A Tale of Two Vases

How Observing the Landscape filters into Abstract Florals

This year I plan to make a collection of smaller paintings both for York Open Studios and for my end of year exhibition at Gallery Fort Nine in Bridlington. As well as new paintings, I have begun a body of work on paper, both Landscapes and Abstract Floral. These will be available at York Open Studios in April this year. I think my style is changing again into something more loose and wild. I look forward to sharing these with you.

A lot of my work takes place in my brain, before putting pen to paper. I walk and look and look again, in the outstanding countryside where I live, in all weather and at every time of year. I like to store images away and re-arrange them before I begin drawing, to think deeply about how I will describe what I see. The work is as much about how a landscape ‘feels’ as how it looks.

Photography by Sarah Banks

This imbibing of how a landscape ‘feels is perfect preparation for my Abstract Florals where all those feelings come out. Here I work entirely from my imagination which provides a wonderful release from the more closely observed discipline of my landscapes. I realise that, my love of nature and the hours spent observing landscape, comes out in my abstract floral paintings. This could be seen as a sort of cross fertilisation.

The Turning

“Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the earth.
There are hundreds of ways to find your way home.
”

— Rumi

Tales of the Riverbank

It has been a long time since I’ve blogged. My father has been ill for several years and died in February this year. This has greatly affected my work output. When a loved one is ill everything else diminishes in importance. The grieving process is something familiar to all of us; yet it seems a very lonely and personal thing as we all grieve in different ways. I am working through the process since his death of trying to start to live fully and work again. To find the joy in life as he would have wanted me to.

Enchanted Garden

My new paintings for 2023 seem like something of a landmark, a rebirth. Some of them are brand new and others were begun several years before. It is only recently that I have had the time and mental space to bring them to fruition. They are all a celebration of the natural world and the solace it brings. The world of trees and plants, sun, moon, river and sea are the gifts that keep on giving. At times they are the greatest comfort available. It is difficult not to see nature as a set of individual deities, as gods in their own right. Nothing built with such exquisite perfection could have happened by accident. Recent work follows the tradition of paintings before. New paintings such as ‘Tales of the Riverbank’, ‘The Holme Tree’ ‘Enchanted Garden’ and ‘Walk Towards Ravenscar’ all celebrate and pay homage to the restorative power of the natural world. In the cycle of nature is all our lives, the inner states, the outer changes, the constant endings and beginnings, the deaths and rebirths.

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A Walk Towards Ravenscar

Love Flowers

The Holme Tree

I apologise for the cancellation of all exhibitions and teaching for this year but am delighted to be still taking part in North Yorkshire Open Studios. This will take place June 3rd-4th and 10th-11th . I hope you can make it.

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A collaboration

with jeweller Katherine Bree

Pyramid Gallery, York.

November 2022.

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Photo credit: Lucy Saggers. 'Where the Owls Roost' painting.

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What a strange long hot summer this has been. So many things have contrived to take me away from the studio this year and I have decided to take a step back from the pressures of exhibitions, to look deeply at what my work is about and where I want to take it. What began as a process that made me sad and worried has ended up being rejuvenating.  I realised that constantly working under pressure to meet deadlines and to sell was making my work rigid.

 I have had a fallow year. It seems fitting for a painter in love with landscape to be likened to a field. Wikipedia says  ‘the goal of Fallow land is to allow the land to recover and store organic matter.’  This is what I have been doing. The visions are in my head, ready to flow.

with Katherine Bree discussing stones for necklaces inspired by 'Magic Garden' painting.

My next exhibition is at the end of the year in November at Pyramid Gallery in York. This is a collaborative exhibition with jeweller Katherine Bree who I have talked about in my last blog. For me it is a tying together of the very best of my earlier work and also an invitation to invite the new work into being.  The exhibition coincides with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain which marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. It is said of this time that the veil between the spirit world and corporeal has loosened, allowing the dead to mingle with the living. It is also the Celtic New Years Eve. What a perfect time for an exhibition about the elementals of Pigment and Stone and how the mysterious force of creativity can double in force and interest when blended together. This is an exhibition about taking stock, mingling with the past and inviting the new. I look forward to seeing you there.

With Katherine Bree looking at stones to compliment 'Pink Mountain' painting.

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Working on 'Tales of the Riverbank' painting.

All September blog photos credit: Lucy Saggers.

