A Simple message from Liz and myself,

Have a lovely, wonderful Christmas.

Well Christmas is almost with us and normal organised work is slowing down. All my Mind and group work is over until the New Year, so, although the seasons tasks are reaching their high point, art wise I am managing to slow down a little and think. Where am I going next year, what are my aims and aspirations?

The Trees and Beyond project will continue, with slight changes. I am aware that most of my work is rather small, so the first aim for next year is for more of my work to be closer to A3. That is a good size, as it is not to problematic to archivally scan and store. 

Secondly, after slight problems this year I must get back working in London. Also my travel  work will continue; having two plans for journeys to Hornfuer and Cherbourg, both in Normandy already booked, so that is in hand. Group workshops and travel around the Uk are also planned. So next year is already looking exciting and filling up.

But the priority for the next few days is Christmas, I am a Christian and it means a great deal to me. It is a time of great joy, to rest, have fun and thank our God for his goodness to us.

So have a great Christmas and I will write again in the New Year.

Charles

Good morning, today is Monday and I am down at the MIND drop in session (mental health charity) for the morning, that's good.

On Wednesday it is the MIND Christmas Fayre, being held in Christ Church Woking from 2pm until 4pm. Come along meet the crowd and see what we get up to.

Incidentally, I will be having have a stall there, as a consequence you will be able to view some of my work up close and as a bonus, also meet me: if you want to!

 

With a friend, Liz and myself have just returned from a very welcome few days taking it easy at Sidmouth in Devon. The weather wasn't perfect, but it was warm and we didn't want to do to much anyhow. Most of the time I relaxed painting mussel shells, which was relaxing, good fun and the finished item wasn't to bad either.
We wandered to Lyme Regis and did just one sketch, half way through it started raining, so that stopped me.
From that point it seemed a good idea to relax, so that is what I did.
It did me good to, I still painted, but I chilled out as well.
Don't take yourself to seriously.

A bit of a change today. Whilst at Epsom a few weeks ago, amongst other things I demonstrated paper sculpture. The above piece is a clinker built dingy, in the classical plank on frame style,  as in the real thing. The larger of the two books has about twenty pages, whilst the smaller of the books has about ten pages, both open properly; the satchel sadly doesn't show up to well, but has a convincing leather look. The boat is about six inches in length and made totally from scrap pieces of paper and pva glue, before being finished with acrylic paint. I enjoyed making it during the odd spare moments throughout the week; several of the conference attenders also followed its progress during the weeks as well.
The idea was given me by a client who suggested that I made a boat for a thinker, hence the books. When I have some spare time a bit of beach or something like that needs making for it, before it all gets framed.

Well it has been a rather productive sort of day. The top image is an ink of a quiet, wild corner at Wisley RHS, this was finished before church this morning and the photograph below was take on a stroll near Albury, close to Shere in Surrey, this afternoon. I was taking images to work from, sort of collecting ideas in the camera, a bit like a photo sketch book, rather than capturing fine art photos, and that was one of the results. I rather like it.

The next opportunity to see my work, apart from calling round, is at the Woking MIND Christmas fair, which is being held at Christ Church, on the 28th. of November. Most of you will know of my passion for encouraging good mental health, well two mornings a week I work with MIND and I love the work. It would be nice to see you there

Well Epsom came and went, the preparation time was well spent as everything went swimmingly well; indeed they have booked me for next year. The workshops worked, as did all the talking with clients and professionals; my talk about recovery from metal health conditions also worked. So at the end of the week I felt very tired but also very good. So, I then the idea was to have a few day rest and recuperation.

So now, short while on and I am back at it again, whatever it may be and life is again hectic and good fun. 

The above picture is about my favourite images from the travels of this year.

We were in Vienna, the weather was glorious, but not to hot, Liz had gone into church just down this lane and as there was nowhere to sit, I seated myself in the gutter and did the above. People in a nearby café came over to look at my work, nice chats. A lovely relaxing half hour or so. 

A couple of weeks routine and then Liz and myself with a friend are off for a short break in Sidmouth. A rather nice sea front hotel with a sea view, we have stayed there before, so we know that we will be well cared for.

Well life has quietened down just a little for the afternoon. I say a little as we are listening to Verdi's Nabucco on a DVD; it is just awesome.

