Female Artists and who Collects them

Shoes SMJ artist 2007

Viewing art on the internet, throws up many an intriguing image, article and occasionally a few controversies. For myself it was Tracey Emin  and her comment  'there are good artists that have children. They are called men.' in a recent interview which had many female artists truly offended and the critics had a field day with it. Personally I did a quick search on female artists and discovered....

Cady Noland, Marlene Dumas, Joan Mitchell, all famous women artists, all selling for high prices and for Joan Mitchell the enviable (or is it) title Turnover Queen.
What is obvious to me, is that these women have one single thing in common, they are driven. Various backgrounds, different perceptions of life, viewpoints expressed verbally, artistically, they are to the last one, driven to express themselves. And seemingly not part of the female - versus male artist hoo ha.

Their minds, their own focus on life is cast into the public arena and they exhibit with fearless confidence their works with an attitude no matter how different inwardly, on the exterior front...take it or leave it I don't care...but you will pay for it.

Cady Noland made her reputation through her  politically motivated pieces which are powerful, costly and famously bring prices astronomically eye watering high.

The female artist accredited with the highest turnover of any living woman Yayoi Kusama has work which she often displays with herself wearing an identical patterned material as her artwork. A diminutive woman with flame red hair and an intensity of expression that (for me) displays that focus, drive, need, to express her art.

Many of the articles written on female artists write, on how much the artist sold their works for , not really scrutinising the actual art. Not being a member of the high echelon, I wouldn't dream of criticising another persons art, its bad enough giving a critique on my own work. But I did begin to have 'other thoughts.

Male versus female who made the most money? who exhibits the most? all that...is school yard huff n puff. What intrigued me more, was...who? is collecting it all.

One name did pop up rather more often than anyone else's. To be able to purchase art and collect art from artists male or female, in any quantity, takes more than just finances. It takes insight, courage and business acumen. To be able to hang on to work, not reselling it, but carefully gathering it into a personal gallery. Exquisite pieces to be handed down through the family perhaps, to become the core of a fiscal dependable income in case of emergencies.

Who knows? whatever the financial drive, one doesn't spend over £6,000,000 (whew!) on a single piece of art just for the heck of it. Who is this mogul ? this powerful business person with artistic awareness? a woman. It gives me so much pleasure to write that  (imagine the smiley emoticon because it isn't really appropriate in a serious piece )

Philippe Sergaot ( Art Consultant) made the winning bids for works by Cady Noland, Cindy Sherman,Yayoi Kusama and Miles on behalf of Sheikha Mayassa Al Thani , daughter of the Emir of Qatar. The Times wrote of her that she is one of  the 100 most influential people in our times. If a woman of such energy and magnitude, of such perception can quietly accumulate such pieces then there is hope for the female artists of the world to eventually gain equality with male artists. Our collector is choosing quality not price, she pays well for hthe works chosen, but not always the highest bids of the days auctions.....quality first.

Many of our venerated 'Art' bodies place importance on how much a painting sells for and fail to look at the art itself for content, quality and its 'voice' to all the people, not just a select few collectors. Yet price is, unfortunately what actually sells art.

The higher the price, the more likely it will gather around it the various collectors, the Art Consultants. Not for them a view of how will a piece look on the living room wall, will it match the sofa? but will it increase in worth, become an iconic piece. Collectors who greedily gather up 'all' of one specific artist in the hopes of cornering the artistic market. They all arrive for a Reubens or a Klein and not necessarily for a Keresztes or a Lady Maria Bell.

When one has Kusama next door to Cady it is a fancy of mine that perhaps the collector had more of an idea of taste and style and not 'quite' so much as to a solid investment for fiscal purposes only. That the collector is a woman...just made me smile.

