61...AAF Hampstead and La nuit blanche

Lara arranging stand

Back to Brighton this weekend and had to pop up to the prestigious new Affordable Art Fair on Hampstead Heath as all my small sculptures had sold at the private view and I had to load my trusty trolley up with more and hot foot it up to renew the display.
This fair is a well known international franchise but this was a first one in this location. It looked great, spacious and light with a really well curated collection of artists and galleries. It was busy and buzzy and I spent a happy couple of hours looking around. While I was there, Lara (my agent) sold the last Little Artichoke on the stand, and the lady who had bought it over the phone, came rushing round to pick it up, and bought me a lovely artichoke that she had seen for sale at a  local greengrocers, what a lovely thought.

Pheonix installation

This week the clocks went back, and in Brighton to celebrate this fact we have a white night. It is only 3 years old, but is already becoming a hugely popular event, and the streets were packed. I think this started originally in Amiens, France...but has spread to other French and British cities.

Dolly mania

H and I wandered around the streets enjoying all the different shows. Here we saw a couple of funny Dolly Parton trannies belting out her most popular numbers from balconies above the crowd...everyone was dancing. We also popped into the alternative (everything in Brighton is alternative!) village fete where I joined in with some Jive lessons.

Audience at Sallis Benney theatre watching clubbers on West Street

Later we joined an audience at the art college theatre who were watching an experiment run by the noise abatement society with a member from the 80's group The Human League. They were playing ambient music from many speakers situated in West Street in Brighton and filming the results while simultaneously streaming them back to the theatre. There was a body language expert there who was giving us the low down on how people were reacting to the music, and discussing whether it was changing behaviour. West Street is not a place where you would casually wander on a saturday night, it is full of very high spirited, often quite drunk youngsters who are out for a dance, a laugh and maybe a bundle....it has ever been so. So it was funny to watch the reactions to the ambient music all around them, and certainly it all seemed relaxed, clubbers and police, while we were watching. Maybe this idea could spread and calm down saturday nights in city centres?

Open market party

On the way home, we popped into the local fruit and veg market and found a full on party with DJ's and art installations. It was great...really good music and atmosphere...with a typical alt Brighton crowd. Plenty of ghouls and zombies having a bit of a dance.

Knitted bollard cosy

When we finally headed for home, we saw a row of bollards that someone had thoughtfully knitted some cosies for.......

60...Summer tiles and more guests

Detail from new wallpiece

Autumn is here, the students are all back at Uni and I have time and space in my mind to do some new designing now. I have got several new projects in mind, one line of which is a series of wall pieces. These are not always easy to display and sell, there is not yet a familiarity with hanging ceramic on the wall, nevertheless I like them myself and it makes a change to work on a flatter plane.

Blue Bells drying

I am also working on several commisions. The forms above will be glazed with a crystal white glaze and filled with crushed blue glass. Once attached to steel rods and mounted in wood, they will sparkle in someones garden.

Kieran's tile...guess his profession!

As ususal this summer, all my visitors have made a tile for the collection on my studio wall.

James's tile

I love these little self portraits.  This one was James who featured in an earlier blog...he is cycling around for a couple of years raising money for the McMillan fund. Last heard of in Budapest.

Hannah's house

Kiku's witch

Mika's dormotory

The girls who come to visit every summer get better and better with their tiles and now work on little 3d sculptures too. They have to take those home with them of course.

Teal's Death cap tile

Teal our visitor from last week was convinced we had poisoned her with wild mushrooms....however she survived to make her tile.

Teal and Laila hedging

Another Workawayer this week, Laila from welsh Wales who is staying for a while......

Houdini

mainly because of this little fellow who was rescued from a life in a cage in Greece, but who can't go back to Britain until 6 months after his jabs. We are now getting used to having our slippers and gardening gloves retrieved.

59...Mushroom season and help in the garden

Destroying Angel

This weekend we have been out in the local forest foraging for mushrooms. We took some friends with us and made sure they knew the fatal mushrooms (above) to avoid before looking for edibles. There are 3 main mushrooms to avoid, all part of the same family (Amanita) and called the Death Cap, Destroying Angel and the Citrina. Even eating a small amount can kill you......slowly...over about 6 days, so it's good to know which these are right at the beginning.

Cleaning mushrooms for lunch

It is a little dry at the moment for a really good crop of mushrooms, a few days of rain will bring them all up, but nevertheless, we found a large amount of Trompettes de la morte and a few others to add to the mix.

A couple of weeks ago I joined another website called Workaway, which is a site for people looking to work around the world in exchange for food and accomodation. I always need help in the garden so posted a profile, and this week my first helper arrived,

Teal

This is Teal, she is from New York state and has been working on a farm in Belgium, and is now helping to get my garden into order. She arrived with a guitar and a great singing voice, so there are strains of music drifting in from the bathroom or garden as she works...lovely! Another lady arrives on tuesday...with a little dog she has rescued in Greece so at this rate I will have a show garden in no time. What a great scheme.

