Category: Personal Reflections

Thoughts, insights, and moments from my creative and professional journey. the reflections that shape my art, my work, and the way I see the world.

The Drums are not Beaten

Personal Reflections
My return to and finding new uses for the small drum lampshades have sparked fresh creativity and renewed interest.

Currently the empire and coolie (more correctly conical) style of lampshade is all the rage. This created my dilemma, as fewer people were buying the drum shades, especially in the small sizes that I make. And I had made a lot to experiment and sharpen my practice of adding more decorative elements to them like the metal upholstery studs as I’ve always loved that classic look.

But, this week I set on a spree to rediscover what the styling options were for the plethora of small 15cm drum lampshades that I have in store (not all are in the online shop).

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Cultured Complexities Series Released

Personal Reflections

Welcome to this months’s edition of the newsletter. The cultured complexities series is being released and listed on Etsy this week. Artwork is ready to purchase.

The Cultured Complexities series is of about 30 mixed media painting made small enough for shelf display. It is a series that took me one year to complete as I started April 2023. Below are images that show the processes.

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Lakeside Photo inspo

Personal Reflections

I’ve always loved those American films that feature a beautiful house by the lake. Films like, On Golden Pond, What about Bob, The Lake House and Cape Fear. I was recently reminded of my fantasy of experiencing a break by the lake and log cabin living last week, because my 9 to 5 took me to the lake region of New Hampshire USA, for a conference.

Drive by image of lake Winnipesaukee New Hampshire

But it wasn’t until I came back that I had an epiphany about my aesthetic values when doing the final tweaks of the photographs.

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Rediscovering Organic & natural

Personal Reflections

I’d been noticing how my eye has been drawn to organic and natural materials recently. Then later discovered that this is not a recent phenomenon. Natural and organic has been the core of my decision making around decor and product design but it sometimes got hidden. This is the story of the uncovering.

Recently I’d been playing with the idea of natural trimmings, naming it, my natural calling while trying to figure out what this means for future designs products and art.

Some of my recent inspirational pieces were the Samuel and Sons jute trimming collection. There is something quite ironic around having the basic and most ancient of materials used in contemporary and extravagantly decorative ways.

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Nashville Tennessee Culture Tour

Personal Reflections

Last week I visited Tennessee USA, to carryout business for my employer. On my rest and travel day I was taken on a tour of Nashville and naturally sought out the art and culture areas. I’m not such a fan of music venues, being from London we get a lot of those around here. Instead I was more intrigued by Belmont and Vanderbilt campus area and the lovely community around there. I went to the Parthenon where they had an artist on show that I have begun to admire because I feel a sense of affinity.

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