'Alison'

'Alison'

15cm x 15cm

oil on canvas panel

After many months of making charcoal, pastel and gesso drawings, (and if you remember, re-constructing drawings into mosaics) I have my oil paints out again...! Don't get me wrong, It's been exciting working in that way (and I will return to it soon), but I have to say it's good to smell that sweet fragrance of turps again! :) I have begun by re-working 'Alison' as I've always felt she needed further work as I never felt I had totally resolved her. I have softened some of the transitions of colour and placed some warmer hues into the flesh. One of the advantages of using a limited palette is that it's easier to carry on where you left off without struggling to recreate the correct colour mix. When painting the flesh, I change the blue on my palette from Ultramarine to Cerulean. Cerulean makes lovely cool flesh tints, and violet greys for some of the shadow areas. 

I'm satisfied that I've now managed to capture not only the softness in her skin tones but also the twinkle in her eye which is very much 'Alison'. :)

Pics of the opening of 'Healing Fibres'

'Healing Fibres' 

Sprinkler Factory 

 38 Harlow St., Worcester, MA, USA

The show opened on 5th October

Here are some pics of the opening.

What a fabulous gallery space!

My two pieces are on the far wall

The show opened with flamenco dancing...

   

Artists participating in the exhibition were:

Bayda Asbridge

Susan Black

Laura Cahalane

Charlotte Eckler

Jeri Gillian

Ann Hanscom

Patti Kelly

Ann Stoker

Mihoko Wakabayashi

Jill Watts

Here are my pieces 'Veil' and 'Veil 2 - the Girl with the Golden Hair' hanging either side of Bayda Asbridge's 'Kiss'

Below are a selection of pieces from the other artists in the exhibition

The opening was a resounding success and I only wish I could have been there :(  

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my dear friend Bayda for inviting me to show my work at the Sprinkler Factory and for all her hard work organising the exhibition. 

Here is a link to Bayda's Facebook page where you will find more pics of the show:  https://www.facebook.com/bayda.asbridge.7?fref=photo

Back in my studio at last!

This is the first day since our exhibition in September 'Aspects of the Feminine' that I've been in my studio working. There's been lots to catch up on but most of it's done now apart from one or two walls I promised to paint once the exhibition came down! I've started gently today by reworking a piece that in the show I called 'Feeling Nature'. I've added colour in the foreground which I feel has strengthened the composition and given the piece a definite focus. While it was hanging in the gallery I felt like taking it off the wall and working on it there and then! Teaching tomorrow....making studies for paintings with crayons, sketchbooks and IPads...should be a fun morning! :)

Pics of our Private View!

It was a brilliant evening with lots of great feedback from all the lovely people who turned out for us :) A big thankyou to everyone who came to our private view and to Alice and Emma who did a marvellous job on the wine table.

Here are some pics: 

                             Sylvia and me...you can see we're two happy artists!

All framed up and ready to go!

I've been busy putting work in frames and painting and waxing frames. You can see in this photo some of the smaller pieces going off to the show. The work in painted frames is already wrapped and ready to go. All I have to do now is print out the labels and...yay...all done! 

I'm now looking forward to seeing all my hard work in situ in the gallery space and looking forward even more to the private view on Tuesday. It's going to be a good do and I hope everyone who can will come along and partake in a glass or two of wine with us :) I'm also just about to send off my pieces to the States for the show in October...It would be nice to accompany it but hey perhaps another time :) 

'The Birth of Ophelia'

'The Birth of Ophelia'

60cm x 1200cm (24" x 48")

gesso, charcoal and pastel on board 

This last piece, which I am pleased to tell you is now complete... :) has been influenced by Sir John Everett Millais' 'Ophelia'. The painting by Millais depicts a scene from Shakespeare's Hamlet in which Ophelia's father is murdered by her lover Hamlet and as a result Ophelia drowns herself in a stream. My Ophelia on the other hand, is in the process of rebirth! She represents the feminine and creative aspects of water in the way that for aeons water has been equated with the feminine aspects of creation and nature. There is a common and recurring image in many cultures, that of the Goddess emerging from the water. So here, my Ophelia is emerging from the water only to be reborn as a Goddess..don't you just prefer happy endings!...:)

'Joan'

'Joan'

120cm x 60cm

charcoal, pastel and paint on board

Meet Jeanne d'Arc or as we know her Joan of Arc! She is also known as the Maid of Orleans and represents here the archetype of 'heroine' or 'woman devoted to a noble cause'. History states that Joan denied her femininity in order to fit in with the 'boys' on the battle field There are other 'heroines' in history whose story is similar, (Camilla for one, who fought in Italy against the Trojan hero Aeneus ) which might lead you to the conclusion that heroism is a male prerogative. Now we can't have that can we!  In my version she is portrayed as a strong, determined but nonetheless very feminine woman. She wears part of her coat of arms (a lily) on a pendant around her neck symbolising her devotion to duty and her willing sacrifice to the belief that she was to be emancipator of France. 

This piece will be part of the show in September. I have just one more piece still to make to complete the body of work for the show...nearly there!