Celebrating Women's Day 2014 at Wow Festival Southbank

I'm enjoying a delicious cup of Assam tea bought from Tea People at the Women of the World Festival  this afternoon.  I had a chat with Dilip, the stall holder, and realise I know more about his company than I first thought, namely through the multi-talented designer entreprenuer, Gillian Gamble, who is behind so much of the creative work of this exciting young social enterprise.  I'm looking forward to seeing their new film about tea workers and their families - coming out soon. They're also in the April edition of Vogue.

I had called over to look around the WoW Festival, having run stalls there for the past two years - selling my own jewellery and the products made by my SEN students from Mulberry. I am glad that the business has been carried on this year by an enthusiastic member of staff and that we had the students colourful products being sold there once again. The Mulberry stall looked fantastic as always - we're very proud of the girls!! I hope they make a good profit after all the hard work.  Other Mulberry students will return on Sunday to sell more products - bath salts and other gifts.

Happy New Year!

...with love from Chinatown, London, UK 2014  xxx

Still life: Chinese Bowls

I've enjoyed immersing myself in colour again, this time developing my still-life series of  Yunnan tea cups, bowls and blossom. All painted with Oil bars, some of them handmade from Sweden: Bivaxoljekwritor:) 

A way of slowing down and observing what I see in front of me. It becomes a meditation on the object itself, making associations with time spent in China and what I've seen out there. 

By using oil bars and a pallet knives, I can't work in great detail. It's an impression of what is there, capturing something about the object without reproducing it as I would in my drawings. 

I'm looking forward to developing this series over the next few months and making some of them available for sale online. 

Puer Teacup and Orange Blossom 2

Philip Rhys Matthews solo exhibition at GX Gallery

Locomotive

It was fantastic to be at the Private View of Photographer Philip Rhys Matthews, at GX Gallery in Camberwell last night. I was impressed to hear about the amount of painstaking work and research that goes in to each photoshoot, from the detailed embroidery he did himself for the Chinese costume, to the printing of images on to silk for the backdrops. I liked the size of the prints and the fact that each photograph is printed on rag pearl giving a warmth of tone.

Fiscal Cure

Fiscal Cure, Fiscal Cancer is an incredible first solo exhibition for this recently graduated young photographer, with his well researched reference to fine art while exploring current issues about East/West relations, in the context of stunning fashion photography. I wish him every success in his career and will be fascinated to see how his work progresses in the future.

Seeing the elaborate costume and accessories in the show reminded me of traditional Chinese Empress costumes. In December I will hear Jung Chang speaking at the V&A about her new book,  'Empress Dowager Cixi: The concubine who launched Modern China'. Having heard Jung Chang speak before, I'm really looking forward to this one.

Masterpiece 2013

I was given a ticket for Masterpiece last year and knew I'd be back in 2013 to see it again.
Interesting walking through what was the Chelsea Flower Show only a few weeks ago to see yet another amazing exhibition in the same grounds, this time all under cover.
Highlights for me this year were the galleries showing contemporary Chinese Brush Painting: I loved Gao Xingjian's sublime ink on paper, in the Aktis Gallery and Yang Yanping in Michael Goedhuis Gallery.

Work by Gao Xingjian, similar to one I saw at Masterpiece 

I missed the talk on contemporary Chinese brush painting given by Michael Goedhuis and hope to hear another one sometime soon.

Cloud Leopard

I finally saw the stunning Cloud Leopard by Nahoko Kojima in Craft Central's new gallery this week.

I loved seeing the whole piece, suspended from the ceiling, having only seen glimpses of it in pictures on the net. It is so intricately cut out, delicate and is simply a breath-taking work of art. 

It reminds me of the work of the paper cut-out artists I met in Kunming, though I haven't seen any on this scale before, and so beautifully presented.

Nahoko Kojima's new work, The Polar Bear, will be unveiled at the Jerwood Makers Open 2013. It is entitled, Byaku, a Japanese word meaning White in English. It is hand cut using only one white sheet of Japanese Washi Paper. 

If you are interested in knowing more about this traditional Japanese method of paper making, I can recommend Nancy Broadbent Casserly's book on Washi. She spoke about its history at the Daiwa Institute a couple of months ago and it was an interesting introduction to Washi. 

Asia House Fair

A wonderful afternoon was spent in Asia House hearing a Tea Master from China Life tell us about Tea. After tasting a few teas, I bought my favourite tea which is Silk Oolong - have been enjoying  its 'creamy milk and mango flavours' every day for the past two weeks. Love it.

I need to find out about more about my Puer Tea Cake - a gift given to me in 2008. Apparently it will improve with age, like a good wine.

Puer Tea Cake and cover 

Now looking forward to checking out China Life's stylish 1920's Shanghai Tea Bar in Camden.....

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