That Sinking Feeling!

Today certainly started with a rude awakening!! VERY unlucky and its all down hill from there.

My youngest woke at 5am this morning having had a nightmare and as I stumbled back into bed still half asleep (having calmed the imagination and tears) ... I heard the sound of rain against our bedroom window ... usually I think how pleased I am to be in bed and warm and pull the covers up high ... but then ...

OH NO! ITS RAINING!

And like a bolt of lightening I remembered that I had left all my work out side to dry ... (it was a beautiful day on Sunday) ... AND it was still sitting at the bottom of the garden on the bench...

!!GULP & GASP!!

Launching myself like a torpedo out of my warm bed I shot out the back door (barefoot) down the path ... to ... find ... a terrible scene of sloppy dripping wet clay! What a mess & disaster!

!!!AGHHH!!!

On top of that I have heard today by post that my ceramic pieces have not been accepted by the Aberdeen Artist Exhibition at Aberdeen Art Gallery. I know its hard to get into, but it would have been nice to have something good happen to me after my disaster.

Oh well there is always tomorrow... as well as this afternoon! I must not get dragged down ~ I don't have time anyway. Will post some images after I have painted my butterflies for the Creative Cairngorms Exhibition which opens this Saturday 3rd May!

Emma Pattullo is on a roll ... & so is Platform 22!

Wow! I have just been so busy lately. I forget every year round about March April & May that it is mayhem on the art scene! I always seem to muddle through somehow. Work is going out as fast as I can make it, and I just hope it sells! In this last month and a bit I have been getting ready for six different exhibitions. Just the last two to do now.

First of the exhibitions was the Kincardine and Deeside Arts Forum Competition, this I produced 5 pieces for (3 acorn bowls, which I was secretly pleased with and 2 carved tiles with gold leaves, called Eastern Promise).
I also managed to persuade Annabel Pattullo (my sister-in-law) to submit 2 of her textile pieces in, as well as 2 of my pottery evening students to submit their work. I had to laugh ... but Annabel and Emma (not me!) both won prizes ... one from NEOS and the other from the Gallery owner for the best 3D piece! I'm chuffed to bits for them, but laughing as I sob into a soggy handkerchief (I should have been an actor not ceramicist ... as I lay this on thick ... still would not win the Golden Grammy thing) ... as none of them would have done it without me!

The second exhibition is for the Aberdeen Artists Exhibition at Aberdeen Art Gallery. This is done by selection, and it rather hard to get into .... I'm still waiting to hear if I got in this year. I keep telling myself "no news is good news" so I must be in!!! I put in two sculptural pieces inspired by my daughter & her love of flowing material and daydreaming! Keep you fingers crossed for me.

I have also submitted work and sent it off down to Stirling as part of the Scottish Potters Annual Exhibition. I promised myself that I would really try to send my work further afield this year ... so this seemed like an opportunity I could not miss out on. I have sent down my 4 Black Gold sculptural vessels, they are going to be exhibited in a red room, which I felt would really make them feel even more rich and luxurious. It starts on the 3rd of May and I'll post a link for you tomorrow.

I as I told you in my last blog am taking part in the Macmillan Charity Art Exhibition at Satrospher in Aberdeen. I am exhibiting my butterfly platters for this (of which I have so far sold 2 pieces), I also spent all of yesterday (Saturday) teaching my pottery workshop and in the afternoon demonstrated my skills at hand building pottery acorns... you could easily say I've gone completely nuts ... and I'll be doing it all over again next Saturday.

The next two exhibitions are part of the touring exhibition for Creative Cairngorms. The first is to be held at Ballater for a week (3rd to 11th May) and then the Creative Caingorms Exhibition will come here to Platform 22 from Tuesday 13th May to the end of June. On top of that David and I decided that it was time to make a few risks and take Platform 22 Gallery onto another level ~ so we have invested in an amazing coffee machine to change our little cafe in to a coffee house. This we are hoping will really complement our little gallery and Platform 22 will become a great place to enjoy art whilst having a fabulous cup of something tasty and maybe even decide you cannot leave without one (or more) of the artworks!!!

