Dawlton Barn

The Optimist - Opens with a Supportive Crowd

2011-12-02T02:36:00.000-08:00

Last night saw the opening of the World AIDS Day exhibition The Optimist at the East Gallery, 214 Brick Lane, London.

A packed venue on a wet night saw conversations flow from the quality of art on display, the themes present within to the draw of three toned and semi-naked male models. Each with accurate interpretations of three of the selected artworks rendered upon their bodies, by world class make-up artists. MAC Cosmetics Charity AIDS Foundation was a co-sponsor of the event alongside Positive East whose intention was to raise awareness of the many social and health issues of HIV and hopefully raise money through the sales of original and a limited edition run of signed prints.

Show continues until the 6th December, go see!

Not one of the naked models.....

World AIDS Day Exhibition - The Optimist

2011-11-29T06:43:00.000-08:00

New work has been delivered in readiness of the hang for the show, The Optimist. That opens on Thursday 1st December to coincide with World AIDS Day.

Opening ay 18.30 at the East Gallery on 214 Brick Lane, the show brings together 30 international artists that have created work in response to HIV. Work sold will raise money for Positive East and signed limited edition prints will be sold alongside the original works.

A further collaboration will see MAC cosmetics at the event recreating three of the selected works as body art on models.

Another New Home

2011-11-13T03:27:00.001-08:00

A personally curated collection of nine, from the studio collections, have been box framed with no glass to be hung on a dividing wall in a North London home.

Work Gone to a Good Home

2011-10-13T06:45:00.000-07:00

Recent sales have found their way onto the walls of the new owners in Sheffield (top) and Soho, London (bottom).

NEW Surfaces and New Marks

2011-10-13T01:27:00.000-07:00

Best of Show!

2011-10-13T01:19:00.000-07:00

The Palace Art Fair, previewed on Thursday 6th October with great numbers of folk lining up to come in and see the new Pavilion built on the lawn of the Fulham Palace and the over 100 exhibitors. The quality and diversity of work is once again a credit to the selectors and it was an honour to be selected from the many great stands, as the "Best of Show" Awarded by the Fair team and Sponsors HEAL's. Check out the link to see the fair blog.

Work Sells Well at Brighton!

2011-09-29T02:41:00.000-07:00

New work taken to Brighton sells well. Last weekend was a success in terms of commercial outcome and conversations had. It was a pleasure to see some of the developments in fellow artists work. Alex Slatter, Natalie Martin and Sam Lock to name but a few. It was also great having a fellow SEOS member there and a great stand it was, Clare Palastanga's ceramic work was a treat to find amongst the avenues of the fair.

I sold some of the new convex forms and will be posting an image of then in their new home once they are hung in Italy.

The studio beckons me this weekend as I conclude the concave forms ready to take to Fulham Palace for the Art Fair. This will be the first time they are seen, so take the opportunity to grab some FREE tickets and mail me, first come first serve.

Brighton Art Fair 2011

2011-08-22T03:03:00.000-07:00

I will be showing on Stand 3 this year, next to the entrance one stall on from last year. So please as you either enter or exit stop by and say hello!

We will be hosting a little reception on the Private View night on stand, so if you would like to join us for a glass of something then drop me an email. I also have tickets, subject to them running out.... to the Friday evening and 241 tickets over the duration.

Making Rabbit Skin Glue

2011-06-06T02:11:00.000-07:00

As part of South East Open Studios this year I am demonstrating on the 3 consecutive Saturdays. The first kicked off, this Saturday 4th June, with a short workshop on the benefits and properties of priming and working with Rabbit Skin Glue. I then went on to work with the vat of glue I had prepared to mix Gesso and prime my new surfaces. To be posted later. However as promised here is the recipe and step by step instructions.

I had a need for a large quantity so the measurements I use produce 2 litres of glue. The proportionate quantities are below for smaller amounts.

RABBIT SKIN GLUE

Measure 140 grams of rabbit skin glue granules

To a large heavy bottom pan, add 2 litres of water

To the pan add the rabbit skin glue and allow to stand for about 30minutes

You can turn the water to ensure the granules

are beginning to soften

Then turn the heat up on the pan, bringing it to a simmer,

stir ensuring to mix the solution to an even consistency

(non lumpy, pre-soaking helps reduce this)

Work in a well ventilated room, as the glue has a reputation to smell!

