Hello again!!! 
I thought I'd wander by and see how you're doing today.  It's hard to believe we're at the beginning of the summer holidays again.  I love the summer hols, spending time with my daughter, I must be one of the few parents on this planet who actively look forward to the six whole weeks!!

A quick update on things generally, I had my last dose of Chemotherapy yesterday, YAY!!!!!  I can't say I'm sorry!  Heres hoping it has done its job.  We'll know in about 5 weeks, it'll be good to get some normality back into life.

I am already getting itchy feet to get into the studio, I've spent the morning looking at ideas for new paintings and trying to get my rusty brain into forward gear!  The dining room is full of sketch books, some of which I haven't looked through for ages, collections of photographs and bits and pieces I have collected as inspiration are strewn everywhere!!  I'll drag all of these down to the studio next week, but for now I'm glad they remained at home, something to fire me up over the next few days.  There is quite a backlog of 'things to do' from the past few months, and an even bigger list of 'things to look forward to',  I really can't wait to start pulling together a new collection of paintings!

In the meantime, there is still a collection of Cheeky Lady paintings available from The Art House in Kelso and Terraced Streets from Harrison Lord Gallery in Brighouse.

So for the time being I will wish you a happy summer, hope it stays warm and dry and I'll be back very soon :)

Toodle pip for now,
Mxxx

Hello again!
I thought I'd drop back in and see how you were getting along.  It's been a busy old weekend here in the Milburn household.  I thought I'd share a little of that with you today.

On the work front I am delighted to confirm that my terraced street paintings will be showing with the Harrison Lord Gallery in Brighouse, Yorkshire from 17th July in their BIG Summer Exhibition.  The exhibition will, I am told, be featured on their website from this wednesday, so be sure to drop by and take a look. The work was sent off last week, has arrived safely and is being framed up as we speak.  It's particularly exciting for me to be showing my work in Brighouse, during a recent spell of family history I discovered that my Dads family orginated from Brighouse, being carters as far back as the 1700's.  It's funny how these things come around.  I am looking forward to being able to visit Brighouse in the summer and have a good look around and hopefully draw some inspiration from the sandstone terraced streets.  I'm sure painting in those beautiful mellow colours will be very stimulating, I can't wait.

On the home front, we've been decorating.......
I've worked from home for the past eight years, in a part of the house that was converted from an old tractor shed, and used to be our dining room until working at the kitchen table became too difficult.  It's a lovely space with a huge arched window that overlooks the rolling fields and moors beyond our home, very light and airy.  It's not a huge space, about 15 x 15 feet square maybe, but has been big enough for the job until now.
This weekend the whole family joined in to return this space to a family dining room, by whole family I mean my long suffering husband Andrew, my daughter, Bethany and my parents.
I can't believe how much 'stuff' accumulates over the years, most of it not needed to be honest, i'm a bit of a hoarder!!
Anyway, after two days of clearing, cleaning, painting and wall papering we now have a beautiful bright dining room, fairly modern but with a touch of vintage about it.
My great grandfather left me a beautiful Edwardian dispay cabinet when he passed on, it's not had a purpose for many years as it had a broken pane of glass, this is now getting a makeover to be filled with all the pieces of china and vintage jewellery I have collected (did I say I was a hoarder?!).

So, having had a fairly relaxing day today, I feel very fired up to get into the studio, maybe tomorrow and do a spot of painting of the artistic variety, I'll sleep on it tonight and see what tomorrow brings.

In the meantime I can feel the urge for a creamcake coming on....
See you soon,
Mxxx

I think I promised you a few images the last time I blogged, so I shall endeavor to do so.  I have to say using my phone camera and uploading stuff has been an interesting experience, I'm sure there is an easier way to do this, but it yet escapes me!!

It has taken rather longer than I expected to pack up eight years work of art materials and 'studio clutter', but I've taken what I need to work in a reasonably tidy space, and ditched the rest.  I have yet to set about personalising the studio, adding the little bits that will make it mine, but at least the ducks have moved in and there is a bit of music from the radio, and Rome wasn't built in a day!!



