E 17 Art Trail part 2

Vestry House Museum was the scene for a drawing event on saturday that Julie Caves, Julian Beere and members of the Waltham Forest Art Club organised. It was a perfect afternoon, the sun was shining and the gardens were moving into Autumn with plenty of apples on the trees.




A number of younger visitors enjoyed themselves studing and drawing the plants. I got chance to make a quick sketch of one of the apple trees there.



I also had chance for a quick look at some of the art works on display in the museum as part of the Art Trail. I was attracted to the birds and feathers of Naomi Kane's work. Naomi writes that she is a scientist researching avian cognition, which sounds really interesting to me, with my own love of birds. Here she has persued her other interest in art with very dynamic images of crows.




Julia Spicer website doloresrocket .co.uk is showing some great collages, following the theme, on your marks, by using National Geographic magazines from Olympic years. The collages juxtapose landscapes and figures making new connections and creating new dynamics of form and playing with the picture plane.

Amy Blum's contribution is a draft selection of her work for Teal Heise on the Olympics, here on the theme of the Olympics. Amy is one of the new generation of American feminist artists, her work including the words, "Racing to Take Part- A Graphic History of Women in the Olympics," is particularly striking.

E17 Art Trail Art Grows on Trees part one

It was great yesterday to meet up with a group of fellow artists to hang our art offerings on the Lime trees near Walthamstow bus station. It was part of the E17 Art Trail, Art Grows on Trees.
I have been part of this from the beginning some years ago, and it was good to have some new artists involved this year, with even more art work on the trees.



I had been making lots of tiny Tree Spirit faces to put in the trees this year, (below)plaster, paint and pen work. More to follow for next Saturday, we arrive about 9.30am so you need to get there early to pick your own art work.



Amongst the artists taking part, Julie Cave put up delicate bird watercolours,(above) Julie's site here

Dean Roddick brought along a new variety of fruit his hairy pears, Deans site here. He also brought along one of his sparrows, there are more on display as part of the trail. That was snapped up with in minutes.



Katja Rosenberg included some cacti in great pots decorated with quotes among her offerings. Katja's exhibition site here.

Rachel L'Anson brought some lovely photographic prints, from urban scenes to trees and snakes.
Rachel's site here.

Alban Low brought more fridge magnets, this year with great birds and tweets on them.Alban's site here.



Valeria had some great climbing pictures colouful prints and bark, appreciated by one young art picker here. Valeria here


Helen Porter, used one of her umbrella frames to hang a variety of decorative and quirky prints.

New paintings and E17 Art Trail.

I've still been busy working on some more paintings for the next couple of exhibitions and getting things ready for the E17 Art Trail.
My paintings, Stones Guard the Mysteries of Earth, above and Night of Mysteries below, both include standing stones. In the painting above, the colour of the harvest and corn came first in the work, evolving into swirling cornfields reflecting the patterns of the wind. As I was contemplating this new landscape it seemed to include the idea of a stone circle. Stones that definately bore symbols of the Goddess and ancient ritual and seemed to protect the land and the entrance to the underworld. The deer still resting at the start of a new day brought a sense of calm and balance with her and the whole painting came alive for me with a sense of beauty and completeness.

In Night of Mysteries, the landscape took on the tones of a night sky illuminated by a full moon that also arrived early in the painting. I was feeling a sense of mystery evolving with a strangely more alive sense and resonance to the standing stones. The stones are marked with symbols and have taken on some of the colours from the night sky. Stylized and symbolic trees stand on the horizon and a stag is running across the land looking back over his shoulder; as if also recognising the strong presence of the stones. I was left thinking do they really walk at night?

Dawn Fires page with exhibition details here

Two other small paintings are work in progress and I am pleased so far to be touching a weath of symbolic and mystical themes that are bringing together a lot of my strands of work.

On a completely different note I am continuing with the year long Street Photography Project, which will be continuing in some form after the year has end

ed. Project info here.

I have entered one of my photographs, Protest on the Streets, in at The Mill, info here, as part of the E17 Art Trail. E17 link here

I am also helping on the drawing event in the Vestry House Museum gardens on 3rd September 11-3pm.

Art Grows on Trees is also happening again this year and will have even more art works offered for free on each Saturday of the art trail. Sat 3rd and 10th of September on the lime trees next to Walthamstow bus station from 9.30 am. info here

New Paintings and exhibitions

I've been working hard on a series of new paintings for some exhibitions comimg up in the Autumn with some friends of mine. The top painting is called Landscape of Ancient Dreams. It's an acrylic on board and I'm pleased with the colours of the acrylics and the glow of all those moons!

Often in this form of painting my process is highly intuitive, I don't ask many questions of myself and just let things arrive in the picture at first. Later I will spend quite a long time just looking at the work and seeing if all the elements work together, if more aspects need to be added or changed and if the colours represent the forms. As I was painting Landscape of Ancient Dreams the moons kept "arriving" on the picture and in fact I had to leave a few out! The symbolism of Egyptian culture, Buddhism and China seemed to want to be part of the landscape, although the land itself is British.

There are the trees that usually inhabit my work and an entrance to an underground tunnel or cave which has the symbols of lotus and moon and star from ancient Egyptian tradition. The tree above the entrance is symbolic of the tree of life and holds the owl as a symbol of wisdom.




The next picture is called Elements of Earth and follows a similar pastel I did of the same subject. In this picture are references to the start of life, the large sun's rays are reaching down and some are actually touching the earth. I have this sense of indistinct shapes in the ground and others like seeds waiting to break into life.
There is a tree of life just to one side whose roots stretch deep into the earth and a spirit of birds hinting at the life in the skies and the sprit of human life.

These and other paintings( I will put on the next blog) will be showing at Fuggles Studio and Gallery near Bridport in Dorset 1st till 28th of September. info about the gallery here

Then at The Atlantis Bookshop Museum street London 17th till 29th October info about Atlantis Bookshop here