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"

A Little Bit Of Whimsey And Cuteness

My poor blog posts get later and later, mainly because I am so busy at the moment with other things. I had intended doing some more etchings this week but couldn't fit them in. I will try and get some done for my next post though. I will also have to start thinking about my 2010 Christmas card artwork - already!

Dancer And Fox Friend - Ink and Fibre Tip Pens

Pen and ink drawing called The Bird

I visited a local car boot sale on Sunday and found some useful things. The book below only cost a small amount and it is stuffed with copyright free angel art - large and small. A very good find for an artist who finds drawing wings difficult. No excuse now so watch out for some angelic drawings in the next posts.

This pile of magazines are Photography Monthly and Elle Decoration. They both cost roughly £3.50 new but I got them very cheaply. I worked out that if I had bought them new they would have cost me £62 but I got them for £5.50. Not a bad bargain really. They have lots of lovely photographs which I use in my scrapbooks for inspiration for my own artwork.

The lovely porcelain figures below are the work of Scottish ceramacist Eleanor Bartleman. Eleanor's work has a strong mythical and narrative element and all the figures are beautifully and delicately modelled. She now lives in Devon and sells her work all over the country. You can find Eleanor's website here and if you click on each individual image in the gallery it will take you to further images.

Nymph With Squirrels

Rabbit Reclining

Here are a few of the lovely creatures we have met on our travels recently. Below is a Patagonian Mara which is basically a giant guinea pig. This one was in the corner of field bordering Whipsnade Zoo. He didn't seem a bit frightened. You cannot see it here but he was behind a wire fence.

This is one of a herd of lovely Jacob sheep. I love this breed. They are always beautifully marked and interestingly enough they are actually black sheep with white markings and not the other way round which is what I thought.

These two shots are of a large flock of Canada geese and young near a local reservoir. The adult birds were very protective of the young ones and I was kept a very close eye on by a number of adults whilst I was getting my photos of them.

Carry Akroyd was one of the artists in the printmaking marquee at Art In Action. I have featured her gorgeous work before on this blog but I was really pleased to see that she had a wonderful new book out. I had some book tokens and so I bought myself a copy. It is a wonderful book full of her vibrantly coloured screenprints and linocuts. She has a fantastic style and is very interested in nature, birds and ecology.

I also have a copy of her beautifully illustrated book of John Clare's poetry which is authored by David Powell. There are masses of linocuts in this softbacked book and it is one I treasure.

Definitely one of my best art book finds this year. Carry Akroyd is a lovely, friendly lady too and it is just a pity that I was so excited about the book I forgot to take a photo of her stand at the event.

The lovely graphic and stylised images below are from two greetings cards that I bought from Waterperry when I visited Art In Action. I found them in the permanent art and craft gallery that is there all the year around. They have some wonderful items. These are by artist Gail Kelly whose website is called Algan Arts. Gail is an Irish printmaker who produces her beautiful images onto Irish linen and also creates etchings and lithographs of mystical sites and standing stones and circles. Pop over to her site to look at her artwork here. There is lots to see and admire.

Oak

Apple

I was really delighted to discover the artist Angela Smyth recently. I love her wonderfully quirky and humorous work. She also does some great pen and ink illustrations. Angela comes from an Irish background and her father taught her how to draw shire horses from a very early age. That early tutelage has paid off because now her lovely work is collected world wide. If you go here to the Hawthorne Gallery you can see masses of her artwork and a lovely biographical note about her life and work.

Nesting

Make Me A Wish

Friends For Life

Cherry Cakes

Art In Action 2010

I have gone all black and white and graphic this week. This is a pen and ink drawing called "Waiting For A Friend"

Just a little cat and bird drawing

I found a beautiful piece of music on YouTube the other day which I know you will all love. It is called Saylon Dola by Russell Watson and Maire Brennan - gorgeous. I think I have almost worn out this version.

Art In Action 2010 seems to have come round very quickly this year. It was just as enjoyable as in previous years but I didn't take so many photos. Last year I concentrated so much on photos that I missed quite a lot so this year I concentrated on seeing more whilst I was there. My main areas of interest were the drawing and printmaking, illustration and textile marquees but I did manage to get round everything. I also bought a beautiful book which I will tell you about next week. You will need to click on the photos to enlarge.

This papier mache sculpture by David Farrer was one of my favourite pieces of the whole show. It doesn't look it here but it is about four feet tall and enormous. All the body is covered in pages from books. You can see more of David's work here on his website. If you click on "making and conservation" which is just under the image blocks you can see how the sculptures are made.

The needle felted artwork below is by Eve Kelly. She takes needle felting to a new level with her amazing work. You wouldn't think this was created just using felted wool and a needle and a whole heap of talent of course.

Below is textile weaver Alpa Mistry at her Dobby Loom where she weaves beautiful silk items. You can see Alpa's website here.

Two views of the huge ceramics marquee

Whilst I was at the show I tootled off to the beautiful gardens to take some photos. Waterperry is well known for its trees, shrubs and flowers. Below is a selection of some of the flowers and seedheads I came across.

and the pears for which Waterperry is famously named.

This is well known artist Jenny Wheatley demonstrating her work in the painting marquee. Some of you may remember Jenny as the guest judge on one of the series of Watercolour Challenge with Hannah Gordon. I used to love watching that programme. Jenny's painting style is very bright and contemporary. Below you can see a couple of her paintings. You can see more of Jenny's work on her website here or at the Bourne Gallery here.

Witch's House, Keswick

Party Shoes

This is a photo of Jane Hickman's greetings cards printed from her original batik designs. I have mentioned Jane and her gorgeous work before but for anyone who doesn't know her you can find her website here.

I spent a long time browsing in the printmaking and drawing marquee. I came across some well known artists there. One of them was Carry Akroyd who I have mentioned previously. The work is very varied and of such a high standard and it is fascinating to watch these experts demonstrating and explaining their techniques. I could have spent the entire day in just this one marquee. I don't blame the people who get a ticket for the entire four days of the show. Brilliant idea.