Rowley Gallery Blog
Our Christmas card this year at The Rowley Gallery is from a wood engraving by Howard Phipps.
I can see holly in there and ivy too so here are a couple of complementary musical offerings as well…
The first is Anonymous 4, the second is Bruce Kernow, and below are a few of the Christmas cards that were sent to us…
Continue reading “The Holly & The Ivy”
Howard Phipps‘s wood engravings are included in the exhibition Awake Through Years: Four South West Wood Engravers at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter from 7 December. Howard will be showing 25 works including working drawings plus book illustrations. The other artists are Harry Brockway, Hilary Paynter and Pam Pebworth. More information here – Awake Through Years.
Myddleton House was named after Hugh Myddleton who built the New River, an aqueduct carrying fresh water into London. Over the years its course has changed but originally in 1613 it flowed through here, beneath these iron railings marking an earlier bridge. Continue reading “New River, Blue River”
The October issue of House & Garden includes a contribution by Emily Tobin on the art of wood engraving. Happily two of the featured artists can be regularly seen at The Rowley Gallery. Continue reading “In The Frame: Wood Engraving”
First there was this Christmas card from a painting by Mick Moon, made with oil paint & string on board and called simply Tree. Then I heard the three Staveley-Taylor sisters (aka The Staves) singing Winter Trees:
Continue reading “Winter Trees”
Last October Howard Phipps wrote about Eggardon for Frames Of Reference, and he sent me a postcard from the nearby church of St Basil in Toller Fratrum, noting on the back that John Piper was keen on the font. It is either late Saxon or early Norman, with crudely carved figures on a limestone carousel and such an endearing image I wished he could have used it in his Eggardon post. Continue reading “A Talkative Font”
Howard Phipps phoned to say he’s exhibiting his wood engravings at Sladers Yard in Dorset, alongside Julian Bailey, Angela Charles, Stewart Jones, Alex Lowery, Simon Quadrat and Alfred Stockham. It looks like an interesting show. More information here.
During the last few years I have become increasingly interested in certain distinctive downland hills such as Melbury Beacon, and hill forts such as Hambledon Hill and Winkelbury Hillfort. These either in Dorset or Wiltshire where the short turf on the chalk helps in defining their underlying structure, and where these hills often rise quite steeply from their surrounding valleys. I am also interested in the way artists often get involved with a subject over time, as I frequently return to a theme again and again. Witness Paul Nash for instance and his preoccupation with the two hills at Wittenham Clumps. Continue reading “Eggardon”
The enormous equestrian statue of George III looking down over Windsor Castle from the top of Snow Hill, pointing out incoming aeroplanes on their way to Heathrow. Continue reading “Windsor’s Great Park”
Another in what has become an occasional series combining variations and combinations of combs and cwms and combes. This time we feature wood engravings by Howard Phipps. This first is Loscombe, an engraving that appeared in Anna Pavord‘s book The Curious Gardener. Continue reading “Combe Again”