News updates on The York Open Studios, Mark Hearld, Emily Sutton. Freehand Book and Kate Bush.

Happy Monday to one and all. Weather permitting I shall be moving the contents of my house from one side of Manchester to the other today so looking forward to having a bad back and a sore head tomorrow Woo hoo !  In the meantime here’s a few snippets of press that had nearly slipped by me recently. Starting with the fact that it’s the York Open Studios this weekend (just gone) and next weekend too. So if you want to see the wonderful work of the likes of Mark Hearld and Emily Sutton in the beauty of their own studios, amongst many other talented makers, then it’s the place to head for. Visit on 20th/21st April (from 10am-6pm on the Saturday and from 10am -5pm on the Sunday).  Here’s a taster of some of the work Emily will be showing.

Along with a fine collection of Cup and Mug related watercolours. Such an eye for detail.

My good friend Helen, who is a Lecturer at Bradford School of Art and who runs many great sites about drawing like draw draw draw and on Pinterest, has a following of over seven hundred thousand people !   She’s recently written a book on the subject and my work was chosen to grace the cover.. how exciting ! Knowing what I know about Helen, the book will be an excellent and invaluable informative source for anyone who draws and is available to buy here from Amazon.

Incase you’re wondering, mine is the little bird repeat which I sell as notebook covers here. Why not treat yourself to a copy and a notebook to sketch in too !

Finally last week, a wonderful songstress named Kate Bush received received a CBE for services to music from the Queen at a ceremony at Windsor Castle. She said ‘I feel incredibly thrilled to receive this honour which I share with my family, friends and fellow musicians and everyone who has been such an important part of it all. Now I’ve got something special to put on top of the Christmas tree’ !

On Kate’s official site katebush.com she speak to her fans by saying ‘ The ‘everyone’ in the quote above of course includes all of you. Thank you so very much for all your fantastic support and encouragement. I feel extremely privileged to still have an audience. It’s you that have made my work, which would otherwise have just been creative projects, into a success. Many, many thanks to the best fans ever, Kate x    P.S. I hate the term ‘fans’ but couldn’t think of how else to word it.’

A great chance for me to share a few favourite images of Kate with you.

What a beautiful, sexy woman with such a talent for expressing meaning through her music and lyrics. I still get goosebumps listening to The Kick Inside, her first LP and was thankful (or they were thankful) that my parents bought me a fine set of headphones to use, when I played it about 8 times daily back in 1978 !

Well done indeed Kate, you’ve made it such a pleasure to follow your work. I feel it only appropriate to include a video tribute and what better song than This Woman’s Work.

Back to the house move boxes (sighs). Catch you in a few days.