Shed Stories #9 ‘Who Knows Where The Time Goes’

It seems an absolute age since I last wrote a newsletter at the end of May.  That was the end of spring and now we are in high summer – Ha!  Well, the weather might not seem exactly so but we have long since passed the solstice and there are already hints of the dreamy, melancholy air of Lammas.

The past six weeks or so have been so crammed that I’m sure I shall either fly off the planet or fall asleep for days!  The Tinsmiths exhibition has been and gone and I would like to thank all those who came along to Ledbury and all those who have bought something online or just enjoyed having a look at my work.  

Tinsmiths still have my letterpress posters for sale – I mentioned in my last newsletter that I was working on them with Martin Clarke at Tilleys printworks.

When designing the posters I wanted to create something universally positive, uplifting and empowering.  It was a fantastic opportunity to make something that could be widely enjoyed as opposed to my glass, which are all one-offs.  

The day after the Tinsmiths exhibition opened we were crazy enough to have a party in our garden!  It was partly to celebrate the solstice and the full moon but it was also the first party we had managed to have since before covid.  We thought we were too old and weary to bust out of our crusty shells and host a garden gathering but we managed to prove ourselves wrong!  It is strange how some things are taking a long while to reset after covid.  I think it has had a profound effect on many of us.

Photo credit Nam Taylor

Back in the winter I had planned my big holiday of the year for the end of June.  It was to have been a trip to Cumbria and then on to the Western isles of Scotland but work commitments meant I had to reduce my time away to a few days.  I decided to stick with my visit to Cumbria and stay with wonderful old friends from my Stirling university days.  

Dave and Jane live in Shap and, amongst other things, run an excellent little Air B and B so I was able to stay in complete luxury! My trip also coincided with the start of Jackie Morris’s superb exhibition at the Rheged Visitors Centre near Penrith and she was able to give me a private tour.  It is well worth a visit and I also have my prints for sale in the art shop.  

From Shap the four of us made a pilgrimage to visit the house where ‘Withnail and I’ was filmed.  It is a private house so we were suitably respectful but mostly we were just like giggling teenagers to think ‘this’ was where it had happened years ago.  Unlike the film the weather was glorious and the foxgloves were particularly magnificent.

Later in the day we also managed to fit in a visit to the fabulous Long Meg stone circle and met up with another great friend, Audrey.  It really was like a week’s holiday crammed into one day.

There will be more news on the design and development of the book in the next newsletter.  It is really, really exciting!!

Anyway, that’s a very brief summation of whats been going on in my life!  I hope you are all have a good summer or winter, wherever you are.