July Exhibitions.

Just had a 450 mile round trip picking work up from Leabrooks Gallery and Framers and  delivering  to   Gallery Top at Rowsley and Old Courthouse Gallery in Ambleside.

 I haven't exhibited at Gallery Top since 2011 so I am really pleased that  Gill and Keith visited my studio and selected the woodland paintings for their totally refurbished gallery which re opens with their Summer Exhibition on Saturday 27th July

I am going down to The New Forest  to paint in Whitley Woods this weekend. This is a continuation of   an ongoing body of work entitled  'Woodland Light' which has already been seen in a number of Galleries around the UK. This new work will be shown at Lyndhurst Gallery later this year.

From 1st August I will be visiting Cornwall for two weeks where I shall paint every morning from sunrise, developing a body of work to be shown at the Annual Art in the Gardens exhibition in Sheffield. 30th August - 1st September.

3 Day Workshop at Pear Tree arm

From the 3rd - 5th July I ran a course entitled 'Colour, Light and Texture in the Landscape'. 

I worked with six students in all as there had been 3 last minute cancellations due to illness. 

We had a lovely time together experimenting with acrylic and mixed media on the first two days and then producing at least 2 finished pieces on the final day. Everyone worked extremely hard,  pushing themselves and trying new techniques involving flicking, throwing and pouring paint and inks onto a variety of surfaces. Unfortunately the weather wasn't particularly kind to us so all of the work was studio based using the artists sketches and own photos as source material...

Once again, Sue and Alan Barber were perfect hosts as always, making us all very welcome and giving us 3 wonderful lunches....  Real 5 star treatment.. 

Here are some photos of the work produced by this lovely group of artists.  

A busy busy June.

I started the month with a series of  demo's at Patchings Arts Fair.. Over the four days, thousands of  art lovers and amateur artists enjoyed the sun, art, craft and music and had the opportunity to buy from all the big art material company's who also attended this annual 4 day event. I worked on 4 different paintings during the festival demonstrating a variety of techniques. The photos taken on the third day  show me working on a Cornish coastal painting which will form part of a body of work being put together for a solo show at St Johns Street Gallery in Ashbourne, Derbyshire. 

Anyone who is following my Face Book Art Blog will know about the problems I am having with my hands over the past 12 months... I have seen a skin specialist who basically told me I had contact dermatitis, so wear gloves and use Dermovate steroid ointment and various other lotions and potions, none of which seem to have much effect.. I am now going the organic route and experimenting with a variety of creams and barrier creams.. The photo shows my hand after 4 days of demos at patchings... The vinyl gloves made my hands so sore on the first day, I had to resort to barrier creams.

I have just dropped off eight Landscape paintings which art now being exhibited throughout the summer at St Johns Street Gallery in Ashbourne... The new gallery owners , Mark and Petra Courtney are re launching the gallery with a spectacular summer show. I am really pleased to have my work alongside Lewis Noble and Ruth Gray, both highly respected Derbyshire artists. Heres the work I delivered yesterday. Most of it mixed media on paper apart from the large 48 x 48 inch on canvas. I really enjoy experimenting with mixed media on paper and am already producing another body of work exploring the colours light and textures in the Derbyshire Peak District. 

Come the autumn

Moorland Colours

Moorland Heather

Moorland Rain

Moorland Stream 48 x 48 inches on canvas

Heather (36 x 36 inch on canvas)

Peakland

Up in the Moor

Busy May

It's been a very busy month so far. Starting with my solo show at Leabrooks Gallery which opened at the same time as my show at Ferrers Gallery in Ashby De La Zouch. The Ferrers show lasts until July 28th.

Having sold some of my woodland paintings at Lyndhurst Gallery on the edge of The New Forest, I was asked to produce another  series of 6, all based on my trip to Whitley Woods last summer..  The Gallery took seven paintings which will be displayed from 1st June. 

I received an email from Sharon Whithers who owns No Naked Walls Gallery in Chertsey. She has now opened No Naked Walls 2 in Bramley near Guildford and has asked me to supply several landscapes as soon as possible.

I visited St Johns Street Gallery in Ashbourne, earlier this month.  The new owner really likes my work and has offered me a solo show in November 2013. I have exhibited with this gallery for a couple of years but this will be the first solo show I have had there. I am really looking forward to producing a new body of work for this show.

I had Derbyshire Open Studios over the bank holiday weekend . As you can see from the photos the weather was very kind to us and the sun was shining for three days.  I was able to continue working and also meet lots of new visitors to my studio over the three days, making a number of sales enough to keep me smiling. :-) I also had a visit from the owners of Gallery Top who have invited me to exhibit with them from July when the Gallery is re launched after a refurb. :-) 

As the month of May comes to an end, I am now preparing for my 4 days of demonstrations and hopefully some sales at Patchings Arts Centre. Its a busy 4 days but always enjoyable to lots of new faces and take booking for next years workshops and demo's.

2 Openings in 2 Days

Wow. Its been a busy start to the Month. Ferrers Gallery mixed show openened on Friday with Leabrooks Solo show opening on Saturday. All this after a very busyy end to April at Reading Art Fair. My van has proved to be very useful already allowing me to carry much more work including some of my larger 122cms canvases.

As the weather improves this month I intend to go out painting much more (en plein air sounds a bit pretentious) Lyndhurst Gallery in thre New Forest have asked for some more woodland paintings and I am already putting together a new body of work for the next large air fair which is the 10th Anniversary of Art in the Gardens in Sheffield. I did really well there last year, meeting lots of new people and making some very good sales. watch this space for a more detailed Blog of the preperation for Art in the Gardens...