NOVEMBER & DECEMBER 2018

November was a very busy month for me as I coordinated a fundraising Winter Fair in aid of the refurbishment of the Amadeus Centre in London, at 50 Shirland Road,W9 2JA. (Visit theamadeus.co.uk.) to learn more. This historic building, formerly a Welsh Presbyterian chapel, now a busy community centre in Maida Vale is in need of expensive structural improvements. I wanted to help out as one of my daughters and her husband held their wedding reception here 5 years ago.

Our Winter Fair took place on 25 November and was a delight. Volunteers came from all over the UK and stallholders presented a wonderful range of goods, while being entertained by cellist Hannah Reeves and pianist Matthew Lucas. Later in the afternoon we held a poetry reading from the new book of international poetry WE HUMANS, featuring poems from 17 poets based in 76 different countries. Hannah can be contacted at Hannah@hannah-reeves.co.uk  and Matthew can be contacted at matlucasmusic@gmail.com for more details about their musical activities.

To give a flavour of the Fair, I wanted to tell readers about the work of three very different volunteers who came to help out on our big day. One friend from Hampshire, Kristina Guczoghy makes the most amazing traditional Hungarian gingerbread creations. She can be contacted on 07818 569173 for orders.

Another friend, Lucy Houbert, a potter, makes beautiful ceramic items and on this occasion produced exquisite Christmas Tree decorations. She runs pottery classes and workshops in Hertfordshire and can be contacted on her website www.busheypottery.co.uk.

And my friend Marius Grose came all the way from Bristol to read one of his poems from the WE HUMANS book. Marius is a gifted poet and brilliant photographer. His collection of poetry and accompanying photographic images entitled UNDER THE SURFACE has recently been published, and I highly recommend it.

The poems are illustrated with photographs that reflect the content of each deeply felt piece. Poems explore topics as various as the promise contained in a packet of seeds, the poignancy of thoughts at midnight, excruciatingly painful relationships, the changing seasons…

The striking illustrations range from moody black and white, through various experimentally textured and coloured images which feature nature in all its contrasts, derelict buildings and people, extraordinary statuary and abstract expressionism. He has a most discriminating eye. Discover more by visiting http://www.blurb.co.uk/b/8746628-under-the-surface .This would make a great Christmas present.

At the year’s end I visited Hinton Ampner, the National Trust property in Hampshire. I love this country house and garden and enjoy it in every season.
This time it was on a perfect winter’s day and the splendid topiary, always an elegant sight, as usual lived up to my expectations. Visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hinton-ampner to learn more.

Finally I’d like to wish everyone reading this a very happy Christmas and wonderful New Year!

SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2018

September seems to have flown by while I was busy out of doors painting and sketching along the beautiful clear water of the River Itchen. I did little pen and ink sketches of the plants I saw growing on the river banks and in the chalk streams. Here I include a sketches of water forget-me-not (myosotis scorpiodes), water starwort (callitriche stagnalis)  and devils bit scabious (succisa pratensis).

As October arrives and the leaves start to create amazing palettes of gold, bronze, vermillion and scarlet, I love to visit Winkworth Arboretum, Hascombe Road, Godalming, GU8 4AD in Surrey.
www.nationaltrust.org/winkworth. Walking through amazing glades of trees of all kinds is always inspirational. Here I include some photographs I took which I hope will form the basis of more paintings.

With October days moving towards November, I’ve also been busy  co-ordinating a Winter Fair in aid of the refurbishment of a building that is dear to me. This is The Amadeus, 50 Shirland Road, Little Venice, Maida Vale, W9 2JA. This beautiful building, once a Welsh Presbyterians chapel, is now a valued venue for wedding receptions, and local community groups.  Volunteers from all over the area and further away are holding the fair on Sunday 25 November 2018 from 1pm – 5 pm. There will be a variety of stalls and services for all age groups, including live music, lovely food, a Gingerbread decorating workshop and children’s Glitter Nail Bar. Later in the afternoon poetry reading by the poets who produced an international poetry book called We Humans. If you are in the area, do visit this really special exciting event.

JULY & AUGUST 2018

These hot summer months have given me the opportunity to get out and about in the countryside, camera and sketch book at the ready.

One visit was to Loseley Park, an absolutely beautiful garden in Surrey, surrounding a mansion dating from the 1560s which has been the home of the More-Molyneux family for over 500 years. The day I chose to go there was a sculpture exhibition in the grounds, and after wandering round I was eventually defeated by the oppressive heat wave we’re all enduring at present so went off to have a refreshing Eton Mess ice cream made by Loseley Park estate in the shade. Do visit Loseley Park at www.loseleypark.co.uk if you can.

