Congratulations! I am delighted to inform you that your work has been selected for Artlink’s Contemporary Art and Craft Fayre on Saturday 28th May 2011.

The Fayre will take place at the Artlink Centre for Community Arts, which is situated at 87 Princes Avenue, Hull, HU5 3QP and will open from mid-day until 4pm. The event is for local talent to showcase their crafts in a well-established venue.

I will of course be taking along my ever-popular hand painted notebooks as well as my range of mini paintings on easels, wooden trinket boxes, magnetic notepads and greetings cards. I may also take some of my smaller paintings if I have room.

Artlink have created  a Facebook event which you can view here.

Here’s an example of some of the work I will be selling:

I found out first of from reading an email message from the curator of the Treasury, michellpryorart. Then I saw a link on Facebook to Andrea’s latest personal blog post mentioning the fact that we were both featured in the same Treasury.

Here is a snapshot of the Treasury – you can visit Etsy and look at all the items in more details by clicking on this link if you wish, too.

In the Treasury, Michelle has kindly featured one of Andrea’s hauntingly ethereal landscape paintings entitled “All In It”, which is for sale in her Etsy shop at $30 (approximately £19) including free postage. You can view it full screen by going to Andrea’s Etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/29132770/all-in-it-original-ethereal-landscape?ref=tre-4cde10b839fc8eef8023afd6-14

The painting I have had featured is one of my mini paintings complete with easel – “Moonflowers”, which is for sale in my Etsy shop, Arty Aitch, at $14 (approximately £9). You can view it full screen here.

Many thanks for Michelle for featuring two members of Rogue Gene Collective in her latest Treasury, it is much appreciated!

I have been working on getting together a decent amount of small affordable items to sell as I think they will be more appealing at this sort of event. I am currently working on 3 more magnetic shopping pads and a hardback note-book. I have ordered plenty of new cellophane bags in which to display and sell these and am waiting for their delivery.

These are the ones I have already created and I have since made a few more in a similar style. If I don’t sell them all at the weekend I will be putting them up on my Etsy shop and my personal website too.

I will be writing about the weekend in more detail on my personal blog soon, once this nice weather has gone!

Mike's Work

The Rogue Gene Collective is a small group of artists who are committed to helping each other attain a higher level of visibility for their work. We do this by networking; pooling resources, information, knowledge and contacts. There are currently seven members, and four guest artists

As a group we hold exhibitions all over the country acting as agents, couriers and publicists for each other. Our aim is to offer a wide variety of quality original artwork to the collector, occasional buyer or corporate buyer.

This exhibition is a rare opportunity for the group to come together in person to exhibit a comprehensive collection of original quality work, representing some of the best competitively priced contemporary artwork available. There will also be a special stand showing a selection of collaborations between the group members. This is a new and unique idea where two artists have worked together to create an original artwork.

The exhibition will be on Sunday 16th May at Pinder Hall, Lower Road, Cookham, SL6 9EH. Amanda Hunt, Andrea Farmer, Helen Davison, Kos Marton and Rob Kirbyson will all be available throughout the day to answer any questions or just for a chat.

Cookham is a small village on the banks of the Thames just off Junction 4 on the M40, and Junction 8/9 of the M4. Why not come for the day – a visit to the exhibition can easily be combined with a stroll along the river and maybe a pub lunch in one of the many small local country pubs. Entrance is free and the event is suitable for all the family.

Geranium Mini Art and Trinket Box

I have recently completed another in my series of mini artworks and matching trinket boxes. The latest addition is based on one of my very early paintings (Variegated Geranium Leaves) and I have concentrated solely on the leaf of the geranium plant for the design. The background of both the min canvas and the trinket box have been painted with a mixture of burnt umber and orange to give a deep rusty orange shade overall. The easel has been painted in sap green to tie in with the green along the stem of the geranium leaf. The trinket box is decorated in the same way, with a brown felt lining added to it and funky foam feet attached underneath to prevent any scratches on delicate surfaces. Both these items will be added to my Etsy Shop today, along with another one or two soon!

I am also working on a set of small paintings on box canvas all with a similar theme. The idea is that I paint an abstract landscape or seascape or any other imaginary scape, always incorporating the letter “H” somewhere in the painting. I will then be naming them “Aitch at the sea-side” or some such!

'Blue Hills'

'A Different Light'

I’ve added two new works on paper to Etsy and my personal site this week. These are entitled ‘Blue Hills’ and ‘A Different Light’ and are from my mini art series. These paintings are created in oil and ink on 300gsm oil paper and focus on the rural/rugged British landscape. As they are smaller (250 x 175 mm) than most of my paintings and unframed they are available at a very affordable price. I have recently sold two paintings from this series to USA buyers on Etsy.

"Textured Heart

In case you hadn’t noticed, Valentine’s Day is not far away now. I have got several small items for sale in my Etsy shop that would be perfect gifts for such an occasion! The most suitable is my “Textured Heart” mini art painting on canvas and matching trinket box that is pictured here.

Available either singly or as a matching set, I’m sure they would be appreciated as a gift of love! These creations would probably be appreciated more by women, especially the ones like “Candy Cake”.

Don’t miss out – order soon to be in time for the big day.

Candy Cake