Creative Experimental Sculpture

Creative Experimental Sculpture

Dragon Cup

Look on the world wide web, go to Google and search for experimental Sculpture and you will find a wealth of amazing images and rafts of articles. Auguste Rodin , Paul Gauguin, Degas, all feature heavily in almost every single article.
The times when experimental sculpture was new, innovative,shocking to the public's view has now passed. Again the world web is the source of so much information, so many virtual galleries and exhibitions that any subject , not just art, literally any subject has its dedicated pages. But for art there is the magic of Google.
Taking a 360 degree imagery and putting it all together Google provides the art lover of all genre a special treat, a tour of thousands of pieces of art. Galleries have allowed the tours to be created to enable a greater appreciation of our human races creativity and it is amazing. You can even create your own virtual  gallery to admire at leasure.
Access the Art Project from this link:-

https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/project/art-project

Through this medium I discovered the splendid imaginative  works  by Olafur Eiliasson.

Wirbelwerk   in particular pleased me. A magnificent construction of steel, glass and mirror.

His 2008 Sun Has No Money is intriguing.

The Mur Associations 394 aerosols all individually painted for the 400ML project is fascinating and worthy of a visit.

but for all that the site is a great addition to our extending skills and our wider perceptions of art and in particular for myself, sculpture. It is the hands on, creativity, the personal 'touch' that gives me the deepest satisfaction.

I have a love of clay. It becomes alive  between my hands and grows of its own accord into the shape it desires. I have no true idea of what it is I am going to create. Sat quietly, rolling the slick malleable substance between my hands, soft, warmed by being 'worked', it slides into a shape , almost unconsciously I have begun.

I can take hours over what to many would appear to be a minor detail and yet the form, the actual body of the work, may spring into life inside an hour or two. It is always for me, the feel of it all once I close my eyes.
I must be able to feel the emotions, the message, the sensation my eyes have viewed.

When I created Sea Horse, originally it was meant to be one of four. Air, Fire Water Earth. I had, in my minds eye, already constructed the partners of Sea Horse, perhaps that is why I did not complete them. They had sprung into life before the clay had come to my hands, they would demand of me, make requests for a leaf here, or a flame there, whatever caused me to halt, it was done. I could not complete the design at that time.  Those visions had pre-empted my then sequence of creativity, short circuited my flow of energy towards the creation.
Perhaps now, with my age, dominating inner artists vulnerabilities, I could, I will, finish the pieces and finally give them the deserved airing.

Porcelain, and life size in relation to this image and lending itself to a really dramatic photography session as well. Perfect in every single detail, it didn't get the chance to leave the art room for display, it was chosen and claimed inside an hour of it cooling from the kiln, which was a very real compliment.
                                                 this piece is named Tantra

Sculpture is for my own personal enjoyment. I do not make it to please others or to instil a message to anyone else. if they see or feel something then that is wonderful, but essentially each piece of art, every single line,every surface is there because my emotions are involved, aiding, halting, encouraging, the work is part of my inner self, a piece of whatever it is that makes me, me..... is in every piece.

I continue to create, to sculpt, currently I am experimenting with of all things, papier mache and loving the lesser stresses of waiting for something to dry instead of waiting for something to cool with the fear it will all smash to smithereens.
Sculpture is our love of creation in a three dimensional form, I like to add music, and light. But essential to all of my work, is the ability to touch.

My sculptures are not meant for the pedestal, they are intended to invite your finger tips to touch, to stroke, for hands to cradle and stroke. I love sculpture of all the art I create it is this medium that fills my heart with quiet contentment.

Jasmine Pradissitto Quantum Artist

The Kiss by Jasmine Pradissitto

How amazing it must be, to be the first in the world. Jasmine Pradissitto is both an Artist and a Physicist.  She is Britains very own first in the field Quantum Artist.

Which is why I want to feature her today on my blogsite. The beginning of my interviews with amazing women, who despite the many challenges in the art world to 'making it' have overcome so much, become themselves and have a body of work which is worthy of our consideration.

Recently surfing the net and looking for art with a twist, something different. I had grown bored with Koontz copiers and Hockney wannabe's I wanted to view art that was genuinely different ,and above all........... beautiful.

I typed into Google Search Engines, Science, Art and Beautiful.........it gave me Jasmine Pradissitto.

Her personal website features the most innovative displays of work, light, colour, shape and all from an every day product  which we see all over the place as containers, floor coverings and wrappings, she uses plastics.

