Art @ Advent : St John's CIC Peterborough

I'll be joining 20 plus other artists this year to create a very special Advent Calendar...images that represent the meaning of Christmas and associated themes. All ably organised by Vivacity's Keely Mills and St John's Artist in Residence Garth Bayley! My piece will appear around 20th December and is based on this watercolour 'Light of the World'. For me the names of Jesus, as written generations before his birth by the prophet Isaiah, encompass every aspect of Jesus, so much greater a picture than just 'a baby in a manger'.....

Design update

I've not posted for some months, which is highly unusual for me! Lots of things going on but starting with the annual PAOS exhibition in June which was really busy and successful in terms of good sales! There was the  added bonus of meeting many new viewers who decided to make a visit to see my work for the first time.
Exhibition take down was rapid due to overseas visitors and a large commission to design a range of fair trade products for Created, (formerly TearCraft), an opportunity to design textile prints, metal work and garden products which will appear in future catalogues. This has kept me busy for the past few months. Last year's design products feature in the current catalogue, look for my Vintage Kitchen textiles on their website https://www.createdgifts.org

Vintage style Apron

                                     

50's Lady Shopper

Striped Tea towels

After a busy summer in Cornwall, Wales and at home (lots of sketches and photos to work on this winter), painting is difficult as I recover from a car crash. This has really slowed production down but I hope to have a few sketches or paintings to put up in the next few weeks as I gradually get back to work!
Christmas Cards will be on sale in Art in the Heart, Peterborough,  http://www.artintheheart.co.uk next month! Here's a sneak preview......

Large Nativity

Exhibition in Queensgate, Peterborough

Two of these Mini Fragments will be part of a small exhibition in Queensgate Shopping Centre on May  18 & 19, to promote Peterborough Artists Open Studios 2013. Pick up an exhibition guide there and come and visit my exhibition! I'm No. 1 in the catalogue.....

Miniature 'fragments'
Mini Blue Paisley Fragment

Float mounted in white wood frame
Price: £55Mini Red Paradise Bird Fragment

Float mounted in white wood frame
Price: £55

Yellow Chinese Chrysanthemums : new work at Art in the Heart Gallery

This is a small 'frameless fragment' piece, my second so far, inspired by Chinese brocade rather than my usual Indian silks.  Using a layer of Thai paper over my own hand made paper has created a smoother surface to work on, so I was able to paint in more detail than I am normally able to on my 'fragment' pieces. My very favourite chrysanthemums are featured here along with some delicate lavender sprigs. One of my fabric sources for this painting came from a group of highly talented ladies in China, 'Dorcas Design', who make beautiful quilts and other articles from brocades and satins. I was given a bag of their sample fabric when I worked for TLM Trading and produced some product designs for them. They are a very special group of women, old and young, and are recovered leprosy affected or otherwise handicapped. I loved working with them on designs a few years ago, so this is a very special 'memory' piece for me.

 

Yellow Chinese Chrysanthemums
Frameless Fragment
Mixed Media
hand made paper, oil paint, oil pastels, enamel and resin
Height approx. 80cm
£170

A bit of technical information on this fragment: I have resined the back of this piece as well as the front and have backed it with a section of wood, on which the hanging fixtures are placed. The fragment hangs just proud of the wall, casting a short shadow. Like 'Love Entwines', it is really a thin paper and resin sculpture!

'Entwined' Fragment: sale at Art in the Heart

'Love Entwines Two Cultures'
H: 130cm x W: 36 cm
Oil paint, oil pastel, silver enamel, resin on hand made paper

This frameless fragment has just sold in Art in the Heart Gallery, Peterborough for over £450! I'm very pleased as this is a new departure for me and I'm happy that the discerning art public have taken it on! The piece is inspired by my mother in law's wedding sari which is unusually a pale eau de nil rather than the red or crimson traditionaly seen in Indian wedding saris. The sari has delicate silver thread embroidery and fine silk fringing which I have incorporated within the design. 

The title is a reference to two marriages, my father in law travelling from Kenya to India to meet and marry his bride, followed by a move to England to bring up his family in the West. My parents moved from Holland to Britain via the USA and Africa, finally ending in Scotland where my husband and I met and subsequently married. So it's really the story of 'love entwines many cultures!' 

Yellow Chinese Robe: more work in progress

A few more sections of the painting in detail....some more work to be done on the crimson flower on the right which I will work on in oil pastels.

