Feathers

 

Three of the 'Feather Square' canvases displayed together.

I've been working away for the last few days, almost obsessively, on making a series of small canvases with the central motif of a feather.

These were inspired by a simple sketch I had made of a found feather - which I think my children had given me, and came helpfully to hand when I was searching for something for drawing practise. I really enjoyed the fluid lines and textures that I was exploring through studying it.

I was also looking to work on some small canvases - firstly as I'd been asked a number of times for some special small, highly affordable pieces for people wanting to treat themselves or others - but also as I needed some quick projects through which I could develop some textural experiments with acrylic paint, acrylic spray paints, charcoal, etc.

So for over around a fortnight I have made 15 of these petite pieces, and just had a thoroughly fantastic time!

You can view all 15 here on my website...

 

Through this process what's been even more interesting is feedback from people who have seen them - it seems the feather is a powerful symbol for many people, with myriad meanings from remembrance to celebration, thankfulness to childhood innocence. I'd really like to explore further these kinds of ideas, and I might well develop these little experiments into a larger body of work. 

Something I've considered doing along these lines, that came to me in a quiet moment, would involve a conceptual (rather than practically-inspired) destroying of some past work - so I think I'll mull that a bit longer to ensure it's something I'm entirely happy with doing, but it could be very exciting!

The little feathers are sat with me in the studio for now, and for sale.

 

Work in progress, and experimentation.

 

Three of the 'Feather Trio' canvases. 

The feather canvases en masse - although a few had already flown from the nest.

Prints

I was shocked recently when I was digging about in storage for a painting and discovered several separate, fairly large piles of prints - when I put them together I realised I had unknowingly amassed quite a stock! I've always been a little slow at getting in stock prints up on the website and shouting about them ...

I've been beavering away, and the full selection is now up on line to view, ready for immediate dispatch...

Shipping is included for the UK but it is possible for me to ship Internationally, so please just drop me a line for a quote at cost.

These prints feature images from the Ruin and Orkney Held Me Close exhibitions, as well reproductions of other popular pieces.

Prices start at just £16 shipped (to UK), so great value for professionally produced, high quality prints (if you would like to know a little more about the processes involved in making these prints, scroll down to the bottom of the page)...

I can also have prints made to order, so if you have something in mind do get in touch!

How Are They Made? My prints begin life as an original painting, which is taken to a professional photographer for image capture. These images then go to my printer, who uses specialist equipment to make giclee copies of the work. Giclee (zee-clay) printing is a modern, digital method which uses archival inks with a 75+ year lifespan. This means hung in normal conditions the print should last a lifetime - or likely longer. They are printed onto quality papers - many of my prints are made with watercolour paper, which adds a subtle texture to the finished print. Any mounts and frames are made professionally using specialist equipment. All packaging materials are of archival quality, to ensure the print remains in perfect condition. Each print comes with a certificate of authenticity, signed by me.

Why Giclee? Whilst I greatly value traditional printmaking techniques (and massively admire the skill of artists who work with these techniques) I have chosen currently to produce modern giclee prints of my work. These allow me to offer reproductions of my work within a highly affordable price bracket, and also to print on demand. In future I may consider having prints made using traditional techniques in limited edition, at a higher price bracket for investment and posterity, however at present giclee seems to fit the needs of my clients, without making any compromise on quality.

Eightbyeight Project

Those who follow this blog, my Twitter page, Facebook page will notice how things have been a bit quieter than usual over the last few months... That's because I have been working with a small team of amazing people to bring together an exciting project in support of Camille's Appeal, the children's brain tumour charity.

Up until now it's been top secret, but now we have launched I can fill you all in...

Camille’s Appeal is a cause close to my heart. I am privileged to know, Hayley, amazing mum of Camille, the little girl for whom the charity is named. I’ve been involved in very small ways with the organisation since the charity was founded in 2009. This was when Camille was first diagnosed with a tumour of the brain, and everyone who knew brave, beautiful Camille and her family struggled to think of ways to do something helpful and positive in the face of something that felt so horribly out of everyone’s control.

It’s a huge testimony to Camille that she has fought this disease and its effects so bravely, but also a huge testimony to human nature that from a story that is so heartbreaking and heart-warming in equal measures (a story that continues to this day, for even children who seemingly ‘beat’ brain tumours still have many physical, emotional and developmental issues to work through as they grow to adulthood) a wonderful charity has been birthed and nurtured – one which aims to help all children under the age of five who are suffering from a brain tumour, and to support their families too.

The charity is currently instrumental in setting up a rehabilitation service for children with brain tumours, the first of it's kind. It's vital work.

