Private View New English Art Club

Private View,  Mall Galleries, In front of the 'Scholars Wall' my work (12 small pieces) on right

People kept asking me if I was nervous before the Private View. The answer was 'no'. I hoped the work would speak for itself and all the members were so kind to me I was just excited and trying to enjoy every moment.

My day began by rendezvousing with Jane and Jo on the train. We made our way to the The Mall Galleries, arriving by noon. The atmosphere was wonderful.  There were many people and more red dots were starting to appear. I had sold the little egg tempera of Dawn at the 'first sight' exhibition on Tuesday night so had already exceeded my expectations!

I went over to Messum's to meet Annabel and Patrick for 3pm.  Rose Hilton's vibrant work was wonderful to see even though they were busy adding other artists to the exhibition.  I was wearing my exhibitor badge and David Messum kept looking at me so I explained.  He had been at the critics' lunch the day before (as had I) and had been trying to think how he knew me… it was all rather surreal. When I told Paul Wuensche (other scholar), he and I joked that we should make a habit of wearing exhibitor's badges as a rule.

Pauline arrived 5 ish and she went straight to my wall and was very excited to share that I had sold another piece, this time it was the image that is in the catalogue of Tiziana, labeled 'untitled'  Pauline, Annabel Patrick and I made our way to the drinks table and clinked glasses. Figgy, Jonny, Livvy Padfield and Kate Hills joined our convivial group. 

At 6:30 Richard Pikesley, president of the NEAC, then Sir David Clementi (Chairman of the BBC) addressed us, awarded prizes and the new scholars were announced.

I had many wonderful conversations with members and visitors between Monday and Thursday but perhaps my most thrilling was when Melissa Scott Miller came to find me to tell me that Anthony Eyton wanted to speak to me. According to Melissa he had spent a long time looking at my wall and when I spoke to him he spoke encouragingly and enthusiastically about my pieces, calling me a 'really wonderful artist'. He told me his work was up high at the RA Summer Exhibtion this year and I promised to look for it. Nothing could have prepared me for that encounter. 

Sir David Clementi at Mall Galleries NEAC exhibition 2018

And there is an afterword: On Friday I met Lesley and Ian en route to Wales from Rome to bring them to the exhibition.  I took an early train down and went to see Gabriella's exhibition in Fulham.  Gabriella is one of the new scholars. As I was preparing to get off at South Kensington to change to the Wimbeldon train, I locked eyes with someone I recognised… it was Anthony Eyton again, on his way to the V&A about a commission! He remembered my name, having as he said only 'met me in the past 24 hours' and repeated all the nice things he'd said about me and my work to the man who was accompanying him to the V & A. I had to pinch myself.

Countdown to the New English 2018 Exhibition

Today was the hanging of the New English Art Club's annual exhibition, and I was there! It was great fun to see how the show gets hung and to meet a few more of the members. Paul (the other scholar) and I will share a wall and we arranged our work and affixed labels to the back. All the while members were carrying paintings from one place to another to see what worked best. It was amazing to see how fabulous the little wall looked hung and slowly other walls appeared.  I left before our was hung but will be back tomorrow to see it completed!

I picked up a catalogue while there and was obviously delighted to have my work and some words in it!

Virtual Open Studio

Slow drawing on a blustery Afternoon

Spring Flower Ceremony, pastel on paper, 16 x 16cm

The forecast for rain never materialised (until now) but it was dark, cold and windy and I had house tasks to help with. I had planned to walk around the shore and to stop and draw, but who wouldn't be inspired by the collections here - what a fall-back position. Mom lit a fire and I set something up in one of the living rooms.  I don't have much yellow at my house.  I found a Kantha with a yellow panel and a wild euphorbia to plunk in the lustreware creamer.  Aren't those figurines so cherry blossom spring? It got darker and darker and I didn't want to put on any other light. I can see that there are things I need to change in a few places but it's been the perfect way to spend my final afternoon on the island.

Changing Rooms a Change of Weather

From Ben's Room, pastel on paper 16 x 16 cm

Another sketch wedged into my day.  This time it was almost 4pm and I moved my easel to Ben's room. The light was gorgeous and I didn't take a photo of the scene when I began. (note to self, always take a before, during and after picture). The light cut ribbons across the grass.  It was moving but I was nearly keeping up with it … that is until the fog rolled in and the light disappeared and everything flattened.  I continued drawing because I hadn't solved the trees.  There is more that I wasn't able to look at again and compare but suddenly it was nearly 6pm and what I was looking at was nothing like what I had started with.

