Feeling Floral

I cant quite believe it's almost 3 months since my last post, I really must try harder to get back into the swing of things. I have been spending quite a lot of time on my allotment this year and I am very pleased with my first crop of cut flowers. It's all a little bit experimental, I am new to allotmenting and have never grown cut flowers before. I was a bit late starting things of so am still waiting for some to flower but here are some of the usual suspects, sweet peas, cosmos, marigolds, chrysanthemums, cornflowers, euphorbia for some greenery and the little plant that looks a bit like cow parsley is called ammi visnaga.

Hello

It's been a long time since my last post, I thought I would try and do a post from my phone. I haven't tried this before so apologies if it looks rubbish.

Just a few drawings from today.

Sale Waterside Open

I am very pleased that I have had a piece of my work accepted for this years Waterside Open exhibition. I submitted a small work on paper and I am delighted with how it looks in the exhibition.

It was quite difficult to photograph because the light was behind me, side views seemed to work the best.

The exhibition is diverse as usual, although there is not much sculpture this year, the prize winners this year were mainly painters.

First prize went to Ewa Konior for her painting Garden.

Second prize went to Tilly Dagnall for her painting Maybelline.

The best in Trafford prize went to Julia Milns for her painting Three Trees.
The exhibition is on untill 24th May

Kurt Jackson The Thames Revisited

A short film of Kurt Jackson talking about his latest exhibition The Thames Revisited which was on at The Redfern Gallery.

Happy New Year

Searching For Spring Oil on Canvas 90cm x 90cm

Well it's January 2014 already, I am sure the years go faster and faster the older I get, 2013 was a good year for me creativity wise so I hope it continues in 2014.
I get a lot of my art Supplies from Jackson's and a few week ago on there blog they requested submissions from artists to take part in Reviews of the Year, I applied and fortunately was selected you can read my review of 2013 here and reviews by other artists here.
I thought the above painting was quite appropriate as Spring will probably be upon us before we have had time to recover from the New Year celebrations!! Wishing everyone a wonderful 2014 x

Moving on

I have made a tentative start in a new sketchbook, silver birch trees with there bright yellow ochre leaves set against a backdrop of blue and grey skies are the inspiration.

Breathing Space

I had hoped that once my exhibition was up and running that I would be able to spend time on my neglected blog but this doesn't seem to be happening. I am however starting to think about what I do next and as space is limited in my studio I think I need to either work smaller or maybe work on paper for a while, however it is nice to have just a little time to think, a little bit of breathing space. Here are a few inspiring things that I have come across over the past few months, starting with an artist new to me Hannelore Baron, I don't know why I have not come across her before but I find these small works and her life really poignant.

Hannelore Baron used a wide range of materials but, using predominantly textiles she made collages and box constructions. You can see more of her work at  Leslie Feely Fine Art.
Whilst researching Hannelore Baron at Leslie Feely I came across painter Kikuo Saito.

I love these freely painted abstract works, brightly coloured yet still balanced, looking at these paintings I was reminded of the beautiful works of Joan Mitchell who is one of my favourite painters.

It's well worth looking at the Joan Mitchell foundation website, it's full of information about her life and lots of good images of her work including her wonderful pastel drawings.

I will finish with a few photographs taken one evening on one of our gloriously hot days back in July.

And one of the paintings inspired by the walk. Have a good week everyone.