At HOFS book fair

View from the door (note the muffins, and the ex-fire station decor)

Another view from the door

The view from my table

My table

A closer look

Somehow everything  I'd brought along fit on the table,. Keeping to a theme (working title: Unnatural Colour) worked for me. I told the same story many times - how it started with the painted dictionary and how everything on the table stemmed from that in some way, for instance the photos at the front were a record of each day's painting, and the scroll on the wall summed up the entire project - and the shade cards took F&B's paint names and explanations and used the painted dictionary to generate a range of shades, with their names coming from the page and being explained through definitions of the words (now not readable on the painted pages), which came from a much older version of the book.

I got enough practice with the story to be able to listen to myself telling it, rather than having to think of what to say next, and even got to the stage of "hmm, how could this be improved?" - one answer being, check your speed - is the listener understanding it?

My reward for the effort of making the work was some good conversations throughout the day. And the pleasure of developing a body of work and meeting a deadline, honing that sense of what can be achieved. It left me wanting to spend more time in the studio, hands-on, rather than at the computer.

Here's some of the rest of the show, the latest in a series arranged by artbookart, a group of artists in Essex (have a look at their Facebook page) -

Lola Swain's marbled covers, and Louise Swain's prints

Jane Woollatt's installation includes monoprints of a child's nightdress

Karen Apps talking about her "Matilda" works

Kitty Guthrie Oakley listening intently to Cherry Hall.
People reading Kitty's books invariably had a smile on their faces

Coptic bound sketchbooks by Tessa Frampton made a striking display

The matchbox challenge - exhibitors had been invited to submit
a work, and visitors voted for their favourite

More of the matchbox entries, tiny books worth a closer look