Art Stall in The Galleries, Bristol

Today me and three friends are holding a stall in The Galleries in Bristol. It's on 9-6 and were expecting a foot fall of around 30,000! We've got cards, prints, mugs and original artwork for sale. 

Hamilton House Studios

I've recently moved into my first studio in Hamilton House, Bristol. Its fantastic. I share the space with other creatives, mainly illustrators who form the collective Drawn in Bristol, which I have also just become a member of. Its a collective that supports local Bristolian illustrators and you can look at our website here: WWW.DRAWNINBRISTOL.CO.UK

Here you can see some of my latest work, created in the studio. Here I've added some line work to my usual printmaking marks.

The Living Arts and Crafts Fair

I was given the opportunity to have a stall at The Living Arts and Crafts Fair, May 9th-12th, in Hertfordshire. 

Group shot of all of us that shared the marquee:

My Stall

                                      

I was in Marquee I, 'The Emerging Designer Makers’ Marquee. I had a fantastic time because I got to meet some great people, customers and fellow stallholders and the editors of Craft & Design Magazine, of which I’m featured in. It’s a beautiful magazine and has lots of great coverage of art events going on across the UK.

Chatting to the lovely Angie (editor)  and Paul (designer) of Craft and Design Magazine

I learnt about future art events I can get involved in and tips from other veteran stallholders. I love what I do and I’m passionate about the process I use to create my work. This is the first art fair I have done and it has given me even more enthusiasm to get my work seen and make a living from it after receiving so much positive feedback.

Throughout the four days in Hertfordshire I did demonstrations showing the public how I created all my images. This inspired people to get creative and make artwork of their own.

 Here are some of the greetings cards being made in preparation for the art fair. 

  

 

Now I’m looking at selling my work at more art fairs. 

The end of my residency at Chhaap Printmaking Studios

Day 24 and 25. The Final Days

To round up my time here at Chhaap Printmaking Studios I had an exhibition of all the work I have produced over the last month, (Sunday 24th Feb 2013). It was lovely to get some great feedback and lots of intrigue. More photos will be coming soon.

Monday morning, 25th February, saw me taking down my prints and carefully wrapping them up to be transported all the way back to the UK. Now I have around 13 more days until I also pack my little rucksack and board my plane home on March 10th.

Coming to India has been an incredible experience for me. Being artist in residence, after three months of travelling from the North to the South of this hugely diverse country, was the perfect way for me to reflect on all the experiences I’ve had and infuse them into my work. Many of my prints depict tranquil places from my travels across India and the process of printing often felt like a meditation itself. They are a narrative of my journey.

The places I have illustrated in my prints include Arambol in Goa, Alleppy and Varkala in Kerala, Ranthambore in Rajasthan, Darjeeling, Agra in Uttar Pradesh and the Himalayan mountains in Nepal, where I started my journey.

After so much travelling on buses, trains and planes it was lovely to stop and stay at Chhaap studios and feel more like a resident rather than a tourist. Baroda, a hub of creativity, has filled me with inspiration from seeing so many studios and exhibitions and meeting so many artists. It was the perfect place for me to round up my trip.... but I have a feeling this isn’t the last I will be seeing of India.

Days 20, 21, 22. The final days of printing

Wednesday was the start of my final big print here at Chhaap. Wow, I can’t believe it’s coming to an end. I wanted a change from the lush scenery and couldn’t forget the cows. How could you, they number more than 150 million and they roam anywhere they please. Many a time has my rickshaw swerved out the way of cow casually crossing the street. They have a lot of attitude.

Day 21 was actually the final day of printing. I had finished my cow print and decided I wanted to just let loose, have fun and make a mess. So I combined the stencils I had collated from all my prints and made some smaller images and cards. I did also start on that second print of the Palm Trees. The first print I did, but with slightly different colours. This one will have to be completed in the UK after I ship the big parcel of my work home.

There was also time to visit some more studios, meet a few more artists and invite them to my exhibition on Sunday. There are over 700 full time artists in Baroda! It’s great to be in a place with art everywhere.

Day 22. I got on a bus to Ahmedabad at 5.00am! I saw some of the oldest parts, with lots of character and beautiful architecture. Then a visit to Ghandi Ashram and Konoria Arts Centre, where a talk by the brilliant printmaker Jyoti Bhatt was taking place. Shame it wasn’t in English! But I did get to see lots of his work and check out the amazing print making studios.

Day 17, 18 and 19

I completed the print of the view from the houseboat, a square image for a change. It was a challenge getting the reflection in the water. This is also the image chosen for the poster/flyer for my open house/exhibition this Sunday.

Then I went for something more urban again. These vibrant colours were typical of the houses scattered across the high hills of Darjeeling. It actually reminded me of the brightly painted houses and street art in Bristol.

I also went to visit some artists studios and to MS University to attend a presentation on the outcomes of a sound workshop. It was great up until a swarm of mosquitoes, reasonably near my head, started to distract me.  

Me, Aditi and Dev stopped for some Chai before the presentation.