Colour and Chaos at Acorn Studio

It seems fitting the first blog on my new website is about taking part in the annual Norwich and Norfolk Open Studios 2019 for the first time.

I applied back in December shortly after moving house for the 2nd time in a year. I thought a push to get me painting again was a perfect antidote for the trials and tribulations of moving stress! When the plumber didn't turn up for the nth time or the boiler finally gave up the ghost during the coldest spell in January, I put on layers of jumpers, fingerless gloves and turned to paint and canvas....

My new garden studio, converted from a garage was soon a flurry of colour and chaos as I created new pieces of art and re-worked existing one. With the addition to the household of a trio of little rescue dogs, life at Acorn studio was (and still is!) certainly never dull.

It’s the 6th day of the Open Studios and as I type I know any one could just turn up, a strange feeling, but quite a lovely one in that it reminds me of community. The first day our lovely neighbours turned up who we’d only chatted to now and again. Today, once this website is live I’m going to promote the event on a local fb page they told me about and other local media.

I realise I haven’t been as active in promoting my Studio as the NNOpen Studios Office advise, but deep down there is something quite scary about showing others your creative self and I fear some protective procrastination might have seeped into my psyche!

So, in the spirit of enterprise I invite you to come and visit me in my Studio. As an antidote to any deep rooted self consciousness, here are some snippets/quotes from my visitors book so far:

“Very impressive, lovely pictures and interesting designs”

“Very accomplished”

“Exciting, warm, energised evolutionary images with movement and impact…”

“Vibrant and colourful images in rich life affirming canvasses”

“Particularly like the complexity of those with ribbon-like patterns and the use of gold to enhance the colours”

“Some fantastic work that I love!”

Ooooh, that feels quite liberating and I am truly humbled, thanks lovely people who have visited so far. The link to my entry on the NNOpenStudios website for those yet to visit is

https://www.nnopenstudios.org.uk/artists/details/1762

There is one other Open Studio in Old Catton, an artist called Lorraine French. Here is the link to her site: https://www.nnopenstudios.org.uk/artists/details/1767

Also nearby are 2 artists in Sprowston I've yet to meet. Their links are: https://www.nnopenstudios.org.uk/artists/details/1811 and https://www.nnopenstudios.org.uk/artists/details/1779

Thanks for reading and I look forward to writing this blog to share my journey of a creative life back in my hometown……

Mina Sassoon