The Tunbridge Wells International Art Fair

Drinking Champagne at the Private View!

The Tunbridge Wells International Art Fair is now in its third year. I was very pleased to take part along with a group of local artists called Creatives@woods. We had a long corridor with panels showcasing our very varied work. I changed my paintings daily, having prepared labels for 20 paintings, and of course, we had to be at our panel each day. I really enjoyed it and also the friendships between the artists.

My panel, first hanging

The Private View was very enjoyable, with a band and also Champagne. It was an unusually humid night and the rain was torrential. The voting for the EU Referendum was also probably on most people's minds, and when the PV ended I rushed home to see the first results on TV. 

Part of my art group's display, in our long corridor

As well as my panel, I also had a largish painting near the main stage, which was an interpretation of a poem. My group had been given a list of poems to choose from, and I interpreted a poem called, 'Salvation Song,' being especially inspired by the lines about the land becoming verdant again. 

With my large poem painting

I really enjoyed the daily discussions with the artists from my group, all along our corridor, and chatting with people about my artwork. I was pleased to get such a positive response and requests for my website cards.

The Band played all evening

Seeing the great variety of artwork on display was really positive, and of course, taking part in such an event always pushes you to re-evaluate your own path. It made me think about aspects I want to explore when I am on my own in a studio in China in August!

Another view of our corridor, with my work on the left, with two other artists

View from the stage, at the Private View

My panel, final incarnation!

Now I am catching up on housework mostly ignored for the last month, and preparing to start new paintings!

June!

My panel being set up at the Art Fair yesterday

My busiest month of the year and in a few hours I have to get ready for the Private View of the Tunbridge Wells International Art Fair. This photo shows me setting up my panel at the Art Fair yesterday, on one of the most humid days I can remember, and in amongst all the final debates on TV all day for the EU Referendum! Every time I entered the flat, another heated debate was going on, and when I had finally finished my panel, at 8.30pm, I came home to watch the FINAL debate!

Today I went to vote early and then went back to the Assembly hall to check that none of my labels had fallen down, and I put my prints in the browser. Now I feel a huge sense of relief that I have survived the month, and just this week I had to book my visa appointment for China, and received all my details about the residency in August.

My large panel, 'Trees,' at the South East Open Studios

I only took down the work at the South East Open Studios on Sunday afternoon, after a two week event. I held this with two other artists in an empty unit in Ely Court, the Royal Victoria Place, Tunbridge Wells. Kent. During the event, I worked on an 8 foot by 4 foot panel, painting a section of trees. My friends also worked on panels, and each artwork demonstrated a different style and approach. This daily demonstration was much appreciated by our visitors who talked to us about the work as it changed day by day. I loved painting these trees, which were originally inspired by some photos of trees but gradually began to relate to a group of trees opposite my flat. Quite by accident, a pathway emerged in my painting and I kept it!

'Fiona's-World,' acrylic on canvas, 30 x 23 cm

Our studio was really large and we were able to spread out and paint, and also had a small 'office' section where we had our daily coffees. I found that an unexpected benefit was that I made a series of small paintings in between working on the large panel, and some of these have now gone on display at the TWIAF.

Preparing for June

My three paintings ready to be delivered to the Llewellyn Alexander gallery

June is going to be my busiest month of the year, apart from August, when I hope to be in my studio in China painting away all day, every day! Yesterday I delivered my three paintings to the Llewellyn Alexander gallery in London, for their wonderful 'Not The Royal Academy exhibition.' Work can be submitted initially by photograph (if you have had work rejected by the Royal Academy in the last 5 years), or by taking your rejected paintings from the RA straight to the Llewellyn Alexander gallery and receive their decision at once.

I sent photographs of my 3 paintings and all 3 were accepted! I box-framed them, as the photograph shows, and I was really pleased with the framing. The exhibition runs from June 7th to June 20th.

