats and the most brilliant dragons. Now, having dismantled my exhibition yesterday, I’m back to contemplating imminent deadlines on garden pieces and some real hard graft – more on this soon.