Del Thorpe

Del Thorpe has been a guest artist at my Open House for a couple of years now and it's great to have him back again this Christmas, not least because I get to have his work on my walls to enjoy for a few weeks. He has been illustrating children's books for some time now, including Tony Robinson's Weird World of Wonders series. (He even got a Blue Peter badge for the World War 2 book in this series.) The latest book in the series, "Pets", has been published this month.

Del's artwork is always very popular at the Open House, particularly his "Adventure Calls!" series. For this May, he created some original watercolours in postcard size and has plans to produce some more for Christmas, along with some large scale ones. I'm really looking forward to seeing them and  shall post pictures here as soon as they are available but, in the meantime, here are some of the Adventure Calls! prints. Check out his website http://www.delthorpe.co.uk for more.

Bluebell Roebuck

Despite the almost monochrome qualities of Brighton Beach in Winter which I posted last week, what attracts me most as a photographer is intensity of colour and the endless variety of the natural world. I've been lucky enough to visit Hawaii and Iceland several times - so different in terms of their  locations on Earth but both volcanic. The colours of Hawaii are so intense and rich but Iceland's colour palette is more ethereal.

The top and bottom photographs below were taken in Iceland, the first at the Blue Lagoon where you bath in waters from the geothermic plant, the second a geyser which erupts every couple of minutes. After much patience, I  managed to catch it just before the bubble explodes.

The second photograph was taken at a site sacred to the ancient Hawaiians in the centre of the island of Oahu. The royal family used to give birth at these stones and I love the way the setting sun showed the columns of mist.

The third photograph was taken at Red Rock Canyon, just outside Las Vegas; it's an area of wilderness so close to the brightest, brashest city I have ever experienced.

Margaret McGregor Betts

From bold and beautiful collagraphs to both abstract and representational watercolours, Margaret's work demonstrates a real connection to the vitality of the natural world around us. Water and woodland or forest are particular sources of inspiration, including many of my own favourite places in Sussex and Cornwall, especially Heligan Gardens which have been reclaimed in part from the wilderness but retain the magical freedom of nature left to its own devices.

Following a successful start at Bluebell Would Open House in May, I am happy to welcome Margaret back this Christmas. She will be showing a selection of watercolours, collagraphs and etchings. Please visit her website http://www.margaretmcgregorbettsartist.com for more examples of her beautiful work.

Vicky Scott

Vicky went to university in Brighton and, after a spell in London, has moved back to our beautiful city by the sea. She is an illustrator making paper collages and has produced commissions for Paperchase, among others. Remember the Elephant parade a few years ago with the brightly coloured elephants popping up in various locations in central London? Vicky designed a gorgeous bird print for one of the baby elephants.

I love the joyfulness of her cute and colourful prints - have a look at her website for more examples. It's http://www.vickysworld.co.uk which also has a link to her blog http://vickyscott-vickysworld.blogspot.co.uk.

Leonor Berdichevsky

Leonor was born in Chile but has now lived in England for many years.  I was lucky enough to meet her through one of her lovely children being in the same class as one of my daughters and first saw her artwork in her own home. I loved the exquisite watercolours immediately with the incredibly fine detail and gorgeous colours. My particular favourite is "The Wish" which you can see on her Etsy shop MielCanelaArt.

She joined Bluebell Would Open House for the first time in May and I'm delighted to have her return this Christmas.

Have a look at her blog, http://leonorberdichevsky.blogspot.co.uk, for more details of her works in progress but in the meantime here she is along with some examples of her work.

10 weeks to go!

Amid this gorgeous sunny weather, believe it or not, just 10 weeks to go until the start of the Brighton Christmas Open Houses. I've got all my guest artists signed up (Del Thorpe, Alexis Rayner, Vicky Scott, Margaret McGregor Betts, Ruth Mullan, Leonor Berdichevsky, Mark Charlton and Helen Chong), now I've just to get on with making my own stuff.

I've been taking advantage of the late summer sun and spent the week painting silk in the garden to make into scarves. The knitting will have to wait until cooler days.

Keep checking back as I'm aiming to post every few days with plenty of examples of work by all of us showing at Christmas. In the meantime, here's one of my favourite photos - Brighton Beach in Winter.