Archive for the Blog Category

I have just handed over the artwork and text for a new book. It has taken ages to put together because for various reasons I  have done a lot of the decision making and  designing myself and it has proved to be a more complicated book than usual ( but in a good way I think)  It is too soon to describe the contents as it takes a year from handing over the paintings and manuscript to it being published. This is largely to allow time for the printing and binding to be done in China and for the shipping……. So there will be no fanfare until next spring but I can assure you I will be shouting out the news nearer the time as this is my baby!

By June I should have the first layout to look through. By the end of the summer all the text will have been edited and I will have added all those bits I forgot to say and rewritten all the bits that made no sense!  I am mentioning it all now because I have been a bit quiet online and I wanted you to know that I have not disappeared! I have in fact been as busy as a bee.

‘Woodland beehive’ will be featured in Ann’s Spring online exhibition beginning in late April 2017.

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Happy New Year everyone.  There is almost a sense of relief to  be saying goodbye to the old year and welcoming the new one in. It is strange how every January it always feels like the chance for a fresh start when in fact every morning is a new beginning.   I have a busy year ahead although a lot of the work will not be evident until next year- which will be really busy! So here is  a bit about some of the things happening:

I am currently working on- A NEW BOOK!  This one will be quite different to most of my other books and I am really excited about it.  Putting a book together takes a loooong tiiiime and is very slooooow.   So I still cannot say too much at this stage as you will get bored  hearing about it !  The images  are mostly finished but I now have the writing to do. Then  the publishers take  a year to put it all together in time for Spring 2018!    The only reason I am telling you this now is  because I have been quiet recently and I don’t want you to think that I have been slacking!

Still in secretive mode-I have another project to work on as soon as my book is handed in that will keep me busy over the summer.

A lot of you have been asking about exhibitions. At the moment I am keeping images back for the book and  some major shows next year. In the meantime there may be an online exhibition in 2017 or a studio exhibition.   I always have work here  though so do email me if you are looking for something and cannot wait that long .

Next: WORKSHOPS!!  I am planning some workshops this spring.  A newsletter will be  sent out SOON with information and a booking form. I’m afraid that places  cannot be reserved in advance as it is an automated booking package. People who have subscribed to the website newsletter will be  given first notice that bookings and information  are  up and running.

That’s all  for now. Happy January!

The first snowdrop has appeared in my garden. A lovely sign to start the new year.

My Christmas  tree is  glitzy with decorations, standing on an ornate indian mirrored chest. It is sparkling with  precious baubles saved from my childhood. The branches are hung with   little felt sequinned shoes  made by my children at playgroup  over 20 years ago ,  tiny wooden toys  bought from a German Christmas  market , miniature knitted stockings,  patchwork stars, dangly glass heart shapes from a broken chandelier; all kinds of diverse treasures   carefully unwrapped and remembered each year.  Nothing matches and there is no colour scheme or theme! The crowning glory at the top of the tree is ‘grubby fairy’ ,named by my husband as until this year she was still wearing the gauzy dress I made for her when I was 12 and looking slightly worse for wear. I  decided this was a disrespectful title for a fairly elderly doll and  decided to treat  her to a new dress made from some pieces of victorian lace and rechristened her ‘lacy fairy’!  The lace was rather reluctantly  donated to the Christmas cause  as it had been set aside for  a yet to be planned collage.   So now you know my guilty secret- I still play with my toys!

Well ,I guess  the  arty moral of this sentimental tale is to keep in touch with our playful childish thoughts  and dreams. If  we let our inner child shine  through all those barriers we build around ourselves it is more likely that  our true,authentic and unique  artist voices will   shine through in our paintings.

And now I must go and put  a mincepie out for Rudolph…. or is it Santa who gets the pie?  Either way…. have a  wonderful Christmas and may all your dreams come true! X

There have been some spectacular winter days recently and I have been out soaking up the colours and textures   for inclusion in some atmospheric paintings.   This morning I woke up early and could see from the window that the earth was frosty pale against the palest tangerine  tinted sky.  The valley  was layered with wisps of of mist.I  decided a walk before breakfast was in order before the frost melted and was so glad I did. It was simply magical.

