As in true Star Wars tradition, ‘May the 4th‘ be with you!
The truth is, I am seeing ‘stars’ and having little ‘wars’ inside my head with all the planning and thinking involved with my Solo Exhibition! I have never been one for planning….or even thinking!
I am……well, sort of…..trying to enjoy the experience, but as with anything that means a lot to us, the angst and fear of failure is constantly niggling inside my chatty little bonce!
I know I am being daft, as I can’t really fail !?!?
I mean it’s a piece of cake!….surely?!….ALL I have to do is decide what to exhibit, frame it / mount it, work out how to get it all there (trundle it ALL down all our steps to my little red chariot!) decide where to put what, how to hang it, how best to display it, whether anyone will come along, whether anyone will like it….let alone whether anyone will actually want to buy anything!?!!!
Last year I went to lots of local exhibitions with a group of friends (all of us artists), and we all felt so inspired by our days out. It is all too easy to criticise art but the learning curve and journey really is a magical one for us all and every single piece of art you see has been created by someone from the heart, whether it touches yours or not.
One thing I have finally learned during this past 4 years, is that I create art for myself and if others like it, that is a huge bonus and such a thrill! I am constantly challenging myself to try harder things, am still passionate about dancers, portraits and animals and I now realise nobody else HAS to like some, all or any of it! I shall continue to enjoy the whole process….even the terrifying Solo Exhibition! *She typed confidently!!!
It would naturally be lovely to be able to inspire others with something I have created so I shall AIM to be looking at this experience with an open mind and knowing I am making a big brave leap forwards, just hope I don’t fall flat on my face as I can’t leap as well as I used to!
I DO know I shall be exhibiting a selection of my Original Paintings on Canvas, Original Framed Paintings, Small Unframed Original Paintings, Art Prints (some framed and some simply mounted) and Canvas Prints, plus my greetings cards of course, so there will be a wide variety of my work in a wide range of prices too.
The one thing I am really NOT fretting about is meeting people who DO come inside to see my exhibition! I LOVE meeting people and if you or anybody you know can pop along to see me, I shall be absolutely ‘delightegated’ to greet you!
Of course, my exhibition starts during the Bank Holiday weekend, which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on where people are and what the weather is doing, but if you were planning on visiting South Devon anyhow, why not put the dates in your diary, what better way to kickstart your break than seeing little old ME?!!
Call me Dorothy?!….
I am following the yellow brick road as I travel on this arty trip, except that my brick road isn’t just yellow, it’s positively paved with rainbows!
August 2019 Exhibitions & what a marvellous month of May that was!
My Solo Exhibition in Teignmouth really was THE biggest ‘Colour me Happy’ ‘Show and Tell’ imaginable!
Tada!!!! My view from inside the gallery!
What a happy month of May that was for a Migglet! I have been such a busy bee since, it has taken me until now to publish this newsletter from May, just crazy! Forgive me for being so slow!
My Solo Exhibition kicked off an incredible month for me and really could not possibly have gone any ‘bettererer’!
My exhibition lasted for 7 days and really was full on all week! I honestly hadn’t expected that! So many lovely people came to see me and my creations, some from near and some from very far indeed!! I even had a tall handsome ex-dancer come all the way from Australia to see my work!! (The truth is, he just happened to be visiting his Mum who lives in Teignmouth but don’t tell anyone will you?! ) It turned out that we had both danced at the same venue in Geneva many years ago, but not at the same time! Small world eh?!
Alex from Australia, he really was SO tall! He’s the one on the left by the way!
I had some wonderful surprise visitors who had driven quite a way to see and support me, including a dear friend I used to work with and hadn’t seen for many years, far too many lovely supportive people to mention individually and surprisingly, a huge amount of complete strangers came along to see my work….I blubbed and I hugged and this little Migglet found the whole experience emotionally exhilarating and uplifting and I was totally ‘exhaustipated’ once the week was over, but cloud nine is a great place to be and I am still floating up here almost a month later! *Sorry, I wrote this blog at the end of May, I just can’t keep up with myself any more!
This triptych of dancers flew out of the door fairly rapidly!
I had a real lightbulb moment when a fellow artist Emma came to see me, we were both chatting to a lovely lady towards the end of one busy day and, as I glanced around the gallery, surrounded by my work, I said ‘I think probably our lives influence our work, I do love painting hair ( I am an ex-hairdresser) I love painting dancers ( I am an ex-dancer) and I adore painting daft animals ( I love animals and am completely…ummm…..let’s leave that there eh?!)
The sales and orders were truly a wonderful surprise to me but the lively happy buzz in that gallery and the feedback from so many people I had never met has left me with a feeling I simply cannot describe!
Since I moved down here to Devon almost 5 years ago and subsequently started painting, I have had so much angst and self doubt about the type of work I do as I felt sure that it didn’t fit in here, but I can now safely ignore those imaginary critics chattering inside my fretting head, put that angst to bed and just enjoy painting what I LOVE and you have no idea how enlightening that realisation is!
