Thursday, August 5, 2010

Angels And Animals

Sorry the post is a bit lengthy this week. All those angel photos I expect but I thought I would post them all together rather than doing some this week and the rest next. Keep all your angels together I say. I will have to start searching for some new angels to photograph now which means another trip up to one of the outer London Victorian cemeteries.

I had intended posting my latest etching, which is an angel oddly enough, but it has taken much longer than I anticipated so I will have to leave that one for next week.

I have gone for a bit of colour drama with this digital image. I am not entirely happy with it though. I may have to tweak it a bit. I think the background may need a bit of black to affiliate it more with the tree as the tree is standing out too much. I am thinking this tree would make a nice needlepoint design.


This is a pen and ink drawing of a kingfisher. Now this one I am entirely satisfied with. No tweaking needed here.

These images are of my latest charity shop find. It is un-named but it is obviously an etching which I think may have been printed as a plate for a book. I am not sure what the process is but it is beautifully reproduced and the detail and colouration are exquisite. It is a very large artwork but only cost me £4.95 which I think is a bit of a bargain.

If you click on the image here you can just see the beautifully etched big cats lurking in the jungle.


I visited a favourite local art and craft gallery today who stock Marlene Hounam jewellery. I have a bracelet of hers that I bought some while ago and would love to add to my collection. She works in silver and semi precious stones and creates some gorgeous designs. Below are two favourites I crave.




The Rudge family are rightly very well known for their ceramic work. The family comprises Lawson E who is the father of Keza, Dillon and Lawson. They are all talented ceramic artists and sculptors with their own individual styles. I particularly love the stylised work of Lawson Senior who crafted the images below. You can find examples of his work at the following sites - at the Montpellier Gallery here, Rostra and Rooksmoor Galleries here and Lantic Gallery here.

Square Cow


Round Rabbit


Below are some photos of the angel sculptures I have collected over a period of time. I have removed the backgrounds of most of them because they distract from the beauty of the sculpture. Most of these sculptures are from the Victorian period. We would be a lot poorer without the Victorian ideal of funerary monuments. I think they are more beautiful now with stains of age upon them than they probably were when they were first erected.








The lovely oils below are the work of artist and illustrator Hannah Giffard. Hannah trained at Norwich School of Art and loves the wide open Norfolk countryside. Her stylised animal and bird images are beautifully painted and she uses symbolism to produce an almost mythic quality to her work. I think it is wonderful. Hannah has a great website here with lots of images of her art to enjoy and also details the childrens' books and other work she has produced. Definitely a visit worth making.

Ram And Crows In The Barley


Two Crows In Poppyfield


Hares At Caister


Hare And Crow In The Corn


Lesley found a lovely ex-library book in a local charity shop recently (she knows what I like!) It is "What Is The Truth" by Ted Hughes and is beautifully illustrated by R.J. Lloyd. It is a combination of poetry and prose and is called A Farmyard Fable For The Young. I haven't had much to do with Ted Hughes poetry in the past but there are some here that I really like. These are all connected with nature and animals and birds. Reginald Lloyd is a very well known artist with work in many prestigious collections, including the V&A. He has illustrated this book with numerous images and I have just chosen some of my favourites below. They have a lovely graphic quality, and I love the way he has employed the moon in many of them.







Here is the poem relating to the fox - or the last verse anyway:

"And he's nailed our fear of darkness to his four paws dipped in quickness,
Our cowardice a nail
In the white tip of his tail,
With the limestone from our hearts, he's whitewashed his underparts,
And he flees us like a robber, says the Hunting Horn"

18 comments:

Caroline said...

Gorgeous work by you Cathy - the Kingfisher is just equisite! I think the angels are beautiful - have you ever had your photos made into a book? Love the ceramics and oil paintings and what a gem that book must be - perfect partnership of poet and illustrator, I'd say! Lucky you!

ArtPropelled said...

Your kingfisher is exquisite, Cathy!
Lucky charity shop find and I do love square cow as well as Hannah Giffard's art. There is a wonderful clean, sharp quality about British art that I quickly identified and loved when we were over on holiday.

Gillian said...

Beautiful post Cathy - your tree would look wonderful in needlepoint! Fab charity shop find too! G

sea-blue-sky & abstracts said...

Hi Cathy, love the charity shop etching - what a find. The detail and imagery are so pleasing. Also really like Reginald Lloyds strong, graphic artworks. your kingfisher is adorable. Have a good week.
Lesley x

Cathy said...

Thanks Caroline. I enjoyed doing my artwork for this post. I particularly love drawing birds, realistic or stylised. I haven't ever thought about making my photos into a book but apparently there is a website where you can upload images into a physical book and it is published. It doesn't cost too much either. My nephew has had one done for his photos. Worth thinking about if only I could remember the name of the website.

Cathy said...

Hi Robyn. Thanks very much. I do get lucky sometimes with charity shops. I have had some fabulous things over the years. I also check out the local car boot sales. It is amazing what people have had tucked away in their attics and want to get rid of.

Cathy said...

Thanks Gillian. I am definitely considering that tree for a needlepoint although I may have to tweak it quite a bit.

Cathy said...

Hi Lesley. Yes, Roger Lloyd's graphic artwork is lovely. His images would look great in linocut. As for the charity shop etching, I am very pleased to have found that. I will probably reframe it as the present frame is too ornate for my taste.

LOVE STITCHING RED said...

Oh my goodness what a beautiful post. I love THAT BOOK! The illustrations are simply wonderful

Thank you Cathy x

Old World Primitives said...

Hi Cathy,
I am amazed by the detail in your Kingfisher drawing - it is so beautifully life-like! I really like your new digital tree image as well, and I agree that I might like it even better with some black added to the background as well. And now I shall get lost for a bit in all of the lovely new artists that you have shared here too...

Stephanie

Chatters said...

Cathy your kingfisher is amazing, really beautiful.

That book looks gorgeous. Love the bold drawings. Thanks for sharing

Cathy said...

I couldn't agree more Carolyn. I love the way wonderful old books find their way to charity shops and then to me...haha.

Cathy said...

Hi Stephanie, hope you enjoyed your little tour of the blog. Glad you like the kingfisher. I do love drawing birds although the wings can be quite complicated sometimes.

Cathy said...

Thanks Amanda. Off to find some new artists now for the next blog post.

~ Phyllis ~ said...

Cathy, your Kingfisher is delightful. I love watching for the Kingfisher birds when I walk near the creek.
You are right the tree would make a lovely needlepoint pattern.
Along with sharing a love of old gnarley trees we share a love of angel sculptures. I love walking through older cemeteries looking for olders sculptures.

Cathy said...

Thanks very much Phyllis. I did enjoy drawing that one. One of my favourite birds. You are lucky to see them near you. They are quite difficult to catch sight of in this area. What a pity you couldn't take a stroll through one of our Victorian cemeteries. They are crammed full of gorgeous angel statues. Hope you are having a good weekend. Ours is wet!

Sandy Mastroni said...

I am so impressed with your kingfisher Cathy
You truly make amazing illustrations .... I wonder how many hours went into that !
Love the angels too

Cathy said...

Thanks very much Sandy. Quite a few hours for that one. It is pointillism throughout so very labour intensive.