It seems that you did – I have had the most activity on my website this week that I have had for many months. Were you all hanging on to know what has been going on?
The truth is that I have been hard at it all week trying to get work ready for Kew Gardens. I want to have a really good body of work and, whilst it was all under construction before my trip to Canada, the finishing is a lengthy process. I have no images of work yet because I didn’t want to do snap shots and it has been more important to get the work ready.
I am particularly looking forward to responses to my ‘piece de resistance’ though: the Beverly Brook vessel. Beverley Brook runs through Richmond Park, one of my favorite places on earth. My Dad calls it his third lung! Poets Corner, within the gardens of Pembroke Lodge was restored partly with money collected in memory of my mum. I grew up ‘in the park’: on long walks in the company of a procession of family dogs; horse riding; pond dipping; making dens; climbing trees; yes, OK, I was always a bit of a tom-boy.
So I gives me a huge sense of excitement to be able to make with material from the park which was give to me, by permission of the management, when they were restoring the brook. It is my plan to have one large piece for sale at Kew and I have agreed with the Park that 50% of the proceeds of the sale will go to the Friends of Richmond Park for use on a project of their choosing.
Ah, I love Cornwall! I love the coasts and villages; I love the people; I love the rugged beauty of the moors and the intimacy of the narrow lanes, which are currently looking particular spectacular fringed as they are with drifts of cow parsley, foxgloves and red campion.
The hedgerows and road verges are so colourful at the moment.
It has been such a treat to travel around with no time pressure visiting artists in their lairs and chatting to them about life, art and Cornwall. Not being able to get into my own studio and knowing that this is a time for just lapping up the atmosphere has been so relaxing. Who could ask for more?
I began close to home on the Roseland where, much to my surprise, I discovered only one artist was taking part in Cornwall Open Studios. Carol O’Toole and I happily whiled away the time in her studio in Tregony. What a lovely lady! She made me feel so good about my decision to move to Cornwall. I showed her my work, which happened to be in the car, and she showed me hers.
Carol O’Toole: a fabulous mix of print and paint.I love the fact that she, like me, does not stick to the rules. In her case this results in delicious combinations of print and paint which work brilliantly together.
Later in the week I prowled further afield, crossing the ferry and trekking into the wilds of Feock and Mylor Bridge to gaze with admiration at Lucy Spink’s jewellery – Just as well she does not have any kind of facility for taking credit cards or I might have parted with a fair bit of money – and the print makers Jenny and Sarah Seddon. Despite having committed a dreadful error here and failed to read the booklet properly, the Seddons were not officially open on the day I went, the welcome I received was as warm as any and the work was enthralling. I would not have minded staying with the Seddons all day!
Of course I had to drop in on Paula Downing whose work I had seen at Truro Museum and who I really wanted to meet. She could not have been more friendly and, despite the fact that she was actually trying to run a workshop at the time, was happy to chat about the ceramics scene in Cornwall and sounded genuinely interested to meet a fellow manipulator of clay. Paula’s light and airy studio felt like a tree house. You look out of the large windows across the valley of the River Fal and see nothing but a canopy of deciduous woodland. How she gets any work done is a mystery to me – I would spend all day gazing at the wildlife!
My overall impression of the Cornwall Open Studios is that, whereas in Wimbledon we get around 4000 visitors in 4 days, life is hectic and the opportunities come to us, the artists in Cornwall get nothing like those numbers in 10 days. Here the visitors have to make quite an effort to seek out the studios (I got lost more than once) and the artists have to make a massive effort too. Tea, cake and hospitality were on hand wherever I went and
Some of the settings were simply glorious.
some of the settings were simply glorious. Most importantly, those who had grouped together with more than one artist in a building seemed to have a real advantage and were clearly receiving a disproportionately higher number of visitors.
![R009-648x1000[1]](https://bridgetmacklin.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/r009-648x10001.jpg?w=206&h=317)
Bridget Macklin 