Her scientific background as a Dr. of Physics aided her inventing a process which gave ordinary plastics a beautiful quality of reflective luminescence. Truly 'pretty' the rainbow of colours changing on the surfaces of her chosen subject to reflect magnificent deep purples, vivid luminous yellows and greens dependent on where you stand to view the works the entire spectrum of colour is there to behold. One word springs to mind 'stunning'.

On the walls, or in a view box the work itself is meticulous in detail and truly prods the mind to seek deeper meanings within the images and shapes displayed. 

Inspired I contacted Jasmine and we met for a coffee and a chat.

Jasmine at work

'I am going through a huge process just now' she said. 'I'm enormously flattered and very grateful to be involved in some fascinating projects at the moment, 2015 has been a great year for me to expand my boundaries'.

From exhibitions in London (see bottom of page) to creating a 3 dimensional portrait of Arthur Miller, researching a new project and just back from Venice that beautiful city, she is inspired by the works of many artists but for her, her first love, Venice where art is celebrated daily with coffee and a good companion.The visit has her with bubbling  excitement which is infectious. Her refreshing insight is something I haven't seen for a long time in the many artists I have interviewed. 

Vivacious, stunningly attractive with a girlish laughter that rings unashamedly across the room, Jasmine is a delight to interview. Her thoughts on art, the creative process and how that can all be beneficial to the ordinary working man or woman in the office, in the factory, is refreshing.

I quoted the following from the blog :-

Why Leonardo da Vinci was the original thought leader and how finding your passion will make you one. First installment of the book 'Equation for joy'

'The scientist in me looks for the method; the artist looks for ways to visualise it. Both artist and scientist look for metaphors for our existence; the language is just a little different but drawing, sketching, doodling and mark making is common to both. It allows us to really ‘see’ the problem. Not what we ‘think’ it is. That’s half the trick. Not finding the answer, but getting the question right.'

Jasmine is honest about her work, and very knowledgeable but her insight concerning the difficulties of 'making it' in the cut throat world of the arts is clear and very much to the point.

Further into our interview I asked for her views on women in the art world, I will:- ask every woman artist I interview the same query

Q "  by their very nature we women, tend to put their family, children especially, to the forefront of all they have to achieve. No artist can work piecemeal, we focus, the drive, the ambition can be all consuming and you can't afford to be that way when your child needs your support at school, or its Sports Day. Women wait. We do smaller projects than perhaps we would do if free of our responsibilities, We paint or sculpt and we make and we research but that all encompassing focus just isn't totally possible during those times for the longer term larger projects. Would you agree ?"

Blunt and honest her forthright views feature heavily in my blog Women in Art currently being crafted.

I asked her what 'was' a Quantum artist, she smiled that glint of humour very evident as she said simply...its just a name, something to hang both science and art in all the exploratory nature of such diverse companions together, in a comfortable manner.

Are you the first Quantum Artist ? I asked

'Yes' its not who I am, but its part of who I can be.

On her website she states

 'Science is meant to reassure and art to disturb, but at the Quantum edge these distinctions disappear, diverge. In the Quantum world, the classical idea of form and position, no longer exist. The viewer changes what they see; as an artist this holds a challenge like no other. Paradox in all its beauty, just as it exists in everyday associations, between people, the natural world and our consciousness. '

Jasmine lectures on Physics throughout London and beyond. Her Residencies are impressive (see list at the bottom of the page). All this and a beautiful, charming and insightful woman with charisma and a fresh , honest, open attitude. I loved her comments and her openness to debate. So much so, that this short record of my journey to meeting this vibrant artist is only the precursor to an in-depth interview later in the month. I have decided to follow Jasmines career, it interests me, a woman, a scientist ,Quantum Artist. Now there is something to really shout about. 

.

