News in 2009

JANUARY

Early on in January I went up to Newcastle Upon Tyne for my sister's birthday. This was my first visit to the City and I fell in love with the place. I was really impressed with the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art where Yoko Ono had an exhibition titled 'Between the Sky and my head' which was in parts very clever and engaging. I'm not very familiar with her work but came away with considerable respect for her visions and her poetry.

Another gallery I visited was The Biscuit Factory which is Britain's biggest commercial gallery comprising of 35,000 square feet with two floors of exhibition spaces and two floors of artists' studios. I would really like to spend more time up in the North East as I know the landscape surrounding Newcastle is very dramatic and I'm hoping to come back later on in the year and visit some places like Alnmouth and Lindisfarne Castle.

Later on in the month I visited Norfolk briefly. It's one of the areas of England that I know the least about and I was really struck by how scenic some of the rural villages are - this windmill was taken from a small village called Old Buckenham.

FEBRUARY

A casualty of the global recession resulted in the closure of Wallingford Gallery which, after 12 years of trading, sadly and finally pulled the shutters down on February 28th for good! All of the partners of the gallery wanted to express their gratitude and thanks for all the support and kindness.

Oxford Artweeks - It's very exciting news that the Aston Artists have decided to take part in this annual event. For details of Artweeks in general you can visit their site here, although details of the 2009 event are not live yet. We will be opening a brand new studio in the village for 4/5 days (thanks to Susanna Brunskill for allowing us to use her new purpose built studio) and the public will get a chance to see all of our work. I will be exhibiting some new originals and also some local prints. I'll post more details later on next month.

I've set myself a target of completing at least two original paintings per month and am so far on schedule. This month I have completed Selworthy View and Brightwell Burrow which I'm really pleased with. Business has slowed over the past two months but I had a really enjoyable and positive Solo Show at The Whitehorse Bookshop in Marlborough and will definitely be back there next year.

MARCH

The highlight this month was a trip to see Ben Nicholson's exhibition 'A Continuous Line' at the Tate St Ives in Cornwall. I've always liked his style but it was really interesting to see his work close up as I really appreciated the textural backgrounds that he has used in some of his work, his colour palette in some of his still life's and his ability to mix his media, like for example the way he uses pencil over oil paint to accentuate certain lines or focus points. Walking around St Ives is always good fun and we came across some wonderful galleries and characters in town.

One gallery that really stood out from the crowd was The Salt House Gallery which specialises in really impressive abstracts - lucky enough we happened to met Bob Devereux who is a local and well acclaimed poet and artist who recited one of his poems during our short visit. That same week I also got an invite to view a friend's studio in Axminster in Devon. Her name is Priscilla Trenchard and she really inspired me with her collection of contemporary, conceptual art and textiles.

Oxford Artweeks is now only a month away and The Astons' Artists group is busy working to create an enticing and engaging exhibition for the public.

I fell a bit behind on my production target during March but have almost finished The Steps. The Goring Gap is also quite a large painting with plenty of detail in the mid-ground but I'm really pleased with how it is coming along and I hope I can get it completed in time for Artweeks.

Also in the pipeline is another Open Studio Venture in Devon with my sister and Stepmother - this will be in September and more information will be available soon.

Finally, I am off to Oregon in the USA for nearly 3 weeks where we will be travelling from Mount Hood down to the coast and I'm really excited about the opportunities to study the landscape there.

APRIL

As a West Country artist, it is part of my strategic plan to gain representation in at least one gallery in each county from Oxfordshire to Cornwall. A considerable part of my family live in Somerset so I'm often drawn to the Quantocks and Mendips and have started a series of paintings of the surrounding areas.

I'd been looking for a gallery around this area that I felt would be suitable for my style of work and came upon The Sadler Street Gallery in Wells on a brief visit last year. After some communications between the gallery owner and myself I'm really pleased to say that they accepted one of my originals - Selworthy View. I plan to go on to supply them with all my Somerset and Avon prints and originals.

MAY

US ROAD TRIP - April/May:3 week road trip through the American States of Oregon & California.

Everything in America is BIG. Big vista's, big roads, big mountains, big plates of food and big cars.

Our trip started and finished in Portland, Oregon and we'd been told that Oregon had a very wet climate. We were obviously incredibly lucky because the only rain that fell was in San Francisco. Oregon is a stunning state with a hugely versatile landscape that ranges from 12,00ft high mountain ranges to sweeping desert plains and green, fertile, wine growing areas.

California was more mountainous than I'd originally thought and plenty of volcanic activity has helped develop some beautiful and smooth green hills and mountain ranges that reminded me of Wiltshire Downland. Yosemite National Park provided us with some breath taking scenes that were so picturesque that I don't think I could do any justice to recreating them as landscape paintings.

