Cobalt blue, Jade green, etc.

 I love putting the colour mixes together.  The great thing about colours is what they do to each other.

Lilac, Gold and Red

One of the things I love about big cities is the endless supply of visual feasts and contrasts in colour, forms, style, scale and age. Autumn and winter sunshine always enhance the views.

Tokyo is the place more full of contrasts than anywhere I've ever been with tiny old, wooden buildings next to new, high blocks, bright signs, traditional costume, millions of potted plants next to air conditioner outlets - I could go on. I've been there twice and both times barely slept in the fortnight because my eyes were overstuffed from the daily feasts.

The drinks machines punctuate and light up the city by night. I went in autumn and took a trip out of town where the red and orange maples are similarly overwhelming. One day I would love to go back in spring to see the blossom.

Orange, Green and Exam Time

Orange and greens, nice colour scheme to work with. So many clients have wanted bright colours this year, that must be a good sign I reckon.

Many youngsters are doing exams around now and are under far more pressure than in my day. Many years ago I got a C for my art O Level (equivalent of GCSE) that was the lowest possible pass. I then left school at 16 and went straight to Art School where I took my A level during a foundation course. For that I got an E, I think, anyway again I got the lowest possible pass. So my conclusion is don't worry about your Art marks - what do they know?! Having scraped through (according to others opinions) decades later I am still enjoying a pioneering creative life with many highlights under my belt, 3 exhibitions in Tokyo, 5 chandeliers in the British Council collection, teaching at Pilchuck Glass school and a residency in a Capital of Culture amongst many other adventures. So, follow your heart and don't let them get to you!

Colourful

By coincidence I've been working on two very colourful commissions this winter. It shows how far we've come in being more adventurous with our homes and especially lighting. When I started out - a long time ago now - the only lighting with bright coloured glass seemed to be in Barcelona or Milan but not customary on this island, but then again continental cafes were rare and so was a good coffee. Even if you always had adventurous taste you just couldn't get the stuff. We've clearly learned alot from mainland Europe.

Small is Beautiful

This is one of my Duets for 3 candles. I've been trying to make more smaller pieces for Xmas stock. These actually take ages to make; because they're small they're more intimate so all the detail has to be spot on. I wasn't going to use turquoise in this colour scheme but I was holding some glass drops up to the piece to see if I wanted to use them and the turquoise was attached and suddenly they made the other colours sing louder. I'm thrilled to still be having these happy accidents even after 20 years plus of making my chandeliers because that's really the root of the way I've been working and I love a solution that I couldn't have planned. This is for sale for £295, you can contact me on the e-mail address on my website here. Info on size here, scroll down.

February

I missed posting anything in January, not sure why, but I have been busy working with bright colours in the darker months.  This is thanks my customer Robinsons Goldsmiths who's shop in Bangor, Northern Ireland re-opens any minute now.  You can see pictures here. Cobalt blue in glass is a fantastic colour - it seems to magically invigorate all the other colours you pair it with. I love it with pink or yellow, here I worked with green and turquoise. This kind of thing fascinates me, I could spend my life marveling at what colour does.

I've been taking photos around the studio, partly for someone's book, (more of that when it happens) and partly just as sketches as it changes all the time. Leaving it this year is going to be very tough but I'm determined to find a nice new space to work in by chuck out time.

Festive

Have a Great Holiday Season all you peeps in Blogland and a fantastic New Year!

By coincidence I've been making a red and green chandelier this season and it's been brightening up the studio. The red cups were in a surprise parcel from my fellow up/recycler in Seattle Russ Morgan. Thank-you Russ! and more about him in a yet to come post.

More Colours

Some years ago I heard a speaker at a design conference talking about colour forecasting. She spoke about yellow and grey, and sure enough over time everything went yellow and grey. I'm always suspicious of fashion because of the tendency to blindly do as told, but of course it all seeps in gradually, eyes atune and things I thought would never catch on are everywhere (puffball skirts!?) 

Anyway, I adore colour combinations and recently I made a chandelier in yellow and grey with amber too. Usually I work with a customer to make a paint palette of beads and glass that will compliment their colour scheme, sometimes working with swatches, paint or wallpaper.

 I love smoke coloured glass, it's so metallic. This chandelier ended up looking like it's dripping honey.

Colours

I love putting colours together and consider myself very lucky to do this for a job.

DeLuxe Duet

I love peppermint green with cobalt blue and raspberry.
This piece is for 3 candles and is going into Cavaliero Finn's next show in May. More info on that here. They select beautiful paintings and design by contemporary artists and almost sold out their last show.

Colour schemes

Not so long ago I had a commission for a candles only chandelier from a customer in Germany. I don't often get asked to work with black. I do use it occasionally but as I'm working with light it's not a natural choice. One of the things I like about commissions is that I do work with colour mixes I might not have put together myself. Often I work with paint or fabric swatches or luscious wall paper samples and this is the fun bit, mixing glass and component colours like a paint palette. Here the mix we settled on was black with purple, amethyst and lilac along with smokey grey colours and clear. The shippers got ot to Hamburg by next day delivery and about a day and a half later my lovely customer sent a photo of the piece very speedily and happily installed. Result!