lucycaddel_art

07/10/2026

Oh my goodness! Could I have any more fun??? I’ve just brought my Adana 5x3 printing press (first made in the 1950s) back to life, having not been used since its poetry publishing days in the 70s! ‘Pig Press’ 🐖 was my parents’ company and this press was named so because it can be a little stubborn! Actually the Caddels were printmakers in Gravesend for many moons in the past. I believe we have the dubious honour of having turned down Jane Austen 😂 D’oh!

Anyhow some new rollers, some new parts a bit of WD40 and some sexy new 🍊 🍋 Seville black ink from Cranfield Colours and ⚡️ 🍋 are GO!

You may recognise my little woodblock here, made back in March under the expert tutelage of master printmaker Richard Studer / wood engraving / gallery Richard Studer in his lovely gallery/studio in Presteigne South Shropshire. I’ve been itching to print it again, and this was the perfect opportunity! I’m looking forward to developing more letterpress skills with lovely Dulcie Dulcie Fulton this Friday.

Stay tuned for more word art this Friday when I’m looking to create some massive broadsides of my dad (Richard Caddel) ‘s poems in wooden letterpress with hand painted illustrations.

typesetting letterpress analogue printing visual poetry

05/10/2026

I was lucky enough to grow up in a house full of books 📚 so it’s in my DNA - both of my parents were librarians, and my dad was also a poet (Richard Caddel).

More on that later this week, as I’m excited to be working on some letterpress broadsides with Dulcie Fulton in South Shropshire. Today I even brushed the dust off our family heirloom Adana 5x3 (we used to have a small poetry publishing company called 🐖 Pig Press with the slogans ‘retake the language’ & ‘adventures for the ear’ ) and will hopefully be bringing that back to life in due course!

I still think books are always great to have around (of course mine are colour coded 🌈 on the shelf) not least for insulation purposes. They are part of your identity, show your likes, your interests, places you want to go, dreams you hold.

However, the two in this particular painting are a little too 🔥 to be on general display (apart from in a painting of course). I fully recommend these two collections of anonymous fantasies by Gillian Anderson Bloomsbury Publishing

Anyhoo- here’s another look at my latest one with a lot of fleshy figs lolling about….

‘Want; More’

24x24in
Acrylic on Canvas

01/10/2026

I’ve had this one in mind for a while - a painting about desire and longing. Suede soft, super-sized, moist ripe figs torn gently apart and lying languidly on two unashamedly erotic anthologies 📚 of anonymously penned fantasies collected by Gillian Anderson Gillian Anderson Bloomsbury Publishing

Fig 1. Rich luscious tropical colour
Fig 2. The sensual experience
Fig 3.

That’s really what it’s all about, and it’s so great to be back in the studio getting to grips with it, pushing it around, playing hues of Viridian green and quinacridone rose off one another and making them sing harmoniously together.

This painting is pretty big (I love to paint big) - it’s 2ft square and entitled:

‘Want; More’.

Because… Doesn’t everyone? Of everything?

There are even some artfully placed 🍋 🍋

If you’d like to make it yours, it will be available DRAWN together contemporary art fair Shrewsbury Museum in November but if you want to get in there first to reserve it, it will be £495 when framed.

If you swipe right you can see all the other fig paintings I’ve made going back like oooh 14 years, which have since found their forever homes in a range of locations across the UK!

The scale I have used here has increased 6-fold in that time I think. And I think the colour palette has become more intense and the forms more tactile and unctuous.

☕️ Time for a fig roll methinks….

27/09/2026

As we’re sliding into the ‘Ber months and the nights are starting to draw in, I’m starting to look forward to making sparkly reflective ‘Hojalateria’ or Mexican tin embossing (pure ) in my one off workshops for all the seasonal festivals.

‘Hoja’ means leaf in Spanish and ‘Lata’ means tin/can - so put it together and Hojalateria literally translates as ‘tin-leaf-ery’

I added a quote by the late great Dolly Parton using Hojalateria to the portrait I painted of her in my portraiture class yesterday ‘find out who you are, and do it on purpose’ she say - amen to that… I’ve wanted to paint her ever since her passing- such a brilliant and beautiful musician, a canny businesswoman and someone so full of joie de vivre and sound practical life advice.

or ‘the Day of the Dead’ 💀🌞 🌼 🌺 🎇 is coming up at the start of November and its such a wonderful, powerful and colourful life-affirming event I love to get involved. So on Saturday October 24th 10-4 English Bridge Studios I’m making some Mexican Nicho Shrines. If you swipe right you can see some we made this time last year. It’s a small sconce or ‘niche’ that can hold special items, a candle, in memory or someone or something - or just create something lovely to decorate your home. This is a full day multi craft project including construction, embellishment, painting and hojalateria.

On the 14th November I have two half day Xmas garland workshops at the Trinity Centre in Meole Brace Shrewsbury- get ahead of the crowds, get into the seasonal spirit- make something as a present or a treat to decorate your own home.

