I smell toffee in the air

One of the things that I  enjoy at the gardens is the conversations that I am having with the gardeners and volunteers

Lots of curious discussions happen for example when a dead owl was found what happened to its head, was it killed or was it found and then eaten?

Walking down towards the bottom of the gardens near to the bottom meadow I was asked if I had smelt the toffee I was told that it came from a tree, so I asked them to show me it the Katsura tree comes from Japan it smells like popcorn, toffee and on this autumn breeze is very special, I did wonder if there were a lot of them would the smell be much too overpowering

experience.

 In the beginning 

My  first day working in the gardens  (  26th September )

I spent my first hours with furzy staff, meeting a few of the volunteers. There is something special about spaces such as this which is so tangible that you can feel it that entices people to stay and be part of it

A space for tranquillity, time to be part of something that is important and worthwhile.

Id already met with the head gardener who had said that he was happy for me to create different things around the garden, I knew that it would take me time to become familiar with the space so  I decided  to something simple, so much of creating new work for me is to allow myself time to play and just get into the creative experience so  as I love the colours of the leaves especially the varying shades of  reds and golds,

Creating simple swirls and circles, large petal shapes and mounds under one of the rhododendron.

wooden heartI was drawn to an old wooden stump at the top of the rise. a nearby plant was shedding heart-shaped leaves, different shades of red.

I find such starkness enticing.  as I was working for some young families with children walked past,  curiosity got the better of them and they asked me what I was doing

We spoke about the pleasurable act of creating  patterns with leaves  and found materials, one of the ladies was particularly interested in what I was doing and asked me if I’ve made the colourful shape under the tree, she said that they’ve been  trying to guess what it was, I encouraged them to do have a go themselves

 

 

Arts residency supported by talent development grant

News

I  am really pleased to be able to share that I have been awarded a talent development grant from a space’ arts, the funds will enable me to work with a mentor and photographer to help me to record the experience.   I will be creating new work as an Artist in Residence at the wonderful Furzey Gardens in the New Forest.  I will be starting my time there at the end of September and creating work through the winter months.

I will be keeping a record of the experience and sharing this, details to follow.

Hampshire Open Arts Studios – The Keepers

Fred on displayI’m so looking forward to tomorrow , The Hampshire Open Arts Studios is happening over the next couple of weeks and weve now taken over the whole pub with all of artwork ,  9 artist in one space do need a lot of room after all.

We are lucky at the Dancing Man Brewery that the public can view the artwork when the pub is open. However we wanted to be available so over the next two weekends we will be available from 12pm – 4pm

Here are some of the other artworks being shown for more details https://www.facebook.com/TheKeepersArtistCollective/

13938543_290069908018078_1341836234034183099_n 13935020_290069904684745_217351510592478919_n

Exhibition at the Dancing Man Brewery

Wev’e now moved into the top floor of the Dancing Man Brewery in the old part of the original city, its such a fantastic venue which started life as a medieval warehouse and has been a tax collection venue which at the time was in the form of wool hence the name of the wool house. It was also a sea life museum and originally housed many of the Titanic exhibits and is now as a listed building has been sensitively converted into independent brewery, pub and restaurant.

Moving to Mettricks Old Town, Southampton

Together with my artist colleagues we are in the process of moving to our final venue, its been a really enjoyable experience touring are work around the city centre we have been showing a range of styles and mediums including traditional paintings , pen , ceramics, glass, cast resin and recycled plastics. Were really keen to keep the momentum going as there are hardly any art exhibition spaces in the city that are not traditional gallery spaces.

In a week or two several of us are opening our  other exhibition at the Dancing Man Brewery with several new artist and adding textiles and pastels to the mix. For further information visit   https://www.facebook.com/events/171641049923788/

 

This year so far new exhibitions etc

Its been a while since I updated this page, as you might have guessed I have been busy creating new work. Id love to be able to dedicate my whole time to creating my work however as at the moment my time is divided between running my own arts craft workshop business, working a couple of days a week for an employer which provides the regular income that most of us need, creating my own work and of course time spent with the other loves in my life my family and restoring our vw camper van Lilly.

