Trump Destabilises and Antagonises UK. May Asserts Herself. Our Open Studio Suffers Sport and Heat

Artwork 'Amoeba'

I've deliberately left a couple of days to cover the Trump visit to the UK as his position is constantly changing as he plays his destabilisation card again. It began with an interview with The Sun where he intimated that the White Paper, that Prime Minister Theresa May had negotiated with her cabinet, would mean the that the UK could not get a trade deal with the US. He also praised Boris Johnson. Apparently the news came out just as he was sitting down with Theresa May for dinner at Chequers. The next day he was all charm and praise for the Prime Minister in her presence. His visit evinced major demonstrations against him in London, Edinburgh and near his Scottish golf club, where  70% of the populations views him unfavourably.

His whole visit became major news, and again left his hosts wondering in which direction he was going to jump next. Tellingly, it was against the EU, Russia and China, all described as Foes before he set off on his flight to meet President Putin of Russia in Helsinki.

Prime Minister May appears to have weathered both the storm of the Trump visit AND the resignations of Johnson and David Davis from her cabinet. Major Brexiteers are beginning to make noises, but it looks as if the PM is relying on the fact that she is the only one with concrete proposals in the White Paper.

Our days before the Weekend were spent in final preparations for our first Cambridge Open Studio Weekend. Which arrived with a blaze of heat, the World Cup and Wimbledon Finals, The Duxford Airshow and the Big Weekend in Cambridge. Visitor numbers were therefore low compared to previous years. Sales were low, but we were rewarded with some interesting conversations and unexpected shared interests with visitors.

The Amoeba sculpture relied on visitors to animate it, which they did with a little encouragement, resulting in the gif animation above.

Our hopes for a bit of rain and a cooler next weekend to bring out the visitors appears to be disappearing , if the changing weather forecast is any thing to go by.