Rowley Gallery Blog
I like to travel and paint in France. It’s a big country full of surprises and contrasts. There are beautiful places to see in the north, east and west but I feel most alive in the south. It’s the light and the colours and the scent of the herbs in the hills. I even like it in the dark and cold of winter. Continue reading “Painting & Shopping In The South Of France”
A few weeks ago a friend came to see me here in Southern Spain. She told me on her last evening that one of the highlights of her stay had been making her way up the dangerously windy, steep and bumpy track to my house, which sits on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean, and seeing the view. It surprised me, although it shouldn’t have done, she’s an artist after all, and it’s true, the view from here is spectacular. Driving back down, what you see, although it’s a bit of a risk looking too much if you’re the one driving, is a huge uninterrupted expanse of blue sea and sky. And driving up it’s fields and mountains and on arrival the snow-capped Sierra Nevada. Continue reading “A Studio With A View”
For a couple of years now we have had Fanny Shorter‘s suite of exquisite screenprints featuring some of the world’s smallest birds, all of them depicted life size. They are beautiful and popular and fast becoming an endangered species. I sold two more today, which prompted this post, before they disappear altogether. Shown here is the Crimson-Hooded Manakin, a native of the northern coastal regions of South America, where its habitat is mangroves and riverside forests. It measures just 9 cms. Continue reading “The Littlest Birds”
The Rowley Gallery has been the kind provider of much of the discarded wood needed for a series of little buildings I have made this year. Continue reading “History”
Today I visited Faringdon, Oxfordshire. A bright sunny day but with a sharp north wind. I climbed Folly Hill. A steep path rises from the edge of town between old stone walls and a tangled broken hedge of blackthorn and ivy. Continue reading “Folly Hill”
Christmas is a coming, and it’s coming quicker than you think. Before you know it all the lights are coming on and all those trees are decorated and you remember all those presents you should have bought and all the cards you should have sent. Continue reading “Christmas Shopping”
This is one of our favourite books of cut out paper constructions. Folded away within its pages are many of London’s landmark buildings just waiting to pop-up wherever you choose to erect them. Here is Tower Bridge transported to the top of Primrose Hill. Other pages feature the Royal Albert Hall, Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, St Paul’s Cathedral, all illustrated by Jenny Maizels and engineered by Richard Ferguson. But due to an unfortunate oversight they neglected a pop-up Rowley Gallery! Demand answers from Walker Books.
This is one of eight recently arrived pieces from Ed Kluz, made of painted paper, cut out and collaged scenes from Scotland. The Dunmore Pineapple is a summerhouse in the grounds of Dunmore Park, 30 miles north west of Edinburgh. It is available to let from The Landmark Trust, and this dramatic moonlit dream’s-eye view may well be the result of an overnight stay. Continue reading “The Dunmore Pineapple”
I thought I would begin my first contribution to the Rowley’s new blog by showing some images inside my studio. It is a large wooden building (35′ x 15′) that I built 25 years ago in my garden in West London after a succession of shared studios. This is now biodegrading with me. I am hoping it lasts me out! Continue reading “Garden Studio”
Chris Keenan, potter and friend of The Rowley Gallery, is hosting an open studio along with fellow ceramicists at Vanguard Court, 36-38 Peckham Road, London, SE5 8QT. The private view is Thursday 1st December 5-8pm. Then Friday-Sunday, 2nd-4th December 11am-5pm.
Pictured here are a set of celadon and tenmoku beakers. See more of Chris’s work on his website.