Art – Page 6 – Frames of Reference

Seven Trees For Seven Sisters

This optimistic little painting was given to me by Christopher Corr. I’d told him about my idea to put seven trees on the roof of the new tower at Seven Sisters in Tottenham. Seven Sisters got its name from a sacred grove of seven elms that grew there in the seventeenth century. Christopher was very enthusiastic, but it has proved more difficult to convince the tower’s owners of the benefits of having trees on their roof. What follows begins with a Twitter thread I first posted in March 2019. Continue reading “Seven Trees For Seven Sisters”

Campaign For Wool

An exhibition of 19 paintings by Christopher Corr at Salts Mill, a former Yorkshire woollen mill in Saltaire. They tell the story of the Campaign for Wool, illustrating significant events from its history. Continue reading “Campaign For Wool”

America The Beautiful

This is the Biden/Harris victory video, a great plea for unity to heal a divided nation, and a great advert for picture frames! I just couldn’t ignore it. The film makers have used the device of a picture frame to signify that which is beautiful. And that’s pretty much all of the USA, united again, they’re all in it together, I think that’s the idea. I hope it goes well. I think the acronym POTUS must be for Pictureframer Of The United States. It’s a pity they’re not great frames but hey you can’t have everything. They’re metaphorical. And inspirational. And a great reason to feel proud to be a picture framer!

The Moving Landscape

From the top of my house I have a clear view to the Severn Estuary. Storms from the south west follow the course of the river, changing the landscape by the minute, I can only watch and marvel and draw. This year, more than ever, this view has been the focus of my work. Continue reading “The Moving Landscape”

Selborne

Selborne was the perfect rendezvous, being halfway between London and Salisbury. We came down and Howard Phipps came up and we met in the middle, in a field just off Gracious Street, the car park of the Gilbert White Museum, where we transferred the contents of Howard’s car boot to ours, in preparation for his exhibition in the Rowley Gallery window. But not before a lovely sunny walk around the outskirts of the village. And this map, embedded in the vicarage wall, dated 2 June 1953, is as old as I am. Continue reading “Selborne”

The Dorset Coast

The Dorset Coast: from Chesil Beach to the Isle of Purbeck.

Living in south west Wiltshire I am frequently drawn to neighbouring Dorset to walk some of the paths along its geologically varied coastline. I like to draw or paint on location, and I subsequently develop a number of my observations into wood engravings or linocuts. Both are methods of making relief prints, the former being a very English art form developed by Thomas Bewick in the 18th Century, where the engraving is made on highly polished end grain boxwood, which on completion is inked with a roller and printed by hand, in my case using an Albion Press made in 1862. Continue reading “The Dorset Coast”

Open Country

We’ve got a new window display for October – Open Country: Wood Engravings of the Wessex Downs and Coast by Howard Phipps. It’s a display that celebrates Howard’s love of the West Country and Dorset in particular. These are patiently wrought images, slow-grown evocations carved in wood and printed in exquisite detail, they always seem to capture the essential timeless spirit of each particular place depicted. Continue reading “Open Country”

Forest Burning

A big new painting from Jelly Green. A big new fierce angry painting. A painful painting. It hurts to look, but I’m dazzled by it, I’m caught in its headlights. Jelly has found her subject and she’s not going to avert her gaze, she confronts it, rubs our noses in it. This is our future if we go on blindly supporting the ever diminishing returns of consumer capitalism. Continue reading “Forest Burning”

Keith Water

A small film about a small river.

I’d seen this delightful little film on Caught By The River, and when I asked Jonathan Gibbs if we might share it on Frames of Reference his reply was Yes, absolutely, great! Isabella spent all of lockdown with us, during which time she filled her bedroom with twigs, branches and other bits and pieces that you will see in the film. She made the herons out of wire and wood, and carved many small fish which swim through the film from start to finish. And then he showed me a website I’d not seen before, called Psyche. The words below are taken from their anonymous post. Continue reading “Keith Water”

100 Days

#100

Earlier this year, on May 23rd, Jonathan Gibbs embarked on an ambitious series of small works, a hundred meditative variations, one every day for a hundred days and each one posted regularly on Instagram. He was inspired by the 100 Days Project, an initiative started by Emma Rogan in 2011 to repeat a simple creative task every day for the duration and to record each day’s efforts. Continue reading “100 Days”