I live in a house in a village high on a hill, overlooking the breath-taking scenery of the Teign estuary, Dartmoor and a glorious vineyard. Our village is just outside the seaside town of Teignmouth and there are artists painting spellbinding landscapes and seascapes…but there’s a Migglet painting figures, dancers, portraits and the daftest of animals! And I am FINALLY OK with the fact! Phew!!
A section of my wall of Quirky Animals.A selection of my Dancers & Stylised Portraits on the opposite wall.
Some people loved the figures and dancers, and said some truly smile-making stuff whilst others literally laughed out loud at my quirky animals ( who could ask for more than that?! )…and a great many peeps of all ages seemed to love both! From little kids running in shouting “Dad! Look! A Goldfish!” to a delightful lady in her 80’s who ordered 3 prints ( Two Moooooo Cows & Boo! my daft Emu with a reflection of a sunset in his beady eye ) because she said they would all make her smile EVERY single day!
Some people were even coming back in and bringing their friends the following day, can you imagine how happy that made me?! I was constantly doing the happy dance, such a buzz!
I was thrilled that I had a fair few fellow artists popping in (some of them were already friends, many were strangers and many of those strangers have since become friends!) and some of those lovely peeps told me that I had inspired them and that really made me glow, inside and out! Encouraging others to ‘play’ and enjoy every second is always a pleasure!
The Grand Finale!
On the final day of my exhibition, the icing on the Migglet cake was when a lovely gentleman bought my original canvas painting of a ballerina titled ‘Ruby’ for his gorgeous wife who is also an ex-dancer!
I have to admit, hugging him and blubbing over the card payment machine might have been a tad unprofessional, and possibly asking him to marry me ( even though I am already happily married to the best HIM in the world ) was perhaps a little over the top?!! But I care not a jot! I cannot hide my emotions, those happy tears came to say hello and to show their surprise and appreciation!
When someone loves your work enough to wish to purchase it, that can only BE a wonderful moment, surely?!! It was the perfect end to a magical week!
An awfully smiley Migglet with ‘Ruby’ a few weeks before my Solo Exhibition.
My quirky printed canvases caused quite a stir and much hilarity in the large window and found their new homes during the week…
‘Fishface!’ ‘Nosey Moo!’ & ‘Geronimo!’ Printed A1 Canvases on display in the window at the beginning of my Solo Exhibition.
Amongst so many highlights of the week, one of the most amusing was this…
A lady stopped and laughed whilst looked intently at my ‘Nosey Moo!’ cow large canvas in the window.
Her partner carried on walking and announced at the top of his booming voice (with his fabulous, broad Northern accent) …
“Stick it in the bathroom and frighten yer’ Mother! ”
*Here is a small selection of the feedback / comments people left in my Visitors book, some lovely smile-making comments and a couple that I found absolutely hilarious!!….
‘Fabulous – So full of life!’
‘Wonderful and fun’
‘Lovely – Inspirational for budding artists, ‘Draws’ you in – Thanks x’
‘I thought you were a man!’
‘Really enjoyed the sense of movement & colour. Fabulous!’
‘Really enjoyed both sides of your show!’
‘Quite thought artist was a man, lovely details of shapes.’
‘Can’t come again! I keep buying something!’
‘Fabulous uplifting exhibition, made our day!’
‘Very different and vibrant’
‘Love this ladies work, colourful, vibrant and exciting. Makes a wonderful change.’
‘A most enjoyable visit, meeting the artist, wonderfully colourful, very uplifting.’
And, the BEST one of ALL…..
“I thought you would be young!!”
And as if my Solo Exhibition hadn’t been a bigger success than I could have ever wished for, my lovely Bishopsteignton village art group held our annual two day exhibition during the last weekend of May and I won the Visitors Choice Best Artist cup!
Yes, that’s me on the right! Positively glowing with happy! My Original Framed Pastel titled ‘Nosey Moo!’ who found her new home at the Bishopsteignton Exhibition and moved on to pastures new, bless her little peering face. ‘Nosey Moo!’ also won me the Judges Prize for the Second best painting in the Exhibition! I am still over the MOOn about that! This Original Canvas Painting titled ‘La Vie En Rose’ also found her new home at the Bishopsteignton Exhibition and was last seen being carried off down through the village into the sunset! What an extraordinary month for a Migglet!
Well, that’s quite enough ‘bragging’, I have bent your ears good and proper, but there is no time for complacency. Whilst I have been recovering from all this overwhelming excitement and climbing back down from the huge fluffy cloud 9 I was perched on, I have been extremely busy slapping paint about and preparing new work as I am exhibiting throughout the whole of August! Non stop!
I shall be uploading photographs and listing my new work as soon as I can here on my site and I post very regular updates on my ArtyMiggletFacebook page (& Instagram too) if you wish to follow me online.