One of the three paintings, 'Calverley Park,' acrylic on canvas, 7.5 x 9.5 ins

 Right now I am preparing work to set up on Wednesday for the South East Open Studios, and only 2 days after that closes I will be setting up my stand at the Tunbridge Wells International Art Fair. Then when that ends, on June 26th, I have to get ready for China and sort out my visa, materials, travelling, etc. 

'Human Exchange,' watercolour and gouache on paper, 76 x 56 cm

This was painted partly to reference a poem and partly from some personal ideas. My local group of artists were all given a set of poems with the choice to illustrate one or several of them. I liked one called, 'We Three Tribes,' and this inspired some of the imagery in my painting. The poem paintings are to be shown at the forthcoming Tunbridge Wells International Art Fair. The painting, which is watercolour and gouache on 300gsm watercolour paper (76 x 56 cm) surprised me because I worked it as I went along, just as I did as a child. Sometimes I really love working from figures and though there was some light pencil drawing for the positions of the figures, I worked most of the painting just by intuition and wanted to overlap abstraction and figuration. I will update you on what happens!

My final news, which I am not at liberty to disclose fully, is that I have been selected as a participant on a painting programme! More about this much later in the year when I can disclose the full details.

Exhibitions and More Exhibitions

This is the brochure for our Open Studios which will be held across Kent and East Sussex in just over two weeks. Due to a change of circumstances, I am now holding an Open Studio with my five artist friends in the Ely Court area of the Royal Victoria Place Shopping Centre in Tunbridge Wells. We already have our Creatives@Tunbridge Wells gallery in Ely Court (now running for nearly 6 months!) and a week ago we took some of the empty shops nearby and put paintings and prints in the windows. Below is a photo of my large painting, ARROWHEADS AT LEMBA VALLEY, in the shop that three of us will be using as our Open Studio.

My painting in the shop window.

Of the four artists I am holding the Open Studios with, two make beautiful jewellery and the other two are painters. I am in this particular shop with the two painters and we will be selling work and also working on some huge panels,  each 8 foot high and 4 foot across, to paint the scene we would have painted in our original choice of studio. We had photographed some amazing trees outside the other studio and were going to work outdoors during the Open Studios each day, but now we will work from the photographs and our memories. Each of us paints with a different approach so it should be quite interesting, and being in the Shopping centre should bring us many visitors!

'Abstract-Coastal,' gouache and watercolour on paper, 11 x 9 ins

When the Open Studios ends, on June 19th, we only have a few days and then have to set up our work on 22nd June for the Tunbridge Wells International Art Fair, at the Assembly Hall. The Private View is on June 23rd (voting day!) and then the TWIAF is open from 24th-26th June. I have a stand and I already have paintings in mind to show there. But because of all the work needed to prepare for these events - and having to take three paintings up to London for the Not the Royal Academy exhibition at the Llewellyn Alexander gallery next week - I have had to come out of the gallery for a few months. I was having trouble finding time for everything!

Saying No

'My Return to China,' acrylic on board, 30 x 25 cm

Somehow this year things have really taken off with my artwork, both in the work itself and also with the opportunities that have kept coming my way! I have tried to work out why this has happened. I think that my work has grown in confidence in the last 5 years. You never KNOW how to paint, you just get better at recognising the shifts in your work and learning to evaluate what works and what doesn't. The rest is fluid and you have to develop an awareness of where it is leading and to learn to see what possibilities are being suggested by the work itself. For me, it is a case of following the paint journey, and following the excitement of brush strokes and colour. When something works, it resonates as having meaning for me, even if I can't say why!

I have come to learn to listen to my inner voice and value it above all else. I know that what has meaning for me may also have meaning for others, but if it doesn't, then that doesn't matter because if I have resolved the painting according to my own rules, and in the best way I can, then that is enough. The inner, unadulterated voice is the key - it's your inner world and the reason you should paint - and you should never be swayed away from that core by some outside idea of how you should be painting, or changing market demands. 