Robe neck detail and Ceramic Plate

Robe neck detail and plate fragment

Yellow Chinese Robe: painting detail

Yellow Chinese Robe
Panel Painting
Oil, pastel and enamel paint on Thai hand made paper

This is a detail of the painting, due to be finished soon!  A few more additions and it will be ready to resin and then exhibited at the Peterborough Artist's Open Studios.  More of my work can be seen at the Peterborough Gallery 'Art in the Heart' at 47 Bridge Street,  http://www.artintheheart.co.uk.  Currently on show is my large panel 'Lata's Sari' based on a family member's wedding sari, and a large 'Fragment' piece entitled 'Entwined', also inspired by the pale silver embroidered, eau de nil silk of the same sari.

Chinese Robe painting: work in progress

This is a 'work in progress' that has taken a long time to progress! As always some large pieces have to make way for other works or commissions, so this has had a year's 'gestation'. Not a bad thing really as it allows me to make decisions gradually and allow the painting to evolve. Paintings rarely emerge straight from my head onto paper/board/canvas, I like to allow the beginnings of a painting to suggest it's end.

This one is large 120cm x 60 cm, and is my usual combination of oil paint, pastels and enamel paint on Thai paper which has been fixed to a board frame. I will use resin for the final stage, which will always add another dimension to it. 

I took inspiration for all the elements of this piece from the Victoria & Albert museum, building up reference sketches over a few months. I would like to subtitle this painting 'Homage to  Felicity Aylieff' as I couldn't resist a variation on the theme of her outstanding monumental ceramic jars, which I have hinted at on the lower left side of the painting. As a contemporary ceramicist her works are influenced by the traditions of Chinese ceramics but have a wonderful modern freshness. Definitely my favourite ceramicist! 

I plan to have this piece ready for the PAOS exhibition in June 2013. Come and see it then!

Sketches from the Chinese Ceramic Collection V & A museum

Stage 3
Yellow Chinese Robe 
120 cm x 60 cm
                                                      Just some more work required on the top left hand side and then the resin coat!

Watercolour sketch from V&A
Silk robe with flower embroidery

Sketch of flower detail

Sketches from the Ceramics collection

Stage 2
The top left section is empty at this stage while I make my mind up....

Detail of lower flower

Detail of plate with peony and dragonfly

Work in progress: Mary Queen of Scots Panel (Oxborough Hall)

This large piece is progressing, although slowly! As I work on several large paintings at a time, in theory I should have 3 finished in the next month.... If only there were more hours in the day! Above is a detail of the painting, showing some of the first gold leaf application (thanks to fellow artist Garth Baley for the loan of some today!) on the twisted paper 'thread'.
Below is Stage 3, 4 and 5 of the painting, once the background is complete I will go to work on the borders (with more enamel paint, gold leaf, pastels) which are under painted in red and gold enamel paint at present. The red and gold brocade sections on the upper right and lower left will recieve additional detailed work, as will the small creatures. I am considering overlaying the green velvet background with scaled down red/gold 'raised 'thread' work, painted in rather than sewn on however. The red/green contrast is working really well, as opposing colours they each enhance the strength of the other.

Stage 3, 4 & 5
The green velvet background is growing, a mix of Emerald Green, Cadmium Yellow, French Ultramarine and white, all Daler-Rowney oil paints. Some more mythical creatures have found their way into the painting; unicorns, dolphins, exquisite horses...

Upper Right Detail
The Rose emblem and my variation of the red and gold brocade which trims the centre panel on the Marian Hanging. I like the way the raised rolled paper 'thread' in gold and red is working with the underpainting of the brocade section.

The 'Delphine', symbol of the Dauphin of France, later Francis II, Mary 's first husband

A Unicorn, with banner unfurled above it's head

Peterborough Artists Open Studios

Saturdays and Sundays 8 & 9 and 22 & 23 June 2013 
11 am - 4 pm 
It's fast approaching! That wonderful time of domestic upheaval, harrassed family members, lost bits of artists' 'blurb' and the general panic of 'will my paintings dry in time'....PAOS, in a word!
I  will be opening my doors again this year and will host two favourite artist friends, Veronica Leontyeva and Emma Raffle, fine art painter and textile artist respectively.  Apart from our latest works we will have a selection of cards, unique felt jewellery from Raff's Rags (Emma's brand) and some dry felting demonstrations, plus live drawings.

