Joined the Cambridge Urban Sketchers at Trinity College on Saturday. Always lovely to visit parts of the colleges and this time we were given access to the Backs. There were so many KEEP OFF THE GRASS notices, I sketched one!

I had several chats with visitors, punt operators (I was in their way) and the porters. I made two black and white sketches and added colour afterwards.

But it was SO cold!!

Ended up going to the PV at Byard Art where I had a hot toddy and a chocolate which did warm me up, especially as a client was interested in buying one of my paintings!

I love the shape of the greenhouses at the Botanic Gardens and have drawn or painted them several times. I also like the fountain which tends to be a meeting point with seats facing it.

So here there are in this painting with people walking across the lawns. I added a few figures for fun, including several children taking a short cut to school from Trumpington Road to Hills Road and the station.

The Leper Chapel will be opening 31st October to 2 November for the wonderful 'Reverie' exhibition.

Open from 12 noon to 5pm each day with a private view open for everyone on Friday 1 November from 6 - 9.30 pm. here is the link via Cambridge Past, Present and Future who look after this ancient site: https://www.cambridgeppf.org/Event/reverie-art-exhibition31oct2024

The Reverie Exhibition takes place again at the Leper Chapel during the Autumn half term. Into its second year, this group of young artists have invited me to join them again and they are a delight with some really interesting artwork.

If you have never visited the Leper Chapel this is also your chance to see the inside and how such an historic place can be used. Cambridge Past, Present and Future look after the place but it is only open a few times a year. I love the building and as much of my artwork is inspired by Medieval Art, I feel my art belongs here.

The Cambridge Drawing Society committee chooses a picture by one of the members to illustrate their exhibitions on their posters and emails etc.

Delighted that my 'Liber Arbor' has been chosen for the 2024 Autumn exhibition at the Leys School, Fen Causeway, Cambridge. A real honour.

The exhibition takes place from 27 October to 2 November from 10am to 4pm. so many paintings in so many styles in various media, plus hundreds of greeting cards by the artists. A perfect place to spend a Sunday or any other day!

I shall be invigilating at the private view from 1pm Sunday 26 October if you would like to meet me.

www.cambridgedrawingsociety.org

My photographer son set up Birmingham Open Studios a few years ago having seen me take part in the same thing in Cambridge. I have always loved the idea of having people come to my house and see how and where I work and to have an opportunity to see an artist working and ask questions. All this for no charge - but the paintings, prints and cards are all for sale.

Owen de Visser, my son, started his open studios project small to see whether it could be done successfully in Birmingham and since that first time it has grown and is a feature for art loving people to visit every year as more and more artists join in.

Now in its seventh year several small paintings of mine will be in the gallery and I shall be there on 28/29 September, open from 11am to 6pm. I shall do demonstrations with gold leaf and visitors will be able to have-a-go and take their work home with them.

It also gives my son and I artistic time together

I delivered these 2 paintings to the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, RBSA Gallery, ready for their 2024 Prize Exhibition. I am delighted to have my paintings chosen.

The exhibition runs from Thursday 3 September to Saturday 12 October and I shall be at the PV on 3 September with my son who lives in Birmingham.

I always take part in three out of the four Open Studio weekends in July so I can visit other artists on my week off.

The first weekend was the quietest I have known because of the endless rain. I visited other studios on weekend two and weekend three was quite busy. Now I am looking forward to the final weekend. I shall have a painting to keep me occupied during the quiet times and anyone that visits has the chance to have-a-go with some copper of silver leaf. I hope it doesn't rain....

Recently I drew a sketch of King's Parade in Cambridge.

I love urban sketching, it is great fun as I often sketch with others and it makes me look carefully at Cambridge and the local area.

I have often sketched the buildings in Cambridge, including the the lovely old terraces on King's Parade, perhaps one of the most famous streets outside London. When I was asked by Byard Art to put some work in their Summer Show, I really wanted to sketch their gallery on the street. And this is the result. Drawn on heavy Fabriano paper with added watercolour, it is now in the gallery. Excitingly they asked me to make some manipulated prints for their print rack too. So although the original has a white sky, the others will have different skies, birds and balloons and added Cambridge 'stuff'. Needless to say I have totally enjoyed doing these.

You can see the sketches in Byard Art alongside a few more of my paintings until the end of August.

Every year I take part in Cambridge Open Studios in July. The event takes place over 4 weeks but I only do 3 of those weekends so I can also look around other studios and get to meet the artists.

This year I am showing at home on 6 & 7, 20 & 21 and 27 & 28 July from 10am to 5pm. Just turn up and come on in! I live opposite Kendal Way, bikes can be parked on my drive or park on Kendal Way.

I shall be working on a painting during the weekends I am open so you can ask any questions you like about art. I also have set my studio up so anyone can 'have a go' with some gold or silver leaf and you can take your mini painting home with you.