For now, I want to leave you with a statement from Jasmine as she describes her work for me :-

My work is unique. Innovation based on established scientific foundations and inspired by nature, which are then reshaped by painting and sculpting 

I am an Artist who Sculpts I am a Quantum Artist.

visiting her website was a wonderfully inspiring half hour, I saw not only her Light Work  but her emotionally connecting water colours, the stunning works on paper were original, provocative, the research immaculate. Discovering she had been short listed for Threadneedle Prize was just an added little moment of insight. A Modest but colourful and charming personality, Jasmine was a delight to interview.

Enlightened by Jasmine Praadissitto

 Her forth coming exhibitions are in London

Oct 29th-1st Nov 'Gravity' Sci-Art Show, Kinetica, London
Oct 21st- 1st Nov 'Eureka' Sci-Art Show, London
Oct 20th 2015 STEAM COLLECTIVE

Her Residencies

2015 Ingenuity, London- A course on Creativity to Engineers- Creative Engineers Change the World 
2015 Derby Silk Mill Museum, STEAM Residency 
2015 Creativity in Chemistry with The Royal Society of Chemistry 
2015 Crate, Symposium - How Artists Make a Living 

I enjoyed my visit on the website, I absolutely adored the chat, coffee moment and am looking forwards to seeing at least one of the exhibits in October. Invited to see some of her work at her London home. Though I would truly enjoy seeing the gallery of works at her Italian residency, where she had revealed, her beloved father had framed everything she had ever done from childhood onwards.

I am looking forwards to a promised tour of The Tate with Jasmine as my personal guide and a delicious cup of Italian coffee.

Step into a world of innovation, a gallery of colour, shape and the amazing works of Jasmine Pradissitto.

You can find all the links, works, exhibits and information on Jasmine Pradissitto here:-

http://www.pradissitto.com/

SMJartist.

THE CREATIVE MIND or IN SEARCH OF THE BLUE CAT

                                                     IN SEARCH OF THE BLUE CAT

The encouragement of an artistic creative and expressive mind of a child is a delicate process if the in depth analysis of so many is to be believed. I have a personal theory. As I am an artist, not a child psychologist I am stating my own personal views based on how my own parents, Faced with a child of ten years old who wanted to draw 'a lady with no clothes on' as her very first attempt at an oil painting, Was given the very best encouragement of all, my parents didn't raise an eyebrow, for the early 60's that was a phenomena in itself. Still a little hide bound by the 50's Victorian influenced attitude towards females and female artists in particular. My parents gave me ......support.

My father took me on a journey through the library and the art museum and left me see for myself the 'ladies with no clothes on'. I saw Fransicos  de Goya's , The Nude Maja, Paul Cezanne's , Seven Bathers, Venus of Urbino by Titian, all were as it where, laid naked before my eyes. I stayed a little longer around a depiction of The Veil a beautiful sculpture, my hands itching to touch and smooth this amazing substance. Then Greek Mythology gave me cartoon like depictions of Venus, Athena and more and the early TV displayed Anthropology films of beautiful women, gloriously naked from the waist up dancing African tribal dances with abandonment.I gloried in the research involved. Never realising how well this journey would prepare me for adulthood and my eventual involvement in the processes of 'real art'. I was inspired further by my own experiences of naked female flesh. I had my end of year health check and saw my school friend naked.........

I processed the thoughts and the memories and realised I had been inspired by my Mothers magnificent chest, my aunts and my friend , also aged 10 who had developed a very prominent chest ahead of so many of her peers. Stripped naked before us all for the obligatory end of year health check with the school doctor, she had hidden herself in embarrassment. My Mother had been horrified at the absolute lack of privacy for this developed young girl and had firmly turned me away from my fascinated view of a pair of breasts on a 10 year old girl, In comparison my 'two backs' display of lack of figure had disappointed me greatly.

My desire to paint a 'lady with no clothes on' was finally understood...breast envy! I had wanted to be like my friend, like my Mother and my aunts, on the very brink of puberty I had been haunted by my lack of breasts and my lack of understanding in those bygone days had expressed itself in the art I depicted. I drew every girl with Boobs! I drew females, never males, I was expressing in the only way I could, words failing me, that I wanted to be a grown up and rub shoulders with adults and be..............me.

