Blog Archives - Roo Waterhouse Art

Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside :-)

30 March 2024

Roo Waterhouse

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Here’s a sneak peek at some details of the new Shelf Portrait painting that I finished this week:
‘Beside The Seaside’

I especially enjoyed painting the shells and pebbles, as well as the detail of Hokusai’s ‘

The Great Wave off Kanagawa‘, possibly the world most famous woodblock print, on the cover of Iris Murdoch’s ‘

The Sea, The Sea

Once it’s dried and varnished it will be off down to London for the

Affordable Art Fair

on Hampstead Heath in May.
I’ll be going down with it, and I’m looking forward to venturing into the Hamptead ponds for a swim 🙂

Oh! I do like to be beside the seaside!
I do like to be beside the sea!
Oh I do like to stroll along the Prom, Prom, Prom!
Where the brass bands play, “Tiddely-om-pom-pom!”

I’m not sure there’s much of a chance of catching a brass band on the prom these days, but I don’t think that would stop me from heading to the seaside if I had half a chance!

Easter holidays is the classic time to head for the coast, I wonder where you might all be off to? I’m hoping for a day trip to Formby beach – a beautiful spot with pine forest, sand dunes, miles of sandy beach and even the chance of spotting a red squirrel 🙂

Above is a sketch I did there last Easter – I can’t believe it was so sunny!!

The lovely warm sunshine we had here on Sunday seems like such a distant memory! Pootling in my garden, I was happy to see a few fluffy bumble bees buzzing about 🙂
Why not spread some bee love this Spring with the warm, bumble-bee colours in my ‘ABC of Bees‘ range of prints and cards!

Shop Bees Here!

I also had a lovely stroll up through the woods to gather wild garlic, and made this delicious

wild garlic and cannelini bean soup

for my lunch 🙂

Wishing you all a relaxing Spring Break 🙂

Best Wishes,
Roo

Roo’s Shop Here 🙂

New Book Art Notebook Range…

12 March 2024

Roo Waterhouse

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Categories: Blog, Events

Notebooks are back!
(Well, you kept asking, so what could I do!!)

With three new designs:
By The River; Vintage Penguins and Agatha Christie,
alongside the ever popular Jane Austen and Science Fiction.

Shop Notebooks Here

You can take a look at the notebooks in person if you happen to be in Harrogate this weekend.
I’ll be exhibiting at the PBFA Harrogate Premier Book Fair
on Friday 15th March 12noon to 6pm
and Saturday 16th from 10am to 4pm.
You can even download a free ticket for two here 🙂

…and there’s a new Agatha Christie mug too!! The perfect vessel for a cosy cuppa with your whodunnit reading 🙂

Best Mystery Wishes

Roo

Currently Reading: ‘Lights, Planets, People’ by Molly Naylor and Lizzy Stewart

Roo’s Shop Here 🙂

Beatitude: Lining Up Article…

23 January 2024

Roo Waterhouse

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Simon Warner of ‘Rock and The Beat Generation’ has written this fabulous article to spread word

of my new ‘Beatitude’ Shelf Portrait Limited Edition print:

https://open.substack.com/pub/simonwarner/p/lining-up-beat-book-painting-now?r=3b6ett&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Thank you Simon 🙂

The print is available to order here.

Welcome to 2024!!

23 January 2024

Roo Waterhouse

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Categories: Blog

Beatitude: so hot off the press that they are not even mounted yet!

Today I have released this new Limited Edition print
(patiently awaited by several of you!)
from my original Shelf Portrait painting
‘Beatitude’.You can place an order in my shop here, … 🙂

Shop Beatitude Here

We had a wonderfully relaxing time down in Cornwall, walking along the (rather blustery!!) coast path, paddling at Sennen, Gwynver and Porthcurno beaches and visiting The Barbara Hepworth Museum and the Tate St Ives.
Evening were spent knitting by the wood stove and reading To The Lighthouse.
We came back with armfuls of wonderful ceramics from the fabulous Deborah Prosser 🙂

I now have my nose back to the grindstone, working on new paintings for the Affordable Art Fair Battersea in March…..

Very Best Wishes

Roo

Northlight Winter Fair This Weekend!

