Essex

Plant form – Rose hips ripening no.2 – Jenny Hill

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Plant form - Rose hips ripening no.2 - Jenny Hill

On a walk with sketchbook and pens you can get a lot of drawing done that may also be useful for artwork development, (plus it gives you a reason to stand still and look without other people thinking you are a bit odd). If I have a focus and an idea of what I might see, this is a walk of attention and observation, trying to get the most from being somewhere at a particular time and not missing the moment.
Rose hips ripening no.2 is an ink painting developed from sketches made using brush pens and chunky felt tip pens. For any painting I want it to be as light resistant as possible, but in my sketch books this is not an important factor.

Plant form – Honesty ripening no.2

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Plant form - Honesty ripening no.2

Continuing my current series of ink work this is the second plant form study of Honesty (Lunaria), seed head ripening. These self seed around the garden and I feel are a useful addition in the early summer with the white or purple flowers. The tender green seed pod discs evolve picking up purples, pinks and reds as it matures to its end of season form. The silver translucent remains now stand, having shed the brown seeds.
Wikipedia has interesting information for the origin of both names – Lunaria and Honesty but there many other names this plant is also known by.

Rose Hip Ripening no.1 – RHS Garden Hyde Hall

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Rose Hip Ripening no.1 - RHS Garden Hyde Hall

A painting using acrylic ink and indian ink, developed from a sketch made on a hot, late summers day visit to RHS Garden Hyde Hall, Essex, UK. At this time some rose hips had turned scarlet red, (see earlier blog post), but this was still in the process of ripening. The smaller size of the paper directs me to paint and draw in a tighter style instead of the looser line I use on larger art works. It’s all in the arm movement. I believe you can identify, without me telling you, which paintings are small and which are large.

Art trails – through a window

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Art trails - through a window

This image follows on from my previous blog post and shows the front window of my venue in the Maldon Art Trail 2013. Community organised art trails in geographically recognisable defined areas, work to get art and crafts shown in public space outside the traditional commercial art gallery. These events can be very beneficial as an opportunity to share creativity and skills in public workshops, for artists to meet other artists, who often work in isolation, to develop partnerships with business, and to present another view or perspective of a town or place. As art trails have blossomed across Essex, the County Council promotes these independent initiatives under the umbrella of the Summer of Art.
http://www.maldonarttrail.co.uk/essex-summer-of-art/
If you collaborate with other artists where you live, what initiatives do you have to take to get your artwork exhibited or is it all online?

Maldon Art Trail Venue 2013

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Maldon Art Trail Venue 2013

I installed my paintings last week in the Maldon Cookshop, for the Maldon Art Trail 2013. This photograph has been cropped but I wanted to give you an idea of the venue, (this image taken in the doorway), and of this Essex riverside town. There is a lot of information you can pick out, first my artwork, some you will recognise from previous blog posts, shop products, then posters of local activities, carnival, shop local campaign and art trail plus there are the reflections in the windows. It is a good venue with excellent window space, helpful staff, in a busy High Street location.
Maldon Art Trail is advertised from 28th September – 5th October but most artists work can be seen until Sunday 6th.
More information http://www.maldonarttrail.co.uk

Bramley apples on high branch

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Bramley apples on high branch

This artwork was developed from an oil pastel sketch and reworked using acrylic ink and indian ink. The apples were not quite ready to drop but now two weeks later I move out of the way if a wood pigeon takes off knocking fruit to the ground. Some of the apples are quite big……..
This painting will be exhibited in the Essex Maldon Art Trail 2013. My venue this year – Maldon Cookshop, with a really good window space.