drawing

a sketchbook double spread featuring studies of the shore birds golden plover and a Dunlin

Travels, Drawing and Spring Events coming Soon

/ craft fairs, Exhibitions, News, Projects, Workshops

Introduction: Travel Adventures and Days at the Beach

The year started in dramatic fashion with me attempting to fly to Bristol on the day of Storm Eowyn. Amazingly my flight was one of the few that actually departed, albeit over 2 hours late. Trains and buses were all cancelled, so it fell to Bangor Cabs to make an epic and convoluted heroic journey to actually get me to the airport! I just about made it to the private view of Paperworks! 

Since then I have been spending as much time as I can concentrating on my fieldwork. The local beach has once again been a delight.

As the spring has come in, I have been treated to flocks of up to 300 golden plover, some starting to go into Summer plumage. This year there have been frequent red throated divers, and one day a sparrowhawk took an unsuccessful punt at the plover. There are already signs of summer with glimpses of gannet and a sandwich tern.

Paperworks Exhibition

25 January – 27 April 2025

If you should find yourself in Bristol in the next few weeks, I highly recommend the exhibition. It is a beautiful and diverse showcase of art made on and with paper. Here I am looking slightly surprised to find myself in the rather grand surroundings of the Royal West of England Academy!

all the pieces can also be seen on the RWA website here: 
https://www.rwa.org.uk/collections/rwa-biennial-open-2025-paper-works-artworks

Trymwood Studios

While I was in Bristol I was able to attend a workshop exploring “expressive watercolour” at Trymwood Studios. The workshop was led by Society of Wildlife Artists member Nik Pollard, whose work I have long admired, but had only met briefly in person.

I was not disappointed, and I am still pondering and experimenting with the ideas I came away with. Its a long time since I treated myself to a day like this and it has definitely refreshed my practice.

https://www.trymwoodstudios.co.uk/
https://www.nikpollard.co.uk/

Spring Events coming up:

Boom Studios Sketchbook Library Project

My most recent drawing trips have also been motivated by taking part in Boom Studios Sketchbook Library project. The idea is to fill your sketchbook by the end of August and return it to Boom. There will then be a showcase of all the sketchbooks which will be open to the public to view.

The project is open to all. A5 paperback sketchbooks are available from Boom’s shop – follow the link below for more information and to get your hands on a sketchbook and join in!

Order a sketchbook and join in!

I will be revealing progress so far in mine at this month’s Late Night Art, Bangor – read on for more details of this creative led initiative in Bangor…

Spring Exhibition with the Society of Wildlife Artists

12 – 27th April 2025

This exhibition is an opportunity that has come to me through my membership of the Society of Wildlife Artists. Unfortunately, I won’t get to see the show as it is in Colchester! I have been advised, however, that my carefully packaged pieces (including “Grumpy Gull”) all arrived safely.

Late Night Art Bangor

Thursday 27 March 
6 – 9 pm

Late Night Art Bangor is an initiative that aims to share Bangor’s amazing arts and cultural venues and showcase the creatives who live and work here. On the last Thursday of every month from 6-9pm you can enjoy open house across the city centre.

LNA launched in January 2025 with 10 venues and hundreds of people taking in exhibitions, demos and workshops. It is a collective effort by the Creative community of Bangor and is completely voluntary and self-funded.

Late Night Art Bangor is about encouraging collective effort. All you need is to share the goal of creating a vibrant arts community. We hope the knock-on effect will be a boost to the city centre and the nightime scene.

for the March Late Night Art, I will be showcasing sketchbooks and drawings. I will be pulling out scribblings old and new for you to see. And you can also get a sneak preview of the little book that is intended for the sketchbook library at the end of the summer.

Find out More

Spring events at Castle Espie 1 – North Down Craft Collective

The collaboration between North Down Craft Collective and Castle Espie will be continuing this year with three seasonal Craft Fairs. The first of these will be our Easter fair with 26 local makers taking part

Sunday 13 April
10am-4pm

Entry to the market and the cafe is free. Normal admission applies beyond the visitor centre.

Find out more

Spring Events at Castle Espie 2 – Kilmood Art club

19 April – 18 May 2025

I won’t be away from Castle Espie very long as I will back the following week to help with the hanging of Kilmood Art Club’s Spring exhibition. I am hoping to have four pieces in the show, which will most likely be some of the new drawings from the field trips I have made since Christmas.

