Friday, July 24, 2009

Art In Action 2009 (Part Two)

This is the 2nd and final part of Art In Action images. I hope you enjoy them. Back to normal blogging next week. I apologise for some of the photography being skewiff but there were a lot of people to contend with there.

My thanks go to Dolores of True Blue Canadian for my latest blog award. Pop over and say hello to Dolores and for a look at her lovely blog.

This is my design called "The Sweetest Fruit". Another of my copyright free deer designs from my book although the tree is my own creation. Still lots more to come though. That book has proved a real bargain.
Pen and ink hen drawing, which makes a change as I am usually drawing cockerels.
This is called Art Deco Flowers and I am not totally happy with it. It hasn't lived up to its potential when I first sketched out the design. Perhaps the colours are wrong. I am not sure but I have only posted it because it took so long to create...haha. The individual flowers are nice but not with the stems. Anyway, you win some and you lose some...and this poor thing is definitely in the latter category.
Jane Mowat was the first person I came to in the printmaking marquee and her work is quite beautiful. It has a very textural and mythic quality. She is a very charming lady and gave us detailed explanations of how she prints. She produces her lovely prints by hand burnishing very uneven woodblocks. They are often slices of tree that she cuts the image into. If you enlarge the picture below you can see the slice of tree on her stand. I had to admire her industry as some of these blocks are huge and it must take ages to print by hand. Jane has a website here which shows that she does more than just printmaking.
Jane Mowat's prints at her stand
Flying Figure woodcut print
Detail of St. Francis and the Birds
Jane Mowat Print
This is Katherine Jones demonstrating collograph making in the printmaking marquee. Katherine's website is here.
Jane Freear-Wyld is a textile artist who weaves abstract images from manipulated digital photography. This piece below is only a section of the entire tapestry. I couldn't stand back far enough to get the whole thing in, but this gives an idea of the beautiful shapes and colours she produces. Jane has a website here. I actually found the website a bit of a challenge but you will see what I mean if you go for a peek.


Here is Jane demonstrating how she weaves her tapestries at her loom. She was more than happy to answer lots of questions about her work. The piece on the loom was a VERY complex weave with masses of colours and shapes.
Louise Gardiner had a beautifully colourful stand in the Market marquee. Louise is a well known embroideress who creates the most delicious images of figures, birds and flowers. Her best known images are her lovely ladies though. She has a very illustrative style and her pieces show a great sense of fun and laughter. Her website is here.
And here is one of her cupcake images on a Graffiti card I bought. I would love to own one of her original textile pieces.
These three views are of Nichola Theakston's marquee space. Nichola is a very successful sculptor of ceramic images of wildlife. I spent quite a while browsing the beautifully sculpted pieces on show. I particularly enjoyed her hares. She has a website here with lots of views of her work and also describes the process of building an armature and the preparatory sketches.


I love this little stripey fellow in the foreground. Not sure what he is though.
This is Rachael Howard's stand although I didn't get to see her in person. She is a very well known textile designer who creates delightful sketchy images and then appliques and embroiders them. Her work is very often amusing and she has a great gift for capturing situations and people around her with natural flair and freshness.
And here is one of her lovely designs in fabric applique and embroidery which I bought as a greetings card. (Yes, I bought a lot of cards whilst I was at the show).
I met artist Alison Ingram in the Nature In Art Marquee, but unfortunately I was so engrossed by her art that I forgot to take a photograph. Her work is absolutely amazing and so complex in design and colour and shape. She paints in traditional style as well as stylised. I could never paint in her style as I would get very confused, but she does it beautifully. She has a very comprehensive and vivid website here although the images below are from the handmade greetings cards I bought from her. I love all her work but I particularly like her birds. I think the coots below are my favourites although the avocets are gorgeous too.

Coot and Chicks
Five Fallow
Puffins On Wick
Sue Symond's is a needlework specialist and an artist. These pictures can't show the incredible beauty of her work. The displayed work on her stand related to a book of Creation which she has been working on for two years. It will consist of 60 pages of artwork with very detailed embroidery and exquisite painting. A sample of her work is shown here. The butterflies around the edges are all embroidered and the centre panel is painted. If you enlarge the picture you will get an idea of the true beauty of the piece. Sue lives in Somerset and is well known for her Bath Abbey Diptychs which can be seen here.
Sue Symond's book "Creation"
Some of the beautiful work on Sue Symond's stand
Miriam Maselkowski creates a style of work I haven't seen before. She creates pictures from nails and thread by wrapping the threads around hundreds of nails to give a 3D image. Sounds simple but I suspect from the detail in her work that it is a lot more complex than she describes it. This is Miriam below who I chatted to for several minutes. A very charming lady with a great talent and I wish her lots of luck in the future. Click on the images to get the full detail.



15 comments:

Acornmoon said...

Gosh,
what a lot of talent there is in the world.

I would love to learn more about printmaking so thanks for the links.

I love your chicken.

Cathy said...

Thanks very much Val. Can never have too many chicken pictures..ha ha.

Kat Mortensen said...

I love visiting here because there is just so much to see. Those puffins are gorgeous! I would love to be at some of the art shows you take part in. Yours and all these talented people's work really brighten my day!

Kat

Holly Zemak said...

Love the Boxing Hares by Nichola Theakston. Thanks for sharing such an amazing show. So much talent.
I like the background color you chose for "The Sweetest Fruit". Violet or purple it works for me.

Cathy said...

Thanks for those lovely words Kat. I find your blog very interesting and a pleasure to visit too.

Cathy said...

I think it is violet Holly but I am not good on naming the purple, violet range of colours. It is a bit of a different colour for me but I like to experiment. The beauty of Photoshop is that you can change colours so easily. Glad you liked AIA. I just wish everyone could have been there to experience it.

Crafty Green Poet said...

some beautiful artists there, thanks for sharing their website links!

I like the colours in your Art Deco flowers, I think its a lovely piece, though as you say maybe the stems aren't quite right.

Cathy said...

Thanks Juliette. Yes I like those colours too but perhaps a different picture. I have gone off that one now...ha ha.

Sandy Mastroni said...

wow always so much to see on your blog . but I always want you to know I look for YOUR work
Your Navigator is very good !

Cathy said...

Thanks Sandy. That is really nice to hear. Sometimes I feel a bit lost among all the talented artists and craftspeople I blog about.

BeadBag said...

Hi Cathy - gorgeous posts - love the bracelets, 'nail' art - and when I was into embroidery I loved Verina Warren's work.
Gorgeous pics.
Shirley

Cathy said...

Hi Shirley. I love those bracelets too. I like how she has put lovely colours together. Verina Warren's work is marvellous. I wish I could afford one of her originals.

artbyclare said...

I can truly appreciate your reverence for nature...etsy.com/shop/ArtbyClare

dittery dot said...

wow your blog is amazing, there is so much to look at. Loved Rachael Howard's work, she is one of my favorite designers and has inspired a lot of my work. Hope my blog is as good as yours one day :)

Cathy said...

Hi

Thanks very much for your comments. Glad that my featured artists are appreciated by so many people. They deserve lots of credit.