the marbretherese blog

Work in Progress 2

2012-02-11T14:34:00.000Z

Vine lino block and original sketch
© Teresa Newham 2012

I finally found time to produce the third of the four linocuts I started back at Open Studios in September. This one is the vine, as in "I am the vine, you are the branches" (John 15:5). Sharp-eyed readers will immediately spot the schoolgirl error I made when cutting the block - the design is the same way round as the original sketch! Faced with doing all that work again (those grapes took ages), I took a look at the sketch in a mirror and decided it would work just as well in reverse. So I was holding my breath even more than usual when I pulled the first print:

first vine print
© Teresa Newham 2012

When I saw the result, I was delighted. Because of the way I intend to display the four prints, I think this one will work even better the 'wrong' way round! I went on to make six prints in total:

six vine prints
© Teresa Newham 2012

Having completed the third print I'm now keen to get on with the fourth and final one, of which more another time . . .!

Just after seven

2012-01-28T12:15:00.002Z

The mild winter has brought blossom to the trees in central London. Snowdrops are appearing in the garden, a reminder that we will have the joy this year of discovering exactly what our garden contains. Ironically we are having a cold snap just as the days are starting to lengthen noticeably - and yesterday morning the birdsong at dawn moved me to write a poem for the first time in ages:

© Teresa Newham 2012

Today a thrush was singing to the dawn
just after seven. A clear and frosty morning
as though an unseen Hand had spread a sparkling veil across the land.
I wondered: did he sing for joy
or simply to keep warm?
or was he singing to the trees -
calling the sap to rise, the Spring to struggle from its knees?
Today a thrush was singing to the dawn
just after seven. A clear and frosty morning.
A glimpse of Heaven.

New Year, new studio

2012-01-14T11:54:00.002Z

school tables provide a working surface
© Teresa Newham 2012

Finally, my studio in the new house (not so new now, of course!) is pretty much up and running. Like everything in life, it's a work in progress, but the basics are there. I ordered two school tables back in the Autumn and waited patiently for the call to say when they would be delivered. As things turned out, we came home from work one evening to find them neatly stacked on the porch across our front door. Ah well . . . at least I didn't have to take time off work to wait in for them!!

artworks on the walls!
© Teresa Newham 2012

You can just see the linocut I'm currently doing at the bottom left of the photo above. It's the third one of the set of four I've been working on since last summer. Which, coincidentally, is the last time I picked up a paintbrush . . . roll on Spring and the lighter days! There are two doors (to the kitchen and the garden) and three windows/window openings to the studio, so ironically not a lot of wall space. But there's room to hang a few artworks and there is scope for more.

dining room and kitchen beyond
© Teresa Newham 2012

It's a pleasant space to work in, with a stone floor, so any spillages won't matter. I first discovered the joy of a spill-proof floor when I attended short courses at Central St Martins - particularly when applying very wet watercolour washes that you want to run into one another. And being next to the kitchen is handy not just for keeping water jars replenished when painting, but also for clearing up after printmaking . . .

jolly storage
© Teresa Newham 2012

The room also has some useful built-in cupboards painted primrose yellow (see above) with room for books and paints on top (and our toolbox). I haven't been able to resist 'borrowing' some items from elsewhere in the house either: the wicker drawers were originally for the bathroom, and the hamper now houses my greetings cards instead of some old documents.

I feel so grateful to have access to a space like this, and I'm keen to put it to good use. Must get down to some art-making!!

gifts and gorillapods

2011-12-30T15:16:00.001Z

Christmas stuff
© Teresa Newham 2011

Christmas, so long anticipated, is over; and we've been using this period between Christmas and New Year to rest a bit and recharge our batteries. Thanks to my family's enthusiastic use of my Amazon Wishlist, I've a ton of books to read: the first one I opened was the amazing Linda McCartney - a Life in Photographs. It's easy to forget that Linda Eastman was a respected photographer before she married Paul McCartney. The first part of the book contains many fascinating images of famous rock stars of the '60s and '70s; the second part is mainly the McCartney children and their father. But they are no mere snapshots - Linda McCartney had an eye, and it shows.

gorillapod noir
© Teresa Newham 2011

The second photography-related gift I received was my crazy and clever Gorillapod. Every budding photographer should have one! I'm still to explore the full potential of this little bendy wonder but I'm in love with it already. You can use it as an ordinary tripod, or to balance your camera on an uneven surface, or hang it off anything it will attach itself to, in order to get that elusive shot. Or just put it somewhere you can't get to yourself, as in the photo below:

pots and brushes
© Teresa Newham 2011

I've also been given Photoshop Elements, and a dummies' guide to it: so that sorts out my photography project for 2012 (and possibly beyond, depending how complicated it is to get to grips with). And various art-related books: watercolour, printmaking, collage. The possibilities are endless.

Finally, I'd like to wish readers of this blog a blessed and inspired 2012. Happy New Year!

a Christmas message

2011-12-17T16:13:00.000Z

Holy Family
limited edition linocut
© Teresa Newham 2011

Christmas is nearly upon us. It's a time of preparation - of presents, food and decorations, certainly, but for Christians it's also the season of Advent - a time of preparation for our minds and hearts. We are called upon to be ready: not simply to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, but ready for him to be born again within us. That can be quite a challenge at this time of year! And in that spirit, let me wish everyone who reads this blog - whatever your beliefs - blessings and peace this Christmas.

Seasons of Mist . . .

2011-11-26T17:20:00.001Z

© Teresa Newham 2011

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run . . .

- John Keats

We've had a mild autumn; scarlet geraniums are still blooming merrily in my porch at the end of November, and even the fading leaves have lingered longer than they might have. If it wasn't for the evenings drawing in at tea-time you wouldn't know that December will soon be upon us. I love the rhythm of the seasons, so the recent misty mornings, with just a touch of winter chill, have been a delight to me, as well as a sign that autumn is slowly giving way to winter.

This month's Photos on the Run celebrates this change: dramatic shots of bare branches outlined against the sky, berries in the garden, the trees of Harpenden Common shrouded in mist. This time of year, with its shortening days, has a sense of anticipation and mystery. Christmas is coming . . .

keeping it local

2011-11-20T16:31:00.002Z

visitors enjoying the exhibition on Saturday afternoon
© Teresa Newham 2011

If it's November it must be time for the Harpenden Arts Club Annual Open Exhibition; and, sure enough, I recently found myself sorting out d-rings, labels and bubble wrap for the four entries I'd rashly listed on the application form. I went for framed exhibits this year: View from my Back Bedroom Window (which following our house move is now the view from somebody else's), Cardinal's Wharf, Poppy Fields and - to vary things a bit - a framed reduction linocut Venetian Masks.

View from (somebody else's) Back Bedroom Window on display at the exhibition
© Teresa Newham 2011

As usual I'd put myself down for a couple of hours stewarding - I don't get along to the club meetings so stewarding is a good way to meet other members and, of course, the general public. I was delighted to find myself sitting alongside the talented watercolourist Jan Makower, who's work I really admire. We had an interesting chat about selling art during the recession, and I asked her about the various classes she runs.

Cardinal's Wharf on display
© Teresa Newham 2011

And I have to say, recession or not, the public are still buying art if it's at the right price. A number of HAC members obviously have their own following, as they'd sold several pieces each (local scenes are very popular); and our stewarding session saw one eager buyer purchase two ceramics - it was great to see some ceramics on show alongside the paintings and there was a good variety of media on the walls, too.

unframed exhibiits in browsers, plus ceramics (Poppy Fields hanging in the background)
© Teresa Newham 2011

We were kept busy sorting out voting slips - the HAC encourage visitors to vote for their favourite three exhibits, and there were so many completed slips that the jar assigned to hold them was completely jammed, and I found myself putting them in batches held in place with elastic bands (I hope they make it into the count LOL). The HAC allow stewards to sell their own cards during their stint, and a lady who popped in just as we were closing bought some of mine. That was a bonus!

Venetian Masks was there, too!
© Teresa Newham 2011

early one morning

2011-10-29T13:07:00.002+01:00

flowers and plants
© Teresa Newham 2011

Recently I had to take my car to be serviced in St Albans. Rather than spend several hours in the 'hospitality suite' of the garage (two sofas and a vending machine) I hopped on a bus and found myself in the town centre at around 9am. I love markets first thing in the morning before they get too crowded; it was a lovely day, perfect for browsing and nosing about. All the vendors take a great deal of care in the way they display their goods, and it wasn't long before I had my mobile phone out, snapping away as discreetly as I could! which is why the theme for October's Photos on the Run is St Albans market. Enjoy!

Work in progress I

2011-10-16T10:47:00.005+01:00

living water
© Teresa Newham 2011

During Open Studios I started a series of linocuts based on some insights which were given to me through reading Pope John Paul II's Letter to Artists. This is well worth a look if you take a spiritual approach to your art, be it through a religious framework or not. Having become a Catholic earlier this year I'd been wondering how to reflect this in my art (without necessarily taking religion as my theme all the time). I found what JP2 had to say extremely inspiring, and one phrase stuck in my mind:

Who does not recall the symbols which marked the first appearance of an art both pictorial and plastic? The fish, the loaves, the shepherd: in evoking the mystery, they became almost imperceptibly the first traces of a new art.

So, the fish, the loaves, the shepherd: and what about some of the other signs of Christ? living water, the vine? these symbols crop up time and time again in the Gospels. How to depict them? how even to start? well: I drew my four designs (I need four for a particular layout, more of which another time) while commuting on the train. They would be simple, strong black and white linocuts - nothing fancy!

loaves & fish I & II
© Teresa Newham 2011

I did struggle with the loaves & fish a bit, drawing them several times and dithering about whether the bread should be leavened or not (it is); the first version is shown on the left above. I found the scales too distracting so this weekend I cut them out and did the print again (but as I won't know for sure what works with the other images until I see all four together, I'm keeping the lot for now LOL). It was the first time I'd produced anything in my makeshift studio at the new house, and very satisfying it was too. Even the studio itself is a work in progress! at the moment it looks like this:

studio, October 2011
© Teresa Newham 2011

It will be interesting to see how these linocuts evolve - and how the studio itself evolves, come to that. But I've also had some inspiration for a linocut Christmas card, which will keep me busy for a few weeks!

Poppy Fields

2011-09-24T18:40:00.004+01:00

Half way through July we visited the Rhythms of the World festival in Hitchin. On the way we passed the most wonderful field of poppies near Pirton, bright red against the ripening wheatfields. The following week we went that way again, and this time I had my camera ready - but - no poppies! they'd finished flowering, but the impression they made on me was so strong that I quickly snapped a few shots of the wheatfields for reference, and also some poppies on Harpenden Common which I could use as a guide. Time was short (we were about to move house) so I laid down some loose washes and left the painting alone to see what would happen.

initial washes and source material
© Teresa Newham 2011

It looked quite effective, so I pulled out some clouds with kitchen roll, painted up some grasses using the four colours I'd used for the washes (cerulean blue, ultramarine, cadmium red and raw sienna), and scattered a lot of water around the centre of the painting, dropping in some cad red as I did so.

overpainted, but not finished
© Teresa Newham 2011

Next, I touched in some shadows and the centres of the flowers with ultramarine; and when all that had dried off I spattered cad red, cerulean and ultramarine across the raw sienna wheatfield. The finished result is hanging in my Open Studios exhibition right now. Oh, and the theme for September's Photos on the Run is reflections in windows. Hope you enjoy them!

Poppy Fields
© Teresa Newham 2011

Up and Running

2011-09-11T19:01:00.001+01:00

my corner of the exhibition at Artscape: two of Helen's canvases in the foreground
and Sue's watercolours to the right of my photos
© Teresa Newham 2011

Yes, it's time for Open Studios again! I spent last Saturday afternoon attempting to hang my bit of the Artscape exhibition with a streaming cold. It went up fairly easily thanks to my other half - and due to the fact that I bagged a bit of wall which already had most of the hooks I needed in place. My co-exhibitors also managed their hanging with the minimum of fuss: Sue Wookey's mystical watercolours, Hillary Taylor's mixed media and photography and Helen Griffin's striking figurative canvases were on the wall before you could shake a stick. We even had time to put up a display of greetings cards and brochures!

early arrivals for the Open Evening enjoy a snack
in front of Helen Griffin's amazing canvases
© Teresa Newham 2011

By Friday we were still trying to work out how many people were coming to that night's Open Evening. Quite a few, as it turned out, but there was still enough room to breathe, move around, have a drink and a nibble and admire the art. The Deputy Town Mayor came along and mingled with various local artists, dignitaries, our friends and family members. It wasn't long before I was putting a red dot on one of my Acer Leaf prints for a buyer, cards were selling like hot cakes, and money changed hands for a couple of items from my browser too.

Some of Hillary's photos and cards
© Teresa Newham 2011

By the end of the evening we had all made sales and/or discussed possible commissions; which is pretty good going in the current climate! Needless to say I got some lovely comments about the painting I liked the least and none at all about my favourite, which just shows I have no idea what people really like LOL. The Venice photos got a lot of good feedback and I was glad I'd got some Venice cards on sale.

Station Road display: Cardinal's Wharf centre left and
one of my sunflower photos far right
© Teresa Newham 2011

Yesterday we had our first Open Studio afternoon - it was great just to have an excuse to sit and do some art. I got down to some linocutting (hurrah!), Sue worked on one of the series of small watercolour animal paintings she's currently doing, and Hillary did some seriously detailed drawing. As usual the visitors came in fits and starts, but we were just happy to have made it through to the bit we enjoy the most - doing the art and talking to people about it.

my Swan painting as part of the Harpenden OS display
at Wesley's Cafe in the High Street
© Teresa Newham 2011

The Harpenden artists taking part in Open Studios this year also have work on show in Allders Opticians, Station Road, to promote the event - and at Wesley's Café at the Methodist Church in the High Street. So if you're in the area, please take a look!

A huge thank you to Gurmeet, David, Chris and all the team at Artscape for their support in this venture!

Why can't the Buddha vacuum under the sofa?

2011-08-28T17:55:00.005+01:00

The end of August can only mean one thing - it's time to promote Herts Open Studios! So we spent the morning at the Farmers' Market, arriving at 8.30am to transform a bare and windswept stall (mercifully with an awning on it in case we had another bout of torrential rain) into a credible and attractive promotion for Harpenden-based artists opening their studios to the public next month.

Harpenden Artists' stall at the Farmers Market . . .

I'm pleased to say we generated a lot of interest; given the amount of publicity we do each year both locally and county-wide, it's surprising how many people don't know about the event. We even found some potential new members for Herts Visual Arts, who organise the Open Studios and support Hertfordshire artists in other ways. What's more, the sun came out and the rain stayed away for the first time in days!

. . . with my sunflower photo and a print of Cardinal's Wharf on show

This year I'm exhibiting at Artscape again, with three other artists. Our exhibition is running alongside Open Studios, from 5th Sept - 1st Oct, and from Saturday 10th Sept at least some of us will be at Artscape to meet and chat to visitors from 1pm - 5pm every Friday & Saturday. You can find more details and get a feel for the work on show here.

As for the riddle in the title above: for the answer to that you'll have to visit my photos on the run page on my website. The theme is things which have made me smile in August. We could do with a laugh in the wet weather!

matching and making

2011-08-06T17:35:00.001+01:00

In the midst of preparing to move house, I've been working on a commission which arose out of my exhibition at Art on the Common. My client saw one of my Acer Leaf monoprints and contacted me shortly afterwards to find out if I could produce one using specific colours. She sent me a sample of wallpaper and I set about making colour swatches to ensure that I could match it.

wallpaper sample and colour swatches

I'd made the original monoprints in a couple of days apiece, but as this was a commission it needed to be done properly, so I laid down the base colour (lightening it as I went to get the correct shade) and left it to dry for a week before attempting to work on any leaves. I had to make sure that the first leaf matched the wallpaper but remained dark enough to be seen against the white background:

first leaf laid down

Then I had to be patient again for a week while that dried completely! however, working this way did mean that the printing fitted in well in around my other commitments. The wallpaper included a silver stripe so a metallic silver was the next colour to go on.

applying metallic silver to the Acer leaf

The following weekend things got really exciting as it was time for the final colour. I had a total of six prints - necessary in case any got spoiled - and decided to try three with gold and three with copper. Then I hung them to dry for the last time.

makeshift drying rack

The client has chosen one of the prints with a copper leaf - which I also preferred. Here is one of its companions to give an idea of what the finished prints are like:

one of the final prints with metallic copper and silver

As I'd never done anything as a commission before, I was relieved that the client liked the result. In fact I don't know which of us was more pleased with the outcome!

bikes to blog about

2011-07-25T18:25:00.002+01:00

red bike, yellow door

Who said getting married and moving house within the space of a few months was a good idea? yes, it was me. This punishing schedule has played havoc with my creativity already this year and we haven't even got into our new home yet . . . so I've cheated for this month's photos on the run and used a mixture of old and new photos; some from my regular walks along the Thames and some from various trips I've made to Oxford. I did have more, but can I lay my hands on them? don't ask . . .

The photo above is the one which gave me the idea for the July photos. I knew I had plenty of bike pics taken in Oxford, but I needed some more recent ones. So I started to look for bikes - there are plenty in London, too, but they're not necessarily going to make a decent photo. So last Friday I was delighted to find the one below - I think somebody up there must have known I was looking!

bike, boat, bridge, St Paul's

Trailing Along

2011-07-12T14:14:00.002+01:00


source photo for Backwater, Venice

Life is so chaotic at the moment it was no surprise to me when I realised that I hadn't yet blogged about my latest painting, Backwater, Venice. I finished it a couple of months ago (I think - I've lost track!) and since then I've been trying to decide whether I like it or not. The painting itself was long overdue - I meant to paint several Venice subjects this year after our honeymoon back in February - but various things including an impending house move have thrown everything out of sync for some time now.

early washes for Backwater, Venice

I began by blocking in the scene with raw sienna, adding in some turquoise for the water and sky. Elements of these initial washes were very pale, as even at that time of year the sunlight was quite strong, and I made sure I kept the runbacks to add some watery atmosphere!

