Friday 30 March 2018

Colour Theory

I am currently working on my new painting 'Hinaki' in my pop-up studio at the Babylon Gallery.
As usual, I am testing out my ideas on a series of small canvases.
Some visitors seemed interested and one little girl asked me why there were no bright colours in the picture. I tried to explain that I had used earth red and a blue/black to represent the mother and father gods in a myth I had heard about. The white stripes symbolised the son god who was trying to escape.
She looked disappointed enough, so I didn't elaborate further that the patterns represented the tears of the albatross when their chicks had flown away.
For more information on the exhibition 'Art Opposites' see the NEWS AND REVIEWS page on my website.

Friday 23 March 2018

It's Alright

It was a cold, snowy night but luckily we still managed to attract over 100 visitors to the PV of our exhibition 'Art Opposites' the other evening at the Babylon Gallery.
I even managed to sell most of my preliminary canvases and a couple of prints.
My grandson (who is ten) penned 'It's alright' in the visitors book but my granddaughter wrote 'fabulous' and did a cartwheel across the floor, once the crowds had thinned.
 She even did a lovely drawing in my sketchbook (I have a pop-up studio in the gallery) which could of been of me or her?
She's six and my greatest fan.

Friday 16 March 2018

On Parade

It's a bit disconcerting to all one's work being paraded through the streets of Ely but that's what happened to mine, earlier in the week.
Volunteers from the Babylon Gallery had come to collect some of my paintings to start to put up our show 'Art Opposites' which starts later TODAY.
They managed to get them there safely and have spent the rest of the week putting them up. Everyone kept complaining about how heavy the paintings were but I guess that's what happens when you have them framed under glass or Perspex.
Yesterday I staggered along with the wedding cake to place beside my painting 'Bicycle Thieves' and this morning I need to take in all the other objects which I have used in the paintings  on display.
 Lets hope it stops raining. 

Thursday 8 March 2018

Homage To Me

'Homage To Ted' was the title of an Email my nephew, Magnus sent out to the family, recently.
It turned out he had been doing a lesson in English with his foreign students and they were looking for words to describe an artist.
Naturally, his thoughts turned to me. Words such as 'eccentric', 'reclusive' and 'absent-minded' were illustrated.
 To describe eccentric, Magnus recounted how I used my 1931 Morris Minor to go shopping in Tescos (though in reality I am more likely to go on my 1940 bicycle) and as a 'reclusive', painting  in my tiny studio. This maybe true but I am always popping out for a coffee and a chat.
After much banter from the family, Yve asked if it could be brought to a halt, as all this talk was bad for my ego.

Friday 2 March 2018

Snow Angels

With all this snow around I suggested to my students that they might like to make snow angels - though I don't think the Chinese students had ever heard of them!
I was reminded of children making angel shapes in the snow (flapping your arms and legs up and down - if you have never done it) in Spain when we went to my nephew's christening and he didn't turn up because the weather was so bad. The negative shape the snow makes once one has climbed out of it seemed a perfect metaphor for an absent child.
This image was the start of a painting I made several years ago entitled 'Snow Angels and No Angels' which you can see  on the HOME page of my website. There are five snow angels, five corn dollies and five sand mermaids in the sequence.
If you want to see them separately  go to the PRINTS FOR SALE page.