Rowley Gallery Blog
We put the clocks forward last weekend for British Summer Time and it worked. Suddenly it’s summer, in March. Today the temperature was as high as 23 Centigrade in London, that’s about 75 Fahrenheit. There are no leaves on the trees yet, but there is blossom everywhere. Here are two paintings by Mary Kuper of cherry blossom in Regents Park. Continue reading “In Regents Park”
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.
On a recent visit to the Wallace Collection I was lucky enough to get to see inside the lecture theatre on the lower ground floor, where they display some of their historic collection of picture frames. Many of them original frames for paintings on the floors above, now exhibited in new frames. Continue reading “Wallace Collection Frames”
This Monument designed by Sir Christopher Wren was built to commemorate the Great Fire of London 1666 which burned for three days consuming more than 13,000 houses and devastating 436 acres of the City. The Monument is 202ft in height being equal to the distance westward from the bakehouse in Pudding Lane where the fire broke out. It took six years to construct, 1671-1677. The balcony is reached by a spiral stairway of 311 steps and affords panoramic views of the metropolis. A superstructure rises from the balcony and supports a copper vase of flames.
Continue reading “The Monument”
This linocut print by Gail Brodholt shows skaters at Canary Wharf Ice Rink in Docklands participating in a festive communal ritual, chasing the glide, defying the cold and celebrating one of the many and various forms of slipping and sliding collectively known as winter sports. Their sinuous arabesques on the ice are contrasted with the checker board grids of the architecture. It’s Brice Marden versus Sean Scully. It’s snakes & ladders. Tis the season to play board games. Happy Christmas.
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.
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.
We have been blessed with Jenny Franklin’s magical watercolours since 2006, when Kai and I first started showing pictures at The Rowley Gallery. Shown here is Flotsam (Shells), Australia, one of a series of paintings of rock pools. Jenny’s watercolours are virtuoso technical performances. They are also revelations of the world around us, grown out of close observation, transformed and re-presented, they capture the essence of her subject. She quotes the artist poet Jean Arp, who spoke of “a secret primal meaning slumbering beneath the world of appearances”. Continue reading “Jenny Franklin”
This year’s Christmas card is from a specially commissioned painting by David Hollington. Continue reading “Christmas Card”