I walked down a favourite track where the hedgerows grow wild  up to several meters high. The intricate designs of their interwoven twigs and branches were emphasised by the frost and powder coated white. The  shady side  of the path sparkled silver but turned to gold where the sun  filtered through to the other side. Light dazzled through tiny  gaps in the shaded branches.

It was a huge tapestry of tangles and my eyes scanned the  rich patterns  for focal points.  A few colourful  leaves were still clinging and   sang out from the pale glittering monochrome hedge. The ruby red rosehips were also sumptuous accents of colour against the dull pewters of the shaded hedgerow.

The bare skeletons of some  hogweed  beckoned me . Their  fragile  stems  were  linked  into lacy  patterns by frosty cobwebs sparkling  with tiny beads  of water.  The leaves on the ground were deliciously crunchy. Their white rimmed abstract shapes reminded me of some prints  I had made earlier in the Autumn . In the field at the end of the lane  the sheep had  similar bright halos -this time from the low morning sun . Long shadows were cast through the grass. Where the sheep had beaten a path through the icy  sage green meadow  the shadows of the tracks were the brightest blue.

Just in case you are thinking that I have gone very quiet I thought I would let you know that I’m beavering away in my studio. I haven’t forgotten you!   I recently had a great photographer visit my studio to  take shots of me working and I have been sorting through these  as well as finishing off  a series of Autumn pieces. I have a  project in hand that  I can’t say too much about yet as it’s such early days but will do so in due course.

The photographer   decided  that the portraits he took of  me  should have a  watercoloury feel, a bit like one of my paintings with washy faded  textured areas contrasting a more sharply focused bit – in other words – me!    I like the way the colours are a bit pastel and ‘vintage’   especially the photo-shopped pink water jar.  Never let it be said that I would ever let my water get so mucky- or that I would use such a ‘pretty ‘ pink!

  I  had been out   the day before  foraging for hedgerow material to  paint from. There were buckets laden with sprays of blackberries, rosehips ,colourful leaves and sloes with lichen encrusted bark .  I find it inspiring to be surrounded by such things even if I am only gathering ideas for colour and texture rather than  creating an actual picture of them.

                  Having fun in my studio

    twig encrusted with silver and gold lichen

  Photographs   copyright Steve Russell studios 2016

Following on from my last post I thought you might like to see some photos. Here is me looking somewhat pleased with myself. We had just got married on the beach in the Seychelles. It was beautiful, with the sun sparkling silver on a turquoise sea and coral white sands. I  like to think that I looked appropriate in my aqua  silk dress with shimmering moonstone jewellry!  :

Earlier that day we had been snorkelling. The  marine underworld  is totally inspiring and opens up  whole new vistas of visual experiences. I had ‘splashed out’ on an underwater camera  and was  very glad I did . Even though I could scarcely see through  my blurry snorkel  I just kept snapping and it paid off.  I will have to write a separate blog about the fish because the  sheer variety, the colours and  shapes not to mention the backdrop of corals and seaweeds simply blew me away.   Actually, the current almost swept me away- it was very strong indeed.

One of the places  that we stayed on our honeymoon was  a tiny piece of paradise  called Bird Island. Not everyone’s cup of tea as the million and half birds in a very small area definitely  deafened you! But for us nature lovers it was utterly spectacular.  White Fairy terns  flit through the palm trees,   black seabirds gathered in their thousands on bleached driftwood structures,  humming birds  sipped at bougainvillea. It was just amazing.

thousands of birds gathering for a sunset party!

‘Fairy tern’ – I just love that name!

The interior of Bird island is a mini jungle and  again, it was wonderful to be surrounded by such a natural environment with so many organic shapes and patterns.  Now we are home and the  holiday is over but I feel that the honeymoon  has just begun. I  can’t wait to get started on  the next bit of my life and immerse myself in my painting again.

