AS many as 130 artists are taking part in Secret Spaces and Hidden Gems: North Yorkshire Open Studios 2012 over the next two weekends.

A preview exhibition, the similarly entitled Secret Spaces, Hidden Gems, is running already in the restored Edwardian Ambulatory Arcade at the Royal Hall, in Harrogate, where work by participating artists will be showcased until June 17 from noon to 3pm on weekdays and noon to 5pm at weekends.

Studios ranging from front rooms to blacksmith’s forges and farmyards will be open tomorrow and Sunday and June 16 and 17 from 10.30am to 5.30pm, offering the chance to watch artists and craftsmen at work and to buy contemporary crafts, furniture, paintings, prints and sculpture directly from the maker. Above all, visitors can see artwork within the environment it was created and the landscape that inspired it.

The North York Moors and coast are the primary stimuli for Debbie Loane’s drawings, on show in her studio at the Lund Gallery on the outskirts of Easingwold.

Martin Huxter also has his studio at the Lund Gallery, having relocated from central Vienna to rural North Yorkshire. Natural history is his main theme but the birds and animals he paints often serve as symbols or metaphors for something else.

Entirely self-taught artist Rayford Holroyd works in Alne, on the rural fringes of York, drawing inspiration from both the landscape and an eclectic mix of new and historic architectural features.

In the nearby village of Flawith, Neil McBride’s incisive paintings are heavily populated with impressionistic renderings of people at play.

“I’m opening up my studio to give visitors a rare opportunity to discuss my art practice and the price of fish,” says Neil, who points out that many studios, including his, also will be open all week by appointment.

“I’m really excited about this year’s event as I have lots of new work on show, despite the fact that people are buying my ‘particle paintings’ faster than I can paint them.”

Much of the adventure over the two weekends will lie in tracking down the studios using the event guide. Full details of all artists, workshops and secret tea parties in the eighth North Yorkshire Open Studios can be found online at nyos.org.uk and a free studio guide can be sourced from the Gargrave-based organisers, Art Connections, on 01756 748529 or by emailing info@art-connections.org.uk