Another interesting visit nearby was to imposing Chawton House, home of Jane Austen’s brother Edward where Jane said she used to ‘dawdle away an hour very comfortably.’ This 400 year old manor house was a stopping place for royalty in medieval times, and like Loseley Park has an extensive garden including a fernery. Portraits of Edward’s and Jane’s ancestors hang from the walls of various rooms and you can see the dining table where Jane used to enjoy meals with her family. In the library is a collection of inspiring stories of early women writers, including novelists, travel writers, philosophers and social activists. Learn more by visiting www.chawtonhouse.org

A much less formal setting for my further exploration of Hampshire was St Catherine’s Hill Nature Reserve, just outside Winchester. This is owned by Winchester College, but managed by the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife trust, and after climbing up one hundred steep steps I was rewarded with a spectacular bird’s eye view of this ancient city as well as the surrounding fields and water meadows supplied by tributaries of the River Itchen.

Remains of an iron age fort can still be seen on St Catherine’s Hill, as well as ruins of a 12th century chapel dedicated to Saint Catherine who is supposed to be patron saint of high hills after her ascension of heaven from Mount Sinai. The top of the hill is crowned by an ancient copse of beech trees known as the Clump, and just below this is a maze, dating from the 17th century, carved from the chalk below the turf in a rectangular pattern, unusual in shape as these mazes are more often circular in shape. My visit to this nature reserve has been the inspiration of several new paintings and drawings, some of which are still work in progress. I include two here: tangled tree roots at the side of the Itchen Navigation canal which runs close by, and a close up view of the hedgerow floor with the red spires of Arums glowing among last autumn’s fallen leaves.  Visit the website at www.hiwwt.org/nature-reserves/st-catherines-hill-nature for more information.

Other summer visits I enjoyed at various points of this canal were at Allbrook Lock where I photographed the falling water of the weir, and nearby Compton Lock which is used by locals for wild swimming. I couldn’t resist photographing the contrasting images of cattle and llamas that I saw as I wended my way along this beautiful part of Hampshire.

Finally, I’d like to mention the lovely new book produced by the artist Jennifer Greenland. Entitled: THAMES: A journey in paint, it features the beautiful paintings and drawings she made of the land and cityscapes she encountered while exploring the course of the river from its source to its estuary at Leigh-on-Sea. Jennifer has an eye for light which is captivating. This book is available from Jennifer Greenland Fine Art, Creative Space, Leatherhead, KT22.

JUNE 2018

Summer’s in full glory – comfrey, cow parsley and dog roses in bloom in the hedgerows, and in my garden the striped Rosa Mundi rose mingling with the acid green blossoms of Alchemellis Mollis and the blue stars of Campenula are a joy to the eye. In our village one of the houses has recently be re-thatched with straw models of a fox chasing a hare running over the top of the roof.

Summer in the country is the season of Summer Fetes and recently I went to one in the little village of Shalden where I photographed the cake stall and my son at the glider stand representing Lasham Gliding Society. The dog competition was hilarious with owners trying to keep their protégés under control with little success.  

I’ve been out and about photographing and sketching with recent visits to Avington Park (www.avingtonpark.co.uk) to see the crystal clear River Itchen flowing into the lake. And I enjoyed my visit to Selborne Common (www.nationaltrust.org.uk/selbornecommon, where I climbed up the steep zigzag path created by the great naturalist Gilbert White and discovered wild foxgloves flowering in a clearing in the shade of a wood.

So this month I’m showing some of the photographs I’ve captured and which I’m currently using as images for some of my new paintings and drawings which I plan to display here on the website next month.

APRIL & MAY 2108

I visited the British Museum recently to see the Charmed Lives in Greece exhibition which features the work of Greek artist Nikos Ghika, and English artist John Craxton and English writer Patrick Leigh Fermour, both ex-pats who went to live there after the end of the Second World War. Together they formed an artistic community. Ghika was based in Hydra, his ancestral home, where he lived with his wife Barbara, Leigh Fermoy and his wife Joan lived in Kardamyl, and John Craxton’s home was a studio in Crete overlooking the sea. Later, after their house burnt down, the Ghikas went to live in Corfu, and the exhibition is structured around these four locations. The Study for a Poster by Nikos Ghika which I feature in this blog gives some idea of the vivid and colourful paintings on view.