Viridian wash added

The next wash was of viridian green. I'm attracted to this colour, although it's not everyone's cup of tea, and it added a lot of depth to the reflections in the canal. Plus it was close to the original colour of the shutters on the buildings. I also used it to add texture to the walls. I was tempted to leave the painting alone after this, but it didn't have enough contrast. So I added a final wash of ultramarine, to bring out the deepest shadows and reflections of the buildings in the water:

Backwater, Venice

This is the result - and I really can't make my mind up about it. Still, there's plenty of time to decide whether it's worth framing between now and Open Studios in September - isn't there?

* * * * * *

Elderly Couple in the window of Shephard & Akay

At the moment I have two paintings on show as part of the Hitchin Art Trail, which runs alongside the Hitchin Festival throughout July. Elderly Couple at Rossbeigh Beach has been hung in Shephard & Akay Optometrists, Churchyard. It's part of a seaside-themed display and I like the idea that the couple might be enjoying the view thanks to specs supplied by the business.

Breakfast at the Brown Box Cafe
in Tim's Art Supplies

My other entry, Breakfast at the Brown Box Cafe, was one of around twenty pieces not shown by any of the participating shops. The art trail organiser, Tim of Tim's Art Supplies in Tilehouse Street, thought they deserved to be seen so he's hung them in his own shop - some in the window, some in the art section and some (including this one) in the haberdashery & knitting wool section, which gets a lot of visitors. My husband and I did the Art Trail on Saturday - it took two hours (!) - and it was extremely interesting to see how some businesses obviously choose by subject - music-themed paintings in music shops, the fish-and-chip shop showing a study of sea creatures - and others by size. Maybe next year I'll be more organised and enter something relevant to specific shops. Maybe . . .

Statues in the City

2011-06-28T16:00:00.004+01:00

Paternoster (Dame Elisabeth Frink), Paternoster Square
© Teresa Newham 2011

Sometimes changing your regular routine can lead to unexpected discoveries. I recently took a slightly different route on my way to the office and found myself wandering across Paternoster Square, the other side of St Paul's Cathedral to the way I usually go; in the middle of the square is the most beautiful sculpture by Dame Elisabeth Frink, entitled Paternoster, depicting Our Lord as the Good Shepherd. Another small detour revealed further treasures - the young lovers (a sculpture by Georg Ehrlich) cuddling up to one another in the shadow of the Cathedral itself, and further into the gardens a dramatic representation of Becket by Bainbridge Copnall.


the UK Firefighters' Memorial, near St Paul's © Teresa Newham 2011

It should therefore come as no surprise that the subject I've chosen for June's Photos on the Run (see separate page on my website) is Statues in the City. As often with these things, it began with three and is now a series of eight photos. I couldn't ignore the compelling UK Firefighters' National Memorial, which stands across the road from the South Door of St Paul's; a magnet for tourists passing on their way to the Millennium Bridge, it eloquently conveys the intensity of their work during the London Blitz, and since - memorial wreaths adorn its base. And when I venture along Walbrook I see Stephen Melton's life-size, lifelike statue of a yuppie LIFFE Trader. At the moment he's carefully surrounded by scaffolding due to building works; usually he's lost in a scrum of commuters rushing from Cannon Street station to their offices in the heart of the City. Once or twice I've almost apologized for bumping into him! Not far from Walbrook is Whittington Gardens, named after the City's Lord Mayor Dick Whittington, who is buried nearby. Here I found two Cambellotti sculptures of horsemen, given to the City of London by the Italian President during a state visit in 2005, which I hadn't really noticed before, although I visit the garden frequently.

the Cordwainer (Alma Boyes), Watling Street
© Teresa Newham 2011

If I walk to the office along Watling Street (reputed to be the oldest street in London), I eventually come to The Cordwainer, a statue by Alma Boyes unveiled in 2002 to mark the 100th Anniversary of the Cordwainer Ward Club. Cordwainers made shoes or other articles from fine soft leather sourced from Cordoba, in Spain - hence the name. A famous cordwainer can be found round the corner in Cheapside - Captain John Smith, who set up a colony in America in the early 17th Century. The statue is a copy of an original by the American sculptor William Couper which stands in Jamestown, Virginia. I must have walked past him a dozen times, and only saw him when I started really looking!

what a difference a day makes . . .

2011-06-18T15:58:00.001+01:00

Art on the Common 2011
© Teresa Newham 2011

June means that it's time for Art on the Common again, and sure enough around forty hopeful artists arrived at 8am last Saturday to set up their gazebos and pitches on Harpenden Common for the first day of what we hoped would be the usual two-day local art event in aid of Cancer Research. It was cool, but sunny, and we were relieved (after last year) that there was a gentle breeze rather than a howling gale.

my set-up, thanks to my husband's help
© Teresa Newham 2011

Because S had other commitments, I'd decided to brave the first day exhibiting on my own; of course my husband kept me company (and set up the gazebo and did the general dogsbodying, bless him!), but all the art was mine. I managed to put together what I hoped was a reasonable exhibition of watercolours, prints and photos, and because we weren't fighting the weather like last year, everything was up and organised in time for the 10am opening.

I even had room to show some old photos . . . !
© Teresa Newham 2011

The Harpenden Common Discovery Day opened at around the same time, and we spent the day sitting in the sunshine and listening to the various events going on nearby (ferret-racing, birds of prey, dog show). My husband read while I sketched and painted and resisted the urge to pluck at my visitors' sleeves and ask if they liked what they were looking at (quite a few said nice things without prompting, which was of course much better!). We chatted to a lovely couple who knew Portmagee, and gorged ourselves on tea and buns supplied at minimal cost by the local Scouts. Friends came and went, and my volume of card sales crept up steadily. By 4.30 the passers-by were on their way home and some clouds were threatening; sure enough, as we packed up some rain began to fall but we managed to get everything into the cars without it getting wet, and dashed off to six o-clock mass, ahead of the second day of exhibiting tomorrow.

Discovery Day, Harpenden Common
© Teresa Newham 2011

We knew that some people had been put off exhibiting on the second day by a poor weather forecast. Even so, around twenty were expected for Sunday's session, and we met S on the Common as arranged at 9am. It was windy, wet and miserable, and only seven exhibitors had turned up. It only took a few minutes of struggling (unsuccessfully) with the gazebo to convince us to pack up and go home again. What bliss to sit in the warm and dry with a cup of tea! I was sorry that S hadn't had the chance to take part this year, but she didn't seem too bothered as she'd just had a highly successful Open Studios week in Dunstable. And I was only just starting to realise how tired I was . . .

After we'd dried out and unpacked everything my husband went into town. Only four gazebos were braving it in the driving, constant rain and by the time he came home again barely half an hour later, only two were left.

Ah, the English summer!

street life

2011-05-28T12:57:00.002+01:00

violinists underneath Southwark Bridge

I've called today's blog Street Life, but in fact in my latest crop of photos on the run there's not a street to be seen. They were all taken within the space of twenty minutes on the walk from my office near Southwark Bridge over the river towards St Paul's. It was 5pm on a Friday evening, and the crowds were out in force enjoying the unusually warm May sunshine. Naturally, a whole host of vendors and entertainers had come out to join them and make a bob or two: as I walked past the Globe Theatre and Tate Modern and over the Millennium Bridge I couldn't help but be caught up in the festive atmosphere conjured up by the music and the smell of roasting chestnuts. It was a great start to the weekend!

masks & memories

2011-05-14T18:10:00.005+01:00

Venetian Masks
reduction linocut in black & metallic gold
© Teresa Newham 2011

It's nearly three months now since J & I had our honeymoon in Venice, but the memories are as strong as ever. Every photo or painting of Venice that I see - anywhere, and by anyone - takes me straight back there. I understand now what people mean when they say that Venice is magical. Once seen, never forgotten! The recent long weekend offered the opportunity for some printmaking; I'd already decided to take a couple of carnival masks as my subject. Until I visited Venice I'd always found masks rather creepy - those empty eyes - but five days surrounded by them on every street corner must have done the trick, because I was raring to go!! they also had the advantage of being visually graphic, thereby lending themselves effectively to a linocut. As a starting point, I used one of the honeymoon photographs:

Venetian Masks on display
© Teresa Newham 2011

Then, having chosen two masks I particularly liked, I turned them into a 14 x 18cm black and white image (just to check their suitability). From that I traced the image onto some paper, adjusted the design and coloured in the drawing with black biro and yellow marker pen, to determine where the colours would go. After last year's efforts at reduction lincocuts, I'd decided that it would be simpler to stick to just a couple of colours. I traced the drawing onto a prepared A4 sheet of lino, leaving room for a 35mm gully around the edge of the image and a 5mm lino border - which is not inked and does not print - around that at the edge of the lino. It takes a while to cut the gully out but the result is a much neater and well-aligned print - important if you are using more than one colour.

basic drawing and first cut
© Teresa Newham 2011

True to form, things went wrong almost immediately, as the image came out on the lino identical to the drawing. Which meant that the finished linocut print would be the wrong way round! But as this was a graphic subject it really didn't matter - I'd earlier printed out a reverse image and coloured it in to guide me when I was doing the actual cutting, and I could see that it would work either way. I gritted my teeth and started to cut the image. I had another setback when despite my best efforts I couldn't prevent the nostrils of one of the masks from getting cut off; they would have to go in afterwards. Ironically I used a different tool for the other mask and managed to keep the nostrils in. Well, at least I'd found a solution . . . !

first gold print and the inked-up lino block
© Teresa Newham 2011

Now for the best bit - the inky bit. There's nothing quite like squeezing some lovely gold metallic onto the inking glass and going over it with the roller. Metallic ink doesn't act in quite the same way as ordinary ink - it's a different consistency and dries faster. So I had to work quickly to pull my eight prints, using a large roller to get the image to 'take' on the paper, and then burnishing it with the back of an old dessert spoon I begged off my Dad a few months ago for this very purpose. It worked like a dream and I soon had eight gold-and-white prints laid out on the dining room table.

metallic gold prints & my 'inking glass'
(part of an old photo frame)
© Teresa Newham 2011

Despite all the careful planning, I had to adjust the cutting when it came to making the black plate. In one or two places there were two areas of the same colour side by side, so I introduced a simple zig-zag pattern onto some of the pieces of fabric which frame each mask (they looked so good when I'd finished that I wished I'd included some more!). By the time I printed the black plate I was extremely nervous, but also excited. And glad I hadn't used more colours, as it would have taken longer and I was keen to see what the end result would be!

eight gold-and-black prints, drying
© Teresa Newham 2011

I was thrilled. I didn't quite manage to integrate all of the cutting so there are one or two odd lines which don't make complete sense, but the overall effect is exactly what I intended. I didn't even need to add those nostrils in. And although you can't see it on screen, that gold is fabulous. Oh, and my next linocut subject? more masks, of course - I've caught the bug!!

sunshine in the City

2011-04-29T18:34:00.002+01:00

Wisteria, St Paul's Churchyard
© Teresa Newham 2011

As I mentioned in my last blog, we enjoyed an unseasonal heatwave in the run-up to Easter. Sunny weather brings out the tourists and locals alike in London (the latter easily spotted by their pasty skin slowly turning red in the unaccustomed heat). With two four-day weekends in prospect for Easter and the Royal Wedding there was a festive atmosphere in the City; wandering the streets between City Thameslink station and my office just south of Southwark Bridge I was tempted to reach for my mobile phone camera more than once.

I've posted a few of the results to the Photos on the Run page on my website. Whether tourists, commuters hurrying to the office or people (known as mudlarks) scavenging at the river's edge for who-knows-what, we were all delighted to see the sun!

Out of Sync

2011-04-25T12:31:00.001+01:00

Ludgate Hill - outline sketch, inked up but not painted
© Teresa Newham 2011

I've come to the conclusion that artists live their lives out of sync. Or maybe it's just me . . . I have a whole list of 'future paintings' slowly coming into being in my head, there's usually a 'current painting' on the go (or at least an initial sketch of it), and once it's finished, to my mind it's done and dusted - old hat - until a few months later when I find myself framing it up for exhibition and watching other people's reactions to it.

Ludgate Hill - 'inspirations board' and experimental colour washes
© Teresa Newham 2011

This has been brought home to me forcibly over the last couple of weeks while I've been painting Ludgate Hill, a view which I'd been intending to capture since I did some London-themed paintings last year. Exactly how to go about it was (as usual) the question, and it wasn't until I emerged from City Thameslink station in a downpour one dingy February morning earlier this year that I had the answer: the lights and reflections of the traffic and shop windows and people.

Ludgate Hill - half painted
© Teresa Newham 2011

What with one thing and another I didn't even get an initial sketch down until March; translating it to something I could paint, adjusting the layout and inking it up brought me to April before any watercolour paint got near it. The net result is a scene of a gloomy, wet, atmospheric day which was actually painted during the hottest April weather I can remember. And next up I'm going to try my hand at some paintings of Venice, which I also visited in February when the weather there was bitterly cold . . . . !

Ludgate Hill
pen & watercolour wash
© Teresa Newham 2011

arrivederci, Venezia!

2011-03-27T10:27:00.004+01:00

sunrise, Riva del Schiavoni
© Teresa Newham 2011

We recently went to Venice. It was our honeymoon, in fact - and a more romantic place I can't think of. Canals, gondolas, churches, palaces - and no traffic. Bitterly cold weather but sunny most of the time; it was just before the Carnival so masks and costumes abounded but the city was not too crowded. As we walked the streets hand-in-hand for four days, I still found time to take over 400 photos . . . some are the usual holiday snaps, some I will turn into prints and cards, some I will use as the basis for watercolours and printmaking.

And the handful I've posted to the photos on the run page on my websiteare exactly that - snatched in a hurry or at random, some at waist level, some point-and-shoot-and-hope-for-the-best. There's a shop window - one of my favourite subjects, as you can get some great reflections. And one of some sunshine hitting shutters in such a way to turn them to copper colour. Carnival masks - I used to find these quite creepy but in context they are striking and full of local colour.

I would love to visit Venice again some time. Still, she's given me enough inspiration to last for a while!

and so it begins again . . .

2011-03-15T19:47:00.000Z

View from my back bedroom window
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

Delighted to say that two of my pieces have been accepted for this weekend's Seasons in a Garden exhibition in the Conservatory at the Luton Hoo Walled Garden. The exhibition involves 80 local and national artists showing works inspired by gardens; artists will be demonstrating their skills and visitors will be able to view some amazing eco-sculptures made by pupils from fourteen local schools. The garden itself is a restoration project and well worth a visit in its own right; you can find out more about it here. The two artworks I'm showing are the pen & wash piece View from my Back Bedroom Window, and one of my Acer Leaf monoprints.

Acer Leaf Monoprints
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

The other piece of good news is that we are going to be able to exhibit at Artscape again later this year during Herts Open Studios. Still trying to finalise the details, but things are looking up!

photos on the run

2011-02-27T19:00:00.003Z

A recent on-line discussion about photography has rekindled my enthusiasm for taking photos on the run. It's something I've neglected recently, and there really is no excuse: I bought a mobile phone with a pretty good camera on it precisely so I could take random shots out and about without lugging my camera everywhere! of course, it's not as good as a 'real' camera but the images taken can spring a surprise. For example, these two shots of St Paul's Cathedral were taken in far more colourful conditions than the phone camera could cope with; but the results look almost black and white apart from the green traffic light in the first photo and the red London bus in the second one. If I'd tried to get that effect deliberately, it wouldn't have worked!

I've enjoyed taking off-the-cuff images so much during the past month or so that I've created a new page on this blog specifically for photos like these - December 2011: the photos have moved here to my website. I've started it off with five of my favourite shots. I intend to update the new page regularly . . . so watch this space!

Yavanna, Revealed

2011-02-13T15:27:00.000Z

Yavanna Kementári
pen & watercolour wash
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2011

February in the UK heralds the signs of approaching Spring: the mornings and evenings are noticeably lighter, the birds are singing more and more to encourage the sap to rise; trees are showing a first glimpse of colour - blossom, even, in the mildest areas - and snowdrops and crocuses are pushing up through the earth. These changes, which we have waited for so long, come thick and fast; and in the spirit of the promise of new life, my painting of Yavanna Kementári, which I blogged about a couple of weeks ago, has come to completion.

I say my painting, but I don't really think of it that way: this painting, once eventually begun, revealed its subject with the slightest of input from me. The element which gives life to this image is the original background wash, and the least successful elements (leaves and flowers on the trees) are the ones where I tried to intervene too much. To my surprise and delight, once I'd laid down some water on Yavanna's cloak and added random brushfuls of paint, this overwash dried into a texture reminiscent of foliage; at one point I had thought I might inlcude a representation of flowers or leaves on her dress, but abandoned the idea. And, as Tolkien described, she is 'crowned by the sun' - but I never planned it that way!

Yavanna, emerging

2011-01-30T18:00:00.000Z

Some things take a while to come to fruition. My latest project, a painting of Yavanna Kementári from JRR Tolkien's The Silmarillion, took two years to come to the drawing board; just how do you paint one of the Valar? Tolkien gives us compelling descriptions of Yavanna: in the form of a woman she is tall, and robed in green*; some have seen her standing like a tree under heaven, crowned with the Sun*; elsewhere in The Sil he tells of how she sings into existence the Two Trees of Valinor, Telperion and Laurelin, who wax and wane in turn and give a lovely light: Thus in Valinor twice a day there came a gentle hour of softer light when both trees were faint and their gold and silver beams were mingled*. To paint such a vision was an ambitious plan, and for a long time I had no idea how to go about it.

Yavanna Kementári, pen and ink drawing
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

Last summer it became clear that any kind of depiction would be better than none, so I started to sketch some basic layouts. I wanted an Art Nouveau feel to the piece and decided to frame Yavanna with the Two Trees. How to place her was the next question; I decided against a pose, preferring to show her almost in passing, perhaps with a fern springing from the hem of her cloak as she walked. By October I was able to put down a pencil sketch, and eventually, having modified it several times, I felt confident enough to ink it up, holding my breath as I did so.

