Primary Designs

For me, this was a very special commission; working with the pupils of a primary school, Cardinal Newman of Hersham.  It was to design a gate for a Prayer Garden.  The garden was in memory of a pupil called April Fennell who died of Cystic Fibrosis aged 11.

I was invited to the school to talk about my work and then have a look at the idea’s the students had drawn.  I was blown away by their ideas and drawings.  They had used spring flowers, dragonflies and things that depicted new life.

This design wasn’t the one I built but I wanted to show it because all the parts of the design were by the students, all I did was put them together as a gate, this gate is basically their design!  I just love the bugs, with the detailing; they are so charming and lovely!

An unusual fence idea This was a design I did for a client, but was never used.  It was for a break in his perimeter fence and he wanted something more sculptural, so this is what I came up with. It is a balance between hammered, beaten and textured sheet, with some heavily forged bold shapes in front to produce something really scultpural and of great depth.

Amazing Buildings We’re moving and looking for a new house at the moment. I don’t think these are suitable though! Check these out!

This is a piece of work by Chihuly.  He is an amazing glass blower.  He works with very strong colours and mainly very organic forms.  This piece of work is in the entrance of the V&A. I love the V&A.  It is my favourite place in London.  It is a very inspiring place.  I go there to get a lot of ideas and to just soak up the beautiful surroundings.  The Dinning rooms are amazing! Also in the Jewellery section they have some of Lalique’s jewellery!  I find his work breath taking.  I get swallowed up in it magic.  Its’ fantasy just mesmerises me.

Sunflowers: I was given Sunflowers over the weekend and it made me realize how much I love them.  They are a very strong flower, a positive flower.  Their bold head looks to the Sun.  Their thick rigid  stem makes them tower above the ground. My relationship with my husband started when he was living in the South of France running a renovations company.  We used to drive pass whole fields filled with them all looking towards the sun! I love Egon Schiele’s Sunflower painting. The way he has chosen to use quite a dull palette that isn’t really associated with Sunflowers. It has a haunting look about it. The way he uses angular lines, which is very much his style of painting. Apparently this softens when he fell in love.

Jackson Pollock a mathematical Genius?

Jackson Pollock was an abstract expressionist. I have never really paid too much attention to his work until recently. I was watching something on TV and it suggested that it was possible for some of his works to display the properties of mathematical fractals.

A fractal shows the same pattern at ever increasing magnification. I have attached a VT to show this. If this is true he would have uncovered the Chaos Theory 10 years before it was proposed. He also had problems with alcoholism and died to a drink related accident at the early age of 44. So who knows but for me it has made his work that bit more exciting to imagine if this was the case.

Flight Patterns

In keeping with the Ejection Seat Project,  here are some really cool looking flight patterns.

Some Wise Words:

Art Quote:  Creative ideas reside in people’s minds but are trapped by fear or rejection. ~ Alex Osborne

My quote…..well my Dad’s but I am going to nick it:  Without hope you are hopeless……….This is so obvious but so true.  When I had had yet more set backs with the business and starting losing hope this was totally the case but in good old Simon tradition I pulled myself together and set new goals and felt filled with excitement and determination!

What I am listening to:

Andy Warhol another Leo

It’s my birthday this weekend and I’m a proud Leo.  So I wanted to post up a picture of a well known Leo artist.  This is Andy Warhol’s Cows.  I love it.  Yellow is my favourite colour and pink is our company colour!