Tithe Barn, Bradford on Avon

I had a birthday recently. A horrible one. I don't mean horrible nasty I hasten to add... just one of those forty-plus-not-worthy-of-a-special-number-badge ones, that make you realise you're no spring chicken anymore no matter how juvenile you act. I also had to fill an online form in that asked for my year of birth. Do you know.... it took a whole 12 seconds for the list to scroll down to get to my birth year. Honestly, I aged another year waiting for it to come in to view.

What's this got to do with art, I hear you cry?

Well, my wonderful husband bought me a complete set of new permanent coloured pencils, to celebrate my youth disappearing. There were as many in the huge box as one for every day I have been alive, it seems! As some people may know I use watercolour pencils in the main as you can get precise, applied media, with the added bonus of being to add water and squooshing it all about 'artistically'. These new pencils are permanent and hard wax based. Radically different in as much as when you make a line/mark etc.... it stays there (only turpentine will thin it out and give that painterly feel.) Where they do come into their own , is the depth of colour you can get from them. They literally shine. The wax gives a lustre the watercolours cannot match, and you can use them on wood, photographs etc which should make for some interesting experimentation soon. As it turns out the only thing that has let them down is me! Presented with every shade of vibrant beauty, what did I draw- but a mainly dark interior of monochromes!

It must be my age.....

(pictured is the interior of The Tithe Barn- roof detail)

The Three Gables....

Hot of the press and very topical at the moment, the latest offering as regards to the series of local watercolours I have been doing. This place has been the nub of many conversations over the years in town, as having prime location but no luck with planning permission etc. As with most buildings in our historic town the beauty of age and character comes at a heavy price- grade two listed being the first and foremost. That on top of being at the bottom of a valley during rainy periods and a woeful economic climate has never really let investors see past the obstacles. All has changed! New people are in and there is now a new place on the trail. I recently showed a painting of the building next to this on the blog ( The Georgian Wine Lodge) so this row in the town is certainly doing it's best to bring in tourists and locals alike. No mean feat, I say.

(To be fair, I may be very favourable to the 3 Gables as they have a new 'chef de plongeur!' we have a vested interest in..... I wonder if his new found skills translate at home?!)

Abbey Mill watercolour

Another watercolour of a building in Bradford on Avon. I think I am in danger of cultivating a style. That will never do. That is tantamount to being almost respectable in art terms!

Also shown are a brace of commissioned lamps. A lady came in with her wallpaper and asked if I could do something similar to match her decor... well I could and I did! So there is another service on offer at Serenarts ( and if I can get enough wallpaper swatches I can redecorate!)

The Georgian Wine Lodge...

This one didn't last very long.... it was only up on the gallery wall for a week. It is now winging it's way across the pond to it's new home in America. That's another continent I can cross off!

Pictured is a watercolour and pencil painting of the Georgian Wine Lodge here in the town. It didn't occur to me to paint this because people stay there and would want a keepsake of their holiday... I painted it purely for it's aesthetics. It is a magnificent building nestled between older ones, shouting 'look at me' as you come over the crest of the bridge.... a big gold tooth among smaller crooked ones.....

Bridge jigsaw.....

Feeling slow and sluggish? Brain not working properly? Fed up with not thinking straight? Irritated at how easily stuff is escaping you? Look no further... help is at hand! Look as clever as Isambard Kingdom Brunel in seconds! Build a bridge in three easy steps and amaze your friends! There arn't even any fiddly interlocking pieces to confuse you. Hurry while stocks last.....

Had a bit of fun with this. I have been experimenting with more unusual ways of showing photographs recently, and here is one of the results. It is a triptych of Bradford on Avon bridge which got a good going over in photoshop, and then the image transferred onto lazertran and applied to canvasses. I like the quirkiness of the different sizes.... even if it is a little emulative of the 'three flying ducks.'

Enjoy..

Be careful what you wish for....

A while back I was out gallivanting with my camera and stopped at a high, prime spot over the town. I found an unusual view of a higgled-piggled, windy street, but for love or money could not get an angle from where I was stood that didn't include a very stark, white van parked there. I wished it away to no avail, then thought 'well maybe I could erase it in photoshop.'

Once home I had a brief look at it and decided it would take too much faffing about to clone, heal and smooth it away so I left it in in all it's glory, printed it off as a photo and reached for the oil paints instead. I used the photo as reference and made the painting into a diptych... sans van.

To cut a long story short... guess who came into the gallery and bought both the photo and oil painting? ......

Yes, Mr and Mrs White Van!!

When the Saints go marching in........

to the Championship League! Congratulations to all connected with Southampton Football Club from fans to players, and everything in between.... have a picture of a red and white flower to celebrate with! It's the least I can do.....

Right, onto equally important matters such as new ideas for the gallery, and keeping things fresh and exciting. I enjoy a lot of experimentation as do many other creative, arty farty types and find happy accidents lead to some fantastical results. A prime example being the lamps I do. I recently saw a television program where slivers of semi precious stones were scanned and the results printed on silk. The colours were so vibrant and reminded me of the glass paints I use. So a fun morning was had, scanning the more abstract of the lamps and taking out interesting sections to blow up and print onto canvas. The colours were fantastic on the canvasses- the light from the scanner really picks up the luminosity of the special paints. The upshot means people can now buy a combination of a complementary, contemporary abstract canvas to go with the lamp they like.... all for under the price of a football shirt, a ticket and petrol money to get to St Mary's!

( That's £80 to anyone with math as bad as mine!)

Cascade.....

Every now and again the sun shines and the wind abates long enough to feel it. Every now and again you revisit places and remember why you return.

It has been at least two months since the camera has come out in anger. My husband and I played hookie from the Gallery, and took a day to walk round Bowood Gardens. We have been to various parts of the grounds several times over the years, from doing shows to just getting some energy off the children as they were growing.... but we have never been just for ourselves to take a leisurely stroll in the warm.

It is beautiful. Soft, undulating, emerald green lawns sweep down to a lake teeming with wildlife. The House itself sits at the top of the small hill watching over proceedings, but the joy is the layout of the trees, plants and rocky, hidden walkways through it all. No matter which time of year you go there will be something to look at and admire. We took the long way round and came across a a quirky walled maze of boulders and miniature caves under a canopy of cooling tree tops, following a small stream. And look what we found........

( this photo taken with a long high aperture setting and a four second delay- soft, bright and delicious!)

Glass Art Lamps.....

Just a quick post to show a mini selection of lamps I have been working on. I normally paint abstract, floral or geometric panels, but every now and again a 'scene' flows from the end of the pipette. Looking at these I think the post should be called 'from dusk 'til dawn'.....

Big stage whisper Sshhhh!...........

I am trying not to speak in anything above a whisper and am on tippy toes stealing through my own blog.... hoping that no one will notice that there has been a rather large absence of blogging from this quarter, while i set about rectifying the tardiness. Anyone who knows me will realise the quietness will not last... in fact I can feel a song and dance routine coming on already, with full orchestra backing and at least four score of tap-dancing elephants... well, it is so nice to be back blogging!

Posted are two pictures i have finished working on. I have had a small resurgence on local scenes recently, living as i do in a very picturesque town. I also figured tourist season is nearly here as well, so my subject choice wasn't entirely for aesthetics! The town bridge pictured is in acrylics, a medium I do no use enough. The colours are so bright and handle completely differently to my usual oils so it was a happy change for me. The other picture is a pet portrait commission of a lovely little fellow called Scamp. I was really pleased how this turned out, as were his owners. Luckily I didn't have to do his tail.... it was always a blur of wagging!