Now came my next decision. The outline sketch was extremely simple; if I simply filled in the colour it would look lifeless. There was no way I could make it look realistic - who knows what a Valar looks like? or the Two Trees? and how on earth do you depict gold and silver light, mingling?? I had no idea what to do, and Christmas came and went. In the meantime I did some experimental paintings with bold washes and plenty of water, as described on this blog in January. So I asked myself: what would happen if I used those on my painting of Yavanna?

Yavanna Kementári, first wet washes
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2011

Action followed thought (not too much thought- counter-productive!). I wetted the paper and dropped in quantities of turquoise and indian yellow. Then I added some ultramarine and quinacridone gold for good measure. The whole thing was very, very wet. For a while I sat there and literally watched the paint drying; depending on where the pools of water had gathered, colour was marching across the paper, blending and marching back again. I was pretty sure there were some wonderful greens growing in there, but I couldn't be certain how they would dry. I made myself walk away until the morning.

Yavanna Kementári, first washes dried
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2011

When I went back the next day, I was astounded with the result. I almost didn't dare touch it any more; wouldn't it do perfectly well as it was? Tempted as I was to leave it, I decided to carry on, to find out how Yavanna would present herself to me. But that will have to wait until the next blog - partly because she isn't finished yet . . . .!

* The Silmarillion, by JRR Tolkien, published by HarperCollins

colour and light

2011-01-15T17:15:00.000Z

I've never got on with masking fluid. No matter how careful I am, the surface of the paper always gets damaged, whether I'm using it neat or diluted. Nonetheless, in a continued spurt of post-Christmas enthusiasm, I decided a couple of weekends ago to have another try with it, drawing the outline of a dove holding an olive branch. To create a really vibrant background I dampened rather than wetted the paper, and dropped in large amounts of pure colour. Then I spattered some water over the whole thing, just to see what would happen.

dove of peace
watercolour & ink
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2011

The result was a fabulous range of colour, softened in places by some sublte runbacks. But when I peeled off the masking fluid, a little of the surface paper came away with it. The paper I use is extremely soft, which explains the problem (on the other hand, you can soak it several times without it complaining at all LOL) I further defined the dove with a pen, but on the whole it's rather unsatisfactory. Still, the success of the background had made me keen to try again - but without the masking fluid next time!

Accordingly, last Sunday I carefully drew a pencil outline of a dove, then rubbed most of it out, dampened the area outside the outline and lobbed in even more pure colour than I had with the previous painting. After it dried off a little I spattered some water to see what would happen. Then I left it alone for several hours before painting in the dove with a backlit effect (I should 'fess up right here that I pinched the idea of the backlit dove from a Christmas card I got several years ago).

Spirit
watercolour
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2011

This produced a far better result - although the dove is a bit wonky, the backlighting gives a lively effect. I'm really pleased with the intensity of colour. And, as last Sunday was the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, when according to the gospel of Matthew, the Spirit of God descended on Jesus like a dove, I've called it Spirit.

Finally, this week my latest order arrived from Great Art. I've decided to liven up my colour palette and introduce some of my experimental techniques into other areas of my painting. So - more paper, a new porcelain palette, several new tubes of watercolour paint in shades I haven't used before; oh yes, and I must get round to doing some more linocutting . . .

Going with the Snow

2010-12-31T15:57:00.000Z

Most Christmasses, I'm given a book about painting - usually from my wishlist. This year's was How to Paint Colour and Light in Watercolour by Jean Haines, which I first spotted in an edition of Artists & Illustrators. Frankly, I thought it might give me a shove - I haven't done any painting for a while - and bring me back to where I started out with watercolours several years ago - letting go and going with the flow. I'd seen some snowy Cambridgeshire fields from the car on Boxing Day which had given me the idea for a subject. Even a heavy cold couldn't deter me from making a start (though it did ensure I sat quietly and read the book through several times before attempting to put anything on paper).

Snowscape I
watercolour
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

Now, I never like to follow a book slavishly, but, aware that I'd become stuck in a rut with my colours, I chose suitably snowscape-y ones similar to those which Jean recommends - violet, ultramarine, alizarin, indian yellow and turquoise and laid down a wet blended wash of several shades as instructed. Then I mapped in some hedges with violet and ultramarine - remembering to let them blend on the paper rather than mixing them on the palette - and added a line of grass. Deciding that something was needed in the foreground, I painted in some cautious twigs - far too carefully, but Jean came to the rescue with the idea of splattering some water on to soften them. Even so, the first painting turned out a bit on the stilted side, and the washes dried extremely pale - but hey, I'd done a couple of hours painting and really enjoyed it!!

Snowscape II
watercolour & gouache
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

For my next attempt I tried to be a bit more dramatic with the washes, and used Jean's suggestion of tilting the paper to create a few runs which might suggest something for the composition. That's how the tree (which I never envisaged in the first place) ended up top left; the way the washes dried also suggested where the hills should be (we're a long way from Cambridgeshire now. Perhaps somewhere near Hereford?). Instead of twigs I added a foreground of grasses over some large wet areas I'd slapped in with the Chinese brush I bought last July and never used (thanks for the tip, Jean!). It's a long time since I've done any spattering but it soon came back to me (including - too late - the bit about never wearing a white T-shirt when trying this technique) and I added some white gouache snow to the grasses for good measure. The spattering does add life to this picture - perhaps a little too much!!

Snowscape III
watercolour & gouache
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

For the third painting I was determined to strengthen those background washes still further. Ironically, the fact that our snow has melted means that the days appear much darker, and lack of time decreed that I laid down the background relatively late one afternoon. By the time I went to bed I had no idea how to proceed with the resulting effect - I couldn't see a picture there at all - but I woke this morning with the idea of a house spilling light onto the snow from its doors and windows. I'm not that keen on the hedgerows in the first two paintings so I left them out completely and defined the hilltop with an ultramarine wash over the sky. More grasses, a bit of spattering with colour and white gouache - it's no masterpiece but it's shown me the way forward LOL.

Happy New Year!!

total whiteout

2010-12-18T18:22:00.000Z

Harpenden Common at sunrise
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

A gentle dusting of snow had me reaching for my mobile phone camera as I walked gingerly to the station along icy pavements soon after 8am yesterday morning. I've had little or no time for anything vaguely creative recently beyond singing in some carol concerts, but my imagination was caught by the sun lighting up the still autumnal colours of the trees, set off by the snowy highlights.

Harpenden Common, 8.15 on a December morning
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

Risking life and limb as I teetered along I managed to grab a variety of shots without falling over or suffering frostbite to my camera hand. Gathering clouds filtered the sunlight - the whole effect was lovely and subtle.

It's all been a bit different today, however - snowing steadily (or should that be heavily?) from 11am to 4pm. Here's a shot from my back bedroom window at lunchtime. Compare it with the balmy scene depicted here and you'll notice the difference!

another view from my back bedroom window!

© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

The unusual weather is making it difficult to get about - I still have no idea whether I'll make it to church tomorrow, let alone work on Monday - and I've warned my Christmas guests to make sure they have a suitable Christmas lunch to eat in their freezer at home just in case they don't make it over here. But it's also an opportunity to take photos and look at things with an artist's eye. Who knows, I might actually manage to do some painting or printmaking over the Christmas break!

snow on a lavender bush
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

Sleight of hand

2010-11-28T16:25:00.000Z

There are many clichés about photography. "Every picture tells a story" is one. "The camera never lies" is another. But we all know that the camera can lie (especially if Photoshop is involved), and the story that the picture is telling may not be entirely accurate! Some photos I took on my recent holiday in Ireland demonstrate this.

view along the Portmagee Channel towards Caherciveen
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

This pretty view was taken from the side of a road going over the mountains between Portmagee and St Finan's Bay in County Kerry. The view does look like this - but only if you're prepared to get out of the car and do a bit of a balancing act on the grass at the edge of the road. You wouldn't see this from the car! or only a glimpse, at least.

the Skelligs
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

This view of the Skellig Islands isn't one you'd normally see from the car either; not even if you got out for a look. Standing upright, you can see over the vegetation to the coastline below, a sight which (when we were there at least) was enhanced by an upside-down kitchen table which somebody had lobbed into the bushes. So a certain amount of crouching went on here to ensure that it didn't get into shot!

Skelligs with cloud formation
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

This spectacular shot was, believe it or not, taken from the car and is part of a series, many of which were completely out of focus. And, while this is an accurate representation of what we could see, the original photo was at quite an angle and has had to be straightened.

near sunset, St Finan's Bay
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

The same is true of my last example; it's not easy to keep the camera straight when you are taking a series of shots from an open car. This one had the sea wall in the foreground with something horrid and plastic on it - so I cropped that out.

So there you have it. Beautiful photos, telling most of the story. But not quite all . . . !

Stewarding with Shortbread

2010-11-14T19:03:00.000Z

Harpenden Arts Club Open Exhibition 2010
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

I spent last Saturday afternoon helping out with the stewarding at the Harpenden Arts Club annual Open Exhibition. Life is so chaotic at the moment that I haven't managed to get to any club meetings yet this year; and I suppose I could have stayed at home to work on some artistic projects of my own. But I like to hear what the visitors have to say, and I wanted to see the exhibition anyway, having not managed to get to the private view. At the last minute I rememberd that stewards are allowed to have their own greetings cards available for sale during their stint, and hastily shoved some into a small basket, luckily realising as I did so that photographic cards would not be suitable! Fortunately I've had cards made of some of my paintings, and these, along with my remaining mono leaf print cards, made a decent selection.

With two minutes to spare before the start of my shift I bagged the last parking space outside the Public Halls and ran indoors (then straight out again to fetch the cards which I'd left in the car by mistake). The other stewards on duty were a charming retired couple; we spent a few minutes reading our instructions and then leafed through the sales book to see what had already sold. Despite the recession the club had made some respectable sales already; around a dozen framed items and almost as many mounted unframed had gone. One of my companions had sold a couple of each! We took turns to walk around the exhibition keeping an eye on visitors and choosing our own favourites (all visitors were asked to vote for their top three). As usual the standard was extremely high; exhibits ranged from large traditional landscapes in pastel to small acrylic abstracts, with etchings, collograph and monoprints also represented. I showed Paula's Pansy and Elderly Couple on Rossbeigh Beach.

Elderly Couple on show alongside various other exhibits
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

We had a steady stream of visitors during our two hours; halfway through, my fellow stewards produced a flask of tea and a box of shortbread fingers which they kindly shared with me. And to complete my afternoon, I sold a few cards! By the time I took my leave at 4pm a beautiful sunset was lighting up the whole sky. It had been a thoroughly civilized afternoon.

Taking Things Slowly

2010-10-24T18:48:00.000+01:00

As October draws to a close I'm preparing for a trip to Ireland - a chance to rest, recharge my batteries and hopefully do a bit of sketching, painting and photo-taking (weather permitting). A busy time at work, wedding preparations, and - this weekend - a nasty cold, have prevented me from doing much art recently: the underdrawing for my next painting is sitting in my studio waiting patiently for attention. It might turn out to be a straight watercolour; or a pen & watercolour wash; or even an illustration in gouache; I haven't quite decided yet.

I first thought about tackling the subject (Yavanna from JRR Tolkien's The Silmarillion) a couple of years ago, and it's taken me all this time to get anything usable down on paper. This weekend I've had several good ideas about how to proceed, which need a little thought. So I hope she won't feel too neglected if I make her wait a little longer!

Sketchy details

2010-10-17T16:18:00.000+01:00

two hand reel
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

I was watching a TV programme about Raphael last night, when they showed some of his sketches - lovingly preserved and mounted to protect them down the centuries. "Originally these would just have been scraps of paper lying around in Raphael's studio" said the presenter. Much like my own sketches, then LOL. I'm guiltily aware that I don't do enough drawing; self-help books about art are stuffed with advice such as "a true artist draws something every day" and "always carry a sketchbook with you". And I do carry one with me most days; it commutes to London with me, and home again, usually unopened. It's not that I haven't tried; I could produce some lively impressions of the travelling public at City Thameslink if they (and I) could only stay still long enough for me to get something down on paper. If I had the courage, I could easily get my book out on the train itself and cover page after page with images of commuters reading their books or listening to their i-Pods. And if I could get out of the office at lunchtime I could happily sketch the tourists milling around the Tate and the Millenium Bridge (but I'd never get the chance to eat lunch, or check my private emails).

lavender in a pot
© Teresa Kirkaptrick 2010

So in the main my sketchbooks tend to come into their own on holiday or at home. I jotted Two Hand Reel down during a set dance workshop in Portmagee; together with a whole bunch of photos it may make a painting one day. But - another confession - I really don't much like drawing with pencil. I spent the two Life Drawing courses I attended at Central St Martins trying to avoid it; preferring to use charcoal, messy though it is, or ink - which is permanent and doesn't allow for mistakes. This summer I bought some small sketching pens which use waterproof ink, and I've been much happier with those (and therefore more inclined to get the sketchbook out). Lavender in a Pot is my favourite part of a much larger sketch, much of which is out of perspective LOL.

beach huts, Wells-next-the-Sea
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

During our long weekend at Wells-next-the-Sea I not only managed to do some sketching but had time to add some watercolour washes in an attempt to bring the drawing to life. I do sometimes try sketching direct with watercolour, without drawing first, but inevitably the result is a soggy mass of colour which only I can interpret. Still, that's the point of a sketch; they are reminders of what the artist actually sees. Sometimes I will sketch from a photograph before I paint a scene; that way there's a chance I will actually paint the scene itself rather than the photo. And I can't be sure what will turn out to be of use in the end; I might not "need" a drawing of a dressed-up stallholder at the Shire Festival but if I ever decide to paint Gandalf sitting down, he'll come in very handy! and if I ever have an urge to depict a whole bunch of plants in flowerpots I can use the sketch I made sitting outside the Talbot Building at Lady Margaret Hall during Oxonmoot. You never know . . .

flowerpots, Lady Margaret Hall
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

Taking a View

2010-09-28T22:08:00.000+01:00

View from my Back Bedroom Window
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

I've had paintings, prints and photos all over the place during September. Most of my recent stuff is still at Artscape for Open Studios until the end of the month, while May Evening Harpenden Common has been on show at Wesley's Café at the Methodist Church in the High Street all month as part of the publicity for the event. I took He Cast Him a Lappet, my most recent Tolkien painting (despite being a year old) to Oxonmoot (the annual Tolkien Society get-together) last weekend, while Red Tulips in a Blue Glass Vase and Flying Kites at Rossbeigh Beach are on their way to Letchworth tomorrow for the annual Open Exhibition. I would have had two more paintings on show last weekend at the St Albans Summer Art Exhibition, but it was cancelled. I was almost relieved . . .

Amidst all this chaos I've managed to produce another painting. I did it over two Saturdays spent at Artscape as part of Open Studios, and the subject is the View from my Back Bedroom Window. Ironically Open Studios isn't the best place to paint; you are constantly interrupted by visitors (which is, after all, the whole point of Open Studios) and last year I found I couldn't concentrate at all. So I was delighted when I got this little pen and wash piece home and realised that I rather liked it. It's pretty accurate, and gives a nice insight into how my neighbours use their gardens. The view is one I never tire of - it's quite an ordinary scene but constantly changing; birds fly in and out, you can often see horses at the farm over the back (although I didn't dare attempt to depict one!) and of course the seasons come and go. This is the view at the height of summer, which is already over. Such happy memories!

Open for Business

2010-09-12T17:34:00.000+01:00

All set up - Judi Menges' glass art and a few drinks & nibbles to help the Open Evening go with a swing!
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

This year's Herts Open Studios is under way, and for those of us exhibiting under the Artscape Arts banner it's been a great start! as usual we were convinced that nobody much would turn up to our Open Evening last Friday. And once again our predictions proved groundless, with around seventy visitors during the hour and a half party. All five of us had managed to find room to display what we wanted to - from wall hung art to cards and jewellery - and we had room for a table of drinks & snacks so we could offer the guests some refreshment.

Our display of cards etc in front of my paintings
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

Our first guest was the Town Mayor, who brought along some of his family; closely followed by a printmaker friend of Helen's; and then I lost count. J played his usual role of Artist's Assistant, handing out drinks and bonhomie; the rest of us chatted to visitors and family members, and - yes - made some sales! To my delight a variety of cards, a photo poster (Curiosity), a giclée print of Cardinal's Wharf and one of my very first monoprints all made it out the door clutched in the hands of what appeared to be extremely satisfied customers. Sue was doing a roaring trade in cards & prints, and best of all sold one of her originals - you can see her work here. Helen's linocuts were proving popular and Judi and Hillary were also taking orders!

Some of Hillary's & Helen's exhibits and a thoughtfully provided chair

© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

We were thrilled by the success of the evening. It was busy, but not too crowded; everyone enjoyed themselves enough to linger rather than rush off; and we got excellent feedback. People ate, drank, chatted, and admired the art. Downstairs, Artscape's David even made some sales on the shop floor. The hour and a half rushed by and we realised we hadn't had a chance to eat anything ourselves . . . but we'd all had so much fun!

The Town Mayor admiring Sue's paintings

© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

Hanging around

2010-08-31T21:05:00.000+01:00

My watercolours along the short wall with Sue's to the right
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

The Artscape Arts 2010 exhibition is up - more or less - and nobody is more surprised than the five of us taking part this year. We'd been warned that the upstairs room at Artscape would have a little less hanging space than usual, so I guess we'd all brought along pieces which could be hung in a variety of ways; and several of us had been prepared to take stuff home again if there wasn't room to hang it.