Looking Down on the Garden

View from Katy's Room, pastel on paper, 16 x 16 cm

I was determined to fit a drawing into my day today and as I was getting dressed I realised I have never drawn from an upstairs window. It was 8:30 am and the shadows made sharp diagonals and that appealed to me.  There were reflections on the glass to contend with and I had to sit down to avoid the window frame obscuring my view… I always stand.  It felt complex as I worked but I tried to think about the rhythm of light and not to get too bogged down with naming things. 

Cold drawing in Morning May Light

Cypress Boatshed and Atlantic, pastel on paper, 16 x 16cm

Before my second day of gardening, I went to the barn and retrieved my easel and pastels. I love coming back to my Maine kit.  I have things organised differently and it feels like a new beginning.  The views change a little every year too. Since drawing, Ben has pruned the cypress.  Today he will reshaped the box 'balls'. 

It was 8:30 and cold.  I didn't want to go in and get more clothes because I knew the light would change beyond recognition so by the time I came in my hands were tingling. There was dew on the grass that had got in through the holes in my crocs. And the fog rolled in, hiding the water and the trees as I made my last few decisions.

The Shapes Marilyn Makes!

Marilyn is a remarkable model who can hold the most outrageous poses with precision and quiet. She has long toned legs the body of a former ballet dancer. Today we began with a 15 minute pose followed by a series of 3 or so minute poses. I worked in colour to begin with and have not included those here.  The four below are a sample of what Marilyn got up to and the one above was a twenty minute pose.

The Land, The Land

oil on panel, 15 x 20cm

It got almost hot today and I had a whole studio day.  I gathered my plein air 'kit' and walked until I found a vista that interested me. I began with a tonal study.  I was on an information gathering outing.  I had two small (6 x 8 inches) gessoed panels and thought I might be able to record something that would be useful in a studio painting later. That's what I'm exploring at the moment, using drawings and oil sketches as a starting point for a painting.

oil on panel, 15 x 20cm

Back in the studio I worked for a few hours on my four-canvas painting and when I'd resolved that for the time being, I turned back to my London river view.  I really liked it in its unfinished state so was quite hestitant to return to it, but the only thing to do is to keep going… the image below isn't really true to colour.  The sky is a light cerulean and the water is a muddy aqua. I used what I had so far, tried to remember what I felt about the place, used my drawings and my other oil sketch and referred to a photo. 

oil on canvas, 22 x 30cm

A few weeks ago I I drew in the same spot as above but the barge had gone and the sun was out.

pastel on paper, 10 x 6 cm

Decisions Decisions

Yesterday afternoon and today was about a second, third, forth … pass of colour.  It was about deleting confusing detail and deciding where to paint thinly, where to glaze and where to show strokes. It was about choosing a way to bring things forward and send things back.

If you know me  you'll know I say that I hate making decisions.  Huh! Many more decisions necessary.

Bigger and looser

I painted for a few hours on these four canvases that in total make a 60 x 60 cm painting. It took me about an hour to arrange the set up, with four canvases in mind, and yet it is a very similar arrangement to the series of pieces across media that I began at the start of the week.  Mostly I have shifted the colour. Last night was the opening of the SOS show at the Apex.  It was a fine event and I was impressed with the scope of the work. Seeing the variety along with the recent rejection seems to have freed me - long may it continue as I march towards resolution.

Drawing through

Flowers on a Grey Day, pastel on paper, 28 x 28 cm

It was another one of those rainy days today. It was also the day I'd hear about an important open submission.  It's hard to get anything done on days when I'm waiting to hear.  But I wanted to change things around a little with the stilllife I had painted and approach it with pastels. I put some cloth over part of the existing background, shortened the daffodils, cut some new hellebores and draped a blue cloth napkin over the red box.  I put some fishing line across the back and hung one of my painted paper collages over it. The beginning marks were awful and I nearly quit repeatedly. The true colour on the right is orange and that flummoxed me for a time.

Once I'd heard I hadn't had either of the pieces I'd carried down to London on Saturday accepted, instead of allowing myself to wallow, I grew determined.  I knew that I would feel awful for a little while but that that would ebb and the best way around it was to draw through. 

And here is that other painting, finished.

Yellow things

I wrote my blurb for the NEAC catalogue today and chose an image to send too.  Summing up the year was a little tricky, but good. One of the things I thought about and added before I pushed send was something I have realised about me. My process is about discovery.  I don't work in a totally premeditated way but it's also not quite the 'not knowing' way I was taught.  I realise I paint and draw to understand. So, I might set something up to test but I won't know where the painting and drawing will take me or even what I really want to find out until it's nearly over or maybe even later.  It's intuitive but I am discovering and learning as I go and that's why observation has mostly been my starting point. Knowing that feels good!

I continue to read the book I mentioned in the previous post, learning some things I guess I really ought to know…  I have been looking at art in galleries, books and museums checking to see if those RULES are hard and fast and the answer is a resounding 'NO'. I went to the Monet at the National on Friday and lo and behold Monet places his subject slap bang in the middle sometimes. His skies might be darker than the ground in some paintings too. Thinking about those things is never a bad thing, though. 