Blue seedcase

Three new sculptures out of the kiln in the last couple of weeks,

Green seedcase

These two are destined for the new Affordable Art Fair in Hampstead at the end of the month. If anyone would like to go, please contact me through my website  www.francesdoherty.co.uk

Spidery Poppy

This one is one of a new range that are designed to go on the wall. The next one I am going to make will be based on the Echinacea 'Green Jewel'....it has the most gorgeous centre, I'm looking forward to constructing that one, once I've got the long list of sculptures made that are being waited on.

Oh I musn't forget.....Hi to Ryans dad Mike who I've been told reads my blog from across the pond in Americay.....How you doing?!

58...La Linerie and Brighton Museum

http://lalinerie.monsite.orange.fr/

I was contacted this week by someone who owns a large old flax factory near my town in France. It is a semi derelict building, last used as a working Linerie in the 70's. I have often driven past and been intrigued to see various colourful pieces of art on or in the buildings, and I knew there was some sort of artist collective working there but that was all, so it was good to be asked to go and have a look around it with the view to showing some work there in the future.

Cistern creature

It is an amazing space and lends itself to all sorts of ideas. They have a festival here each May and invite many different artists working in various arenas, performance, music, applied arts, graffiti etc. to exhibit.

Oyster rabbits

The buildings and land were bought just a few years ago by a couple with a vision to make it a cultural centre, a lifelong project if ever I saw one!

View through a frame through an apeture

Many of the artists who have exhibited previously have responded to the space, as it is now or how it was then. Flax is used frequently, or as in the image above the ideas have come from the space itself.  So, I will have to get my thinking cap on and see what I can come up with.

Grayson Perry

Back in Brighton for the weekend and wondering around the Laines I decided to pop into our museum for a quick look at the Grayson pot. It's a shame it is no longer on a turning plinth as you can only see one part of it so you don't get the full story...nice to know it's there though.

Domestic violence in Porcelain

What I hadn't realised was that they have a huge ceramic collection there from a collector called Willett. It was presented to Brighton in 1903 and was collected by him because he thought that ceramic figures and vessels told stories of political, social and cultural history through their form and decoration.

There are some really interesting and often quite funny and occasionally sad pieces there. Definitely  worth a look.

When we came outside we spotted this fella in Pavilion Gardens....

....dead, drunk or just dead drunk, whichever he looked peaceful!

 Find me now over at http://theceramicgardener.com

57...October swimming and a sundowner at Pourville

What an amazing week we've had! A full blown scorching heatwave to see us into autumn and confusing all the senses.

Looking towards Dieppe

We have been leaving the studio late afternoon and escaping to the beach for a swim. There has been very little breeze and the sea and horizon meld into each other in a fusion of pink and blue. The coast here is very different from just across the channel in Brighton. The cliffs are green and wooded with pretty houses teetering on the edge and the little towns are not over developed. The beaches have concrete runways going into the sea which are used by tractors to pull the fishing boats out of the sea, the catch is then sold on the front.

Golden ferry on way to pick up Henry

As we sat drinking a Kir on the promenade friday evening, we caught sight of the ferry leaving Dieppe on its way back to Newhaven. The sun was so low and as it hit the side making it glow, it appeared to be floating in the sky. Henry came back on this ferry later on in the evening and cycled up through a starry night to arrive here early on saturday morning.

Sundown at Pourville

As the sun sunk down behing the cliff, it turned the sea a series of amazing blues, cereulean, colbalt, aquamarine, petrol. Impossible to capture with a camera. It looked like a painting which you would have believed to be an exageration. The whole of the promenade was stilled....all looking to the west, it was an amazing moment. We popped down again to show it to Henry on saturday and waited to see if it would happen again. It did, and this time we were able to watch it happening as the sky turned from golden to pink. It must be a phenomenon of the time of year, the position of the sun etc.....but who cares...it was just gorgeous.

Chateau d'eau

On the way to the beach we passed this water tower. They are often painted witth fairy tale scenes, but this one being not far from Fecamp, was painted with a lighthouse and a sail boat almost crashing against the rocks. Often they are painted with Rapunzel.....which I suppose you would.

Mist above the river

On the way home we saw the mist lifting above the river. It has an ethereal, almost medieval look about it... as if Arthur might go riding by.

 

Back in the studio the kiln has been firing every other day, with a mixture of students work, a commision to be finished and some clouds which are destined for a primary school. Lots of glazing to be done next week........

56...The Brighton Art Fair and it's cast of colourful characters

On my stand 

This weekend I've been working at the annual Brighton Art Fair. I always enjoy this show as it is close to home, and run by a friendly team of people who make sure it's a show for both the artists and visitors to enjoy. This year it was particularly well curated and there was a stunning variety of work including lots of 3D as well as 2D work.
I borrowed a large painting from my friend Jane Denman as a backdrop to the stand...and sold it almost straight away!

Spidery Poppy

I had several new pieces of work for sale as well as some old favourites, and took a huge order for 8 sculptures on the first day to go to a sculpture park in Surrey. That'll keep me busy this winter.