There are a large number of enthusiastic and talented creative people involved with Camille’s Appeal – photographers, writers, craftspeople… The charity has published successful photographic calendars and Christmas cards, auctioned works of art, and there had previously been casual chat about the idea of some sort of photography or art exhibition (especially since such an event could be a great vehicle for raising awareness of the work of the organisation, and of childhood cancers in general). I found myself wondering if, perhaps, this was the way in which I could help, do something bigger? So around a year ago I started researching the idea of an art exhibition - and the eightbyeight Project was born!

We were very lucky that early on the process we found a fantastic venue! Eden Court is the main arts hub for the Highland region, and the biggest multi-arts centre in Scotland. The venue is a wonderful space, having been newly refurbishes in recent years to high acclaim, and the team there have been really supportive of the project. With over 60m of gallery wall space it's going to be a huge challenge to fill as much of the venue as possible, but what's life without challenges?!

The name eightbyeight comes from the set size for donated artworks  - 8 inches by 8 inches. These small artworks will be curated into beautiful giant collages, themes by colour and tone, as a visualisation of the idea that individuals, by coming together, can do great things and create real impact.

The theme of the exhibition is 'Childhood Explored', in celebration of the importance of childhood and the children Camille's Appeal help. We hop people will interpret this theme in diverse and exciting ways, as well as perhaps more traditional ones too.

Through the sales of donated work we hope to raise finds for this very worthy cause, but also through the project we hope to raise awareness of Camille's Appeal and their work.

Whilst the exhibition will take physically take place at Eden court during April 2013, we're also hoping our website (kindly donated by Clikpic) will offer a virtual exhibition for those not able to make it to the Highlands of Scotland. 

Having just launched the website, right now our main work is in appealing to creatives to donate work for the exhibition... Our aim is to be very inclusive, and art for us is a broad church. We're inviting donations from artists, painters, photographers, illustrators, printmakers, illustrators, those working with fibre, yarn and fabric, jewellers, silversmiths, those working in ceramics and glass, sculptors, model makers, craftspeople in general...

Whilst in the main we're asking for flat(ish) work that can be wall mounted, we don't want to unduly limit those working in 3D media, and can accommodate a small number of works in glass cabinets and the windows of the buildings.

All the submission details are here on the website...

We have set ourselves a target of having 100 artworks submitted by the end of November - it's a tall order, but would make a great start to the project.

Entering work early to the project has benefits for those who are donating them - prominent front page exposure for you work (we're happy for you to include web links with the description of your work to be published), and possibly inclusion in our marketing and promotion, which will be nationwide and extensive, as well as through social media.

We're inviting everyone you join us on Twitter, Facebook and Flickr to follow progress of the project.

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/EightbyEightProject
Twitter - https://twitter.com/8by8project
Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/groups/2111789@N21/

You can also join the eightbyeeight Project email mailing list here...

Wish us luck!

Artist Residency at Ness of Brodgar s - Part One

I was privileged this Summer to spend a few weeks on Mainland Orkney as Artist in Residence at the Ness of Brodgar Archaeological Excavations.

This was one of the most rewarding, interesting and exciting experiences I've had as an artist (and as a person).

Over the days I've been trying to put this blog post together I realise squeezing everything I want to write about and show you into one post is just impossible - so here is a first instalment, a bit of background... 

The Ness of Brodgar site is nestled elegantly between some of the most famous standing stones in the world - the statuesque Stones of Stenness, and the delicately perched Ring of Brodgar. A hump-backed spit of land between the lochs of Harray and Stenness, a host for a handful of scattered houses and fields, and carrier of the B-road which runs roughly West / East across the island, transporting visitors and tour buses around the Neolithic Heart of Orkney. From either set of stones, or the Ness itself, you find yourself enfolded by a ring of hills, the grandest of which are those of Hoy on the Southern Horizon.

Site Director Nick Card observing work at the edge of 

the Ness of Brodgar site, with the Ring of Brodgar in 

the distance.

The first hint of the marvellous archaeology below the ground came in 2002 when the Orkney World Heritage Site Geophysics Programme showed a 2.5 hectare area crammed with anomalies. In 2003 archaeologists from Glasgow University were called to The Ness when ploughing pulled up a large notched stone slab, thought at the time to be part of a burial cist. Excavations were expected to uncover human remains, but the 'cist' turned out to be part of a structure which seemed similar to House Two at the nearby Barnhouse Neolithic Settlement. 

 Standing stones in the garden of Lochview, a bungalow 

at the edge of the current excavations. 

 

In 2004 test trenches were put in over the area, which confirmed a large area consisting of structures and midden. The site has been excavated each Summer since, and we now understand that the whole raised ridge of The Ness consists of layers of building and use - the whole shape of the landscape has been altered by human activity.

