End of Year Plans

'Escape from Winter,' (2) oil and acrylic on board, 60 x 45cm

The exhibition at the Art Pull gallery, Tunbridge Wells, opens on Tuesday night. I still have to collect my painting from the framer, varnish it, and type my biography to go next to it on the wall. There will be 50 artists in this exhibition, and I am really looking forward to the Private View. It is the first time I have shown locally for many years. This year, I've also exhibited in London, Latvia and Belarus (these last two shows had my large painting from my Mark Rothko residency on display). It had been a fairly good year but currently I'm planning to take part in the South East Open Studios next summer, I'm trying to arrange a show in Nicosia, Cyprus, and there are many other exhibition opportunities to be applied for. There is only a month left of 2013 and I am full of plans for 2014!

My final edit of my book is nearing the end. I have fiddled with it a lot, and to its benefit I believe. I am hoping to submit it to Kindle within the next two weeks.

My painting has really reacted against the dull dreary days of winter, and the painting posted is in reality brighter, more vibrant than the image suggests. I'm very excited about the direction of these flowing colours and shapes, but may introduce some more figurative elements as time goes by!

Escape From Winter

'Escape From Winter,' oil and acrylic on board, 60 x 45cm

This painting, still wet, is my response to the darkening days of early winter. I long for sunshine and warmth! In the UK, winter days can be quite inspiring when they are sunny, and sunlight colours skeletal branches red and gold, and wonderful shadows race across the land. But these dull, dusk-like days are a drag!

So I recreated a piece of sunshine! This is painted quite thickly, with a painting knife and brush, and - as with many of my recent work - I let the paint lead me along.

Stairs




'Excursion,' oil and acrylic on canvas, 60 x 45cm

 

At the beginning of December, one of my paintings is going into a group show at the Art Pull gallery (Tunbridge Wells), and I have just applied for a group show in London, also for December. This is by selection committee, so again I'm waiting with my fingers crossed! There are very few spaces so there will be a lot of competition. In the meantime, I am working on new paintings. The two I'm posting are new - the one above is finished, the one below is 'under consideration.'

I like these 'long' shapes, as they take into account the element of 'time,' in the way that listening to music does. I like being able to direct the viewer's eye along the shape, using colours and marks like musical notes. It is important to keep a feeling of freshness, and almost to catch a sense of the movement of the brush as it travels along and up the shape - so it captures time, and takes time to read.

'Stairs to Heaven,' oil and acrylic on canvas, 80 x 40cm

Incidents

'Incidents,' oil and acrylic on canvas, 60 x 40cm

When I first began this blog, some three years ago, I planned to write at least twice a week. Life has not allowed for that! I took the advice of another blogger, who said that in the case of not being able to write anything interesting, it was better just to post images - until there was something worth saying!

I'm rushing to finish my final draft of my book, and in between preparing work for exhibition, and painting new works - this is a new painting.

Monday Morning Excitement

'Winter Inscape,' oil and acrylic on canvas, 12 x 16ins

Last week my work was viewed by the owner of a gallery called Art Pull, which is not far from where I live. I was very pleased that this painting has been chosen for an exhibition starting in December! It was wonderful to get positive feedback on my paintings in general, and encouraging that my recent works were singled out for praise.

This morning I'm hoping that my new stretchers will come. I'm fired up and ready to start new paintings. Until then, I'll work on my book, which is very near to completion. It just needs one more read through. My margins are set, the formats sorted out. I feel incredibly excited.

Seasonal Journey



'Seasonal Journey,' oil and acrylic on canvas, 90 x 70cm

 Today, with the clear signs of brown edges on trees in our garden, my mind turned to thoughts of Autumn. It's late this year, and the warm flush of colour always enters my work in some way. This painting embodies how I feel about the journey into Autumn.

The Mark Rothko Centre, Daugavpils, Latvia

A year ago, I was at Riga airport preparing to fly home from an amazing painting residency, for which I'd been selected as one of 15 artists internationally. Today, this years' residents will be flying home, and I know the sadness they will feel, parting from each other. I have followed their progress over the last 3 weeks on Facebook, and 'friended' several of them. This year's residencies took place in the new Mark Rothko Centre, in Daugavpils, Latvia. Last year, the Centre was almost completed, and we had a tour of it, but we stayed at the Park Latgola hotel, in Daugavpils. I felt some pangs of envy - the residency was one of the best moments of my life - and followed their descriptions as if I was living it all again!

One of the artists from my residency was at the Centre this week, for the private view of a show he is having there. Another of my fellow residents flew out for the birthday celebrations of Mark Rothko, which were yesterday, and coincided with the opening of the residents' exhibition of paintings produced during the residency. He took a photo of my largest painting, which is now hanging in the Mark Rothko Centre, as part of an exhibition of past residents' paintings. I was thrilled to see that my painting ('Flying into Riga Airport,') has a wall to itself, and to know that it is there amongst all the other exhibitions!

This is my painting - it is 140cm by 100cm, and it is one of four I made during my time at Daugavpils. It went to Vitebsk, Belarus, in the summer, as part of a show of works representing the Mark Rothko Centre.

Below, is a new painting.......


'Paphos Walk,' acrylic on canvas, 60 x 45cm