Blog

What’s in a Name?

I've been pondering this question recently,  in relation to my weekly Drawing & Painting classes. Those people who have been coming to them for a while will know that the content has evolved over time and I'm not sure that the name is still a good fit. It dates...

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Studio Diary #1

I've had a little flurry of commissions lately which has meant the opportunity to spend some concentrated time in my studio.  After lots of summer skiving, trying to chase down what little sunshine we've had, it's been really enjoyable to get back into a 'work'...

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Patty making a cat

What I did During Covid…

After more than 2 years, Covid finally caught up with me last week.  I felt quite put out at being ejected from the 'never had Covid' club but I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later.  Having had all my jabs, I was fortunate to only have a couple of days...

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Patty Callaghan - making a goat mask

01625 Gallery

Introducing the 01625 Gallery - Macclesfield's newest (and second smallest) art venue.  I was delighted to be asked by Lucie Fitzpatrick, brains behind The Dolls House Art Gallery, to be the first artist to exhibit at her new venture which re-purposes the classic...

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2 phone boxes with artwork in the windows

Introducing Molly, the papier mâché cat

Following on from my trials with the narrowboat, Molly here was also a bit of a new departure for me, being close to life size.  This meant giving her eyes, or she would have looked really creepy!  (Go on, admit it, you've never noticed that my smaller animals...

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Molly, a papier mâché cat

Messing around with boats

Because a lot of my papier mâché commissions are surprise presents for people, I often have to wait for the Big Reveal before I can say much about them or show any pictures. Thus it was with the narrowboat Cleddau here, commissioned for an, ahem, 'significant'...

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papier mache model of 2 figures with a boat

Further Adventures with Chubby

As planned, I continued exploring my drawings of Chubby this week. I washed some water over last week's line drawing.  Because I'd used quite a heavy line I found the tones came out a bit darker than I'd intended. Not sure that he doesn't look slightly sinister.  I...

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sketch of an old teddy ear

Accidents and Art Classes

Well, it's been a busy time for me, with new art classes and workshops starting. In a piece of brilliant timing I managed to kick it all off by falling off my bike and breaking my wrist. On a happier note, it's only a hairline fracture and it's my left wrist, me...

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Drawing of a teddy bear

That tricky First Anniversary gift

The first wedding anniversary  is traditionally marked with a paper gift.  In my time I've been commissioned to make a few and they're always fun to do so I thought I'd have a little mini-retrospective of them here.  First up is the most recent, Amber the...

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a wedding couple

ArtSpace Workshops at Beech Hall School

Well, what a busy week it's been!  Loyal readers (come on, there must be some of you!) may recall I was getting ready for some ArtSpace workshops to be run at Beech Hall School. Well, what a lovely experience the whole thing turned out to be.  It was a tough ask to...

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papier mâché model of a fox