If you are able to come along to the August Exhibitions I have SO much new work to be seen! The Torbay Guild of Artists Exhibition in the beautiful Spanish Barn at Torre Abbey, Torquay, accepts only Original Artwork exclusively (plus mounted prints and Greetings Cards)
I have painted some new big Canvas Paintings, one of which is an extremely vibrant lively dancer, have created a beautiful large stylised portrait of a young girl on canvas titled ‘Bloom’, some more quirky farmyard animals to keep ‘Nosey Moo!’ company and… believe it or not, a HUGE self-portrait too! Yes!! Eeeeeeeek! All will be revealed soooooon!
**Some dates for your diary?!
EXHIBITION DATES and VENUES…
AUGUST 3rd – 16th TAAG SUMMER OPEN EXHIBITION, Northumberland Place, Teignmouth OPEN EVERY DAY from 10am – 5pm Including Sundays FREE ENTRY
AUGUST 17th – SEPTEMBER 1st TORBAY GUILD of ARTISTS EXHIBITION, SPANISH BARN, TORRE ABBEY, TORQUAY OPEN EVERY DAY from 10am – 5pm Including Sundays FREE ENTRY
PS Last but most definitely NOT least, A GREAT BIG thank you to those of you who came along to my Solo and to all of my new subscribers, it’s delightful to have you onboard the Migglet arty train, I do hope you enjoy the ride and you don’t nod off and miss your stop!?!
Graffiti in Teignmouth by Migglet?! Now that WAS a first for me!!
Even made it to the front page! Autograph hunters, please form an orderly queue!
It is a few weeks now since I finally managed to paint my very first graffiti / street art painting of a loopy vibrant Fish on the wall outside Sam’s super shop Voyage Fairtrade in the Arts Quarter in Teignmouth.
Sam had asked me during my Solo Exhibition back in May if I could one day adorn the large arched recess in the wall outside his shop with one of my quirky ‘Splishy Splashy Fishy Wishy’ creations and the pair of us waited expectantly for the paints to arrive AND for the weather to sort itself out as June was a wet and windy washout and then July was…unbelievably here in the UK…too HOT!!
No way could I paint a blindingly white wall in the scorching heat, a melted Migglet would be neither use nor ornament, so we waited… and waited…until a cloudy day was finally forecast and off to Teignmouth I jolly well set one slightly overcast Sunday afternoon!
Almost finished! And right across the street from the graffiti of famous Teignmouth band ‘MUSE’! What an honour for a Migglet!
Sam’s shop in the Arts Quarter is such a busy family run friendly place and is a bit of a tardis, with various workshops run upstairs, an Art Gallery for local Artisans, Fair Trade gifts galore downstairs to suit all tastes and pockets and I am absolutely delighted to have been offered the opportunity to be able to exhibit there and sell some of my Original Paintings, Framed Prints and Greetings Cards too.
The dastardly sun kept trying it’s best to peek through the clouds so at times I must have looked completely and utterly daft wearing my reading glasses with sunglasses perched over the top! (Bet Banksy doesn’t look as ‘street’ when he’s splattering graffiti all over the place, eh?!) I did think of wearing my stealth outfit and painting in the dead of night but the cape really chafes and besides, black makes me look so frightfully drained!
A Migglet adheres to ALL rules and regulations at ALL times.
Although I live in a village a few minutes away from Teignmouth, I feel lucky to be a part of the strong community spirit amongst the locals in town and they regularly pop into the shop to buy gifts, attend the workshops and have a good old natter with Sam and his lovely Mum and whoever else may be present…which is good for the heart, good for the soul and absolutely great for supporting the local artists and creatives!
Visitors from abroad make a point of calling in to have a browse and check out the Artwork, Crafts, Jewellery, Driftwood creations, Pottery, Fairtrade gifts etc and they love to leave feedback too.
I am thrilled to have been sent photos and selfies of people standing next to my Fish Graffiti from some of the visitors to Voyage Fairtrade and have started creating an album of the pics (below are just a few examples) DO please send them to me via email to add to our collection and let us know where you visited from?! The photo from the furthest away country won’t win a prize or an Oscar, just the satisfaction of knowing you came to just the right place and we helped to brighten up your visit in our cheerful arty way!
A couple of cool as cucumber cute visitors sent me their feedback a few evenings later!‘Geronimo!’ My Quirky Original Watercolour Giraffe Painting was bought in secret online as a birthday gift for a very thoughtful guy’s unsuspecting wife who is an old dancing school chum of mine AND he also surprised her by whizzing her down here to Devon to surprise her with the painting and to see ME!! Poor girl eh?!!!HANDBAGS AT DAWN?! Here is the lovely birthday girl who I crept up behind in the Arts Quarter! A fellow ‘Bush Babe’ ( The name given to pupils from Bush Davies Ballet School) What a pair of smiley pointing posers! *Please note once again that we strictly adhered to the street signage!
Teignmouth! Where the sun shines SO brightly, graffiti artists can’t help doing the happy dance!
If you are unable to pop into Teignmouth but wish to visit Voyage Fairtrade, here is Sam’s online shop full of goodies and information. https://voyagefairtrade.co.uk/
I now have some large Original Paintings on display in the gallery upstairs and you may well recognise one or two s