Katherine Bree working on pieces to compliment 'Pink Mountain' painting.

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Its a brand new year with some exciting exhibitions, collaborations, courses and projects.

One of the most interesting collaborative exhibitions this year is a mutually inspired collection of work to be exhibited at Pyramid Gallery in York with London Jewellery designer Katherine Bree.  With titles for her work such as ‘Talisman collection’ and ‘Secret Garden’  it is easy to see that Katherine and I are on the same page with our inspiration.  Hers is colourful and eclectic gemstone jewellery which reflects the colours of nature. It has an earthy, folksy, Shamanistic and eclectic quality which resonates with the style of my landscape inspired painting. So far she has chosen May Trees and Pink Mountain to hang alongside her pieces.

This is such an inspiring project to be involved with and should make an especially colourful exhibition. I am looking forward to making more collaborative work with Katherine throughout the year.

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Navigating Life after Lockdown

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Hyacinths and Lilies

It is true that although things are opening up, nothing seems the same as before. The suffocating facelessness of mask wearing and mask remembering. In years to come studies might be done on the psychological effects of mask wearing. Our freedom is curtailed. As a friend mentioned, it is not like you can just go to India on the Magic Bus. Travelling to York seems an expedition and as for leaving the country...

The interesting thing about freedom is we will find it where we can. Walking more, escaping in books, cycling, wild swimming and for me, Painting. It has been hard to keep painting this last year. Everything has seemed hard. Sometimes just putting one foot in front of the other. As all exhibitions were gradually cancelled it would have been easy to give up. I forced myself to keep going by an act of will.  Production has been slower but it has kept going.

Instagram has been one of my 'Lockdown' hobbies. I have found it really useful for my work. Not only the discovery and following of some first rate artists but a great platform to examine my own painting and get to grips with what inspires me. Photographing nature and landscapes on my walks and then posting these next to my paintings enables me to see how my colour palette is strongly influenced by what is around me. The time of year, the light, the landscape and the weather. Colours in bark, blossom, trees, sky and earth are all reflected in paintings produced in a season.

Rabbit Dale

So I'd like to share my season with you. There is more to come. A lovely stay at Northfield Lodge in the Yorkshire Wolds has inspired a new body of chalky, spacious, pinky work. There is the lovely interior- Hyacinths and Lillies. Big and expensive and gorgeous. Then the small but perfectly formed- Yellow Tulips.

Yellow Tulips

I wish you a happy emergence from 'Lockdown' and hoping we can throw our masks in the bin soon.

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“Inspiration does exist, but it must find you working” Pablo Picasso

Pink Mountain

Nearly into April and everything is just on the brink of bursting out and so are we. I feel like a mole, emerging, blinking into the light after being in a very dark tunnel for a long time. We are all longing to regain some 'normality'.

I took an extra studio just before Lockdown which meant I was able to 'travel to work'.  This helped me psychologically a great deal, to separate myself from home and domesticity and work in a completely neutral space. When I closed the door it was just me and the paints and sketches made last summer in the Lake District. I travelled to the Lake District in my mind; climbed the mountains and stood before the white houses and winding paths.

Lakeland House

To be creative is a gift in times like these.  But creativity requires certain conditions in which to thrive and flow. It is always precarious and sometime illusive, as is its sister, inspiration.  Like a gift or passion that can vanish as suddenly as it appears.  I read recently a quote from Picasso which I found so true and inspiring. He said that 'inspiration does exist but it must find you working.' This sums up the situation for all artists. You must work, even when you don't want to. When your heart is heavy and your feet like clay and you feel dead inside you must go into that room and work. Only then can the magic happen.

Little House - Big Tree

A fellow artist said to me a long time ago,  “Everything you do when you are not in your studio contributes to your art.” This is one of those statements that made a lasting impression. It is your time in history; your politics, your country and your environment that you are putting into your art. The walks you go on, the talks you have and the love you make. For that we need other people. How I miss them. Inspiration needs a party and I look forward to them being legal. A party of four would be fine.  Bring it on, lest we forget the meaning of joy.

 “Inspiration does exist, but it needs other people.”

- Lesley Seeger

The Sacred Tree

As everyone knows these are strange times. We are all experiencing 'Lock down' in different ways.  Winter is a more difficult time for many of us.  As the nights draw in I tend to 'Lock- down'... and so we have Lock-down on top of Lock-down and I do feel....a bit 'Locked in.'

