24August 2009

This is my latest painting,still unfinished.
Size 30" x 40".
The seafront in Brighton on a nice sunny day.
As yet title unknown.

18 August 2009 ....from the past

I had an email today from Helen in Glasgow. She says; "While looking at your website I realise that I may have one of your early acrilic works. About 40 years ago my husband and I went to Wylie Locheads in Glasgow to buy some tables we had saved for but when we saw this painting we bought it instead!"

Crikey! Maybe poor Helen and husband have had to eat off their laps for 40 years. I feel very humble and grateful.
The story behind the sale is this; I exhibited, with artist Colin Paynton, in several of the House of Frazer stores throughout UK in a promotion by G Plan Furniture Co. during the late 60's. Wylie Lochead was the flagship store in Scotland. [Harrods in London and Rackhams in Birmingham were also part of the same group]. The store gave over part of the furniture dept as a temporary studio space where we painted pictures to hang in the beautiful room settings. The paintings were designed to compliment the furnishings.
Helen's painting looks like one of my works from that period, although I don't actually remember this one.
I think that it is a good idea to consider the location for a work of art when painting or buying it.
Some artists will disagree.

8 August 2009 Two Phone Boxes

Here it is just about finished. I will leave it for a day or two before making any final tweaks.
I think that I will title this 'Two Phone Boxes' because they look so good in this setting.
I reckon that we will soon see the last of these icons as nearly everyone nowadays has a moblile [cell] phone and the boxes are hardly ever used.

6 August 2009 Can you see what it is yet?

Back in the studio to make a bigger version of one of the small paintings. The first stage is getting the canvas surface to an interesting condition. Lots of roller work, painting over, and dry brush technique here. Then quick sketchy sort of blocking in to see the overall balance and design. Then key tonal points, the darkest area and the lightest. Then colour range with a few washes of thin colour. And this is the result. Can you see what it is yet? That question was the trademark question for a TV artist Rolf Harris here in the UK. Ive borrowed it. Thanks Rolf.

1 August 2009

School holidays now. So we took our youngest grandchild to a local farm where they have a maize maze, and other great attractions for kids of all ages, including Fran and I.
It rained in the afternoon but we all had a great time. Here is Ava sporting her green wellies and umbrella at a garden centre on the way home.
That is a helluva colour combination aint it?

31 JULY 2009 Alan Furneaux

Let me tell you about my friend Alan Furneaux.
Alan is a British artist living in Cornwall UK.
We got to know each other when he lived in Brighton, and we were both opening our houses for the Brighton Festival as part of the Fiveways Artists Group.
Alan moved across to another part of town after a couple of years, and later hundreds of miles away to Penzance, but we kept in touch.
I have always liked his paintings, and we've co-operated since exhibiting at art and trade fairs.
Alan occasionally returns to Brighton, and we met by chance in a pub earlier this spring.
So we chatted and discussed the price of fish, discovering that he shared my interest in the possibilities and challenges promised by 'plein air' painting.
On a later visit we went painting together for a morning in the grounds of Brighton Pavilion.
His blog is well worth following, because he has found that plein air painting is right up his street.
His new work is just super. The paintings are local landscapes and seascapes in a 'faux naif' style.
But don't be fooled by the exuberant looseness of his technique, because these are really very well painted artworks.

Have a look and see for yourself.
http://alanfurneaux1.blogspot.com/

I have pinched one of the latest images from his blog to show you what his new work is like.
I hope that he doesn't mind.

30 July 2009

And our final winner collects her prize draw choice. Phew!
There were eight winners from last May when we drew one a day from the visitors to our Open House exhibition.
Vanessa Cooper chose one of Frans little egg prints.
It is to go in her new house, which she moves into today.
Hence the delay in her collecting the chosen print.
Here she is with Fran and the picture.