Saturday 30 April 2016

Burton Agnes Hall and Cober Hill

Spent most of the day setting up our exhibition at Burton Agnes Hall Courtyard Gallery.  The weather was horrible, windy, raining and very cold.  The exhibition looks very nice, but unless the weather improves, not many people are going to come out to walk around gardens, however lovely they are.  I had to do a little shopping on the way home and got caught in a hailstorm!

I have also spent what was left of the day finishing my packing for Cober Hill.  I don't go until Sunday but I am stewarding at Burton Agnes Hall tomorrow, so took the chance to do it today.  After such a busy week, getting ready for the exhibition, it will be lovely just to have five days of painting.

Summer tide
I'm not sure if I've posted this painting or not.  The colours haven't come out very well in the photograph, it's much stronger and the brush marks more prominent in the painting.

Hopefully I will have lots of new work to post next weekend after Cober Hill

Saturday 23 April 2016

Burton Agnes

I'm still getting ready for our first exhibition of the year.  We are setting up at Burton Agnes Hall Courtyard gallery next Friday.  I have all the work finished, but still framing the results.  I have taken the photographs though, and remembered to sign each piece of work.

South beach.  Acrylic & watercolour on gessoed paper
This piece is one of three I am framing.  I started them in Joy Green's workshop, using watercolours, but I have since worked over them several times with acrylic.  I found that acrylic does wipe off the gesso in the same way that watercolour did.

Had a wonderful workshop with Lesley Birch last Sunday.  We experimented with using three primaries, any red, yellow & blue.  Later we added in white and black.  The results with some primaries was amazing.  I did stick to safe colours, cad.yellow, permanent rose and ultramarine, but some of the earth colour results were lovely and it's something I want to experiment more with when I have the time.

acrylic approx. 10 x 12 inch

This is one of the many pieces I did on Sunday.  It needs more work, but I love the energy in it.


Saturday 16 April 2016

Lesley Birch workshop

I'm going on a one day workshop, lead by Lesley Birch tomorrow, the subject being 'colour'.  I'm really looking forward to it,  hopefully I'll write about it next week.

This week I have been pulling work together, getting ready for the first exhibition of the year at Burton Agnes Hall.  We set up on Friday 29th April, so only two weeks to go.

I have had some lovely frames made by Paul at Blacktoft, I'm very pleased with them.  Together with some I bought last year, my work is going to be in mid to pale wood frames this year, with either white or cream mounts.  I have striven to get a more co-ordinated look, and this year I have finally managed it.

I spent the day matching paintings to frames and mounts, then making a list of the work, together with notes on what else still has to be done.  I have twenty-two pieces of work altogether, sixteen of which are new this year.

Fishing boats. Collager & Oil on canvas with some stitching

This is one of the pieces that's almost but not quite finished.  I still have a lot to do before set up day on the 29th April

Saturday 9 April 2016

Exhibitions

I thought that I had all the exhibition info in for this year, but have had another two this week, so more to add to my year planner.  It's very hard, this trying to get organised.

the first exhibition is Woodend Open Exhibition, Scarborough.  This is the first open exhibition they have done, and is on the theme of Moors & Coast which is amazing as that's my themes anyway. Digital entry deadline is 17th June.  As it's the first they have done I think there will be a large entry so I may not get in.

The second exhibition to come up is Art in the Garden for ERA (East Riding Artists).  I did know that it was coming up, but didn't have the list of gardens to visit, or the entry deadline.  The exhibition is 22-24th July at North Cave.  It does seem rather a short exhibition, and a fair distance for me to have to go at least twice.  Once to take the work, and once to see the exhibition/collect unsold work.

Checking the ERA website, I am assuming that there will be the ERA Open Exhibition at Wolds Village Bainton in July, although this isn't on the Wolds Village list.

There is also Art in the Aisles, at St Mary's Church, Beverley.  I haven't taken part in this exhibition before.  It's listed as 1st to 31st August, but that doesn't sound right, so will await more news.

I haven't managed to do very much painting this week, partly because of a bad back.  I did work on a still life on Tuesday.  It still needs work, but it's coming along.

Still life with blue bowl


Monday 4 April 2016

Getting ready

I've been sorting out art that I've done over the last six months, deciding what to frame for Burton Agnes courtyard.  We set up on the 29th April, so I need to get it sorted out. I'm going to the frames this afternoon, always exciting to get work framed.

I am also trying to get some beginnings done for my painting week at Cober Hill near Scarborough, as I am going on the Sunday after setting up at Burton Agnes, 1st May.  

We are having an open afternoon at Burton Agnes Courtyard Gallery on the Saturday, 30th April, so I need to have everything ready for Cober Hill by Thursday 28th, all packed and just waiting to be put in the car Sunday morning.


summer fields 15 x 15 inch

This piece was a 'beginning' I did at Neil Helyards the week before last.  He said to leave it as it is.  Still not sure, so I'm leaving it for now.


summer hedgerows. 16 x 16 inch

And this is the piece I intended to work on the one above.  I did another beginning but kept going.  It's inspired from a much smaller piece of work I did a few months ago.