ink and tea

Live Performance @ Debut this Wednesday and more news from the studio….

On Wednesday of this week I will be doing a live performance over at Debut Contemporary with Michelin Star Chef Nicola Batavia.  Nicola is the owner of Casa Batavia in Notting Hill and specialises in creating unusual egg dishes – for the performance we will be combining calligraphy, eggs, tea and ink with culinary flair at the presentation of Debut’s Art School Awards at their Gallery in Notting Hill.  If you are as intrigued as I am!, send an email over to rsvp@debutcontemporary.com to get on the guest list – Wed 4th July from &pm..

This collaboration came about as a result of my work with Debut Contemporary and the collaboration with fashion brand JOYCE earlier in the year.  I will be displaying a gift set of the work used by JOYCE which includes 5 printed metal eggs which were  available in vending machines across Hong Kong as part of the ART-SPIRATIONS project, part of JOYCE’s continuing commitment to working creatively with artists.

2 for Joy

The newly created  piece of work – 2 for Joy will also be on display at the gallery  .  The piece coincides with some monumental events in my personal life and I am delighted to be showing the piece with Debut Contemporary.
Hope you can join me there for a celebratory drink!

2 for Joy – Detail – Ink and Tea on Paper – showing from the 4th July at ebut Contemporary.

L’Art de la Radiance

I am delighted to announce that I have had 2 pieces of work selected for the continuing exhibition ‘L’Art de la Radiance’ curated by Alvin Goh in Hong Kong.  The first exhibition was held in a 20,000 sq foot venue on
12nd April 2012  just for 1 night but due to overwhelming response, Cle de Peau Hong Kong have decided to extend the exhibition.

The re-run venue will be held at “The Space”  http://www.thespace.hk/ from July 19-31. The work below will form part of the exhibition which also features the work of 21 Artists selected by Alvin Goh, the online catalogue of the exhibition is available here

Ink’d Gallery Exhibition

Busy in the studio this week making preparations for the September solo show at Ink’d gallery( from Chaos) where I will be unveiling some brand new works / prints / and miniature pieces not seen before – If you’d like to come to the private view please put the 6th September in your diary and send a little mail to gallery@ink-d.co.uk they will put your details on their mailing list so you get lots of notice.  I have some brand new work available through ink-d too – you can check out the new originals and prints page on their website here…

Here’s some sketches and pieces on the go in the studio..

De chao ordo.Ink and Tea on paper 75 x 56cm

Chaos, Ink and tea on paper 75 x 56cm

 

New work from the Studio

Quick update as work continues on the piece 3 for a girl and a really fun collaboration with an east end fashion designer.

Here’s some pics of work from last week

Silence, Ink and tea on paper 75cm x 56cm Ink and Tea on paper

Breaking Through, Ink and tea on paper 75cm x 56cm Ink and tea on paper

Last minute news..

Here’s what is happening from the studio, with exhibitions and upcoming projects.

This evening sees the launch of  The Stone Space’s One Day’s Walk exhibition.  The show features work from 13 artists reflecting on their beloved hometown or the place they grew up – It’s a great eclectic collection of work featuring plaster sculptures, oil paintings, charcoal and graphite drawings, photographs prints and drawings in ink and tea!!

If you can make it to Leytonstone tube station the Stone Space Gallery is just a stone’s throw along church lane and we’ll be there to welcome you with a nice glass of wine, beer or maybe even a cup of tea.. be there from 7pm

‘George’ by Jesus Coromina, ‘Tower Blocked’by Michele Fletcher and ‘Constellations 6’ by Gillian Swan

I will be showing the piece ‘The Green Man’ a drawing which serves to illustrate the influence of my Leytonstone’s natural surroundings on my drawing (as an avid cyclist the lure of epping forest is .  Most works in the exhibition are available for sale and all works have been reproduced as a postcard which are available to buy from the gallery for just £1 – all proceeds go to the running of the stone space gallery.