Lots is happening and with Eosom only a few days away, life is a bit busy with all the preparation. Those of you in the know will be pleased that the parrot is finished.

So not a new picture today, but a sketch from Prague done during our recent trip. Today I am having an off day from art work, well that is the plan. But if the desire is within you to be good at what you do, in truth there is no such thing as an off day from painting or sketching. So today, I have had two, one hour sessions with my pen; just keeping my hand in.

Try to draw a little every day, its a good discipline.

This morning is all wet, damp and a tad miserable so I need cheering up a little, then I thought, how about my blog; so here goes.

 Had another nice bit of cheery news the other day; a member of one of my groups has done exceptionally well in an international cinematic art competition; he didn't win; but he was one of a few highly commended entries, so well done and my oh my, that is encouraging.

Also Epsom mental health week is just around the corner, so being their artist,  life is getting busy from that quarter as well. Believe it or not, much of my Epsom related thinking at the moment is about macaws, the parrot type! All very strange, light hearted, and fun oriented, but also rather challenging and hard work.

The above image is of a lane in Somerset which is near to Shepton Mallet; when I was down there a few weeks ago the weather was  little better than it is here today.

Had a super bit of encouragement the other day. I have just lead a short course on water-colour with Mind, (a charity) and to put it simply the results were staggering.
The techniques learnt were, single stroke brush application, wash layers, and using ink with the  earlier techniques. I was amazed, as you can see the results were rather good. So the plan is to have a short break and then in a month to six weeks we will do a whole still life. Now that is exciting.
So this time the work is not mine, but others, apart from one of the images.
Lots happening, Epsom mental health week in about a month, and lots of other things. Next time I will tell you about my parrot, no I haven't lost it, but it is good fun.

One very sleepy morning, I assume that I will wake up shortly. The drawing this morning is one which was finished just ten minuets ago and is straight off the scanner. It is an ink drawing which shows a line of old beech trees; I saw them a few weeks ago in Somerset. The idea is about how the light drifts through and between the trees. A slightly complex drawing which involves no traditional drawing methods; but rather lines, circles, squiggles, scratches and many other kinds of marks, a sort of shorthand, with the final image of a representation of the trees. An A3 drawing, which took quite a while to produce, with a rewarding conclusion.

A nice e-mail this morning; a gallery has approached me and want me to exhibit with them next year; we all like and need encouragement.

Yesterday when in town, Liz and myself bumped into an old friend of hers from long ago. In a few days she is off up north and spending a day or two in York; one of my favourite cities. So here is a water-colour for you Fran.

It was a lovely day sketching in York a couple of years ago. As I was sat on a low wall outside the West end of the Cathedral working, a pony and trap with passengers on board was passing by, the driver stopped and passed me a cushion to sit on, saying that he would be back in half a hour for it. Then shortly afterwards a waitress came out of Betties (the well known coffee shop) with a cup of coffee for me; I was really spoilt that day. Several passers by stopped to chat as well; all in all it was rather pleasant. Maybe the resulting water-colour shows that I was a little happy. Out of interest my last blog was of Wells and not Bath.

Sorry about my last blog (poor grammar, site layout, etc) but really no proper excuses, except for a small machine, new system strange,  surroundings, etc; I will try harder this time.

The above is the main street in Bath, done during a quick stop over to buy some shoes. The rule this year was just one water-colour image in each place visited, this one took just 55 minutes, timed; and then off and away. Good fun and sharpened me up a bit, as well as rest from the usual inks.

Liz and myself have just had a super week at the New Wine Festival in Shepton Mallet in Somerset, we went each morning going to the hungry venue to listen to amazing woman called Emma ? head of theology Trinity College Bristol. Her teaching on Ephesians was just out of this world.

Then each afternoon Liz and myself did the tourist bit and jaunted around, one day we ventured into   Bath and saw this amazing cyclist; hope you like him or her, I am not sure which it is. I suppose  

if we are being correct, it could be non-binary.

We are now in Sheffield, meeting up with lots of friends and simply chilling out a little. See you all in a few days.

 

Well a good week just gone and on Thursday, we are off traveling again. This time to the New Wine festival at Somerset where I am again exhibiting and also to our usual lovely stay in that very old barn conversion in Crossecombe. 

