Diary of an Artist
An artist's personal journey: my ideas, tips, my exhibitions, exhibition reviews, thoughts, my artwork and many photos.
Wednesday 11 September 2024
New Paintings 2024!
Monday 24 October 2022
New Paintings
Friday 10 December 2021
Moon Paintings
Thursday 2 December 2021
Artworks from 2020-2021 Inspired by Covid-19
'From Darkness in to the Light,' oil and acrylic, 100 x 145 cm |
During Covid-19 I painted continuously. I was inspired by memories of walks, night walks when no one else was walking, and thoughts about the pandemic. It was a time for reflection and this filtered in to my paintings.
The painting above was one of two I painted recently that directly address the impact of the pandemic and thoughts about a return to normality. It is my idea of emerging from the darkness of Covid in to the light of being able to meet and greet one another normally, and return to our aspirations and ambitions. I love working on a large canvas!
'Dawn Splendor,' acrylic on canvas, 30 x 21 cm |
I am especially inspired by the seasons and times of day. And I'm including a landscape painting about the rain which went on for days earlier this year in the UK. I was imagining roads and a sudden burst of sunlight. With this painting, below, I was trying out different ways to apply paint.
'After the Rain,' acrylic on canvas, 92 x 73 cm |
'The First Light,' oil on canvas, 31 x 21 cm More can be seen on my website. The link is on the right side of this page. |
Friday 26 November 2021
Three Exhibitions in December
Friday 19 November 2021
Selected for Turner Contemporary gallery exhibition!
My painting COEXISTENCE (above) has been selected for the current exhibition at the Turner Contemporary gallery in Margate, Kent. The exhibition is called OPEN and celebrates 10 years of this prestigious gallery with its wonderful exhibition space. My painting is large, 100 x 140 cm, and the exhibition is on from October 23rd to February 20th 2022. I am thrilled to be showing at this gallery!
This seems a really good moment to write my blog again after an absence of over a year due to personal circumstances. I have made a lot of new work since I last posted which I will now start to post on a regular basis! In December I will have my paintings in 3 exhibitions: The Turner Contemporary gallery; The exhibition THE WINTER GROUP SHOW, at the Linden Hall gallery, (Deal, Kent), and 7 paintings currently on show at the corporate spaces at Kings Hill, Kent (curated by Frickleton Fine Art).
The photos below show my painting in the gallery and a view of the gallery at sunset. It is situated next to the sea and I took this photo from the railway station as I prepared to go home. You can see that the gallery even from that distance appears quite large.
Thursday 6 August 2020
Inspired by the Moon: A Series of Summer Paintings part 1
''Rainfall Moon,' acrylic on canvas, 92 x 73 cm, 2020 |
As summer races by, I've felt incredibly inspired by several different experiences, alternating between abstraction and abstract figurative themes as paint suggested new approaches. One of the reasons I haven't posted for quite a while has been the intensity of my excitement and the momentum of working almost daily.
The moon has often appeared as a theme over the years. As I love to walk at night, in the UK, Cyprus and other countries such as China, I have always found night to be full of mystery and open to boundless imagination. In Cyprus I often watched the moon as it rose luminous and green on the horizon and turned to pink, orange and finally yellow. Sometimes I've been surprised by a sudden view of the large Harvest moon behind some trees and I wanted to try to convey some of the magic I've felt. There's also something unseen, and a sense of the beyond, in particular beyond this planet, that the moon brings to mind for me. At a time of coronavirus and many global problems, watching the moon reminds me of the vastness of the universe and makes me question the meanings of our existence.
Light and the time of day often feature in my work and the moon theme gives me the chance to play with ideas about colour, calligraphic brush strokes and shapes. Some of the paintings focused on the developing interest in the process of making imagery and different ways to apply paint. Sometimes paint parallels light and the work veers towards abstraction.
'Rainfall Moon,' (2) acrylic on canvas, 92 x 73 cm, 2020 |
This second painting is still in progress. I'm brightening the moon and tweaking a few other areas. I love this size of canvas, (and larger), and this painting is also quite layered with translucent and opaque paint. I layer paint until an image emerges and I feel transported to a new place.
Here are a few more moon paintings, some more figurative based and some abstract.
'Moon, Mountains and Forest,' acrylic on canvas, 25 x 20 cm 2020 |
'Moonlit Terrain,' acrylic on canvas, 25 x 20 cm, 2020 |
'Lavender Moon,' acrylic and ink on canvas, 50 x 60 cm, 2019 |
'Moon Over Brighton,' acrylic on canvas, 30 x 23 cm, 2018 |
And two of the more abstract paintings in which I was thinking of the emotional experience and loving thick paint.
'Moonlit Landscape,' acrylic on canvas, 30 x 23 cm, 2019 |