In 2007 the discovery of a huge wall, perhaps 4 metres or more wide, encircling the whole site was made. Geophysics indicates the wall created a boundary between a busy area of activity inside, and no activity outside, clearly marking the site as special and specific from the landscape around. Photo's of the wall show it to be of great beauty and impeccable construction!

From  radiocarbon dating done in 2011 it appears the site was used for 1,000 years — from at least 3200BC to 2300BC.

2.5 hectares, 100 years of use, circled by a huge wall - it's quite spectacular when you think about it!

The Ness has been receiving a lot of international interest and media coverage - as cover story of Current Archaeology magazine in March 2010, features in national newspapers, and the prime-time New Years Day 2012 special episode of Neil Olivers 'History of Ancient Britain'. The project has been named winner of the 2012 Andante Travels Archaeology Award and in won an award as Current Archaeology Research Project of the Year in 2011. 

Followers of my work will know I've visited Orkney several times to indulge my passion for painting megalithic landscapes (one example below), but I always visit in Winter or early Spring when there are few visitors, and the always-magical Orkney skies take on added dimensions, with wild weather and early sunsets. Visiting in mid-Summer was quite a shock for me, apart from the busy roads, ferries, shops, the plethora of people everywhere soaking up Orkney food, heritage and hospitality, I used a lot of suncream during my visit! The weather on the whole was welcoming, and we even had some sizzling hot days (which can prove quite a menace, as you don't realise the sun's effects as you are cooled by the ever-present Orkney breeze).

 'Stenness Stones and Full Moon II' mixed media painting - original and prints available.

Having only visited the Ness of Brodgar in Winter, my first day on site was actually my first view of the excavations. In the past I had only been aware of a field swathed in black plastic, and the rigorously updated excavation blog. To be on site in person was quite a different thing!

My initial reaction was confusion. The site, whilst compact enough to walk the perimeter of the trenches in just a few minutes, was so densely packed with archaeology that my eyes were kept in constant roaming for many days. Even patient explanations by archaeologists and furrowed reading of plans did little to aid me to make sense of the place. My untrained eye saw a stretching sea of mud, stone and people.

For all the disorienting detail, I could however isolate stone features - and what I saw amazed me with their beauty and quality! I spent a little time at the STONEworks Early Architecture Project last year, where archaeologists and enthusiasts were doing some experimental building of broch walls, so have first hand experience of how hard (in my case impossible) it is to create such beautiful stonework.

Chatting to those in trenches - a mixture of professional archaeologists, students of archaeology (and other disciplines), archaeologists on summer holiday (or even in one case, on honeymoon), local and international volunteers - it was clear that few people were actually able to fully grasp what was going on on site. The site was so quickly developing, and made up of so many separate 'zones', that one could never be fully on top of the latest finds and theories. Many of the folk there actually went home to read the dig blog every evening just to make sure they hadn't missed anything exciting during the days work in their own trench, and the Historic Scotland Rangers and volunteer guides would drop by early to get an update before leading tours around site. 

In addition to official site tours (three times daily, 7 days a week), there were many by private tour guides - and by Orkney residents proudly showing visiting friends and relatives around the dig. It was also lovely to see local schools being shown the site. Official site tours regularly had up to 60 people attending, and visitors were treated to sneak peeks of the latest finds, and aerial perspectives from the raised viewing area.

Every few days Site Director Nick Card would give an early morning briefing, with site supervisors chipping in to make sure everyone was up to speed on progress and developments.

The most visually arresting and obvious aspect of the site were the excavations themselves, yet the place was like a small village with a community of people all involved in varied ways in the smooth running of the project.

The real hub of the site is the finds hut, where Finds Officer Anne and her team ran things with a warm efficiency. The hut was always busy with people coming and going, diggers needing finds bags or advice, trays of finds or larger objects being brought in, and people popping by for a look at recently discovered items.

Lochview, the house sitting just a few meters from the Eastern edge of the trenches (donated to the Orkney Heritage Society by an anonymous benefactor for the benefit of the excavations), is home to drying facilities for finds, resident geologist Martha, and hot desks for various experts and professionals. It also hosted a very dry, warm and comfortable loo for the ladies working on site - alas the men had rather more basic facilities outside!

The site also had its own temporary shop, a log cabin filled with souvenirs for visitors (a fundraising activity) and manned by volunteers, amongst them the ever-cheery Annabel and her gorgeous dog Button.

 

Phew! Next post I'll talk a little about my work on site, and what I hope to draw from my experience as an artist at Ness of Brodgar...