Summer show 25th July

So here we are, already at the end of the month with our final July show, and I can't understand where the time has gone. Do you feel the same? Perhaps the lack of what feels like consistent summer weather hasn't helped. Anyway, let's take a look at what we got up to last night shall we?

Heather, Polly and Ruth were still smiling at the end of the evening, despite it being one of the busiest yet. On the right is our attending artist, Iona Sanders, who managed to get across to the island for her opening night at the gallery. Iona spent the night chatting to clients resulting in her selling two beautiful paintings which was a great start to her show. See the full line up of our July shows here.

My outfit comprises of a vintage dress that was a charity shop scoop for £9, gold sandals from H&M, the bracelet is green amethyst and was a present from my husband when we were in Morocco, the large brown ring is from TK Maxx and the other rings were from a charity shop.

Iona and I had a farewell squeeze before we said goodnight. My job is a wonderful way of meeting people and making new friends and Iona is not only a talented artist, but also a lovely new chum. 

Coming up soon on the blog is a special edition of The Black Trouser Challenge, followed by Anna meets... (yes I know I promised this previously, but it's nearly finished now) and the 5Over50 collective will be rallying soon with our next challenge "Orange is the new black" - the most difficult part of this challenge will be to decide which orange outfit I feature as it's almost a daily occurrence for me at this time of year!

My trip to the mainland yeilded a fabulous haul, but I'm afraid it's already packed/squashed into my wardrobe. Things are full-on at work during the exhibition period and I really didn't have time to do the usual bed-spread. If this causes huge disappoinment to you, then leave me a comment and I'll drag it out for a quick photoshoot. If I say that I bought 18 pairs of shoes and boots, then you'll get an idea of how good the shopping was. Sasha steered me through the best of the summer sales and yes, I descended on my usual charity shops too. According to the masters of retail therapy we're already in need of our autumn clothes, hence this shedding of all of the summer fripperies. Well, I'm ever hopeful that summer will just be taking a breather and is about to return with gusto and therefore I'll be needing all things, floaty, flowery and lightweight in readiness for the next heatwave. And if not, then at least I'm all stocked up for next summer! New swimsuits and a bikini have me all primed for more beach shoots too...

Anna x

May show time!

Yes, it's that time of year again - time for another exhibition at the gallery with the best excuse ever to bring out my finery. This outfit went with me on our cruise in February (see here), but didn't make the final cut when I swanned around the cabin to get Steve's opinion. In fact, we both liked it, but not as much as some of the frocks I had taken along which rivalled this shirt and skirt combo. 

On Thursday we were hosting a mixed show from a group of seven artists. I managed to hijack a couple of the artists before the preview evening began. Nicola Hancox and Paul Lewin both went on to have a great opening night party. Check out their work here.  The Isles of Scilly attract thousands of tourists every year amongst them hundreds of artists, professional, amateur and aspiring, hoping to capture the essence of this beautiful archipelago. The five inhabited islands offer an insight into life where weather and tides influence our every day, where boats are our main mode of transport, where there will be more birds on the beach than humans, and where it's possible to spend a day playing Robinson Crusoe on an uninhabited island if that's your dream. To learn more about these beautiful isles see here.

As you can no doubt tell, the wind was blowing as Polly and I tried to maintain our smiles and ignore our windswept tresses. Our photo shoot was a bit of a rushed affair thanks to the weather, but at least you get an idea of the evening and our ensembles. Polly wears a black lace dress and black sandals both from H&M. My black blouse is from Uniqlo, the skirt is by Anthropologie (I succumbed to it at sale time which helped make it less painful), shoes are my well worn favourites from Primark, clutch is Accessorize (charity shop) and doesn't it match these shoes perfectly? My belt was from eBay, necklace from Dorothy Perkins and rings are from a charity shop.

Linking with

Catherine of Not Dressed as Lamb

Patti of Not Dead Yet Style

Anna x