It’s always so good to see my artwork in a new home and I am grateful when clients take the time to photograph it and post it on social media. So thank you, as this was one of my favourites. I use streetart in my compositions as I am keen to promote and preserve this ephemeral art. This is one of the first street arts I incorporated into my work and it is by the amazing street artist @paulmonsters. He describes himself as a pattern maker on Instagram and I find his colourful geometric shapes fun and uplifting. The streetart was part of the Upfest festival on my street in Bristol, UK. As people who read my Blog will know, I place a woman somewhere in the foreground which changes the dynamic of the street art, the 3d woman bringing the 2d streetart to life and vice versa. In this piece I feel the woman on the wall is watching the woman in red walking past her and wondering why she didn’t notice her. I wanted to show the bright midday sunshine on the girl walking, described by her shadow on the pavement, as it seems harder/harsher. The…
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This is my first experiment with gold leaf and I have enjoyed the process. It adds colour and vibrancy to the monotone shades of the streetart and highlights the girl standing gazing up into the sun. I have not used real gold leaf as I can’t afford it (yet), but I am happy with the outcome. I painted a small piece first (18 x 24 cm) to test out a) the composition and b) the use of the goldleaf and it sold the day it went into the gallery North Gallery on North Street here in Bedminster, Bristol, UK (https://northgalleryworkspace.co.uk) so I felt I was doing something right. I saw the street artist @pietrodriguez painting this wonderful street art opposite where I live on North Street, home to the Urban Paint Festival known as Upfest and asked his permission to use it in my composition. He kindly agreed. I am indebted to Emily White as my muse for this piece (@ablemabeldesigns). I have titled this artwork ‘Sun Seekers’ as both girl and street art are looking upwards in search of the sun. Hopefully this piece will be available to buy from Great White Art gallery (https://greatwhiteart.com) in Bristol once…
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My apologies for the long break from my Blog. My partner died from very brutal and swift cancer and I have had to rethink my life, ideas for the future etc. Losing the man who was indeed my ‘North, South, East and West’ or however that poem goes, has made me realise life is short and I needed to slow down and take stock. But life of course does have to go on, and I just have to paint, it is in my DNA. So here we go for 2019. I will be following the less is more train of thought, though, think. This lady leaning back enjoying the sunshine is not completed yet, but the groundwork is in. She is going to form part of a street art themed piece featuring the wonderful work of @pietrodriguez (have a look at my Instagram page to see which artwork of his I am using ). I watched Piet painting this streetart during Upfest last year, the urban paint festival held on my street here in Bristol, UK, every year. I just thought his work was amazing and with his kind permission I now have a new composition to work on.…
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I had previously given a different piece this title, but decided this painting lent itself more to it. The blonde woman with her back to the black haired Amy. The previous painting (see recent Blogs) is now to be called ‘You Know I’m No Good’ which is the work with Amy wearing Union Jack wings. Both these artworks and three others will be on show along with recent paintings from Bristol at Roy’s People Art Fair in London to be held from 1-4 November. The exhibition is at Bargehouse, OXO Tower Wharf and I will be there for the duration. Please come along and introduce yourself to me as I welcome meeting people and talking about my work. I decided to paint a small series of works for the Art Fair based around Amy Winehouse, one of my heroines. In this work, the very modern woman of our times is so busy on her smartphone she is completely oblivious to her surroundings and the stunning street art behind her. This particular street art is in Camden, Amy’s stomping ground and I knew I had to feature it in my own composition. If you would like to be kept up…
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This will be the last of my current series of works based on Amy Winehouse. I am taking part in Roy’s People Art Fair 1-4 at Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, London and am desperately trying to complete it in time for the oil paint to dry and then temporary varnishing, oh and of course framing 🙂 I saw this wonderful street art of Amy in Camden last year and immediately thought it would work in one of my compositions. It is painted by @zabouartist and I have her permission to incorporate it into my own painting. Amy is featured lying on her side looking directly at you, holding a microphone. I am painting my trademark woman in the middle of the street art with her back to Amy, busy looking at her phone. To me the work is showing how the woman is so absorbed in her smartphone she is completely oblivious of the beautiful, poignant art behind her. It is perhaps a metaphor of our own relationship to our phones. We are not ‘smelling the roses’ any more. I decided to have the model in a dress that Amy might have worn, and I think she would have…
