All things familiar.

 A quick visit to the studio a few weeks ago to drop paintings off. Cardiff is busy with people milling around the Castle opposite. There's a definite holiday feeling around and the hot weather continues. I'll be back to work in a bit; in the meantime I'm enjoying Summer!

A trip down memory lane!

Showing a friend around Cardiff Bay recently I went to have a look at the place where my career as a full time painter began. It brought back happy memories of some great times - working from a studio in Perch Buildings and going next door to Buff's for lunch with painters from nearby studios became one of the highlights. Now the buildings look forlorn and empty. I have a studio in the centre of Cardiff, it's the best I have ever had, big and light with large windows overlooking Cardiff Castle but something's missing from the old days - the community of artists and friends who gathered in Buff's on a Friday afternoon when work was forgotten and it became an end of week party. 

     Buff's and Perch Buildings.

It's hot!

After almost two weeks spent relaxing in London I came home ready to get back to work but the hot sunny days felt too good to ignore. So now I am still on holiday and indulging in nostalgia as I let my mind wander back to the long hot summers in France. How easy it is to replicate those feelings of joy and excitement I felt in France back here in Wales when I have South of France weather to remind me.  

                                                Soft Winds. Oil on canvas.

Cold Mornings

 When I wake I check the outside temperature by taking a look at the car outside - the iced up windscreen and thick frost on the top is pretty normal most mornings. When I leave for work the temperature has risen to just above freezing, it's sunny but bitterly cold. 

I'm using the next few days to give my studio a spring clean in readiness for a busy year ahead putting together a new collection of work to show at the gallery in 2024. A friend who had her studio above mine when I worked in Mount Stuart Square in Cardiff Bay has moved into the room next door to me. It has brought back good memories and a lot of reminiscing over cups of coffee.

                            Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff Bay.  

New Work.

 I am working on some small canvases and so far I have kept images of bright sunny days firmly in my mind. November fog and drizzle are not intruding yet and temperatures remain relatively high. On a couple of occasions I have been able to sit on the bench in the garden eating my lunch which all helps to evoke some thoughts of summer.  

                                        

                                         Step into Summer. oil on canvas.

                           Bring me Sunshine. Oil on canvas, 

Back at work.

Fresh supplies of paints ordered and delivered and a stock of canvases already waiting in the studio, nothing to stand in the way of getting back to work. Even the sun is shining and that's always an inspiration. It's a great feeling to get back into a routine and, as always after a gap in work, the first completed painting will be a significant and important milestone. 

  

Tomorrow.

The pandemic, the lockdowns, the house renovations and the wait for knee surgery all characterised the past two years and made it somewhat challenging. It was made all the more so by an enforced break in work when I couldn't get to the studio. Now two weeks post knee surgery with my 'flu and booster vaccinations behind me I'm eagerly biding my time when I can return to painting. These next few months are not my favourites so I'm content to stay away from the cold weather and keep warm exercising my knee ready for the Spring when I'm back to the studio again. The time will go quickly with Christmas already a matter of weeks away. My head is full of colour and ideas for vibrant canvases to welcome a new, better year. A new year, a new beginning!

                                     Tomorrow. Oil on canvas. 2021.

October

Most of Wales is in lockdown but I have no plans to go travelling. My studio is in Cardiff and so is the gallery and I am in Penarth and although people can cross from one area to another to work I haven't done so. Not being able to paint leaves me frustrated but there so many things I need to do here to complete the renovations to the house before Winter sets in. At the same time I am cataloguing my work and sending images to the gallery for the Winter and Christmas Exhibition held on-line this year. I am hanging paintings in the house from different collections, from the early days in France, displayed now on pristine, freshly painted white walls. They are loaded with memories and set me reminiscing and smiling as I recall the glorious days working and living in France. Put some Bob Dylan music on or a Jazz CD and the picture is complete. I am back there, soaking up the sun, dazzled by the light, excited by the clarity of colours and the vibrancy all around me. But my home is in Wales where rain soaked days with grey skies predominate once summer is over. It's then I recall those images and I am back again in the sun.   

   

Lockdown in London.

I came to London on St Davids Day to stay with my family. Within a matter of days we were all settling into a routine no-one had predicted with no clear end date in sight. The grim weather of February gradually gave way to sunshine and warm days and being able to spend time in the garden was bliss. Meanwhile my cat stays in the cattery in Cardiff until restrictions are lifted and I can collect her and take her home with me.

The Little Picture Show.

It's January and the skies are dark and grey outside. It rains incessantly and there's little colour to see in the landscape. I'm drawing on all the vivid images from sunnier days stored in my mind for such a moment and my palette reflects this. Two pictures for The Little Picture Show at the Albany next month. Measuring just 20 x 30 cms, they still take as much work as the larger canvases I normally use.