Once you have a smooth mix, bring the glue to a boil then reduce the heat

The glue is now ready to prime your surfaces; wood, linen, canvas or other

Paint one coat on with a broad brush and allow to dry

Once dry it is ready to be lightly sanded a second coat applied

if necessary and then primed with gesso or other priming agent

to give you your ground

Mixing Proportions

Glue 7 parts 35g 70g 140g

Water 100 parts 500ml 1litre 2litres

Further Demonstrations will take place on 11th & 18th June from 1.00-3.00pm

For full list of days I am open click here and for an accurate streetmap location

Open Studio Guides Are Here!

2011-05-10T03:48:00.001-07:00

South East Open Studio Guides have been printed and distributed via: libraries, tourist information office, arts/craft shops and other venues across the region, also available as a download. If you wish to receive a copy, become a Friend of SEOS here or complete this form and get one in return

I am open for the three weekends and some days in between. For full dates click here. Invites to the Private View available so contact me should you like to come. I am open a couple of late nights to help those looking to take a country drive of an evening and happen across a studio! and refreshments are often uncorked.

I will be demonstrating this year. The processes of mixing gesso, preparing and finishing a surface along with creating my gestural marks upon the ancient recipe. I will release a schedule of the demos and gesso recipe upon request, so mail me.

Look forward to welcoming you in 24 days..... and counting.

Studio Clearing!

2011-04-22T04:46:00.000-07:00

With the sun out, and early seasonal pollen hot and peppery in the air like a bowl of Aunty Maureen's soup. I have taken to the cool, of the studio to clear and tidy ahead of taking a long look at preparing for Open Studios in June.

And great news received today, that I have been accepted for the Palace Art Fair in Fulham London. between the 6th -9th October 2011. I have been allocated Stand 1, in the new Pavillion on the main lawn.

Mail me for more information on both events and to be put on the invitation list.

New Work

2011-03-28T03:18:00.000-07:00

Pairing the palette back to monochrome, once again I am exploring mark upon surface and the crude science of chemical and molecular bond the ink particles make within the protein and carbonate structures of the gesso. Marks penetrate the surface, repetition, over marking to point of initial trace obliteration, only to be revealed in the archeology of removing thin surface layers to uncover and lay bare the raw initial marks of my play.

Tondos bought from Chromos are the new obsessions.

My daily pieces continuing with a sparse brevity of line or colour that have a focussed relevance to my machinations. A little like musings on the back of fag packets or beer mats, when desirous of overcoming a block or planning world peace. It never leaving your mind until you fathom it out on whatever surface, at whatever time, in whatever form; text, scribble, lexicon of symbols or motifs to be enlarged and lived with on a different scale and pushed further with the luxury of time.

Work commitments are looking to end shortly with a return to attending to the journey across the drive to the studio. However I am left questioning a continual conundrum of the preciousness I feel I sometimes place upon the time in the studio, the materials to which I feel wedded and whilst mark making is a fairly new discipline for me; "how quickly I feel I may have become a 'Company Thinker'?"

So I continue with the sketch books, and permit into the mix; iphone images, margin notes from a meeting, questionably random doodles and perhaps a beer mat or two into the enquiry process and aesthetic decisions.

An Eastern Touch

2011-03-25T05:32:00.000-07:00

A new home to a small gestural graphite drawing from the 'Studio Collections'.

Move it, Freeze it, Write it!

2011-03-18T04:59:00.000-07:00

Class window, x-ray montage

Screen printed t-shirts/costume for dance workshops

I have started working with a dancer and a group of year 5 students on a Creative Partnerships project for the Royal Opera House in Grays Essex. We are enquiring through a movement and visual arts project how to improve students confidence in and have fun with literacy.

We have been exploring with the group the structures and processes of the body that inform movement and our thoughts and feelings towards creating shapes, 'body sculpts' and dance moves around a class led topic.

Dance moves, drawings from observing a full sized skeleton, animating the skeleton through space, interviewing the skeleton and creative story writing were offered alongside the designing, cutting and printing of stencils for their t-shirt costumes. Session 1 of 3 completed with surprising outcomes and eager anticipation of the next.

"Ceci n'est pas un tube de peinture" - Work In Progress

2011-02-15T04:39:00.000-08:00

Ceci n'est pas un tube de peinture

2011-02-11T05:24:00.000-08:00

South East Open Studios have asked members to interpret the 'paint tube' logo in their particular artform. The opportunity is to translate the familiar ident of the long standing arts organisation across the south east into a more inclusive image. A glass tube, welded metal carved stone, rag rugs, felt cushions, engraving or enameled silver, to name a few. Membership has gone above 300 for a second year running and it encompasses over 40 disciplines within the fine art and craft/making traditions. We are more than painters.