28 November 2023

Roo Waterhouse

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Categories: Blog, Events

Here at Northlight Art Studios we will be opening the Art Space for our annual festive treat that is the Winter Fair 🙂

Come and meet my lovely fellow artists and makers, with gift inspiration galore, along with the festive aroma of mulled wine and delicious cakes…YUM!

We’ll be open from 10.30am to 5pm, Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd. I might even wear a festive(ish) jumper!
Do come along 🙂
Northlight Art Studios, Valley Road (and Hangingroyd Lane), Hebden Bridge HX77BZ

Here follows a selection of goodies from Northlighters.. click on each image to find out more.
Happy Browsing 🙂

My new What The Dickens! and Science Fiction mugs and Tote bags are now available in my online shop 🙂

Don’t forget to use your code: EARLYXMAS23 for 10% off throughout the shop until December 4th
(or ask me for a mailing list discount at the Northlight Fair).

17 November 2023

Roo Waterhouse

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Derby Book Fair Tomorrow!!

If you are in or around Derby tomorrow, Saturday 18th November, do pop in to The Derby Book Fair at The Wardwick to see my latest prints, cards, mugs and tote bags.
Get all your bookish gifts sorted!

I’ll be there from 10.30am to 5pm. I promise to have an impressive array of tinsel and baubles to bring some festive cheer!!

Christmas Special!

To accompany my new What The Dickens! Limited Edition print, I have produced a small batch of What The Dickens! mugs and tote bags.
Currently only available in person – so come and find me at Derby Book Fair or Northlight Winter Fair!!
Prepare yourself for an atmospheric Dickensian Christmas this year!

Getting Christmas sorted early….

To encourage you to get Christmas sorted early, I am offering you an exclusive 10% off throughout my website shop from now until the 4th December

Simply add the code: EARLYXMAS23 to your basket…

What The Dickens!

3 November 2023

Roo Waterhouse

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The leaves are turning here in the lovely Colden Valley. It is such a blessing to be able to start my day with a stroll through the beech, oak and Scots Pines 🙂
While browsing for a link to put with this photo, I came across a blog about the hidden gems of this lovely valley. Have a look here. But don’t tell everyone how lovely it is!!

New Limited Edition Print:

What The Dickens!

Now available in an edition of 100 Fine Art Giclee Prints

I love the warm tones of the worn leather and the way the gilded text shines out of the spines on these Dickens books.
Prepare yourself for an atmospheric Dickensian Christmas this year!

(remember to use the code EARLYXMAS23 for 10% off!)

A date for your diaries:

Northlight Winter Fair

Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd December
10.30am – 5pm
with a dozen or more of your favourite Northlight Artists, along with refreshments, raffle and an art activity 🙂
Yes, there will be MULLED WINE!

The Winter Fair is just one of the arty things happening all around Hebden bridge as part of the
Hebden Bridge Open Studios Winter Weekend
Follow @northlight_studio @hbopenstudios and #hebdenmakeschristmas on instagram for more news from all those taking part…

Getting Christmas sorted early….

To encourage you to get Christmas sorted early, I am offering you an exclusive 10% off throughout my website shop from now until the 4th December 🙂

Simply add the code: EARLYXMAS23 to your basket…

With Best Wishes
Roo

A Round Up of Recent releases…

12 October 2023

Roo Waterhouse

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Last week I delivered my latest bespoke commission ‘Younger Next Year’ in time for the client’s husband’s big birthday – he loved it – always such a relief!!

Now that I have a couple of studio-based weeks without rushing around to events, I thought I would do a little
Round Up of some Recent Releases
as I can never be quite sure that I have told you about them all.

I really should be more organised, with proper launches etc. but, hey ho, that’s not really my style!! 😂

Firstly, two new Limited Editions prints for you:

‘Partners In Crime‘
because autumn is the perfect time of year to curl up on the sofa with a pile of classic Agatha Christie paperbacks and a mug of cocoa 🙂

‘Look At This‘
a nostalgic shelfful of Ladybird books to take you back to your early school days…

Drift away with the flow of the river and memories of summer with
‘By The River’
now available as an A4 mounted print

Two new greetings cards from my Portico Library collaboration:
Spine[Less] and Portico
are now in my online shop too 🙂

Getting Christmas sorted early….

