Hello Again, I have a few new images I'd like to show you. All done this new year. I hope you like them.
Thank you to those who have answered my request for pictures from my early career; it has been wonderful to see these again and has inspired me very much for some new work to follow. The request still stands to anyone who has any of my early work. Keep them coming please!
Hi all, looks like I'm not very good at keeping up with this blog thing. Still, better late than never.
As I paint better than I write, just a few words and then some new pics for you to see. More at www.aartvark.eu.
I've been getting quite a lot of contact from people who have bought my paintings over the years. Some of them have been people who bought my stuff in the 80s, really great to see some of the things I was painting all those years ago.
If anyone out there has any of my work from the 70s, 80s, 90s, or later, let me know. I'd love to here from you. In those days I was exhibiting in Manchester, England and for those of you who are familiar with that part of the world, it was with Bill and Dennis at "Platform One Gallery", Colin Jelicoe at the "Colin Jelicoe Gallery" and "Portland Gallery" with the great Tony Gordon. Hi Tony and all!
Christmas Gallery - click the link to go to my sight to view more images with prices.
I've been having fun with snow!
"Arctic Fox" Watercolour "Pandas In The Snow" Watercolour "Noah Takes A Bungee Jump Break" Watercolour "Red Fox Tasting The Air" Watercolour
One last one, a commission just completed for John and Lyndsay.
"Life Is Full Of Choices" Watercolour
As always, I do hope you like the new pictures. Feel free to leave any comments or ask any questions. More images at the links below. Thank you. Main Gallery, Christmas Gallery and archive available at www.aartvark.eu
It's been far too long since my last update. I've just received a very subtle reminder from my good friend Cheryl in Canada, saying, "P.S. looking forward to an update on your blog :)" Well... what can a man do. Here it is.
This is a painting I produced on some Italian linen, primed and gessoed over a day or so, it was a lovely surface to work on. It was one of those paintings I could have just kept going on but all things come to an end and at least in this case, the end is also the beginning of a new work to be shown. I also wrote a few lines to go along with it that I have included below with the image.
And a big thank you to Cheryl for the prompting.
"Secret Window"
"Oil on Italian linen"
From death comes life in many forms
The seraphim and imps perform
To the ends of time and space I go
As they dance beneath my secret window
Here is where I now reside
Inside my head where I can hide
A world within but not without
Behind my secret window
You may dream from time to time
Until that damned alarm clock chimes
Awakens you from worlds of bliss
Veils drawn on your secret window
What do I see on this startling plain?
Too much of me, my joy and pain?
Stretched out on canvas for all to see
A glimpse into my secret window
These days I have no need for sleep
My stories in my head I keep
To close my eyes, is all I do
To reach my secret window
Long time ago I took a wife
For a while, the perfect life
But then she flew to a brighter sky
As I waited at my secret window
As time went by I found another
To me she was the perfect lover
Till life stepped in and left me sitting
At my secret window
And so I live from day to day
The final acts are still to play
My needs I know will be fulfilled
In the theatre of my secret window
A constant sound of angel’s bells
Or are they cries, the hoards of hell
I live and breathe this noise so shrill
Silence only in my secret window
I can’t say more, I’ve said enough
Life is good and bad, it’s tough
I live with what I haven’t got
And dream through my secret window
The secret window us our Self
For me there is no greater wealth
But think of others as we travel
Through our secret window
And for those who wear their heart on their sleeve
It’s for all the others we must grieve
For they’ll never ever get to see
The view from their secret window
We all have a place inside ourselves that is our and ours alone. Some will share this place, or portions of it, with others. It is the place where we have our greatest strengths. Those who share this secret place with others liberate the Self inside. This, I think, is what we humans call “LOVE”.
The level of the sharing is a measure of the love we are giving.
"Lullaby" Watercolour on Fabriano 5 From the song by The Cure
Embraced
Hi all. I've been having a lot of fun recently working on all sorts of things but I've still managed to find time to submit work to a fantastic site called The Artists Challenge run by Vikki North. The theme is given and artists from around the world submit work based on that theme to the site. This months theme is "Embrace" The original picture I did for it was a watercolour but then decided I could do a lot more with the theme and the painting using oils. For the oil painting I used a piece of Fabriano Pittura, a paper designed for oil or acrylic but best effects are achieved if a few coats of gesso are applied to it prior to painting. I used an olive green, acrylic ground as the painting's base. I've put both paintings in below. Hope you like them. While painting the oil I was inspired to write a few lines to go with it. Just a little poem. So many ways to embrace, here is my interpretation.
Lost Embrace
The meaning of love as elusive as clouds Forming thoughts and emotions that know no bounds So much invested in that soft embrace All hope is delivered, the end of the chase
A dream is possibly all that it is Fulfillment of longing a prayer or a wish The meaning of love we may never know Till like hard rain it falls to the green earth below
Love’s more important when it’s not there Until it has gone we haven’t a care So what are you left with what’s there to hold? A cloud of a dream and a feeling so cold
The Paintings
"Embrace" Watercolouron 'Fabriano 5' Not surface
"Lost Embrace" Oil on 'Fabriano Pittura' paper with gesso coating
The previous Artists Challenge was "Midsummer Night's Dream", well worth a drop by. Here is one of the paintings I submitted.
"Puck" Watercolour on Fabriano 5 Not surface
As a possible point of interest I use Fabriano Papers, usually Fabriano 5 for the watercolours and always Winsor & Newton Artist's quality oils and watercolours. For more pictures and information on my art classes and painting holidays visit www.aartvark.eu & www.paintinfrance.eu.
To get involved with the art challenges, either to view the galleries or enter your own work, visit www.theartistchallenge.com
Well, it's been some time since my last blog, but my excuse is, I've been a bit busy! Apart from running my art classes I've just taken down what was my first one man show in around 30 years. It was a great success, lots of people and I sold a few as well,... always a bonus. See photo below.
Apart from that I've been painting and painting, also trying to get involved in some children's book illustration, something I've always wanted to do. I've put in four new images, the first of which is called "Embrace" I've kept the colour pallet very simple, hopefully adding to the misty quality of the picture. It was painted for Vikki North's Art Challenge web site. Go and check it out, tons of art work, places to leave comments, pictures to buy. The theme was Embrace, hence the name of the painting.
"Embrace"
The next three are from another one of Vikki's art challenges. (The link is below) This theme was "A Midsummer Night's Dream".
"The Fairy Queen"
"Puck the Spell-breaker"
"Titania, Spellbound"
If you would like to buy a painting, please visit www.aartvark.eu lots more to see.
Try and visit "The Artist Challenge"for lots more art and a bit of fun; themed galleries, art for sale. A private art club for artists, art patrons and foolhardy souls.
Monday, January 18, 2010
I have been spending some time trying to develop the more illustrative elements of my work. I always think of my paintings as stories in paint. Sometimes the message can be a little less subtle than that and then they become a moment captured, a smaller part of a longer narrative. I've always admired the comic book illustrators of DC comics and Marvel, etc. together with people like Heath Robinson, Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac, they have remained some of my greatest influences. Below are a few examples of what I've been working on. When I've scanned the rest, I'll post them as well.
Thought one or two of you might like to see this new one. I think the character in the picture might be doing what we are all doing this time of the year... looking for a little warmth, perhaps?
Originally from Manchester, UK, now living and working in S.W. France as painter and art teacher.It's not a bad life. I work in oils and watercolour mixing fantasy and reality. I like telling stories in my pictures.
Leaving
Noah Takes a Break 2