Helen's colourful linocuts
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

We arrived promptly - a little too promptly as it turned out, they weren't quite ready for us. As it was a lovely sunny day we sat outside a local café with coffee and doughnuts for a while; then returned to get hanging. Everyone had decided to put up their work in at least two tiers (Sue went for three) and we worked solidly for a couple of hours, with J helping out as usual - he hung all of my stuff and quite a bit of Helen's too, bless him! Judi finished first; I don't have a photo of her glass display so that will have to wait for a future blog. When she left I think the rest of us had about half of our work in place . . .

Hillary's display of photos and 3D work starting to take shape . . .
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

Undaunted, we pressed on, until - amazement! Helen had found hanging space for far more prints than she'd expected, Hillary had room for everything she wanted to show. Sue was planning to print and frame an additional black and white photo to finish her wall, and I had to send J home to bring a couple of extra canvas photo prints to fill mine. How did that happen? we even had room for Hillary's funky bubble wrap snake!

my photo canvases, Helen's mono linocuts and Hillary's funky snake
© Teresa Kirkaptrick 2010

The Artscape Arts exhibition is open for the whole of September (not Sundays or Friday mornings) and at least one of us - more likely two - will be at Artscape on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from September 11th onwards as part of Herts Open Studios (Thursdays and Saturdays 10am - 4pm, Fridays 1pm - 4pm). Hope to see you there!

Posters and Preparations

2010-08-21T17:15:00.000+01:00

Portmagee Sunset
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

Preparations for Herts Open Studios are now in full swing, with participating artists up to their ears in brochures, mail-outs, leaflets and the other publicity-related and admin stuff which is essential to publicise the event. Tomorrow we're spending most of the day at the Farmers' Market in Harpenden to promote the Harpenden artists taking part. Paintings are about to go up in some local shop windows and in Wesley's, the Methodist Church café in the High Street - it's all go!!

Lavender One
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

All this is intended to generate interest, of course, and with this in mind I've reorganised my Pro Gallery on Photobox in an attempt to make it more user-friendly. I haven't introduced a lot of new photos this year, but my range of Pro Posters with A4 images on an A3 backbround has been expanded to include some new images, including a couple of experimental layouts of lavender in flower pots. I had great fun playing with these, and who knows? somebody might like them!

Lavender Two
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

Full details of the exhibition at Artscape, in which I'm showing various pieces along with four other local artists, can be found here. For general information about Herts Open Studios click here.

A View of St Paul's

2010-07-27T21:07:00.000+01:00

A View of St Paul's
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

For the latest painting in my London series I've moved north of the river - just - to St Paul's Cathedral. It's quite a big deal moving from south to north, and vice versa - I was born north of the river and until a few years ago I'd always worked north of the river, too; it seemed strange to start crossing bridges to Bankside when I moved offices. The north end of the Millenium Bridge leads you across the hustle and bustle of Queen Victoria Street straight towards the south door of the cathedral, with its imposing columned portico. Sets of steps and a gentle slope lead enticingly towards the building: at the top of the slope the visitor is greeted by a small area of parkland before crossing St Paul's Churchyard (which is a street, despite the name) to the Cathedral itself.

It's frustratingly difficult, if not impossible, to get a complete view of the front or side of St Paul's; it's too big to fit into the camera frame, and there are no places to stand back and view the whole thing. The front (west) entrance is approached via Ludgate Hill, and I've spotted many a tourist risking life and limb in the traffic for that perfect shot which isn't going to happen. I used to curse the post-war town planners for hemming in St Paul's with surrounding buildings; and only discovered quite recently that the layout of this part of the City of London goes back to the Great Fire of London in 1666.

The fire itself only wreaked so much devastation because various aldermen were reluctant to let their houses be razed to the ground to make a firebreak; afterwards, Sir Christopher Wren drew up plans for a new City of piazzas approached by wide boulevards. But interested parties were at work again, and by the time he got round to putting his plans into action, the houses around St Paul's had started to be rebuilt and their owners wouldn't sell up. Londoners have always been cussed. The City fathers were uncomfortable with Wren's plans for the cathedral, particularly the dome, so he pretended to be building a different design, and by the time they noticed, it was too late (you can read more about this here).

The southerly approach to the Cathedral has a special character all its own. There's a café and a pub at the top of the steps to the left of my painting which will serve you breakfast, lunch, dinner and everything in between. At quiet times skateboarders use the series of steps and the flat areas between them for practice. During the annual City of London Festival, a "play your own" piano is set up behind the bench in my painting, for passers by to entertain the crowds; many sit on the steps to listen as the area becomes an impromptu outdoor concert hall. And in December that slope leads you up to the St Paul's Christmas tree, decked out in silver, while fairy lights are hung in the trees round about.

The painting shows an ordinary sunny summer's afternoon; tourists and visitors from all over the world mingling with City types going about their business as the Cathedral looks on, unmoved and unmovable. That Wren knew a thing or two . . .

Skellig Sunset

2010-07-17T15:06:00.000+01:00

Skellig Sunset
watercolour
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

rose-golden hills in the last rays of sun
wild weather stilled as the day's course is run
two mighty rocks in the wide open sea
Skelligs in silent age-old mystery

cry of the seabird at rest from its flight
prayer of the holy man seeking the light
thanks of the sailor for lighthouse-lens beams:
Skelligs the keepers of hopes, wishes, dreams

Little and Great Skellig: distant they lie
at the edge of the world under wide open sky;
past, present, future, feel time itself cease -
Skelligs unchanging, forever at peace

Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

Something to (Ho)sho for it

2010-06-28T22:03:00.000+01:00

Lavender Fields in the window of Bells Chemist, Bancroft, HItchin
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

Halfway through the year - how did that happen? I thought I'd had a quiet six months, with little time to paint, yet I already have enough paintings, along with my floral photo canvases, to stage a reasonable exhibition at Open Studios in September. Although I haven't been able to take advantage of all the exhibition opportunities which came my way, I have managed to do Art on the Common. What's more, two of my paintings (Lavender Fields and Paula's Pansy) are currently being displayed in shop windows in Hitchin as part of the Hitchin Art Trail, during the month of the Hitchin Festival. And a print of Swan is one of the lots at an auction this Friday to raise money for a Da Vinci scanner at Stevenage Hospital.

Paula's Pansy in the window of Rubarb, Churchyard, Hitchin
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

And last weekend I produced some more reduction linocut prints, this time using Japanese Hosho paper. The ink clings to it like a baby to its mother. I'm still grappling with the colours (remembering too late that I'd intended to mix a pale blue for the background) and the registration is slightly off while I learn to handle this new paper. But on the whole I'm pleased with my progress. Let's hope the next six months is as productive!

red and yellow tulip print

© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

Gales, Gazebos & a Game of Two Halves

2010-06-22T22:08:00.000+01:00

all set up on Saturday morning
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

Last weekend thirty local artists erected their gazebos on Harpenden Common for the annual Art on the Common fundraiser. As a first-timer I was nervous: would we be ready in time? could we strike our exhibition on the Saturday evening and put it up again on the Sunday morning? would we get any visitors? it never occured to me that in the middle of June the main problem would be: could the gazebos withstand the gusty winds and make it through to the end of the day?

we had cards, paintings and photos on display
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

Things started well enough; it was breezy but between us my fellow exhibitor S and partner J and I got the gazebo up and the side panels on. Luckily J is a six-footer - oh, to be a few inches taller!! S had already thought about how we should organise the display and before long we had a good mix of paintings, prints, photos and cards out on tables, and our browsers out front. J went off and the two of us settled down, well wrapped up in our fleeces. It was so chilly I began to wish I'd worn gloves. The Art show was running alongside the Harpenden Common Discovery Day, so every now and then some volunteers came by offering tea to the stallholders - we were pathetically grateful - and one or two of the visiting public also bought a cuppa! because, in True Brit fashion, people had come out to look. Some were on their way to, or back from, the Discovery Day, and many stopped to browse and chat. We had quite a lot of interest, and sold the odd card or two. But nobody was lingering long enough to make that decision to buy something larger.

visitors braved the cold to talk to the artists
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

We were lucky. The jeweller next to us had set up her display in a gazebo with no side panels at all; the stiffening breeze knocked over some of her stands and she broke four pieces. Less than two hours after opening, she was taking everything down; her helpers had left for the day and a passing gent took down her gazebo for her. A large gust of wind caught us unawares and two of my paintings went flying; luckily the only damage was to one of the frames. I couldn't sort it out - I was outside hanging on to the back of the tent to stop it billowing in. My browser had also gone crashing and a visitor retrieved it for me - S was hanging onto the gazebo frame - our knight in shining armour also re-attached the roof cover to the frame for us. J returned with lunch and we pegged down what bits of the gazebo we could, then ate watching the passers by, some pausing to take a look, others just rushing home. Most people were dressed for the arctic, but across the way a fellow artist was shivering in her summer skirt and leggings, still gamely demo-ing her beautiful acrylics with a coat thrown round her.

anyone who hadn't wrapped up warm was freezing!
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

After lunch it got worse. We knew that the leg weights I'd luckily bought would prevent the gazebo from taking off, but the wind was starting to bend the frame of the gazebo on one side. Instead of going home to watch the football, J spent his afternoon holding the frame straight with one hand and reading a book with the other. I thought we'd set our gazebo up wrongly until I saw the chap in the next one along doing the same . . . all around we could see billowing canvas, and hear the occasional crash and shriek as something fell over. S and I were hanging on to the front of the gazebo, J to the side, all I could think of was how glad I was I'd got third party insurance! Still people came in to take a look . . . a little rain fell and we whipped the browsers inside. It was only 4pm, we were due to stay open until 5pm but all round us others were packing up, so we cut and ran with the rest.

real-live-guy rope. We replaced him on the Sunday with a piece of string . . .
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

We took longer to set up on Sunday because (a) we were tired out from clinging on to that gazebo and (b) we were determined to secure it firmly against the wind which was still blowing, although not so strongly. I even had a bit of sandpaper with me to sort out that damaged picture frame. Although we were due to open at 11am, potential customers were around by 10 o'clock . . . . the weather was slightly warmer and looking hopeful. More and more visitors started to arrive. Lots of folk who'd thought about coming to see Art on the Common had sensibly decided to wait unti the Sunday. I never did get time to sandpaper that picture frame and S was still trying to finish her lunch at 4pm because people kept talking to her about her pictures. J delivered lunch and managed to get home to spend an afternoon watching the football (we'd replaced him on gazebo bracing duty with a piece of string).

the sun started to peek through on Sunday morning . . .
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

My Dad turned up. Lots of friends came alongto encourage us, and other artists who weren't exhibiting - Mel & Julie from B Gallery, Betty who did Open Studios with us last year, Kim Major-George . . . . Card sales were so brisk I was concerned we might lose track of them and S was thrilled to sell some prints. The wind dropped, the sun came out, my fleece came off and before I knew it I was burning and had to use S's factor 50 (by the next day my nose was so red I looked like a clown). Gosh, it was hot!! Eventually things quietened down enough for me to take a look around the other stalls to see what was on offer and how they'd done their displays. Some stallholders had opted to exhibit with no side panels, some with just a couple and one with just a panel at the back (I did wonder if that was all they had left LOL). After 5pm we still had visitors as we were trying to take it all down!

blue skies and sunshine at last!
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

By the end of the weekend I was completely exhausted but what a sense of achievement! I'd had some wonderful feedback, learnt a lot, chatted to some lovely people, met the Town Mayor and sold enough bits and bobs to give a respectable amount of commission to Cancer Research. Do it again? oh yes. Bizarrely, I loved every minute LOL.

finally able to abandon our fleeces . . .
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

In the Pink (and other colours)

2010-05-31T20:52:00.001+01:00

I decided to spend the Bank Holiday weekend printmaking (thereby neatly avoiding the dilemma of how to start my next London series watercolour, a view of St Paul's Cathedral). I wsas particularly keen to try out my new combined inking glass and linocut registration device - aka an old picture frame taken to pieces. You can see it in the photo below, along with some prints of the first colour in the background, and the design (plus the photo of pink tulips which inspired it) at the front.

inking up the second colour
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

Unfortunately I got so carried away with the success of this contraption - it does work very well - that I lost concentration and missed out one of the cuts. I compensated by adapting the design, but it wasn't how it should have been, and overall I was not happy with the resulting prints. Nevertheless I hung them up to dry - they are perfectly registered, after all! - and vowed to try again soon. I've decided I'm not keen on the colours anyway, and I already have a new colour scheme worked out, plus a couple of modifications to the design!

four 'pink tulips' prints on a makeshift drying rack

© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

Undaunted, I spent this morning preparing the bases for some monoprints. The idea was to experiment with how various colours interact on one another, particularly the new metallic inks I bought recently - gold, silver and copper. I decided to try out some card blanks, too, and to use cartridge paper for the larger prints. I'm still struggling with ink coverage - a lot depends on the paper, and how well you hand burnish the print. Probably I'm too impatient and give up too soon! I have started using an old wooden spoon, though, which is producing reasonable results.

bases for two-tone monoprint cards and A4 monoprints

© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

After lunch I gathered three leaves from the acer tree which grows in a pot by the back door (I'd been careful to mention to the tree several days ago that I would need three of its leaves, so it didn't get a nasty shock when I retrieved them). For the rest of the afternoon these three leaves went through sheer torture as I tried out every colour combination which took my fancy. By 6pm I was the exhausted but triumphant creator of twenty two items:

simple leaf cards in gold, silver and copper inks
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

It was interesting to see which combinations worked best. The metallic inks dry far more quickly than the others, spread more thinly, and don't seem to lift off when overprinted. So the way forward might well be metallic bases with a coloured design on the top. Here are some two-tone cards:

two-tone cards, mainly metallics on ordinary inks
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

And finally, six monoprints. Some of which might even be saleable!

monoprints - metallics on ordinary inks
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

The Wonderful Wobbly Bridge

2010-05-17T20:36:00.000+01:00

"When a man is tired of London he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford" - Samuel Johnson, 1777

Blustery Day, Millenium Bridge
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

The River Thames is the beating heart of London. I cross it twice a day on my way to and from the office, glorying in the open skies and wide vistas, whatever the weather. It's a real tonic after the cramped streets and stuffy trains.

Usually I cross the river at the Millenium Bridge. Starting life as a wobbly white elephant, it has become one of the main attractions in the capital. Linking St Paul's to the North with the Tate Modern on the South Bank, it is rarely without visitors from all over the world. For us commuters this can be a mixed blessing; but it's worth fighting one's way through the crowds for those wonderful moments when a tourist gasps out loud with admiration as they grab their camera. I swell with pride at such times; this is "my" city - yes, the one I take for granted on a daily basis LOL.

The bridge is a popular location for photographers & film crews, buskers & beggars; joggers run along it, and in the wet children slide on it. And it was on a wet day that I had that "eureka" moment so essential if I'm going to make a painting; a host of umbrellas bobbing, the wind tugging, rain lashing, and the Tate Modern looming up ahead, lights glowing in the gloom. The Millenium Bridge doesn't wobble any more. It's lovely in the sunshine. And it's wonderful in the rain!

Fast & Loose

2010-04-27T22:01:00.000+01:00

Two Jugs on a Windowsill
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

As soon as I'd finished Borough Market I had an overwhelming urge to do something in a completely different style. I'd taken a photo earlier in the year of some tulips making a lovely shape in my favourite jug on the kitchen windowsill; the tulips had long since wilted but I could at least recreate the jugs from life and use the photo to recall the flowers.

So - completely different. No initial drawing, just putting colour straight onto the paper. Forget perspective, paint the jugs from life - OK, but the yellow one's a bit small, let's make it much bigger in the picture. Three colours only (alizarin crimson, indian yellow, cobalt blue). Concentrate on the flowers and the jugs and add the background later. Lots and lots of water and free application of paint - splash it about a bit . . . . from start to finish it took and hour and a half - and that included a break for a visit from the gas man and a cup of tea!

On the whole I'm pleased with the finished painting; ironically the least spontaneous part is the flowers which caught my eye in the first place. Painted from a photo, you see. I could probably make a better job of the jugs if I did it over again, but they'd be far less lively!

Underneath the Arches

2010-04-14T21:33:00.000+01:00

Borough Market

One dull February day I found myself wandering around in the colourful bustle of Borough Market, popular amongst foodies for its vast array of fruit & veg, fish, meat, unusual cheeses and other delights. Nestling under the railway arches at London Bridge station, it's due for some hopefully sympathetic redevelopment as part of the Thameslink Project. I've been meaning to paint it for some time, so I took a series of reference shots with the camera on my new mobile phone.

Initially I stuck a dozen photos on my ideas board, hoping to capture the hustle & bustle, the colour, the soaring Victorian cast iron work, and the variety of goods on offer. I realised fairly quickly that a conventional painting Would Not Do, but the snap of a girl clutching a bouquet of white roses and lilies (and a can of coke, which has become a paper cup in the painting) gave me something to anchor eight or so of the other images to.

The result is Borough Market (original title, eh?). 48 cm x 36 cm, it took me eight intense two-hour sessions over four weekends to complete, using a no. 6 brush and plenty of Viridian Green, Raw Sienna, Alizarin Crimson and French Ultramarine. The whole experience has been absorbing, exhausting, and ultimately tremendously rewarding!

a touch of Spring

2010-03-31T21:24:00.000+01:00

white hyacinths

Back in the cold, dark days of January I bought myself a pot of white hyacinths; the gorgeous flowers and wonderful scent hinting at the springtime to come. They looked so lovely that I got out the camera; and I was so encouraged by the outcome of this impromptu photo session that I wasted no opportunity to capture the beauty of every bowl or vase of spring flowers that entered the house.

red tulips

These were the first photos I'd ever taken which set out to be "arty" from the beginning; I played about with some soft focus effects and deliberately concentrated on close-ups to bring out the vibrant colour and delicate features of each bloom.

yellow daffodils

The result is a small selection of colourful and evocative flower photos which I'm hoping to exhibit at this year's Herts Open Studios in September. Meanwhile they are now available as canvas prints at the marbretherese art and photo pro gallery on Photobox.

pink tulips

© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

Of course, now I've been bitten by the bug, I want to do more; some are already in the pipeline. Not just flowers, either; I've a few ideas which may (or may not) come to fruition later in the year. We shall see!

