It’s the last few days to visit the farOpen Spring Art Exhibition at Canwood Gallery & Sculpture Park, Open Thurs 23rd - Sun 26th May, 11am - 4pm
But have you spotted the Flower Cloud hanging from the beams of the Turbine Hall?

With so many farOpen artists being inspired by nature and our surrounding landscape, it seemed fitting to invite Jo Thompson from Wye Valley Flowers to create a key focal point to bring a little bit of the outdoors, in. As the exhibition runs for the whole month, fresh Spring flowers were out of the question but Jo came up with a stunning, sustainable design using dry flowers to elevate the space. And we just love it! 
Jo says "We were delighted to be asked supply an ariel design for the farOpen exhibition at Canwood Gallery. We are an artisan flower farm and eco floral design studio, so the mechanics holding the Flower Cloud were constructed to be as sustainable as possible and reusable. We obviously don’t use any floral foam, as this is a micro-plastic and contains formaldehyde. Similarly we avoid alternative products as they tend to be biodegradable, rather than compostable and have not yet been proven to break down to something that is beneficial to the Earth. We used recycled chicken wire from pheasant fencing, filled with dry moss to hold the stems. The moss has been ethically harvested under licence, in an area due for coppicing.
We try to design out waste for our installations so we chose dried flowers, rather than live flowers. This was partly due to the weight and longevity of the exhibition. We wanted to capture the transition at this time of year, when it still feels wet and grey into late spring. We incorporated a background of dried eucalyptus which comes from an enormous tree on our farm planted in the 80s. As well as huge firework allium seed heads. We took several colour options with us, as we wanted to compliment the beautiful artwork being hung that day.
On the day we chose a palette of buttery yellow, through to fiery oranges and deep burgundy. All colours found on our flower farm at this time of year. May sees a move from the early spring flowers of blue muscari and hyacinth, bright pink tulips and yellow narcissi to a more sophisticated colourway of apricot to coral ranunculus, chartreuse greenery, indigo cornflowers and pale pink to deep purple peonies. Most of the dried materials were in fact gathered in August and September, carefully drying and storing them over Winter - but it was the colours of spring we wanted to represent. Creating a snapshot of the local hedgerows and Meadows. We used thlaspi, maize, dried grasses, ammi, poppies, golden twisted hazel, achillea and strawflowers.
The dried flowers ensured the piece was airy, turning gently with any movement or airflow in the Turbine Hall - as well as being safe for visitors. The piece can also be deconstructed and the materials reused - after some delicate dusting with a hairdryer! In fact the Flower Cloud will be coming back to our design studio to hang in the flower barn, for visitors to the farOpen Art Trail to enjoy July 6-14th."
Visit the exhibition and see the floral display in situ alongside a diverse range of art from 46 artists from the Forest of Dean & Wye/Severn Rivers (farOpen) art collective with over 120 pictures, 21 indoor sculptures, 9 outdoor sculptures and 3 collections of jewellery, 4 collections of ceramics and a gift shop of smaller artworks, cards and gifts.  Please come and enjoy the galleries, cafe and sculpture park at your leisure.  Free entry. Free parking. HR1 4NF
farOpen would like to extend a very big thankyou to Jo and her student assistant for the installation. Please come and see it in situ and visit her website https://www.faropen.co.uk/wye-valley-flowers.html for all her contact details should you need a floral arrangement or something similar. She's a lovely lady and we can't recommend her highly enough.

​I’ve moved into my studio and I can’t believe the difference it has made to my paintings! My work is larger, looser with more expressive marks and a real sense of freedom.

But let me just explain how I got here… Last December I treated myself to a 1:1 painting session with one of my favourite artists – Bethany Holmes - who's expressive style I love. The aim was not to learn to imitate but to gain new perspective and skills as I loosen up and get to grips with painting larger scale – something I’ve been struggling with. I spent the day with her in her stable block studio using lots of paint for a series of exercises designed to break habits, introduce new skills and develop an alternative approach. The using ‘lots of paint’ was key to opening my mind – to stop being precious about the cost of paint – and allowing myself to let go.

Energized by my time with her, I made the decision to move out the home studio into a space more suited to sploshing paint around and working one several large pieces at once. I emptied our under used summerhouse and quickly turned it into my new painting studio. It’s an oasis of calm set amongst the tress, birds and wildlife where I can now settle down and fully immerse myself in creating my best work yet! It’s an absolute dream… Without fear of making a mess, my soft pink walls are now streaked with paint and the wooden flooring is covered in drips and marks, charting my progress back and forth across the space using two very different colour palettes. I love it!

