TO THE BEACH!

After a few months break, Caroline and I are back styling the One Craft Gallery windows.  As the weather has been hot, we have headed to the beach!  A sign stencilled onto driftwood, and blue and white striped bunting set the scene.  We added discarded ropes, fishing nets and line, wooden seabirds, starfish and loads of seashells.  We then scoured the gallery for goods and artworks to fit in with our theme...

OPEN STUDIO - DEREK NICE

I first saw Derek Nice's artwork at a show in the Victoria art gallery in 1998 in an exhibition called 'Sea Dreams - Art Salutes the Boat'.  I went to the show because it contained work by Alfred Wallis, the Cornish Primitive painter whose work I had always admired, and I wanted to see originals, not photographs in books!  I wasn't disappointed by Wallis's work, but I was blown away by the work of local artist Derek Nice.

I visited him at home in his studio during a Somerset Art Week, and bought a piece from him.  This went on to inspire me to think of boats as a subject matter and use the driftwood which I had collected over the years!  Click on the Derek Nice link, at the bottom of this post, for further details and to see what I made!

This year, I discovered, via the Somerset Art Works Open Studios brochure, that he had moved to Wells, only a few miles from Shepton.  It was great to see his work again after many years.  I loved his collages, paintings, use of text within them, and, of course, the boats!  Above, he was pictured in his new studio, which has been converted from his garage.

He now has another subject matter - angels!  Many people love and believe in guardian angels so he hopes that his angels are spreading some happiness around!  He has done a series of large free standing ones for himself and has sold an enormous one to a church!  A lot of his work is made from found and reclaimed materials which are preserved, and often enhanced, before being recycled into works of art...

The pics above show Derek's delightful garden, complete with a Shepherd's Hut, sculptures, and some of his angels - inside and out!

CHRISTMAS TREE FESTIVAL

I have just taken part in the first Christmas Tree Festival at the Baptist Church in Shepton Mallet. The idea was for local schools, businesses, associations, community groups etc. to decorate a tree and let people know what they do.  The church was open for two days for anyone to look at the fabulous diverse range of trees and decorations.  My contribution, on behalf of the One Craft Gallery, was this driftwood tree,  complete with the decorations mentioned in my last but one blogpost.  The festival proved a great success and it is now hoped that it will become an annual event.

DRIFTWOOD CREATURES

Take a piece of driftwood that looks like a head and bit of body shape, find a base, sandwich fabric and other bits of driftwood in between, paint on an eye, and voila - a driftwood creature with a character!

For those who would like a few technical details, I used muslin dipped in paverpol, a textile hardening medium in liquid form that becomes rock hard when fully dried.  I put plastic ties around the driftwood pieces with the fabric in between so that they were held together while the medium hardened. The material was then coloured with diluted raw umber acrylic and the eyes painted in acrylic paints and the whole creation finished off with a light coat of matt UV varnish.

I would like to make some more, but you need a lot of driftwood to choose bits from, so I need to go and collect some more!  Next time I will try for a whiter driftwood 'look' using lime wax, gesso or diluted emulsion paint.

NICE INSPIRATION

I have been to loads of art exhibitions and sometimes an artist's work excites and inspires me to do something different.  This was the case when I first saw Derek Nice's work at the Victoria Art Gallery in Bath, many years ago.  I loved his work so much that I went to his studio, a somerset stone barn, when it was open as part of Somerset Art Weeks, and bought one of his magical boat assemblages.   

Boat Assemblage by Derek Nice (72cms x 62cms)

Derek Nice work is influenced by maritime, archeological themes, myths and legends, and often uses recycled and found materials and objects.  He collects old bits of weathered wood from boatyards and beaches and creates works that evoke the sea that have been formed by the sea.  As he said, when I spoke to him in his workshop, his intention is to find in the essence of sea-going life and not the literal  interpretation of the subject. As well as sculptures and assemblages, he also produces wonderful paintings.

After I had hung this artwork on my wall, I used it as inspiration for the following works that decorate my home.  The frame of 'FY4' is an old tray and is 47cm (height) x 31cm (width) while 'Seadreams' is 60cm high and 'Shell Steamer' is 44cm high.  All the other materials used were found on the beach.  Having looked at these pieces again, I remembered how fun they were to do, so I am planning on going beachcombing soon and doing some more!