Pregnancy and work as a self employed artist

I am currently 35 weeks pregnant, and just winding down my blacksmithing practice, so I wanted to write about my feelings around this and what might happen in the future. Throughout my pregnancy I realised just how much of my identity as a person is wrapped up in my career as an artist – achieving…

Copenhagen Residency

My self directed residency in Copenhagen has been an opportunity for me to fully focus on thoughts and ways of working that I would otherwise find hard to do. For the past two months I have drawn different strands of ideas together to make a series of sculptures placed around the city, exploring narrative in…

BBC Scotland Loop

I was recently featured on the BBC Scotland programme Loop – you can watch it here

Inertia

I’m finding it really difficult to come up with ideas or to get motivated to do things. I have a list of things I should do, from the major projects I’m currently involved in, making a gate and railing for a private commission, to a totally new making of some bells, to the designing and…

Space

Actual space is intrinsically more powerful and specific than paint on a flat surface. Donald Judd I have been thinking about the difference in the way my mind has been working throughout the lockdown, depending on the amount of space I have had access to. Within the confines of my flat my thoughts seemed smaller,…

Creative walking

Often I sit down at my desk and realise I have no ideas. My mind can have been buzzing with thoughts all day, but as soon as I sit down they all vanish. It feels like walking into a room looking for something, just to have your mind go blank on crossing the threshold. My…

Itchy Feet

At the beginning of lockdown I was quite content to work indoors, to take a break and sketch on the sofa. I made smaller pieces that could hang on my walls, that could be easily packaged and posted, that fitted within the much smaller and confined lives we were living. However, with the incredible summer…

Surviving Lockdown

There have been so many hot takes on how to get through lockdown, from the ridiculous “if you haven’t achieved then you never lacked time, you lacked discipline” to the “don’t worry if you spend all of your time in bed, this is a difficult time for all.” We have all had our own problems,…

New logo

I have been an artist blacksmith for 9 years and have finally decided to get a logo. My brilliant friend Rachel E Millar has designed me one, something that takes inspiration from some of my work and combines it with a crisp graphic design style. Although it is difficult to come up with something that…

Why draw?

Drawing has always formed a large part of my practice, it is an element that spans every part of a project. Working with line drawing allows me to create pieces full of character, sweeping lines twist back on themselves, free and full of movement. I feel that line can describe motion and fluidity, especially when…