 The ten year old me was inspired, I painted her, inhibited only by my lack of expertise. I sculpted her in sand on Rhyll beach to the amusement of many  , I made her in paper mulch and I drew her once more when I was 43 and laughed and laughed at the memories of my budding (then) artistry and blessed my Father for never once inhibiting what was possible in my child's mind.

The creative mind expresses the inner views. These days my obsession with the female form at that time of my life would have been analysed and understood. But as a parent, I genuinely never inhibited my children's art, I tried instead to analyse what it was they were saying, and that brought me to this article on the creative mind, or the search for a blue cat.

Let's Pretend:-

Your child has just drawn their very first cat, and painted it blue.
What do you say?

The answer will tell you what you have done to your own child s creative mind.
If your words would be 'cats' are not blue darling' and you hand them a brown or black or a 'normal' cat coloured crayon, you have just instructed your child's mind to stay within acceptable parameters as defined by yourself and that step leads to the peer pressured realms of staying inside the boundaries. You murdered the first seeds of creativity and you are responsible from that very comment for instilling in your child one single thought...I must be a realist. Exploring what could be, what might be, what may be possible, is dead because you damned them with faint praise.

What if.........................

What if you exclaim how beautiful the cat is and what an amazing colour. Then you have given your child the gift of expression, exploration, enquiry and exhibiting freely their own concept without criticism...well done you.

It would be even better if you and your child then found a way to look for a blue cat, to have a look on the internet, teaching and learning about the research abilities on the internet and safe children's sites and who knows, you might actually find a blue cat.................in the teeth of all decriers and in the teeth of all those who originally thought 'what cat is blue?' A visit to the local museum, the library, the art galleries on a quest  In Search of the Blue Cat.

At home the beginning of the quest has one query, What books has your child been reading? Red Cat  Blue Cat by Jenni Desmond has a pretty big blue cat on the cover,Puff the Blue Kitten from The Little Golden Book series is a fairly in your face blue cat, Erika Lebarre illustrated Blucy by Julia Dwek with a very large blue cats face...your child is not necessarily influenced by the cat next door, perhaps the childs own library has begun the influence. Your child is displaying memory, recall, and creativity all in one small painting.

One has to ask 'does your child watch cartoons?' the blurring between reality and cartoon, for a child is not unrecognised by the media. Chaos is a blue winged cat in the TV Aladdin series, Peg and Cat has a blue cat, Doraemon is a blue robotic cat from the series of the same name. Furrball is a greyish blue cat in Tiny Toon Adventures,Gumball Watterson stars in its own series as a blue cat,His mother is also blue Nicole Watterson by name,Oggy in Oggy and the Cockroaches is an adorable little chubby blue cat, Proud Heart Cat is an amazing turquoise (still in the blue palette) from Care Bears, Finally (for now) Tom Cat that beloved of so many is the anthropomorphic grey/ blue cat always in trouble.

The dyed in the wool realist can discover the British Blue and Russian Blue are actual breeds and when viewed the coat has a blue tinge which is very observable, that is one aspect of the journey the creative mind would absorb.

The fact they sell for anything between 80 - 1000 GBP per kitten dependent on their pedigree is another string to the original questions.

Of course cats in art itself, that is famous cats; are prominent in the works of  Koontz, Baselitz amongst others but a blue cat, now that's another journey. Mind you, having found that cats are actually famous in paintings, especially the Victorian era where the obligatory cat was painted on the laps of many a females portrait has already begun to open the eyes of both child and adult has it not?
But a blue cat, we are now searching for validation of a real piece of art with a blue cat and a famous painter.

Clicking on images with the search term 'blue cat' reveals hundreds, nay thousands of images blue cats, cats painted as the Mona Lisa, Cross stitch patterns for blue cats. Water colours, Oil paintings, Acrylics. Sculptures and papier mache creations. Cats with blue flowers for eyes, but the predominant theme is BLUE and CAT.