         
                                             Reasons To Be Cheerful (2). Oil on Canvas.

   Yesterday. Oil on Canvas.

The New Year.

A lot of things got in the way of work last year.  Losing my old Mercedes in July was a blow and I spent too long wishing I hadn't parked in that particular street at that particular time and why did a man just happen to lose control of his car that morning ploughing into mine while I was elsewhere! I wasted time trying to find a replacement but gave up in the end realising that nothing could take the place of a car that came travelling with me across Europe to the South of France and back every summer for fourteen years sometimes making a detour to see my family in Frankfurt. I thought I would have it for ever. It was October before I gave up looking and bought a completely different car.

Grey landscapes.

It's November and very grey everywhere. With not a lot of colour around I'll have to work with what I have. I'm focussing my attention on three canvases for The Little Picture Show at the Albany Gallery in February. An odd glimpse or two of sun shining through the clouds could trigger memories of the summer and release bright images to add some cheer to my paintings. Failing that I'll rely on memories of long balmy days in France where the intensity of colours never failed to excite and inspire me.

                                                Return To The Village. Oil on canvas.

Take a Break

                                         
                                          Take a Break. Oil on canvas.

Albany Gallery Summer Show. 4th July -17th August 2019.

Bougainvillea and Mimosa.

Two plants which conjure up the South of France for me. Mimosa I had as a surprise present a year ago; I couldn't quite believe it at the time. It's now strong and sturdy, surviving snow and even producing flowers during the freezing temperatures last year. The Bougainvillea plants I found in the local super-market a couple of days ago. I could never have imagined in my wildest dreams that I could possess these plants in Wales. So many times I gazed with envy at people in the market in Montcuq walking away with Mimosa plants and longed to take one home with me. Bougainvillea instantly brings to mind images of the French Riviera, of garden walls along the coast glowing with the vibrancy of bougainvillea flowers.  Possessing these plants seemed even more remote yet here they are sitting on my dining room table. Who knows if they will survive but I'm hopeful!

Bevan Foundation - No Place for Poverty Launch.

Bevan Foundation launches No Place For Poverty campaign | Bevan ...

https://www.bevanfoundation.org/.../bevan-foundation-launches-no-place-for-poverty...

2 days ago - In 16 days' time, the world will mark the 25th annual International Day of Poverty. 

Shelter Auction Catalogue.

Shelter Cymru. Art Auction 2018. 

AN UNRESERVED AUCTION OF WELSH ART IN AID OF SHELTER CYMRU

THU 20 SEPTEMBER 2018, 10:00 AM - CARDIFF SALEROOM, SOUTH WALES

SHELTER CYMRU ART AUCTION
Timed auction of 40+ lots starting on 10th August & finishing at 8pm on 20th September
Bids can be placed on the-saleroom.

 Oil on canvas. `Jazz in the Afternoon`, 30 x 40cms. Framed.

A minor hiccup!

After a winter spent exercising my new knee and slowly getting back to normal, a bit of a hiccup! Walking too fast one morning, thinking of other things and sure that I would return to the studio in the next few weeks my foot hit a loose and raised paving stone in my road. A trip by ambulance to hospital, then surgery and I'm back exercising and repeating the process, this time for a new hip and this time throughout a brilliant summer. I may not yet be back in the studio, although I did call in one day with my grandsons to pick up a painting for this year's Shelter Cymru Auction next month, but I have started painting at home. The landscape throughout my enforced break in work has ranged dramatically from the deep snow in the winter months to the long heatwave this summer.  The sun always drives me to the easel, and this year I felt I could have been painting in Montcuq as I woke up each morning to blue skies and sunshine and hot days. It was always too inspirational to ignore so now I'm expecting some bright images to appear on canvas.

Enforced interlude.

 Painting is on hold while I recover from knee surgery. With the spring and summer to look forward to I am buzzing with ideas for new work knowing that the walk to the studio will be so easy after this. The wait is hard but I'm consoled by the thought that my studio is there waiting for me, unchanged, just as I left it with the large canvas on the easel. The painting is in the early stages and is unlikely to bear much resemblance to this image when finished.


Unfinished. No title.

Despite the inactivity I have sold two paintings. Now my aim is to start working on a new collection of paintings with new galleries in mind. All I need is a good recovery and a functioning knee. Almost there!

Ramsey Island Pembrokeshire.

                                                                                 3D scan of Ramsey.
                                                            Spotted on the BBC Wales Home Page today. Stunning!

                                                                    On The Rocks. Oil on canvas.

Out of interest I looked back over my paintings to check on those which were inspired by a trip around Ramsey a couple of years ago. Now I'm inspired to do more.