Then on December 5th you can make a Frida Kahlo inspired Hojalateria frame with a mini mirror or painting inside if you like. Or join me on the afternoon of 13th December Sandford Studio to make a trio of hojalateria hanging tree decorations (book direct via the link on their insta page).

All my workshops you can book direct in my online shop - please don’t delay as they are starting to fill up already! https://www.lucycaddel.com/store-1/workshops

Colour Now | Art Community

21/09/2026

We all know that social media gives you a fully curated reel of everyone’s highlights, and it’s pretty difficult to see any content that shows any other side to that. Safe to say the struggle is real and there’s plenty to deal with that feels a bit heavy. Constantly putting yourself out there is draining, believing in yourself is hard, you have to be brave to consistently be showing up, and being an artist is not all sunshine and roses.

We often feel obliged to post content that shows us confidently winning at what it is we’re doing and it’s really exhausting! Especially when at that particular moment things are feeling a bit like wading through glue. I’ve been speaking to a few folk about this recently and I’ve come to the conclusion that everyone is finding it tough out there right now, particularly if you’re arty.

This first photo here was taken of me in the 6th form at school in the North East around 30 years ago, just after my brother died; and I’d just been crying. I was managing a large-scale theatre production and something was going a bit wrong and I remember it was like the proverbial straw… I also know that I REALLY didn’t want my photo taken at that particular point in time.

But I look back to that moment, and I know that all I really wanted to be when I ‘grew up’ was an artist.

I went in a reeeeaaaally long way around to get there; after a degree in fine art running away from it all to the other side of the world , living in Peru, then meeting my husband, having a family, teaching a lot. I finally ended up coming back to that original dream in my late forties.

And here I am! But I’m always impatient and thinking ‘Now what? What’s next? what’s next?’ - which is daft. I really have to pinch myself and remind myself how far I’ve come - A solo show at Powis Castle & Garden NT/YG Castell a Gardd Powis ! A place I visited quite a lot as kid. I keep imagining how awestruck little me would have been if she’d have seen it. Or how proud my dad, as a poet and a lover of the Welsh marches, would have been.

Take a moment to get some perspective and see how far you’ve come already. Because I think my former self would have thought my current incarnation was actually quite badass.

20/09/2026

In case you’re interested, I was tapped up by the researchers to talk about Steph McGovern’s new show ‘The Big Deal’ on Points of View today!

Viewers have their say on the BBC’s television programmes. Email your thoughts to [email protected], tweet or search Facebook for BBC Points of View.

18/09/2026

I’ve had quite a few new followers on here recently, thanks to The Orangery show at so I’m just gonna take the opportunity to share the portrait orientation version of this amazing video creative genius made for me 6 months ago which gives you some of the story behind what me and my work are all about: A vibrant Latino inspired colour palette, joyful life-affirming art, and

In the video I’m actually painting the vanitas commission piece ‘Longevity’ which the owners who commissioned it kindly loaned back to me for the show. A 25th wedding anniversary present which details memories, shared jokes and personal items of a lifetime spent together. Sometimes meaningful objects can describe a person even better than a portrait can don’t you agree?

Thank you to everyone who’s made it this far! Please do sign up for studio updates at www.lucycaddel.com for previews, news and unique subscriber-only offers or get in touch about your own commission project.
Thank you!

17/09/2026

We're excited to announce a collaboration with Lucy Caddell of Shropshire Tropicalia. Lucy is bring a new craft to Church Stretton - Hojalateria. This form of tin embossing comes all the way from South America and makes beautiful Christmas decorations. It's a 3 hour afternoon session on Sunday 13th Dec. It's just been scheduled so get yourself a seat at the table before it sells out her workshops are always in demand.

16/09/2026

‘For the Love of Three Oranges’ is one of the pieces I’m really genuinely happy with from my latest 2026 collection ‘The Orangery’ - which was launched at Powis Castle National Trust just under a fortnight ago.

Its title comes from Prokofiev’s satirical opera of the same name, in which a melancholy Prince laughs at a witch’s misfortune and gets cursed to fall in love with three massive oranges 🍊🍊🍊🤣

This was actually one of my first dates as a teenager ( 😂 pretty highbrow I know! ) at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle. But I can still distinctly remember the hilarious costuming and the rambunctious march was playing through my head as I painted this.

The three bouncy oranges jostle for centre stage in this family heirloom antique Moroccan bowl in warm burnt sienna tones evoking gorgeous late summer heat and vibes.

It’s a square painting 24x24in - framed in an elegant white tray frame, which makes it 25in square all in. It’s acrylics on deep canvas and the frame takes it 2in off the wall. A real statement piece which would look ace as a focal point for your kitchen- or any other room in your house!

This is the only citrus in bowl painting I currently have available, with 6 others at this size already having found their forever homes in the last year.

If you’d like to make it yours, please follow the link 🔗 in bio or here:
https://www.lucycaddel.com/store-1/p/fortheloveofthreeoranges

Outstanding photography by Photographer Shrewsbury • Shropshire • West Midlands | Nana