It is in Renoir and his famous Sleeping Girl (Girl with a cat) one sees the depiction of a young woman lying slumped back in her chair, a cat on her lap.its definitely blue, Franz Marc painted Two Cats Blue by Yellow, Suddenly your budding artist child is no longer a 'stupid child, cats are not blue' your child is a budding prodigy, rubbing artistic creative shoulders with two great Masters of the art world. You have been on a journey in fascinating research, discovered cartoon characters, paintings and truthfully explored and found sources for Blue Cats beyond all expectation. The broadened mind of the adult in you, now harmoniously joining with the creative genius of your child's beautifully nurtured, expressive and creative energies.

Your child's blue cat is rubbing shoulders with some pretty amazing artists, creative minds who are unafraid to push a few boundaries.
So maybe now, you could make a cat out of paper mache ? air dry clay...go on...explore.
paint it , of course, BLUE.

So if your tempted to tell your child...there are no blue cats and pass them the brown crayon..DON'T

SMJ artist and I now paint naked men ...so there!

Free Screensavers

Throughout my career as a photographer I have taken an occasional image which has stunned me, made me revisit emotionally the time, the place, sometimes even the smell of a particular evening.

I adore sunsets and sunrises, there is something mystical and magical about the suns light slowly fading, casting shadows and colours in great cascaded of colour across a canvas so big we would never be able to travel it even with the speed of light in a lifetime.

Sunrise is very different, the amazing freshness of the colours, the genuinely awe inspiring revelations as a drop of light glints off a roof top or creates an almost separated view of the whole.

This image was stolen by some rotter a few years ago and posted on the web as their own works. I never did manage to trace the copy-rite thieving nitwit BUT I did decide that in future, if I had the chance I would give the image away freely, as a screensaver, and just let whoever use it. As is my own right J

So that’s what I intend to do.

This image, you can download without fear or favour because it has already been subjected to a thief with no talent of their own…and I want to take away that value from it.

Dawn in Harlech

The view is only possible from one specific building in the village, a unique building which I had the tenancy for 4 years and during that time the owner had scaffolding on the building which I climbed out onto, and took this image.

It is unique to the area the slow golden and pink light climbs above the right hand side (north facing) of the Snowdonia range.

Liming the tops of the mountains with glinting honey dripping gold slices of sunlight into the valleys and the fields below.

This next image is also available freely. I took this picture many years ago and it remains one of my all time favourites as a screensaver for my own PC.

This wonderful view of the sky never fails to fill me with peace. Lay on the beach at sunny Harlech I opened my eyes to the evening suns dying rays lighting up the sky and snatched my camera for a quick 'click'. I hope you copy and paste it in your thousands it would delight me to think that the Harlech Sky was happily glowing all over the world.

Enjoy my two freeby screen savers I will bring a few more to the table once I have managed to clear up my PC a little more.

Susan

DOLLS AND MONEY BOXES

I love fabrics, velvets,brocades , silks, lace. I use them lavishly to create my hand sewn dollies. I use a machine for only the smallest amount of work, in the main it is hand sewn and lovingly created to allow little girls (and big ones) to dress and undress them. I prefer to embroider the faces of my dollies I really don't like glass eyes 'to real'.

The biggest compliment I ever had given me was when I took this dolly to the local shop in Harlech Seasons and Reasons, while waiting to show my friend her in all her intricate details a Welsh Lady in her late 70's stopped and admired the attention to details. She told me that she still wore her National Dress in her home, that this dolly was a very good representation of the true dress and named my dolly for me, she called her Gwynedd the very name of the county I lived in and I was incredibly pleased. The hand made shoes are made in felt but the rest of the costume was created in the typical fabrics of the National Costume.

not the best picture in the world of Cat, made from papier mache and faux fur his glass eyes gleamed green and malevolent as he eats the money 

FAVOURITE IMAGES

My Granddaughter took this image of me wandering the woods before I lost a great deal of weight, it was a lovely afternoon filled with happy memories.

 WHo would think how different spider webs can be, this one looked so tangled and unusual I just had to take an image 2015 September Devon.

