This was a great opportunity to get some feedback on my work before the show. Previously, I haven’t had a great reception from open studios, maybe because my work is very different to the surrounding work in neighbouring studios. Having said this, it’s been more like half and half rather than total disdain. Anyway, the two weekends that I opened my studio for this time quite busy and drew in quite a wide range of viewers. It was great to hear people talking about my work using the vocabulary that I would use to talk about it. This told me that my intention to become clearer and that the viewer was interpreting my work in the very way that I intended. There were also many comments about how open the work was, and how viewers had the opportunity to interpret the work for themselves. This seemed to really appeal to them. Here I am recording the notes that I took during paper studio when people came in and commented through conversations with each other or conversations with me.
The only slightly strange feedback that I had was the very first person I came in.
I said that they weren’t finished yet and she said that they’ll be nice when they’re finished. This made me realise that I shouldn’t announce that the work was incomplete, but instead present it as something finished and leave the viewer to make that decision on the own.

“Playful is exactly the word I would use to describe them”

“Have a look at Prof. Amanda Vickery women artists”

“Reminds me of me and my sister when we were about 12 and 14. We used to fight all the time- pulling hair and scratching each other.”

“They make you ask questions.”

“They seem uneasy, dangerous, uncertain”

“When you return to them they could mean something else “

“Bright colours but a certain mood to them, slightly sinister “

“I love the human form hidden in the abstract “

“Architectural scale “

“playful with media and subject matter “

“Really interesting to see the process in the book “

“External energy instead of internal.”

” It looks like she’s enjoying being at her a body.”

“Pretty refines doodles speech mark

“I like where the knee is missing “

“Very stimulating “

“it’s a bit like she’s dissolving “

“Great energy would be good in a nightclub “

“Reminds me of a hybrid between the videogame and Alison Wonderland “

“Dreamlike speech mark

“Great sense of movement,

“I like how the stain becomes part of the dress “

“There’s a sense of enquiry bodies entwined searching energy living they have a life of their own”

“Great movement photos”

“Gesture explosion of colour, convinced by trace, what was there, what could rather than what is.”

“Colours and shapes”

“Splatters and gesture”

“Lovely shapes”

“Gestural and loose, so exciting”

“Wonderful scale”

“Did you see Peter Doig?”

“What an amazing free spirit, you’ll do anything for art”

“It’s amazing how people’s brains work differently”

“Great movement, lovely work”

“Are you a photographer to? “

The books are great

Greyscale, like joined SketchBook Pages

“Very lively “

“You can’t immediately tell what they are you have to keep looking “

“I’m surprised that its oil, it looks like watercolour “

“They’re amazing “

“They definitely pieces you could look at it again and again and always find something new “

“Fascinating. Very clever to have that effect on the viewer. “

Some contacts:
Bygilliam Gallery, Bourne End
One Church St., Great Missenden
Art Trails
Old Fire Station, Henley
Thames Path Artists
Burford Galleries
Sarah Pye ____Hill Gallery
Joan Eardley
Atlantis for large watercolour
Use floating frames
Clam shell boxes – Cass