A very busy month, starting off with the two Charles Reid workshops I was presenting in the Cotswolds.  After more than a year in the planning the weeks went off not quite without a hitch but with no problems we couldn't overcome!  In the end a great time was had by all with student representation from America, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Greece, South Africa, Australia and more.

Barely was I back from Oxfordshire before I was packing up the car for the Saltaire Arts Trail Makers' Fair.  Clearly the good weather that had eluded us in the Cotswolds had been saving itself for this Bank Holiday weekend - three days of glorious sunshine added to wonderful festival atmosphere in Saltaire and it really was the most fun and uplifting event.  I will certainly be putting in my application to return next year. 

I was very happy this month to be invited  to the launch event for a great new initiative in York, celebrating independent retailers and artisans.  It was an inspiring evening.  Do pop over to Proudly in York's website and have a look at some of the amazing people working in this wonderful city.

Right at the end of April I finally got around to painting my 12 x 12cm contribution for this year's MS Trust Secret Art Show.  No of course I can't show you - it's a secret!  Instead I'll remind you of the piece I painted for the very first show back in 2010.  The new show opens for viewing on 24 June.

I was delighted this month by the success of my 'Buy a Print and Change a Life' fundraiser for Comic Relief.  In the week leading up to Red Nose Day I offered a special edition of my Klimt Peacock linocut print with all the sale price being sent to Comic Relief.  The project was tweeted about by Kirstie Allsopp and others and also mentioned on The Guardian newspaper's website.  The final sum raised was a fantastic £335.

Meanwhile back in the studio I was working on a reduction linocut print of the famous 199 Steps in Whitby.  There is an album of photos showing the development of the piece on Facebook.

This has been a month of good news and exciting developments.  I am delighted to have been selected for two highly competitive events: the Saltaire Arts Trail Makers Fair (25-27 May) and the Holmfirth Art Market (29-30 June). Meanwhile I've been preparing a small demonstration Japanese woodblock print which I can work on at the Artists and Artisans event in March, so that visitors can watch the process live.  More information about all of these dates is on the Events page.

This handburnished woodcut print of Eastbourne Pier at night has been finished this month and is available on Etsy.

A quiet month spending time making plans for the coming year.  Keep an eye on the Events page for new dates and places to come and see my work.

Meanwhile in the studio this woodcut print of Whitby Abbey was the first work completed in 2013. It is hand burnished onto Japanese paper and is available in my Etsy shop.

The last workshop of the year was this month's still life masterclass at Me & Mrs Fisher.  It was a very happy and productive day and I had some lovely emails from participants afterwards.

Once the final Yorkshire Best show was out of the way it was time to start looking ahead to 2013 and planning events.  Some great news this month was that I have been invited back to Burton Agnes Hall next summer for my fourth stay as Artist in Residence. Details are on the Events page.

This month has seen a fair bit of still life work going on, including three new watercolours of cup and saucer sets.  Printmaking has included this new limited edition linocut of Clifford's Tower which has been printed in two colour combinations.

Meanwhile I've been busy preparing for the next Yorkshire Best event at The Hospitium, York on 9 December; not only preparing work for sale and sorting out my display but also getting to grips with my whizzy new chip and pin terminal which means I can now at last accept card payments at events and workshops.

I spent a great day at Bar Lane Studios in York this month on their first Life Drawing workshop.  Designed for experienced artists, the day provided an intensive programme of poses and performances from four different models - everything from static solo long poses to interpretive dance and music by two models working together.  It was a long and tiring day (in a good way!) and a huge success so the Studios are now planning a second event in the new year.

I'm pleased to announce that from this month my work is now on display and for sale at Me & Mrs Fisher, where my watercolour masterclasses are held.  It's such a lovely venue and the perfect setting for my paintings.

There's been a lot going on this month. Workshops started up again after the summer break with a very happy and successful Absolute Beginners day. One student wrote afterwards that it had 'had the desired effect' in that she had gone home and got all her painting things out, while another email told me that a student had 'really, really enjoyed the day'. It's always lovely to get messages like that.

Also this month was the first ever Yorkshire Best event which was held at the medieval Hospitium in York. By fortunate timing we missed the rain and floods by just one day so that plenty of early Christmas shoppers were able to reach us and stock up with the best hand made goods and produce from Yorkshire artisans.

I've been busy in the studio this month too. Amongst other works I completed a linocut started at Burton Agnes Hall which shows the view from the summer house studio in the evening when the swallows and house martins were whirling overhead.

