In December 2024 I moved back to the motherland, The Black Country, where I was born and raised. Myself and my partner purchased a 1930s property in Old Hill, a stones throw from Haden Hill Park & House, which is well worth a visit if youre local!
I was a bit sad about leaving the little art space that I'd created in the spare room of our old house. It wasnt perfect, but it had a great vibe and I made some cool pieces in there. I was also a bit nervous as I knew the room I'd claimed as my studio in the new house looked like this:
You've got to applaud the previous owners commitment to the Pokemon theme though, right?? Impressive.
I knew it was gonna take some work to strip it back to its bones.
The day we moved in, even before the movers had left... I'd started to peel off the Pokemon stickers from the walls and windows. It was a start on a big job to come!
The weeks that followed I used the space as my office for work. While looking out of the window one morning, I spotted a Jay in the garden. I'd never seen one before and I was a but puzzled by it. It was the size of a pigeon, with a beak shape similar to that of a Jackdaw... I searched the internet and found that it was a Jay. From that day I knew I'd be happy in the studio. A small but memorable moment! The studio window is a relatively large one. Its South facing and has a fantasticly sprawling view. You see all the way over the Wales, according to my partner, Harry. I'm not 100% sure about that... but you definitely had a good view of Dudley and the Brierley Hill flats. Sometimes I see green parakeets, squeeking and squalling by in a flash of lime green. A new fasciation of mine since moving back. Theyve been living in the UK wild since the 70s and are pretty common in parts of Birmingham and London. I'm yet to see one in our garden, theyre very speedy little things. Always seeming to be in a rush somehow.
Stay tuned for a studio update coming soon!