Sophie Abbott     www.sophieabbott.net

When you work at an art fair for several days you get to know your neighbours really well. This year I was lucky enough to be next to Sophie who after seeing me standing for a day, bought a stool in for me to perch on. It makes such a difference when you are with people who you really get on with...although actually, most of the artists are great to talk to as we all share the same sort of life and have the same worries and experiences to discuss during quiet moments....and usually a warm bottle of wine hidden somewhere in the stand for the late afternoon when you are flagging!

Shyama Ruffell      www.shyamaruffell.co.uk

Both Sophie, Shyama and I are part of Four Walls, represented by Lara Bowen who takes our work to the big art fairs in London. Of course when our work is sold through an agent we pay a large amount of commission but that in turn makes it a risk free show for us, and we don't have to stand and sell our work for 3 days which is a killer on the feet and back.

Adrian Turner    www.theopengallery.co.uk

 This was my other neighbour who coincidentally also lives at the bottom of my road in Brighton, as well as along the road from me in France. He photographs the sea from opposite sides of the channel, and creates large, serene images by some complicated method that I don't understand, but which are very effective. The image he is standing in front of is St Valery en Caux on the Normandy coast.

Alexander Korzer-Robinson

    This was one of the most  successful artists of the show, he transforms old books into works of art by cutting out all the text, page by page, and leaving the images behind. What is left is a miniture world inside the book. They are georgeous and were flying off the wall. By Sunday there were only a couple left. One day I would love to buy one of these.

Maria Rivens

This artist is my favourite. She make beautiful collages from old books and the pictures nod heavily to the 50's and feature plenty of mushrooms. Some of the images are quite trippy. I have bought a small one of hers and hope to invest in a larger one someday soon.

Alexander Slatter    www.alexanderslatter.co.uk

This is Alex, a regular at this show who always has a ready smile, especially when standing at the wrapping table having a sold painting bubblewrapped.

Organisers, Anne Marie Francis, Sarah Young and Jon Tutton

Finally it's the end of the show and the organisers who have been running around keeping everyone happy all weekend get a chance to take the weight off their feet for a moment...and probably contemplate the next show, in only 10 days time in Fulham. www.palaceartfair.co.uk

And that's it for me. Dinner is being cooked and I am going to crawl onto the sofa, put my feet in a bowl of warm, minty water  and watch (ahem) a bit of X Factor.                                            

55...A monster mushroom, a disaster and Le Chateau de Vascoeul

How to stuff a giant puffball

Take one Puffball as big as your head

Cut out the middle and stuff with lovely things

(in this case onions, chestnuts and apricots)

Tie up with string and smother in lashings of butter

Bake until brown......Mmm, Mmm

An infuriating week in the studio. Lots of help from my two students but a disaster of my own making.

Jade and Megan

Being distracted in the studio, I picked up the wrong glaze and spent a day brushing it onto this Bishops Pom Pom before realising right at the end that it was the wrong glaze.

Half done

It took us another half day to wash most of the glaze off again and the rest of the day to replace it with the right one. In the end however, the sculpture did not survive the firing. A couple of the petals pulled away from the side and stuck to each other in the kiln, this happens sometimes, and it is usually my fault as I have probably dried it out too quickly or unevenly. I would like to say I live and learn....but I don't. Ah well, it will look nice in my garden with all the others!

Megan painting cherry red

Happily this Poppy Pepper Pot which is a commision for a new client is coming along nicely. It is being painted cherry red before it goes in for its bisque firing and it will be glazed with a translucent blue glaze which will make the red come alive.

James and his tile

In the middle of the week we were visited by a warmshowers guest (www.warmshowers.com). This is James who had cycled over from Durham and is at the start of a 2 year tour. After leaving us he went east towards Strasbourg where he will pick up a well known cycle path that follows the Danube. Then on through Eastern Europe..Turkey where he will pick up some work on a farm, then onto Iran and China! He is raising funds for charity as he goes and has a blog documenting his travels which we will be following with interest. His budget is £5 a day. He is only 24 and a really nice bloke....we wish him well and a Bon Voyage.  www.therideround.com

Pineapple Lily at Chateau de Bosmelet

Over the weekend we had some guests staying with a car so it was nice to be driven around to see some new places. We popped up to the Chateau de Bosmelet where I had an exhibiton last year with the 5Ways Artists from Brighton, and it was nice to see one of my sculptures being displayed in one of the lovely rooms in the chateau. Afterwards, we went onto the Chateau de Vasceoul which has an annual exhibition of an Internationally well known artist. This year it is Corneille.

Madame Citron

Around the grounds are some fabulous sculptures by artists such as Dali, Bracques, Volti and lots more;

Bisexual dragon and children

La Vie en Rose

The weather this weekend has been biblical. We are flooded at the back of the house and discovered two roof leaks......Oh joy.

However we were rewarded with plenty of rainbows...I saw this one when sitting on my kitchen doorstep.

My blog is one year old this week. I have enjoyed writing it over the last year and I'd like to take the chance to say thanks to everyone who has left nice comments and encouraged me to keep on writing it. It's a great way to keep a journal and so I shall move on into year two and hope to take you all with me. Thanks and Merci a tous.