I know we’re not past Hallowe’en yet, but I have been gathering gifts already, as I like to get my Christmas present buying started in October (if not before!) and well sorted by the time December gets underway.

To encourage you to do the same I am offering you an exclusive 10% off throughout my website shop from now until the 4th December 🙂

Simply add the code:

EARLYXMAS23

to your basket…

Roo’s Shop

… and the sun did eventually shine in Dumfries & Galloway!

Thank you Wigtown Book Festival people for a super weekend!

… and another thank you to all the lovely visitors at York National Book Fair, now that I have actually added you to my mailing list!

With Best Wishes
Roo

Spine[less]: Rebinding The Portico

21 August 2023

Roo Waterhouse

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Categories: Art Events, Blog, Events

I’d like to tell you about an exciting project I am working on in collaboration with the Portico Library in Manchester. When I first walked into the Portico Library I was immediately drawn to the most damaged books: the ‘spineless’ books in the collection, with their scuffed

leather tones and fascinating array of under-papers, held together with cotton ribbons. These hidden under-layers, of the centenarian books standing exposed along the shelves: hand-written accounts ledgers; scraps from newspapers; advertisement flyers; lines of script; all assumed by the original book-binders to never see the light of day. Looking along the library shelves we get a glimpse into hidden histories…

I had gone in to the library originally to see if they might like to stock some of my art cards in their shop, but they were SO enthusiastic about my work and I was SO enthusiastic about their books, that our ideas grew into a painting project 🙂

This collaboration celebrates the importance of the Portico library as a home of

literature, history and learning.

In September this year the paintings will be displayed in the library, and on September 14th there will be an evening event ‘Spine[less]: Rebinding The Portico’ where there will be presentations from the Portico’s Collections Manager and from myself 🙂

You can book tickets for the event here: https://www.theportico.org.uk/event-calendar/spineless-rebinding-event

From Thursday 12th October 2023 – Friday 26th January 2024, the paintings will be part of an exhibition in the library promoting the Portico’s Adopt-a-Book scheme, highlighting the importance of preservation, restoration and the need for rebinding books. Members of the library are invited to Adopt-a-Book and pay for it to be rebound: to be brought back into use: to be reborn! The finished paintings will be for sale,with 25% of the sale price going to the Portico Library 🙂

In progress in my studio at the moment are the two Portico paintings: one of a shelfful of the exposed ‘spineless’ books, and another of a collection of ornately bound books from the Portico’s collection. It is such a joy to delicately translate these ornate and battered spines into paint across the canvas, relishing all the little handwritten details and worn edges.

I can’t wait to unveil the finished, framed paintings at the library when we set up the display next week!!

You can find out more about the Portico Library and their Adopt-a-Book scheme:

https://www.theportico.org.uk/

https://www.theportico.org.uk/adoptabook

…and more about me here: https://roowaterhouse.art/about-roo-waterhouse-shelf-portrait-artist/

Open Studios Tomorrow!! Online shop closed 10th July to 4th August…

6 July 2023

Roo Waterhouse

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Categories: Art Events, Blog

Tomorrow the Hebden Bridge Open Studios Weekend begins!!!
Friday 7th, Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th July 11am to 5pm

I’ll be offering 20% off throughout my online shop from now up until midnight on Sunday 9th:
Simply enter the code
HITCHHIKER20
in your basket

Roo’s Shop

Theo and I (and Action Girl too, of course!) are looking forward to welcoming you into my studio 🙂
You’ll find us on the first floor at:
Northlight Art Studios
Valley Road
Hebden Bridge
HX77BZ
where you will also find a fabulous array of other artists and makers, including:
Kelletur; Toby Cotterill Jewellery; Kate Boyce Art; Katch Skinner Ceramics; Jane Revitt Mapworks; Rach Red Designs; Red Mouse Designs; Don Myers Painting
along with a Showcase exhibition of our talented students’ work from our classes at Northlight Art School….

Straight after the Open Studios Weekend I will be off on a fantastic holiday, with my grown-ups Rory and Theo, to visit my niece and her family on Vancouver Island…
We are SOOOOOO excited!!!
I have my suitably-themed holiday reading planned: Alice Munro for a Canadian voice, and The Overstory for the spirit of the redwoods. I’ve read both before, but there’s nothing like being in the company of old friends when travelling!