The Exhibition opens on the afternoon of Saturday 19 April

Entry to the Gallery and the cafe is free. Normal admission applies beyond the visitor centre.

Find out More…

Paper Bird Workshop at the Craft Room

Saturday 17 May
10am – 12pm

My next paper bird workshop will be back at the Craft room in Newtownards. the nesting season will be well underway, so to celebrate, we will be making a pair of Bullfinches.

As always, we will use simple paper cutting and folding techniques following instructions and demonstrations.

All materials will be supplied and refreshments are included.

The workshop area at The Craft Room is located on the first floor accessed via a short flight of stairs.

Book a place on the workshop

Travels, Drawing and Spring Events coming Soon Read More »

banner image showing a paper wasp nest sculpture on a white background with Text detailing the exhibition title and dates

Happy New Year

/ Events, Exhibitions, News, Workshops

Happy New Year!

I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas break. As life returns to normal, I am gradually emerging and turning my attention to the year ahead in my usual haphazard and unplanned way. As always, there is plenty to be getting on with.

The new year has started rather well with my paper wasp nest being accepted into the Royal West of England Academy Open exhibition, which has the theme “Paper Works”. It is also an excuse for me to book a short trip to Bristol to attend the private view and see how others have interpreted the theme. Bob, of course, is delighted to hear that another trip is being planned!

Getting my drawing head back on again

Despite the cold and wet weather, I have managed one trip to the beach with my paints. This black headed gull was paddling furiously to try and coax a snack or two out of the wet sand. And a heron stood stately in the shallows.

The Society of Wildlife Artists have an exhibition in April, but the deadline for me to send my list of pieces is next week. 

Getting my comic drawing head back on again!

I will also be starting work on a new cartoon for the LD Comics online comic fair. That will be for another post as the fair isn’t until July. However, the first deadline to have something to show for myself is the end of February so I need to crack on with it! Watch this space.

Upcoming Workshops

Closer to home, the winter and spring is all about workshops with three coming up in the next few months. read on for more details, and please feel free to forward to any friends you think might be interested!

Winter Paper Bird workshop at Rowallane Gardens

My first workshop of the year will be at Rowallane Gardens National Trust. We will be making Robins and Bullfinches to bring a little bit of colour to the dark wintery days.

Saturday 18 January

10.30am – 12.30pm

Rowallane Gardens, Crossgar Road, Saintfield, Ballynahinch, BT24 7LH

The cost of the workshop includes entry to the gardens, so fingers crossed for a nice day for making birds in the morning followed by enjoying an afternoon in nature!

Book Now

Paper Bird Workshop at the Craft Room

In February I will be back at The Craft Room in Newtownards for another workshop. By then we will be looking forward to the spring, so I thought we would make great tits and coal tits, two of the first to start singing, so we will also have a go at learning the songs.

Saturday 15 February

10am – 12pm

The Craft Room 24a Frances Street, Newtownards, BT23 7DN

Tea and coffee will be available to keep you going!

Book now

Paper Bird Workshop at Aghalee Village Hall

My final workshop of this spring is a bit further a field in Aghalee Village Hall. If you are in that area, or willing to travel this is a great opportunity. The cost is very low as this workshop is subsidised with funding obtained by the local group to deliver a program of art and craft activities to the community.

Saturday 29 March

2pm – 4pm

Aghalee Village Hall, 6 Lurgan Road, Aghalee, Craigavon, BT67 0DD


if you are interested, please email [email protected] and leave your name and number. They will get back to you as soon as they can.

Happy New Year Read More »

Things the Same and Things Different

/ Events, Exhibitions, News

Now that the dust (and glitter!) has well and truly settled from Christmas, I thought I had better wish you a belated happy new year! January is usually a time for retiring to the back office to have a think and a plan and this year is no different. I have been trying to make some improvements to my website, including a new hosting, which was every bit the headache I expected! Thanks to Boom studios website club for keeping me on track with this!

I am also between three studios, my old home studio, my current very small space in Boom and (at least in my head) a bigger space in Boom that I hope to get into in February or March. Box packing, runs to the dump, trying to persuade fellow artists that they might have a use for my old tat and figuring out how and what to move from A to B to C! Hopefully most of this will be resolved by the end of March.

