WASPS Studios, Aberdeen hosted its annual open weekend, with a collection of artists from Eagle House and Langstane studios exhibiting and opening their studios. As a change from the norm, this year Lorraine Taylor, Wilma Dunbar and Mel Russell put forward the idea for each artist in the studios to collectively display an exhibition of small unframed works with a limited dimension, giving the public an opportunity to buy affordable art. 

Over the two days of the WASPS Studios, Aberdeen Open Studios and small works exhibition visitors from all walks of life came to view and connect with the artists and makers and sometimes purchase a small piece of work. On my part...many collaborative seeds were sown to follow up in the coming months.

My initial response was to paint the detail of the rose flower head... I continued on this theme until the first Exposition of my Masters in Fine Art at Gary's School of Art.
After further sketching and writing text in relation to the war aspect of the artefact, by this summer I had decided that this work needed to be given more attention.
​So this morning I created the following study to confirm colours before proceeding onto the two 1m x 1m canvases. 

Later this month I will be opening my studio doors as part of WASPS studios small exhibition and open studios if you would like to see the progress. Link here

Last month I was invited by Philip Wilkie of the Garthdee Field Allotment Association (GFAA), Aberdeen to give a talk today about my MA project work after the annual AGM. 
My background as a Graphic Designer and Botanical Artist was touched upon and how I came to be doing a part-time Masters in Fine Art to progress my art practice from working on paper with watercolour or ink and changing this to working on canvas with oils.
The MA project ...a response to plant growing and collecting in the First Word War and the aftermath that ensued... was mentioned with a focus on the research, artefacts and the artwork that came out of working on my small allotment for the recent Masters Show.
An overview of the other topics on collected and grown plants from my MA project was given, with one new artwork in particular, which is going from sketchbook to canvas tomorrow and will be previewed here in the coming weeks.
Below is a screen capture of the presentation given to the GFAA.