2022 in a few paragraphs

Well, my last blog in March was called 'on the road again' and I think I didn't get off the road this year! I love writing my blog but it has been the last thing in a long list of things this year so while I have a moment I will try and sumarise the year I've had.

After moving house and the pandemic things were very upside down along with working two jobs as well it was all a bit much but now, I've managed to just have one job and my art, but we are moving again!

This year started with me having time to create new works with a little bit of colour after spending a few years painting quite dark. Maybe we were all emerging from a dark time? I took part again in the Belper Art Trail, Derbyshire Open Arts, Haddon Hall and the Bonsal Trail and I was happy to be back at Cromford Mills Artisan Market again.

 After Easter I was excited to be approached to create nine commissions, eight of Ashbourne shop fronts and one personal. So, from then on, every week was taken up with those so it may seem I haven't painted many this year to those that are following me but I can assure you I have been super busy art-wise. Please visit Cafe Impromptu  Ashbourne where you can see all eight shop fronts on the wall as prints.

Cafe Impromptu Ashbourne, where you can see all eight commissioned paintings as prints.

Also, this year has been the welcome return of doing art demos at art groups it started off with everyone feeling nervous and wearing a mask but has ended with it being more like old times fingers are crossed it stays that way! 

Finished art demo painted at Hinkley Art Group

The year ends with me working on another commission, this time a house portrait, so I am very happy how my year has gone. It is nice to place a canvas on an easel and know you are working on something special.

Next year's plans are to exhibit with Peak District Artisans again as well as have my own exhibition of recent works at Banks Mill Studios. 

Oh yes we are moving house again! We left Belper a couple of years ago but we have missed being there so much so we are moving back on my website you will see I have painted the streets of Belper many times there is always something new to see so that is a very exciting thing to look forward to in the new year!

Please enjoy the Christmas period and hopefully, I will see you in the new year!
 

On the road again!

 

I have had a fabulous start to the new year managed to do some paintings sell some paintings (you know who you are thank you!) And I have been busy planning events and opportunities to sell my work so really this blog is a sneaky peek at new work also there are some dates for your diary below that you can incorporate into days out as art events are always in nice places!
So below are the dates and below that is some new work all inspired by the wonderful local area. Prints are available but they are taking longer to process so please give around a month for your orders.
 

March 20th Artisan Market Cromford Mills

March 27th ArtStand Strutts Centre A6 Belper.

April 1-25 Spring Gathering Green Man Gallery Buxton.

April 9th Number 28 Belper.

May 1st 2nd 10-4 pm. Belper Arts Trail Hall of Frames King Street Belper.

May 15th Artisan Market Cromford Mills

May 28-29 10-4 pm. Derbyshire Open Arts National Stone Centre Porter Lane Wirksworth DE4 4LS

June 4th Jubilee at Sudbury Gasworks.

June 11th Number 28 Belper.

June 18 19th 10-4 pm. Bonsall Arts Trail Venue TBC.

June 25 & 26 Twitter Art Exhibit York, The Hiscox Building, York, UK

July 17th Artisan Market Cromford Mills

September 10th Number 28 Belper.

September 18th Artisan Market Cromford Mills

October 16th Artisan Market Cromford Mills

November 20th Artisan Market Cromford Mills

Haddon Hall November 24-27th Christmas Market

December 10th Number 28 Belper.

December Cromford Studio and Gallery Joint Exhibition

From Belper Lane A3 acrylic on canvas, £400

Helter Skelter Nottingham, A3 acrylic on canvas £400.


The Round House Matlock Bath 10 x 12 £260

The Coach House Matlock Bath 8 x 10 £250

If you made it this far down the newsletter you are a true supporter! I have been included in an International Women's Day blog exchange and here's my entry I hope you find it inspiring read it here

Guest Blog: By Annes Photos. Supporting International Women’s Day

Supporting International Women’s day, I am welcoming fellow creative Annes Photos to my blog

Allow me to introduce myself, I’m Anne Haile working as a Creative Photographer, Blogger and Photography educator/ judge / speaker. I’m delighted to be participating in this blog exchanger in support of International Women’s Day. Greetings to female creatives everywhere.

It is my belief that we need to be much more than creatives these days. In order to get our work seen and know we also need business skills, to be internet / social media savvy and to work co-operatively with others. Without all this our work will sit appreciated by ourselves alone.

