We had the private view of our Catch by the Eye, Save in the Heart exhibition on Sunday night. It was a huge success with a great crowd and some wonderful artwork. I was thrilled to sell my wall painting to a really nice couple who fell in love with it immediately. It sold within 20 minutes of opening. I love it when that happens!
My next exhibition will be at the artspace galleries in London’s Mayfair. It takes place from the 4th-11th May. The private view is on the evening of the 4th at 6.30pm. Please come along and take part in our collaborative project. It would be great to see you!
The exhibition ” Catch by the Eye, Save in the Heart” concept was created by my friend professional artist Magdalena Rutkowska in 2004. I have been involved with all of the exhibitions. The first exhibition of the series took place at the Menier Gallery in London Bridge and was a huge success. Magda brought together a group of talented, professional people who were happy to show their work to the public, but the aim of the project was also to awaken the hidden artistic talent in the souls of visitors. An empty canvas was placed at the heart of the exhibition, with paints and brushes left freely available. The artists encouraged the visitors to create an irreplaceable piece of art. The name of every single person who left their mark on the canvas was also noted carefully in the book of artists responsible for the painting. There are already two canvasses painted by “everyday people”: one painted at the Menier Gallery, London and the second one following our second show at the “Form and Colour Gallery” in Warsaw. It is amazing how different the images are. Looking at the canvases you can almost read the “state of mind” of the individual countries. You can see the sadness and the happiness of general public expressed in different colours and shapes influenced by the culture they live in.
The “Catch by the Eye, Save in the Heart” exhibition is a great success and it getting more and more popular all the time!
Talented abstract artist and dear friend Kim Rodeffer Funk has awarded me an Arte y Pico Award from her wonderful blog, Creating Space. I would have loved to have awarded her one but since she awarded me one, that’s against the rules. There are however, 5 wonderful, creative blogs that I would like to give the award to and I’m sure you’ll love seeing.
Sue’s Views from the lovely Suzie Q is a wonderful blog about her creativity, photography and joyous views on life.
John Penfolds is a self taught artist who, amazingly, does a whole painting every single day! Start from painting number one and read the stories. It’s an amazing journey!
One of my favourite artisits; Jade Pegler and her wonderful blog Spectrescope. She’s so busy making the art and exhibiting it, it’s really worth having a good look at her creativity.
Roy Blumenthal, “Coffee Shop Schmuk”, always has something interesting to say and is an amazing artist using Artrage II.
Indigoalison on creativity, art reviews, design, you name it really! Well worth a read.
I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I do!
Here are the rules:
1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and that also contribute to the blogging community, no matter what language.
2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.
3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her/him the award itself.
4. The Award winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte Y Pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.
5. To show these rules.
I had rather an exciting night last night. I performed at the Platform Tavern which is my favourite Blues venue on the south coast and my favourite pub in Southampton! I was accompanied by the wonderful Blues performer Pete Harris. Although unrehearsed and with the tail end of the ‘flu’ I think I did alright. The audience seemed to like it. (In my mind at least!) What a blast! xx
I did three solos as part of the monthly Acoustic Blues Jam session held there on the last Tuesday of every month. If you’re in the area and fancy joining in or coming to listen, I thoroughly recommend it! See Bob Long Blues for more details.
Inspired by my friend Kim Rodeffer Funk’s recent blog post, I thought that I would tell this story about some emotional reactions I had to one of my paintings:
This is the painting I did for my great friends Sally and Bill. It is based on some of their holiday photos. I was inspired by the journey through all the door-ways and whilst painting it I was thinking of the journey through life with the ultimate destination unknown and mysterious. My friend Antonia (who isn’t usually as dramatic) grabbed my hand when she clapped eyes on the painting and flung it tight to her chest to demonstrate her palpitations from just looking at it! Moving people like this is why I have to paint! Sally and Bill have found the most perfect frame possible for their new painting. It is as though it was made for the picture! The archway matches perfectly and it adds an extra doorway to the composition! This is it mocked up by Bill before it wass properly put together. It’s now in their new home in Gloucester and it looks smashing against their purply red kitchen wall. (I wish I’d taken a photo while I was there)
I last saw the painting while I was visiting when Sally was 8 1/2 months pregnant. A couple of weeks later there were devastating floods in Gloucester. The power and mains water were wiped out! I was rather worried about Sally. Luckily she managed to get to hospital in time to give birth to her beautiful daughter Georgie. I can’t wait to see them all again soon!
A huge thank you to the wonderful abstract artist Kim Rodeffer Funk,who I’ve recently become friends with. She has written a wonderful post about me today on her brilliant blog Creating Space. I thoroughly recommend this highly interactive blog. It is so thought provoking and inspiring. I love reading it every day.
I’d also like to point out the blog of San Meredith, A Life With A View. I’m honoured to have had my painting in any way compared to her astonishingly wonderful work.
It was great to take part in this exhibition at the Royal College of Art and I was pleased to make a contribution to the Princes Trust. I was very pleased to be shortlisted as one of the final 50 artists. Apparently: “The exhibition was a huge success and the judges and audience were extremely impressed by the standard.” The winner was Richard Graham for his wonderful piece Childish Nature. I was immediately drawn to this piece as I once did a large piece involving a decrepit old Victorian sash window with peeling paint. Congratulations Richard!
To hear more about the concepts behind my Urban Flux work click here and to see more of my Urban Flux artwork, please click here.
I’m excited to announce that I am one of the finalists in the State Of The Art competition. It is in aid of the Prince’s Trust and the exhibition is taking place this Monday, 17th March between 12pm and 4pm at the Royal College of Art. It’s taking place in the Lower Gulbenkian Gallery, the Jay Mews entrance. If you can make it, I’d love to see you there!
The finalists can be viewed here. My painting is here
Discreet bids can be made for the artwork by email to: state-of-the-art@hotmail.co.uk
Apologies if any nasty porn links are visible to anyone visiting my site over the next few days. It appears that nasty people, spambots and other dark forces have found a gap in the forcefield and are having a merry old time leaving links to all manner of things at the end of my posts. Please bear with me until the weekend when my administrator will go to battle with them. May the force be with him!
I had “not making any money” added as a comment on this. Any other ideas as to why art is like childhood?