‘The jungle path’ . I look so tiny against those massive palm trees!

It is Monday and the party is over. The last guests have been dropped at the airport. The house and my studio have been tidied . The bins have been emptied. The washing is on the line. All that is left to do is write this piece. This blog has been something I have been hesitant about posting. I have rewritten it in my head a hundred times but it never felt right until now.  Today feels like the right moment to share with you some of the journey I have been travelling through over the last three years. Writing it down feels like the last little piece of the jigsaw.

I will tell you more about the party later but at this very moment, I feel I am beginning a new and exciting phase in my life.  I am sitting at my computer and I feel so very joyful!   Sadly, the last few years have not been so happy.  I feel that I want to explain why I have not been so ‘out there’ and why there have been fewer workshops and exhibitions, blogs and Facebook offerings.

I told everyone that I was ‘having a sabbatical’ which was something I did originally intend to do.  After my mother passed way and another precious family member died unexpectedly soon afterwards I decided that  I would take some time out. I would explore and develop further my artistic ideas and spend time feeding  my soul. Days after making the decision to have a sabbatical I too was diagnosed with a serious illness and my world fell apart again. I won’t bore you with the details because so many of us have similar tales to tell- but it wasn’t much fun.  I tried to focus on the positives and  luckily was able to immerse myself in painting which was a huge solace. I had handed over my book ‘ Experimental Landscapes’ to the publisher the previous year and  it was being launched in  the Spring. I went ahead with a big book launch exhibition and the success of the book was the most incredible boost. It gave me the encouragement and motivation to continue painting and helped me  through the blackest of times.

My story is not unusual and I know I am one of the lucky ones.  I was given the ‘all clear’  quite a while ago but  I  still needed to work through a kind of emotional healing. I cleared my studio in a sell out sale last year. It was all part of the cleansing process.  One thing I felt certain about was not to punish myself if – shock horror- I actually didn’t feel like getting my paints out. There were moments when for the only time in my life I felt that I might stop being an artist and tried to think if there was something else I could do?  My way of dealing with this was   to cut down the hours I spent painting and   tried to concentrate on quality rather than quantity. I also spent time doing other   kinds of creative things such as redecorating my dark, olde worlde house   and turning it into a haven of light and colour.    I enjoyed time in the countryside surrounded by nature gathering information for future work. Gradually, gradually I began to feel like ‘me’ again.   And now I’m on top of the world!

There is a wonderful book called ‘Women who run with the wolves’ by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. One of the chapters  is called ‘Clear Water : nourishing the Creative Life.’ It uses the metaphor of a river and clear water in relation to creativity, particularly within females. She likens the creative force to an underground river searching for outlets in our psyche. It flows, cascades, meanders in new directions, empties, rises and falls again in natural cycles.  Even when the river appears to have  run dry it may be quietly bubbling and simmering away, waiting to spring forth. Problems arise when the clear water becomes diverted, forced into dams and contaminated by all kinds of negative forces including  illness. At that point we need to purify the water of its pollution so that it can flow freely again. One day I would like to write more about this as it is such an  important aspect of  our creative functioning. Being kind  and patient with myself  has been part of this process and now I feel the river is about to overflow again!  I am full of ideas and enthusiasm and desperate to get painting after a recent trip away!  I have some very exciting projects to plan and work towards.

And the party?  It was   a wonderful celebration with family and friends to celebrate Life, Love and Moving Forwards.   And – getting married in the Seychelles!  Photos and blog to follow!!

With love to you all   and thank you for being there!