Trial & Error

2010-03-20T11:13:00.000Z

Toward the end of last year I went on a printmaking course at the Eagle Gallery in Bedford (you can read about it here), which inspired me to have a go myself. I started out with a Christmas card design linocut (Christmas being very much on my mind at that point) and had great fun cutting a little Christmas tree and attempting to print it up:

Tree © Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

I quickly realised my first mistake: unless you are using a press, a paper with a rough surface is not a good idea. It took ages to produce even this result, and my hands felt as though they had been cut to pieces. I painted the red in afterwards but it still looked shabby - I'd coated the lino with emulsion first (to show up the design) but neglected to sandpaper the surface, so the ink was never going to take properly. But I'd Made a Start.

Fired with enthusiasm and virtually no knowledge I decided to attempt a reduction linocut, where you cut away the white areas first, print, and then cut away the next colour and print, and so on. I wasn't completely mad, though - I was still only using my two colours LOL. I didn't bother with proper registration, either, I just wanted to see what would happen (after all, this was my experiment and nobody else's!). I'd got hold of a couple of books on printmaking by now and using one of their tips I added a tiny amount of washing up liquid to the ink. And I used a smoother paper this time. Which yielded the following result:

Lily © Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

Now, I'd be the first to admit that this is far, far from perfect - it's way out of register, for a start. But I loved it! the depth of colour, the zen quality of the simple design; I knew then that reduction linocuts are the way forward for me no matter how long it takes to perfect my skills. I'd sorted out what paper to use; I knew which way to go; now I had to try something a little larger than these 2 inch squares.

For my third experiment I went up to an A5 lino block. I'd found an excellent online tutorial here which helped me to set up my registration and organise my design. I abandoned the emulsion idea and used a waterproof pen to mark it up. When I began to print it I realised I'd chosen to work with four colours - which was at least one too many, but so what? I was Having a Go:

Ok, this one isn't perfect either. It's one of five hand pulled prints, none of which are great but in terms of registration and design are getting there. The colours are far too strong, so my next lesson is to Learn My Inks (and I need to Cut Deeper, and work at A4 size, because I'm cramping myself).

I'm certainly not there yet, and because of the time and effort involved (and the need to do painting in my free time as well!) I won't be there for quite a while. But watch this space - I'll keep you posted!!

Coming Unstuck

2010-02-28T16:51:00.001Z

New Year Lilies
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

No, this isn't a reference to collage (although if you read the last post you could be forgiven for thinking that it was!), but to the fact that for several weeks I had a painting on the go which I couldn't finish - no, let's be absolutely clear here - I could barely start. Back in January I was given some beautiful lilies which sat in a vase on my windowsill looking like the perfect subject for a painting, with the wintry light slanting through the window behind. I was too busy to get the paints out then and there, so took some photos, put them on my inspirations board and let them simmer for a bit.

My first dilemma was the composition. Did I want to paint a vase of lilies? one lily? abstract lilies? portrait or landscape? I'm not used to being that indecisive. Eventually I decided on a landscape format - no vase - and found enough time to lay down the background wash. The colours I could see through the window were blue, yellow and green so I used ultramarine and indian yellow and lots of water so they ran into each other, and left it to see how things would turn out (see above pic) . When it dried I put in the slanting light with a sponge.

And then - nothing. A fortnight passed with no inkling of what to do next. Eventually in desperation I decided to treat it as though I were on a life painting course (the one where my tutor told me I was using watercolour like pastels), and blocked in the lilies with alizarin crimson, adding highlights of titanium white.

So far, so good. I added some leaves and stems and stamens but it wasn't right; I'd forgotten the shadows. I still didn't like it, so I painted over the background with an ultramarine wash and - hey presto! - it came together. I could even see the slanting light through the wash.

In summary, then: time spent thinking about painting: four weeks; time spent looking glumly at the background wash: two weeks; time spent completing the painting: 90 minutes. It's a funny old world . . .!

Close Encounters with Collagraph

2010-02-14T17:46:00.000Z

Recently I attended a two-session workshop on collagraph at the Harpenden Arts Club, led by Lilley-based artist Kim Major-George. It had been billed as a demo one week and a workshop the next - in hindsight completely unfeasible as the first session was about creating the plate and the second one about printing from it. So Kim had to give her demo to a largely unprepared audience! She'd brought along various bits and pieces from which to make a collage - pieces of mountboard to use as the starting point; she showed us how to cut away layers to get specific effects: if we preferred we could glue interesting pieces of textured wallpaper and found objects to the surface of the board instead. Most of us hadn't brought along a craft knife so opted for the wallpaper option.

the assembled plate - five pieces of wallpaper, two bits of scrim and some twigs and moss!
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

I hadn't prepared anything at all; but this turned out to be a blessing as if I had, I would probably have attempted something far too ambitious. Far easier to rip up some pieces of wallpaper, inspired by their various textures to create a riverside scene! I glued them to my mountboard using washable PVA glue, added some found items (bits of leaves and moss) and some scraps of printmaker's scrim for good measure, and checked with Kim that I hadn't produced something unfeasible. She removed a couple of harder bits of twiggy material (which the press would have struggled with) and gave it the thumbs-up.

collagraph plate, sealed with two layers of diluted PVA
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

Back at home, we had been instructed to seal the plate with two layers of watered-down PVA. At 50:50 my first layer was a little too watered-down; it took ages to dry and I couldn't see much difference. I did the second layer at 70:30 and it worked much better. I couldn't wait to get to the printing stage!

the inked plate after printing - a work of art in itself!
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

At the second session a week later, Kim showed us how to ink the plate using water-soluble inks and dollies made from J-cloths. It's important not to use too much ink and we were encouraged to burnish back some areas using tracing paper to create a variety of tone throughout the piece. But first we had to tear our paper to size and soak it. At this point I discovered that my plate was quite a large one, which was brought home to me as I struggled to ink it. Luckily Kim had encouraged us to wear rubber gloves and old clothes!

the first print from my collagraph plate - a little too heavy round that tree!
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

We queued up to use the press she'd brought with her (her husband makes them). Some prints came out great the first time, but many of us (including me) had over-inked the plate or done something else which needed to be corrected for the second printing. I left the over-inked areas of my plate untouched and inked up the other bits, and joined the queue again. Kim helped everybody print their plates for the second time, encouraging us by holding up the best ones. Some people had done cut-away mountboard plates at home during the week, which turned out beautifully. I was happy with my second print which came out lighter than the first one.

the second print from my re-inked plate
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

I love printmaking and want to do more. Some day I will have one of those presses for my own; but for now I'd better dig out the linocutting equipment and get cutting and burnishing by hand!

Interest and Incongruity

2010-01-31T17:47:00.000Z

Until the advent of digital technology I'd only used cameras for holiday snaps; then I got myself a Canon Sureshot, which although now only nine years old, is already a museum piece, with it's 64MB memory card and the four AA batteries needed to power it up. By the time I bought my Ixus 850 I'd discovered Picasa and was also bringing my dormant Photoshop skills into play.

When you have the ability to take a hundred photos a day (yes, I've done that!) it's easy to lose track of them, and useful sometimes to look back through the archive; you unearth all sorts of forgotten bits and pieces which deserve a bit of an airing. I've dug three out to share on today's blog; not the most scenic, or the prettiest, but ones where something unusual caught my eye.

The Ballroom of Imagination and Desire, Waterville, Co Kerry
© Teresa Kirkpatrick, 2005

The first was taken on a holiday in County Kerry; we were taking a walk around Waterville when I spotted this doorway up an alley. It refers to an art exhibition held four years previously; there was something haunting and at the same time incongruous about it. It's still one of my favourite Ireland photos.

Arnemetia's, Buxton
© Teresa Kirkpatrick, 2005

The next photo is the window of Arnemetia's the Purple Shop in Market Street, Buxton. We were staying just around the corner for the Gilbert & Sullivan Festival; every time we passed this window I had to stop and look! When I took the photo I knew that the houses opposite would be reflected in the glass but I hadn't realised how successful the effect would be. Again, it was the incongruity of finding a lovely little New Age shop in a side street of Buxton which first grabbed my attention - although, when I think about it, why not?

Shed, Ballinskelligs Pier

The final photo is a more recent shot of a shed near Ballinskelligs Pier in Co Kerry. It's a lovely area with beautiful scenery, so why this, you may ask? I liked the colours and textures of the paint, and the stone, and the bits and bobs lying about. The shed itself isn't incongruous - it fits perfectly well in its own surroundings - but perhaps my choice of subject is!

We are all photographers now; the digital age has seen to that. Long may it continue!

Paint and Personality

2010-01-17T16:01:00.001Z

Pato's Wish
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

Here are two new paintings completed earlier this month. Random subjects, I thought; the only thing they had in common was that I'd been meaning to get round to them for ages. The first is Pato's Wish, which is intended to be a companion to The Marbre Therese at Portmagee. These two fishing trawlers have been based at Portmagee since I started going there more than ten years ago (and longer, I daresay); but earlier this year Pato's Wish was decommissioned and is no more. I think she went for scrap. The Marbre Therese (or Marber Therese, as she is actually registered - she now bears her correct name following a repainting) is too small for decommissioning and I have high hopes that somebody will take her on. I have fond memories of watching both boats have their catch unloaded, usually after dark in the freezing cold; the crews were always friendly and didn't mind having their photos taken, although we were careful not to get in the way!

I was keen to paint Pato's Wish while she was still relatively fresh in my mind; I've taken many photos of her over the years so it wasn't hard to find suitable source material. As usual I put in the background, and a little foreground, then started to work on the boat herself. At which point I'm almost embarrassed to admit I became terribly emotional, being only too aware that I was depicting the passing of an era. So this painting, while I'm glad I've done it, made me feel terribly sad; hopefully that will pass.

Lear at the Globe
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2010

The second painting is another London-based one; I walk past the Globe Theatre every day on the way to work and have seen quite a few plays there. The atmosphere is marvellous, always buzzy, and I wanted to try and portray that; the views are spectacular but always a bit crazy, given that the space is circular so you're often looking at the stage from the side. I wanted to show that too, so I threw careful perspective out of the window (the Globe doesn't have any windows, anyway) and just enjoyed myself making up little stories about the people as I painted them in (these are some Scandinavians over on holiday, here are a couple of students etc) even though they were only impressions. But to my mind the building itself is the star of the show in this picture - as it is in real life . . .

It was only when both paintings were finished and I took another look at them that I realised I hadn't just painted a boat and a theatre. They are both distinct personalities; one sadly no longer with us, the other hopefully around for many years to come!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-23T12:24:00.000Z

Bauble
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

As Christmas approaches and the year draws to a close, it's time to take stock. Eight of my paintings are on show at b Gallery in Toddington; I have a raft of ideas for paintings in the coming months, which I hope to get started on once Christmas is over. And I've begun, tentatively, to make linocut prints; it'll take a while to get the results I want, but every journey starts with a single step, as they say!

2009 has been quite a year, both personally and art-wise; I feel that I've learnt a lot and will continue to learn more. And just as importantly, I've had a lot of fun!

I'd like to wish a Merry Christmas to anyone reading this blog; and may 2010 be everything you'd like it to be.

Blessings x

b-loomin' marvellous!

2009-12-05T16:59:00.000Z

my paintings at b Gallery

© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

I've just got home from the b Gallery Opening Day, and boy, has it been a success. There were a lot of people at the pre-launch party last night, mainly exhibiting artists and a few friends, and the trend continued today; when we arrived at lunchtime the place was packed with eager art-lovers. As I walked through the front door someone was leaving clutching one of my photo prints - let's hope that's a sign of things to come!

Demo in one of the downstairs rooms

© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

The range of art is stunning. And there is so much; paintings in the hallway and up the stairs; fine art in reception where prints by Rolf Harris, Fletcher Sibthorpe, Beryl Cook and Jack Vettriano sit alongside wonderful jewellery, glass art and a variety of cards; paintings, jewellery, glass and more cards (including mine!) in a lovely relaxing square room beyond which we all agreed was so cosy we could live in it, and where today two wonderful artists were demonstrating their work; and even paintings in the small back room where Judi Menges was demonstrating glass art and Sara Wickenden was working in wax encaustic - and that was just downstairs!

A cosy corner downstairs at b Gallery with some of Judi Menges' glass art on the wall at the end

Upstairs is a huge room running the width of the building where at least thirty local artists have paintings, photos and prints on display. There are browsers everywhere full of tempting unframed pieces (and yes, I was tempted!). All in different styles to suit every taste. Today was also a great opportunity to chat to other artists and photographers - many of whom were doing demos too. There was even some art in the loo!

Watercolours and prints on display upstairs

© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

The building itself is something of a star in its own right. Old and beamed, it has a distinct character which lends charm & intimacy to the gallery; to emphasise this Mel and Julie have cleverly created several cosy corners with seating throughout the building, which gives parts of the gallery the ambience of a mad art collector's living room. I'm so pleased to be associated with b Gallery and I hope today is the first of many successes for this amazing new venture!

b is for . . .

2009-11-30T15:12:00.000Z

b Gallery will be opening in the Old Town Hall, a historic building in the centre of Toddington
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

. . Burnell (Melanie) and Boyle (Julie), who this weekend are opening b Gallery, an exciting new venture in the Old Town Hall building in the centre of Toddington. You can read more about it (and get directions) here. The Gallery Opening Day is this Saturday 5th December, from 10am to 5pm, and Melanie & Julie are promising collectable fine art, local crafts, jewellery and some of the area's finest local artists. There will be demos, turkey rolls & mulled wine and Father Christmas too!

a wide variety of work in the beamed upper gallery

© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

I will have paintings on show there, along with some prints, photos, unframed originals & cards; I'm one of around thirty or so artists exhibiting and there is a wide variety of work in the gallery to suit all tastes, from the traditional to cutting edge. Sue Wookey and Judi Menges from Artscape Arts will also be there. I'm at b Gallery for at least three months, depending how things go.

And it's strangely liberating having so few paintings left at home. Almost like a clean sheet to start again!

Getting it Right in Black and White

2009-11-21T14:29:00.000Z

marks using tin lids and card
monoprint © Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

Well, I achieved one of my ambitions last Sunday when a friend and I attended a printmaking course at the Eagle Gallery, Bedford. Followers of this blog may recall that I discovered the lure of printmaking back in the Summer, when I watched a couple of demos at art fairs and fell in love with the whole idea. The one-day course was an opportunity for a dozen of us to try out monoprint, drypoint and linocuts and to find out which techniques intrigued us the most!

We spent a couple of hours on each one; I started with monoprinting, under the guidance of Mike Townesend. We rolled our our ink to the correct "swishy" consistency, made a few marks with bits of card and jar lids and - wow! instant artworks with a wonderful unpredictability about them. Mike showed us how to use newspaper stencils to create special effects; how to trace over a drawing to reproduce it on the paper; and how to put an image under the inking glass and paint it onto the glass to produce a reversed-out print. We were only a third of the way through the day, and I was inky and hooked!

A moody view of the Skelligs
drypoint © Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

After a short break Eric Seeley showed us drypoint; scratching an image onto the surface of special plastic using a nail. It was hard work but produced the most beautiful effects; particularly if you took care when rubbing the ink away on the highlighted areas. Our images came out reversed but I've flipped the one above to show the best effect! The only disadvantage I found was that drypoint used oil-based inks, which were in my fingernails for a week. The water-based inks used in monoprinting and linocutting were far easier to deal with!

door, Cardinal's Wharf
linocut © Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

Our final session was linocutting with Su Kiteley. She had various tips and hints - such as warming the lino on a radiator beforehand to make it more pliable, and painting its surface with white emulsion to show the design more easily. We used tracing and carbon paper to reproduce an image (the right way round). After a couple of false starts - and stern reminders to keep my fingers out of the way of the cutting tools - I really got into it and was delighted with the final result, which was only marred by my last-minute decision to include some shadows. At this point I forgot my reversed-out thinking and made them white, not black. Call it artist's licence!

It was a fabulous experience and I've had a go at home already. The results are looking promising . . . !!!

London calling

2009-10-27T12:15:00.001Z

Cardinal's Wharf
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

It's almost Halloween, and the last of the leaves are clinging bravely to the trees in a wonderful Autumnal display. At last I'm managing to get the rest and relaxation I need to recharge my batteries and my enthusiasm. It's been a busy time at work, and I've felt quite frustrated having to spend my days in an office rather than painting, but of course it keeps the wolf from the door. And London can be a wonderful source of inspiration; I'm lucky enough to work right by the Thames at Bankside, an area of the most amazing history for those who care to dig deep enough (sometimes literally!). So I've decided to use my experiences of the area to produce some London-based art, starting with the pen-and-wash drawing above.

Cardinal's Wharf nestles right between the Globe Theatre and the Tate Modern. I pass it every morning but of course it wasn't until I started to paint it that I really, really looked at it; began to wonder who lived there; what the significance of the flagpole & coats of arms are, and so on. Some of the answers can be found here.

Having made the decision to use my time on Bankside to produce some paintings, my ideas are starting to crystallise, and I'm feeling more optimistic. Yes, I'm painting again!

Here be there dragons

2009-10-18T17:50:00.001+01:00

It's the middle of October and the nights are drawing in. My overwhelming urge at this time of year is to go into hibernation mode; I haven't felt like doing a great deal of painting recently, but last weekend I decided to cheer myself up by some doodling with gouache - a medium which I don't use very much - and found myself creating a dragon - my first, in fact. As you can see, he's not a scary dragon, but quite dynamic nevertheless. He's given me a few ideas; in fact, I have almost too many at the moment. Some I thought were fixed keep changing, too, which is making it hard to get to grips with anything new!