In between all this, I have been trying to take advantage of the fact that I now live walking distance from the beach by getting out and doing some fieldwork. I would like to get some good drawing days before the wintering birds head north to breed. Above is one of my first efforts, a lovely stonechat I watched feeding in the heaped up seaweed at the top of the beach!

But in the meantime, things are already getting quite busy! This weekend I will be doing my first fair of the year in Belfast and two group exhibitions are opening in February which mean I have to put the studio packing aside and turn my attention to them!

Fine and Dandy in the Titanic Hotel

The Fine and Dandy Market is at long last returning to Belfast and I am very happy to be taking part in the first one. They are starting big with the Titanic Hotel. You can find me there with my paper birds on this coming weekend Sunday 5th February. Table 38, Drawing room one!

Sunday 5th February

1- 5pm

Titanic Hotel Belfast, 6 Queens Road, Belfast, BT3 9DT

Find out more…
The Fine and Dandy Market
The Titanic Hotel

A Valentines Day Opening in Bangor

the North Down Craft Collective are once again organising a spring exhibition to showcase the wealth and diversity of talent and skills that their group has. North Down Museum are kindly hosting us in the Coffee Cure cafe space.

The show opens on 14th February and some of the artists, myself included, will be there that morning for an informal opening. You are most welcome to pop in,  meet the artists, peruse the artwork and have coffee all in one place!

‘Regeneration’

14 February – 26 March

North Down Museum Cafe, Castle Park, Bangor, BT20 4BT

Informal opening:

Tuesday 14 February 10am – Noon

Find out More…

North Down Craft Collective Facebook Page
North Down Museum
The Coffee Cure

The Hypno Bunny Returns!

If you missed the Paper Magic exhibition in October at Craft NI, Fear not, for we are going to do it all again! Paper Magic will be at the Sunburst Gallery in Ards Arts Centre Fom 23 February until 25 March.

If you did catch us in Belfast, do check the show out again as there are a few changes. We have two new exhibitors joining us – Aimee Magee and Simon Hall. Since a couple of my pieces from the first show sold, I will be exhibiting a few of my Catalan Butterflies pieces that were created as part of a collaboration with poet Laurence O’Dwyer. That collaboration came about as as result of my being awarded a bursary from Ards and North Down Borough Council for a residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, so I am pleased to have the opportunity to show part of that work here. 

We would like to invite you to join us for a opening preview of the show on Thursday 23 February from 7pm until 9pm.

Paper Magic

23 February – 25 March

Sunburst Gallery

Ards Arts Centre, Conway Square, BT23 4NP

Opening Preview: 

Thursday 23 February 7pm – 9pm.

Find out More…
Ards Arts Centre

Birdwatchers in the Tourist Office

And finally, during March, North Down Birdwatching Club will be having a display in Ards Tourist Information Centre to promote the club and the bird life of the local area. Along with other club members, I will be contributing a few bits and pieces. We have some talented photographers in the club, so do pop in and have a look if you are passing!

Ards Visitor Information Centre
1 – 31 March
31 Regent Street, Newtownards, BT23 4AD

Find out more…
Newtownards Tourist Information Centre

Things the Same and Things Different Read More »

Insects all over the Place this Autumn

/ Events, Exhibitions, News

There is a nip in the air and it seems summer may finally be over. I hope you had a good one and managed to enjoy the good weather. I have been busier than ever, and not complaining despite nearly losing sight of myself a few times! I am hoping that once the dust settles and I get the chance to reflect on all the activities and hard work I have put in this year, I will find I have made some progress. But in the mean time, there is plenty to be getting on with, Autumn may be upon us, but I am taking a few summer vibes on into September and October…

Paper Magic, Belfast

Opening this week at Craft NI in Belfast, Paper Magic promises to be an eclectic and slightly bonkers exhibition by 5 artists working in paper (yes, I’m not the only one!). I am very happy to be exhibiting along with Sue Cathcart (of Mr Papers fame), Susan McKeever, Jayne Cherry and Emma Whitehead (of Top Floor Art fame!). I have chosen to make my pieces about wasps because they invented paper. And pigeons, because I like pigeons. There will also be collages, strange hats, butterflies and a giant rabbit, Don’t miss it, we may never see the like again!