Red Paradise Bird Fragment
Framed
Hand made paper, oil paint and pastel, enamel paint and resin

Find out more about PAOS from the  website http://www.paos.org.uk and collect your free brochure of the 3 week art event from Tourist information, Queensgate (May 18, 19) and various other venues in Peterborough. Dozens of talented artists will be opening their studios to the general public so get a brochure and plan your weekends! I look forward to seeing you!

Entwined
Frameless Fragment sculpture
Hand made paper, oil paint,pastel, enamel paint, resin

FindMeKeepMe: the treasure takes shape...

Stage 3
(my son seems to think there's a Siamese cat hidden in here - anyone else see it?)

quick sketch for positioning purposes

FindMeKeepMe

FindMeKeepMe: a fabulously fun idea involving 40+ highly creative artists, sculptors, poets, crafters, street artists, musicians (maybe!), dramatists etc - all bring their creative talents to the public for free on 30 March! 

I am part of the 2-D group of painters/illustrators who will be producing individual art works for the public to find and keep! This tiny 'fragment' bit of 'treasure'  will be available for one lucky person to find and keep, plus dozens more reproductions in a slightly different form. Intrigued? Keep your eyes open for leaflets, postcards, posters, tweets.......

stage 1
a small piece of handmade paper, ready to be transformed into  a piece of 'treasure' to be found and kept on 30 March in Peterborough town centre...

stage 2
still deciding on the content, take a look tomorrow  for an update...

PAOS

Peterborough Artists' Open Studios!

The application is in and I'm planning the usual upheaval of the house to stage my 3rd PAOS event in my home with fellow artists Veronica Leontyeva and Emma Raffle. I will be showing plenty of new works and have realised I work in definite colour theme blocks: this is the year for pale green and yellow! And a bit of red.....

Red Paradise Bird Fragment

Chinese fabric inspired paintings

Chinese Peony and Chrysanthemums:

This is a small painting I did over the Christmas period, 'just to please myself'! Elements are taken from Chinese brocade fabrics I have collected over the years. I have used my usual hand made Thai paper which I have glued to a small canvas instead of a panel. This piece is varnished rather than resined so will be ready for sale as soon as the varnish dries!

Chinese Peony and Chrysanthemums
Dimensions: 30cm x 30cm

Yellow Chrysanthemum Fragment:

This is a new experiment for me; adhering the Thai paper onto a 'fragment ' of my own hand made paper. I can paint in quite fine detail on the Thai paper, but not on my own paper, so for this small scale fragment I've made a combination. The Thai paper 'felts' onto the base paper really well and the irregular edges of the 'fragment' were maintained, which is important. I will be creating this as a wall mounted piece: resined on both sides to form a thin 'sculpture' that will be braced on the back with wood, from which the piece will be hung.

Yellow chrysanthemum Fragment
1st Stage: 'felting' the Thai paper onto my own hand made paper

2nd Stage:  the main sections are painted with some additional motifs to be added when this layer is dry.

Oxburgh Hall Marion Tapestries: first panel painting

These sketch book studies were made last year, so far I have been too busy with other work to start any panels based on these amazing embroideries! For more details of these Mary Queen of Scots panels, see my post of  Wednesday, 18 July 2012. 

I have been recently inspired by a morning spent rediscovering embroidery over Christmas. I have now used rolled paper 'thread' which has been stitched onto the hand made Thai paper by hand, reminiscent of the background scroll-like red thread detail that covers the dark green velvet backing of the Marian and Cavendish panels. This red cotton thread is actually the core of what was once gold thread, which has worn away over the centuries. 

The first stage has been to stitch the rolled paper 'thread' (thin Thai hand-made paper ribbon) onto large sections of hand made Thai paper, then to glue this paper onto a canvas as a more light weight backing than my usual board. 

Painting Size 91.5 cm x 91.5 cm

I developed my ideas using Adobe Illustrator, redrawing elements to create a starting point, which will be developed as I work on the panel. the Brocade sections can be seen in the sketch below, in red and gold.

sketchbook drawings : the red 'core' thread is sewn onto the green velvet backing of the Marian and Cavendish panel

Sketch book: I love the raised couched satin borders which frame the separate embroidered sections. This sketch from the Cavendish Panel 

detail of paper 'embroidery' 

the embroidered sections of paper glued to the backing canvas