Layer, upon Layer, upon Layer

               This is some of what January brought!

                                    And here's one I made earlier...

                           

On a Cold and Bright Day

My nose and cheeks were rosy red from my morning walk so thought I would settle down and cosy up in my ever expanding studio.

The Squirrels are coming along nicely,

and the Moorhens are nearly ready...


I am working on four small figures too, they are a little shy so I will post some progress when they are feeling ready for the world.

Winter studies

As the seasons come full circle and another cycle is completed, I found inspiration in these studies I have been working on...

A little friend of nature who knows what he wants and knows how to get it...






And this guy, looking back over the past and looking ahead to what comes next. Something I too am doing as the new year approaches...



May your coming days be happy, bright and peacful.

Thanks for popping in.

Fresh florals and far off lands

A couple of years ago I was very lucky to get a taste of some inspirational sights of Hong Kong which started off some sparks in the creative zone of my mind. I have given this plenty time to 'Brew' (something I am very good at) and have finally begun to bring these ideas to life on canvas. Here is the beginning of the first experimental piece. Still on the easel!

Meanwhile I have been enjoying the excuse to have fresh flowers around me in the studio. I don't think this is my best work and is still in progress. As a way back into painting after a year it is a good challenge to start with! I appologise for the photo quality but you get the idea... I will get some close ups soon enough.

Thanks for your attention, now go and have a fresh and adventurous day!
x

Space to play

'Do what you love and do it often'.

For me it is easier to do this more fully when my environment inspires me and allows the things I love to be nurtured and valued. In my studio the light from the garden is so inspiring. I am lucky to look out on to my own unkempt wildnerness!


and from this space has emerged...

a small water colour study of the beautiful miss pooch...


I think I have captured some of her character. She has such a warm glow-I wanted to do her justice.


and the beginning of underpainting for a small portrait study.

I have not decided how far I will take this one... sometimes I like what I find during the process and I don't feel the need to 'finish' it.


Thanks for listening x

Feeling profound. Often.

Finding your place as an artist in the world can be a long and muddy process. I am tentatively moving towars CONFIDENCE in my own art making; towards TRUST in my own creative instincts and towards a sense of VALUE in my journey to my own TRUTH.


This poem by Mary Oliver is something I keep coming back to, not only as an artist but as a human being...

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Mary Oliver

Challenging and reasuring. Perhaps.

Thanks for listening!

Well it has been a whole year since my last post!

What's up?
How are you?
Are you listening?
Shhhhhh....


In that year a lot has changed, including moving studio and setting up my own studio space in my home. This was a good move for me!

I now have permission to be creative whenever and however I want! It is a time of allowing my creativity to be part of my every day life, not someting seperate. As I have a 'day job', I didn't like that feeling of 'going to work' at the studio. I have been exploring many new things in the studio, much of which is still brewing...so you will have to wait.

However...

I have come across some pictures from a previous exhibition which I would like to share. The works were exhibited at the Foyer Gallery and Resaurant in Aberdeen a few years ago and some still exist in the same, or altered, form.

These small pieces, above, are about A5 sized and are pinned to the wall with dress making pins


These delicate 'camisoles' are made of very fine latex, embossed with vintage style patterns. Each with its unique pattern or motif, they hang on different coloured hula-hoops. As you see, these were hung with varying distances between them.


This 10m long dress is also made of latex, this time with colourful beaded lettering embedded all down the lenth of it on one side. The top section is trimmed with vintage lace.


The umbrella is hand-made with delicate latex, embossed with floral patterns. It does open up and has a trim of dainty vintage lace. It is most beautiful when held up to the light.



This dress is made of blue J-cloths, pink netting and hung on candy-striped hula hoop.



These photos are A4 size. Each depict a similar image but with subtle differences, which changes the feel of the image and the possible narratives. They are mounted simply on constuction board and are also fixed to the wall individually with pins.


This light box allows the glowing heart to shine through the latex curtain on which the apron shape is made up of paper collage pieces embedded in the latex.

The umbrella and handbag are both made of embossed latex. The bag is supported and contained in it's own red high-gloss box frame.

So that's all for now...

thanks for listening x

OPEN STUDIOS EVENT!!

Well it is all kicking off at the studio for our doors open event! Floors are swept, art is hung on the walls, wine is being chilled...



All weekend you can come down to Coburg House Studios to view and purchase a wide selection of works by professional painters, jewelers, ceramicists, printmakers and more who will be opening their studio doors to allow you to see them at work! The gallery and corridors will be filled with works for sale from Friday 6th to sunday 8th, including the official opening at 6pm Friday. See the website for more detials.


I will of course be there showing off some of my work which is mostly still 'in progress' but i hope to make the most of my first ever open studio event.

See you there!!?!!

On the easel...

This is the last Anna painting: still some work to do. The quality of the photo isn't great but it gives the idea!



and now for something totally different...




Along with the figurative work I will also be sharing some random, more abstract work that I have done... here is a taster.

Old friend

Here is the first of the three I mentioned of Anna; first started, first finished. This was the beginning of my exploration back to the more technical aspects of drawing and painting after several years of exploring other mediums; a return of my attention to light, tone, colour and composition.


I was pleased at this attenpt and welcomed the fact that I could suprise myself. On reflection now, I think that developments in how I have grown in the world in understanding and how I approach a challenge in other areas of my personal and working life, have translated themselves into my approach to painting.

Here's one I made earlier.

It seems like ages ago that I started three paintings of Anna and now I have just finished the second. It was a challenge to bring to completion but I felt relieved when I could see...yes that is it! Done. And here it is.

I will post the other two soon.

Going green...

First Sneaky Peek!

Here is the first sneaky peek at something I have been working on. The first of two figurative paintings.

...just to show some of the developments that happen in the process...













...and the bigger picture...

I'm really enjoying this one! Watch this space...

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! My hope is that this will be a place for me to reflect on my work and for you to see what I have been up to in the studio! I'd like to welcome you with some words from a poem by Derek Walcott. Some images from the studio will follow soon!

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

Derek Walcott