Finding the balance in shifting light

From Deck to Barn, pastel on paper 6 x 6"

On a sunny day, midday, the light paints lines across the grass as quickly as you can note them in pastel, and then they shift. 

The way I work is to get an overall impression across the page and then to measure the betweenness over and over until the whole thing feels right. That shifting light is a real challenge. And which moment to try to freeze time is always the trick. I read somewhere that you could tell the weather by Constable's skies.  My time and light is not nearly as exact and I am really interested in the colours and the shapes, not recording things accurately so much. My time is a shifting time. 

Today I enjoyed the loose way I was seeing things.  Before I began I decided to foreshorten the lawn as a compromise to composition.  Perhaps letting go of the reality helped. I chose 7-8 colours and didn't add anything even though I longed for more diversity of green.  Limiting helped me today.
SaveSave

Under the Apple Tree 6 x 6" pastel on paper

I'm back in Maine, enjoying the riot of colour around me: the backdrop of the sea and the plants. Today I picked a bouquet from my mother's September garden, fashioned a table under the apple tree and sorted out the chaos of colour I had arranged.

Dahlia an Blue Hydrangea 6 x 6" pastel on paper

When I arrived I stood with my back to the left of the oven, delighting in the plants on the island and the light pouring in through the kitchen window.

Light on Livingroom Floor 6 x 6" pastel on paper

On another day it was the light on the wood floor and the kantha's hung over the folding screen that stopped me in my tracks.

The Art of Acadia

I was very excited to receive my copy of The Art of Acadia yesterday and have barely had time to peruse it, let alone read if from cover to cover, but I can't wait to do that! Carl and David Little have put together their map of artists who have brought Acadia (Maine) to life over the years and they included me and one of my drawings!

Mini Monotypes of Suffolk at the East Anglia Mini Print Exhibition

Delighted that all three of my mini prints were accepted into the East Anglia Mini Print Exhibition which will be held at the new Garage Gallery in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. The exhibition runs from 23-28 September at:

The Garage Gallery

152 The High Street  

Aldeburgh Suffolk

Opening Times

Fri 23  -  11am - 7pm            Mon 26 - 11am - 5pm

Sat 24  -  11 am - 7pm           Tues 27 - 11am - 5pm

Sun 25 -  11am - 4pm            Wed 28 - 11am - 3pm

Lesley Jackson, from Red Dot art consultancy, is curating the exhibition and has a facebook page where you can see more about it here: https://www.facebook.com/eastanglia.miniprint and a website here: http://www.reddotartconsultancy.co.uk/east-anglia-mini-print
I think the monotype above will be my mini print for the browser, inspired by a recent visit to Wyken Vineyard.

Lemon and Pomegranate before the rain

Lemon and Pomegranate 24x24cm

They were forcasting rain and strong winds, so I went out and cut three bouquets, knowing that my precious flowers would be battered.  For me, the process of fixing things in colour, light and form is enough.  Once I have done that I can let go and feel no regret.

I gessoed a 25 x 25cm piece of Fabriano on both sides so it would lie flat when I painted a pastel ground over it.  I used a pinky tint. The objects were selected and placed in the way I work when I am collaging abstractly, thinking purely of objects as blocks of colour. I worked from what I saw but I also tried to listen to the image that was appearing.  The left side is not as I saw it but what I think the painting needed. I kept feeling as if I were tightening up and was disappointed that I wasn't responding in the way I had hoped… I am taken by the work of John Bokor at the moment: http://kingstreetgallery.com.au/artists/john-bokor/ I am sharing the studio at the moment with our daughter and her friend and I wanted to be painting (where I think I can be a bit freer) but opted to draw instead because it takes less space, etc. Today I found I needed to describe accurately as well as to move around plutting colour down.  That's usually what happens when I haven't been working in a while. In the end I thought Gillian Ayres meets Jane Freilicher, or something.
SaveSave
SaveSave

No bigger than 10cm challenge

There's an exhibition coming up (The East Anglian Mini Print 2016) in Aldeburgh to coincide with the Food Festival in the Garage Gallery. I have had so much on lately I didn't think I'd submit anything for it, but I have had some reminders and in the end I ordered some teeny tiny plates in the nick of time. I've applied my Inspired By Becker sensibilities to these 10.5 x 7.5 cm monotypes and will work on the 10cm square fomat next to see how that feels.  It's a juried show, so no idea if anything will be selected, but am having fun exploring the very small plate.  

Broadbeans and Sky, walking Lyra

Suffolk Light, Broadbeans and Road - monotype on zinc - Akua Ink on Fabriano 8 x 6"

Maybe I'm more aware of the landscape here in Suffolk because I am looking for inspiration.  They are harvesting the rape between showers and the barley and wheat are starting to rustle.  The broad beans are still green and this view along my walk with Lyra stopped me in my tracks.  I don't understand how the broadbeans stand tall.  The sky speaks of weather and the road pulls me forward .