Official Opening: Thursday 22 September 6-8pm

Late Night Art: Thursday 6 October 6-8 pm

Keep an eye on Craft Ni social media for workshops and demos taking place as part of the ongoing entertainments!

The Natural Eye, London

The Natural Eye is the annual exhibition of the Society of Wildlife Artists. It is probably the UK’s most prestigious wildlife art exhibition so I am delighted to report that 4 of my aphid drawings which some of you may have seen in Ards arts centre in June, have been accepted into the show this year. It gives me the opportunity to show alongside some of the finest wildlife artists working today, many of whom I am in awe of! It also means I am planning my first trip to London since before Covid and looking forward to catching up with some friends and fellow wildlife artists.

13 – 22 October 2022

10am – 5pm

The Mall Galleries, London SW1

https://swla.co.uk/news/the-natural-eye-2022

Catalan Butterflies, Waterford

At the end of October, I will be returning to the Waterford Imagine festival with poet, Laurence O’Dwyer. Last year we presented work in progress from our collaboration “Catalan Butteflies”. Larry asked me to create pop up butterflies in response to some of the poems in his collection inspired by his travels in the Pyrenees and a Catalan field guide to butterflies that he bought along the way. The Imagine festival kindly provided us with further funding to present more developed work at this years festival. Larry’s collection is to be published in the near future and I am also happy to report that an image of my piece “Vanessa Atalanta” is to be used on the cover. 

An evening of music and spoken-word poetry and pop up butterflies!
 

Friday 28 October at 6pm

Christchurch Catherdral, Waterford

https://imagineartsfestival.com/catalan-butterflies/

Insects all over the Place this Autumn Read More »

New Solo exhibition at Ards Arts Centre

/ Exhibitions, News

‘In the Field’

Sunburst Gallery, Ards Arts Centre

Tuesday 7 June – Saturday 16 July

There will be an informal Wine reception on the evening of:
Thursday 9 June, 7pm – 9pm
all welcome to attend

New solo Exhibition

I am excited to announce that I have a new solo exhibition opening this week. Ards Arts Centre are giving me the opportunity to share a body of new work that I have been developing for a couple of years.

The works I will be showing are all Field studies, that is, they were all made form life in the presence of the creatures they depict. Drawing in this way and experiencing nature directly has always been central to my practice. For this exhibition I wanted , for once, to show a body of work all completed in the Field, with all the scuffs, smudges, coffee cup stains and footprints collected along the way! There are squiggles that went nowhere, my subject having abruptly departed about its Business. In one case slugs ate part of a drawing! The rough and ready nature of these works is a trade off for the immediacy and vibrancy that I am never able replicate in the studio.

These drawings began life as a response to the Covid 19 pandemic. As lockdowns began in 2020, it became clear that I would be unable to make my usual trips out to draw wintering birds. But as the initial shock of the situation subsided and the good weather settled in, I decided to experiment with sketching insects in the garden.

The experience proved eye opening, challenging and refreshing. I was amazed at the variety and abundance of insects and spiders sharing relatively small areas of foliage. The challenges were many. Firstly even seeing animals so small was difficult. Clip on magnifiers and a hand held magnifying glass were promptly ordered on line. Secondly, I know nothing about entymology, so everything I was drawing was new to me and I was unable to put a name to any of the species. I was forced to dig deep into my seeing and drawing skills to try to make sense of the constantly moving tangle of legs, antennae and wings. At the same time this was liberating. Unencumbered by knowledge or preconceptions about the animals before me, I was free to explore what I was seeing and express my excitement at this new experience. As 2021 brought more lockdowns and yet more warm weather, I was back in the garden with my magnifiers, pencils and watercolors braving bites and sunstroke and discovering that bumble bees do indeed have a sting.

Making this work has, in turn, had an effect on me. I have a greater awareness of the invertebrate life all around me, so much so, that even mowing the lawn now seems a gross act of violence! My interest piqued, I have started to explore the role of invertebrates in the ecosystem, their importance for soil health and thereby for carbon storage. This research has recently led me to the even more mindboggling topic of microbes.

Admission free. The Gallery opening hours are:

  • Tuesday – Friday 10.00am – 4.00pm
  • Saturday 10.00am – 1.00pm
  • Sunday and Monday Closed

For more information and directions pease see the Ards Arts Centre website

New Solo exhibition at Ards Arts Centre Read More »