ING Discerning Eye Exhibition November 2025 – A WOW Event!

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What an event this was. I travelled up to London from Bristol where I live, to view this latest Exhibition, showing my two pieces entitled ‘Networking’ alongside fabulous artworks in all forms of media by truly talented artists. Apparently around 7000 artworks were entered and 650 were then selected, including my two paintings so I was delighted, excited and in truth a little overwhelmed. The Mall Galleries on the Mall is a wonderful central gallery space to show art, and the Private View on Thursday 13 November, was packed. My work was selected by Nicholas Scott, an art collector and fan of PopArt, which was lucky for me, as I know PopArt is not for everyone. Art, as they say, is always subjective. I had the honour to meet him, completely by chance at the Exhibition, which made my day. It was an evening of fun, chatting, networking and viewing all the amazing art on show. I have been following a year long (for me) mentoring scheme called the Art Ladder, part of Parker Harris, a visual arts consultancy. Emma Parker and Penny Harris (and the great Marine Costello) have been key in helping me forward on my art journey.…

ING Discerning Eye Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London Autumn 2025

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I am absolutely delighted to have had both of my two artworks selected for this prestigious Exhibition in London this coming November. Both pieces are of red stilettos and the legs are facing each other. I called the works ‘Networking’ as they reflect two people chatting together and hopefully networking, adding to their contact lists and talking about their careers, their hopes and dreams. I suppose they could just be talking about what they had for lunch that day, but I like to think it was about a bit more than that. Both artworks are framed and ready for sale, but if you would like to obtain a print of either painting, head over to my Pages and order a print there, email me at michetoots@gmail.com. The Exhibition at the Mall Galleries is on from the 14 -23 in London so please do drop by and have a look if you are near Trafalgar Square/The Mall. It’s going to be a fabulous Exhibition with so much wonderful art on show. I can’t wait to see it myself.

‘PRINTS AT LAST!’

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I have been slow in realising this need. I love painting my original artworks, but understand that sometimes original art is beyond the price range for some people. I speak from experience, having myself bought prints of other artists’ work which I just could not afford myself for whatever reason. So I have been doing my research and eventually come up with 6 prints, beautifully produced by Niche Frames (niche frames.co.uk) and Photographique (Photographique.co.uk) both here in Bristol. Niche originally scanned the artwork to my exact specifications perfectly, and then Photographique produced the final prints to a perfect colour match. PopArt zings with colour and I was concerned I could never replicate that ‘zing’ but I needn’t have worried. I would recommend both these companies highly for all your printing needs. So have a browse of my Page ‘Prints Available’ and email me with your orders. I can supply any size, within reason, and will post them to you within 8 days, rolled in a cardboard tube with acid free tissue paper. michetoots@gmail.com.

Society of Women Artists Exhibition Mall Galleries 2025

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Miche

I am very happy to have had my work accepted for the Society of Women Artists Exhibition 24-28 June 2025 at the Mall Galleries in London. My piece is called ‘Leaning Out’ and is part of my Series ‘She Is Unknown’. All the work featured in this Series either involves no facial details, or no face at all. This is because women are so often judged on the beauty (or not) of our faces and I believe we are so much more than that. I began painting in my Line Art style when I was living in Cape Town 15 years ago. The sunshine and warmth inspired in me a love of bright colours in my work and I have only recently really realised that my Line Art is actually termed PopArt; I am happy with that. I also only recently discovered the work of Michael Craig-Martin whose paintings blew me away. Although I have been influenced by him in my newer use of ‘in your face’ colours, the subject matter is my own, as it is female centric. My other Series called ‘Alone Not Lonely’ is about navigating your life alone and to not be fearful. Grab…

‘Ageing’ or is it ‘Aging’

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Miche

I came across this quote by Bowie and it struck me as so true about my own art journey. As I go into my 70’s I am far happier in my own skin, and less concerned about what people think about my art. I feel a release. I started painting what I termed Line Art (PopArt) when I first lived in Cape Town back in 2008. I honestly have no idea where the idea came from; just to paint a black outline around (usually) a female form, using only neutral colour with a touch of red to add ‘zing’. My partner came up with the suggestion ‘Line Art’ and that sounded good. I now realise this is PopArt, but hey, I was green in those days. I would raid the local library for old fashion magazines to find some poses that drew my eye in, then adapt them for my own use and with the help of an ageing (aging?) large overhead projector, project my images onto large canvasses and off I went. Living in Cape Town I could make really large pieces and eventually a couple of galleries took me on and sales occurred. I write all the…