On the right I’m working in beachy blues, earthy hues, sunshine yellow and a calming lavender whilst on the left, I’m continuing with my super bright rainbow of colour which have transformed into the most gorgeous vibrant floral abstracts.

I've been approaching my paintings with a fresh ‘abundance’ mindset, giant paintbrushes and big trays of paint. I’ve released myself from the pressure of creating finished pieces and am focusing on the process of developing and applying marks which have a renewed sense of looseness, freedom and energy - whilst retaining that dreamy, tranquil aspect of my abstract paintings that I’m known for.  I’ve been able to work with ease on much bigger pieces that draw on using my full range of reach and really getting a physical workout some days. It’s very liberating! I’ve also been enjoying painting lots of smaller pieces as small ‘warmups’ to really get my ideas flowing, which surprisingly, have turned into the most stunning paintings in themselves. Three of which have been featured on the front cover of the Art Trail Brochure!

Which brings me to this: I must let you know what’s happening over the art trail this year! Whilst I would love to fling open the French doors and welcome you into my new studio space, I don't think it’s fair for you to navigate the dogs & sloping garden to reach me. Instead I've secured the lovely light filled upstairs gallery at The George in Newnham to share my work with you aaaaaand – bonus- it has a great cafe serving delicious refreshments & an enchanting courtyard to enjoy on sunnier days so you can really enjoy your visit with me! It’s listed as Studio 18 on the map, open 10:30am – 4:00pm Tues-Sat, 11-3 Sun/Mon.

In the meantime, I encourage you to keep up to date with what’s happening in my studio by subscribing to my newsletter here https://www.charlottekeating.com/pages/subscribe and keep your eyes peeled for the release of “Flourish” – my series of vibrant yet dreamy, abstract floral landscapes in acrylic paint and soft pastel on paper or canvas.

Inspired by Tim Ingold, in his book Correspondences, farOpen artist Carolyn Black has been developing work for the Watermark Exhibition in Worcester dedicated to those around the world who are affected by flooding, rising sea levels and loss of habitat. 
Her displayed work focuses on her research on the river Severn and future flooding due to climate change, by exploring notions of inscription, eruption and erosion.
Using a fascinating range of techniques including drawing, printmaking and video, Carolyn’s work sets out to depict the future landscape of the River Severn. She works with local pigments, graphite putty and powder. Often employing ice as a flooding medium, with Sumi ink (made from soot), the melting process is filmed as the drawings form, resulting in beautiful, subtle images on fine Japanese papers
Follow her on Instagram @severnsideartist
Watermark is an exhibition dedicated to those around the world who are affected by flooding, rising sea levels and loss of habitat. 
From January to June 2023 Meadow Arts, in partnership with five Worcester organisations, will explore water and flooding through a multi-site exhibition across the city. Watermark will reveal how artists have responded to the element of water, how they have picked the urgent concerns of rising levels, flooding, drought, and invite visitors to reflect on their own relationship with the elements.
Artists: Suky Best, Carolyn Black, Emma Critchley, Simon Faithfull, Gabriella Hirst, Hilary Jack, Naiza Khan, Tania Kovats, Sally Payen, Daniel Pryde-Jarman.
Read more on Meadow Arts website.
Carolyn’s  work will be available to visit in The Hive Jan 28, 2023  –  Feb 28, 2023
The Hive, Sawmill Close, The Butts, Worcester WR1 3PD
Getting there Open: Monday – Sunday: 8.30am – 10pm
This will be the first time these works have been exhibited together in this way. What they share in common is the River Severn. Some celebrate the Severn and the power of the bore. Others are more specifically about materiality, mudstone, weathering, the fragility of the earth’s surface in the face of flooding and subsequent erosion. Marginal wild plants will be affected, fields will be under water, hills become islands.
QR codes near some of the works will enable visitors to view some of the films that relate to specific works. Some tell stories, some document the process of making, when ‘significant moments of transformation occur.’
​Much of my thinking was inspired by Tim Ingold, in his book Correspondences. Several of the works are performative in nature, recording close contact with the ground, the cliffs, the water. 
Earth, for example, is rock and soil, but it is also the toil of working with it in the labour of bodies that move and breathe. But if earth is the heaviness of being that keeps us grounded, then air is the lightness in which we dare to dream. We feel the Earth by heaving it, the air by breathing it, the water by drinking it or being soaked in it. Fire is the glowing warmth of the searing heat of flames: we feel the heat of the fire in our bellies and in the malleability of molten metal; we feel the sharp edge of cold metal and it is quenched by water. And it is always at the threshold of the elements where one is about to turn into the other, that significant moments of transformation occur.  Tim Ingold, Correspondences, p125