Creative Photography

You may be wondering what is Creative Photography? Its photography with a creative edge. It starts with an idea (mine or a clients) which gets developed and made into a picture rather than simply taking a photograph what is put in front of me. This can be anything from placing a flower against a particular-coloured background or it can be a complex creation with many pieces built into a still life. Alternatively, it can involve styling a model or providing appropriate vintage items for a photoshoot.

This means that I can turn your ideas for your business photography into reality. I can provide image for websites and fine art prints for walls. As I hold a Licentiate from the Royal Photographic Society you can be sure all work is carried out to the highest standards.

Garden and Heritage Photography

As well as creative photography I offer garden and heritage photography. My photography won International Garden Photographer of the Year ( Calke Abbey) 2021 and has been features in several national exhibitions. During 2021 several of my projects were for Derbyshire based heritage charities which of course were carried out free of charge. If you have a great garden, you would like immortalised or an interesting heritage project you want to record then I would be delighted to hear from you.

Education and Talks

Would you like to learn to take better more impactful pictures? I offer one to one photography education and mentoring from the basics upwards including Photoshop education. This can be on-line via Zoom or in person as you prefer. Your choice and at your pace. There are several free photoshop tutorials on my blog at annesphotos.uk for those of you interested in using Photoshop to transform your photos into works of art.

As an approved judge I am available to Camera Clubs to judge competitions and to all groups and organisations for talks on photography and photo editing.

Blogging

Another side of my work is blogging, and I offer articles on the following topics:

Photography Basics, Creative Photography, Photoshop and Photo editing

Creativity – finding and developing it

Blogging and Search Engine Optimisation (I have an IT degree and spent more than 20 years working in this field)

Yoga and Meditation (I’m a fully qualified yoga teacher although not currently teaching)

Vintage, Antiques and Collecting

Vegetarian / Vegan life

All articles will of course have my images to support them. Articles can be free of charge for medium to high-ranking websites in return for links back to my own site.

Your Creativity on my Website

Your creativity can also be featured on my website. If you have something to say about creativity, then I would be happy to publish it along with details about you and your business and links back to your work. This is available for start-ups as well as more established businesses.

I have thousands of social media followers interested in photography, art and creativity mainly Instagram and Twitter and will always share your work with them. Additionally, I have thousands of followers interested in Vintage / antiques on Facebook.

Top Tips

· You can improve your creativity by looking outside of your own area. Watch a film, got to an art gallery, listen to live music or bake a cake for example. You never know, something may spark and idea.

· There is never enough time in a day but do take a little “me time” anyway. Your work can’t be any good if you are burnt out. Personally, I’ve been doing yoga for over 20 years. It calms me down and helps me focus as well as the usual physical benefits.

· Remember to have a bit of fun along the way.

Working Together

Does any of this interest you? Whilst I work solo much of the time, I do believe that great things can happen when we work together creatively. So, if there is anything of interest for you then give me a follow and a shout. I follow back 😊 Website: AnnesPhotos.UK Instagram: Anne (@anne_haile) Twitter: Anne (@AnnesPhotos) / Twitter Facebook: Annes Photos | Facebook

New work for 2022

 

Sunrise on the school run 40 x 40 cm acrylic on canvas.

How are you all doing? It seems the news gets crazier by the day to the point now where I'm listening to much more music to distract me from the buffoon in charge. Thankfully I'm of an age where I know that things come to pass and we come out the other side eventually it just seems to have been a bloody long decade!

We are lucky though if only we open our eyes and see the beauty that is all around every day, last week or maybe it was the week before who knows but each morning I was blinded on the way home from the school run by magnificent sunrises which alongside massive traffic jams meant I had plenty of time to absorb all the colours. This inspired me to get the paints out and put them all down at once onto the canvas with one of them being the above piece called Sunrise on the school run showing the view on the way to Kilburn.

My new job has sent me up some hills in Matlock Bath, and the surrounding area, here's one that I've just finished too.

Matlock Bath from the Jubilee Bridge.35 x 25 cm.

Along with the representational stuff I've just wanted to get the colour down so here's a few abstract studies, I love doing these very therapeutic.