Change Is Good

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For some time I have been wrestling with going forward with my two styles of art, the small oil paintings of fruit/veg/flowers etc and the large acrylic LineArt/Pop Art pieces. I ended up getting ill trying to manage it all and with my enforced rest I made some decisions. I am putting the small oil paintings on hold for now. I will still be selling the larger prints of these artworks and also my greetings cards. www.juniqe.com always has a selection of my prints available and also http://www.northstreetgallery.com. If you are interested in any of those pieces, please get in touch, link at bottom of this post. My real passion though is for the PopArt which I have always labelled LineArt. I started painting in this style when I lived in Cape Town, the sunshine and bright colours there really inspired me. Personal circumstances meant I had to pause this for a while, but since discovering quite by chance the work of Michael Craig-Martin last autumn I am fired up again. Those colours! However my work is female related, by choice. I have two series on the go at the moment; ‘Alone Not Lonely’ about embracing and navigating life alone,…

Go Neutral or Go Michael Craig-Martin ?

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As we go into 2025 I am fired up with new ideas, which is a good thing for an artist. I show here two images of my work, both part of my Alone Not Lonely series. I’ve been asking for feedback on both and that’s been interesting and constructive. The first, neutral piece inspired more comments about how it showed the essence of being alone, possibly lonely, which is very much not what I am. But the sparseness of the colour does seem to invoke emptiness. The cheerful sunspex however, bely that image, which is very much what I WAS aiming for. The second colourful piece, the ‘Michael Craig-Martin’ effect (see previous post/blog), also invoked comments along the lines of yes, being alone, but somehow happier because of the colours. I used whatever colour I thought worked, so not necessarily what you would expect, but MCM suggests the eye can work out the colours and I found that a lightbulb moment for me. I would be interested in any feedback. Email michetoots@gmail or Instagram @michewatkins

‘A Contrasting Life’.

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Miche

I would like explain my two very different types of art and sizing/ prices, because I am conscious it looks a little strange on the viewing page of my website. I have yet to learn how to separate the two into different headings. I began painting the large acrylic pieces, what I describe as Line Art, or popart themed work when I lived in Cape Town and absolutely loved creating these works. I used to paint mainly women without any facial detail, so slightly more abstract and sparse in composition. They worked and sold well through galleries there. On returning to the UK for personal reasons, I had to rethink what I painted. I came up with the concept of small oil paintings of anything that caught my eye, fruit, veg, flowers, fish, bottles of wine, donuts, you get my drift. Again, these have done well. People like to have 2/3 in their kitchen and I use bright Mediterranean colours to cheer one up. I kept the price down deliberately, to encourage people who might be new to the world of buying original art. These pieces are painted alla prima, so again take less hours to paint than the Line…

Bath Society of Arts Exhibition/Michael Craig-Martin Exhibition

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Miche

2 reasons for me to celebrate this month. The first: My Line Art painting ‘Absolute Happiness’ part of my series ‘Alone Not Lonely’, was accepted into the Bath Society of Arts annual Exhibition which is on until the end of January 2025. I am delighted to be part of this uplifting Exhibition, do drop by if you are in Bath, the Victoria Gallery is right by Poultney Bridge, so nice and central. My Line Art acrylic work delves into themes of solitude and self-reflection, often using bold expressive brushstrokes and a vibrant palette. The colours are influenced by my years living in Cape Town where I first began developing the Line Art side of my art. My ‘Alone Not Lonely’ series explore the complexities of solitude and hopefully invite the viewer into a conversation about mental health, emotional resilience and the beauty of quiet introspection. The second reason to celebrate is the amazing Exhibition currently on at the Royal Academy in London by Michael Craig-Martin, a wonderful burst of colour and vibrancy which just blew my mind. I have only recently discovered his work (how did I not know him ?🤦‍♀️) in an article in The Times…

New Exhibition Riverside Studios Hammersmith London !

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Miche

I really love painting my Line Art acrylic pieces. I first developed this style when I lived in Cape Town and had a big studio and a market for large works in that beautiful city. These artworks are all 90 x 60 cm. Since I moved back to the UK, I did not have the space to paint in such a large style and so turned back to my first love of oil painting. I started painting my small 8” square pieces of anything that caught my eye and people buy 2/3 to hang in their kitchens or bedrooms. I’m always available for commissioned work. However recently I’ve had a hankering to get back to my Line Art and recently completed 3 pieces featuring swimming pools (I am a great fan of David Hockney). These paintings evolved around the theme of being alone, but never lonely. My beloved partner died 6 years ago and I have had to navigate life alone. I have children and grandchildren to keep me busy, I paint every day, and I also go happily on holiday alone, as I crave the sunshine having lived in beautiful Cape Town. I enjoy sitting by…

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