Today I wanted to test out one of my nine new canvas covered rabbit skin glue/gesso panels and decided to try to see if I could use the colour yellow in my composition (lots of daffodils at the moment). In general I find yellow and red difficult colours to use together so not quite sure why I did that except the things were nearby and once I'd arranged them they seemed to work.  I used the basic palette I was taught to use at Stanford and did not use any black. I loved working on the panel and Louise Balaam's advice to put a final coat of rabbit skin glue over the gesso was brilliant!  I will come back to this tomorrow and consider that blue glass vase on the right.

Drawing to take notes for painting

Spring Weather NF, pastel on paper, 10 x 16 cm

John Dobbs gave me a challenge when I visited him in his studio earlier in the year.  And then when he led the workshop painting the Thames in the freezling snowy weather, what he said made sense.  Today was the first day I have had time to begin the challenge.  To prepare, I have been reading Mitchell Albala's Landscape painting: essential concepts and techniques for plein air and studio practice. 

It was windy today and the weather was threatening rain but I lugged my easel out in the field and began by making a few thumbnail sketches.  I had the sun to my left and the wind was blowing the clouds northwest. I thought about four values: the sky, the ground, the slopes and the verticals (from my reading) and that made sense! In terms of composition, it isn't the most enlightened subject matter but because it's close by I can visit the spot regularly, something John suggests I will need to do.

What John thinks I should do next and forever more is to use my sketches/drawings to paint from.  He tells me that as I paint I will discover what information I haven't collected and then will need to go back and get it in order to paint something meaningful. When I painted the Thames that's what I did and I discovered I do remember things and I suspect that muscle just needs conditioning in order to use it properly. We'll see.

When the Title Comes First

Add caption

There's a Suffolk Open Studios group show coming up soon and I had to submit my titles weeks ago.  I am always determined to show new work, even if what I showed before only got one outing. This time I chose the titles for the work based on some things I had done recently.  You know the thing when you like something right after you do it or you think it will grow on you, only to find it just doesn't really work.  That was what happend with my titles for SOS this time. I'm just not sure about the pieces I made associated with the titles so this week's job was to see what I could do with the titles. The titles I was working to were: Jam and Book at Breakfast, and Daffs and Lemons.   The previous blog post has something I arranged to fit the title Daffs and Lemons and today it was the other title's turn. 

Still life and landscape

Egg tempera on panel, 16 x 23 cm

Thursday and Saturday was egg tempera day.  I wanted to change the face on the buddha but in the end reverted to a version of a buddha.  A laughing Buddha briungs good luck.

pastel on paper 13 x 15 cm

Today I reinterpreted the still life and added some lemons and daffodils because I need a picture with that title for an upcoming show. Now I have two to choose from!

Barns I, Akua Intaglio monotype

 Sunday was a monotype day. I made prints all day, hoping that I would love something enough to replace the print that sold at the mini print exhibtion in Stow on the Wold.

Barns II, Akua Intaglio monotype

Three Media, three models

Feven, egg tempera on panel 16 x 23cm

Last week my portrait group came to my house.  Feven, the model, is visiting from Sweden and we swoon about her beautiful red braids. I dressed her in a chocolate velvet top. Each of the egg tempera panels was begun in a three hour session and completed the following day, laboriously. Both were sanded down mid working. I put a wash of colour thinned with egg over each area of colour so that the whole surface is evenly coated and shiny with egg at the end.  Who knows if that's the right way to work?

Feven, egg tempera on panel 16 x 23cm

Esme ink on paper 10 x 15.5 cm

Esme ink on paper 10 x 15.5 cm

Esme ink on paper 10 x 15.5 cm

Esme ink on paper 10 x 15.5 cm

 I took my new bottle of india ink to drawing today and mixed eight tones in a muffin tin using a dropper, ink and water.  I forgot my paper towels and had chosen questionable brushes but sometimes the struggle reaps better rewards…  The same is true with last week's monotypes at The Mall Galleries Learning centre. I didn't have time to roll the ink on the plate.  My travelling easel is warped so the plate doesn't work well unless I go down to the floor to roll. I couldn't find my sock for a while either and it was a thick cotton sock, not ideal for removing ink.  The ink had leaked out everywhere and my hands were inky to start too! We did a series of 5 minute poses and getting something done in 5 minutes with this medium is challenging!

Akua Intaglio on paper 10 x 15 cm,  NEAC life drawing

Akua Intaglio on paper 10 x 15 cm,  NEAC life drawing

Akua Intaglio on paper 10 x 15 cm,  NEAC life drawing