A small town about an hours drive from Portland at the start of our trip, called Hood River, was host to some really nice small art galleries, especially the Columbia Centre for the Arts. In San Francisco we visited the Andy Wahol Exhibition at the famous De Young Museum and also (by pure accident) saw a beautiful Chagall exhibition at the Weinstein Gallery that was two doors away from our hotel. An artist who I'd never heard of before, Gerome Kamrowski, was also showing some work at this gallery and the vibrancy of his colours and shape formations were fantastic.

We also took a trip around San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art and I saw Philip Gustons painting 'The Tormentors' which I thought was really powerful. I'd never heard of Richard Diebenhorn before and found that some of his landscapes really reminded me of Paul Nash's work but it was his abstracts and use of colour that really appealed. We didn't get time to see the famous Getty Museum at Los Angeles but did enjoy a day walking around Portland's Art Galleries on our last day.

JUNE

The month of June passed by in a flash but one date that stood out for me was on the 17 th June when I was invited by The Wantage Art Group to present an illustrated talk and demonstration to them.

This being my first time at demonstrating my work in public, I was naturally slightly nervous but thanks to the kind sprit of the Wantage Group I thoroughly enjoyed the whole evening. Top tip for next time though would be to take a small table to place my paints on which would prevent me from leaping backwards and forwards across the room to get more paint!

Blewbury Festival hosted an array of art related events in late June and one that stood out for me was a local tour of the village, explaining all the history and homes of well know and established artists (some not so well know) who had lived there.

There was also a really enjoyable exhibition of local artists work in St Michaels Church which I visited and lastly a chance to say hello to my two former art tutors, Roy East and Ron Freeborn at their homes as part of an open studio event.

Also in this month I went along to an Artsweek focus group for South Oxfordshire which proved to be informative and really productive in discussing ways to improve this annual event, but also to acknowledge the successes and to take on board some hints and tips for next year from people who'd been involved for many years.

A slightly different art related event I attended was Jeff Wayne's spectacular War of the Worlds stage production in Birmingham which was a visual and audio extravaganza that I thought was amazing!

This time of year is the best for a landscape artist like me to enjoy the colours of the countryside. Not only are all the mustard seed fields bright yellow but this year Blewburton Hill bloomed bright with a wild red poppy field at it's base. My friend Christopher Baines who is also a professional photographer and I took a stroll on a stormy day to capture this landscape. The resulting photos will inevitably lead to another oil painting of Blewburton Hill. I was pleased to sell my new painting The Steps at Art@Goring this month to a local from Blewbury.

JULY

Midway though this month I got another year older and my partner and I decided to visit Dorest over the weekend. We stayed in a lovely B&B that was run by an artist Malcolm Scoles and despite the miserable weather on the Saturday we had a great opportunity to explore some of the more remote parts of Dorset.

One place that had been recommended to me was Pilsdon Pen. This is an Iron Age Hill fort which is also the highest point in Dorset and after the rainstorms we got treated to some spectacular views across the hills to the coast.

Another landmark in this area is Colmers Hill which proved harder to photograph as it's right on the edge of a busy main road but only has very small tracks leading to even smaller villages. It required some good local knowledge and a detailed map to get to it but I got some great shots.

Later on in the month I went to Ireland for ten days to visit family. They live on the Dingle Peninsular on the west coast. On a trip down to Dingle we drove along the famous Connor Pass which took us through the breathtaking mountains in this area. The road then took us through Dingle and around the headland where the landscape changed from large sweeping mountains to rocky moorland with small, cultivated fields everywhere. The light in this part of Ireland reminded me of the light in New Zealand which makes the colours more vivid and bright. People describe Ireland as having 'forty shades of green'. I came away with my mind buzzing from all the wonderful landscapes and once I get painting I am convinced that I will use more than forty shades of green.

During my visit in Ireland I also got the chance to visit The Burren - a large area of National Park just below Galway. Understanding the landscape of the Burren is fundamental to the casual observer because of how unusual the rock formations are here. Many people are attracted to this place because of its Flora and Fauna and prehistoric background. As I had one day here I focused my energies on seeing some of the vistas of the fossil-rich layers of limestone that characterise The Burren. Millions of years of glacial and tectonic processes have resulted in wonderfully rich, undulating swirls and hollows that look like something from a lunar landscape. I got some great photos but will need to return to this area soon as I feel that walking the well known Burren Way would provide better vantage points for sketching.

AUGUST

I set aside all of August to work on my painting in preparation for our forthcoming Devon Open Studio exhibition. Having finished five originals, with another three on the go, the next task was to prepare the gallery space which now looks fantastic with new strip lighting and picture rails.

Marketing for these types of events is also key to it's success so we've had flyers and posters printed and also managed to get a nice article in the local Exmouth Herald. Our event will start on the 5th September until the 20th and details can be found here:

An artist who I'm finding really inspirational at the moment is Jeremy Gardiner whose current exhibition with Amanda Wallwork called Mapping the Jurassic Coast looks fantastic. I love his colours and textures and I can see his inspiration comes from some of Ben Nicolson's abstract works.

