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New Work at North Street Gallery

It’s been a while but here we are.   I have been busy providing new work for North Street Gallery which is in Bedminster, Bristol, UK.   I manage the Gallery with 3 other artists and we promote local emerging artists alongside established ones.  We are a community inspired Gallery and I absolutely love giving new artists a chance to promote their work in an established Gallery.   North Street is buzzing these days, home to Upfest, the Urban Paint Festival which draws artists from all over the world.  Bristol is a hub of creative talent and I am proud to be part of that magic. My latest paintings are all here on the website.  The top 5 paintings have bespoke frames so are slightly more expensive than the four underneath.  I decided to have 2 price structures as we are living in difficult times financially and art is a luxury.  I also sell prints, the link is on my About Me page.  
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Chess Boards, Gallery reopening, hope. 20 March 21

Well it’s been a while since my last Blog.  Covid has come along and I don’t need to go into that as we’ve all been there.   What it did was to change the way I paint, as witnessed  by the smaller fruit and veg paintings you can see in the Catalogue at the top of the Home Page. I really enjoy painting these and they sell well.  I paint anything that catches my eye, flowers, fruit, donuts, interesting veggies etc.  They are framed in white and cost £70. I am also available for commissions. I also sell prints and you can find them at https://www.iamfy.co/shop/miche. Recently, with the success of the film ‘The Queen’s Gambit’, there has been an upsurge in playing chess, particularly online, and I have received a flurry of commission requests for specific chess piece compositions, as well as poker card and poker chip compositions.  I am always happy to undertake commissions;  the requests keep my own ideas fresh.  Please DM or email me for more info and any of your own requests.  I paint anything within reason 😜. With lockdown beginning to end,  North Street Gallery is looking to reopen on April 12.  4 artists, including…
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Gallery Reopening ! 27.06.2020

This is exciting news indeed.  North Gallery on North Street, Bedminster, Bristol, BS3 1HT, UK has been refurbished, repainted and social distancing measures put in place, and it reopens on 4 July.   The website is www.northgalleryworkspace.co.uk and any enquiries can be emailed to enquiries.northstreetgallery@gmail.com.  We are always looking for new artists to show their work. 4 artists, including myself, have taken on the management of the gallery and are keen to promote local artists.  Bristol is a real Centre for art including Upfest, the Urban Paint Festival, the centre of which takes place on our very own North Street, and is known worldwide, and of course we are home to Banksy….. I shall be showing my small paintings, all of which are catalogued here, along with some new work, and I will have cards available as well. I am also now undertaking commissions, so if you would like to let me know colour preferences to suit your home, I am very happy to do this.  Likewise which fruit, vegetables, flowers, donuts (and now lipsticks)  you would like in the  compositions.  The size is always 8 x 8” framed in white, oil on paper,  £65.   I keep being told to…
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Technical Glitches! And new paintings

First and foremost, my apologies over a technical glitch.  I was fortunate in that a prospective buyer emailed me having had no response to the enquiry sent through the Contact Form on my site here.  I would have had no idea there was a problem, so I am very grateful for that email and the Contact Form has now been removed.  If you HAVE tried to contact me that way, may I suggest you contact me via my email michetoots@yahoo.co.uk and I will respond immediately.  Thanks. North Gallery Workspace will be reopening on the 4 July, with appropriate social distancing measures put in place.  I am very excited about this as it is a Gallery run by artists and up until lockdown had been doing very well.  We have been busy repainting and refurbishing the space and are going to be increasing our online presence big time.  I will be updating information here, so keep looking ! I have been inundated with commissions recently for the small fruit/veg/donut paintings so please bear with me time wise.  I really enjoy painting these and welcome commissions so please get in touch to discuss colours, subjects etc.  I am thinking of painting  lipsticks…
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New Catalogue Available. 30/04/2020

Many of you will know that I have recently been diversifying and painting these small fruit and vegetable paintings.  These have been proving popular, so I am experimenting with different subjects,  the most recent being donuts, particularly the Krispy Kreme variety as they are bright and colourful.  Someone said to me once that they don’t even like donuts, but for some strange reason are drawn to my donut paintings and again these are selling well. I am today having fun painting my first flower in the same style, bright, cheerful colours with pronounced shadows.  Today it’s a Californian Poppy, that wonderful bright yellow and orange contrasting against a turquoise blue background.  It will be up on the website next week. As a result of increased sales, I am often being asked on my Instagram page whether I have a catalogue of available paintings.  Normally customers trawl through my Instagram page and then contact me direct to ask if a certain painting is available to buy.  Now at last I have set up a Catalogue where you can just click through to buy the painting of your choice, and I have even sorted out shipping and postal prices (tracking included).  …
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Painting in the Pandemic. April 2020