My First Dragon
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

It's only now I can take an objective look back at Open Studios and recognise how well things went. My fellow-exhibitors and I agreed that the best thing about it was the opportunity to meet and discuss art with the general public; our own art, each other's art, and - in many cases - the visitors' art. And this year I've had a taste of something less easily defined: the thrill you get when your work touches somebody. It's not shared vision, exactly - everybody's coming from their own standpoint, after all - but something in your work which resonates with them.

When one of my paintings struck a chord with people, their pleasure with it made me revisit it again in my mind; I recalled the scene which inspired the painting and the fun I had creating it. Someone bought a print of a favourite photo; reminding me of what I loved about it in the first place. So. although it's a difficult time of year for me, I'm keeping positive. The dragon, after all, is a symbol of life force and great potency. Perhaps I should frame him and put him on the wall to inspire me!

Exhibitions are like buses . . .

2009-09-30T10:21:00.000+01:00

Paula's Pansy - an early work!

It's the end of September, and the final day of our exhibition at Artscape. It's been really strange with so few paintings in the house: apart from the ones at Artscape, one of my early works - Paula's Pansy - has been gracing the walls of Wesley's Coffee Shop at the Methodist Church in the High Street all month as part of a general Open Studios promotion in Harpenden. The Marbre Therese at Portmagee and Lavender Fields have just gone over to Letchworth for the forthcoming Open Exhibition at the Letchworth Arts Centre.

And last weekend I took three of my Tolkien paintings to the annual Tolkien Society Oxonmoot conference in Oxford, where there is a regular Art Exhibition. This year we were at Lady Margaret Hall. The event attracts a lot of Society members, many of whom visit the exhibition during the course of the weekend. Those of us exhibiting have the opportunity to hang our work alongside established Tolkien artists such as Ted Nasmith, Ruth Lacon and Jef Murray. The Oxonmoot Art Show is organised by Becky Hitchin, who also exhibits her work at the show. There were Tolkien-related lectures throughout the weekend, and the chance to catch up with old friends. You can read more about this year's Oxonmoot - and previous Tolkien-related events - here.

Exhibitions are like buses really . . . none for ages, then loads all at once. I'm still painting, though, and should have something new to post here soon!

A Room with a View

2009-09-13T20:39:00.000+01:00

l - r: Betty's illustrations, my watercolours & Sue's paintings and Vanessa's acrylics © Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

A Private View, to be precise. Friday night saw we five ladies of Artscape Arts nervously fluttering around in the upstairs room at Artscape, Harpenden's premier supplier of art, craft & office materials (and fine framing), taking each other's photos in front of our work and wondering how many of the invited guests would come along to see our exhibition, and how we were going to eat all the food we'd laid on if the turnout was low.

Judi's glass art display and a little something for the guests' refreshment! © Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

We needn't have worried. Around fifty wonderful friends, relatives, fellow artists and other interested parties enjoyed the evening, including Rosemary Farmer, the Town Mayor, who, it transpires, is an art lover. There was plenty for everyone to look at, too: Sue's vibrant paintings inspired by ancient landscapes, Betty's amazing illustrations done for Vogue in the 1940s, Vanessa's bold, bright acrylics, Judi's beautiful glass pieces and my watercolours of Kerry and anything else which takes my fancy - I'm showing Swan and May Evening, Harpenden Common, amongst others!

The 'miscellaneous' wall: Betty's & Sue's watercolours alongside my photos and a life study by yours truly; and 'card corner' - Sue's above, mine below and Judi's to the side! © Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

The main aim of the evening was for the guests to enjoy the art, and the food, and meet and chat to the artists - which they did - and during the course of the evening I was encouraged to find I'd sold some prints and cards as well. Preparing for this exhibition - and our Open Studios days on 12th, 17th - 19th and 24th - 26th September, when some of us will be at Artscape doing demos and chatting to the public - has been a long hard slog, but Friday made it all worthwhile.

Many thanks to my fellow artists Sue, Judi, Betty and Vanessa; to Jon the invaluable Artist's Assistant; and especially to Gamet, David, and the rest of the team at Artscape for their support.

Beauty & Fragility

2009-08-30T20:13:00.000+01:00

August is drawing to a close, and what a wierd month it's been. It started with a much-needed holiday, and has ended in the chaos of pressure at work, preparations for Open Studios, and grief at the passing of a dear friend.

In the midst of all this I've managed to produce a painting. As it's impossible to paint anything properly without concentrating on it totally, for a few hours I've simply put my cares aside and wielded my brushes. And I've ended up with this - something totally unlike my usual style.

Somehow it seems fitting right now to reflect on how beautiful and fragile and precious life is. I hope this picture will help us all to do just that.

butterfly
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

Out and about with the HVAF

2009-08-24T21:46:00.000+01:00

Half a dozen of us spent yesterday morning manning a stall at the Farmers Market in Harpenden to promote the Harpenden artists taking part in this year's Open Studios. This annual event, organised by the HVAF, takes place each September throughout Hertfordshire, and gives the general public the opportunity to visit artists in their studios (or other appropriate venues), discuss their work, and take a look at how the artists go about the process of producing art. The HVAF is a non-profitmaking charitable organisation dedicated to promoting and supporting the visual arts in and around Hertfordshire.

There are twenty-four Harpenden-based artists taking part this year: not just painters, but artists in glass, ceramics, jewellery and textiles. Five of us are exhibiting as "Artscape Arts" at Artscape, the local art supplies store in Southdown, throughout September, with Open Studios on selected days. Others are opening their homes or workshops for the event. The general public certainly responded well to our market stall yesterday; lots of people came over for a closer look and went away with a brochure. In fact we ran out of brochures, there was so much interest!

Further information on Herts Open Studios is available from http://www.hvaf.org.uk/

Ducks and Days

2009-07-31T18:11:00.000+01:00

The end of July has turned out to be as busy as the rest of it. The art show season is finished, but I'm now in the throes of preparations for Herts Open Studios - for further details click here. During the week I've had off work, I've wrapped & labelled photo cards & posters and mounted originals, painted and wrapped cards, and received so many art-related packages (including that linocut set that I wasn't going to bother with until later in the year . . . ) that I've started my own bubblewrap mountain! I'm also now the proud possessor of a card rack, folding camping table and two collapsible chairs, although that has quite a lot to do with a visit to the open-air theatre at Tolethorpe, which involved eating a picnic sitting on a slope in a howling gale. Luckily the play was excellent.

Flying Ducks
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

I haven't been entirely idle on the painting front in July, however. I finally got round to doing two cherished projects - my Flying Ducks, which is supposed to be a pastiche on the ceramic ones which everyone had on their walls in the 1950's - and The Days are now Short, which I first thought of doing during a performance of the Merry Widow at the ENO last year. I fell in love with the lighting and it has stayed with me ever since. It shows Elrond and Arwen in a scene which we don't actually see in Lord of the Rings: waiting almost desperately for the outcome of a battle in which they can take no part. The full quote is: "The days are now short. Either our hope cometh, or all hope's end." I like Tolkien's word-play here. Aragorn, who is fighting the battle, is also known as Estel (Hope).

The Days are now Short
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

I have plenty more Tolkien-related paintings in my head, and many non-Tolkien ones too. Eventually I will get round to completing them all!

A Plethora of Printmakers

2009-07-20T20:00:00.000+01:00

July kicked off with the Childwickbury Arts Fair, just up the road from us here in Harpenden. A great opportunity to meet with and chat to other artists - all those demonstrating were extremely accessible, and had lots of ideas to share. Within an hour of arrival we had a list of hints and tips! There was a great range of paintings, ceramics, woodwork, metalwork, jewellery, glassware (my friend bought a wonderful vase from Siddy Langley) and - best of all - a barn full of printmakers.

printmaking in the barn at Childwickbury Arts Fair

© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

Until now I haven't been particularly interested in printmaking but I found it fascinating to watch. Barry Goodman was demonstrating collographs and took the time to explain how he went about creating his amazing prints of retro verhicles. I decided that it's definitely a subject I need to find out more about.

Merlyn Chesterman inking a woodcut at Art in Action
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

Two weeks later we visited Art in Action at Waterperry. Despite the horrendous traffic queues outside - and the struggle through the mud inside - our trip (eventually) proved to be well worth it. With my appetite whetted, I made straight for the printmaking tent. Merlyn Chesterman was making huge hand-printed woodcuts - and encouraging her audience to join in - while Jason Hicklin drew an enormous crowd with his lively demo of etching. I had to smile when he said that the best bit was using the press - it's such a boy thing - and his enthusiasm was infectious.

So at some point - probably over the winter - I'm going to take the plunge, although I think I'll stick to small hand-made prints, at least to start with. Even my small box-room studio will accommodate a bit of lino-cutting!

Flamin' June

2009-06-28T18:40:00.001+01:00

June has been a wierd month for me. I've hardly painted anything at all beyond a few experimental underwater landscapes involving enough salt and water on the paper to support sea life. I've simply had too many ideas (!) and not enough time. I've had four possible paintings on my project board (OK, scruffy bit of cardboard with some paper clips attached) all month and today I finally put two of them on the back burner and decided to go with the other two. When I find time to paint.

Part of the problem is that it's the season for art shows. I can't resist these; even if I haven't entered I like to go along and take a look at what other artists do and how they do it. First it was the Ayot Art Show, a lovely Palladian church crammed floor to ceiling with all kinds of artwork. Getting there was a bit of an adventure as all roads into Ayot St Lawrence seemed to be flooded, but it was well worth it!

The following weekend we had Art on the Common right here in Harpenden, in blazing sunshine. A wonderful range of paintings, photography, textiles etc, beautifully displayed for the most part in an assortment of gazebos (a sensible precaution given the vagaries of the English Summer), and a chunk of the proceeds going to charity. I must admit I came straight home and started hunting for a suitable gazebo on the internet LOL. This weekend saw the inaugural St Albans Summer Art Exhibition at the Town Hall. I did enter a couple of paintings for that one. It turned out to be an excellent venue, with lots of space to walk around and take a look at the stunning variety of exhibits on show.

I must get round to doing some painting during July. Although of course next weekend it's the Childwickbury Art Fair and a fortnight after that we're going to Art in Action at Waterperry . . . !

Time & Immediacy - two different approaches

2009-06-07T18:56:00.000+01:00

Watching the Band
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

My two most recent paintings were done in one weekend. The first is one which I'd been meaning to paint for ages. Last Summer we visited a festival in the Bishop of Winchester's palace grounds, because a young relative was playing with a local youth band. While we were watching my attention was caught by a couple in front of us - he, sitting casually on the grass while she stood with arms folded, her red hair and green dress brightening an unfortunately dull day. I took a photo because I knew I would want to recapture the scene in paint at some point. Would it be pure watercolour or line & wash? or some different approach? I couldn't decide.

May evening, Harpenden Common
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

Then a couple of weeks ago we had some beautiful late Spring weather. Harpenden Common was looking its loveliest and I got the camera out, even going so far as to get my other half to park the car at a suitable vantage point on a busy road . . . I knew the shots would be no good as photos because the light was poor, but for reference they would be ideal.

That was the Friday evening. By Sunday night I'd reinterpreted the buttercups on the Common and finally got round to painting the couple watching the band (I even managed to sneak my partner's nephew into the top right-hand corner). I had photos of each in front of me but for general reference only - I prefer to let the painting take on a life of its own rather than faithfully copy a snapshot. The Common painting was almost done from memory - an impression of the sea of flowers and grasses stretched out in front of me and my camera. The painting of the band, on the other hand, developed a character of its own as I imagined what each of the musicians was thinking.

And of course, in my paintings the festival is taking place on a bright day and the Common is bathed in entirely fictional light. Isn't watercolour wonderful!!

The Meaning of Life Part Two

2009-05-23T17:55:00.001+01:00

L in orange & blue
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2008

My second CSM course last year was a week’s worth of Life Drawing with Colour. The course was at Back Hill in Clerkenwell - not too far from where I used to work many years ago. First person I spotted inside was G, resplendent in a tartan yellow kilt (luckily he didn't recognise me). He and I appeared to be the only people over 25 in the entire building apart from the security guard. Hordes of slender trendy youngsters - mostly female - crammed the hallway. Eventually I spotted one or two women of a similar age to me - one of them came over for a chat (overjoyed to see someone else over fifty I think). Turned out she was doing a class with T so I was able to tell her what a great time she was going to have!!

Our tutor was R, whose Beginners Watercolour course I’d attended the previous Summer. The students included a lady from Cheshire who'd been travelling since 4am and two friends from Harrogate who'd joined the course together. Sixteen in all - three chaps and the rest girls, about half from abroad. Three Japanese (including a boy who barely spoke English), two Russians, someone from Turkey and a couple of others - several newcomers to Life Study. R told us not to worry about drawing (hurrah!) - to concentrate more on Colour and Tone rather than Line. We were working on Easels (ouch! my muscles after standing all day!) and started with a Drawing in Charcoal so that he could assess our skill level. The model (a young lad called L) struck his first Pose and we were off. On the whole most people produced good drawings but generally we had not used enough Tone for R. We had to try again using a Burnt Umber Pastel, and this time everyone did better! I went into the stairwell to Fix mine - T came past and was kind enough to praise them both. At lunchtime we went to a nearby Art Shop for more Pastels and Watercolours in Earth Shades. We spent the afternoon doing two more Pastels using a Limited Palette (three, then four colours), concentrating on Not Drawing, Mixing on the Paper and Getting the Tone Right. I decided to Forget Pastels and use Watercolour for the rest of the week - it's not dusty and there's no need to Fix it - plus I had more of the right colours. R was quite happy and suggested that I put my work flat on a Table.

Our Model on Day Two was a girl called M. I remembered to sit down whenever I could . . . R asked us to produce a picture using just Yellow Ochre, Ultramarine, Indian Red and Titanium White - the Watercolourists were to go about it in the same way as those using Pastels ie put the colour down and Mix it on the Paper, then use White to Kill a Lot of It Off . I wasn’t used to doing that but it worked and I managed to produce a pic of M sitting on a chair. We had the usual Crit - R thought we'd all done quite well but should be going for more Overall Consistency and needed to Remember the Background as well as the Figure (he'd sat M on an assortment of Vibrantly Coloured Cloths which some of the students had completely ignored). He liked the fact that I'd painted M Nice and Big on the paper. There was some muttering about using Smaller Paper and Doing Two Paintings at Once, which I ignored, along with the suggestion that the Watercolourists could use some Pastels for Emphasis - not feasible in my case as I'd taken care to leave my pastels at home LOL. Everyone's second pictures were an improvement - the whole class was starting to Move Away from Drawing and was now Thinking in Terms of Colour. For lunch I took a trip down Memory Lane (Leather Lane, actually, I used to visit it regularly when I worked nearby). Back at Back Hill (architecture: Minimalist Art School reception, Tiled Public Toilet staircase, Rabbit Warren classrooms) I got chatting to a Saudi Gentleman in my class who does Art courses whenever he can come over here. He'd done courses at the Slade, and at Chelsea, but rated CSM the highest!! R asked us to Just Use Red and Green (plus White) to create various Shades of Grey, and to do a Background in Pure Colour. I made a Cadmium Red body, added some Viridian Green shadows and made free with the White. - good enough to get a Very Well Done from R. Everyone had produced their best work so far and one or two had portrayed skin you could almost touch!! (but all in those nasty scratchy Pastels).

M in cool colours
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2008

Thank goodness for Crocs. Not the animal - the shoes. I wore them to Art School for Day Three. And they worked - no more aching back or legs! We still had 100% attendance - everyone was so keen - and our Model was L again. Luckily he preferred to be cold, as we'd left the windows open all night to rid the Studio of Pastel Dust. A couple of the younger students had moved on to Acrylics, with great success (one confided that she couldn't bear using Pastels any longer!). Our first task was to use Blue and Orange. R told me to mix them into a grey and start with that, but it was more of an olive green (mixture of Cobalt and Cadmium Orange) and went on darker, I think, than he would have liked. I added Ultramarine shadows, Orange lowlights and Tit White highlights afterwards (Not Forgetting the Background of Pure Colour). R said it was Terrific and he probably wondered why I didn't seem very animated but in truth I was terrified because this was all Experimental and I had No Idea What I Was Doing . . . oh, the pressure of success!! After the Break we moved on to Yellow and Purple (Cadmium Yellow and Dioxazine Violet, sounds like a prescription, doesn't it LOL), and, to encourage everyone to Deepen their Shadows we were also allowed to use Burnt Umber. L, who'd had his Back to me during the first session, was now facing me, so I laid him down (as it were) in a mixture of the two colours and set to work. This time it was a lot harder but the painting turned out far better than expected. To save my legs I went to a nearby Sandwich Shop and ate in the studio. I hadn't had time to do a Pure Colour Background on the last picture so I filled this in also. The two Japanese girls had chummed up and were sitting chatting - the boy with Minimal English was listening to his i-Pod, poor thing. The Saudi Gentleman, the Cheshire Lady and a Beginner were swapping tales of other courses they’d done. Our afternoon session was based on Cool Blues, Greens, Purples etc and R told us to let our imagination Run Riot. He replaced the Vibrantly Coloured Cloths with ones of Cooler Colours to encourage us. This was my excuse to paint L in my favourite Cerulean Blue, adding Ultramarine, Alizarin Crimson and Tit White for emphasis, with Violet and Green Cloths. R was encouraging again - "Don't say that, you know what will happen" I begged, and he agreed - "You won't be able to start anything!" (thanks, R). True enough, I immediately Deformed L’s legs (one was so bad I washed it out and painted over it later). As L kindly remarked when he wandered over during Break (wearing a dressing gown, I hasten to add), foreshortening is quite difficult, and he did have large feet. I didn't like to tell him that they were also extremely dirty, from the Studio floor (I hoped). On the whole I was quite pleased with my Cool Blue painting - various students came over and said nice things about it - but I spoiled it by putting in an Alizarin Crimson background. R said this worked although it didn't ought to, but part of me wanted to go in early the next day and put a blue wash over it . . .

