Rowley Gallery Blog
The Artist magazine has published an interview with me. It’s a four page illustrated piece called Masterclass and is in the July edition which is out now. It’s an excellent read. Susie Hodge, the art historian did the interview and I have to say I’m delighted with it. Continue reading “Masterclass”
Paul Finn is exhibiting 10 paintings and 10 prints inspired by his visits to The Beth Chatto Gardens and Warley Place, both places featured in his A Tale Of Two Gardens. Huw Morgan is exhibiting a selection of his illustrations of birds. They can both be seen at the Well House Gallery, Oxley House, High Road, Horndon on the Hill, Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, SS17 8LF.
Recently I have visited two gardens which are fairly local to me, one is in Elmstead Market near Colchester, about an hour’s drive from me and the other, Warley Place is on my doorstep near Brentwood. The Colchester garden was made by Beth Chatto and Warley Place was the garden of Ellen Willmott, a Victorian plants woman. Both places have inspired new work. I have made a series of paintings of Beth Chatto’s garden and some ink studies of Warley Place. Continue reading “A Tale Of Two Gardens”
Pallant House in Chichester has been mentioned on this blog more than once. It has a fantastic permanent collection and over the years has presented some wonderful touring exhibitions. A year or so ago I saw an exhibition which brought together two artists I really admire, Gwen John and Celia Paul, similar I suppose because they might be thought of as being a bit reclusive. Continue reading “California Etching”
Andrew Walton kicked it off: Dear Chris, I thought you might like this palette. I came across it in my shed. I had half cleaned it some time ago and left it as it looked so nice. I have always liked the working stuff which artists use. Turner’s paint box etc. I might think of a blog posting on this, what do you think? Each of your Rowley artists could send in a photo of their paint boxes and palettes! Continue reading “Palettes”
Dear Chris, I thought I would let you know that my painting Pencaer has been selected for the New English Art Club Annual Open Exhibition which takes place from 29 November at the Mall Galleries. Continue reading “New English Art Club”
Lithography is a bit different from other print processes. Although I am interested in printmaking despite being a painter, I am no expert. Linocuts and woodblocks depend on the image being raised, and etching depends on the image being recessed. Lithography happens on a flat surface like a lithographic stone or zinc plate and depends on the antipathy between grease and water. The way a mark is made on a stone or a plate is the same as in a drawing or painting, you don’t need an etching needle or engraving tool. The mark is made with a greasy crayon or ink, and then the print is created on a press where alternate use of dampening the plate or stone with water and then applying ink, which attaches only to the greasy drawing, allows the image to be printed. Continue reading “Strumble Head”
Most of my working life has been combining making paintings and prints and teaching, some of the time in Art Colleges, but mostly as a schoolteacher. A while back I read David Wiseman’s lovely post, Garden Studio. When I finished full time teaching last summer, I decided to have a posh shed built, which would enable me to work at the end of my garden in suburban London. Continue reading “The Posh Painting Shed”
Getting into habits regarding working methods can be really liberating. You only have to think of Morandi and the way his limited subject matter and studio discipline created ultimate freedom for him. I have been used to making my landscapes from thumbnail sketches done in the landscape and then making my paintings in the “tranquility of the studio”, a well tried and tested almost Victorian attitude. Like Bonnard and others I find painting in front of the landscape impossible, there is simply too much information to process, and like lots of artists I will see detail too early and the resulting painting won’t work. Continue reading “En Plein Air”
Spring Blossoms Umbria 2011 was started last year after visiting Orvieto again. A fine meal at L’Etrusca followed by a long walk into the fields surrounding Orvieto kick-started this one. In some ways it is a little different to the others in that it has a sense of being “in” the landscape as opposed to looking at a place from a distance. Looking through trees onto fields has created interesting tensions between flatness, illusion, realism, abstraction, pattern and surface. Although I will continue to make paintings of places there is something very interesting happening in Spring Blossoms Umbria. Continue reading “Spring Blossoms Umbria”