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I saw this sign whilst waiting to cross the road just out of Camden Town tube station. I liked the colour of the Hello Camden wall (its more turquoise in my painting, couldn’t quite get the photo quality right). I have used slight artistic licence in removing some of the other signs and making the pedestrian crossing box more luminous yellow. Hey, it’s my painting and I can do what I want 🙂 I had the idea of having my woman walking in tandem with the green man of the pedestrian crossing light, and have her in a red dress to complement the colour wheel theory of the green man. Her pose is one of my bugbears of today; she is so busy looking at her smartphone she can’t see the wonders of the world going on around her. I am also guilty of this. Camden can be messy late at night, but just outside that Tube station there is SO much going on, all life is there, all the time. And she is missing it. This piece is another on my series for Roy’s People Art Fair at the Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, London from 1-4 November. Please…
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I can’t quite get the colour reproduction right on the photo of this work, for which my apologies. I take pictures for my Blog on my IPad and the colours don’t seem to have the definition of my IPhone. I have an Instagram account for which I use my IPhone, so please go there later today for a better resolution. Enough of the technicalities. This painting is a homage to Amy Winehouse and I am grateful to @Pegasusart for permission to use the wonderfully inspirational street art image of Amy. I had the idea of reversing my woman to mirror Amy’s pose, as I felt this made the composition ‘sing’. I also specifically went for a blonde to compliment Amy’s dark tresses. I think it works. Please see previous week’s blog for more details about this piece. I am exhibiting at Roy’s People Art Fair (@royspeopleartfair on Instagram) at Bargehouse, Oxo Tower, London 1-4 November and am excited about meeting the other artists and talking to visitors to the Fair about my work. My theme will be Amy Winehouse based and I have her mother’s permission to use titles of Amy’s music as titles for this series of my paintings.…
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This is the next painting in the series I am devoting to Amy Winehouse inspiration (see previous Blog for more info). At the moment it is early days, hence the small detail, but my idea behind the concept for the piece is as follows: I am a big admirer of @pegasus street art which I see on Instagram. I did not take my own photo of this particular Pegasus work, but loved it and obtained his permission to incorporate it into my own work. I intend to paint my own version of it and am then going to paint my own trademark woman standing in front of the streetart in a reverse image of Amy’s own stance, ie. backview. I think this composition will work well. I am using a blonde woman as a contrast to Amy’s dark and beautiful hair. The title for this painting will again be taken from music titles to Amy’s own music. As stated in the last Blog, I have her mother Janis’ permission to do this. So the title will be ‘Back To Black’. These works, plus a selection of my other paintings will be shown at Roy’s People Art Fair 1-4 November at…
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I am taking part in an Art Fair in London at the beginning of November and am putting together a series of London street art based paintings specifically for this event. Roy’s People Art Fair (@ROYSPEOPLEAF on Twitter, @royspeopleartfair on Instagram) are hosting this Fair at the Oxo Tower from 1-4 November so please come along, have a look at my work and introduce yourself to me. I would love to meet you. Amy Winehouse is one of my all time heroines and I am incorporating some street art with her image into my compositions and will be using titles from tracks of her music for these pieces. I am in touch with Amy’s lovely mother Janis and she has given me her permission to do this, thank you Janis. This particular painting is based on a fabulous street art I saw last year in Camden, Amy’s stamping ground. I took a photo then and there, not knowing what my composition would be then, but knowing I would use it one day. It is by the street artist @whoamirony and I love the colours in it. I came up with the idea of the blonde turning around as if the…
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So this is the second part of a painting I started recently. Last week’s Blog explains the first part. There is still work to do on this part of the painting. I need to get my straight lines straighter, the ground knocked back more, highlights on the dress and hair, etc, etc. Being an artist is difficult for me sometimes as I am so impatient. I have the idea and enthusiasm to start a new piece, I get completely in to the painting, but then I want the painting finished so I can move on to the next idea. However, the details in the finish are essential to complete the work and ‘make it sing’ as an art tutor told me a long time ago. So next week, the fluorescent oil paints will come into play to lift the painting (found online as they are impossible to buy in the UK for some reason, acrylics no problem, oils impossible). I am now on a deadline to produce work for RoysPeopleArtFair to be held in London at The Oxo Tower 1-4 November. I am very excited about this, but my problem always is that oil paint takes a while to…
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