Dorset Textile Artist, Carol Cruickshank’s Busy Summer

Open for Art

It’s been a whole month since my last blog, cannot believe how time flies. Open for Art is over and I am collecting evaluations from partakers. We had a fun party to celebrate the end of OFA at Olivia’s house where lots of participants came along with some food and drink to share. It was great to meet lots of the artists for the first time as I hadn’t had a chance to visit many of the studios during the event.

Wondering like so many of us as to where our summer has gone. We have had a few good days amongst the cold and wet ones, and we have managed to make the most of them.

Exhibiting in The Engine Room Poundbury

Neil and I alongside our newest Artwey member, Charlie Pascoe, hung an exhibition up in The Engine Room café in Poundbury on 12th June and you can see our work there until 10th July. It looks great all together. A lot of my new originals can be seen there so why not pop down and have a coffee and a look.

Guest Artist in New Wave Gallery, Swanage

I am working on a series of textiles around Purbeck and further east, preparing for my stint as guest artist at the New Wave Gallery in Swanage from 15th July to 18th August.

During OFA I was working on a small original hand-sewn textile picture of Durdle Door which I managed to complete before the event finished, called “Durdle Door Daisies”.

For my next picture I decided to revisit the beach huts at Mudeford Sandspit and so I looked over the photos Neil and I took of that area on our visit a couple of years ago with Olivia and Neil’s mum, Margaret. This hand-sewn textile is now complete, waiting to be named and framed.

We had a day trip around Purbeck on a sunny, still day starting with the Grange Gallery in Wareham, a gem of a place which has been recently established.

We then visited Swanage taking in the sites, shopping and taking photos. Next stop was Durlston – and in particular the Lighthouse there. I did some sketching whilst Neil walked around taking photos and looking to see what kind of flowers were out. I decided upon dog roses for the foreground of my picture as there was a bush with many blooms out in front of me as I sketched. Also, because I really love them.

Then on to the iconic Corfe Castle. We walked all around it before choosing the angle, it looks surprisingly different depending on which side you are looking from. I decided on a different angle from the first picture I completed a number of years ago.

I am just about to start these, not sure which to start first. I only have 3 weeks to finish both, not sure I am going to make that deadline …