This free exhibition was fascinating, with many art works that reflect their idyllic life of the island, and photographs and letters which reveal their artistic goals. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend everyone to see it before July 15 when it closes.  For more information visit www.britishmuseum.org

Back in Hampshire, enjoying the beautiful weather at last I’ve been out and about in the Hampshire countryside sketching. I’m currently working on a series of paintings of the River Itchen which has wonderfully clear water because it flows over chalk. I was surprised about this as I’d have thought chalk would make the water look cloudy but not so, the water’s so clear that watercress has been grown in it for centuries.

And I’ve now finished the embroidered silk patchwork wall hanging I began last year but which has taken me several months to complete because it is so intricate. I was inspired to make it after visiting West Green House Gardens in Hook in Hampshire, (westgreenhouse.co.uk) and the work features scenes from different parts of the garden over different seasons. I’ve made it from my own hand-dyed and painted silk embellished with a variety of coloured threads and embroidery techniques. You can see the completed work in this blog and also in more detail in the Craft Section of the Gallery section of this website.

FEBRUARY & MARCH 2018

A visit to the Tate Modern in early February to see the retrospective Modigliani exhibition was a real treat. This collection of stylish portraits, elegant nudes, Egyptian and African influenced sculptures shown in context with early films of the Parisian districts of Montmatre and Montparnasse where he created much of his work was fascinating and instructive. Modigliani was an acquaintance and contemporary of Picasso, of the sculptor Brancusi, and of the Spanish painter Juan Gris whose portrait he painted. In addition his work clearly shows the influence of Cezanne and of the newly available Japanese prints. The show is on until 2 April, and tickets can be booked at www.tate.org.uk.

Back in Hampshire I’ve been continuing with my ink and watercolour paintings of local buildings, and also of the winter woodland. An unexpected snow storm confined us to our village because the lanes from our house were impassable by car, but allowed me to take photos of the local fields to work from when I resume my pastels again next month. At last spring seems to be on the way though, I thought, when I bought this little striped primrose and couldn’t resist painting it.

Meanwhile, I’ve been enjoying another exhibition at the Watts Gallery in Surrey: (www.wattsgallery.org.uk), this time to see A Pre-Raphaelite Collection unveiled: The Cecil French Bequest. This showcases a collection of works by Frederick Leighton, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, John William Waterhouse, Edward Burne-Jones and Albert Moore.

And something else to look forward to that I plan to visit will be Jennifer Greenland’s new exhibition entitled ‘Thames’. This features 30 paintings and 12 drawings which take you on a journey from the river’s source near Cirencester all the way to the estuary. It’s on from Tuesday 10 April – Sunday 15 April at Denbies Wine Estate, London Road, Dorking, Surrey. RH5 6AA. Visit www.denbies.co.uk to learn more.

JANUARY 18

Happy New Year to everyone who reads my blog, and I wish you all the best during these challenging times of political turmoil that seem to be happening all over the world.

To keep my spirits up during the dark days of winter and to celebrate the New Year I went to a gallery that’s become a favourite of mine since I moved south to Hampshire. This is the Watts Gallery – wattsgallery.org.uk - in nearby Surrey where I visited the Helen Allingham exhibition. Helen Allingham RA was a leading Victorian illustrator and water colourist with a keen interest in ecology and conservation. She worked with the famous Arts & Crafts gardener Gertrude Jekyll, making vibrant paintings of Gertrude Jekyll’s famous experimental garden at Munstead Wood, very near the Watts Gallery.

I particularly wanted to see her paintings of local buildings in rural landscapes which even in her day were rapidly vanishing. As I now live in the same area where she lived and I’m currently making a series of ink and watercolour wash drawings of rural buildings I was really interested to see her works, many of which have previously only been held in private collections. I include several of these in this month’s blog together with some of Helen Allingham’s paintings and some photographs of winter walks which I’m now developing into watercolours.

At the beginning of the month I photographed a flowering snowdrop in my garden and have begun to record local flora and fauna in a new 5 year diary from the Royal Horticultural Society to increase my powers of observation in nature’s constantly changing seasons.  One result of my observations of the natural world is my recently completed embroidered wall hanging Irises and Dragonflies inspired by my son and daughter-in-laws beautiful garden pond. Made from silk, gauze and mercerised embroidery cottons it will now hang in my daughter’s home who has spent so many patient hours helping me with my technology and computer issues.

Finally, I’d like to give you advance notice of the Surrey Contemporary Art Fair which will be held at Sandown Racecourse, Esher on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th February where Jennifer Greenland will be exhibiting some more of her beautiful landscapes and some paintings of London and Paris she produced last year. I went to her recent show in Windsor and loved her work, especially the way she depicts light on water.