Coffee, Cakes and Chat raises £640 for Macmillan!

What a lovely day we had on Friday with our Macmillan Coffee 'Morning'...it went on all day!

As well as our Gallery donation of 10% of the day's takings, very generous donations from friends, family, customers and visitors took the total raised for Macmillan Cancer Support to £640!

There were cakes galore...

...and gorgeous vintage cups, saucers, teapots and cake stands lent to us very generously by Philippa of Philippa's Bazaar.

Green Tree Gallery Sponsors Young Rider

With our exhibition "Horse Play" in full swing here at The Green Tree Gallery, we are now getting ready for the Borde Hill Horse Trials this weekend. Not only are we sponsoring a fence in the Trials, we are also sponsoring local rider, Alex Medlicott in her British Eventing debut.



15-year-old Alex is teamed with her six-year-old French thoroughbred bay gelding, Burlington Bavarde, known as Bertie. Bertie was brought over from Ireland, where he had been bred for racing, by Bryony Whittington, sister of England International rider, Francis.




According to Alex, Bertie wasn't cut out for racing. "He's too polite!" she says. "He prefers to follow...not what you need in a race horse!

"Bertie is kind, honest and brave," says Alex. "But definitely accident prone! We have nicknamed him Bubblewrap - because he needs to be wrapped in it!"

So if you're at the Horse Trials this coming weekend, be sure to give a big cheer for Alex and her "Bubblewrap" Bertie!

And do pop in and see us at the Gallery...we will be open 10.30-5.00 both Saturday and Sunday.

Introducing Sarah Beevers..

If you've visited the Gallery recently, you will have no doubt noticed the array of stunning freshwater pearl and semi-precious stone jewellery by our new artist, Sarah Beevers.

Based in The Secret Garden Studio at Joanne Harmer Gallery in Deal, Sarah has been designing and making jewellery full time since 2011.

Drawing inspiration from living on the coast, Sarah enjoys mixing colours and textures "to ensure the most is brought out of each stone and that their natural beauty is accentuated."

The pieces of jewellery that Sarah creates are both contemporary and classic, with each stone or pearl chosen carefully to accentuate the next.

And with both sterling silver and silver-plated items available, there is something to suit every pocket.

Paul Guthrie discovers Horses....

"Horse I"

Paul Guthrie only discovered horses recently, having been asked to contribute to our "Horse Play" exhibition. But then again, he did not find out he was an artist until four years ago, at the age of 37!

"After looking at a friend's horses, I was inspired to go to Lancaster to the Thoroughbred Rehabilitation Centre," says Paul. "I was then drawn to see the working athletes at Lingfield Races and on to the dressage at Hickstead."

"Dressage II"

He uses eye and camera to capture the personality of what he sees and then works with bright, vibrant colours to convey that personality in as truthful a way as he can.

"I find [horses] complex and captivating and I'm sure I'll return to them again and again," says Paul.

Emma Bird's Witty Wire Sculptures

Emma Bird has been a regular contributor to our exhibitions over the past few years, always finding a witty interpretation of the titles and "Horse Play" is no exception.

Emma says she has always made things : "My mum used to dread coming home when Blue Peter had been on, she knew scissors, card and sticky-back plastic would be everywhere!"

Although she works in a range of media, it is her wire sculptures for which she is most well-known, such as this wall hanging.



Having originally studied Art at Canterbury Christ Church College, Emma moved to Sussex and is now Head of Art at Shoreham College.

"Carry Me Home"


"Stable Mates"


"Nose Rub"


"Horse Play" continues until 30th August and includes sculpture, paintings, prints, photographs, textiles and jewellery, all with an equine theme.

Horsing around at the Green Tree Gallery!

It's been a flurry of activity in the last 10 days at the Gallery as we prepared for the opening of our summer exhibition "Horse Play".

Artists, friends and customers joined us for drinks and nibbles as they browsed the paintings, prints, photographs and sculpture exhibited by 10 Sussex artists.

This is "Freedom", a one-off sculpture cast in copper resin by Brighton-based Linden Hamilton.

The sculpture is large in scale...in horse parlance, "Freedom" stands almost six hands high, or 23 inches at the withers!
Linden's sculptures capture the movement of her equine subjects as well as some of their anatomical detail. She initially works in cement and cloth or paper and PVA glue draped around a strong metal framework and then takes a mould of the finished artwork. The final sculptures are cast in polyester resin mixed with metal powders, marble or slate.

This is "White Marble Horse", which is similar in size to "Freedom" but cast in marble resin.


And on a smaller scale, this is "Prancing Horse" in copper resin.


"Silver Horse" in aluminium resin, sold on the first day of the exhibition.

Surprise Visit from Maria Allen

Maria Allen popped in to the Green Tree Gallery recently to say hello whilst she and her family were visiting Borde Hill Garden.

It was lovely to get such positive feedback from Maria when she told us how much she loved that our display of her handmade wooden jewellery and gifts on squares of natural tree bark.

Hove-based Maria started selling her reclaimed and sustainable wood products whilst she was at Brighton University studying Graphic Design and has been designing and making them full time with a small team since graduating in 2011.

Maria's designs feature intricate vintage illustrations on wood, fusing together the traditional and modern.
"My inspirations include typography, travel and nature," she says.
In 2012, Maria created an exclusive Alice in Wonderland themed range for the Tate Galleries and also an exclusive collection for the Royal Academy of Arts in connection with its "Renaissance Impressions" exhibition.