'Eve'

charcoal , pastel and paint on board

50cm x 40cm

This is 'Eve', mother of all mankind...or as Carl Jung described her, biological woman. Jung introduced us to the anima, the unconscious feminine side of man's personality and divided the anima into four levels, one of which was Eve. Jung's Eve is a fascinating character as she is a woman of infinite faces...this is just one of them! 

Mother and Infant

paint and charcoal on paper

50cm x 70cm

Still on the theme of archetypes, this piece represents 'the nurturing mother'. Following in the footsteps of the many and varied historic Madonna and Child representations, this image illustrates our idealised concept of motherhood. My subject, I must tell you, is not from imagination but taken from life...it's my daughter-in-law and grandson. They'd eventually fallen asleep on cushions on the floor having spent one of those 'typical' never-ending nights that parents inevitably experience with infant babies! 

Charcoal and paint

70cm x 50cm

charcoal, pastel, paint on paper

I've been continuing my exploration into combining charcoal and paint and have come up with this piece for my show 'Aspects of the Feminine' for which I'm now in the throes of making work!  I'm looking at the feminine archetype and searching for suitable characters. I love this character, she's going to be my woman of wisdom, 'Sophia'.

Class Exhibition!

This afternoon we held the private view of 'People, Places and Things', an exhibition of work by the two art groups that I teach. It was a great success and we all had a fab afternoon :) I took the photograph above towards the end of the afternoon when it was slowing down...as you can tell by the empty wine bottles! :) The photo below shows the beautiful flowers that I was given by the groups to say thankyou for teaching them...I was very touched and I thank you all :) 

Movement in line

'In Rehearsal 7'

charcoal on scored paper

50cm x 50cm

The 'In Rehearsal' series came about because of my love of dance. I was lucky enough to be invited to sit in and make drawings at a rehearsal session. As you can imagine the speed at which I had to draw was frantic as the dancers of course were constantly moving! There were very few moments of stasis! I ended up with energetic line drawings of at times, incoherent figures writhing about on my paper surface! Back in the studio I selected the more coherent figures and put together compositions attempting to depict the dancers' exquisite poise and expressive emotion and the wonderful shapes they create with their remarkably supple bodies. This is one in the series, the other I have already posted when it was showing in the exhibition 'Bodylines'.    

'Sub Rosa'

'Sub Rosa'

Charcoal, acrylic and gesso on board

60cm x 60cm

Since ancient times, the rose has been widely used as a symbol of maternal creativity, love and beauty. However, it has also been used as a sign of silence and secrecy. I discovered that 'Sub Rosa' means 'under the rose' and is used to denote confidentiality and secrecy. In the middle ages when a rose was hung from the ceiling of the council chamber, all those present at the meeting were pledged to secrecy. I found being 'under the influence' of the rose an intriguing idea and decided to make some work about it. I hope you find this piece equally intriguing. 

Steps leading into a wood

charcoal on scored paper

130cm x 70cm

This is another drawing I came across when I was sorting out my studio space. It's a large piece that I made on a trip to Germany. The drawing is of a wooded area that was close by to the house where I stayed. Finding the drawing again brought back some fond memories of my stay in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, Lincoln's twin town. I spent a week at an artists' symposium making work in a glorious studio environment with 11 others artists from all over Europe. I stayed with a lovely and very hospitable family who provided the opportunity to experience a little authentic German living. Ahhh...happy memories :)

Portrait of a Woman

charcoal on scored paper

50cmx50cm

It's been a while since my last post but in between then and now I've had six radio interviews, been to Spain and back and, not before time, reorganised and tidied my studio! During the big sort out I had a look through past drawings and came across this one. It hasn't been exhibited before and I think it may go in my next show. I made this piece using my usual process of scoring into the paper surface first without any preliminary drawing. I like the marks this way of working produces and the unpredictability of the resulting image. I have another piece to show you in the next couple of days that I've recently finished and the work on the easel right now is an abstract piece (also for the next show) which could be ready soon :)