It's Advent December 2021

 ....and the old driftwood tree comes out of the tool shed...is dusted down and the spiders webs cleared away before it's once again in pride of place in the big gallery window at The Potters House Penketh.

On go the twinkling lights...a job for the potter...aka Alan Snape.

...the box of beloved baubles is dragged down the stairs from under a bed in the guest room..

...year by year I scour the christmas shops for another one to add to the collection...but it has to be that little bit different from the hundreds that are the choices available now...

...and every year I buy each of the grandgirls one to start their own collection.

Aunt Helen was my partner in "crime " each Christmas at 43 St. Johns in Belfast...I would crawl into the cubbyhole under the stairs to find the box with the treasure in it....in those days mainly paper decorations.

...ooops!...why is it always the fragile ones that slip out of your hands!...still beautiful in it's shards of fine glass...

After our visit this year to the autumn Chelsea...inspired by the work in the main tent... I started collecting the autumn leaves as they fell from the gingko tree in the garden...pressing them in old art books...always heavy!...and stringing them in chains for the gallery windows.

...some japanese acer leaves found their way into the strings too...

..a choir of angels echo the message of hope

...nothing to make you ashamed...

In the window....ceramic camel £150 : ceramic angels £20 : Large penguin with gold crown £170 : small penguin with gold crown £110 : ceramic polar bear £180 : individual ceramic letters £150 : HOPE £450  Icon.."Christ Pantocrator" £150 : ceramic hare £180 : Box assemblage ceramic hand £150 : ceramic stars £20 : Globed angel £150 : small driftwood christmas trees £20 : chain of pressed leaves £10 ..and so much more inside.

More work can also be seen at Technically Brilliant Art in The Golden Square Mall, Warrington.

and

The Buckenham Gallery Southwold, Suffolk.

Today the sun is shining...although these are often called "the dark days"...but there is always hope and so that is my wish for all of us this Christmas.....

"And hope doesn't put us to shame..." Rom 5:5

Much love

Geraldine

Inspiration...Time and Tide.

There's so much "stuff" out there...apart from in here 

...that's at The Potters House....I mean.

Then every now and again you see something and some art touches a very deep spot in your soul.

That's how we felt seeing the work of Roger Hardy in The East Coast Cafe in Aldeburgh.

An Exhibition called ...Time and Tide

   

From the reedy banks of the Alde river he collects driftwood and over time turns it into stunning assemblages.

I have always been an edge walker...that's the edge of the tide.

Whether Ballyferris in Northern Ireland...our favourite beach in Spain or nowadays Morecambe Bay.

And if you are such a walker you can't help but love how the sea takes what it can..changes it and throws it back up on the banks and beaches when it 's finished with it.

   

This is worth a look online for any assemblage lover of art and walker on the edge.