The Green Man, Ink and Tea on Paper

From the studio

Things are hotting up in the studio … literally – whilst work is complete on the first 2 of the series 1 for sorrow, I have begun to experiment with some new portraiture pieces.  These are with an aim to producing a new series of smaller works as part of the upcoming show at Ink’d Gallery this September.  Here’s a few snippets of what you might expect later in the year…

Collaborations..

Really looking forward to working with an East London Fashion house on the production of some garment fabrics inspired by drawings in ink and tea – the work will be playful, colourful and will mark a return for me into the area of textiles… after 12 years designing embroidery it’s nice to be working with fabrics again and I am feeling a draw to some more tactile elements in the work too! watch this space…

That’s all for now… thanks for reading.

You’ve got mail

A peak at the new triptych set now available here

Envelope with Hand Drawn embellishments

Thank you for reading, if you would like a set of cards or would like to find out more about the triptych please click here

New Editioned Cards and Hunger Pics

Some exciting new projects on the horizon including working with some fabric and dress designs for a London fashion label – more information to come later in the season as the designs progress.  Tomorrow I will be taking the new pieces ‘From Chaos’ and ‘Seed of Life’ down to the fantastic Ink’d gallery in Brighton where I will have a chance to see the Graham Carter, Me, Marionette exhibition which is currently showing- been waiting for a sunny day to hit the south coast and enjoy properly!

New Edition Triptych Cards Available Here

Triptych, signed edition – Available to order here for £10

The three cards are on 400gsm matt stock with a solid silver reverse print – the cards are packed in silver Centura wrapping and will be posted in a hand embellished white conqueror envelope sealed with a silver or turquoise wax stamp. Limited to an edition of 1000 cards Each triptych is hand signed and accompanied by a small original drawing on the outside reverse of the envelope.  Each card measures 10cm x 21 cm.

Hunger Magazine

Earlier this month saw the launch of Hunger magazine’s second edition – for those who want to get their hands on the mag it’s out now at whsmiths for just £5 or from Other Criteria in Hardback for just £10! -The hefty magazine is an amazing collection of work from the Photographer Rankin as well as features on artisans that inspire and influence his work.  I was fortunate enough to be invited by Rankin to translate a photoshoot of the amazing Tuli, into a series of illustrations.  Blending my own floral style with the work of another photographer was a real challenge – especially finding a balance between the escapist, automatic style of drawing I enjoy, but retaining the compositional elements which I hope give a new strength to the images.. here’s some pics of the collaboration

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.othercriteria.com/browse/all/new/the_hunger_2_hardback/

2 for Joy

‘2 for Joy’  is now complete and cut from the board in the studio, so I am spending today catching up on some paperwork and arranging some of my giclee prints to go out to galleries in Brighton, Hastings and up to Scotland. Also preparing the 3rd piece in the series and working on some interesting commissions, including a new lightbox which I will be sharing soon.

Here are some pics of the finished work 2 for Joy with a couple of work in progress and detail shots taken along the way.  The piece ‘2 for Joy’ will form part of a series of 10 works over the course of this year.

Twinne

Also here are some pics from the launch of the new t-shirt available from Twinne using the piece ‘Seed of life’

Apparently there was a hiccup with the ordering system but you can now buy the Tee’s here

The original artwork is also available for sale.

 

 

 

Spring at The Smokehouse PV 5th April

I am Pleased to be exhibiting the finished work of ‘1 for Sorrow’ at ‘Spring’ – an exhibition featuring 50 artists’ work at Forman’s Smokehouse Gallery.  The exhibition, curated by Art Catcher has been selected as one of 5 not to miss by Whitechapel and Timeout’s First Thursday’s website. I hope you will be able to join me to celebrate the opening of the exhibition 0n Thursday 5th April from 6-9pm where the smokehouse will be serving salmon platters.


