'Think Loudly in your Quiet Mind'

'Think loudly in your quiet mind.'

Charcoal, pastel and gesso on paper

40cm x 50cm

This is the latest piece in the series. The title is again, a line from one of my poems. As the written word and the visual image become increasingly interwoven, you might wonder what comes first the work or the title? And you might also wonder whether it really matters. To answer the first question...most of the time I make the work and find a title for the piece after. Occasionally, I find a title and make the work to fit. In answer to the second question...I don't believe it does matter :)

'The Ending'

graphite, pastel and gesso on paper

40cm x 50cm

'Silently, reluctantly,

Break free from tomorrow'

The contrasting layers of dark and light are less integrated and more apparent in this piece. It appears as if the white that masks the subject is dissolving away and revealing the person behind which I hope captures the sense of meaning in the line of the poem. When I'm working in this way, I have to build up quite a bit of courage at times in order to paint over what I might feel is an already successful drawing. I'm making the under drawings with as much consideration and resolve as I would if I wasn't intending to paint over them. I can't afford to 'skimp' on the preliminary drawing as it just wouldn't work. Sadly, I do have a failure or two along the way which just so's you know, go straight in the bin...!  :) 

Second piece for 'Healing Fibres'

'Veil 2'

40cm x 50cm

mixed media

This is my second piece 'Veil 2' for the exhibition 'Healing Fibres' and my last post before I go to Spain for a week. It's a working holiday but here's hoping it will be more holiday than work! :)

'Healing Fibres' - Exhibition in Worcester, Massachusetts

45cm x 50cm

mixed media on paper

I've reworked this piece for an exciting new exhibition 'Healing Fibres' organised in Worcester, Massachusetts by fibre artist Bayda Asbridge. The exhibition is an annual event to raise awareness and discussion about political, environmental, gender, racial, medical, human rights and other societal issues. The theme for this year is violence against women. This image is to be one of my pieces. I have included threads in the drawing and placed a layer of slashed and distressed netting in front of the image to act as a veil. Both of my pieces will be 'veiled'. I should have the other piece ready to post tomorrow.

'Brigid'

50cm x 40cm

charcoal, pastel and paint on board

I'm now in the process of pursuing the feminine archetype as it appears in myth.This is Brigid. She was a powerful, if not the most powerful goddess in the Celtic pantheon. Another name for her is 'Bride'. She was a triple goddess - Maid, Mother and Crone. Her face in my painting is from imagination. All I knew when I started drawing her was that I wanted her image to be in profile.  I placed the crown of flowers on her head as a symbol of the Celtic connection to the land. 

'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! 

'Bodylines'

'In Rehearsal 3'

50cm x 40cm

charcoal on scored paper

This is one of the pieces I have hanging in a joint exhibition of work called 'Bodylines' currently showing at 'Gallery at St Martins' 37b Hungate, St Martin's Square (behind the Cheese Society), Lincoln. The exhibition is on for this week only and finishes on Sunday.  If you like figurative work you'll love this show!  So please come along and take a look if you are in the area! There are drinks and nibbles on offer this Saturday afternoon 8th March 1pm - 4pm.

Drawings from yesterday's life drawing session

2 x A2 

graphite on paper

                SOLD

These are two 20 min drawings from yesterday evening's life drawing session that I attended. I had twice as much time for the last one of the evening and didn't get it finished! I clearly work better under pressure!

My entry for an exhibition.

'Looking Back'

50cm x 40cm

I took my entry over today for submission to the open show at Ropewalk Gallery in Barton-on-Humber. This piece, 'Looking Back', is from my 'Modern Woman' series in which the image has been scored into the paper without any preliminary pencil marks. It's a very risky way of working as the image made with the scored marks only becomes clearly visible when charcoal is applied over the surface of the paper. I then work with the resulting image. It's risky but exciting to work in this way as it provides an element of unpredictability and the freedom and opportunity to move right away from the starting point. You can see another piece from the series, 'British Girl in Turkey', if you go to my Facebook page and look at the cover photo at the top of the page. Click here for the link.

Hope you're all having a great bank holiday weekend!