 The Spring 'Lock-down' was easy for me. We live in an area of outstanding natural beauty. Everything was coming into bud. The weather was glorious and painting was flowing. I couldn't work fast enough, preparing work for my re-scheduled show at Cambridge Contemporary in the Autumn. This time around it is not so easy. I have been working on the same painting for several months now. Ruining it from time to time by applying random colours to try to move it on and wiping them off before the paint dries. I remind myself that some of my most difficult paintings turn out to be my best. That it will come right in the end. To keep going. I can’t find out what is wrong with this painting or what it needs. I go round and around in circles, destroying what should be preserved and preserving what should be destroyed.

 It is an obvious assertion that for creative people, their state of mind is reflected in their work. Feeling blocked or hemmed in is not good for my flow. I have lots of plans. The studio is set up, boards prepared. I have so many inspiring photographs and sketches to work on. I walk into the studio and feel overwhelmed. Confidence is low. I paint another layer on the difficult painting, sand it down, paint a dark green path, wipe it out. Go into the kitchen for a stiff gin at 6 pm. (I am lying about the time.)

Sharow Fields, Earth Song, Bluebell Woods,

 Instagram has provided an interesting almost obsessive pastime for me of late. Having been locked out of Facebook, (a situation no expert seems able to solve) A latecomer to the platform I feel rather behind and daunted by the spectacular number of followers many of my fellow artists enjoy.

However, I take time, enjoying the process of curation, - an educational process in itself.  I am deeply suspicious of the digital world. I think it has made things unnecessarily complicated.  However, I have been seduced by Instagram. I never would have found the top rate artists I have found had I not been on it. Looking at the work of others, helps me assess my own. There are so many talented people out there it is humbling. So humbling that occasionally the little voice 'give it up' comes into my head. Especially in these times of trying to make a living without a gallery or exhibitions.  But then there is the other voice 'never give up 'and I am reminded that each day is a brand new opportunity to really live and 'Locked down' is often only a state of mind. I remember also a line to a poem someone sent me.

 'After the darkest part of the darkest night- the light comes.'

One to remember for these times and all times and to bear in mind when struggling with the creative process. Another friend told me that creating was an act of faith. We don't know if it will work or we will get paid or people will like what we do or whether or not we will be successful. We do it because we have to. Because in creativity is hope and the ability to put some sort of order to chaos; the striving to be good and better at what we do, to impart hope, joy, beauty and comfort; to lift up the soul.

Transition - A Bahamas in North Yorkshire

Here I am sitting in transition. My current collection has gone to new homes, galleries and interior designers and I am slowly preparing to begin a new body of work.  Boards have been cut; paint ordered, studio tidied (a bit) but what will the work be about and with what will it connect?  Will it be sombre or joyous, abstract or figurative? In which ways will it be fresh, exciting and new? What will be the ideas behind it and will  I navigate brand new territory?

Spring is no problem for me creatively as I leap into life and cant stop painting. As a sun worshipper, the end of  summer makes me sad and disorientated.  The leaving of the light, the drop in temperature, the apparent dying of all things; until I start to open myself to the particular charm and beauty of Autumn.

It is necessary to dig deeper in the Autumn and Winter for me as I find myself shrinking inwards away from gloom and cold.  The migrating birds always make me envious as they seem to have the right idea and know what is to come.  But for now, when the light is bright and low, I see this season has charms of its own, as the leaves begin to turn and the structure in trees and bushes emerges.  I realise this new very different beauty and palette.

The rain falls softly outside and the sky is grey and as I long for heat and bright sun, I remember this is the time of year when I paint my abstract florals, bringing extra colour and warmth into my paintings. A sort of Bahamas in North Yorkshire. Conversely, it is the time when my landscapes reveal their bones in lines and  dark earth colours.

Watch out for the Autumn/Winter collection with its tendency towards stark contrasts of Baroque and minimalism.

Cambridge Contemporary Art Gallery

Photo credits: Zuza Grubeka

I can’t believe we are in October already. I’m so pleased my cancelled exhibition for May was re-scheduled for September. The show was a great success with paintings travelling to new homes around the country and all the way to America.

Painting Courses

Painting courses at Helmsley Walled Garden were also able to go ahead. We were so lucky every time with the weather. More courses are scheduled now for 2021 and there is a new landscape course taking place in October. To book onto this or any of the 2021 courses, see my courses page.