SURFACES, OLD TO NEW......

Most artwork I create in my work-life is rendered flat, but for the most part is applied to three dimensional items. I’ve accumulated a variety of vintage everyday items over the years. So is the beginning to old is new…a series of objects reworked and rethought with additional surface interest.

BACK TO THE LAND.......

started today’s painting with a return to some landscapes… maybe its prompted by the change in the seasons. looking across dunes where the promise of the sea lies just beyond.

FROM PAINTING TO PRODUCT..........

I keep small paintings and ideas and scrapbook them later, rather than create working sketchbooks. I always found that these “on the fly” pieces, although random, are good spontaneous ideas for later. The lady heads are a case in point. The painting was made in the early part of last year and became the inspiration for the lady head vases, now available at Anthropologie.

product photo: anthropologie

COLOUR PLAY.............

doing some paint sketching today in not so natural colors and trying to switch it up with medium, always makes for an interesting day.

POPPIES.........

I started painting poppies initially as Wesh poppies, the yellow variety, which in fact is not actually a true poppy but a member of the meconopsis family of flowers. I have a love if their simplicity and their meandering wobbly heads on slim stalks. Long associated with remembrance ( as with the red poppy) they can also represent sleep and peace. The two paintings here are 18 x 24” ink and acrylic on Strathmore printmakers paper 280g. Please message me if you are interested in purchasing.

INK............

thinking ink rather than paint today, ink water and gravity.

THINK BIGGER...........

a friend messaged me the other day and said “paint bigger”.. in a world of tiny screens, it was interesting advice. in my work experience, I usually paint on quite a small scale….. this one will be a challenge. everything changes with scale, the impact of color, the movements you physically need to make and the brushes to make the marks… its going to prove interesting. not that you can see the difference here on the screen, but the three vessels is a small piece approximately 8” square. the jug + poppies 18 x 24”…quite a departure from the norm. more to come..

PURE.........

cleaning out the studio today, getting ready for the new year and new things, but came across an old project that I loved. the pure project took inspiration from a number of abstract watercolor and botanical paintings and translated them into dinnerware. I love how the use of glaze and the brutal firing temperatures in the process transform the original ideas into new pieces of art themselves. Each piece is unique out of the kiln, no two are the same… much like paintings.

the inspiration…………

the product…… all images anthropologie

OF THE SEASON.........................................

the year has whizzed by, and here we are at Christmas. Some wonderful connections made in the last month with group of artists from my past, all work or live with nature in mind.. so feeling melancholy for hills, forests and valleys.