A short newsletter, every six weeks bringing ideas in creativity, sources of inspiration, galleries and artists + any other valuable snippets on which I stub my toe!
Links to access more are provided.
PAPER TRAIL
Those wonderful people at Piano Nobile Gallery have put together an online viewing room to accompany Drawn to Paper: Gwen John to Arshile Gorky, the latest of their series of exhibitions of works on paper. This gallery I have mentioned before. If you have not yet signed up for their newsletter.. then you must. Now. Please. This link is for you.
RIOT OF COLOUR
Every now and again I come across an artist for the first time. Huge excitement. I just happened to hear about Chloe Lamb who as an instinct of use of energetic colour. I am reminded of Gillian Ayres. The wonderful Portland Gallery sent me a catalogue of Lamb’s work. Looking through the catalogue of her recent show one feels one needs to get out more and experiment with COLOUR! Here’s a link to her work for you to enjoy. https://portlandgallery.com/artists/chloe-lamb/works/
MAD FOR MARILYN
June 1st on what would have been Marilyn Monroe’s 100th birthday, James Hyman Gallery was justifiably delighted to share Peter Blake’s spectacular tribute to her enduring iconic status. Created in 1989 to 1990, Shrine to Marilyn Monroe, in a Texas Diner is one of Blake’s largest and most ambitious constructions. Nearly four and a half metres wide, it brings together those bits of his practice for which we love him: collage, assemblage, found imagery, printed ephemera, signage, collecting and popular culture. The Vimeo link will take you on a tour of this fab piece of work.
The National Portrait Gallery has a show on Ms Monroe Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait runs until Sept 6
GOD BLESS AMERICA
I have mentioned before that auction houses like Christie’s and Sotheby’s put out a bulletin every week with what’s coming up for sale or rather under the hammer. The other Sothebys proclaimed. ..’a record-breaking London Sales this week achieved a total of £420.5 million, led by The Lewis Collection—now the most valuable single-owner collection ever sold in London’. Lewis collection you say? Here is the back story
An important point to note, I think, is the most of these Auction Houses are very well established in the USA and therefore bring us an unparalleled opportunity to gawp some wonderful US painting from WW2 until now
ADDING COLOUR – PRESSING ON – the education spot
Monotyping is a type of printmaking made by drawing or painting on a smooth, non-absorbent surface, historically a copper etching plate is used. The process produces a unique print with most of the ink being transferred onto paper during one pass through the press.
Painters have used monotyping as a way to extend their practice or use the process to explore a particular idea for a painting. Degas, made several monotypes, often working on them further after printing. Pissarro, Gauguin and Paul Klee were exponents of monotype.
Over recent years I have had wonderful opportunities to work with the painter Peter Spens https://www.cranleygallery.com making monotypes.
He takes his starting point from his exciting paintings of landscape, figure and cityscapes. I do the same, from the landscapes of West Wales and latterly Wiltshire. We document the twists and turns of key parts of the process in Peter’s red studio book.
Neither of us are disappointed with our results.
Peter’s rigour is vital, setting up the press’s adjustments at each day’s outset and ‘winding down’ it down, including loosening off the rollers, straightening the blankets at the day’s end. An aligned work ethic meant we continually work to improve standards and institutionalise these across our sessions this particular year.
We benefited from each other’s ideas and creative input on our respective work.
The journey continues. This last session, two weeks back Peter taught me to hand colour my monotypes… Paul Klee (1879–1940) was known for his experimentation in this regard, he frequently utilised a mono printing technique transferring linear drawings and then working back into the prints using a transparent watercolour wash.
My results last week, adding water colour to my monotypes, when I’m back here at the studio in Wiltshire were very satisfying.
Brilliant, thanks for the info Tim