Been a busy month!

Nutmeg in Shouldham Wood

February has been a hectic but really fun month, packed with lots of activities. 

Hunstanton Beach

Alongside the usual family and work commitments, we have had the odd walk in the woods at 

Beautiful Shouldham Wood

Shouldham with Harry & Nutmeg, breathing in the lovely scent of the pines, and throwing sticks for Harry to fetch (his favourite thing of all is when we throw the stick in the river, so he can jump in and find it), and kicking pine cones for Nutmeg to chase. 

They each have their own little thing they like to do when we go to the woods, so it's fun for all.  

Somehow we've also managed to find the time to take a few trips to the coast - on some of those rare but beautiful sunny days. 

  

Beach spoils

I love breathing in the sea air ... but I particularly enjoy collecting shells and beachcombing. 

Study in Green

Last weekend I concentrated on     finding the tiniest but perfectly         formed shells. I found a lot, and       Simon even joined in! I'm           planning to sketch some of them   and use use them as inspiration for   my next silk painting.

Talking of which, it's been a busy time in the studio for both of us. We've recently added some new pieces to our Blended Monkey website. I've been concentrating a lot more on my silk painting too, as I've found that as soon as I finish one it's snapped up and I have nothing to put on the website.  

Silver Birch Egg Cups

The latest one can be found on our Etsy site. It's a green silk scarf inspired by nature, and called "Study in Green".  

Tilted Rippled Ash Salt Pot

Simon's made a fab pair of silver birch egg cups, which are also on our Etsy site. These would make a quirky Easter gift.




Our main Blended Monkey website has also been updated with some new items. Simon's Tilted Rippled Ash Salt Pot is both beautiful and functional. The grain of the rippled ash is truly pretty. 

Contorted

Some of our more sculptural pieces are being featured on www.saatchiart.com. 
I'm working on a collection of sculptural forms. The first piece is called "Contorted". I enjoyed making this piece, and I'm about to fire another piece for this collection.

We've sold a number of items this month, with a couple of pieces shipped to the United States!

With Mother's Day fast approaching, we're hoping to see more sales. All our pieces are one-offs & handmade, so they would make the perfect unique gift for anyone's mum.

We've received a number of enquiries about our Artist Inspiration Days. Word is getting around, so it'll be great to get some bookings for the summer. 

I've showcased some of our latest pieces at the bottom of this blog. We'd love to know what you think of them!

View across the dunes at Hunstanton Beach

Wooden Egg Cup & Ceramic Heart Plate

Ceramic Lovers Bowl

Purple Heart Wooden Box with Ceramic Hearts

Celadon Green Pot

Ceramic Lovers Bowl

Seascape Plate

Seascape Pot

Thanks again to all our customers and Twitterarti for their purchases, retweets and likes. If you fancy having a go at woodturning or you know someone who would, take a look at our woodturning tuition sessions. Simon offers a one-to-one beginner's woodturning course, with a lovely rustic lunch included.

A Great Start to 2018!

We have had a busy start to the new year.

The garden continues to provide us with yummy parsnips and winter lettuce. The leeks have been a little slow to take, but I'm hoping they will beef up a bit soon. 

The flooding affected us a little too. The boat you see in these pictures is usually on dry land. Funnily enough, it looks quite happy in the flooded garden! However, we were lucky to have only minor wind damage - so that's all good.

We have been working hard prepping for our 
Artist Inspiration Days, and ensuring that all the paperwork and the boring bits are in place. We are really looking forward to opening our garden to the public, and hopefully providing some inspiration for artwork and photography.

Simon has been working on various pieces over the last month or two. Here's a video of him doing some spindle turning. 

Fancy a go at woodturning? Fancy buying a one- or two-day woodturning tuition voucher as a gift? Then look no further - simply click on woodturning tuition for more information. 




I have also been rather busy, working on some new Valentine's Day ceramic pieces. 
Here are a few of them. Click on the caption to visit our site and find out more about the items. Some of them are featured on our Etsy site, and some on our blended monkey site.

Ceramic Lovers Bowl

Etched Blue-Glazed Blossom Vase

Ceramic Lovers Bowl

Heart Votive

Chinese-Style Bowl in Ash

Last, but not least, we would like to say a big thank you to all our customers and Twitterarti for their purchases, retweets and likes. 2017 was a very busy but enjoyable year, and we are looking forward to 2018 being just as interesting! 
We are hoping our Artist Inspiration Days will be popular, and Simon is keen to get more woodturning tuition sessions booked in too.