Day Four saw me arrive with my Tube and a roll of Tinted Watercolour Paper!! Today's Model was M again and R asked us to use primary colours: Red, Blue and Yellow (plus White ), blending them on the body and using them pure as background. Everyone else was using brightly coloured paper and I had pretty pastel tinted sheets - it was lovely stuff though; the man at the Clerkenwell Art Shop (Stevensons) told me they don't make it in that size any more. It was somewhere between A1 and A2, 300gsm Bockingford, and it unrolled perfectly flat and lay obligingly on the board without buckling or anything . . . I thought I was in love (with paper?)!! My figure was fairly garish what with the Red, Blue and Yellow, but mellowed OK under a layer of White. R used the T-word again but I didn't like it, dogged by the feeling I‘d peaked too soon! of course, using different paper meant the paint dried more slowly and I ran out of time - as did several others. Everyone had improved - the Boy with Minimal English had positively blossomed (on paper at least) and all the work was really original and interesting . Next we had to choose a set of Complimentary colours - in my case Cobalt Blue and Cad Orange - and off we went again. R enthused about my painting - 'you're using the Watercolours almost like Pastels' - probably because he was teaching Pastels and I was following his instructions! For the afternoon picture we had to reverse what we'd done previously - the figure in Pure Colour and the background to be muted. I made a Viridian Green figure and chucked a load of Cad Red and Yellow onto it. I found myself using Watercolours like Oils!! The Saudi Gentleman was actually using Oils so that was another classmate who'd abandoned those Horrid Pastels. I asked M a bit about Modelling. She thought her hair looked a bit long in our paintings and was planning to get it cut!

L in cool colours
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2008

Everyone turned up early for the last day. I took the opportunity to ask R about the new CSM building at Kings Cross which is to replace the existing four campuses from 2011 onwards. Apparently the gorgeous Lethaby building (where I did the previous summer’s course) is going to become a hotel, and is listed, fortunately. We began the Class with a Crit of yesterday's final piece. I didn't like mine any better when I saw it again but it did get praise (and some constructive criticism). Both Models were Posing and I had a nice glimpse of Model Etiquette as M introduced herself to L, who tactfully moved to another part of the room while she stripped off. The brief was to produce at least one picture - L would hold his Pose all day while M would strike one Pose all morning and another in the afternoon. R had excelled himself with the Vibrantly Coloured Cloths - I counted fourteen!! I decided to paint L all day and do a second painting of M during the morning and possibly a third one of both of them in the afternoon. Of course, using Watercolour meant that I had to lug boards on and off my Table, make sure the colour didn't run when I propped them up (no room to put them flat to dry) . . . what a palaver!! Sadly our 100% attendance record didn't last as one of the Harrogate girls felt poorly and her friend took her home early at the start of the afternoon session. I couldn't face starting another painting and thought it best to concentrate on finishing the one of L. I'd done him in earth colours and the one of M in cool tones. They looked quite good at the Crit and R said how much I'd come on, apparently I'd captured something of L even though it didn't look like him. We both agreed that I needed to work large to avoid cramping my style (literally)! though how I was going to manage it in my boxroom studio I didn't know . . . everyone had done their best work. Some people had done both figures together and made some really interesting pictures. The Boy with Minimal English produced a superb drawing. A Beginner had started to loosen up. The Cheshire Lady's picture of L was almost anatomical. The Saudi Gentleman had done two wonderful oil paintings. During the Crit L grabbed some Charcoal and Paper and did a quick sketch of one of the Japanese girls. We headed to the pub, where I took my leave of everyone, thanked R and L, and staggered out into the Farringdon Road with my paper. It had been a great week!

Memory & Imagination

2009-05-04T18:15:00.001+01:00

Memory & Imagination: New River, Broxbourne
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

It might seem strange, blogging about a painting which I don't think anyone (apart from me) is going to think much of, but I really like this picture. Just after Easter I took a walk with a couple of friends (and a dog) along the New River at Broxbourne, Hertfordshire. It was a lovely afternoon and I wished I'd brought along my camera. We saw a swan sitting on her nest, various other waterbirds such as coots and grebes, and (memorably) a brace of ducks using the long, straight river just like an aeroplane runway! One of my friends mentioned that he regularly brings his two-year-old grandson to the river to look at the waterfowl.

When I got home, I scribbled down my main impressions of the scene: the long, straight river vanishing in the distance, the swan on her nest etc. Three weeks on (with much happening in between) I finally got around to setting brush to paper. I wanted to capture the feeling of Spring, the drama of the straight lines, the green algae-filled river, the wonder of spotting that swan on her nest. No matter that I can't remember now if the tree roots she was settled in were those of a willow or something else, or that I've almost certainly left out a bridge or two. The man and the boy on the river bank might be my friend and his grandson, but they might not (the child in the painting is probably too tall for a two-year-old). It doesn't even matter that it's not a particularly good rendering of the scene. This one's for me - but I'm sharing it with you!

The Meaning of Life - Part One

2009-04-17T18:56:00.000+01:00

I should have been on an Art Course this week at Central St Martins, but it was cancelled. As it happens I’ve spent the week usefully and done loads of painting, so perhaps life is telling me that I don’t need to go on a course right now. But last year I had such fun when I finally plucked up the courage to do some Life Study there . . .

I started with a weekly Beginners Life Drawing course in the Annexe of the Charing Cross Road building - famous alumni include Johnny Rotten. Twelve of us, mainly amateurs. While we were introducing ourselves the model arrived, wearing a short, flowered, pleated skirt, boxy little jacket and knee socks. A soft-spoken Scot, he was in his early sixties (at a guess) and called G. It was quite a relief when he took his clothes off . . . we chose Benches or Easels (these are tall so I used a bench) and set up. Our lecturer asked us to do four small Line Drawings - five minutes each - with G (who was on a low table in the centre of the room) changing position each time - and then we turned our boards to face each other for a Crit. Because we were concentrating on Line most of the students drew the equivalent of crash test dummies and I got scolded for including G's hair . We got tips on Proportion, how to size up angles by squinting at a pencil (I always wanted to do that!) and Negative Space (the shape where the subject isn't). After a break, G remounted his table and held two more poses for twenty minutes each while we deformed him in charcoal again, including Tone by smuding the charcoal - which you can do with a Putty Rubber or your fingers - did I mention how grubby it is using charcoal?

For the second session, I equipped myself with a sturdy black plastic Tube in which to carry my sheets of A1. Unfortunately it resembled a rocket launcher so I got some pretty funny looks from my fellow passengers on the train . . . Our lecturer was off sick and the class was taken by T, an affable middle aged guy sporting an Earring. He promptly got us sketching against the clock. Our model was a lady in her early thirties. T asked her to strike four Poses of five minutes each (phew!), then eight two-minute Poses holding on to a chair - we were supposed to draw each Pose on top of the one before to produce an effect of movement. Having loosened us up, T asked our model to hold one Pose for the rest of the evening and we had to use Pencil - the intention being to convey a three dimensional effect using Line only. Tone and Shading Not Allowed! Again I got told off for including facial features ("it's not a portrait class . . . "). I didn't like to say that blank faces in drawings give me the creeps . . . . . T showed us how making a line darker (not heavier) brings it forward. I knew the model was my kind of girl when she said "students, take note - this model likes crisps and chocolate", but unfortunately we'd already had our break so she didn't get any. Once or twice she cracked up laughing at something so the atmosphere was less intense than before. Time for the Crit . T praised the good parts of everyone's drawings and pointed out that you don't learn unless you make mistakes . . .

© teresa kirkpatrick 2008

I arrived late for the third session and all the Benches were taken so I had to attempt an Easel. T was getting everyone to set up for the main event of the evening: a drawing of model J lying down on the low table. When he said "use Charcoal and I don't want any Lines – just Tone" an audible gasp of horror went round the class. I eventually got a shape on the paper closely resembling a trussed up chicken - because I was late to Class I'd got the worse possible viewpoint to draw from; J's head, back, bottom and a bit of one foot. By now I was getting the hang of using the Putty Rubber to do Highlights and Blurring. T was keen on us getting the right amount of Light on J's hair – I was quite proud of my efforts but he took the Putty Rubber and swept a whole wide line of Highlight through it !! At the Crit it was obvious that some students just could not let go of those Lines!! But at least their drawings looked like a Model lying on a platform rather than an oven-ready Turkey. T said some nice things about my use of the Putty Rubber , mainly praising the Highlights in the hair, apparently forgetting that he'd put them in himself . . . for week four G modelled again. I paid special attention to what he was wearing: white trainers, blue ankle socks, a thigh-length flared brown skirt, a patterned short-sleeved shirt & a sleeveless cricket sweater. A sheepskin-lined flying jacket and a white peaked sixties-style Liver Birds cap completed the outfit. . . .he looked like an advert for Miss Selfridge. T asked us to cover a sheet of paper with a 50 percent Charcoal Tint and reproduce G by creating highlights with the Putty Rubber and putting in Charcoal shadows. No Line Drawing Allowed! Boy, was it messy . . .

By week five it was clear that "Nudey Night", as my work colleagues had taken to calling it, would continue to be taken by T. J was our model again: not only was she pretty & curvy (a pleasure to draw) and smiley & pleasant - she was the only one of the Models we'd used so far to come back into the studio once she was dressed to take a look at the drawings. We focussed on Weight – ie where J was putting hers – so you could also call it Balance. The Main Event was an hour's Drawing with Pencil using Hatching & Cross Hatching to Convey Tone – T went round drawing what looked like little spider's webs and nets in the corner of everyone's paper to show them what he meant. At the break we wandered round looking at the other Drawings. One or two Students were looking quite desperate and I wasn't sure I'd got the hang of the Hatching & Cross-Hatching either. Some interesting results - I thought the Boy Who Can't Let Go Of Lines would be able to cope with Hatching – which is Lines, after all! but no – he didn’t seem able to draw at all except in his own style. Our retired exec had obviously been struggling but at least he'd managed to Hatch & Cross-Hatch a bit, so his subject looked solid. Unfortunately it resembled nothing more than a man’s private parts, because he'd got the bottom way out of proportion . . . There were a couple of Oven-Readies and a mesh Dressmaker's Dummy but the others were really good. T reminded me not to Scribble when I was supposed to Hatch. He liked my rendering of the Cloth they cover the Mattress with.

On Week Six the ladies of the class were delighted to find we had a drop-dead gorgeous young hunk of a Model, all flowing locks, tanned muscles and Latino attitude. When he walked in we couldn't believe our eyes – or our luck! And what were we drawing this week? The face. So he kept his kit on. We did start with four quick poses to loosen up. These were full-figure and I perked up a bit but T told the Hunk there was no need to get undressed so I unperked again. The latecomers to class were somewhat bemused to see a clothed Model, but when T announced we would spend the next two hours drawing his Face the reaction was not so much disappointment as horror. We could choose Line, Tone or Hatching & Cross-Hatching and the brief was not to do a portrait but to interpret the shapes we could see. City Lawyer Girl had arrived late and was setting up behind me with a good view of his face – as soon as T mentioned faces she claimed not to be able to see from that position and moved next to the door, where the only view was the back of the model’s head. At the Break the model left the room so we were able to look at each other's Attempts. "Poor Guy" one girl was heard to murmur as she wandered round. It was evident that Faces were not every Student's Cup of Tea. Most of the students looked quite despondent, including Retired Exec, who’d abandoned his Easel in favour of a Bench after last week’s Fiasco. At the Crit, T as usual found Good Things to say about all of them. The Boy Who Likes Lines had broken with tradition and used Tone, and produced a bit of a mess. Ironically City Lawyer Girl had made a good sketch of the back of the head – it had Volume and Highlights. Features of other drawings included Cartoon Lips and The Boy who looked like a Girl (T’s words!). Again T reminded me Not to Scribble and to Curve my Hatching to avoid the result looking Too Flat.

For session seven we were drawing Hands and Feet - J perched on a stool with these much in evidence, while we pulled our benches and easels up close so we could see (not close enough as it turned out in my case). The brief was to spend an hour on a Foot (or Hand) and then another hour on a Hand (or Foot), either both on one sheet of paper or filling a separate sheet with each, and using Charcoal. I struggled away on J’s Foot and was quite pleased with the toes until I realised I'd given her six of them. I looked furtively around - had anyone noticed? No ! and rubbed them out immediately. Of course I couldn't draw the second lot of toes anywhere near as good as the first. If I was dissatisfied with my efforts, on my right Retired Exec was totally despondent with his Hand and took it off the board as soon as he could. To make matters worse, the Fashion Student on my left had drawn a really good Hand (she doesn't come to every class, why did she have to come to this one and show us up????). I tried to cheer the Exec up by telling him about the Six Toes but he laughed so much I wished I hadn't bothered . . . By the next drawing, T was laughing a lot and had to come over and rectify my Hand with a few deft Lines. There was no need to refer to it as a Claw, though, was there? . . . in the end I cheated by drawing in some background. Once the Claw (sorry, I mean Hand) was in context it looked a bit better but as a Hand Drawing Exercise it was only marginally better than my Foot (which I didn't bother to put into the Crit at all). The Boy who Draws Lines was so fed up he hadn't put his efforts out but T made him show his Foot. The City Lawyer had drawn a sort of Tube which was supposed to be an Ankle. Everyone else including the bloody Fashion Student had drawn really nice Hands and Feet. I wished we could do Faces again . . .

© teresa kirkpatrick 2008

Only ten students turned up for week eight – possibly daunted by T’s declared intention of getting us to reproduce our Model using only Circles, Squares and Triangles. Sometimes it's better not to publicise these things ahead of time . . . ovals and Rectangles were also Allowed. I decided to use Charcoal and sat there while I decided How to Approach the Subject. I wasn't the only one who was Stumped. The girl who normally sat on my left was staring at her paper with a glazed expression. To my right the Exec had started, but was sighing heavily already - not a good sign!! Eventually I began with J’s Cheeks, which are quite Round, and her Nose (a Triangle, obviously). The drawing took on an Abstract air as I continued. She was sitting on the platform with a Sheet draped behind and below her, and two upright Fan Heaters in front at each side, so I added them as well. T came by and said "Wow!! I love that!!" and encouraged me to colour in some of the Shapes, until I had to stop as I was in danger of Drawing Too Much. At the Crit, T was beside himself with Joy - everyone had excelled themselves. The Exec had gone Off Brief a bit by using Other Shapes but had produced a really interesting picture. T referred to mine as "Nefertiti with Ghetto Blasters" but I think he meant that as a compliment - he'd already enthused about the almost African style I'd managed (quite unintentionally) to create, and the fan heaters were exceptionally large . . . of course, the Boy who Uses Lines hadn't followed the Brief at all but he'd produced his best drawing yet. The Girl on my Left had produced a brilliant three-dimensional work!

As requested, we arrived at the Annexe for week nine carrying a copy of The Guardian, some Glue, & a Household Paintbrush. I set up on an extremely wobbly Bench; these are also known as Donkeys - mine was obviously due to go to the Retired Donkeys' Home any time soon. Unfortunately J was lying on the platform with her head to the wall and my Donkey was at the foot of the bed, as it were, so my view of her was Not Good. Still, I could see Shapes so I set to tearing up my Newspaper. I concentrated on Lights and Darks and started sticking pieces to the background paper almost immediately; some of the others did a lot of Tearing (Scissors were Not Allowed) before doing any Sticking at all. We were Not Allowed to use Coloured newsprint and I hadn't realised how much Colour print there is in The Guardian! T had specifically chosen it because of the range of light and dark Tones in the printing, most of which were coming off on my fingers. I spent a lot of time Tearing pieces to the exact Shape I wanted – unfortunately because I was re-creating what I could see, I forgot to work from back to front, which meant even more Tearing as I couldn't Overlap pieces like you should in Collage. We spent the break looking at each other’s work. Some didn't seem to make sense at all, although one or two were quite promising. We carried on and I decided to put in some Background but T thought I shouldn't have, so I attempted to Remove it. The result was a Sticky Mess of half torn bits of paper on the Top Left of my Collage only rivalled by the Sticky Mess of half torn bits of paper all over the Studio floor . . . eventually T took pity on us and announced the Crit. The Exec got a special mention for attempting to portray the Reflections in the Mirror, and one or two other Students had created interesting Collages – some had made the paper into pleats to get an almost Origami effect. I did get a Very Well Done but was not happy with mine. The Girl on my Left got praise but she didn't like hers either. The City Lawyer had produced a horrid mess all over her Collage so I felt a bit better. The Boy who likes Lines had managed to go right off the backing paper and had a sort of newspaper tail on his Collage.

Ten of us managed to struggle through the howling winds and driving rain to the Annexe for the final class – this time using Ink and Brushes. It was the first time any of us had used Ink – several Students immediately asked for advice & T suggested we dilute it a little – then off we went. I LOVED IT!! Applying it with a brush meant it worked in a similar way to Watercolour, apart from the fact that you can't correct mistakes (I think it was the Exec who described it as "a totally unforgiving medium"). So as we worked we had to live with everything we'd committed to paper!! T wandered around the class encouraging us to "Loosen Up and Let It Flow". To my surprise several Students came over to admire my efforts and T was also complimentary. I think I found Ink & Brush easier than most of the class because I use Watercolour. T put J in a Pose she was to hold for an hour . I was quite pleased with my sketch but it was still rather tight and I'd only used forty minutes of the allotted time. Others had also finished theirs quickly, and swapped places to do another sketch from a different Angle. I didn't want to move – but I remembered I'd packed a large brush and I had a spare sheet of A1 in my Tube – so on impulse I set up again and just Went For It using much bolder Lines, a bit of Shadow and a lot of Loosening Up and Flowing. This one took only ten minutes and was quite a lot easier because I already knew how J was sitting so avoided making the same Mistakes. T was Thrilled with the result – he said it was the best thing I'd done! At the Crit the ten of us displayed completely different styles – some Students had tried to use Ink like Charcoal or Pencil whereas the Boy Who Likes Lines and I had used it like Paint. His picture was terrific and T praised mine also. Everyone had got to grips with the new Medium – one girl had used Diluted and Undiluted Ink to get a proper range of greys. For the final part of the evening, T had asked us to bring in the sketch we Least Enjoyed Doing and the one we Learnt Most From. I cheated and brought in only one but most of the others had two. He did a sort of overall Crit for each of us in terms of development etc. To my delight the Exec had brought in the Sketch which made J look like Rude Bits and actually said "I won't tell you what it reminds me of" . . . It was Really Interesting hearing each Student's comments, what they liked and disliked, what they felt they'd learned. T said we should All Be Proud of Ourselves.