  These are difficult and and upsetting times.  Like everyone in the world at the moment, I am worried for the  future for myself, my loved ones,  the NHS, the list is endless. What I have found very strange though at the moment, is that my art is suddenly selling very well.  I was not expecting this.    I can only put it down to this:  people are not able to go to pubs, clubs and restaurants etc.,  so they are at home looking at their social media.  They are looking at and buying art.  And they seem to like my fruit and veg paintings.   I  think this may be because they are small, affordable and fun.   They are also painted in cheerful bright colours.   Who knows?  But I am very grateful.   People are buying 2 or 3 to go in their kitchens.   They are asking me to paint specific subjects in specific colours;   I am happy to oblige. The most recent request was for donuts !  The Krispy Kreme variety.  Why not?  They are colourful, cheerful and a bit of sugar in these uncertain times is perhaps no bad thing. At the moment,…
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A new departure October 2019

  So a new departure for me.  I have recently discovered painting ‘alla prima’ or direct painting in oils and have become obsessed  with this style of painting.    I set up a composition, always small, of fruit or vegetables and set myself a time limit of painting it in one session, hence direct painting.  The size is 6 x 6”, 9 x 9” framed (23 x 23 cm). I set the compositions up in direct sunlight (not easy in this country) which is usually at around lunchtime, so as to get the deepest and more interesting shadows beneath the fruit/veg.  Then I paint.   I have always liked bright, vibrant Mediterranean colours and this works to great advantage with these paintings. I tend to buy fruit/veg in season from my wonderful local organic greengrocer Hugo’s Greengrocer  (@hugosgreengrocer on Instagram) on North Street in Bristol where I live, so every painting is always fresh and new. If you would like me to match a composition to suit your wall decor, send me an image of your kitchen, etc., and I will be happy to do this for you. The paintings are framed in a simple white frame for £65, or…
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Sale of ‘North Street Blues’

It’s always so good to see my artwork in a new home and I am grateful when clients take the time to photograph it and post it on social media.  So thank you, as this was one of my favourites.  I use streetart in my compositions as I am keen to promote and preserve this ephemeral art.   This is one of the first street arts I incorporated into my work and it is by the amazing street artist @paulmonsters.  He describes himself as a pattern maker on Instagram and I find his colourful geometric shapes fun and uplifting.    The streetart was part of the Upfest festival on my street in Bristol, UK. As people who read my Blog will know, I place a woman somewhere in the foreground which changes the dynamic of the street art, the 3d woman bringing the 2d streetart to life and vice versa.  In this piece I feel the woman on the wall is watching the woman in red walking past her and wondering why she didn’t notice her.   I wanted to show the bright midday sunshine on the girl walking, described by her shadow on the pavement, as it seems harder/harsher. The…
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‘Sun Seekers’. Completed 13.03.2019

This is my first experiment with gold leaf and I have enjoyed the process.  It adds colour and vibrancy to the monotone shades of the streetart and highlights the girl standing gazing up into the sun.  I have not used real gold leaf as I can’t afford it (yet), but I am happy with the outcome. I painted a small piece first (18 x 24 cm) to test out a) the composition and b) the use of the goldleaf and it sold the day it went into the gallery   North Gallery on North Street here in Bedminster, Bristol, UK (https://northgalleryworkspace.co.uk) so I felt I was doing something right. I saw the street artist @pietrodriguez painting this wonderful street art opposite where I live on North Street, home to the Urban Paint Festival known as Upfest and asked his permission to use it in my composition.  He kindly agreed.  I am indebted to Emily White as my muse for this piece (@ablemabeldesigns). I have titled this artwork ‘Sun Seekers’ as both girl and street art are looking upwards in search of the sun. Hopefully this piece will be available to buy from Great White Art gallery (https://greatwhiteart.com) in Bristol once…
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New work in progress January 2019

My apologies for the long break from my Blog.  My partner died from very brutal and swift cancer and I have had to rethink my life, ideas for the future etc.   Losing the man who was indeed my ‘North, South, East and West’ or however that poem goes, has made me realise life is short and I needed to slow down and take stock. But life of course does have to go on, and I just have to paint, it is in my DNA.  So here we go for 2019.  I will be following the less is more train of thought, though, think. This lady leaning back enjoying the sunshine is not completed yet, but the groundwork is in.  She is going to form part of a street art themed piece featuring the wonderful work of @pietrodriguez (have a look at my Instagram page to see which artwork of his I am using ). I watched Piet painting this streetart during Upfest last year, the urban paint festival held on my street here in Bristol, UK, every year.  I just thought his work was amazing and with his kind permission I now have  a new composition to work on.…
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