 Take a bell Jar, add water, put a dark background behind it and drop in some paint, swirl it round and snap there you go Colour Swirl 2013

Leaves are such beautiful creations but the 'art' of eating one seems to be equally pretty Devon 2015

 Bees seem particularly ok with having their picture took I swear this one posed for me Devon 2015

 Nothing is more restfull than lying on a beach with a lazy summer sky overhead to entangle the mind in 'what does it look like' , 2012 Harlech Beach

 Llanbedr has the prettiest river running right the way throughit. I took this in early spring Cool Greens

 A much more traditional Spider Web taken in Devon 2015 on a cool and misty September

 Nanny Goat Park St Helens, this field was the result of a children's involvement with wild flower planting such a beautiful sight.

 I never tire of watching the sunsets in Harlech such beautiful skies 2006 September

 Rhododendrons are not welcome in forests they are an invasive species but an ornamental one is a different class of flower, so very beautiful 2015

 One more Harlech sunset one that was so strange and so restful.

Estuary Harlech beach ends in this amazing and beautiful compilation of nature and mans engineering. One of the very last images of this scene as the bridge and the skyline have altered since then with new engineering. Still one of my favourite restful screen savers.

SCULPTURES

Merman

I created Merman by using three different students at Coleg Harlech as my inspiration, My sons Johns Back, my BF Petes Arms and my friend Al's cheekbones. 3 foot tall the blessed thing smashed to smithereens when I accidentally knocked it as it was drying for the kiln...I took it outside to the beach and returned him to the sea.

Sea Horse

Sold as it came out of the Kiln this is one of four horse heads I want to complete.

Green Man

I experimented with biodegradable properties and after Raku firing this structure and glazing him in greens and turquoise he was allowed to slowly but surely crumble into the land, entwined with a beautiful vine and a variety of mosses and ferns.

Shaman

I read and use and study The Runes and this Shaman in the midst of casting the Runes was an experiment I never completed, I wanted to display movement, passion, enthralment and concentration, the focus a Shaman displays when 'reading the Runes. It worked but I lost patience with it and let it go back in the bin. I realised it needed to be much, much bigger.

Fire Bowl

Glass Paint dripped in thick layers over a clear glass vase in the style I had come to love, the swirling colours when lit from within seemed to flicker like true flames.

Tantra

A tradition Tantric moment this porcelain structure is 6 inches high and remained pure white. Now living in Wales

Masks

Masks are and will always be a fascination for me, this one, part of four created for a friends garden, lit from behind with a night light.

Dragon Hand

I wanted to create a Dragons Hand but elegant and chose to have it holding a glass of wine..loved making this

Portraits Photo and Painted

My Mother

Miranda

 Acrylic on canvas Black and White an exercise in using simple colours and shadow and light to create a sympathetic and accurate image of a beautiful young woman.
Miranda was painted in 2015 for a present.





















Lord Ormsby Gore is a character and still recognised and addressed as Frances and Lord Harlech. Often seen meandering down the high street having a chat with various shop owners, and local residents.

Lord Ormsby Gore

of all the images I have ever taken this one, my very first photograph taken and developed by myself in 1990 has remained my absolute favourite. My grand daughter aged 4 months on a dark and damp afternoon allowed me to focus, to steady the old Pentax and take an image that still to this day makes me feel as if she is questioning the world. I entitled this image Innocence.

Sparky

Caesar

Sparky in a Jazz Mood

In the Style of VanGogh

Tasha

Even a Dragon should have a portrait now and again, its one of my favourite images if I am honest.

David Waiting at the Gate

CD Images

One of the joys of photography is manipulating an image so much that it loses identity with the original subject matter and begins to evolve into energy and shape and form unimagined at the original image capture. This image on the left is actually of a Dolphin.

 A jangle of chandalier and christmas decorations gave me these two images to play with, which I enjoyed greatly. Using red or blue as a background colour is one of advertisings known ploys. One evokes cold one evokes heat but when viewed in context with other images can spike the desire to eat, to buy foodstuffs, to thin of diamonds and so on.

The eye has it, close up of the human eye.

Altered State.

the following were taken as an excercise but i lost enthusiasm to do CD covers as the MP3 and other methods of music being available came onto the internet.