1 for sorrow – work in progress ink and tea on paper

What better place in the world to celebrate the Season of Growth and Renewal this year than Hackney Wick and Fish Island with a direct view of the Olympic Stadium?

Forman’s Smokehouse Gallery and East Village London in collaboration with Art Catcher Ltd present you with works by 50 artists from Great Britain and beyond, working in painting, printmaking, photography, collage  moving image and sculpture, expressing an unusual and delightful array of interpretations.

Exhibiting artists include including Adam Graff (Images 36 ‘The best of British illustration’ competition 2012), Carne Griffiths (Cle De Peau’s 30th anniversary exhibition, co-ordinated by Alvin Goh, Hong Kong 2012), Louiz Kirkebjerg-Nielsen (International Printmaking Biennial of Douro, Portugal, 2012, and Qijiang International Print Festival 2011), Sumi Perera (1st Prize-Drawing for Design-Rootstein Hopkins Foundation Drawing Exhibition, London 2011), Jens Marott (Silver Prize London Photographic Awards “Let’s face it” competition 2011), Martin Mossop (John Purcell Paper Prize at the Bainbridge Open in  2011), Fabienne Teyssier-Monnot (Claude Berthault Price in Sculpture 2010, Chongqing, China), and Wuon Gean Ho (Birgit Skiold Memorial Trust Prize 2010).

It’s nice to be back posting work here – been working on some great commissions including the just finished series of collaboration work with photographer Rankin for Hunger Magazine – look out for it in May! -So everything is a little crazy right now – hence the title of the new work – it’s good to be busy but it’s great to know I have some time to get serious in the studio

If you would like more information you can sign up to my mailing list which is sent out every couple of weeks with details of new works and shows etc.
Click here to sign up to the Mailing List

From Chaos – Ink and Tea on Bockingford heavy 540gsm paper

Model – Lisa Stefaniak

Private View of Eden tonight 8th March from 7pm


Live streaming by Ustream

Just a quick post to say I would be delighted if you could join me for a glass of wine in the comfort of Leytonstone’s Stone Space Gallery from 7pm tonight (8th March)
The live stream for Eden will start again on this page from 1400 GMT today, that’s 0900 EST and 0800 EDT 8th March – at other times after, a recording of the stream will be available

Today is the mid-point of the exhibition and I will be drawing .. and broadcasting live from the space today from 2pm through till the private view which should run until 10pm tonight.
I hope you can join me later and if you can bring some plants / foliage / greenery.. all the better.

If you cannot make today’s private view you can still visit the exhibition at the following times.

Thursday 8 March 2pm – 10pm
Friday 9 March 2-6pm
Saturday 10 March 12-late
Sunday 11 March 12-4pm when the drawing will be completed… and dismantled.

Eden Preview – Painting in Tea @ Debut Contemporary Sat 25th Feb

 

Very excited about tomorrow’s drawing event.  On Saturday 25th feb (tomorrow!) I will be packing up my assorted teas, pens and paintbrushes and heading over to Notting Hill for a day of painting in ink and tea at Debut Contemporary.  Debut have kindly let me use their window space as a studio for the day and as spring is just around the corner (fingers crossed) I thought I would take some floral inspiration to create a new piece of work in the space.   Hopefully I will have worked out the technology to broadcast some of the drawing via webcam, but if you can make it along to the gallery for a cup of tea you’ll be able to enjoy the whole experience aroma and all!!

There will also be work available for sale starting from £5 for postcard packs, prints and original works of art.  Also available will be the newly released print Choke taken from the violence of flowers series, accompanied by a selection of original floral works.

Will post pictures of the event tomorrow evening online, but hope to see you there if you can make it.

Choke 15″ x 24″ on 310 gsm Hahnemuhle Etching Paper, ltd edition of 25 available here
Also available from Art Republic, Eyestorm , Inkd Gallery and Opus.