On Saturday just gone I was bullied by friends and wife to enter a local art festival, exhibiting one of my waste paper sculptures and lo and behold it got the first prize. IT being as it is would not let me place an image of it on this site, so here is a similar creation, this time of 1st. cent. Galilee and the type of boats which the disciples used to fish from.

We looking forwards to a good refreshing week at New Wine and lets hope that my exhibition sells something. After that we are going to spend a few days relaxing with our dear friends in Sheffield.

See you in two weeks.

 

Had a good few days during the last week, lots has been happening. One of the events as well as the usual routing was talking to new art students at a local school (year 10). There was the usual mixture of interested and the not so interested; that's ok. But amongst the interested were over half a dozen young people with rather surprisingly amazing talent. I would love to see their work after three years at art school. It was pleasant experience, everybody was so nice and kept calling me sir!!! I'm not very used to that.

 

Just so that you know that I am not ignoring my trees, here's one I finished a few days ago.

First thank you to Malcolm; indeed Melk is in Austria and not Germany. Maybe to many borders were crossed and forgetfulness on occasion occurred as to where in reality I was.

Sketching on a trip like this is always challenging, and opportunities have to be taken as they arise. The two sketches on view today were both done from the boat as we chugged along.
The upper piece is a fishing lodge somewhere in Hungary, these were every few yards even in the wilder stretched of the river. You will notice the derrick type apparatus, their fishing is very technique ridden at times; if you are interested I will explain how they do it. The lower one is of a cabin cruiser on the continental divide, we saw many small boats of all shapes and sizes; the locals obviously loved their water based pastimes.
Works like the above may not be fine art, even if they can be rather nice drawings; however they do add significantly to the work as a whole by making statements of life styles, etc.
The work on the Danube is now finished, it comprises of  91 quick works, 6 worked up water-colours and about 100 photographs, an essay and lastly a map, filling three volumes.  This is available for anybody's perusal, just contact me.

Melk in Bavaria Germany, was one of the wonderful places we visited on our recent travels. The village itself lies beneath the Monastery which is situated high above on a rocky outcrop. Very picture post card stuff. But the best part was the people, they were so friendly.

 At on point Liz was wandering around retail gazing whilst I was doing the above ink/watercolour sketch. Two eight or nine year old girls, with their mum, they were local and joined me to watch me paint and chat. A lovely memorable twenty minuets or so.

Very busy, sorting out the painting, sketches and photos; really enjoying myself. This hot weather is super as outside water-colour work is so possible, with the quick drying times.

Oh well must go to a BBQ, see you all soon.

We are back home again and well into the routines of life. There is something good about going on holiday and in reality being satisfied and pleased to be back home again. New Wine contacted me asking me to exhibit; that's good news and all the framing, etc etc is done. So any body who is there can see my work in the Market place, I will also be around if you want to natter.

The trip from Budapest to Prague, via Vienna and many other amazing place stunned both Liz and myself.  Painting went into overdrive, so with Liz's help ninety one drawings and paintings were produced, plus photos; when put together it will be a worthwhile body of work. Vienna was stunning, the water-colour and ink sketch above, is of one of the roads leading off the main Basilica square. My only complaint was the time factor, we only had a few hours in Vienna and nine sketches in that time was a tad rushed. Still we managed to get a good feel of the place.

A few of you keep asking me about my wire sculptures, so here is another one of meadow flowers; the flowers represented are cranesbill, daisy, thistle and speedwell, These are not serious botanical representations, but rather decorative works showing the great beauty and diversity within God's creation. For various reasons these pieces are rather tricky to photograph or scan, so please excuse this slightly iffy image, as the real construction is much more colourful and bright

I am working on a much larger work showing a beech tree with all the varied flowers around it's base. The plan is for it to be ready for New Wine in July; however although the work is at an advanced stage, a great deal more needs doing as of yet. Have no fear my ink work is not being neglected..

Europe calls and travels with my camera and ink pot can't be put off any more; so no blog for the next few weeks. See you all soon. 

Its bank holiday Monday and I am having a lazy day, or at least trying to. A few jobs to do, like popping into town, then  going round to a friends for coffee. The jobs of a more practical nature, I will not bother you with.

