Dawn Peaks. Watercolour. 28cm x 22cm

This weekend sees the 14th Annual Art Exhibition in Fowlmere. The preview is tomorrow evening from 7.30pm till 10pm.  And the exhibition is open on Saturday and Sunday from 10am until 4.30pm.

I’ll be exhibiting four paintings this weekend.
If you’re in the area and would like to pop in, you can find the exhibition here.

The exhibition features the work of four watercolour artists: David Poxon RI, Denis Ryan RWS, Angus Mcewan RWS, and Sandra Walker RI.

A New Day by David Poxon - pure watercolour, 12" x 12"

The title of this exhibition says it all. These four artists are independently renowned for painting realism in watercolours. Their collaboration is a tour de force.

This exhibition is part of their international tour:
It has already been to Charleston, South Carolina, USA, and Aldeburgh, Suffolk, UK.
After their London showing, the works will be seen in New York City in September and October, in Edinburgh in November, and Shanghai in November/December.

Door to a Secret Garden by David Poxon - pure watercolour, 26" x 18"

Although I can’t be there on the 13th, this one is in my diary for the following week.  More information about the artists and the exhibition is available on The Art of the Real blog. 

It makes me think there’s an unintended consequence of acts of terror. In the process of trying to invoke fear, the perpetrators of violent acts manage to also strengthen the inner resolve of their targets. An attack from outside, brings members of a clan together to protect and support each other, and in the process, reinforces their bond.

I use Evernote for all sorts of notes – not just for my painting references. From business notes to shopping lists, it’s a useful way of gathering and organising the information I need in my life.  Notes are grouped into virtual notebooks so I can make individual notes within books about specific work projects, or general categories (like ‘painting ideas’, family history research, information for an upcoming trip).

There are some specific features that make it great as an app for artists. In Evernote I can:

• type in text notes, add audio, or video to my notes,
• add a plug in to my web browser which makes it easy to copy entire sections of a web page, just the URL, or clip an small part of that page,
• attach a file from my computer to any note,
• take a photograph directly from the Evernote app which automatically goes into the notebook I allocate it to,
• synchonise Evernote on my phone, my laptop and my iPad so I can use it on the go.

It’s not just a text or sketch repository – it can be filled with visual references too. That flexibility is the key. I find my work notes tend to be predominantly text, tables and web links, while my painting reminders are filled with photographs and sections of web pages which include images.

I’m using it to build my own reference library for my painting. I have lists of artists whose work I’d like to spend more time viewing. I have images and ideas I’m considering using as subjects for paintings one day. I’ve started a section on colour notes based around Maggie Latham‘s series of blog posts on exploring colours. 

So often in the past I’ve found myself reading a blog post or a website and thinking, “I must remember to go back to this” only to find that when I do need it, I can’t find it.  Either its lost in an endless list of bookmarks, or if I can find the page, I spend ages trawling through it to find the specific nugget of information I wanted. As long as I remember to clip it to Evernote, I don’t need to do that any more.

I had Evernote downloaded on my computer for ages and just didn’t get into it. Finally, the need to collect images for a commission persuaded me to try again – and this time I really found it useful and I’m using it more and more.

Oh, and one more thing – it’s free, which means its not going to bite into the paint budget.

Today is packing day. I’m off on a working trip for 5 weeks.  The last few weeks have been fairly hectic getting ready. When extending travel is not part of your usual way of operating, there’s a surprising amount that needs to be done before you go. As a result, my blog has been neglected somewhat, and I’ve had very little painting time.

On the other hand, I have been driving back and forth to the wonderful Denise Shearing who frames my paintings. Armloads of paintings have been delivered and carloads of beautifully framed finished pictures have returned. Today was the last load and I’m now preparing collections to submit to 3 exhibitions while I am away.

Forms are completed, labels done and stuck on, submission fees paid – now all that remains is to get them delivered and await the results.

I’ll blog any weekend painting I manage to do on my trip, but it’s going to be a busy one so there may not be much.

There are some things that just can’t be replicated by the electronic version:

My notebook is a way of recording colour combinations I want to try out.

It’s a place I can do a quick sketch in situe if I’m painting en plein air and need to finish the painting later.

And sometimes it’s just somewhere to satisfy the urge to play with a bit of colour, or create a little reminder of the image of a particular day or place. There was a beautiful glass vase of agapanthus flowers on the patio table where we had lunch last Christmas. This brings back the memory of the colours and the relaxed atmosphere of the day.

Some notebooks just have to be shared:

David Melling’s comment on rediscovering this image in his sketchbook is wonderful and very funny.

A whole series of fascinating notebooks revealed on the Brainpickings blog.