30 x 24 cm

 10 x 8"

6 x 8"

30 x 24 cm

The colours all look better in real life so I hope you can come along and see me this year at the various events I will be doing around the area. See my website www.ruthgrayimages.com for details.

It was nice to see my painting in the background of this video the other day :) 

https://youtu.be/ZdEaLKpwzZ8 

Autumn News

What a lovely time of year torrential rain followed by wind followed by bursts of sun. I never know what to wear!

I have exciting news you know that MA I did? I have only gone and got a job that is actually to do with it! After what seems like a whirlwind of a year of training retraining and applying and all that sort of stuff I am very lucky to be working for Planning and Design Practice based in Derby as a Heritage Assistant. It is not full time so I still will be doing my art and relief job at Derbyshire County Council.
I thought Id share some more pictures of the day at Aqueduct Cottage.

Prints and cards along with the original will be at my annual Cromford Studio and Gallery Exhibition in December.
I have continued to paint the High Peak Trail and here is number 10!

The others  are available to view on my website http://ruthgrayimages.com , they are 20 x 50 cm and I am really enjoying the slow journey down the incline!
I have just spent the morning ordering more greeting cards and if you would like a list of them please email me at ruthgrayimages@hotmail.com  they are £2.50 each or £10 for 5. It's the first time I've ordered any since 2019 some pandemic got in the way of that! Let us hope there's a HGV driver that can bring them up from Devon where I ordered them!

It is the season to be jolly and stood behind a table full of stock so please come and say hello at the various venues below!

October 15 -17 2021 Medley Christmas Cromford Mills. Mill Rd, Cromford, Matlock DE4 3RQ

October 23rd Assemble- Museum of Making Painting demo.

November 18-21 Haddon Hall Gatehouse Popup Shop-Medley

November 25-28 Haddon Hall Gatehouse Popup Shop- Medley

December 4-19 2021 Medley Christmas  Gothic Warehouse Cromford Mills. Mill Rd, Cromford, Matlock DE4 3RQ

December 2021 Joint exhibition with Martin Sloman at Cromford Studio and Gallery.11 Market Pl, Cromford, Matlock DE4 3QE

Thank you for getting to the bottom of what was supposed to be a short blog.
Bye for now
Ruth x

ps, that's me mate Mandy Jayne Ahlfors.

New Work

Well, this year is just flying by and it is unbelievable that the last blog I did was in April! I have been blogging but mainly for work purposes and my own business marketing has been a little neglected. That's not to say that my art has been neglected. Recently I have been painting more outside of my studio and it's been lovely to meet up with other artists and just spend the day painting. The painting above was very enjoyable to do I painted it with friends outside the renovated Aqueduct Cottage on Cromford Canal. Five years ago we painted the boards that were used to protect the building while it was being renovated, so it was nice to meet up again now it is finished.

Below is my series that celebrates 50 years since the High Peak Railway became a trail. I am enjoying taking my time with these. Was lovely to display them recently at Cromford Mill and gather people's reactions.

I have finished a commission recently but I will not share that just yet as it's a suprise!

So really I'm slowly getting things together again after moving house and changing my working practices to fit in around my family. I keep getting opportunities to do other things so I must admit I've been getting a bit waylaid! Next year I will have to get refocused again :) 

Pathway Portrayals and Tales

 

High Peak Trail 1, Middleton Top.

I've started a new series of work, called Pathway Portrayals and Tales all located on the High Peak Trail between Middleton Top and High Peak Junction. A couple of years ago I did a detailed photographic study of the trail and the images have been sitting there waiting patiently for me to get to them. 

High Peak Trail 2, Quarry.

My new studio space is quite tight so I've decided to keep the works in a smaller format and I love this size which is 20 x 50 cm. I have 25 canvas boards all ready to be painted and I'm hoping that I can show them at either High Peak Junction or Middleton Top when they are finished.

High Peak Trail 3, Incline Begins.

There is no rush so I'm taking my time, the trail was opened to the public 50 years ago in 1974 but was in the process of being converted in 1971. So 50 years later I'm celebrating it in these paintings. Keep following my progress on my social media and see how I'm getting on. The tales part of this exhibition I'm hoping will come from the people that interact with the paintings, I've already heard from one lady who had a cycling accident on the trail many years ago and had to be rescued! Id love to hear more tales so leave your comments or get in touch via my website http://www.ruthgrayimages.com