Last week on the last day in Somerset, it was such a lovely day that we drove over to Knightshayes Hall for the afternoon. The same sort of reaction from the staff happened again. These NT places just love artists turning up. I was welcomed with arms open wide, so to speak. As usual the staff wanted to see the finished sketch; so here it is. Thank you all.

If you do paint or sketch, whilst at the same time being a little nervous of painting out of doors in very public places, try NT sites. Working in the grounds of these places I have never had a negative reaction from staff. Working out of doors, ensuring that there will be no spillages of colours, by using such things as enclosed ink pens such as biros and not dip pens, you will receive very positive encouragement. Try it.

Well Liz and myself have been of traveling again, this time we were invited to Taunton Somerset to lead a workshop on the use of ink and the width of it's the uses art-wise in general. The workshop was at St James's in the centre of the town and I must congratulate them all for being so flexible and adaptable to new (to them) ways of working.

Staying with long-term friends Jenny and Martin and were made very welcome. 

Visiting two old halls in our spare time, the first being Lytes Cary Manor. When some of the staff realised that I was an artist, the welcome was very warm. So for Celia (I think) and others, a couple of quick sketches. There is more, but space on this page is limited

#

The second venue to be visited was Killerton Hall, but more of that in a few days

A busy week, and thankfully all the extra-curriculum type charging around is over for the week (a workshop on small still life which was real success in Leatherhead; that was the main challenge ), so relax a little with routine; well, almost; it was a good idea anyhow. 

Next week we are off the Taunton in Somerset to lead an ink workshop. That is with friends so it will be good fun and a pleasant couple of days to relax a little.

Sadly my scanner was on the desk when the hole punch fell off the shelf and landed on the glass screen. Oh dear, but to be positive I bought it eight years ago at a get rid of everything sort of sale, for £25, and it was a jolly good buy; it served me well. I was surprised that a replacement  A4 scanner was a lot cheaper than I thought. Well not cheap, but cheaper than expected, for certain it did not owe me anything.

Above is a water-colour and pencil of Kimmeridge Bay, which was produced a couple of weeks ago when with Liz we were in Weymouth. Lying amongst the pebbles I picked up a couple of small fern type fossils, very small, but special as I found them myself.

A friend is coming round shortly and we are having a curry together, so that will be very nice.

Two images today.

Please excuse the rather poor scan quality, but as it will not lie flat on the scanner and it to big to put the lid back on. And then just to make a few more  problems it needed  two scans  being joined together; not to bad considering.

The creation is made from copper wire, then coloured loosely with acrylics. If  my work is accepted for New Wine this year there will be a small number of these included.

At the present time I am working on a piece of meadow grassland, with daisies,speedwells, thistles and maybe something else, lets see what transpires. This way of working is fiddly but good fun. Don't worry my ink work ink work is not being neglected.

Just had to show you all another one of Weymouth. The building immediately to the right of the bridge is where we had our flat; Lovely. We had a super time.

See you all soon.

Liz and myself are having a few days of rest with a good friend called Jean. We have a super flat right by the bridge in the centre of  Weymouth. So we are in the shopping area, beside the river and in the middle of the fishing docks. A plus for some would be that we are also surrounded by all the local night clubs. Thank goodness for deafness, I never thought that I would say that; by the way we are sleeping exceedingly well.

Today we wandered all over Portland; hence the image above which is of the cliffs at Portland Bill; the light house being immediately to the left of the above picture. It was very and I mean very windy, but lovely.

The method used was to drop a little water-colour onto the paper and then push it around with a pencil. Concentrating the colour only around the centre of the picture, A very quick and sketchy way of working, which produced lovely loose and expressive paintings.

Tomorrow we are off to Durdel Door, that sounds great!!

Well today a significant mile stone has been reached in my present project; called trees and beyond, that is in looking at the symbiotic relationship which trees have with their surroundings. Number 300 in the series has been passed. The original idea was for a dozen or so images to be produced, but as the subject was looked at closer, the subject became wider and then even wider again. Indeed it is still widening!

The above is number 300 and of a beech tree near the mushroom farm, Woking, is important as it demonstrated the need for really quite dramatically dark blacks and the use of a hard contrast. With the use of ink in this type of subject, the reality is dawning that very rarely is there an allowance for leaving any of the paper completely white, Surprisingly a light grey often seams to stand out more against a very dark area that pure white would; now that I do not understand?

Oh well must go, see you soon.