I got approached by the secretary of the charity group Friends of the Ridgeway who had seen my landscapes and wanted to produce their annual greetings card which supports an artist who is inspired by The Ridgeway. I'm pleased to say they have chosen two of my images to reproduce as greetings cards. All proceeds will go towards supporting their work - to find our more about what they do you can visit their website here.

Over the bank holiday weekend I went to see the Richard Long Exhibition at the Tate Modern in London. I've always admired his work and this exhibition, called Heaven and Earth shows how he uses his walks to map works of art through photos, words and sculptures. While I was in London I also went to see the Futurism exhibition at the Tate Modern, along with a solo show by a Danish Painter called Per Kirkeby.

I enjoyed some of the work by Boccioni at the Futurism exhibition but Per Kirkeby's work in his exhibition really stood out for me. I loved his way of working with ordinary blackboard paint painted over a canvas and then the use of chalk and vibrant paints over the black to creative wonderful abstracts.

Seeing all these artists work made me realise that I'd like to add more texture and medium to my work and I've made a positive start with this piece. Some artist once said that I should loosen up my way of working so this is an attempt/experiment to do exactly that.

My grandfather at the significant age of 92 (rapidly approaching 93) has picked up a paintbrush for the first time in his life and here are the results (see to the right).

SEPTEMBER

During September I was down in Devon taking part in the Devon Open Studio event for the first time as part of The Dillon Artists Group. Having put the finishing touches to our wonderful garage/studio conversion we opened our doors and eagerly awaited the public reaction. We were not (thankfully) disappointed.

Not only did we have glorious weather for the whole 16 days but we counted at least 330 visitors and despite economical down turn we had a healthy sales ledger as well.

We wanted to thank everyone who visited us for their support, feedback and comments, all of which we found really useful and constructive.

We had many visitors from Exmouth which may have resulted from our article in both the local Journal and Herald a week before. We also got invited to BBC Radio Devon by Richard Green who kindly spent about 20mins asking us questions live on air. Unfortunately we don't have a podcast to share the interview with you.

We will definitely be taking part next year as The Dillon Artists again. Same venue, same people, but possibly with two new members of our family taking part as well.

Marketing for these types of events is also key to it's success so we've had flyers and posters printed and also managed to get a nice article in the local Exmouth Herald. Our event will start on the 5th September until the 20th and details can be found here:

While down in Devon I decided to spend a bit of time getting familiar with other local artists in the area. I met Michael Buckland, Victoria Goodman and David Harris during September and also visited the Sidmouth Taster Show to see the other East Devon artists.

As the weather was so nice I also had the opportunity to visit Ladram Bay which is stunning. I would love to do some painting of this area and have added photos to the right for people to see these wonderful 'stone statues' in the bay.

There was also a really interesting archaeological dig taking part up on Woodbury Common during arts week where a research team were excavating some cairns. Again, Woodbury Common is an extensive moorland and I'd like to paint some of this area for next years Open Studios.

OCTOBER

During the first weekend of October I took a trip to the Gower Peninsular in Wales to stay with friends and family. I've never been here before and was blown away by the beauty of the coast lines. Rhossili Beach on a very windy day was break taking. I took many photos so keep your eye out for some paintings of this area. Worms Head was also well worth a walk and Three Cliffs Bay. If you get the opportunity to visit this scenic area of Wales I would whole-heartily recommend you spend at least a week here.

I had my painting The Vale selected for the 2009 Oxford Arts Society Open Exhibition which was good news and I also went along to the Private View at the Said Business School. This exhibition is always worth a visit as it shows a really diverse selection of artwork from the County.

I sold my painting Pilsdon Pen at the annual exhibition in Somerset at Kingston St Mary which is held in late October every year.

This month also saw me take on two more commissions, one of which is going to be of the Calne Monument in Wiltshire which is a stunning landscape that I've only painted once before. You can view my progress on any commissions by visiting this part of my site here.

I'm already working hard to complete a commission for a couple who have moved to Australia and wanted a painting to remind them of the English countryside. They chose the wonderful and dramatic landscape of Uffington White Horse Hill which is a favourite scene of mine to paint.

The Friends of the Ridgeway have also printed two of my paintings as greetings cards which they will use to send out to members of the group to promote the work they do for the upkeep and maintenance of the ancient road.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER

I started the first week of November in Dubai where I used to live and was astounded by the progress of the build in this city. All of it had changed so much since I'd last been there.

To wrap up an action packed year of art and walking, the months of November and December saw me finish my Ridgeway Walk - see more details here - and embark on a couple of commissions which both had to be completed by Christmas Time, one of which you can see here.

Also during these two months a new Gallery in Wantage opened up called Dolphin Art which sold an original of mine (The Vale) and I also completed two more originals, Eccles Beorh and The Plough.