We have recently been updated by the Westward Ho! & Bideford Art Society, that we will have a physical exhibition this year, hooray! Although there is no theme, the painting must have been produced during lockdown. The above image is of a painting - ‘Inspired By Begonias’ - which was created last August/September time. It was rendered using oils and cold wax medium and, as the title says, I was inspired by the begonias in my garden. I have in fact created two such paintings of my begonias, as I was so delighted with the colours and habit of the flowers, but this is the one I have chosen for the exhibition.
I understand that we are handing in works on 30th April and the exhibition will start on Monday 17th May - Sunday 11th July inclusive. The exhibition will be held at the Burton Art Gallery and Museum in Bideford with their usual opening hours. It is framed under glass with a white wood frame and white mount and measures about 33” x 25.5” framed. It is priced at £400
Here are two of my most recent pieces, the working titles so far are Steamy Windows I & II. Not sure yet whether they will remain so entitled, but I’ll live with it for a while. They are just finished, on paper and unframed. I wanted to work with a limited palette of Indigo, Paynes Grey, Chrome Yellow and white. They look purpleish on the photos, but are a little more blue in reality. I’m still working with oils and cold wax and loving the textures that can be made with the medium.
Isn’t it strange that the colours change with the seasons, or perhaps not. In looking back this year, I can see from my works when the sun shone and when it didn’t. We haven’t had too much sun this month so far, and it certainly is cold outside at the moment. I hate the dark nights and the short days.
We have decided to revamp the front garden and remove all the bushes that have overgrown and invaded the neighbours garden. It seemed like a good idea, but the amount of ivy and weeds that have had to be removed has meant many trips to the recycling centre. We are nearly there, just the gravel to go down and the christmas lights to go up, hopefully before the 25th!
Have a great christmas all of you and a happy and healthy 2021.
It’s such a strange time at the moment - we are again in ‘lockdown’ and I have been busy painting and not updating the website as I should have done.
The images above are three of my latest ones and I’m not sure of the names as yet. The blue and yellow one was created in September, whilst taking part in some advanced cold wax training by an artist called Sally Hirst. I have been using oils and cold wax medium for a couple of years now as my favoured media and had hoped to take an advanced course with Jerry McLaughlin in Europe (he and Rebecca Crowell wrote a marvellous book called ‘Cold Wax Medium, Techniques, Concepts and Conversations’ that I use as go to textbook) but with the Covid pandemic, he has been unable to deliver any workshops. Sally is a Norfolk based artist and had some interesting and useful information in her online course. The blue and yellow was the culmination of the 4 weeks work.
The other two pieces were started at the same time, but have gone through many transitions to get to where they are now complete.
Prior to and during the course with Sally Hirst, these two were worked on and completed. I fell in love with the colours of the begonias in a big pot just by my patio doors. I watched the blooms develop from yellow to peach to scarlet and the way in which the leaves and blooms talked to each other was just delightful; I wanted to remember them after the summer was over. The blooms have gone now and the leaves are turning brown and will need to be cut back. I will be lucky if they return next year in such abundance.