I was so sorry it was over I booked myself onto another Life Study course almost immediately . . . of which, more to follow!

Lands of Enchantment

2009-04-08T21:58:00.000+01:00

Had another Grand Day Out on Saturday at the Lands of Enchantment exhibition at Moreton in Marsh, Gloucestershire. This is an annual art exhibition organised by Andy Compton of ADC Books, who acts as the sole worldwide agent for the Tolkien-inspired art of Ted Nasmith, Ruth Lacon, Jef Murray and Peter Pracownik. It takes place at the Redesdale Hall in the centre of Moreton, which is decked out in banners for the occasion:

The lobby and staircase at the Redesdale Hall
© teresa kirkpatrick 2009

It was great to see familiar faces at the Exhibition; everyone welcomed us like old friends and we had several chats (and a cup of tea) before we ever got near any pictures. The two paintings of Ruth Lacon’s which I really liked were The Inescapable Wave - a Japanese style painting reminiscent of Tolkien’s recurring Atlantis dream, and which someone else liked enough to buy during the day - and Bilbo Finds Himself East of the Misty Mountains, which was full of air and space and had a real sense of distance.

As well as all the paintings, we were captivated by the appearance of a pygmy owl in the exhibiton hall. She came courtesy of the Cotswold Falconry Centre and didn’t seem at all fazed by the attention she was getting (which was considerable).

Pygmy Owl Close Up
© teresa kirkpatrick 2009

I hadn’t expected to like Peter Pracownik’s paintings (I’d caught a glimpse of a couple somewhere else and thought them a bit too Fantasy-based for my liking) but they absolutely blew me away when I had a chance to study them properly. I particularly liked The Way is Closed (based on Tolkien’s design for the entrance of Moria) and Middle Earth, which had a definite feel of a 1960’s album cover (King Crimson springs to mind) and Peter agreed; he was a musician for many years - in his heyday he played the Roundhouse in Camden with Hawkwind - as it happens, I was there!! Eventually he decided he could make a better living as an artist, although he still plays in a band now. Peter and his partner Nicola (also an artist) run a gallery in Tintagel, Cornwall, which you can find out about at http://www.peterpracownik.com/. He had a stall in the dealer’s hall where I bought some postcards and a fridge magnet (I can never resist a fridge magnet. This one has the Green Man on it).

Peter Pracownik at his stall in the dealer’s hall
© teresa kirkpatrick 2009

Ted Nasmith had a wide variety of paintings and prints on show - some large, some small. My other half would have happily taken several home with us - and so would I, but we would have chosen different ones! My favourite was Boromir’s Last Stand, although Luthien runs it a close second. Ted was exhibiting some tiny paintings, too - a sensible move in these days of recession. I was tempted by one of Frodo praying to Elbereth . . .

By now the hall was filling up with visitors. Becky Carter-Hitchin arrived with a wonderful design based on the emblems of the Noldor . It was absolutely fabulous and several of us - including Ruth - crowded round making admiring coo-ing noises over it. She had laid it on the floor for us to see and it looked like a sumptuous rug . . . we were so engrossed that when Angela Gardiner’s talk was announced we realised all the seats were taken. Still, standing at the back we had a good view!

Thanks to Chris Tolkien (Hilary’s grandson) a whole heap ( several heaps) of Hilary’s unpublished papers have been made available to Angela and she is in the process of writing his autobiography as she feels she would like to give Hilary his due place in JRR Tolkien’s life. The brothers were very close. Black & White Ogre Country is a lovely little book of Hilary’s reminiscences, which has been published as a kind of preview to the full biography. I was particularly struck by this extract: “We used to live a big part of the summer up trees, particularly a certain sycamore . . .” Angela showed us a Christmas card drawn by the boys’ grandfather, John Suffield (Mabel Tolkien’s father). He used to make one every year, and this sample had trees recognisably in the same style as Tolkien used to draw; and a tiny rendering of the Lord’s Prayer in a little circle. So that’s where JRRT got the idea of the Father Christmas Letters from! Interestingly, the book contains a small painting by Hilary in a similar style and apparently Tim Tolkien (I can’t remember where he fits in) also draws and paints in the Tolkien - or should I say Suffield - style.

Jef Murray had a huge amount of paintings on show - my favourite The Eagle of Manwe was there, along with a similar one Mearas - and his illustrations for Black & White Ogre Country went down very well - several had sold. I was chuffed when he said he remembered me liking The Eagle of Manwe - apparently he often recalls people by the paintings they prefer!

(Some of) Jef Murray’s display
© teresa kirkpatrick 2009

We nearly missed out on seats again for Ted Nasmith’s talk because by then we’d bumped into the major book collector Alan Reynolds, whose lecture we’d gone to at Oxonmoot. Amongst lots of other interesting stuff he told us how even today Tolkien’s views on language are being vindicated: for years Tolkien argued with “experts” that the Roman name for the town of Bath - Aquae Sulis - meant “waters of Sul” rather than “waters of Sulis” because - as every Latin scholar knows - “Sulis” means “of Sul”. All the experts pooh-poohed his idea. Then some relics were excavated in Bath clearly dedicated to the Goddess Sul. They really should have listened to the Professor in the first place . . .

Back to Ted’s talk. He told us that he likes to paint something beautiful in a picture even when the overall subject is grim - I think he likes the contrast, such as the horror of the Kinslaying in such a lovely setting. He talked about the dangers of overpainting (which struck a chord with at least one fledgling artist in the audience) and I was greatly cheered when he said that some of his ideas for pictures have come to fruition over many years. Hope for me yet then . . . Ted discussed the pleasures and pitfalls of being commissioned to do illustrations for The Silmarillion; for example, Christopher Tolkien objected to Ted putting trees and agricultural scenery around Gondolin because JRR Tolkien had described it as standing on a featureless plain; but logic dictates that the inhabitants would have had to grow food etc somehow. I think the discussions Ted had with CT must have been quite lively!

The Bell Inn, Moreton in Marsh
© teresa kirkpatrick 2009

By now we were starving, and headed to The Bell for lunch. There’s a strong suggestion that the exterior of The Prancing Pony at Bree is based on The Bell, similarities include the three storeys of the pub building (those little rooms at the top would be ideal lodgings for hobbits!) and its entrance via a courtyard, which you can just see to the right of my photo. I assume that it’s an old coaching inn. After lunch we wandered back to the Redesdale Hall, pausing only to admire the local bookshop’s window display. Full marks to them for noticing there was a Tolkien Art Show in town - that‘s what I call using your initiative!

Books on Art and Tolkien in the shop window
© teresa kirkpatrick 2009

Of course, once we entered the Dealers Room back at the Redesdale Hall I lost both the others immediately - my other half is particularly susceptible to random book-buying and by the time I managed to retrieve him, he had bagged a first edition of Owen Barfield on CS Lewis and a copy of Literary Converts by Joseph Pearce. Upstairs we were thrilled to find that the eagle - billed as Gwaihir - had arrived. I took loads of photos because you never know when you might want a reference so you can put an eagle in a painting, do you? Here’s the best one:

“Gwaihir”
© teresa kirkpatrick 2009

We still hadn’t had time to get round all the paintings so we took the opportunity to do so before Ruth’s talk. On stage Ted Nasmith, Alex Lewis and Madeline Anderson were reprising the songs they had sung at the last Oxonmoot Ents and it made for a very pleasant atmosphere. Ruth’s talk was the last of the day. She’s now using more and more acrylic - she finds that she can get even more textural results than with oil paints and finds it good for introducing emotion into a painting. Sometimes she will try out a subject in gouache and do another version in acrylic. The reason she generally puts borders on her paintings is that they represent a safety line between our world and the sometimes strange and terrifying world in the picture. All her paintings are carefully researched - meticulously based on Tolkien’s texts, but also in other ways; for example the one of Beorn dancing with the bears has several distinct varieties of bears in it. She told us that she was careful to represent Wargs rather than grey wolves in her picture Fifteen Birds in Five Fir Trees because she was trying to get away from the idea of a Western European grey wolf. Although her paintings are not photo-realistic they are based on reality - hence the need for careful research.

By the time we drove out of Moreton past the Hall the doors were firmly shut for the night. Artists and organisers had all departed for an evening of beer and song at The Bell. And why not? They deserved it!

What does a Mallorn look like?

2009-03-29T18:09:00.000+01:00

and other questions which arise when illustrating scenes from the work of JRR Tolkien!

Spring Surpassed his Wildest Hopes
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

Amidst the mad March flurry of painting (which resulted in seven pictures, only one of which has been consigned to the rejects pile) I've produced one Tolkien-inspired work which is good enough to take to this year's Oxonmoot. Spring Surpassed his Wildest Hopes is based on the scene in Lord of the Rings Book Six Chaper VIII (The Scouring of the Shire). The title is a quote taken directly from the book and Sam is standing in front of "the only mallorn west of the Mountains and east of the Sea" which has just burst into bloom in the Party Field next to Bag End.

For the layout I consulted a map of Hobbiton in Karen Wynn Fonstad's Atlas of Middle Earth - you might not be able to see the river running through the horizontal line of trees beyond the village, but it's there all the same LOL. The large house in the middle of the picture is The Grange. I decided to base the mallorn sapling on a silver birch which grows on the green in front of my house; Tolkien describes it as having long silver leaves and bursting into golden flowers in April. Elsewhere in LoTR we learn that full-grown mallorn leaves turn to gold in Autumn but they do not fall until "the new green opens . . . and then the boughs are laden with yellow flowers". So I figured the "new green" would be a bit like the silver foliage on our own garden plants, and that the sapling's original silver leaves would have fallen already . . . Oh, and the figure of Sam is based on me standing hands on hips with my back to a mirror. Although his legs are better than mine LOL.

I was really keen to portray a gentle spring day so I used the same colours as for my spring flower paintings: indian yellow, cobalt blue, alizarin crimson. I laid down a wash of raw sienna first so that the finished work didn't look too cold (I failed to do this with a previous Tolkien painting of Tom Bombadil's Wedding and have come to heartily dislike it!). During the couple of weeks I painted Spring Surprised we actually had some gentle spring weather which helped tremendously! For example, my first attempt at the trees in the background was far too green - I had to take a lot of the colour out and overpaint with yellow or pink to prevent it looking like Summer. And I knew this was necessary by taking a look out of the window!

A lot of the ideas I've had recently for Tolkien paintings have been based on his descriptions of colour rather than action in the book. Here's a clue to the next one . . . I've downloaded several photos of runner bean plants . . .!?

Swanning Around

2009-03-15T19:08:00.000Z

Swan
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

I've recently completed a couple of paintings which got me thinking about inspiration and ideas, and where they come from. This swan (of which I am inordinately proud) was painted from a photo taken over a year ago in the RHS Garden at Wisley. I had no intention of painting a swan; instead I did a less-than-successful depiction of some ducks on the ice of Harpenden Ponds. Although the painting didn't work, I discovered I enjoy painting birds - hence the swan. It's not like the photo in terms of colour - it was a grey day and I've rendered it in cobalt blue and raw sienna -but very like in form. And I've managed to paint water successfully at last!

hyacinths
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

This little picture, on the other hand, was painted from life. The tall bloom at the back had flopped, and is held up by a stick. I sketched and underpainted it in the morning and when I came back to it in the afternoon, not only had the light changed but the flower on the right had grown! Having got the hyacinths & bowl how I wanted them, on the spur of the moment I mixed my three colours (cobalt blue, alizarin crimson and indian yellow) into a neutral beige and crudely overpainted the background - which had originally been pale yellow) - with a large flat brush. I like to think that not painting right up to the edges of the flowers has given them a backlit effect. I could pretend that I intended the horizontal strokes on the background to be a counterpoint to the vertical thrust of the flowers but, like a lot of my work, that's a happy accident . . .

I like the immediacy of this painting, but what you gain in vibrancy you lose in composition. I soon realised it was too close to the top of the paper (and slightly to the left) but having started, I didn't want to stop. Oh well!

Mo chridh Portmagee *

2009-02-28T19:00:00.000Z

Portmagee from the Dog House
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2009

Booked plane tickets to Kerry this week. This will be my tenth visit to the annual Set Dance Weekend at Portmagee - we usually go for Halloween, too, and it always feels like coming home. So much so that two of my friends have moved there! The weekend itself is a mad rush of set dancing, céilidh, music sessions, wonderful food (fish fresh from the sea), fabulous Guinness, and whatever sightseeing we can fit round everything else - all based around the welcoming Bridge Bar, Moorings Restaurant and B&B run by Gerard & Pat Kennedy.

Over the years we have travelled in groups of five, sometimes ten (and once, unforgettably, seventeen) - on one occasion we flew to Dublin, intending to drive down, stay the weekend, and take several days coming back in order to see some of the rest of Ireland. We got to Portmagee and stayed there, dashing back at the last minute. That was the year some of us took the opportunity to take a fishing boat out to the Skelligs, the two amazing rocky outcrops in the Atlantic which are only reachable in the best weather. The smaller one is a bird sanctuary and the larger one - where you can land & visit - was once a monastic settlement: beehive huts at the top of an incredibly steep set of steps carved out of the rock.

The Iveragh Peninsula is a mixture of majestic mountain ranges & glacial lakes, craggy coastlines, sweeping beaches, stone age forts, fishing villages and bustling towns, with a surprise around every corner. We'd been visiting for years without realising that JRR Tolkien and his wife Edith had holidayed in Castlecove back in the 1950's; that Caherciveen, the nearest town to Portmagee, was the birthplace of the Liberator, Daniel O'Connell of Catholic emancipation fame; we discover something new on every visit. I just can't wait!

* Mo chridh = 'harp of my heart'. At least, I hope it does . . !

The Wonderful World of Watercolour

2009-02-23T12:29:00.000Z

Gandalf & the Balrog
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2006

As a child I was always drawing on scraps of paper. Alongside my mother I moved beyond painting-by-numbers into oils. She experimented and progressed, eventually choosing to work in the purity and delicacy of watercolour. I simply stopped painting. After she died, I suddenly had the urge to take it up again - not a gentle inclination but a sensation that I must do it, and start straight away.

I bought myself a starter kit (watercolour tubes, paper & brushes; and a wholly unsuitable easel - upright, watercolour runs everywhere!) and for lack of any other inspiration began painting scenes from JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. I posted the results to the members' art thread on Middle-Earth Journeys, receiving a great deal of encouragement and feedback. But it was obvious that after a gap of thirty years or so I needed to develop my technique, skills, ideas, vision - the lot!! One day at the office I found a discarded printout of short courses at Central St Martins, and on impulse booked onto the Watercolour for Beginners Summer School.

Now I'd done it! I got myself a Portfolio and a bunch of Materials and set off for Art School . . .

There were fifteen of us, a mix of art students (many from overseas) widening their range, and older amateur enthusiasts. One Student confided that watercolour isn't taught in many UK art colleges these days because it's "too difficult" (!). She was keen to try it, though! For a couple of days we learnt the basics: how to Stretch Paper, lay a variety of Washes (ah, the freedom of being encouraged to let them drip onto the wooden floor!!), mix Greens and Greys etc. I was revelling in the whole experience, particularly the chance to work in the wonderful Lethaby building, an Art Nouveau masterpiece in itself.

the Lethaby Building, Central St Martins
(originally the Central London School of Art)
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2007

On the third morning our lecturer showed us some ways to achieve Texture in our work, such as the use of Salt, Clingfilm, Splattering, Scratching, Wax and Mini Rollers. We crowded closer and closer, all keen to get our hands on the various items as soon as we could. The coffee break was forgotten as the room resounded to cries of "Who's got the clingfilm?" and "Can someone run out and get more salt?" I managed to Splatter myself, my glasses, the tabletop, the mobile phone of the Spanish girl sitting next to me, several brushes, a couple of palettes and a two inch square of paper (it looked very good). We also had carte blanche to try Acrylics (which I disliked immediately - too plasticky for me!) and Gouache.

Salt & Scratching, with Gouache
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2007

By Thursday, when we started painting from real life or photos, coffee and tea breaks were ignored and many of us were eating lunch in the classroom so as to get back to our work quickly. Nobody was keen to leave in a hurry at the end of the day, either! Friday brought Time Trials, three 30-minute versions of the same scene, in an attempt to get us to Loosen our Technique; in the afternoon we finished our paintings from the previous day and stuck them up on the wall for a Crit. I came away with the feeling I'd definitely be back!!

Room 214, the Lethaby Building, Central St Martins
© Teresa Kirkpatrick 2007

A Grand Day Out

2009-01-21T15:53:00.001Z

Finally caught up with the Annie Liebowitz photo exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery last weekend. Awe-inspiring! Particularly liked her black and white portraits; the one of Mikhail Baryshnikov and Rob Besserer is particularly striking, and so is the one of her mother. And I thought the colour photo of Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash with their family was tremendous . . . we found time to look at some of the paintings, too. The Tudor and Stuart galleries are like a painted photo album of the great and good (I was delighted to spot John Donne, the metaphysical poet, and a young and arrogant-looking Judge Jeffreys). Amongst the more modern works there was a lovely depiction of Emmeline Pankhurst showing her as a feisty old lady, and one of Beatrix Potter done in the late 1930s when she was a pensioner in the Dales. Also a moving depiction of the late Mo Mowlam. Thanks to a demo outside in Trafalgar Square we were shut in for a while in the gift shop so I came away with more postcards than intended, plus one of Annie's books and a fridge magnet! it was a great day out.