Sublime Landscapes

Work from Jonathan Shearer and Michelle Knight turned up at the gallery a couple of days ago - very exciting! For this show we have taken the decision to put as much information and as many images as possible up on our website - so please do take a look...

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.

Green at last

Rain at last. Six weeks ago I finally managed to sow grass seed on the mud bath that had surrounded our house. Then we had one of the driest autumns in years and I thought I would lose the whole lot. So a good downpour has been welcome, and the grass seems to have doubled in volume in a day....

And also helped the cabbage finally perk up after being transplanted:

Though they have a long way to go compared to those in an allotment just down the road. While taking our son on a walk last Sunday, I passed this amazing show of colour over a fantastic allotment. Allotments often display a wonderful skill in making do with whatever is at hand, a quality I admire...

Shorter Days

Today was the first day that I mounted lights on my bike to cycle to work since the beginning of summer. The days seem to be getting shorter so quickly (which indeed they do - as the rate of change of day length is quickest around the equinox). But the reward of setting of before dawn is to see the sun rising, and today was a cracker of a sunrise.

The weather forecast suggests that the first frosts can be expected soon. I have just planted out my cabbages and spring greens and sown some broad beans, so am hoping that they manage to get a hold before the weather turns to colder. If I am lucky, the frost will come just in time to wipe out the catapillars that I know are just startng to feed on the cabbage.

I have always been keen on growing my own veg. It'snot a financial thing, or even really a taste thing (though they do taste better - most of the time), I think it's mainly a 'feelgood' thing. Watching something grow from seed, nurturing its development, seeing it ripen and mature, then eating it: There is something complete and 'wholesome' about the whole cycle. This year has been a courgette bonanza, and Debbie and I have been experimenting with ways to cope with the deluge. Much courgette cake has been eaten, and the freezer if full of courgette curry (interesting - but probably not to be repeated...)

And after several years of missing the opportunity, this year I managed to catch the elderberries in time. After many hours of labour on Sunday I have six small jars of elderberry relish. Just need to try and leave them long enough to mature. (The first time I tried this recipe in 2003 I knocked over a 4 pint jug full of elderberries. I was surrounded by thousands of little black berries and could not move from the spot without crushing them underfoot - Debbie had to come and rescue me with a dustpan and brush...)

Our Fourth Birthday...

Lund Gallery has recently celebrated its fourth birthday, and Debbie and I are starting to settle into our new life here at the Lund. In February, following several years of planning and building, we finally moved out to the gallery and now live in a small cottage on site with our nine month old son Finn. The time seemed right to keep a record of our Life at the Lund...

One of the most exciting recent events has been our first creative course to be run at the gallery. Dominic Hopkinson, a sculptor with over 20 years experience working in stone, hosted two weekends of 'Sculpture in Stone' in a cattle shed at the Lund.

Since opening the Gallery we have been keen to host creative events in the space here at the gallery, and so it was wonderful to see this finally kick off and listen to the tapping of metal into stone for hour after hour... I'm sure we'll try and lure Dominic back for some events next year.

Lund Gallery is currently featuring ceramics by Kate Wickham at Gallery. Kate came up from London to be present at the opening, which gave many people a chance to have a chat about her work and career... which was much appreciated.

The other big news is that, with the weather starting to cool off, I have re-lit the boiler. It's a 40kW woodchip and log boiler imported from Denmark, and it caused months of teething problems when we first sparked it up in January. So far this week, it seems to be burning well. Actually, the colder the weather the better the boiler runs; it has most problems when it is trying to 'tick-over'... tending to burn back up into the fuel hopper which causes the whole system to flood itself. Fingers crossed for the next few weeks!