Out in the open

Since moving from the Highlands, we have been trying to build a new house. We were living in a small cottage we had hoped to extend into something we could live in until we are old. The planning rules, however, had other ideas. The cottage was small and unremarkable, but even a sympathetic single storey extension to the rear wasn’t allowed unless it was 80% or less than the footprint .. the size of a modest room. We contemplated our options … and ended up deciding to build a brand new house. This would at least have the advantages of 0% VAT and a future proof design. We felt sad for the old cottage. The downside was that the bureaucracy really ramps up for new build projects … oh my, you have no idea how much. So THREE years’ later … we have finally started to build. We are £1000s of pounds down to consultants who had to be paid to tick a box before we could proceed … and we are rather bruised and battered by the whole experience. By comparison, the actual build feels easy. We are on safer ground here .. practical and visible and understandable, with some very decent people alongside us. With a bit of luck by early next summer we will finally be in our new house. In the meantime we are installed with the cat in a caravan onsite at the “studio encampment”! The commute to work is very short .. For the time being it’s quite pleasant .. almost like being on holiday. Less said about the winter! But by then the finish line will be well within sight.

We won’t know what do to with ourselves in a beautiful new house … it will seem quite strange! I have managed to choose clay plaster for much of the walls .. so the potter can live in a clay house. Also we can’t wait to finally finish setting out the garden after being held in limbo for so long …

We shouldn’t get too far ahead of ourselves though.

I have mainly been distracting myself this year with preparation for a solo show at Gallery 57 Contemprary Art. I have long admired this beautiful gallery and my imposter syndrome is definitely rather bemused that I should have been asked to do a solo show here. But rather than overthinking it, it’s best just to crack on and create a body of work that befits such a superb gallery. So that is what I have been doing. The show opens on 8th August in Arundel and runs until mid September, so please check it out. There will be around 80 pieces from across all my various series. I can’t wait to see how Ann (the gallery owner) and Rebecca (her daughter) curates the pieces. I am curious to see when they are together in a room they have the shared presence of quiet sentinels, or whether like birds of prey they are imperious and individual. All will be revealed..