I cycled ten miles yesterday... passed these farm buildings on my return (first noted on the outward journey)... not particularly thrilled with these sketches as they were quite rushed; about fifteen minutes or so for the first two, less for the last one...
[barn and sheds, seen from the roadside]
[barn buildings, near a bend]
[farm buildings, viewed across corner of a field]These sketches are about 8" x 11". For anyone interested in my sketching methods, I used watercolour pencils on lightly dampened paper (I carry a tiny jam jar of water). These sketches, although appearing representational, are not what I am striving for - the regional art scene is saturated with representational landscapes. It is more to do with working quickly 'on location' which I think re-awakens a different part of my creative brain, quite separate from an isolated studio practice largely driven by concepts and processes. I am interested too in the prevailing art aesthetic-sisation of mundane, rural scenes. I am pondering whether to use my amazon voucher to purchase a book on Andrew Wyeth's landscapes...
Andrew Wyeth, House near Chadd's Ford...Today, after visiting the Harleston Gallery, I stopped by the local allotments - there will be an art & allotments themed exhibition in the future... I captured a couple of quick abstracts, looking for bold interactions of colour, both of which (here) contained the complementary colours blue and orange...
and here, I just thought the arrangement of the three different water butts placed next to the potting shed made a pleasing composition, a still life of sorts...
...The HWAT Mini Artworks & Showcase exhibition is now open...
I am not sure that my painting Fenn (pictured left) looks quite right hung so close to a small etching and a life drawing, but it is currently in a fine gallery and not on my own wall (which is nice)... the wall of mini-artworks looks really appealing - many art bargains to be had at only £25 each...
Click here to read about HWAT's Mini-Works and Showcase Exhibition...It's also the last weekend of the Artworks exhibition at Wingfield Barns Arts Centre
on artworks and deckchairs
Passed by the Artworks exhibition at Wingfield Barns Arts Centre this weekend - this is firstly a shameless plug for my own work (it's my blog after all)... but the rural setting is fabulous - nature quietly intertwined within the traces of agriculture. I like to think that my work, Farmscape II looks quite at home here...
[Farmscape II, 2010, mixed media on canvas, 60cm x 120cm]
[a detail of surface textures]
[another detail of surface textures]Found out I had sold a couple of small paintings which was food for the soul.There is an interesting fund-raising exhibition of art on deckchairs in the adjacent barn... some really good ones (such as Dave Mckee's, the creator and illustrator of Mr Benn) and one or two perhaps not so good ones (technically speaking), but all will be auctioned off to raise money for the St Elizabeth Hospice... My favourite was the one created by the artist Tony Casement, all sand-encrusted with little seagull footprints, a deckchair that would be least coveted by the sun-lover, in the social etiquette (or war) of deckchair and sun-lounger acquisition. Very pleased to see that three Artworks artists have customised deckchairs in this exhibition too: Eleonora Knowland, Elaine Nason and Janet French...I wished I had stopped longer to observe and take some photographs of the old barns' structures but I had to get back to deliver my canvas to the HWAT Art exhibition, which opens on monday... you can read more about that particular painting, Edgescape: Fenn, here......The Artworks‘ Spring exhibition is currently showing at the Wingfield Barns Arts Centre until 25th April 2010, open daily 10am – 5pm.HWAT Showcase Exhibition of Art and Mini-works will be on at the Harleston Gallery from 19th April to 30th April 2010.
artworks, a private view
It was the private view of the second Spring exhibition of Artworks yesterday evening. It was very well attended with well over 150 guests arriving over the two or so hours - all helped no doubt by a lovely, balmy spring evening.
Farmscape II, 2010, mixed media on canvasThere was a policy not to take photographs of the artworks, but I sneaked this little photograph with my mobile phone just as we left. You can read more about this abstract painting here. I also have three smaller paintings on show, together with some mounted artworks in one of the browsers and some little cards in the gallery shop.It was good to meet and talk with lots of people. I bumped into someone that I see at most private views and she remarked as such (I don't think she realised I was actually an exhibitor, even though I wore a badge) - so I replied that it was my professional occupation to attend such events, but she was free to enjoy the art and the generous hospitality at her leisure. I even met somebody who had bought some of my work many years ago from a little solo exhibition that I had at Gallery44 in Aldeburgh.I think that my main work, Farmscape II, looked a little sombre compared to the other more colourful works on show, but I was a reassured by another artist who said that it looked quite minimal and stylish - and that the point of the exhibition is to showcase the variety of work by Artworks members. Given that some of the inspiration for this abstract painting is the mud, grit and grime of the farm, then perhaps when seen out of that context it succeeds in my attempt to isolate surfaces from their mundane locations - where there's muck...
The rural setting of the barns is quite beautiful in its welcoming and calm atmosphere, full of history but not at all quaint. As we were all leaving I took this photograph of the courtyard... I have actually exhibited here before, back in late 2004, in an environmental art exhibition entitled Land and Light...The Artworks' Spring exhibition is currently on at the Wingfield Barns Arts Centre from 10th to 25th April 2010, open daily 10am – 5pm.