Upcoming trip to London / exhibition

I returned to work after Easter and this is the first creation I have made after a break for a funeral and a wedding.

I'm really intrigued and excited to be planning a trip down to London to attend the private view for Magne Furuholmen's "Norwegian Wood" exhibition at Paul Stolper gallery.

I'm really excited at the prospect of being elbowed in the face by A-ha fans (!), in an attempt to speak to Magne about his work - I noticed in the press release some interesting and obvious correlations between his work and mine that I wasn't previously aware of.

Aside from the fact that A-ha remains one of the pivotal reasons for becoming an artist and illustrator, in 1995, while Magne was creating "Kutt", I gave birth to my first son Kurt, named after Cobain, but since then I have been known to reference Schwitters within my own work.

In 1992-94 I had spent 2 years at college doing reductive colour lino prints, and I had hoped to make a return to the print room more recently, in order to create some form of prints in support of my graphic novel, even though the graphic novel is largely illustrated in ink and digitally edited. It remains a strong background reference and influence for my own practice.

I wish I'd seen these when I was at college, but I was largely unaware of A-ha's continued existence at that time, and I spent several years before my degree where I barely created much work at all.

Magne's woodcuts already look visually and emotionally arresting just seeing them online, so looking forward to seeing this work.

I know my brother is planning to come and visit for this year's last ever Spalding Flower Parade. 

I often have mixed feelings about the Flower Parade. As a child growing up in Spalding it was the most exciting event of the whole year. I even had the opportunity, aged 11, to ride on the Flower Queen's float, however, speaking of college in the early 90s, people suggested I should apply for the Flower Queen contest, but I declined, thinking it was sexist and outdated. 

For some time I regarded it as a funeral procession for a long dead bulb industry, yet I felt I wanted to create something to reflect that. I had a concept for a float as a self portrait of Van Gogh with bandaged ear in protest at art cuts. But opportunities to become involved in the Flower Parade have too often been put off due to commitments here in Lincoln and a lack of support. The Flower Parade is Van Gogh's Sunflowers, black crows gather.

My old primary school appeared to have gone for a blackbird theme last year, even though I was not invited to contribute, I will claim credit for the inspiration!

I sometimes think that in honour of the Flower Parade, I might decorate my bike with origami tulips and ride around town on it like some kind of rogue float. I don't know if I'll make it, if I do, I plan to take reference photos.

Lastly, you can all support self employed single parents by signing this petition - I urge you all to sign this, thanks!