 As the summer season has officially started, the Arcane Publishing/Matt ArtPix team is getting ready for what I hope will be a fruitful few months! If you find yourself in West Bay, Dorset, come and see us on the second floor of The Customs House (next to the East Beach car park, where the now famous Broadchurch cliffs are located!) We have already announced an event for June: a local, grassroots alternative music festival which will be taking place a short drive from the beautiful Corfe Castle. More to announce! Our first event of the year!  17/4/2017 The real Moonfleet! Last week, we went back to one of our (numerous) favourite spots close to our new home on the Isle of Portland: Fleet. This is a stunning and very tranquil natural heaven, away from the hustle and bustle of Weymouth (where the season is kicking off big time!). Moonfleet Manor is now a successful hotel and provides welcome free parking spaces to those who wish to enjoy a lovely walk on the banks of the Fleet Lagoon. The rapeseed plants are currently in full bloom and we definitely needed our shades to prevent us from being dazzled by the explosion of yellow (rapeseed) and blue (the sky, the water) colours all around us. There were birds everywhere, including terns and shelducks.  The Old Parish Church, East Fleet. If the name "Moonfleet" sounds familiar to you, it is because it is also the name of a famous novel written by John Meade Falkner - a fantastic tale of smuggling and shipwreck set on the Dorset coast (and of course, another inspiration for my third novel The Right Place). Along the road leading to Moonfleet Manor, one can stop off at East Fleet and pay a visit to the lovely Butter Street at the end of which you can find the Old Parish Church. The church was used by Falkner in Moonfleet (this is where the crypt so important to the plot is located!) and the whole area is the backdrop to young John's adventures!  Plaque inside the church placed in memory of the author who was so inspired by this special place! All pictures by Matt ArtPix
I am delighted to announce that Arcane Publishing and Matt ArtPix will have a stall at:  Alice's Wicked Tea Party - 2nd and 3rd June 2017
At Knolle Farm, Soldiers Road, Wareham, Dorset A grassroots music festival now in its third year, AWTP is moving to a bigger new venue in the Dorset countryside, next door to the famously beautiful Corfe Castle! It features a wide variety of acts including the fantastic Black Volition who played our first event in London in February 2016! Arcane and Matt Artpix will bring a great choice of carefully picked art, books, vinyls and more! Event's page HERE. Tickets HERE. More news soon!  I found this book in the fabulous treasure trove that is Weymouth's Books Afloat.
Alyse Gregory was married to Llewelyn Powys, and therefore entered the Dorset-based Powys literary clan and was closely linked to the literary village of East Chaldon. She wrote Hester Chaddock whilst living in Dorset with Powys. I still haven't resumed work on my third novel The Right Place, but I think about it every day. I even think about my fourth novel, especially as I returned yesterday to Hell Lane, a favourite walk of mine between Symondsbury and North Chideock. I am planning on putting a writing and publishing schedule together for the book, but my very recent return to teaching will make progress very slow indeed. I hope to start posting about forthcoming events soon, just some dates to firm up before announcing anything!  Last Saturday, we jumped in the car and drove up the A354 to go and see an artist who has been featured numerous times on this blog: the talented cellist Jo Quail. It was good to finally catch up with Jo and her lovely manager Alan for the first time since our move away from the South East! Jo was a guest of the wonderful Salisbury Arts Centre for their popular "Live Lunch" series and the stain glass windows of the former church were the perfect backdrop to Jo's beautiful, otherworldly compositions. From her earliest tracks such as The Falconer to my personal favourites Adder's Stone, from the Caldera album, and Gold, from her latest album Five Incantations (see video below), Jo enthralled her audience with her gorgeous sounds, warm personality and dynamic performance (but no Jhanoem The Witch this time around, though, *sob*). Even though I have seen her perform quite a few times now in various venues around London (and now, Salisbury!), I remain in awe of Jo's music and performance - there is something magical, almost alchemical about it... I have been told that Jo might be back at Salisbury Arts Centre in the autumn for a "proper" evening show... We will most certainly be there! You can read my in-depth interview with Jo Quail on the Chaos Theory website HERE. It has been quite a week for us at ArtPix/Arcane Publishing towers, and I am just catching up on things...
I haven't had the opportunity to do anything creative or artistic for quite a while now, (unless you count lesson planning as something creative...) and I am sad to say that I haven't made any further progress on The Right Place... At the moment, I am trying to work out how to fit the writing around the demands of a teaching timetable... It sounds like the school holidays will be the time I'll pick up the first draft again... Not ideal, but inevitable! More news soon, as Arcane and Matt ArtPix are planning a few things over the spring/summer period! |
AuthorI think therefore I write. Archives
January 2025
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