An English country garden.

These two miniature gardens are at Hookshouse Pottery exhibition until Sunday. Part of a group of four miniature gardens that I made a few years ago for Curious Drawers exhibition. Now they are framed in deep box frames and look amazing.( Many thanks to Bob the Framer!) After this I will take them to Guild at 51, Cheltenham. They can hang on the wall or stand flat to peep into.The pottery is between Westonbirt and Tetbury, Glos.Gl8 8TZ and unfortunately the weather has been miserable.Such a shame as the garden is so lovely, part of the National Garden Scheme so you have to pay for that but the exhibition is free. They do tea and cake (under cover!)The exhibition is a mixture of art and crafts. A small but lovely mixture, including my friend Rosemary's beautiful silver jewellery, paintings, pottery, prints, woodwork, baskets, stained glass and sculpture in the garden.

Contrasting exhibitions

Over the last few weeks I have visited 3 exhibitions starting with the Kaffe exhibition at the American Museum in Bath and was overwhelmed by the use of colour and the theatrical setting of the exhibition. This is the sight which greets you as you enter the gallery, a riot of colour and pattern.

In complete contrast, a visit to Stroud and the Alice Fox exhibition, who had created a calm, tranquil space, which captured the beauty of the sea shore. Delicate marks, sensitive stitch, & floating strips of cloth.

Then  finally a visit to the Museum in the Park to see the work of Jilly Morris, Hilary Bower & Caroline Bartlett. Delicate marks made by stitch and / or graphite were captured by these artists using black, grey and white.  My personal favourite this piece by Jilly Morris, with the delicate lace like quality of the drilled paper in stark contrast with the strength of the black graphite surface next to the holes.

All resulting in a return to playing with mark marking and colour, so watch this space, as my experiments develop.

Last piece of work finished and off to the framers today! This is work for 'Silver and Thread' an exhibition at Newark Park, National Trust house, Ozleworth near Wooton-under-Edge, Glos. GL12 7PZ. Tel no. 01453 842644. 11th June- 27th July. Open Weds-Sun 11-5. It is on after the Select exhibition finishes. The work will be in the exhibition room on the top floor- sorry to disabled visitors, there are lots of stairs. Rosemary is showing silver jewellery and my work is embroidered, all inspired by the house and grounds. We have been visiting regularly over the course of a year and you will see the sketchbooks that show our inspiration. We will be there Sun 15th June and 6th July to discuss the work.