I worked with artist Debbie Loane in the Gallery at Ryedale Folk Museum all day yesterday to finish hanging her show, February to May, which is a wonderful body of work and looks stunning in the space.  We both graduated in the same year, and reminisced about such things as going to Atlantis in Brick Lane to see the stupendous Hughie O'Donoghue show in the '80's.  I am hoping that we have a good turn out for the private view on Saturday evening, it would be great if she sold some!  There has been a lot of interest from visitors and volunteers at the museum while we were hanging the show; people kept sneaking in for a look and being very complimentary.  It has been a real pleasure to work with Debbie.

Last Saturday I was at Duckett and Jeffreys gallery in Malton for Jacob de Graaf and Ian Mitchell's show, paint, print and place, which is good.  I prefer paintings with a bit of gesture and energy about them, yet Jacob's had a strangely calm and unsettling air about them that was intrigueing.  Ian's prints of motorway bridges sans any hint of human activity were also slightly unnerving;  their abstract quality, a result of Ian's reducing the subject down to their essential structure and his colour selection made for some really strong work.  I was slightly alarmed when he told me that he is in the habit of balancing his camera on the dashboard of his car and taking photo's as he drives, made me laugh!  I liked these prints a lot and think they are an interesting development for Ian. I have often thought that motorways, their bridges and embankments are interesting subject matter and there Ian is, with his fab prints.