Delighted to report that two of my paintings were mentioned in despatches in the Pastel Guild of Europe Open Online Pastel Competition – Honourable Mention for ‘Autumn’ in the Landscape category and 3rd place for ‘Rivers of my Mind’ in the Abstract category. Thank you The Gallery at 41 for currently displaying ‘Autumn’ in your lovely gallery.
Autumn – Soft pastel
Rivers of my Mind
My studio mission currently is getting more texture in my underpainting. 
So the beginning of my new works do appear a rather chaotic mess. The challenge is to then find order out of the chaos which is the way my brain likes to work. Watch this space for updates on this particular piece .
A recent trip to see my daughter and grandchildren in Split gave me an opportunity to get my sketchbook out. We traveled light this time so I took just a small sketchbook , a variety of pencils and a small selection of watercolours . I hope in the coming weeks to develop paintings from some of these drawings – in particular the long, portrait formatted ones as these seem to sum up the charm of the historic centre of Split with homes , often seemingly tiny , built into all the ancient castle arches and walls
Ancient Split town centre
Ancient Split town centre
From the Riva
On the Riva
Cafe life on the Riva
Jaja and Luka painting on the beach
More cafe life on the Riva
Very happy to have some new work exhibited at Gallery at 41 Corfe Castle http://www.galleryat41.com
In the gallery you will get a warm welcome and the chance to browse the new exhibition ‘A Way of Seeing’ that explores the wonderful diversity in the work of our Dorset artists in oil, watercolour, pastel, bronze and ceramics.
One of my new pastel paintings on display is :-
Woodland Early Morning
20th February to 3rd March 2018 Mall Galleries London
To quote :-
“Featuring works created in pastels, pencils, chalk and charcoal, The Pastel Society exhibits abstract and experimental works alongside traditional representation. The artists, including elected members of the Society and those chosen from open submission, all share a passion for working in dry media”
We attended the Private View enjoying a very relevant opening talk from Rupert Maas.
With my selected Pastel Society paintings
Completely delighted to have had 2 paintings accepted for the 2018 Pastel Society Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London.
https://www.mallgalleries.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/pastel-society-annual-exhibition-2018
Autumn – Soft pastel
Winter – soft pastel
A client saw my painting ‘Oro’ at the 2017 Pastel Society exhibition at the Mall Galleries. She very much liked the semi abstract quality coupled with the colour choices and content. However she wanted a painting of this genre but on a larger scale. This was an issue as, for Oro’ I had worked on an Ampersand Pastebord which was not available in larger sizes in the UK. I soon found out that importing them from the US was not cost effective. Jacksons Art came to the rescue and agreed to import them. So then the creative work started . Not easy as we had only just moved house and there were an awful lot of distractions. The process included an initial mono print onto the ampersand surface with some liberal application of acrylic inks. I used Unison pastels as , for me , they work well with the water applications.
‘Yes, I am talking to you!’ – the title that is !
Now they have opened ready to be captured!
Strokes of pastel – soluble and non soluble applied
Water atomiser from different directions blows some of the pastel dust onto the outskirts of the piece
adding some initial leaves onto the wet surface
letting it dry and moving the board to encourage the pastel to go where I want it to
Came across some sketching I did last year of a more unusual view of Corfe Castle . So todays mission is to work on it in the studio . Using Ampersand Pastebord and Unison pastels. I am most excited about the 4th image but putting more pastel on I have lost the spontaneity and bogged myself down in detail …..to be continued.
Charcoal outline of land masses
Adding some acrylic ink ( raw sienna)
Getting some colour down with soft pastels
spraying with water to loosen up a bit
Getting the castle in but it is not right
The New Year and new house and studio mean I am now getting to find my way around and looking for new pastures from a painting point of view . My recent discovery is Thorncombe Woods in Dorset. An early morning walk, on a freezing but sunny day, has given me a lot of food for thought . The temperature only allowed very rapid sketching but it is a start
