Cold and Cups and Things!

Well could it be any wetter or colder, probably not, for it has rained all day, yes ALL day and struggled to be even half a day. As by 10 am it felt like four and at four the sky had given up and taken all and everything off to bed.

And so I paint bright colours to beat back the grey and try to remember long summer days with warm wide skies and seas of buttercups and daisies .

My hands are cold as I type and typing quicker doesn't help. So I cast my mind to more fruitful past times than wining about the weather, as weather is weather and there is little to be done than just accept it.

My new studio is great I paint for longer and ,I hope, better and rediscover that in painting for hours I reach further and find my mind digs deeper and asks questions that I haven't asked myself for a very long while. Whether you paint or sing or build things or your role is simply just to think up things, it all takes time and is not fathomed in a day but from hours of perusing.

I have just realised the heating is actually on! It feels like it's off! Time for vest number 14 me thinks. Anyway the opening of my new studio at Umbrella Creative was last night and it all went well with everyone participated who could, from sculptors to painters and light makers.

I love it. I'm painting for Chelsea and Tatton Park flower shows at present as I have just been selected for both which is great. So I have been painting for months the award winning gardens from the last two years. I am planning to unveil those paintings at Chelsea. This coincides with ,David ,my sons gcse exams , oh joy. So May is going to be a busy month! I am aiming not to be grey by July.

In the meantime Helen and I are very exciting as we love the new votives that Enesco launched at the Spring Fair and also Pimpernels placemats ,mugs and trays.

As there is little food in the cupboard and I can hear plaintiff calls of 'whhhhhaaaattttts for teaaaaaaaaa I'm starving?!"wafting up the stairs I will have to stop here and say it would be nice to hear from you all as to how you are weathering your winter. Here are some pictures to keep you warm.

Autumn Sneak Preview!

Lovely inspiration form Daisy Chain florist in Leeds thank you so much! Berry Berry original will be at Chantry House. Preview starts tomorrow 11am-5pm 21st Nov

Well there is lots of work, beautifully framed by Andy up at Chantry House for the show . I will enjoy my next three saturdays up there. Escaping Christmas shopping!!

I love the autumn , the light, the colours. So have been feeling very inspired. Coupled with the fact that I will be moving into a new studio on Dec 1st everything is rather exciting Yeah! I have a white box awaiting with absolutely nothing in it! Sometimes I feel I have so many many things in my head that I will not ever get them all painted.

I am awaiting the second strike offs of the Westminster Fibre collection of fabrics. I can't wait to see them ,they do such a lovely job. Helen and I have been working hard also designing a whole giftware range for Enesco. The mirror votives and candles are just going to be great. I'll hopefully put them into The Little Gift Shop so you can all get them from there rather than having to hunt for them.

I plan to do various shows next year and also to produce a really lovely catalogue of my work which I have never done before. So lots going on as ever . Not to mention Christmas of course. If anyone else says to me they just have to WRAP not BUY ...WRAP their last present I may just scream VERY VERY LOUDLY! Naturally I am envious and probably very disorganised as you would think I would learn as I have the same scenario every year! But no every year there is always too much OTHER STUFF to do to even contemplate buying baubles in January or a little something for great Aunt Floss on my holiday! When I am on my holiday I am just that ..on my holiday.. I don't send postcards to make those who are not fed up that I am on mine nor do I think about Christmas when I am floating in a pool. I guess I am just that kind of woman who does what ever needs doing when it arrives. Not before and sometimes now only after ..as I forget. I am how ever enjoying every day! See you soon.

Fabulous Show! London 2010

Just got back from Brand Licensing Show in London. Rubbing shoulders with Batman,Dr Who and the Royal Ballet!!! Great two days. The new stand worked really well and we just loved all the product that all of our licensees sent. Thank you all so much! Here are a few picis. 

 We are also launching Nel's Little Gift Shop next week so you will be able to buy products directly from us at http://www.nelwhatmore.com . Thanks Black orange for doing a great job again with the website.

Landscapes here we go!

Tomorrow I am going to start a series of landscape paintings. Last night the sky was stunning, so stunning in fact I had to pull into a lay'by on my way to Harrogate and get a complete stranger to email  me the pictures he was taking of the sunset. Fortunately he did, as my own camera had run out of battery. Why does that always happen always but always!

So thank you to Ben in the lay'by. Lets see if I produce anything of worth.

 Food is calling, and light is fading. So to tomorrow!

Hot hot hot!

Well the temperature has been rising steadily in the last few months and my studio is now officially boiling after 2pm! It's a bit like painting in a sauna but with your clothes on..well some clothes on at least!

 Why is it that January and February goes really sloooowwwly and then from March to July we set of wit a gallop and then as soon as you sit down for a rest it's Christmas? School holidays are nearly upon us so I find myself racing around like a headless chicken trying to get all and sundry sorted before schools out. The kids have so much on, the garden seems to think it's amusing to grow weeds like they were going out of fashion and I have grown more potatoes than I know what to do with . So famine or feast on all fronts!

Painting in these moments becomes an activity that offers me calm and solace . A time for myself, a pause for thought and a time to reflect. I have various lovely projects on the go from painting much larger than I have ever done to designing mugs and lots of new exciting products.

Happy in the Sunshine

Well like most of us we have been enjoying the good weather I have been painting outside and  trying when ever possible to be  in the garden. It is the last few weeks before Chelsea and also Surtex in New York . My agent Mary Mc Carty will be standing at the show and meeting with lots of customers...so sorry that Helen and I will not be over to see you all this time but hope you have a  great time seeing Mary. We are sending her a Chelsea preview of all the work that will be on show in London. 

So here are some photos of our garden which looks so lovely in Spring. We have been updating both the licensing site and the Original and print sites. So there is lots of new things to see and also the possibility of being sent free tickets for Chelsea and also the Ripley show! Go to www.nelwhatmore.com and www.nellicensing.com

Well lunch is calling and also painting so all for now. 

Tulips are out and Sun is Shining! New York and London shows in May!