Brandywine Art

A friend gave me a small hard-backed sketch book for my birthday...

Sun, 20 May 2012 17:35:04 -0400

A friend gave me a small hard-backed sketch book for my birthday earlier in the year. I have used it most days - for experiments and memories. This afternoon I have been working on the pages from our holiday.

The Luncheon Party

Sun, 13 May 2012 20:18:55 -0400

The Luncheon Party

We are holidaying in America. After a wedding in Pennsylvania of a school friend of Rachel’s...

Sun, 13 May 2012 20:17:32 -0400

We are holidaying in America. After a wedding in Pennsylvania of a school friend of Rachel’s we have come to Washington. Peter, David and I visited the Philips Collection and saw some wonderful paintings including this well known work by Renoir.

I visited Salisbury with friends and amongst other beautiful things saw Anthony Gormley’s...

Wed, 02 May 2012 10:33:00 -0400

I visited Salisbury with friends and amongst other beautiful things saw Anthony Gormley’s hanging piece ‘Flare’ in the South Transept of the Cathdral. The stained glass windows and the Reflections from the surface of the font really moved me too. After lunch Jane and I spent a happy hour sketching in the quiet of the cathedral.

Anthony Gormley at Salisbury Cathedral

Wed, 02 May 2012 10:26:07 -0400

Anthony Gormley at Salisbury Cathedral

I’m featured in the May edition of Berkshire Life, on sale...

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 04:58:58 -0400

I’m featured in the May edition of Berkshire Life, on sale now! Thanks to Naomi Slade for the excellent article and photographs!

We visited Cliveden last Sunday to see the bluebells. It was a...

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 07:41:28 -0400

We visited Cliveden last Sunday to see the bluebells. It was a cold showery afternoon and the sun shone intermittently. There was hardly a soul about and so we had one of the glories of spring to ourselves. The haze of the bluebells, the verticals of the trees and the bright green jewels of the beech trees, as the buds slowly opened, was a wondrous site. We found ourselves standing next to a bench dedicated to a friend who died a few years ago, not realising that this too had been a special place for her.

iPad St Giles

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:39:36 -0400

iPad St Giles

Feeling pleased with myself…….Last week I bought ( on my own, without help from husband...

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 09:58:37 -0400

Feeling pleased with myself…….Last week I bought ( on my own, without help from husband or children) the ipad3. I have downloaded the Brushes app which is amazing! In fact everything about this neat little thing is AMAZING!!! This is one of my first attempts at using the Brushes app. David Hockney here I come! Also pleased that I emailed Tumblr and had a very quick reply about posting photos from iphoto which I have also installed. I have to give credit too to the very helpful (and patient!) staff at the Reading Apple store.

I have the ipad3!

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 09:47:55 -0400

I have the ipad3!

The Baptismal Bowl experiments have encouraged me to work with...

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 06:06:03 -0400

The Baptismal Bowl experiments have encouraged me to work with more colourful decoration on my pots. I’ve made a second mould and, using the white earthenware, have made several bowls which I’ve painted with underglaze colours. I’m still experimenting with the thickness of the transparent glaze which I am spraying onto the pot. I’m really pleased with the results!

It was warm and sunny when we planned our willow wigwam workshop...

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 17:31:04 -0400

It was warm and sunny when we planned our willow wigwam workshop with Susan Day. Maybe we would have had second thoughts if we’d known it would be so chilly! Once we were into the rhythm of weaving we soon forgot about the cold and by lunch time were very pleased with our results. Looking forward to seeing (and smelling)the sweet peas that will use my wigwam for support!

Worth a picture! Nettle Soup. Freshly picked nettle shoots from...

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 10:07:54 -0400

Worth a picture! Nettle Soup. Freshly picked nettle shoots from the garden and very tasty too. All I need now is a recipe for all the sycamore seedlings!

I have spent the last two Fridays with Jane Bonney and her Fun...

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 17:03:57 -0400

I have spent the last two Fridays with Jane Bonney and her Fun with Fabric workshop. Using the magic bondaweb and some gloriously coloured silk, velvet and voiles we experimented making our own fabrics to use for bags, book covers, glasses cases etc. This is a small bag I made which is just the right size for a necklace. I used machine stiching and sequins to add a bit of razzmatazz! I’m now working on a small evening bag with fish and tiny beads. Picture to follow when it is finally finished! Thank you Jane!

Yet another picture from my St Giles photographs! This one...

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:35:18 -0400

Yet another picture from my St Giles photographs! This one concentrates on the reflections in the windows opposite the coloourful buildings. I used wall paper, breyer papers and finally gesso - for the ‘G’ in the bottom L.H. corner.

Two more to add to the previous images. This time I have used ...

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 18:16:00 -0400

Two more to add to the previous images. This time I have used collage, including breyer papers - a way of using tissue paper, gesso and acrylic paint.

This image uses acrylics. The textured cross shape depicts the...

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 17:00:37 -0500

This image uses acrylics. The textured cross shape depicts the window frame. I used yellow acrylic but it was far too strident so applied oil sticks to dull it down. I am particularly pleased with the arch and windows.

More pictures using pastels. I am really enjoying working with...

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 16:54:35 -0500

More pictures using pastels. I am really enjoying working with the bright colours.

I am really enjoying working with the images I took of...

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 16:51:00 -0500

I am really enjoying working with the images I took of reflections in the windows around St Giles. These two pictures are from my sketchbook - playing with the patterns of the reflections usually charcoal and pastels.

A weekend in London! We stayed near Covent Garden. First visit was the Lucian Freud exhibition at...

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 17:38:00 -0500

A weekend in London! We stayed near Covent Garden. First visit was the Lucian Freud exhibition at the Portrait Museum. I had taken out membership earlier in the week so we wouldn’t have to queue for tickets which meant we were in the gallery just after opening. Hanging on the wall just as the exhibition starts are a collection of etchings of portraits of people made after Freud had painted them. What a powerful way to start the exhibition! We went straight to the later work avoiding those who were starting at the beginning with the audio guide. This meant we had the large later canvases all to ourselves. I was immediately drawn into the work – nudes with nothing hidden, portraits which seemed to grow out from the wall, coming to life and compelling me to look deeper, examining the brush strokes and the colours used which together portrayed something so raw and full of emotion that I was soon wiping away tears. The large paintings of ‘Big Sue’ the benefits clerk, his assistant David Dawson and his last , unfinished work with Dawson and Eli, Freud’s hound, are almost overwhelming: I could feel the skin and the upholstery, almost smell the paint… and the bodies. Working our way back to the beginning of the exhibition I found the portraits of Leigh Bowery very poignant. A large man, a performance artist able to hold difficult poses, while, unknown to Freud, dying of an AIDs related illness, lying on a bed with his wife looking so vulnerable, tiny and fragile. As we got to his earlier work the galleries were becoming more and more crowded. It was fascinating to see how his work developed as he swopped from smooth sable brushes to coarse hog’s hair bristles in the fifties and the paintings became more and more about the subject and less about the actual painting. Tender paintings of his mother hung alongside a pencil sketch of his father.

I have seen his work before but knowing that Freud had been alive at the start of planning the exhibition, and having seen the BBC2 programme a week or so ago enriched the whole experience even further. If you get the chance do go!