As the days grow lighter

The end of February brought spectacular weather to Cornwall – we haven’t seen snow for years so the blizzard winds that transformed the landscape were even more special.  We lit the wood burner, made warming soups and stew and played in the snow like children.  Two days of magic gone overnight under the onset of warmer air bringing the driving rain back.

Today the garden is slightly beaten, the daffodils bruised but damply upright and the fish risen once more to the top of the pond.  The air is different, softer, edged with suggestion and the blackbird is back, singing.

In the studio I’m playing with new ideas – letting images filter in: veils of birds, snow, shifting light against a cold sea.  I’m aware of time and transience and fragility.

 

 

 

 

Crows, trees and plans

We are half way through February already!

The year, as so often it seems is galloping away like the seasons pursuing the hare..

After many weeks of mists and cold, rain and hail today has dawned, like yesterday, softly pink. The air is still glacial but holds a scent that is murmuring about Spring edging closer.  Still and serene days like this in Cornwall are quietly suggestive and thoughtful and I am taking time to breathe in the possibilities.  I feel poised at the top of the year with so many plans waiting impatiently to be hatched: a major one that I am waiting to hear about and others concerning techniques I need to learn and bend to my will.  In the studio there is a comfortable jostle of prints, cards and books.  On my table, 25 tiny paintings in various stages of growth are waiting for decisions.  On the shelves canvases and books, poetry and thoughts nudge each other and me.  I am thinking about birds and nests.

As always I need more paint.

Image: ‘A murder of crows’ new print in The Mistletoe Tree

 

 

At the end of January

At the end of January

January has raced away: a month of fierce winds and rain, sudden rainbows and shafts of sunlight.  In the garden the eggy yellow crocus’ and fragile snow drops are growing in to the lengthening days.  I am enjoying the quiet and sitting snug in my studio enjoying exploring new mediums and techniques in between working on some new paintings.

In the shop

The shop has several new prints available and the calendars are now reduced to £10.00 – grab them while you can here:  The Mistletoe Tree

Keep an eye on the originals page – I am adding in lots of small paintings – ideal for gifting either yourself or loved ones…

 

 

2018 Calendar

The last Catherine Hyde 2018 calendars are still available here: The Mistletoe Tree Shop

   

 

   

 

16 New Cards

How times change:

Twenty three years ago when our babies were tiny and all consuming I started to publish my own cards.  I printed small numbers of them straight from the computer and to my surprise they sold.

This week I have had delivery of 18000 cards representing 16 new designs and 2 popular reprints.  My catalogue now lists an amazing total of 63 cards and they sell in shops and galleries across the UK and Ireland and are dipping their toes into the US.

The collection is still growing and can be viewed in The Mistletoe Tree Shop on the website or e-catalogue.

 

 

‘The Twelve Days’ solo show

‘The Twelve Days’ show opens this Saturday 4th November in the new Lighthouse Gallery space.  Chris and Tracey have moved to the shop next door in Causeway Head and have transformed the space with the style and flair as only they can.  It looks beautiful and I can’t wait to see the work up and hanging.

The show comprises of nearly 30 paintings celebrating my love of Cornwall and all things wintery along with lots of new prints and cards.  There are plentiful stocks of the 2018 Calendar and copies of all my books including ‘The Snow Angel’ by Lauren St John.

I will be in the gallery between 2 and 4pm and look forward to seeing everyone who is able to make it there on the day.

 

 

 

‘The Twelve Days’

The Twelve Days’ exhibition has gone live on line – slightly earlier than we anticipated.

Please follow the link to The Lighthouse Gallery website to view the show.

 

October

   “October’s late dawn” is the image for October in my 2017 calendar and both the A3 and A2 prints are available at a reduced price until the end of the month in The Mistletoe Tree Shop  

This months events include:

5th October:  Publication day for The Snow Angel by Lauren St John.  It has been receiving some wonderful reviews and has been Book of the Week in both the Observer and The Times.

7 October:  The North Cornwall Lit Fest reading The Star Tree by me and Little Evie in the Wild Wood by Jackie Morris

12 October:  Demonstrating clay board painting and talking about my work at Dillington House for a Somerset Literacy Network conference.

18th October:  Battersea AAF with Lighthouse Gallery Penzance.

Then Jackie Morris is coming to stay whilst she launches the spell binding “Lost Words” book – a collaboration of immense beauty with Robert Macfarlane.

Around all this I have to finish my solo show ‘The Twelve Days of Nadelik’ for November at The Lighthouse.

At the end of the month there is going to be some secret plotting and hopefully some good scheming.

 

 

 

 

 

‘The Snow Angel’

My advance copy of Lauren St John‘s wonderful story ‘The Snow Angel’ has arrived!
                               
It is a really lovely book to hold in your hands, solid and satisfyingly chunky.  The colour on the cover is just right, the paper matt and pleasing showing all the texture of the paint with very subtle foiling to compliment the copper leaf.  Underneath, the hard cover is a vivid orange that sings wonderfully against the blues and violets of the jacket.  Inside, the paper is a very soft white and the type face is rounded and readable.  At the head of each chapter the little snow fox gallops along with sprinklings of stars and symbols sweeping through the text and my black and white clay board illustrations have been given a softened edge so that they sit quietly on the page, immersed in the story.
To top it all I must confess to having a weakness for ribbon book marks,  to me they give a book a Moleskine, bible like seriousness and The Snow Angel has a  vivid orange one matching the hard cover.
It has been a real joy to work on this book – Head of Zeus and Lauren were keen for me to paint the jacket and interiors as interpretatively as I would one of my own paintings and it was really good to be given that kind of freedom.  Different elements like the shape and warmth of Mount Kenya and the appearance of the bat eared fox on the back were refined with input from Lauren and Jessie Price until the whole thing worked – and I really think it does.
As for the story, I won’t give anything away apart from the fact that I cried when I finished it and believe that everyone should read it.  Although the heroines journey is a tough one  filled with dark and light there is a potent sense of connection with the vastness of Nature and the power of humanity’s hope, endurance and most of all, love to overcome adversity.
‘The Snow Angel’ is due out on October 5th and I will be selling signed copies in The Mistletoe Tree Shop.  Prints of the jacket cover are available now.

New print in the shop

  There is a new print in The Mistletoe Tree Shop:

‘Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh’ is based on a postcard of the mosaics at Ravenna in Italy I was given when I was at Primary School.  I have loved it ever since and always wanted to make an image about it, so finally, 50 years later ..