24 #Bigroses at The Lighthouse, down the lane and up the tower !

October 26, 2016Leave a comment

something seemed to go wrong the first time around so here is a wee reblog

Right in the centre of Glasgow at the bottom of a Mitchell lane off Buchanan street you can find The Lighthouse. And that’s where I was on the 15th October for another #thebigroseday.

If you walk down the lane from the Buchanan street and follow a trail of bright large roses in the style of Mackintosh you get to the front door of this bright, narrow but tall building. I know that because … I stencilled them, one Friday afternoon in October.

Me, my pot of paint, my knee pads and a large stencil. It was magical fun, it took me longer than I though it would. Not because i was slow at it… just simply because the passers by kept on interrupting… “are you the lady who made the carpet at The Hill House? What are you doing? Could I try? Is this not messy? Are you allowed…

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The Big Rose project #BIGROSE

September 20, 2016Leave a comment

FREE EVENTS : NO booking required just turn up between 11am and 4pm on the day and stencil Mackintosh roses ! no experience needed ! Sunday 2nd October The Hill House National Trust for Scotland He…

Source: The Big Rose project #BIGROSE

The house Mackintosh dreamed about … Stencilling A House for an Art Lover

September 12, 2016Leave a comment

Every artist, craftsman, maker likes being part of a dream, the best part of it usually is to team up with the dreamer to discuss, elaborate, plan and realise the dream ! But in the case of The Ho…

Source: The house Mackintosh dreamed about … Stencilling A House for an Art Lover

UP CYCLING AS A WAY OF LIFE – a new up cycling class this Autumn – in Glasgow

August 19, 2016Leave a comment

Many years ago this trunk caught my eye in a “around the corner” charity shop, I remember vividly buying it for £10… that was in the days when you paid “normal prices”…

Source: UP CYCLING AS A WAY OF LIFE – a new up cycling class this Autumn – in Glasgow

Doors Open day talks #GlasgowDOD

August 14, 2016Leave a comment

For many years now September has brought a treat along with the doors open day #DOD for a whole week end with a week end crescendo a great number of buildings all over Europe open to the public fre…

Source: Doors Open day talks #GlasgowDOD

CROWD FUNDING #THEBIGROSE

August 8, 2016Leave a comment

You may have heard about the Art Project I am working on for the Mackintosh Festival next October. It will involve stencilling carpets of Glasgow Style roses outside some of the Mackintosh v…

Source: CROWD FUNDING #THEBIGROSE

Websters Theatre & Bistro

July 30, 2016Leave a comment

Nestled in the heart of Great Western Road sits a church. Many people walk past it, not noticing the hive of activity slowly breathing new life into the building. The building in question is Landsd…

Source: Websters Theatre & Bistro

Talk – Demonstration on Mackintosh Stencilling at The Hill House – Helensburgh

July 26, 2016Leave a comment

Being blessed with the great chance to work with stencils I take great pride and pleasure in sharing my knowledge and I will be doing this during the summer in the lovely The Hill House National T…

Source: Talk – Demonstration on Mackintosh Stencilling at The Hill House – Helensburgh

Glasgow Stencils available at The Hill House

July 26, 2016Leave a comment

Today I made a delivery of Glasgow Style stencils to the shop of The Hill House, the property that Mackintosh designed at the turn of the century for the publisher Blackie. The Hill house features …

Source: Glasgow Stencils available at The Hill House

Artist and Master of the Crafts ! Doug Cocker’s Swamp and Meadow

July 24, 2016Leave a comment

I do not have a Fine Arts trained eye but I know a good craftsman when I see one…

Doug Cocker’s exhibition “Swamp and Meadow” is at The Art Park @ The House for an Art Lover Glasgow and its full of beautifully hand-crafted objects.

I am not familiar with the work of Doug and I did not get the whole meaning of “flowering pasture” and so … on but I was left marvelled with the beautiful master craftsmanship with which Doug handled the wood, metal, leather and twine. His work is reminiscent of that of the great craftsmen of yesterday. I can imagine the wood been caressed and shaped by old tools on a workbench that smell of fresh herb and the sound of an old radio in the distant background. On the floor some fine grain sandpaper discarded mixed with wood shaving.

For me Doug’s exhibition is a whole come back to the basic, hand made it is … slowly and beautifully.
Ok when you look at the objects they are sculptures and I could not identify a single one of them on the “Swamp” but if you look quickly you feel you are facing a wall of old tools, objects, made in the country, something local no? Tangible, rare in today’s world…Is that not what Doug meant to do ? Because that is what I see… I can just about close my eyes and hear the wind in the willows in the background.

I loved the slowly achieved paint finishes and combinations of shapes of the 16 squares of the “Slow Years”. I spend my a good deal of my working life looking at faded paint finishes in refurbished centenary buildings. Time is a great achiever of faded looks. Slowly rubbing down crimson in pale pinks and colored layers of different era merge in an harmony of colours complimenting each other in complete chaos. Doug’s squares marvelled me and I would have been standing there taking every detail in for hours … But the gallery was closing ! I had to go.