Where was I?

Accepting Braintree Chamber prize

This year I've been entering a few exhibitions, and have been quite successful. 

Last month, I entered and was juried into the Braintree Open AND I won the Braintree Chamber prize.

Storm over the Saltings hung at Braintree Open.

 Also, in Braintree, I was chosen to have a painting in the Art Trail.

Wentworth House, in position in the art trail.

Finally, I had a painting juried into the Harwich Open.

Broken Dreams hung in the Harwich Open.

So that's where you could find me in June. What were you up to? You can tell me in a comment to this post.

Experimenting with Mixed Media

Before Christmas, I taught Sketching Fun in Sanctus, a charity for the homeless and vulnerable, and they were so pleased that on the 9th I heard that they had requested I teach them a mixed media course, starting just 10 days later.

Now, as you know, I work in 2D and specialise in pen & ink, so I put a plea for help on facebook and twitter to gather ideas and plan a 7 week course with a buget of just $2 per person for the whole course. After reading several online articles, I started my first project. Below are the discovery stages and final result.

 Next up, collage, which I last did to cover my paper art folder in school... or was that decoupage? Help! Luckily, the start has been delayed a week and I have until Wednesday 28th to work this all out.

Any mixed media tips or ideas you'd like to share? Links to your mixed media work welcome! Just leave them in the comments. Thanks.

Just for fun.

Sketch 1, pencil in A5 sketchbook

I am NOT a portrait painter, but I'm starting the year with an experiment, working on something different, purely for me. I know this is not very good, but portrait painting is an area I'm exploring this year. I've lost the likeness, but like the advice I got from Jana Bouc to "not worry about likeness so much, go with the feeling and making it a "painting" rather than a "portrait"." It's supposed to be one of the homeless people I met recently. I did one session of sketches with her and took some photos. She didn't reappear for the next session, so I worked with what I had. 

Here are the WIP shots:

 The final painting:

Acrylic on A2 canvas

 Are you trying anything new this year? How's it going? Let me know in a comment below please.

Wall painting project - Unveiled

The finished wall painting. Photo courtesy of Ghalya's Museum of Modern Art.

As I mentioned in my post Wall Painting Collaboration, I was part of a large wall painting project initiated by Ghalya's Museum of Modern Art. The unveiling was on Tuesday and was cleverly done through having lights dimmed and smoke pumped in front of the wall, which then cleared to show the painting. 

Museum director Murtadha Al Lawati unveiling the wall.

Nearly a 100 artists, both Omani and internationals, took part to complete the 100 sections. As an artist living in Oman, it was a great honour to be asked to participate. The collaboration and friendship between artists working on the project was fantastic. To be able to add my small part to the project, working alongside great Omani artists, is something I will always remember.

Some of the particpating artists. Photo courtesy of Reehan Hoosein.

#29

The overall theme of the project was to celebrate Oman's 42nd National Day. My section represents the role of Omani women in the successful reign of HM Sultan Qaboos. Women have been a fundamental part in Oman's renaissance and I have tried to symbolically show that with my painting of veils.

 Don't forget you can see a slideshow of the day I painted here. If you are in Oman in the next 3 months, you can see the actual painting on Ghalya's museum wall.

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Wall painting collaboration

Participating in Ghalya's wall painting event. 9th November

 Through an Omani contact, I got invited to participate in Ghalya's Museum of Modern Art's wall painting project. Over 80 artists, both Omani and International are involved in painting a mural on the theme: the successful 42 year reign of HM Sultan Qaboos.

Yesterday morning saw me painting my segment, which represents the importance of Omani women's roles throughout the time.  I have a slideshow of photos from the morning here on my site, please check it out. It is just a single morning's snapshot of the project, which is due to be finished in time for its unveiling on 20th November, taken as I added my contribution.