This is such a rich time of year in terms of a positive bounty of new things to paint. Everywhere you look there are gorgeous autumn leaves and fruits which are beautifully complex when you look closely. The way that leaves furl and curl once dropped from the tree as the structure of the tree itself slowly reveals itself again is a lovely thing. As is the satisfying shape and lustre of an acorn or an apple. An artist is spoilt for choice!

I am currently exhibiting at the Denbies Wine Estate with the Surrey Hills Artists until Sunday 23rd October 2022.

I can’t believe it’s autumn again and so much has changed in recent months. To have some familiar routine has been a real bonus. I can get lost in painting and researching new subjects to enjoy and inspire me.

Both the art groups I belong to have annual autumn exhibitions coming up. Surrey Hills artists in October and Dorking Group of Artists in November, both at Denbies Vineyard. I have been trying out a new style inspired by Angie Lewins delicately beautiful watercolours, which I plan to show in October. I am still doing oil painting as well. I couldn’t not! Oil is such a luscious medium and suits the still life subjects I enjoy painting so much.

Well it’s certainly been summery weather here! Now it’s a bit cooler I can get out and enjoy the amazing botanical creations that are in full bloom at the moment.

Pale pink Cosmos is such an elegant plant with translucent and papery petals that are smartly crimped and pleated as though cut with pinking shears. The delicate fronds of foliage add a delightful contrast to this design classic. It grew easily from seed saved from last year and it looks beautiful painted on a grey mid toned paper.

Also the meadow is doing it’s thing with a sea of wild flowers decorated with butterflies, bees and beetles. Thankfully some things never change!

See in Watercolours

I came across an interesting remark in a a book recently (What are you looking at, 100 years of modern art. by Will Gompertz)

David Hockney said “A camera cannot see what a human can see, there is always something missing”.

If several people took a photo of the same view or object from the same place and time they would turn out to be much the same. If several artists painted the same view or objects they would be surprisingly different, concentrating on different details, even seeing different colours. We all bring our very individual years of experience, spatial study, stored information and interests and obsessions to the equation, and express it in the colours, composition and atmosphere we put into our artwork.

Now, I have some time over the summer before I will be involved in exhibiting again, I can concentrate on pursuing by own individual view of the world and revel in portraying it in paint, from my minds eye.

My exhibition at the Popup Gallery in Leatherhead continues until 17th May. But I am also exhibiting some exciting new work with the Surrey Hills Artists exhibition at the Denbies Wine Estate Gallery Dorking from 9th May to 22nd May.

This great idea for a gallery in Leatherhead is sponsored by the district council to try to encourage small local business back into the town centre. Much better than an empty shop!

I will be sharing the Gallery space with another artist Daisy McMullan for a month. Details below.

This season I have three exhibitions coming up, so lots to get organised which is always fun as well as a bit of a challenge.

Thelma Golden an American curator and director of exhibitions once said “An exhibition is in many ways a series of conversations. Between the artist and the viewer, the curator and the viewer and between the works themselves.”

I always look forward to the opportunity exhibiting gives me, to put over my view of the world, my “point of view” if you like. The viewer has their own experience of what they see which may be quite different from mine and that is always interesting. My first exhibition is in a Pop up Gallery in Leatherhead, sharing the gallery space with another artist Daisy McMullan. This will be an overview of my art from the last few years in a new and interesting location for me. I hope you will come and take a look.

POP UP LEATHERHEAD, Swan Centre Leatherhead KT228AH(where Next used to be.) Opens Tuesday 19th for one month 9am-4pm. Tues-Sat.

I feel that spring is on the horizon now so I have been inspired by natures materials, which are a constant source of wonderful shapes and colours to use in paintings. I also saw a gorgeous vase in the Courtauld Gallery which just had to be added into the mix!

Also I have been trying out some vibrant colour combinations and different viewpoints. See under watercolours and oils.

Now January is out of the way, a time for contemplating rather than doing, I find. I now feel I can start planning for the coming year. With several exhibitions on the horizon I need to decide what to paint in the next few months in preparation. I have recently done a couple of colourful watercolours of individual Tulips which are such elegant flowers and bring thoughts of spring. You can see them on the watercolours page. Also an oil painting of pears called “Pared”! I like the minimalism of them. I am also planning to paint some more unusual still life items and compositions which will be fun to try out. So watch this space.

I never feel that January is the beginning of a new year for me. It’s usually cold and wet and not at all conducive to making plans that require effort and determination. I prefer to do that in the springtime when everything appears more optimistic and achievable. So my New Years resolution would be to defer any major changes in direction until then!

2021 was a good year for me artistically once it got going after the lockdown, a period I seem to have erased from memory. Suddenly exhibitions and open studios sprung into life and we all made up for lost time. These were all the more enjoyable for the lack of events on our agenda’s for so long! Every cloud has a silver lining I suppose.

I have nearly finished a painting that is based on “the whiter shades of pale”. I have long been a fan of the song, and of light ethereal images that have a ghostly and dreamlike quality, which I have tried to capture. It will be exhibited sometime in the spring, my favourite season.