Rowley Gallery Blog
It’s April 2023, and I will be 70 years old. What better way to mark the occasion than to plant 70 trees, not in the ground, but in the window of the Rowley Gallery. I sent out a call to 70 artists and got lots of replies. I could plant a small forest. So here’s a small celebration of trees, of their variety and complexity, their shelter and enchantment, and all their green, filtered, numinous enlightenment. Continue reading “70 Trees”
For February we’ve a window of richly coloured paintings by Isobel Johnstone. Unfortunately the gallery is still closed, but we’re back in the workshop again, and socially distanced purchases and collections can easily be arranged by phone. Come and see. It’s a feast for the eyes. Continue reading “Oil Paintings by Isobel Johnstone”
It’s like a compilation album with hits from all your favourite artists. They just take a bit of finding. And whilst you’re looking you might discover something new, something previously overlooked. You might even need to come inside and look around. But quick, it’s getting late. Continue reading “A Winter Windowland”
Palazzo Dona
In Venice I revisit views that I have drawn or painted before and feel more free to take liberties with, like Palazzo Dona in Campo S. Maria Formosa or the big palaces across from San Vio near Accademia. But there is nothing quite like a first ‘go’ at a newly discovered subject – last summer it was a view across the Grand Canal from Calle Giustinian, discovered near a sumptuous Sean Scully exhibition, and the little Oratorio in Campo Sant Angelo which I must have by-passed countless times but which I suddenly saw in a new light as I made my hot way home for lunch.
What a seductress – La Serenissima – I just can’t stay away! Continue reading “In Venice”
Isobel Johnstone is showing her drawings and paintings of Venice in an open house exhibition in London from this weekend and by appointment through December. Here’s a sneak preview. Continue reading “Canali & Campielli”
Reading about the Mondrian/Nicholson show set me thinking about a small marble Figure of 1933-34 by Henry Moore which was recently sold for over a million at Sotheby’s. Continue reading “Tulips”
Seeing Paul Finn’s Spring Blossoms Umbria reminded me of this painting, Elgin Crescent, Spring, Cherry by Isobel Johnstone, painted from her window down by Ladbroke Grove. Something similar is happening here with the interrupted view through the branches, and the tangle of foreground and background. The streets hereabouts are bursting with blossom now; I can see magnolia and cherry and forsythia. In this little painting I can also see Pollock and Tobey and Mondrian.