I had a wonderful time this month back at Burton Agnes Hall for my third tenure as Artist in Residence.  It is particularly magical to be able to be at work in the garden studio by 8am on a summer's morning while the dew is still on the grass and the only sound is the birds singing.  I met many delightful and interesting visitors to the Hall while I was there: some of the most perceptive and rewarding conversations being with the youngest visitors!  Some of the work I made there is already in my Etsy shop while more will come shortly as started pieces are completed.

I very much look forward to returning to Burton Agnes next year.

I was very lucky this month to spend a week at Oxford Brookes University at a summer school with Laura Boswell.  Laura learned traditional Japanese watercolour woodblock printing on an intensive eight week residency in Japan and now passes on her skills to others at classes like this.  Laura is a wonderful tutor and if you are interested in this form of printmaking (which is VERY different from western linocut and woodcut techniques) then I cannot recommend a workshop with Laura too highly.

I was thrilled to be able to purchase one of Laura's limited edition 'Moon Rising' (left).  It was the first work of hers that I ever saw in a magazine article and was the one that got my interest.  I never dreamed I would one day have it hanging on my own wall.

The beginning of June saw my fastest sale to date on Etsy with a new lino print of Puffins selling within hours of it being finished.  A rapid reprint means that it is available again both in the turquoise and blue colourway shown here and in a more subdued teal and black version.

Later in the month I spent a wonderful couple of days in Glasgow for my birthday.  It was my first time in the city and my first chance to visit the Kelvingrove Museum and the Burrell Collection at Pollok Country Park.  Both thoroughly recommended for art lovers!

This month has involved a lot of planning for next year, to the extent that I've started to lose track and have been writing the current date on cheques and documents as 2013!

Firstly I am delighted to confirm that Charles Reid will be returning to the UK in May 2013 for two watercolour workshops.  This is the fourth time that I have arranged Charles' visits here and I'm looking forward to these weeks being every bit as much fun as the previous ones.  Full information can be found on the Charles Reid page on this site.

I have also been talking to Giles at Manzac d'en Bas in south west France about returning there to teach a third painting holiday.  The result is that we have fixed dates of 17 - 24 October 2013 and full information will be available very soon on the Painting Holidays page.

I have entered the world of Twitter this month and can now be found as @stoneflowerjane.

The classes I am teaching for West York Adult Education are going well and I'm fortunate to have a lovely bunch of people attending.  I think the six weeks are going to fly by very quickly.

Back in the studio, I've been painting my first ACEOs for quite a time.  Four new additions to the Eye Series are now on the ACEO page and are available to buy on Etsy.

This month I completed this portrait of a friend of mine, Norman Jack.  Norman is a radio presenter thousands of miles away in Canada so our paths would not normally cross but we met in Spain when we were both 'Anglo' volunteers on an English language course for Spanish teachers.  After seeing some of my work Norman asked me last year if I would paint his portrait and finally I found time to do it in the quiet time after Christmas.  The stages of the painting can be seen in a new watercolour demonstration.

Also this month I was approached by York Council and asked to provide cover for the last term of a weekly watercolour Adult Education class.  I'll be starting that after Easter for just six weeks.  It has fallen into place very neatly as this is in fact the only period between now and the autumn  in which I would have been able to undertake a regular weekly commitment so it really couldn't have worked out better!

I was delighted this month to be invited to give a Guest Artist Interview to Jackson's Art for their online blog.  I was asked about my working practices, my favourite mediums and my approach to my work. You can read the interview here. Readers can post comments or ask questions which I am doing my best to answer intelligently!

A new Facebook page has been set up which will bring up to date news about my work as well as bits of art related chat.  The idea is to allow the existing Stoneflower Studio Art Classes page to concentrate on art tuition,  from both me and other providers.  Find the new Facebook page at www.facebook.com/janedukeartist or click on the Facebook badge to the left.

I've started off the new year by opening a shop on Etsy where I am selling unframed pieces including prints, sketches and ACEOs.  I know several sellers with shops on the site and fortunes seem to be quite mixed.  It will be interesting to see how it goes for me but first signs are very promising indeed.

The watercolour painting to the left is a commission I actually completed in 2011 but it was not presented to its recipient until this month so I had to keep it under wraps.  It is the Betty's Craft Bakery in Harrogate and the piece was commissioned by the Bettys and Taylors Group.