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28th May 2010
| I thoroughly enjoyed the Weybridge Society of Art's Spring Exhibition last year and this year, it is bigger and better! The extremely high standard of work and expert presentation makes the whole experience a real joy (made all the more enjoyable at the private view by a very pleasant musical accompaniment and great company.) There is an obvious passion for creativity and desire to excel throughout the group, demonstrated in strong observational studies, the experimentation and mastery of different media and prolificacy of work. The drawings are, without exception, well-observed, beautifully composed and beautifully rendered and the paintings and prints are, again, expertly executed with wonderful colour, form and techniques. The perfectly balanced colour and texture in Tessa Pearson's Collagraphs and prints are striking, particularly in 'Essaouira Circles 10' and the expressive linework in Kate Merrigan's life studies possess vitality and personality. Her portrait study, 'My Father' was probably my favourite piece in the show. The confident drawings of Sue Relph, Ed Relph and Margaret Robinson, the diversity in Miranda Weber's work and the wit and stylised characters in Joan Steel's paintings are also very appealing. This is a really exciting show packed with excellent original artwork and each piece will demand your attention. Enjoy it this Bank Holiday! |
Walton 2nd May 2010
Walton Art Club has been running for 50 years and, to mark the event, their spring exhibition at the Riverhouse Barn in Walton saw many of its members submit some fine work showing that it is still going strong and on course for another 50. |
Molesey 7th April 2010
| I've been struggling of late with my own work, keen to find a new direction, theme or style that may turn an eclectic jumble of work into a comprehensive collection for our own summer show. With this in mind, I was looking forward to going to the Molesey Art Society's Spring Exhibition to remind myself how well they marry the myriad of styles, media and subject matter that their members produce and to get some inspiration. The show did not disappoint. There are some truly outstanding pieces in this exhibition that Pete and I really wouldn't mind owning! (Any chance of a swap for some art materials!!? Only joking) Again, we were drawn to the beautiful work of Ann Heat, the bold figurative work of Kate Merrigan and the compelling and poetically-titled, 'Somewhere Near Here' by Sue Munson and we were very pleased to be introduced to some Artists whose work we had not seen before. Catherine Waterman's well-observed and rendered floral watercolours and the nicely-executed pencil drawings by Carol Morris caught my eye whilst Pete was taken by 'Tintoretto's House', a watercolour by Michael Tims. Other pieces that showed brilliant draughtsmanship came from Catherine Daniels, in her lovely pen and pastel drawings, and Jillian Richards, especially in her depiction of St. Mary's Church. I loved the classically elegant bronze resin sculpture of 'Apollo and Daphne' by Malcolm West and admired the strong, graphic nature of Eric Drewery's acrylic painting, 'Traditional Boats' and the Wallace-esque 'Winds of Change' by Deryk Gibson whilst Pete thought that David Crick's watercolours captured the light with stunning effect. One painting that we agreed was beautifully painted with lovely subdued colours and charming subject matter was Sue Montreath's 'Lapwings'. We admired all of her pieces and thought that her prices made them absolute bargains! We, both, also really liked the work of Joan Steel which is witty, quirky, full of bold colour and mark-making and has a narrative quality that would make terrific greetings cards. A deserved winner. Another deserved winner was Cilla Baldwyn. All of her marvellously atmospheric watercolours were worthy of note but her winning piece, 'Approaching Storm, Southwold' really stood out with its free and expressive use of the paint and interesting composition. A thoroughly enjoyed show and thoroughly recommended. |
What've you been doin'?!
Workload, weather and wardens (of the traffic variety) have all conspired to prevent us getting to a great many exhibitions in the last few months. However, there were a couple of exceptions and one notable show that was very special. |
August 16th 2009
| Sunday was a beautiful day - perfect for
a stroll around Sunbury upon Thames and a browse around a gallery.