Ann  xx

It is  still Summer but  already there is a taste of Autumn in the air. In the rural village where we live the lanes are lined with  the straw that has fallen off trailers piled high with bales.  Our kitchen table is laden with gorgeous red and orange tomatoes , some small and some large and flouncy shaped.   The victoria plums  are plumping up by the minute and I can sense the wasps  just sitting quietly on the sidelines just waiting for their moment to rush in and  begin their buzzy annual angry  tyranny in the garden.  In the street, neighbours disappear  back inside their houses when they see us coming with  yet more  armfuls of courgettes to give away.  There are seedheads , seedheads , seedheads  all over my garden. I love it.    When the stems  fall over or break I stick them in pots  by my studio door so that I can still enjoy their shapes and they can still spread their seeds for next year.

Inside the studio I am also buzzing around  gathering together paintings for  inclusion in the exhibition that I have been invited to join as a guest artist.  This is in the local market town of Chipping Campden with its honey coloured stone and  charming high street. As the exhibition has been called ‘Fair Michaelmas’  I thought it only right that I include some seasonal subjects.  Every year in the local hedgerows I watch the butterflies dancing through the blackberries.  They never keep still for a moment  and when I paint them I like to try and catch an impression of  something  shy and ephemeral, camouflaged amongst the leaves and  patterns of the hedge.   This year the blackberries  are just beginning to ripen and it will be a really bumper crop so I am hoping there will also be  lots more fluttery visitors .    This painting of a  butterfly  in the blackberry patch  is only little- but I   have   really enjoyed  creating its sumptuous tapestry of colours.

‘ A butterfly in the blackberry patch’ will  be  exhibited at   The Gallery at the Guild in Chipping Campden.  My paintings will be shown from August   27th to  September 15th.  I will be at the gallery from noon to 4pm  on Saturday 27th. Please do come and say hello and enjoy a glass of wine with us at the Meet the Maker  afternoon.

We have recently got back from a  family visit to  Ireland, staying in an idyllic  corner of Donegal.  It is a wonderful time of year to go because  the  fuschia hedges   are so  vibrant and lush,edging and towering above small lanes by up to  three metres in places.  Honeysuckle   and convolvulus wove their way through the  swathes of deep  crimson  flowers  and to add to the joy of it all , large clumps of rosa rugosa studded this glorious tapestry.

Harebells and heather  entangled with  many types of grasses fringed the dunes and rocks that edged the  little beaches.

Seaweeds, pebbles and barnacles   kept me entertained with their endless patterns.

As the emphasis of the trip was  firmly on fishing for crabs and building sandcastles with grandchildren  on  a series of deserted sunny sandy beaches ( yes- sun- in Ireland!) I had to content myself with a few quick forays with my camera to sneak photos. You never quite switch off when you are an artist!

Well that was a surprise. My monthly Artist magazine  arrived today and there I was! Of course  I knew I had written an article for  the July edition – I just didn’t realise it would be out so soon!  In it I have discussed the idea that if we ‘think’ in a different  more descriptive way it encourages us to loosen up and create a more abstract, and personal interpretation.

I have included a practical element showing how  I developed a very abstract  experimental  exercise into this semi abstract interpretation of a  tangly tree and crumbly wall:

So look out for the July edition of the Artist magazine. My article is called ‘Loosen up your thinking’.

I am sorry I have   not been updating my blog recently . I have decided to have a  quiet year and replenish the batteries!   I feel a bit selfish not sharing my activities   but I am limiting  my time on the computer  just for the moment.

People have contacted me about the annual Patchings art festival to ask whether I will be demonstrating this year. The answer is that I  have decided to do this every other year- so my next time will be in 2017. I am also being asked about  workshops but I’m afraid that I don’t have any plans at the moment to do any.

My mission for the next few months is to  feed my painting and creativity by immersing myself in nature, taking lots of walks with camera and sketchbook and ‘playing’ quietly in my studio with no aim  other than to explore and see what happens. There are  exciting plans rumbling under the surface however with ideas for projects simmering away- but nothing  I can reveal just yet!

Last weekend we had  an utterly inspiring time in Cornwall walking  some of the coastal paths and visiting the fabulous  Lost Gardens of Heligan. Here is  a picture of me putting my head down and getting back to nature!:

Sculpture: Lost Gardens of Heligan.