Yesterday was the first truly spring type day of this year and it was just lovely. Liz and myself remarkably had a day off, so we decided to make the most of it and go out.

A lazy start and we were out by about ten, a short walk near Walton on Thames was the aim, which we did, then on to the weir and a pub which for the life of me I can not remember the name. A large lemon and lime with a picnic of tuna mayo sandwich's, a packet of cheesetts followed; lovely.

Then we just relaxed by the river, another drink, with Liz reading and myself sketching; the above drawing being the result.

The method is simple if challenging. No pencil, no rubber, just a pen on paper. The shapes are drawn using a very light method of ink application. This is repeated several times until the outline becomes stronger; then hatch, cross hatching and yet more cross hatching until the end result is reached. The trick is to be very light fingered with the pen in the early stages and towards the end not being afraid of getting really black.

Got home fiveish, had tea, a bath, before watching a dvd.

Great fun, super day.

The weather today looked very promising, so of to London went I and the fine sunny day did not disappoint; in fact by the late afternoon it was very warm and it would have been quite pleasant without my jumper.

Returning to Smithfield's Market which was briefly passed the other day, however then being on a mission, was unable to stop. Amazingly, it was a rare occasion, when there was  no camera or sketchbook about my person.

Very near the Barbican the area is so yuppyish, but immediately around the market the place feels original 50's London, friendly, warm and everybody chatted to everybody else. The group of people to the bottom right of the sketch were construction workers, employed on the over ground railway scheme. They kept coming over to natter and see the ongoing work was progressing. The sketch should have taken 20 mins or so; but with stopping and talking to the above, it took over an hour; however a very pleasant hour. Then another sketch and onto a bacon butty in a real back street greasy spoon caf; lovely.  What a super morning.

Had lots more adventures but there isn't room here. 

The other day when finishing the above drawing of the approach to Woking along the Basingstoke canal, from the south, there was a small amount of satisfaction. The way in which the ink was applied  to me was pleasing, as in many ways it was a little difficult to produce. So rather pleased with myself it was shown to the Lovely Liz.

Her reaction was not what I wanted. She said it looks like Winnie the Pooh and Tiger going for a walk; I was deflated.

The moral of this tale is, don't get to pompous about yourself.

Duncan

For various reasons over the last few months getting into London has been a little tricky, so my sketching on the streets of our capitol has frustratingly had to lie on the back burner for a while. Well on Thursday as the weather looked fine so Liz reluctantly let me of the leash. I didn't do to much and travelled round on the busses whilst limiting my drawing to two pieces. Number 1 was of the Queen's Gate into the House of Lord's and number 2 was in Trafalgar Square, a short bus ride away. Met lots of interesting people; a couple from Canada who were amused at our rather over reaction to snow, two from Atlanta, over for a christening and lastly an Israeli family; they were just loving the city. 

Remember that the exhibition at the Augustus John in Fordingbridge is there for another week.

Art is all encompassing and seems to take a hold of most parts of my life. As such most of the thoughts and objects which pass me by, tend to be drawn or painted; one good example of this is the everyday clutter which surrounds us in our homes. Recording of all this clutter is oft referred to as one of the disciplines of still life painting. I love a glass of whisky and I also love Victoria plums; hence the above ink drawing.

A Patient whom I saw in St. Peters hospital last week requested it.

Remember that if you are down in Fordingbridge in the New Forest before April the 1st. there is a small exhibition of mine at the Augustus John Pub.

Liz and myself had a little adventure yesterday. As you all know, I was booked to hang an exhibition in the Augustus John pub in Fordingbridge in the New Forest, The weather was not very encouraging, however there was a small gap in the two snow belts and we managed to get there, hang the exhibition and return within the gap. Despite the pictures being hung rather quickly, we felt that it all looks rather good. We spent the evening watching a dvd, staying warm and had a lovely warm early night! The pictures are there until the 1st of April.

Maybe a seasonally whitish image is appropriate for today, so the above picture is of the Basingstoke Canal as it passes behind Goldsworth Park, Woking, about half a mile from home. As a contrast my next blog with have a cheery sunny feel to it. 

Oh well the exhibition for Fordingbridge is all ready to take down there and hang, so for a few days I can relax a little and just simply enjoy my art, for arts sake. That is taking the form of ink work along the Wey navigation, around Woking and Guildford as it meanders through the most beautiful countryside. But one of those images for another day.

