STATUES TAKE CENTRE STAGE!

I have just finished a commission to do two pictures, based on photographs I took of statues in the garden of a beautiful house on the Isle of Wight.

For these artworks I combined mixed media with collage. The statues are photocopies of the actual photographs I took - cut out, outlined and embellished. For the backgrounds I have used layers of papers, including tissue paper, and acrylic paint.  They're done on wooden panels (30cm square) and the sides were painted black.

POPPIES AT DUNGENESS!

After the recent day course with the Silton Art Group, I have completed a mixed media painting on board (30cms square) - see top pic.  The subject is Derek Jarman's cottage and garden at Dungeness.  A photocopy of a photograph of the site is shown above left.

On the day with Linda Appleby, I finished a painting on paper using acrylics, which is shown above right. Linda made the comment that the poppies should be larger and more prominent.  I took this to heart and used collage, to give extra emphasis on my finished mixed media artwork, which I did in my studio at home...

GARDENS IS THE SUBJECT FOR TUTOR LYNDA APPLEBY!

The latest tutor for the Silton Art Group was Artist and Illustrator, Lynda Appleby.  The subject matter was gardens, and some of the group had been out and about with Lynda to sketch.  I went to the next session which was back inside with acrylic paints.  As I hadn't done a sketch, I worked from a photograph of Derek Jarman's cottage at Dungeness.  It was enjoyable day in which we learnt a lot, had a constructive appraisal of our efforts, and saw examples of Lynda's beautiful work.

During the day I managed to complete a painting on paper (see top left pic - the one with the purple sky).  I would like to use this as a preparatory work for a mixed media and collage piece...

SNOWDROP CARDS FOR THE GALLERY!

This is what my garden looked like last Friday!  We don't have snow very often in Shepton, so it was quite a shock!  Perhaps it was appropriate that at the time, I was working in the studio on finishing some snowdrop cards - as seen below.

I used the painted backgrounds that I had made when doing my urban valentine cards.  On top of them I painted stems and leaves with various shades of green acrylic, and then collaged on paper petals.  A few details were added with a black marker pen before they were mounted onto 6 inch square textured card stock.

The cards are for sale in the One Craft Gallery and are part of my contribution to the Shepton Mallet Snowdrop Festival 2019 which is taking place on the 16th and 17th February.

OPEN GARDEN POP-UP SHOP

I have just taken part in an open garden Sunday and Monday at East Burford House, which is part of the National Garden Scheme.  I designed the poster and helped my fellow members of the One Craft Gallery create a pop-up shop in a garden room that had french windows opening up to a lovely terrace.

The weather was sunny and hot for the two days so we had loads of visitors and made plenty of sales!  Liz Oliva's sun hats were particularly popular as were Rowena Kinsman's outdoor ceramic planters, sculptures etc.

The gardens at East Burford House are truly beautiful.  It is a fantastic space, full of sculptures, water, terraces, different features and a huge variety of planting.  There was also a secondhand book stall, plant stand and tearoom, all in aid of Macmillan Cancer.

The artwork on which the poster was based, reflected some of the plants and sculptures I had seen in the garden in previous years.

It was quite hard work, to take a selection of all our goods, and create the pop-up shop for just two days, but as well as the sales which were gratefully appreciated, we felt it was a chance to introduce ourselves to prospective customers of the future!

COMMISSION COMPLETED!

I have just completed a commission for a couple of pics for a garden room. Both are 50cms square and are done on wooden panels.  They are a combination of collage and painting.  For some of the layers I have used paper printed with text that means something special to the customer.  It is not immediately obvious, but, if looked at closely, words can be made out. Finishing touches included splattering with gold and silver metallic paint and highlighting with white paint.

LOVELY LILIES

The best thing in my garden at the moment are the sculptural arum lilies. They are very special to me as they remind me of my best friend Jackie, who is no longer with us. I have used them for inspiration for an artwork to remember her by.  For the full story and picture, read my previous post by clicking onto the 'arum lilies' label below.

POP-UP SHOP

Our pop-up shop in a garden room at East Burford House.

The One Craft Gallery has just enjoyed two fantastic days as a pop-up shop at East Burford House as part of their Open Garden event for the NGS. We met many nice people and had lots of interested customers, who hopefully will visit us in our permanent shop in Shepton Mallet.

OPEN GARDEN

A few months ago I was asked to design a leaflet for an Open Garden event in July that is involving the One Craft Gallery. It is happening just a few miles from Shepton Mallet next weekend. We are having a pop-up shop, next door to a pop-up cafe selling tea and homemade cakes in aid of Macmillan Cancer.  The beautiful gardens are open for two days as part of the National Garden Scheme.  For the front side of the flyer, I especially designed a piece of original artwork as the background and on side 2, I put a montage of photographs of the garden (see below) plus details and a map.

East Burford House and gardens.

There is over 3 acres of wild and formal gardens, a variety of planting, woodland walks, children's playground, sculptures, bog garden, herbaceous beds, walled garden, lake with shell beach, rills, pagoda, pavilion, wisteria pergola and loads of plants for sale.  Admission is £4 (free for under 16s) and is in aid of charity.

As the gallery is a co-operative we are taking it in turns to set up our shop and man it for the two days.  We are looking forward to the event and are hoping for good weather, but luckily if it does rain, we are situated under cover in a light and spacious garden room.

BIRTHDAY BOOKMARK

A sudden invitation to a birthday dinner meant that I needed to create a card/present quickly, so I thought of putting my bookmark idea into practice. As the recipient is a keen gardener, I went for a gardening theme. For the background I used some purpose made scribble papers. I added flowers shapes and illustrations of garden implements cut from some wrapping paper. The quote is 'gardening is an exercise in optimism'. As I made it too long for a standard envelope, I made one from sugar paper.

TRIMMING THE BOX

Now Derby Day has past, it is the traditional time to trim box hedges.  I have a number of box balls in my back garden and cones in the front.  I love topiary as they are living sculptures which remain green all year round and give a garden structure.  Mine are very simple shapes but I do admire those who manage to shape elaborate animals and other topiary shapes. My box shapes started out in pots at my previous house and now they are all in the ground and getting bigger year by year.  I always trim them this time of year - the fuzzy new growth tamed into neat symmetry and sometimes again in early autumn, depending on the growth.

Simple topiary shapes often appear in my artworks.  I particularly like framing a doorway with pots complete with standard trees or box balls. Sometimes the topiary itself is the focus of the artwork. See samples below.