I visited Andrew Walton a couple of months ago when I was in Oxford to see his exhibition and at his house I discovered a hoard of treasured relics. Hollow stones suggesting Henry Moore maquettes, recollections prompted by Liam Hanley a few days earlier. Continue reading “Hag Stones”
Category: Art
California Etching
Pallant House in Chichester has been mentioned on this blog more than once. It has a fantastic permanent collection and over the years has presented some wonderful touring exhibitions. A year or so ago I saw an exhibition which brought together two artists I really admire, Gwen John and Celia Paul, similar I suppose because they might be thought of as being a bit reclusive. Continue reading “California Etching”
Why I Depict Birds In My Work
The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity.
Alberto Giacometti
I graduated from art college in 2008 having specialised in drawing and painting. It had been a challenging experience and I stumbled into the real world with a sense that I had been existing in a bubble for five years. I was determined to become an artist, to retain my creative integrity and to develop and further the skills I had gained at college. My degree show was packed full of birds and animals, but at this point my inspiration was taken from drawings of the old Victorian cabinets of the Chambers Street museum in Edinburgh. Continue reading “Why I Depict Birds In My Work”
A Cup Of Sue
I first met Sue Ashworth in the mid 90s when I moved to Hove and rented space in a communal studio. She and her then partner were doing a commission for a Brighton pub. It turned out the pub owner wanted a ‘Boyle Family’ type of thing. Sue’s partner (a sculptor-cum-troubleshooter carpenter extraordinaire) asked me if I knew anything about the work of the Boyles. I said yes, their techniques for replicating 3D slices of our planet were legendary – and something of a guarded mystery. Continue reading “A Cup Of Sue”
Arrivals & Departures
This is the back wall of the showroom at The Rowley Gallery. I felt I should post this photograph on Frames of Reference to celebrate the arrival of eight new prints from Gail Brodholt because it’s rare for us to have so many at one time. They usually depart very quickly. Continue reading “Arrivals & Departures”
Seascapes & Seescapes
Two exhibitions, one in Greenwich, another in Margate, both featuring paintings by J.M.W. Turner, both spectacular. The image above is a watercolour from the Tate Collection, Harbour Scene at Sunrise, possibly Margate, so let’s begin in Margate. Continue reading “Seascapes & Seescapes”
Knots & Dabberlocks
Bee-Composed
My big sister Lily Hunter Green is a musician and visual artist based between Brighton and Suffolk. She’s currently working on an art installation project called ‘Bee-Composed’, which involves working with an apiarist and a sculptor to adapt a redundant piano into a working beehive from which she will then harvest the sounds of the bees interacting with the strings and the visual footage recorded from within the piano. This will form part of an exhibition later in the year and an original EP. Continue reading “Bee-Composed”
The Uncanny
This is a true story and it happened on Rosslyn Hill in Belsize Park, one evening a few years ago, though the pictures you see are not from there, no. These haunted trees are from the rookeries of the notebook, this winter’s trees signalling to each other through the pages. Continue reading “The Uncanny”
Rembrandt’s Frame Maker
We recently reframed Rembrandt’s Frame Maker, an engraving by John Dixon published in 1769 by John Weston, after a portrait by Rembrandt of Herman Doomer painted in 1640. Continue reading “Rembrandt’s Frame Maker”