Debbie's Blog so far...

It’s wonderful to be starting to get a bit of time back in the studio after 9 months, although I am fully aware that Motherhood means an end to long luxurious periods spent pondering things before brush hits paper.


The attached picture of my studio is remarkably illustrative of my studio time up until recently – namely small hours snatched here and there, often at night or in that slightly woolly sleep deprived state that all new parents are familiar with. A couple of commissions have given me healthy deadlines to encourage my return sooner rather than later – the artists’ ability to procrastinate is another entirely different topic which deserves its own session..!

Recently a couple of lovely occurrences at the gallery served to remind me of what a wonderfully small world the creative one is.

Last week a couple of gallery regulars and past customers popped into the gallery with some friends who were breaking their journey south to Wales from Scotland having delivered some work to an exhibition. After some time I enquired as to the name of the lady with whom I had been chewing the fat to which she answered ,”oh you probably won’t have heard of me…”

Turns out this artist was Mary Loyd Jones. I think she was quite shocked to learn that my student sketchbooks contained post cards of Mary’s work which I had first seen hanging in an exhibition at Leeds City Art Gallery 15 or so years ago. Furthermore I also discovered that Mary is currently working on a project with painter Roger Cecil, another painter whose work I strongly identify with and admire.

The other occurrence was during the recent preview to Kate Wickam’s show. Kate had bravely made the journey up from East Sussex to be present at the preview. An hour or so into proceedings and a relatively elderly couple introduced themselves to Kate. Turns out that Kate had been a bridesmaid at this couples wedding when she was about 6 years old, over 40 years ago. The couple who are on our mailing list from an exhibition last year received the invite and deduced that this must be the same Kate Wickam who they knew had gone on to study ceramics. A lot of catching up ensued and resulted in the purchase of two lovely pieces of Kate’s work – a lovely end to the day…

Next week its hopefully off to Leeds with Finn to see the Hughie O’Donaghue show before it disappears.