Hopefully I will have a woodburning stove installed in here for the winter as the fireplace is a fake one.  I think it will be nice and cosy and a great space to work from.  I can't wait to get some new work going and get the walls filled with exciting new paintings.  All those ideas I have built up over the past few weeks are about to become a reality, its so very exciting.

On my weekly outings to the hosptial I have passed a row of untouched terraced houses, blackened with years of soot from the nearby railway line and general traffic, they will make excellent reference material for some new pastel work.  I have made a mental note to go and make some on site sketches soon,  there is only so much you can achieve from photos from the car as you whoosh past!

As you can see from the photos, I have already got a new piece on the go on the easel, I got my first hours painting in last Wednesday, It was a grand feeling indeed!!
All things being equal i'd like to spend a couple of afternoons next week just sitiing quietly in there, getting used to the space and enjoying the freedom, however, if you fancy dropping by, drop me a line to see which days I'll be in!

Be back soon with more updates, in the meantime, take care,
Mxxx

New Studio

Well, here it is, the big day has arrived, I have my studio keys. Whoo hooo!!!
I begin moving my stuff in tomorrow with a bit of help from my Dad, and slowly as the summer progresses I will begin producing some new work.  I am so excited. 
The studio is located at Eshottheugh just off the A1 between Felton and Morpeth, you cant miss it, there is usually a huge Yellow truck parked at the turn off which belongs to one of my neighbours who produces Beef Jerky and runs the coffee shop.
On site there is also a soapmaker, Studley Soaps, who is right next door, a lovely smell of lavender fills the studio, I shall be very chilled out in that space! Next to that is the coffee shop and British Beef Jerky shop, just behind this is a wonderful little 'farm' complete with Meerkats, Smokey and Bandit!  In the next unit you can find homemade Jams from Coquet Valley Preserves, wonderful smells of freshly made jams and chutneys fill the courtyard, Im not sure how I shall resist!

There are quite a few more units and you can find out more from the B&B website at www.eshottheugh.co.uk/links.php

Gosh, can you tell Im excited?  I have to take this slowly though, as I am not quite finished my treatment (four more weeks), but what an incentive to get back to work and in such a beautiful location.

On that note I shall get back into the current chaos of the studio at home... really how much stuff can one person fit into a 14 foot square room? er, don't answer that one!! I've still got a fair amount of packing to do, and thats before I even think of moving the paintings!

So dear reader, drop back soon, I may even have managed to get some images on here at last, a wee sneaky preview!
See you very soon,
Mxxx

Well, here we are, I have officially taken the plunge and taken on a nice shiny new studio!  I get the keys on 27th June and will begin moving in that weekend all things being well and good.
I am going to be a bit naughty and keep the final details unwraps until then, so check out the website and look out for the big announcement on the homepage :)
The studio will be open to the public, you can come and watch me at work, browse prints, paintings and cards and enjoy the peace and quiet.  There are other units around me selling a wide array of products, once I have the OK back from them all I will post some links.  Most important of all there is a little tea room with a toasty conservatory from which you can enjoy the view.  Home from home really!

I will be having an open weekend at some point, so if you would like to recieve an invitation and details please drop me an email and Ill add you to the list.

I have spent most of the past week or so getting on with some new pastels of terraced streets.  I got quite a shock when I realised how long it is since I seriously sat down and did some pastel work, having concentrated for a while on the cheeky ladies, so its nice to be back on with that, although I am in a terrible mess (dark blue pastel gets kind of ingrained!)!! As usual the painting efforts are accompanied by many cups of coffee and a wide variety of cakes and biscuits, a girl cant paint without them!!

On that rather sweet note, I shall tootle off and tidy up in anticipation of tomorrows painting efforts.
See you again soon,
Michelle.

PS apologies for the lack of apostrophies in this post, the button on my keyboard has stopped working for some reason, maybe its got jam on it!!