One of the media which I have been exploring recently is wire sculpture and painting, like the above. Its all good fun and goes like this, obtain a roll of .58mm copper wire (Maplins) and construct, weave, sculpt, or whatever you want to call it, your object. Then paint it in a very loose ipasto  style with acrylics. After which the work is stitched with the afore mentioned  wire to a base board. Very fiddly, can be a tad messy, but good fun. Comments have been very positive, lets see how they go down in the New Forest Next week?

A quick water-colour sketch of Port Quinn done on a recent trip to Cornwall. If it is warm enough to allow for reasonably quick drying time, water-colour is a super sketching tool. My palette is about the size of a box of Swan Vesta match's, two collapsible brushes and only a 100ml plastic bottle for water. Very small and compact; all the above will easily fit into the jacket pocket or bag. Small palettes of the above mentioned variety, are readily available at most craft or art stores.

But the good news is that the Augustus John, an art pub in Fordingbridge on the western side of the New Forest, has invited me to exhibit there from the 1st of March this year for a month. Brian who runs the place, pulls a good pint, the food is very good indeed and it is nice place to spend a short while  relaxing within its walls. Incidentally it is so called as it was the local pub for Augustus John, an artist whom you will no doubt know as an artist of great national renown.

I keep saying how important art is as a communication tool, well the other day whilst at a hospital where I work and chatting to a lady, we talked about both our artistic endeavours. She produced photos on her phone of rather super wooden turned creations, amongst other things. In the chat we talked about Lincoln Cathedral where I had the privilege to work as an artist some years ago, I said that one of the Lincoln drawings from that period would appear on this site this week.

The drawing was one I produced when leading a group in learning how to handle painting in very public places. It was  glorious sunny August, Saturday, early afternoon at the west end of the building and we had hundreds of tourists surrounding us and watching we the twenty or so artists image making. It was a lovely friendly, chatty sort of day; lots of confidence levels were raised to new levels.

To paint whilst being surrounded by people who you have not met before, is such a privilege and honour; barriers go down and people just become friendly, dropping many of their prejudices and hardness's of life. Try it.

Maybe I have gone on enough, To the lady I met; I hope you like the drawing and the rest of you, see you soon

You will no doubt have heard all the fuss about the blue moon the other night, well it was to much to resist so of Liz and myself went up to Newlands Corner (a hill away from light pollution) to try to photograph the event. It was my first attempt at astrological photography.I remembered a few things which Andy (Sheffield) told me years ago, and learnt a few more things.

Andy's wisdom!!! The exposure for the moon is normally the same as an exposure for a bright sunny day. It seems a funny exposer to use in the pitch black, but it was a good starting point. The other way of getting the exposure right is to use a 1% spot meter, if you have one!

And the lesson was, practice using the camera and tripod blindfolded beforehand (it was pitch black). My tripod head is a geared one, a bit of a beasty, enough is to say it is complex and not easy to use without the use of eyes to see with. Fumbling in the dark was tricky, but we won in the end.

I might try something a little more ambitious in the future. 

PS. Liz didn't move from the car as it was a tad cold.

The other day Liz and myself went for a short stroll along the Wey navigation near Triggs Lock. A cloudy but mild day, ideal for walking. Half way to Send these trees were  on the opposite bank; they captured my imagination and creative juices. Hence the above sketch; of which I am quite pleased with the result, but!

Now the small word but, can be very helpful. Never be complacent or easily satisfied, always say to yourself, how can I improve on todays work. I think the above is good, but more control and enhancing in building up and developing the contrasts, would maybe take it onto another level. So tomorrow, another river walk, with trees and banks; lets see what transpires.

Sorry about the rather longer gap in my postings, would it be suffice to say, "Technique obstructions by computers". They are not always very nice bedfellows.  Well now all is behaving, so as they say, onwards and upwards. So now, well rested after Christmas and back at work, life is at full tilt and great.

Two weeks ago being in Sheffield and staying in the Jury Inn, I promised the staff a posted image of Sheffield on the site for them. So here it is for you all and thanks for a lovely stay. After leaving Sheffield we shot down to Devon, and lots of adventures, more on that next time.

Regards Charles.