This year I have been determined to get my work out and about and I am pleased to say that the Toton and Eling Art Festival selected all of my 3 submissions the exhibition opens this Wednesday.
I have also been busy working with other creatives working on a number of joint exhibitions. designed to provide creative outlets for artist in the city of Southampton.
The first starting on the 16th May and running for a couple of months is being hosted by the 3 Metricks Cafes in Southampton Centre , old town and the New arts complex. The revolving exhibition is being shared with two other art groups located in the city , Red Hot Press printing studio and Unit 11.

The Keepers Metrick Arts Exhibiton

In addition to this I have also helped to form a new arts group called the The “Keepers Arts Collective” (you can find us on facebook), we are taking over the Dancing Man Brewery from Mid July – Mid September and will be part of this years Hampshire Open Arts Studios.
Just the start of more things to come this year looks to be an interesting one.

Work on display at the Dancing Man Brewery in Southampton

It so  great to see how many Southampton cafes and pubs are supporting local artist in the area by displaying their work, as more local businesses including small local art gallerys are emerging and creatives are working together to put on events that are accessible to everyone. The fact that Southampton has a thriving arts community  in its midst  is starting to become more known.

The Art Cafe and the Metrics Cafe have both been happy to show my work previously and now I am happy to say that the Dancing Man Brewery which is know locally as the Wool House and the Old Titanic Museum is now showing some of my work .

Such a lovely building sympathetically converted the owner Mandy told me that the majority of the conversion has been designed so as to lift out almost like a stage set so as to course no damage to the structure to  the building. http://www.dancingmanbrewery.co.uk/ Ive always been  a fan of interesting spaces as well as historical spaces so I am thrilled to display my work there

Link

Lady1 smallI rarely sketch portraits but every now and again a subject engages me. Sometime ago I discovered some photographs of people living on the streets. The faces just had a story to tell and inspired me to start creating . Here is the first of what will probably be many.

 

Link

As with all creations it can sometimes be difficult to complete a artwork especially when challenging yourself this happens to us all, for me creating my urban paint and pen creations  can be the most difficult of challenges. It is often easy to start but harder to finish and is very much the case when I am pushing myself in a new direction as in the case of using a new colour scheme. Back in December 2014 I started a new colour-full work, my stumbling block came when I was half way through the piece, so I put it away, sometimes its about a emotional space  as much as a physical one and this is reflected in my art work. I am sure that this must say something about my psyche as I have now completed Fred and am now happily creating in colour again.

 

 

Link

Ive been busy again creating new individual works inspired by line work series, smaller and more compact these new art works have been fun to create.

Dancer 1 small

 

mother one

Link

Good news , I now have a new art studio in Southampton.

I have been creating my artwork in my spare bedroom for sometime now, the dilemma is that often I am unable to leave my work out as I am either preparing for a workshop or visitors are on their way.

Over the last few years I have been looking for a space where I can create work and also have space for other creative work linked to my workshop business. www.jaxsarts.co.uk and also be part of a creative group, so a pretty tall order.

Well back in April I finally found somewhere  suitable which combined the two and also is contained within a space with other artists. I have been gradually moving in , obtaining furniture, getting to know the other creatives  I have offered a space. I can highly recommend having a space where you go to create a space away from the everyday distractions of family, friends and other work.

Getting ready for Aspex Gallery artist exhibition “Here and now”

I just wanted to share that my Journey series original works are going to be exhibited at the Aspex -Guildhall Gallery in Portsmouth as part of the Here and There exhibition running from the 28th January to the 8th of March http://www.aspex.org.uk/events/here-there-guildhall/
As I rarely frame my works this is also an interesting experience for me as one of the requirements for displaying art work on walls is that they pieces need to be framed, so I am currently arranging for the canvases to be constrained within box frames an interesting experience .