Swans Completed!

Finally, the Swans are finished and I am happy! Off to the framer today.

This work is a commission for a public area in new-build paediatric hospital in North Carolina. The brief was to represent a positive mother/child relationship within the   animal kingdom.

Initially, I had included some toy soldiers but removed them as it seemed inappropriate   to have any representation of guns in a piece for children, especially in the US.                   There are so many toys and things to find in this piece – hopefully it will provide hours of happy spotting to those visiting the hospital!

Swans in Progress

Having started the swans back in August last year, things got put on hold while I made other work. The deadline is still a long way off – it’s for a new build hospital in North Carolina – but I’m much better with a tight deadline to focus the mind!

Now I’ve returned to finish the swans before I concentrate on work for the Blue exhibition. Here’s the image I’m working from :

The middle section at the bottom of the image is the mother swan’s body – the cygnet appears to be sitting on her wing, rather than on her back. I’ve struggled to differentiate between the materials for the body and the wings. However, by moving pieces around and standing back to look at the work from a distance, I feel it is improving. Work is still in progress.

There are several changes to the cygnet’s head and body too. The lowest image is the most recent:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m planning to complete the swans (including the final glue layer) before filling in the background which is the easy bit!

The work is large and already heavy. Once the background is full of green stuff, it will be hard to manouver.

 

Taylor Swift Talk and Prints

On March 1st, I gave a charity talk in my village hall about the process of being commissioned by TIME magazine to create the portrait of Taylor Swift.

(To do this, I had to get permission from the legal team at TIME as my contract contained a 90 day embargo on my using the image.)

The event was part of a C of E (Church of England) pilot scheme in which projects to reduce a church’s energy consumption would be match-funded by the C of E. The pilot scheme was for a six week period only and our aim was to raise £5000 (of £10000)   to repair all of the broken stained-glass windows in our village church. We did it!

Eighty people came to my talk which raised £1155 (doubled) – I was delighted!

A4 prints of the Taylor Swift portrait are now available to buy.

High quality print + “Easter Egg” hunt of items to find within the picture £23.50 +P&P Please email me for further info – see Contact page

 

Developing Wings!

There’s a great quote by Kurt Vonnegut in the excellent little book, ‘Think Like an Artist’ by Will Gompertz:

“We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing wings on the way down.”

I love that! This is certainly my experience as an artist; you get asked to do something, you say ‘yes’ and then work out how to do it. It keeps life interesting and challenging!

Pulp at Make South West, Bovey Tracey

The second exhibition I visited yesterday was Pulp at Make SW; an extraordinary display by 28 artists from all over the world, all made from paper and card. Truly mind-boggling!

Below is a small selection of the works on display…                                                                   (My photos do not do justice to any of them!)

Left below is an origami Viking figure (about 20cm tall) created from one piece of paper by Finnish artist, Juho Konkkola  It took 200 hours to create and a speeded-up video of the process accompanies the work. Astonishing!

The intricate dandelion and butterfly installations are by Monique Martin using her hand painted and then screen printed designs.

 

 

 

 

Nathan Ward created the mother and baby whale (below.)

My personal favourite was a pair of boxes of ‘natural history specimens’ by Kate Kato.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two Inspirational Exhibitions in Devon – Go and See!

Yesterday, I visited two local exhibitions here in Devon (SW England). Both are well worth a visit. The first is described below and the second will follow in a separate Blog post…

Greenhill Arts , Moretonhampstead

Allow yourself to be immersed in the natural world with our exhibition: ‘How the Land Lies’. This much anticipated exhibition showcases ‘landscape’ in all its forms through the eyes of three accomplished artists: Sally Baldwin, Ray Balkwill, and Lisa Wisdom. Each using distinctive materials and processes to create work that has a deep and personal connection to the landscapes in which they surround themselves.  

Lisa Wisdom’s work is rooted in the Cornish landscape, Ray Balkwill has more than three decades of observing the Exe Estuary, and Sally Baldwin responds to the ever-changing colours of the Mid-Devon hills and Australian landscape.

Each of the artists make use of ‘waste’ materials, allowing landscapes to emerge from the subtle use of rusting, corrugated metal, fragments of old boats or the delicate layering of textiles. The ‘waste’ material carrying the history of the land.

All three artists have created narratives with truly individual approaches. Their landscapes are both evocative and mysterious. There is a love of place and care for environment within all these works. Join us until 16th of March 2024 to see this incredible collection of work for yourself.  

Blue Exhibition Postponed

After much discussion and thought, the BLUE exhibition has been postponed until 2025.  This week, Gillian Taylor and I had a very fruitful meeting with Derry Tydeman at Powderham Castle and we are excited about working closely with the castle on this project. Though it seems a long time away, I’m sure the time will pass quickly. It will allow us more time to create the work and also to apply for Arts Council Funding to broaden the content of the exhibition. Watch this space…

In the meantime, I need to finish a commission of swans for the paediatric unit of a new-build hospital in North Carolina which I started in August. I mentioned it in my Blog post that month and it remains a ‘work in progress’.

Then it’ll be blue, blue, BLUE all the way!

New Work and Old Work

I’ve just finished the first piece of work for the Blue exhibition at Powderham Castle later this year – a different Van Gogh self portrait – he made so many! Nothing will be for sale until the exhibition opens but here’s a teaser (R)

Back in 2011, I made a portrait of Paul the chef for The Cafe in Topsham. It was a thank you gift as I’d exhibited my work there a few times.

My works do need a bit of care to keep them looking good – a dusting with a soft dry paintbrush is usually all that’s needed. However, in a busy cafe, the picture had collected dust and grease over the years, and taken quite a battering. So I’ve brought it home to clean and restore, and the frame has gone to Alec to steam out a couple of dents.

Hopefully, when it’s ready to return, I’ll also be able to re-hang the plastic cutlery seagulls to recreate the installation, Feeding Frenzy. The cafe ceiling is much higher since it was refurbished so the re-hanging has been delayed until we can get hold of a scaffolding tower.

 

 

 

News of my Children

When you sell an art work, it feels like saying goodbye to one of your children – they come from the depths of your being and then you send them out into the world. So it’s always lovely to hear news of how they are doing out there…

Firstly, here is Taylor Swift in New York with the lovely Chelsea Kardokus, Senior Art Director of TIME magazine, with whom I shared about 250 emails during the process!

Just before Christmas I heard news from St Joseph’s College, Geelong, Australia:           Our “Eddy Picture” has become a feature at many recent events, taking pride of place on lecterns and “stages”, propped up on an easel. As it has been designated to reside in the Identity space of a new building that will commence works next year, it is going to spend time in our Reception Foyer in the interim, enabling all visitors and passers by to admire it. 

 

Above : Some of the boys who worked on the design

And finally, on seeing the Taylor Swift on Instagram, I had a lovely message from the client in Singapore who bought The Raj’s Emerald in 2021.

Isn’t it wonderful to hear from your children after they have left home?!

Disappointing Image in TIME UK

TIME magazine is now out on paper with 3 different images of Taylor Swift on the covers. My portrait is inside at the back. TIME kindly sent me some copies from the US which are lovely.

However, I was dismayed to see the UK version which is of very inferior quality…                   The US magazine is glossy whereas the UK version is matt and the quality of the paper reduced. I’m guessing the same print set-up has been used for both versions despite the different paper, leading to a distortion of the colours in my portrait, which have far too much red hue. This is so disappointing and not an accurate representation of the work.

Here are the two images side by side (US version on left):

Maybe this sounds trivial in the grand scheme of things. However, I take great care over my work and have paid the photographer for his time spent colour matching the photo with the original!

I have written to TIME and await a response.