Luckily, Steve Letchford, exhibiting at the Shepperton and Sunbury
Framing studio, provided just the show for such a day. His gentle
watercolours and delicate drawings have a charm, serenity and nostalgic
feel as they capture views of rivers, dales, valleys and mountains
under perfect skies. A very accomplished draughtsman, Steve's pencil and pen and ink work is very strong. Beautifully drawn, they present scenes in an idealistic, timeless way by omitting the trappings of modern life and concentrating on the aesthetics. His watercolours add gentle, harmonious colour to the scenes and some lovely washes of paint make for some lovely skies. I particularly liked the atmospheric sky in 'Cotterdale'. With paintings and prints of many local and iconic British landmarks from further afield, the comprehensive collection is bound to appeal to all lovers of watercolour and the British Isles. |
August 12th 2009
| We made it - just! We got to
Edwin Cripps' exhibition at the Windsor Street Gallery in the last
half-hour of the second to last day - not nearly enough time to
take in the detail, technique and superb humour that epitomises
his work, I know, but at least we had a chance to enjoy a few of
his pieces. With minute detail, Edwin conjures up fantastic and often surreal scenes that combine dreamlike landscapes, anthropomorphic creatures and bizarre machines that intrigue and amuse. Every part of each of the usually large canvases is bursting with content that is beautifully painted and totally absorbing. I felt particularly drawn into 'Whilst the Genius is away', not only because of the humour - which is very good - but because of the true-life scale, attention to detail and brilliantly drawn perspective that tricked the brain into thinking you could reach right into it and pick up an object from the desk that was central to the piece. We certainly hope that it will not be another decade before Edwin Cripps has another solo show and allows us to not only enjoy his paintings but get a glimpse of how they are created. A work-in-progress revealed how the precise detail is somehow moulded from very loose underpainting and that sections of background are completed before the foreground is conceived, drawn in and rendered evolving from the Artist's imagination making the process as fascinating as the images. |
July 5th 2009
| The Chertsey Artists' Summer
Show brought a welcome opportunity to return to the lovely little
Windsor Street Gallery in Chertsey today to see more work by artists
we have recently been introduced to and to discover some new ones. Again we admired the work of Sue Munson, Miranda Weber, Joy Martin, Alan Knight and Edwin Cripps, amongst others, and had a lovely chat with one of the Artists, Sue Ralph, whose enthusiasm and energy for Art could really be seen in her strong life studies. 'Model at Life Class' by Andrew Pulford is also an interesting life drawing using willowly line work and delicate ink washes and delicate is a word that I would use to describe Robert Hay's atmospheric paintings and photography as well. In stark contrast, but as aesthetically pleasing, is the Rileyesque work of Nadia Dwyer and an etching from Sarah that could be seen as reminiscent of Picasso. Etchings are a particular strength of the group and, apart from those already mentioned, there are some lovely pieces by Paula Vokes - I particulary liked an image on a postcard produced by Vokes entitled 'Tall Ships and Tower Bridge' - and Robin-Lee Hall. (Although we had been hoping to see some of Robin's paintings as nice as her etchings are!) Peter and I were also drawn to the Ceramics of John King especially his 'stepped' landscape pieces of Mediterranean and Cornish coastlines which are very interesting and very affordable. On until 16th July, this is another show that has a broad spectrum of subject matter, media and technique and has something for all tastes. Go check it out! |
June 18th 2009
| Having thoroughly enjoyed Joy Martin and
Alan Knight's show at 'Shepperton and Sunbury Picture Framing',
we were keen to get along to see Alan's solo show in Chertsey. The
small venue in Sunbury, although very nice, limited the number and
scale of the work on show so it was great to get to the Windsor
Street Gallery and see that the skill and energy shown in those
smaller pieces was very much in evidence in Alan's larger work. His love of Cornwall most definitely shone through and the white-washed timber cladding in the gallery made the perfect environment for his work. You could almost smell the sea! Bold brush strokes and other interesting ways of applying the paint give the pieces a sense of movement and the colours that are used beautifully capture the Cornish 'blue light'. Equally appealling are his views of the Thames, with rich greens and blues set off with his signature flashes of white. |
May 22nd 2009
| Weybridge Society of Art - small but perfectly
formed! This May bank holiday saw the 70th Anniversary Spring Exhibition of this Art Society at the Riverhouse Barn and what a show it was. There could be found a fantastic range of media and technique on display with photography, oil painting, linocuts, textiles, enamel work, watercolours, monoprints, pen and ink and collagraphs and all executed with great skill. Such an interesting mix of disciplines certainly made it a very interesting, strong show and one that you could spend hours taking in. We certainly would have liked to have stayed longer if we hadn't had another exhibition to get to. Oh, what social butterflies we are! Kate Merrigan's bold and colourful life studies were among my favourites with their free and exhilarating brush work whilst Peter was taken with the linocuts of Nicky Browne especially her piece entitled 'Hampton Hill Library'. We both enjoyed Tessa Pearson's exotic monoprints and thought that her watercolour piece, 'Yves Pond 2' used simple, confident washes to great effect and the prolific Miranda Weber demonstrated a mastery of a number of media including some quirky and attractive enamel on copper pieces. Even though this exhibition was the first in the area where we were not required to vote for a favourite piece, Peter and I still set ourselves the challenge of picking just one piece that we would like to own (given the money!) Unsurprisingly, we both went for the same piece - again! This time it was the evocative and dreamy 'Stormy Sky' by Carol Morgan. We're suckers for those skyscapes!! |
1st May 2009
| And so to Walton. The Walton Art Club's Spring
Exhibition took place in the fantastic Riverhouse Barn - a great
exhibition space and lively Arts centre in Manor Road, Walton-on-Thames.