Sorry I have really jabbered on ... and no pictures! I'll try an sort something for you in the morning. Do pop into see the Macmillan Exhibition if you can, or, come see us at Platform 22 and introduce yourself!

Macmillan Art Show

I went to the opening preview for the Macmillan Art Show last night and was amazed by the amount of work on display. It is held at the Satrosphere Science Centre, 179 Constitution Street, Aberdeen from 25th April to 5th May.

It is one of Scotland's largest art shows with over 700 works of art for sale by amateur and professional artists, including paintings, sculptures, textiles, ceramics and jewellery. It is huge! And what a fabulous selection, there is something there for everybody ... And I mean everybody! It is a must see, so if you are in the area please pop in and have a look … even better buy something!!! It’s for such a good cause. Or log onto the Macmillan Cancer Support web site.
There will be a series of lectures and workshops by featured artists running during this charity exhibition, including myself! Emma Pattullo's children’s workshop "Pottery Plaques" on Saturdays 26^th April and 3^rd May ~ 10:30 to 12pm, children can create and make a pottery plaque in clay for a bedroom door/wall. On the Saturday afternoons from 2 to 4pm I am the resident artist(!) working away on my most recent body of work, so do pop by and see me at work for "In a Nutshell".
If you are interested booking a place to any of the lectures or workshops, or finding out more about the exhibition and artists please telephone (01224) 701505 or email northscotland@macmillan.org.uk

Lucky Old Me!

Wow! What a week! The panic ... the remedy ... and the relief!

I have to thank my lucky stars this week. It started with the disaster of my kiln dying and trying to fix the situation. I talked endlessly to the people I bought my kiln from and going through what my kiln was doing (or not). Then we worked on the various scenarios, from the worst case: new kiln ~ only a few thousand pounds to spend, to new controller ~ down to about £300 and finally to fixing the problem ~ either by electrician or kiln supplier ... hopefully not more than £150!

But no, none of this in the end happened. My darling husband came to my rescue (he has his uses you know... Cheek! I hear him say). He found the problem AND fixed it! YES! And best of all fixed it for under 5pence ~ in other words a pint down the pub for Peter our car mechanic friend that luckily had the part, and of course, a BIG hug for my clever hubby!

!! WAHOOOO !! YIPPEE !! HOORAY !!

So if anything else that could go wrong, went wrong this week ~ I didn't care, because I saved myself thousands of pounds ~ sort of! Happy days!!

Anyway, since the rescue of my kiln, I have been frantically catching up with firings and finishing my acorns. I'm not terribly happy with the first three acorn cups. So I am now adding some gold lustre around the rim to see if that cures the problem. Give them a bit of bling!
I cannot describe why they didn't work, its something to do with the inside invading onto the outside. Since this decision I have glazed the giant large acorn cup differently and I think that's how I'll do it from now on. But I'm still pondering.

I don't think any of the acorn cups (bowls) are ready for the Kincardine and Deeside Art Exhibition and Competition, which the hand in date is tomorrow. So, I'll see what news the kiln brings me in the morning and make up my mind then. After all I do have back up pieces of ceramics just in case.

I have also finished building my whole acorn sculpture ~ it is the first of many to be made of various sizes and finishes. OH I'm really excited about it! Here are some images for you of work in progress ...


Yes! I'm showing off before I have even finished ~ but just letting myself think about how well it is going so far... and where its going ... it makes me tingle all over! I can't wait to see how it turns out. These pieces will be for my exhibition in September, as part of the North East Open Studios. I am getting ready now as I have SO many ideas to be getting on with.


This image, as you can see, I have played with on the computer ~ I rather like the way it shows off and enhances the architectural quality of the scalloped acorn cup.

Yes I am content (to say the least) with how things have turned out this week. Hope your week was just as good!