Justin the Juggler SunnySide Art Open Studios Summer 2017

Part of the success of Sunny Side Art through Linda's designs is the attention to detail of the buildings and character's that are an integral part of Shrewsbury. Justin is a big part of that visual connection to the town. He openly shares his skills with passersby which makes coming to Shrewsbury a more memorable occasion and that's why he's featured in Linda's illustrations of the town. Justin stopped by to do some juggling in front of the house during our Open Studio's. Play with skill, play with space, play with rhythm!

New Shropshire Towns Beaker and NOISIEST STAIRS in the world

                                                         

Gold Dust At My Feet

                                                 Last week we attended the launch of the new magazine, My Shrewsbury
For this special occasion, Linda presented a one of a kind print featuring the Old Market Hall. The illustration was also used for the cover for the first edition. The print was auctioned at the launch with the proceeds going to Severn Hospice.

In the video Linda applies the finishing touches to the gold.
The musical accompaniment is Ted Lewis' version of On the Sunny Side of the Street released in 1930.

Royal Watercolour Society Awards 2017

                                                                                                                                                        In January Linda received an email from the Royal Watercolour Society informing her that two of her paintings for this years contemporary watercolour competition had been accepted. Last week we took the paintings to the Bankside Gallery so they could be hung for the exhibition. The private viewing was Thursday evening. Linda was one of a hundred or so artists accepted for this years competition. There were over two thousand entries!! Linda was also singled out for one of the sponsor's awards.

Heres a little video of our visit. Music by the great Ernest Ranglin.                                                                                                                                                                                     

Twenty Seventeen

Here we are, beginning of March already! Linda and I are working through the list of stuff that was put on hold during November, December of last year. Mind you, January was relatively busy
supplying our outlets and website orders and getting taxes sorted. We did manage a belated Christmas works do celebration as a thank you to our wonderful crew of helpers. It began with cocktails at the Blind Tiger and then on to No 4 Butchers Row for a meal. Very nice!!! Thanks again everyone for all your hard work.

Theres been a lot of sorting and clearing out on the top floor where we do all the product packaging for our outlets and online orders. Sometimes you just have to be brutal when it comes to getting rid of stuff.
Get rid of the clutter!!! Efficiency is the key, well, thats the idea anyway.

Talking of which, on Sunday we drove to Oswestry to drop off an order for Booka Bookshop. The idea was to combine this with a walk around the hill fort. We decided to do the walk first. When we eventually got to the hill fort after a couple of wrong turns, the weather had become decidedly bone chillingly grim. This alone did not stop us but the sight of a large number of noisy walkers in high vis who were gathered at the bottom of the hill in preparation for a guided tour of the fort did. So, off came the walking boots and back into the car with the heater full on. On our way to Booka, we were suddenly seized  by the desire to visit Cambrian House Emporium to see if they had any Victorian fireplace combinations and use the loo. We came away with a french oak cheese draining box and two oak foldable trestles and they kindly let us use the out of order loo that wasn't really out of order. More clutter I hear you say; but our reasoning on these particular purchases is geared towards efficiency and practicality and most of all a lovely warm way of presenting our products at open studios and events. The oak just glows!!!

Open Studio Winter 2016

First things first, a splendid tree from Pomona Grocery which Linda and I decorated quite early on to make sure it wasn't a last minute rush before the invitation only date for winter Open Studio on 1st December.  It's the first time ever all the lights worked from the get go. Mind you this was the only Christmas preparation we managed to get in it seems, before the 24th. Our feet never touched the ground!

For the 2016 Winter Open Studios we utilised the basement, ground floor and first floor.
The basement featured Sunny Side Art prints in the gallery section and Sunny Side Art ceramics, textiles, cards and Bargain Corner (always popular) in the basement shop.
The ground floor featured the tree and we were lucky enough to have the amazing Stuart Goodhew on piano. Add to the mix some mulled cider and we had a party going on!! On the first floor Linda entertained guests in her studio and upstairs gallery which featured Linda's oil, acrylic and water colour paintings.

By creating a new space, the upstairs gallery was a huge success. In all, seven paintings were sold; the  hoopoe's with gold leaf proving very popular.

Whether it's the summer or winter, the open studios are always a great social and cultural event. In this day and age where so much time is spent is spent behind computers, it's so important to meet people face to face. We were also able to make a donation of £100 to the Severn Hospice.
So thank you to everyone who came and made it all worthwhile. See you for the 2017 Open Studios.