Although this was a much smaller show than the other two we had
recently seen, the standard was just as good. A particular strength of the Club appears to be pastels with a number of the members producing some very strong pieces in the medium. Work that we thought stood out included Raymond Kay's 'Clandon Park', Margaret Ashworth's 'Chow' and the work of Barbara Thaxter which were all well-observed and executed with great skill. I also liked Felicity Hardman's 'Curiosity' which was beautifully drawn and thoughtfully framed. Many of the landscapes in the show were very interesting in particular 'Frensham Pond' by Sue Cox, 'Reed beds' by Joy Martin and a great piece by Alan Knight that must remain nameless as I neglected to look at the title! I'm sure everyone will know the one I mean when I describe the vibrant green flash in the foreground that magically captured the light streaming onto the grass. I look forward to Alan and Joy's show at the end of the month to see more. In fact, I'd now like to see more of a great many of the members' artworks and look forward to the next exhibition with anticipation. Will definitely be looking out for it and will keep you posted! |
10th April 2009
| Closing early for
Easter, we managed to grab a swift look at the Molesey Art Society's
5oth Anniversary Exhibition. The show certainly exemplified the
philosophy that the society was founded on fifty years ago which
was to encourage beginners and give them the opportunity to exhibit
alongside professional artists. As we strolled round, we were struck
by the thought that there are either a lot of professionals based
in the area or a lot of talented amateurs! It would have been nice
to have been given a little information about each artist but then,
maybe that would have influenced us and stopped us from enjoying
the paintings for themselves? Many pieces caught our eye making it tricky to narrow it down to a favourite. We were delighted to see some more work from Freda Anderson whose portraits we had admired at Sunbury but were doubly delighted to see a host of other artists whose work was new to us. The interesting line-work of Rita Armfield's 'Contented gathering', the bright, jolly river-scene prints of Judy Joel and Ena Barrett's dreamy 'Lavender Fields' all demanded our attention and I was particularly taken with the pastels of Judy Malyon. But the paintings we loved the most came from four artists - Keith New, Catherine Daniel, Tom Beauvais and Ann Heat. All the work they produced had wonderful attention to detail drawing you into the scene, was beautifully presented in sympathetic framing and, above all, had a magic quality in the light they captured. You could almost feel the strong sunshine through the break in the clouds in Beauvais' 'Dartmouth' piece and the cold and stillness in Daniels' paintings. Keith New made his colours zing against each other and conveyed to me a real vibrant energy and Ann Heat's wonderfully soft oils evoked peace and tranquilty in every painting. Beautiful. |
March 27th 2009
| Our first local Private show! Although
we had previously lived in Hampton, we had had no idea at the time
what a vibrant and busy art scene there was in Sunbury. We really
should have ventured out more!! But, since opening the shop, we
have encountered a plethora of artists, art and craft groups, art
societies and keen students of the many courses run in the area
covering a wide range of disciplines such as portraiture, icon-painting,
calligraphy and landscape painting. And so, when given the opportunity
to see an exhibition of the art work of the Sunbury Art Society,
we made sure we were there. I can say that we never expected to find such a substantial queue outside the venue, the Riverside Arts Centre in Thames Street, but we waited in line becoming increasingly intrigued as to what all the fuss could be about. Inside, it was packed! We shuffled around bumping shoulders and exchanging pardons, jostling for position in front of each piece and enjoyed every moment! The range of subject matter was refreshingly broad and many of the pieces really took our eye. Karen Charman's unusual textural watercolours, Michael Croneen's beautifully observed architectural studies, Edwin Cripps' surreal odysseys, Hildegard Reid's bold brush work in her piece, 'The Imari bowl', Freda Anderson's mesmerising portrait of 'Fatima' and Sue Munson's small but perfectly formed 'Night' of a looming stormy night sky radiating with the last glimmer of evening light. With around 200 paintings, studies and sculptural pieces, all tastes are catered for and we found it a real inspiration. We certainly now intend to use these lighter nights to put paint to paper! Definitely get to this show if you can. |