My paintings are very intricate. I use oil and some very small brushes so each artwork can take a long time to make. I make giclee prints of my works that are very affordable. if you would like to buy something, I will be delighted!

Refreshments are also available with Quality Street chocolates.

I love Open Studios and hope to see many art lovers.

https://camopenstudios.org/

I was delighted when Lux Gallery in Birmingham informed me a company would like my 'Tree of Birmingham' painting but with a few changes.

The tree will be used by the solicitor's company as an extra talking point with their logo and premises in among the leaves and background. They loved that the tree held so many iconic landmarks and companies of their wonderful city and the painting will travel with them to events. Landmarks include the Raging Bull - now at Birmingham Station, Cadbury World and UB40 alongside the RLX Solicitors company logo and their premises.

I am so pleased this painting will be seen and discussed by many as they try and name the the images in the tree and the places in the background.

I run art classes at my home. We sit around a rather large table and what we learn is partly led by my students. After we have learned the basic techniques of painting in acrylics and made a few paintings, we try using some different techniques. One of the things I really like doing are collages.

The group are asked to bring in their own references to make a collage. Most of the time they choose landscapes but I do love it when one comes with a picture of a cat or a church! I always find they are much more fun. I usually choose something from medieval art as I just love the humour and absurdity of some of those drawings from the Bestiaries of almost a thousand years ago.

This time I made up some medieval animals, drawing a series of birds crossed with reptiles. I choose two of the drawings, painted lots of paper with different patterns with a palette knife and cut them out.

I shall post my students work on https://www.facebook.com/cambridgeartclass/ when their paintings are complete.

With a new president come new ideas.

I have been a member of the Cambridge Drawing Society for several years and the standard of work seems to rise annually.

Our new president who is also an avid sketcher, introduced a visit to The Heong Gallery specialising in contemporary art with some sketching after the talk. The curator gave us a wonderful insight into the work of Syrian Artist Issam Kourbaj who lived in Aleppo before it was decimated by the Russians. His work describes the feelings of the people of Syria losing their homes.

The talk was fascinating but I find it difficult to listen for 2 hours without using my hands so I sat on a small stool and sketched as the curator talked. I had arrived early and already made a sketch of the Cedar tree by Ai Weiwei in the courtyard.

A wonderful morning learning about Syria, contemporary artist Kourbaj and sketching. What could be better to fill a Sunday morning!

Delighted to have all four entries accepted for the Cambridge Drawing Society exhibition which is open from 21 to 27 March.

Taking place at the Pitt Building, the exhibition will be open from 10am to 4pm every day and show the best works by artists living in Cambridgeshire. Entries are by both amateurs and professional artists and the standard is very high.

besides my 4 framed oils on the theme of books in trees, I have 2 Urban Sketches and lots of greeting cards for sale.

I teach 2 art classes at my home studio. We do all kinds of art with most people wanting to draw and paint in acrylics. We decide themes etc and I show them techniques and give out tips, encouragement and tea. Once a term we go drawing in one of the wonderful museums in Cambridge. One of my students favourites is the Museum of Classical Archaeology in Sidgwick Street. It is a bit like life drawing only the statues stay still and they are mainly white so we can see how the muscles are shaped on these perfect bodies from Roman and Greek times.

I also draw when there, I feel it is good for my students to see me drawing instead of always telling them what to do! Over the years of visiting this museum, I have drawn many of the plaster casts with perfect athletic bodies, and now I tackle the 'broken bits' which can be a bit of a challenge.

These 3 heads are the remains of some sculptures from Lykosoura a city in Arkadia, in central southern Greece, that the ancient writer Pausanias believed was the oldest in the world. The local cult was of the goddess Despoina, meaning Mistress. In her sanctuary was a group sculpture of her and her mother Demeter seated on thrones, flanked by standing figures of Artemis and the Titan Anytos.

The second drawing is from a relief panel found at the Harpy Tomb of Kybernis. I drew it because I rarely see sculptures of people eating.

Amazing what I learn when I go drawing with my students!

Every January I follow an online group and make a sketch a day based on the prompts given each morning. This is the second year I have joined the 64 Million Artists group. I love their prompts because they are not specifically aimed for drawing. For example today's prompt is to 'build the largest tower you can from cards'.

64 million artists is a kind of collective for disability groups and others such as men in prison or well-being groups or autistic groups so every prompt is designed to be completed by as many people as possible in any way they find fit.

I do it to help my drawing skills and to think-outside-the-box.

I have added 2 finished sketches that link up as the prompt, I hope you enjoy them

You can see all my finished drawings on:

https://www.facebook.com/maureen.mace.5/ or

https://www.instagram.com/maureenmaceart/