The annual exhibition of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours is one of my annual treats. It’s one of my favourite exhibitions. On Wednesday I made a lunch time visit to The Mall Galleries to have a delicious wander around the 200th iteration of their wonderful exhibition.

Surrounded by luminous colour, taking in images that range from delicate and detailed, to audacious and dense. It is a sensory experience that always leaves my brain buzzing with ideas and inspiration. I come out of the exhibition with the urge to go and paint immediately – and a bit off frustration at having to wait until I can find time on the weekend to go into the studio and pick up my brushes.

The exhibition is inspiring and motivates me to do better. I think that everything we do is enhanced by new ideas, and by the discipline of practice – not necessarily always in equal measures. The work on display at the exhibition is clearly a product of both those elements. And an hour of immersion in the paintings that have made the grade, provides loads of new and stimulating ideas. The practice, I’m afraid, is not quite so easy to achieve.

One of the features that stood out at this  year’s exhibition was the use of texture in paintings:  David Poxon‘s wonderful painting of barn doors (I could just about smell the warm mustiness of old wood), Peter Farley’s shed, and of course, Ann Blockley‘s foliage.

It is well worth the visit if you can make it to The Mall Galleries in London before Sunday 25th March, while the exhibition is open.

Now I’m off to do some of that practice stuff – and read about intelligent investing. Work calls.

Post Update:

After this post was published, I received an email from David Poxon with a copy of his fabulous Barn Doors picture to share in this post.

So for those who can’t get to The Mall Galleries, enjoy David’s painting:

I now have a very limited portfolio in the Saatchi Online gallery. From time to time they have an artist’s showdown. Viewers are invited to vote for the painting they like most (which is quite a task as there are a fair number of them). Then the paintings with the most votes go into a second round of judging by an artist selected by Saatchi.

Thought I’d give it a go. Voting starts on Tuesday.

Organised by Doug Shaw, the day was set up as an opportunity to try something new.  The brief was simply to bring your curiosity and an open mind.

We usually tend to operate in silos and it strikes me that we are the poorer for it. There’s a perception that if you are an accountant, a lawyer, a businessman – you can’t also be an artist. And conversely, if you make your living in a creative pursuit, well naturally you can’t possibly be any good at management or leadership. We seem to be surprised that someone like Madonna is both a singer and a talented businesswoman. We remember Winston Churchill lead Britain through the Second World War, but forget that he was also a talented artist,

If you believe the theory that exercising both hemispheres of the brain leads to better cognitive function, then business should be fostering creativity in their staff as much as possible.

#Leapday was an experience of  breaking down the silo thinking, and getting business and art to converge and meld.

The setting was unusual – a group of tables at the back of a health food shop in South London. We started with a bit of poetry to set the scene.

Then had a chance to do a sketching exercise. This was followed by a minute of question-based coaching on the subject of he sketch, after which we sketched for a further 2 minutes. It was remarkable how much difference the minute of coaching made to our drawings.

Finally, we opened up the watercolour boxes and I spent some time talking about some basic techniques, and then everyone had a go at painting. For some this was the first time they had painted. I suspect that for everyone, it was the first time they had painted in a health food shop with a group of other business people.

At lunch time, a charming gentleman in a wheelchair joined us at out table to eat his lunch. Before he left, we’d discovered that he was an accomplished watercolour painter and he had sketched a small oyster catcher with some watercolour pencils.

By the end of the day everyone had explored colour, the mix of pigment and water on paper,  painted a grape, and most had tried their hand at a small landscape.  The conversation naturally turned to the question of how business and art could work better together. Hopefully, those of us who experienced #Leapday will keep on looking for ways to make that happen.

Here are a few blog posts from our #LeapDay event:

David’s thoughts on The Art of Business

David’s landscape

Doug’s post about his Leapday output

The Anonymous Artist

Doug Shaw’s Aspects of Spring

(If you were at #LeapDay and you posted something about it, please let me know and I’ll add the link to the list).

Susan points out that no-one is an absolute on the introvert-extrovert scale. I think it’s all too easy to assume that someone who talks a lot and is outgoing when in company, is an extrovert. This is not always true. We learn to adapt our behaviour to social pressures, and a highly introverted individual can in fact appear to be the life and soul of the party at times.  When you hear someone described as an introvert or an extrovert – be wary. They may not be quite what they appear.

The true test of whether where we are on that scale is how we recharge our internal batteries. After taking part in a group activity for a couple of hours, do you just want to curl up quietly with a book, or do you want to get out an party? That should give you a clue.  Your learning style is also an indicator of your propensity to introversion. If you are drawn to spending quiet time working things out, and if you learn best by just getting stuck in by yourself – own that introvert label. It’s just the way you are. And you’ll do best by working with the style you feel most drawn to.

I think Susan’s talk is powerful and convincing.