'Autumnal Seascape,' acrylic on board, 30 x 25 cm

Being accepted for the 6th Beijing International Art Biennale, and being invited out there by the China Artists Association, really was very encouraging and helpful, and also consolidated a lot of ideas that were emerging in my artwork concerning brush strokes and colour. I felt a surer sense of my path, though within that path are always huge creative possibilities. I felt able to apply to exhibitions further afield, and I am currently preparing an application for a group show in New York. Of course, there is a huge amount of competition and I used to really get depressed when the rejection notices came back, but the cure for that is to send out 10 more applications. You don't then get time to mull over the whys of not being accepted.

'Fiona's-World,' (2) acrylic on board, 30 x 25 cm (accepted for Singapore)

As time becomes more limited, I am having to learn to say no. May and June are already full of commitments and in order to get work ready, and make sure I also have new work to submit for further exhibitions, I have had to opt out of the lovely gallery I am co-running with a group of local artists. I feel so sorry about this but it is now a time problem, and at a later date perhaps I can hang work there again (and do my one day a week shift). But right now with four events in June and some big paintings to finish, I need time to focus on a new series of painting.

There are always so many other things you have to do, and also things as mundane as varnishing work, signing it all, updating websites and various linked websites, and applying for more shows. The more one does, the more there is to do! But I do hate to say no!

Inundated!

'Fiona's World,' acrylic on canvas, 30 x 40 cm

There have been years when exhibition opportunities were less or I was rejected but this year I have found myself inunadated with opportunities and - as often happens to artists - it is now a case of making sure there is enough work to fill them all!

'Colour-World,' acrylic on canvas, 25 x 30 cm

Maybe it is luck from my Chinese astrological sign (I am the Year of the Monkey, and it is this year!) or perhaps my work just became better or fits the market better, but I now find myself with 4 exhibitions in June, a painting residency in China for the month of August, and another exhibition in Singapore in November. In June, I will have work at the Awe-Some Fenix gallery in Singapore, three paintings at the Llewellyn Alexander gallery (London) for the 'Not The Royal Academy' exhibition, and I am taking part in the South East Open Studios across Kent, and also will have work in the Tunbridge Wells International Art Fair. 

'Paint-Poem,' oil and acrylic on panel, 25 x 30 cm

In between organising work for these events, I am doing new work. Being an artist is much harder work than most people think because you have to juggle so much AND evolve your painting ideas, aiming always to improve your work. It takes a lot of focus and discipline.

'Fiona's World, 2,' acrylic on panel, 25 x 30 cm

Today I received an email that 'Fiona's World, 2,' has been chosen for the November exhibition at the Awe-some Fenix gallery in Singapore. It was only painted a week ago!

International Opportunities

'Landscape-Memories,' gouache on paper, 11 x 8.3 ins

This year has begun off quite well. When I was in Cyprus recently I found out that one of my paintings has been selected for an exhibition in Singapore, and on the same day I received an email inviting me for a painting residency at THE SCHOOLHOUSE in Mutianyu, China! 

'The Joy of Life,' acrylic on panel, 20 x 30 cm

The painting above is the one that has been selected for the exhibition THE JOY OF LIFE, in Singapore. It will be accompanied by a catalogue. I am really pleased that this painting was selected because it is one I felt good about.

'Mountain-Poem,' gouache on paper, 11 x 8.3 ins

I had sent a message expressing interest in a fellowship at The Schoolhouse at Mutianyu some months ago but I had not expected to be invited! I am thrilled about this residency because the place I will be staying is next to the Great Wall of China and it will allow me to continue a body of work I began last September after my participation in the 6th Beijing International Art Biennale. I was invited to the Opening of the exhibition, along with 200 artists from around the world, and all invited artists were taken to see the Wall. It inspired a series of ink paintings on rice paper, using materials I bought in Beijing, and it is this series I would like to continue and develop further on canvas and possibly different types of paper or even wood. While I am not sure exactly how the work will evolve, the residency will give me a month of studio time and quiet to really focus on my ideas. It is something I have longed for! 

'Inscape,' gouache on paper, 11 x 8.3 ins

Today I found out that I have been accepted for membership on the Axis artists' national database, which I am very pleased about because it will allow me to share my work and connect with other artists in the UK, and also will open up further opportunities.