Long Player @ The Ben Oakley Gallery

Tonight sees the launch of Long Player at the amazing Ben Oakley Gallery, featuring work from over 30 artists who have been given the task of customising classic (and not so classic) album covers in a show which mixes street art, fine art, illustration and works from another dimension. I got 2 in it!

Sneak preview below

 

The London Art Fair, The Wing Assignment, and other projects of distinction

So the London Art Fair is now over, a massive thank you to Opus Arts for supporting my work and showing the pieces at the London Art Fair – all wort represented at the fair (and more besides) are available from their website http://www.opus-art.com .

There was much expectation from Artists and galleries across the country at this year’s Fair, lots of great things on show and in my humble opinion some not so great things.  Galleries pushing boundaries and some playing it safe.  The Fair is always a good chance to see a lot of work in one space but that can also be it’s downfall – being bombarded with so many pieces in one room can sometimes give you a bit of a headache, however I really enjoyed the project space this year and discovered some exciting artists who opened my eyes to possible ways of working.  It’s good to feed on this visual bombardment and absorb new influences but visiting the fair just makes me want to return to the studio and push my work further.  Sometimes it can make you realise how far you have to go with your own body of work, it highlights things that you are missing from your own pieces and bodies of work but in a positive way.

Today I am working on a couple of projects and looking forward to some events in February which seem to have arrived far faster than I anticipated!!

The Wing Assignment

A good friend, Nina Farrell from KIAD (way back in 95!!), has put together a fantastic concept for an exhibition, using wings as an influence and starting point she has called upon various artists to produce images which will form part of an exhibition later this year.  I have decided to keep the same format I used for the Journey pieces and am currently exploring the theme of old nursery rhymes and superstition for the piece.  Here’s some work in progress images.

The Sketchbook Project

The fantastic Sketchbook project, which I became involved with last year is now touring the UK as well as many locations worldwide.  If you haven’t heard of this project already – you should look it up.  inspiringly ambitious, the project sent out over 28,000 books last year and exhibited just under 10,000 (artists!!) returned full sketchbooks as part of it’s tour in 2011.  I was really happy to have work in the touring exhibition which allows you to check out an artists sketchbook – library book style – from any number of it’s travelling locations.  This year’s book needs to be complete by the end of January.  The work I have produced for this year is based on the concept along the line, and has really been a therapeutic return to automatic and abstract drawing.  The type of work that you can really lose yourself in.  It’s tempting to just travel around with this little book soaking up the atmosphere of different places and allowing drawings to take shape.  I am looking to devote a couple of hours a day over the next week to complete the work but for now here is a sneak peek at some of the pages.

   

Postcards

Sending out packs of the new winter postcards which are available from Etsy.  These have been great fun to send – something about sending artwork through the post and making a parcel something really special to receive gives me a lot of joy. Over the last couple of days I have sent out about 15 packs and I am not sure if I can continue to manage a full drawing on each envelope but it’s fun so I find it hard to resist.  Plus the final action of sealing the envelope with a wax sealing stamp is just so satisfying.

Here’s a sample image of the cards and some of the envelopes but you can see plenty more over on my facebook page (I post them up just before sending)

Art For Heart’s Sake

A little reminder that I will be showing the work Margarita at a charity auction on February 9th. with the exhibition running from the 10th – 17th February 2012.Please do come along and support this great cause.  If you would like tickets to the event please RSVP hello@artforheartssake.co.uk

Debut Contemporary

Private View 1st february – It would be amazing if you could make it along for the Debut Contemporary Private View on the 1st Feb,  I will be showing some new works including the Tryptich ‘Immortal’ – to attend the evening please rsvp to rsvp@debutcontemporary.com or call 0207 221 1651

Some of the pieces on show …

Sold Works

2 original pieces were sold recently, Another Place, at debut contemporary and Swarm through Eyestorm. .. both below
Many thanks for the support of my work…

 

… I’m off to post envelopes – then to the studio!!

Happy mondays….