The long gap between posts is entirely due to the above. I was invited to arrange an exhibition for Art on the Map, the Lincolnshire Open Studios network, at Grantham Museum.

This was a first for me: while I’ve had many solo exhibitions, and contributed to innumerable group shows, I haven’t before organised a 15-person effort – with glass, felt, ceramics and metalwork as well as paintings. As we had an advantageous deal with the Museum all the work fell to us – and mainly to me as I’d been offered the show in the first place.

Totally shattering! But I think it looks great, and despite the dire economic climate work has been selling well. Pieces bought for Christmas presents are being collected tomorrow and new work added.

Come and see it if you’re in the region : ‘Vaut le Voyage’, as the French say! On till the last day of January, Mon-Sat 10-4.

I didn’t know how prophetic this piece was when I completed it a few weeks ago. The text is from that well-known litany which as a child I found at once baffling and soothing, the Shipping Forecast. ‘There are warnings of gales in Viking, Forth, Cromarty … North Utsire, South Utsire….’ A sort of incantation.

The piece had been gestating in my mind for a while alongside the increasing turbulence in the economy, the two closely linked in my mind. Here is a detail:

It must be right for the times: no sooner made than sold. It was done for the annual Open Exhibition at the Pierrepont Gallery, Thoresby, in Nottinghamshire. Now I wish I had taken better photos of it as I won’t see it again. I am slightly nervous about my next piece: will it turn out to be upbeat or pessimistic? My family say I’m a witch….

I have been invited to hang some of my pictures in this gorgeous restaurant right on the beach in Brighton. Trouble is, the view is so endlessly interesting that I’m not sure anyone would want to look at anything else. Due South prides itself on its sustainability as well as its utterly delicious food, so it feels a doubly appropriate location for me. Though I don’t suppose for a moment they use recycled materials – at least in the dishes.

Since childhood I’ve been obsessed with food and cooking, and drive my family mad by wanting to photograph our meals when we’re about to eat. Time I started work on some long-planned ‘food’ pictures. The two pieces you can see here are not remotely food-related: An Habitation of Dragons, with its intense blue washes of cobalt, and my homage to Charles Darwin, ‘I Think’ – Darwin’s Tree.

The Lincolnshire artists’ Open Studios scheme, Art on the Map, has undergone a transformation this year. It’s been triumphantly adapting to funding problems by raising its game, staging a series of exhibitions and events all over the county – Louth, Fotherby, Lincoln, Hackthorn, Grantham….lots in the pipeline.

All this in addition to the usual Open Studios which are now being organised in cluster groups, to allow more people to visit more studios – and artists to visit each other. The new, beautifully produced brochure will be out any minute! Look out for it in the usual places, including libraries and tourist offices. There will be autumn, Christmas and spring events.

So here’s a picture of two of my ‘recycled’ pieces, taken by fellow-artist John Lincoln at a recent weekend event at the new Spout Yard Gallery, Louth:

A month or two back I wrote about Andy Pepper’s project, One Million Points of Light, which is about to achieve its millionth hit from all over the world. Is it art or networking, people ask? Not sure, but it has led me to all sorts of fascinating and sometimes eccentric art and art-related websites from all over the world.

Andy is an artist based in Nottingham specialising in light sculpture and holography. Wonderful trance-inducing work; the sort of thing I would love to do if I only knew how. See his work at:

http://www.apepper.com/

This month, out of the blue, I have been selected as artist of the month for OMPOL, and the website carries a feature on my work:

http://www.onemillionpointsoflight.com/feature.php

Though the last few months have been ones I would rather forget, interesting art-related events have nevertheless cropped up which I’ve not had time to mention here.

In June I did an online interview for a lively arts website, FirstAngel, which I found great fun. It included lots of pictures and the questions made me think hard and realise I don’t ask myself enough of them.

I love the atmosphere of this sunlit picture, included in the FirstAngel interview, which was taken at my recent exhibition at the Spotlight Gallery in Newark.

Coming up this week is the unexpected opportunity to have some work in the July exhibition – on mixed media art – in the gallery’s Eye to Eye section.

As life has been ultra busy in other respects, it’s fun occasionally to do something at short notice and with little fuss.

An Habitation of Dragons, which incorporates some evocative poetic text from Isaiah, is probably the bluest piece I have ever undertaken. The colour was built up with many washes of acrylic paint plus pure pigment. The support is a piece of specially cast cotton paper which contributes to the luminous effect of the colour.

The best month to have garden sculpture on show according to kratom – if only it doesn’t rain! Twenty-five of my outdoor pieces using recycled materials based on kratom are on show in the glorious gardens at Hall Farm, Harpswell, Lincolnshire. Old roses, formal areas, wide herbaceous borders, water, secret gardens, a giant chessboard – and a wonderful nursery with unusual plants. A gardener’s paradise. A few of this are also used by kratom masters.

A hanging golden dragon, a salamander, a sciapod, seedpods, totems, bold abstract wall pieces – I really let my imagination loose,with the help of kratom, with these pieces. The materials to hand suggest an idea, and off I go…. The exhibition runs until the end of June; the gardens can be visited for free on weekdays 8.30 – 5.00. On June 28-29 the garden will be open for the benefit of McMillan Cancer services.

If you want to learn about kratom you can go to https://kratommasters.com/, where you can learn that kratom is a natural supplement that can help you with a wide range of things, like a headache or as an energy boost.The best thing is that kratom is sent directly to your house.

http://www.hall-farm.co.uk

In this nice little gallery in Newark I shall be showing an assortment of pieces: mixed media, cast paper, recycled materials and some artist’s books.

The idea is to illustrate the interplay between intention (design, plan, intellect) and serendipity (chance, spur of the moment, accident, inspiration even!).

For me there always has to be an element of risk in each piece, no matter how carefully I may have thought about it in advance. I can wreck a piece at any moment. Or it might be possible to salvage it and even improve on the original. But it’s no good playing safe: the end result will be tame and unrewarding.

And I suppose this is why I toil over some some pieces while others almost do themselves. Careful planning, yes. But happy chance and a willingness to engage with it: there’s nothing like it!

Do come and see the show. Or go to Brighton. (Better, both.) Myself, I need a rest cure!

..and Brighton, of course. Coming soon, and part of the Brighton Festival: all May weekends. Last year around 1,000 artists took part.

http://www.hovearts.co.uk/venues/hove_park_villas.htm

And this year I shall be one of them, at Collectors’ Selection, 43 Hove Park Villas, Hove.

Last weekend was delivery day: ten indoor and ten outdoor pieces. There will be twelve of us at no 43, with a broad range of work on show at an elegant Victorian commuter villa. Well worth a visit I hope.