The gardens were  gorgeously beautiful  and I found every square inch interesting so I was probably a nightmare to be with.  Low walls were full of primroses and moneywort whilst  richly coloured rhododendrons jostled for space with jungle like trees.

 The coastal paths are so rich with plants and I love the three dimensional quality of looking up  or down at  subjects.  Birds flying above and below, gorse growing out of the tops of high banks and walls, seapinks nestled in rocks  and grasses on the clifftops.

This gorse bush is just a bit too perfect- needs roughing up with a few watercoloury splatters!

The sea was so blue that day – with patches of turquoise.

I’m sorry but it gets on my nerves when people show pictures of their pets on their blog- MAISIE!! Get out of my shot!

I am back in my studio today and a chaffinch  has spent hours flying in and out of the plum tree blossom, tapping on my window with its beak. From another window I have  a close up, full view of our huge magnolia tree . It is  extravagantly covered in flowers this year and it has been  strange to see  the petals illuminated in sunlight one minute and  shimmering with hailstones the next. Blue tits  flit through the branches sometimes  sharing the space with a fat grey pigeon.  Birdsong is tempting me back outside again and back to nature.

I have just packed up  a collection of paintings that I have prepared for an exciting exhibition in Normandy  in France.   I was invited  to exhibit as the UK representative  with a  group of other European watercolour artists who have a range of styles.  It looks like it will be  a fantastic show and there will be a wide range of workshops,  demonstrations and music. I am sending about twenty paintings  in different sizes. Aquarellences is a non profit  organization whose mission is the promotion of watercolour.  For more information about this exhibition please visit www.aquarellences.fr. or email:  contact@aquarellences.fr

I have been told that my dvd ‘Experimental Landscapes in watercolour’  was Townhouse Film’s best selling dvd  in 2015! I don’t like bragging as it makes me feel uncomfortable so lets call it ‘blowing my own trumpet! Thank you to all of you who bought a copy and made it possible . I really hope you picked up some tips  and if you haven’t already got it- it’s on my website  shop.

I have just returned from a lovely trip to Essaouira in Morocco. It is an incredibly vibrant place with its ancient medina full of tiny medieval alley ways. It also benefits from being on the Atlantic coast. The fishing harbour is one of the most exciting I have visited in all my travels with an incredible display of colourful wooden boats and ships creating a chaotic jumble of shapes and pattern. The fishing folk gather around the harbour walls to display their catch in assorted collections of boxes, wheelbarrows and baskets. The Berber characters are immensely interesting with ancient faces wrinkled and distorted by the Atlantic weather. I find it really frustrating not to be able to photograph them. I do ask but they invariably wag their fingers sternly or hide their faces. They believe that having their photographs ’taken’ means that their soul is also captured.  So I contented myself with soaking up the electric atmosphere as the sun gradually sank into the ocean spreading its orange glow over the water. The many noisy seagulls swooped and soared wildly above and around waiting to grab tasty titbits, whilst cats of all shapes and sizes prowled and watched more stealthily from hidden corners.

When I go abroad and see all these colourful scenes I am often asked how I will use them in my subsequent paintings. Quite often, I soak up these experiences but rarely use the information gathered in an obvious way. When you have an artists voice I think it will show through in whatever subject you choose to paint but personally I like to limit my subjects so that they are all linked to a theme. My Moroccan experiences are likely to influence my thinking but perhaps towards certain spicy colours , for example, or a magical oriental atmosphere rather than in terms of the actual subject itself . Some of these, like the fishing boats are outside the ‘nature’ theme that I am committed to at the moment. However, when away from home I am also looking out for familiar subjects with a different flavour. In Morocco I was drawn towards the light shining through gaps in the argan and olive trees, I photographed farm animals in country settings and textures in the landscape. It is just lovely to have a change of scene and come back feeling refreshed and invigorated.