Open Studios North Fife Sat 4th - Mon 6th May 2013

Friday night is Preview Night! And you are all welcome.

If you can't make it on Friday night, I will be open Saturday 4th, Sunday 5th and Monday 6th May 10-6 pm each day. There are 86 artists and makers taking part in Open Studios North Fife this year. You can download the full brochure from www.openstudiosfife.co.uk and plan yourself a great day out.

 My venue number this year is 32 and I can be found at 

64 Commercial Road, Ladybank. KY15 7JS

Turn off the A92 onto the B938 for Ladybank. Studio is situated on the corner of 

Commercial Road, the main street through Ladybank and Church Street, the first road on 

the left. If walking from the station, keep going past the Spar. Studio is on the corner of the 

next street on the right.

Here is what we did last year.

We will probably go with much the same set up with most of my work in the main room with my work space to the rear and refreshments served in the back room with comfy sofas and my framed pieces on the wall.

I will have framed originals ranging from £55 to £195 available.

 

Giclee Prints from £15 - £40 unframed and a few framed prints available as well.

A few new boxes from £28.50

 Textile Jewellery from £18

Sheep Pendants, Brooches, Earrings and Rings from £16 - £22

 Wrist Cuff Bracelets from £12

Notebooks with Printed Covers featuring my artwork 

£5.95 and Sketchbooks £8.95

Mug and Gift Box

£10

Cards from £2.50

Handmade Harris Tweed and Felt Brooches from £12

So as you can see I have been very busy building up my range of items. I also have a few other new things up my sleeve but you'll have to come along to see them! 

My online shops will be closed from Thursday until Monday 13th May.

Looking forward to meeting some of you over the weekend!

Such a Busy Time!

April has been such a busy month what with the school holidays, craft fairs, Glenfarg Folk Festival and preparations for Open Studios which is in two weeks time!

We had some lovely sunshine during the first week of the holidays and headed over to the East Neuk of Fife for a nice day out and to distribute some Open Studios brochures to caravan sites and other businesses.

This is Ruby Cove, our favourite little beach for a picnic and a bit of beach combing.

Although it was sunny, it was still cold. You can see the snow on the hills to the south across the Forth estuary around Edinburgh.

We had great fun all piled into the camper van. It belongs to my Mum and her husband but we got to stay in it for a couple of nights for Glenfarg Folk Festival. 

I have always had a day dream about having a camper van but I have to say the reality of a family of four staying in a camper van doesn't appeal so much when your 15 year old son is suddenly 

6'1"! Here he is with an amazing piece of drift wood we found on the beach.

I think we'd need a bigger van or a Winnebago to accommodate us all comfortably! 

I do love finding interesting things on the beach to take home. 

When I discovered this lobster creel all tangled up in seaweed, at first I fancied it for the nice wood that was half worn away. But after wrestling it free, I realised it would actually make quite a nice shelf as it was! Here it is hung up in my wee shed with a few beach finds and little Louis Mulcahy pots displayed on it.

My daughter who is nearly 8 now is an avid little artist and I just had to share this picture she drew last week.

She uses one of my Highland Cow notebooks to draw in and took it upon herself to copy the front cover.

Here is the original.

And here is her imitation of it.

How cute is that! I love the fringe.

I have been making like a mad woman but haven't got around to photographing everything yet. I suppose I am hoarding my stock a little bit for Open Studios! I have a lot of wall space  and shelves to fill!

I have made some Sheep Jewellery available in my Etsy shop though.

Rings £18

Pendants £22

Brooches £18

I've had a great response to my new mugs. 

Here is one all wrapped up that I sent directly to the recipient as a gift from her daughter.

I'm enjoying using my own mug here at home. Being porcelain and not stone ware or china, it makes a great cup of tea as well as a good coffee.

You can find my Online Shop here

We are finally seeing some signs of Spring here which is such a relief after all that snow we had up to the beginning of April. 

The daffodils are still not in full bloom but are showing more signs of opening.

I really hope we get a good weekend for Open Studios.

I will be having a preview evening on Friday the 3rd May from 6pm.

Come along for some wine and nibbles and a sneak peek at all my new work.

I'm hoping to have lots of new pictures made and have a couple professionally framed already.

You can see the reflection of the hedge in the glass here but it gives you an idea of how they are looking. I have another couple of smaller pieces going off to Robertson's today.

Here are some snap shots from other artists participating in the 2013 Open Studios event. 

Remember you can download your free brochure and browse all the artists and areas from our website here.

From top left Audrey Reid Jewellery,Chloe Brown Illustrations, Moyra Stewart Ceramics, Helen Glassford Fine Artist, Ann Leitch Collection, Sharon Black Art, Beth Pollard Designs and Glass by Kathryn

 From left to right, top to bottom- Ian Ledward venue 36, Aileen Clarke Crafts Venue 32, Jean Ashcroft venue 31, Dianne King venue 50, Siv MacArthur venue 42, Michael Robson venue 4, Poppy Cyster venue 26, Sarah Honeyman Stained Glass venue 1, Jane Duckfield venue 45, Jan Wightman venue 36,Derek Robertson venue 69, Pvalentega - Graphic Artist venue 16, Morag Muir venue 63, Kate Murray venue 40, John Smith venue 8,Perfectly Formed venue 10, Kirsty Lorenz venue 34, Laura Appere venue 18, Mhairi Lafferty venue 13, George Young venue 53, Marianna Lines venue38, Lindy Knowles venue 20, Lynsey Ewan venue 33, John Bonington venue 24, Lindsay Mathers venue 75

So the next two weeks are going to be pretty mad for me. I have so many things I would still like to make!

Mugs!!

I'm very excited to announce the arrival of the very first ever Aileen Clarke Crafts mugs!

The mugs feature this design printed onto a lovely sturdy white porcelain.

The design is applied using a process which vaporises the inks and impregnates them deeply into the porcelain (not like a transfer). Each mug is individually heat pressed producing a really vibrant image which does not fade over time and is dishwasher safe.

Holds half a pint or 10 fl/oz

The mugs come with their own little gift box featuring the same design.

£10 each including the box

Available from both my Etsy and Folksy shops.