Open Studios Weekend

Last weekend was the Open Studios event in my local area. This is an event where artists throughout the area open up their studios (hence the name lol!) for people to come and see what they do and then buy or commission their work. It's a really awesome, inspiringly creative weekend, when it becomes apparent just how many creative people there are locally. This year 77 artists took part officially (some people open up their studios at this time but aren't in the brochure. They usually seem to join officially the next year though)

I went round quite a few of these artist's studios - not having a car there was no way I'd be able to go round all of them by bus. But I "did" 3 towns/villages over the Saturday and Sunday.

I bought some items from some of the artists that I saw.



I bought this raku clay brooch from Moyra Stewart. It's surprisingly lightweight. Because it looks like stone, and because it was marked as a clay item, I assumed it would be heavy, but it's so light! It hardly weighs anything at all. I think it'll be perfect for pinning a shawl or something because it won't pull the fabric at all, being so lightweight.





Hearts and brooches seemed to a theme in some of my favourite works. I got this card from Aileen Clarke, as well as the leaf brooch. I saw the brooch and just couldn't get it out of my head, so I bought it :) I really like Aileen's work. I first came across her on Flickr, and I try to get to her studio whenever it's open.



And I got this bag from LucyMoose. What can I say? I'm a sucker for skulls :)

I think my personal favourite thing about Open Studios is the inspiration I get from seeing all these creative people's work. There is so much variety and talent out there that you kind of forget about when meeting people in day to day life. I came away from this year's Open studios with so many ideas and a strong desire to make stuff and be creative too! I want to draw and paint and make textile art - you name it, I just want to do it! I wish I had more time lol! :D