Goodbye Shepherd Market, Mayfair, London

                                           

So pleased that I exhibited at 54 The Gallery, Shepherds Market last week. 10 -15 Feb 2014.

My exhibition gave me a great focus  to push myself, do new work and also revaluate my direction. 

Shepherd Market is such a lovely friendly place and is considered the last little village in London. It is full of amazing and reasonable places to eat and lovely little shops. I really enjoyed the Jordanian meal we had with friends after a Private View.

Alas the weather had been horrendous. It had held me up completing sculpture before the exhibition and affected my visitor numbers during it. 

A number of people I invited to the private view were directly effected by flooding and I was amazed that people came from Cambridge and Leicester despite danger and travel disruption. You know it's bad when my friend Marguerite was evacuated from her houseboat, due to the flood, and was having to stay with friends. Imagine how pleased I was that she made time to see me in the midst of her distressing circumstances. 

I learned so much during the week and have a much clearer idea of what to do next. Certianly I will not delegate printing again because this was the area which cost the most, took most time and was least successful. In future I will do it all myself. 

I was flattered that strangers were so interested and supportive of my efforts. A new Algerian friend I made there gave me a Youth stone from the Yeman and I was so thrilled. As a child I lived in that region and love stone and minerals. Coincidentaly a piece of red velvet I treasure, and remember  buying when I was a child in Aden, I used in the show. 

My work was figurative in the exhibition but I felt energised by Shepherds Market to follow my heart and develop my more abstract design work in glass and start  carving stone again. 

CASTING - Waste Mould

Here are images of making a Waste Mould in plaster of the original clay portrait sculpture. I will eventually fill the mould with bronze resin 

    

So Behind - Trying To Get Ahead

I decided to sculpt a clay portrait of a friend of mine who i have drawn several times. As I have had the opportunity of exhibiting, at 54 Sheperds Market in London 10- 16 Febuary,  I thought another portrat study would be a great addition but it does rather add to the work load. This evening I started the first stage for making a plaster mould and hope that it will be successful. I have what seems like a mountain of work to cast and finish and wonder if I will ever get it all done! 

Pip and Squeak - Well oiled for Christmas

So pleased to have finished the oil painting of dogs to be given as a present for Christmas. The dogs are such characters, the little one especially.  
If was fairly impossible to keep them together so I had to do studies of them separately and make up a composition. It was difficult because they are such different sizes but the little one has the bigger personality. 

Usually the little one wears her ears flat but the owner liked them worn like a funny bat creature. I must say it does look better for the composition.

Drawing~Proteus Creation Space

I really must get into the habit of blogging more regularly. 
At present I am engrossed in getting work together for my forthcoming exhibition in February at 54 The Gallery in London. 
Today I took a break and drew at Proteus Creation Space in Basingstoke which was having a Christmas Event . 
Proteus is a theatre company which was formally based at Queen Mary's College where I once taught. Now they have taken over Fairfields Art Centre and are making it into an exciting and vibrant centre.

Best of Farnham

Great night  on Thursday 27 November at the Best of Farnham business evening which was held at Mahaan's Indian  Restaurant. The meal was delicious and the company, formed of  local business people, was interesting and convivial. 

I was invited by Martin Davidge-Stinger  to make sketches of the speaker  Penny Power . It  was rather nerve wracking, but buoyed by adrenalin and encouragement  from Martin, I had ago and produced two pencil sketches during the  the meal. Later we gave these drawings and an earlier painted sketch to Penny. 

The speaker  Penny Power @pennypower was very warm and  approachable . She had been successful with founding  Academy which was  a forerunner to Linkedin and Facebook.  Now she  is trying to get some interesting youth apprenticeship initiatives  formed and had been discussing her ideas with Lord Young earlier in the House. 
I was impressed by her positive energy and her practical 'win win' common sense ideas which we really need to implement and support. 

Portrait Painting - Farnborough Festival.

The weather was absolutely 'challenging' ! Wind, rain, cold! Nevertheless the brave folk of Farnborough continued undaunted and although their clothes may have been sodden their spirit wasn't.

Lots of people requested portraits and because of the general enthusiasm I continued throughout the day and managed to paint seven pictures which I was pleased with.

My first teaching job was at Cove Secondary, which was near by, and I met and painted a mother of a child I used to teach there. It seems he turned out very successfully despite my efforts and still has 'memories ' of my casting him as an Owl in a school play. It was hilarious recollecting the various personalities and incidents which took place.