I am playing with casting tubes of paint and re-modeling with these contradictory mediums carved onto the label in text.

Entries will be used on the front cover of our guide and throughout the website and during the event.

Dates of which are 3rd -21st June 2011

Check out the website for individual opening times, artists trails and searching for a gift or start or add to your collection.

I Did It!

2011-02-07T01:49:00.000-08:00

The Kaizen approach works. This Sunday saw me complete my first 10km run. The Ashford & District Road Running Club event. Training was made easier by the fabulous Lisa at RIE Ashford with weekly club runs and encouragement to improve, consolidate and stretch. Thanks also to my club chums.

My time was 1 hour and 6 minutes a Personal Best and one to beat at the next event.

Now to the studio and apply kaizen to the work.

Ditch The Resolution Habit

2011-01-31T03:20:00.000-08:00

I, perhaps like many, started the year with a list of New Years Resolutions. Some were extensions of things I had started in 2010 and others developments of good ideas towards committing to a real action plan to achieve them over the coming months; a mix of the personal, professional, creative and social.

Maintain running with the Run in England club on Saturdays
Eat less and better; when sat at the desk able to graze the fridge, note to self to buy less rubbish and grow even more veggies in the garden
Maintain and reward the working relationships from last year
Nurture new professional relationships within the sector and amongst local and regional artists
Keep work patterns to Tuesday-Thursday and to this end leave studio time for Monday/Friday and weekend bursts
Make new work within the colour-chemistry research I have started and my ideas towards the archaeology of marks

Mindful of the pace of transition, I planned for small step changes and the need to rehearse and repeat a new thought or behaviour several times before it feels comfortable or the synaptic bypasses are created in the brain to reroute past an old habit. I wrote them down, turned them into a positive action and gave a sense of commencing and completion with an idea of what success looks like so as to measure progress and achievement.

However, I was physically reminded this week from a knee aggravation from wearing a swanky new pair of trainers for running, of the challenge of changing old habits be they physical or psychological. The correction of my slight pronation was causing a new set of muscles, the correct set of muscles and tendons to be turned on and work, when they had not been used to exercise. I was literally running at a new way of moving too quickly; suffering a physical stress and feeling less than successful and put off from returning and maintaining this new discipline.

Moving from a comfort zone of; “always doing what you have always done, to get what you have always got” to a stretch (of innovation or transformation) it is clear to find the correct amount of stretch and not overreach to a point of stress that it is so far out of the current experience it can be overwhelming or damaging.

Given some physiotherapy, exercises to practice and to support the re-training of a new physical habit, I was reassured to reflect on the progress made with my other new ways of seeing, thinking and doing. To readjust their scope with this new compassion for previously failing at changes and ‘grand new’ schemes and modify an annual approach to a continuous appraisal.

I am reminded of a Japanese technique called kaizen, which calls for continuous improvements.

Another Smiling Happy Customer

2011-01-31T01:56:00.000-08:00

A new home for a piece of my work. This one is in stylish Chiswick and accompanies two smaller 10x10 cm pieces that were collected at earlier Art Fairs in 2010. I am very appreciative of my 'foot soldiers', who through word of mouth and viral marketing are growing interest in my work through their sense of pleasure and enjoyment of the work hanging on the wall.

Another Happy Punter

2011-01-14T00:58:00.000-08:00

Continuing the theme of seeing the happy re-homing of artworks. Here you can see Architect Steve Machin with his piece he bought at the "@home" Show in December.

Gone to Good Homes

2011-01-02T10:33:00.000-08:00

Started the New Year with a couple of pictures sent to me from lovely people who purchased work this year. I trust you will keep on enjoying the work. I wish you and everyone who bought a piece of my journey in 2010 a creative and joyful New Year.

(Top: New Zealand. Bottom: Stephen's dining room in Wandsworth, South London)

Happy Holidays

2010-12-24T01:28:00.001-08:00

Best wishes to all over the festive season.

See you in the New Year, if not through a little posting in the in-between time.

Environmental Art

2010-12-21T03:43:00.000-08:00

Being fortunate to only pick up a slight delay on our flight back from the Netherlands, Amsterdam Schipol Airport to London City, yesterday. I was delighted to watch and be captivated by the skill and grace and resulting snow and ice drawings that the runway clearing team were creating for a bemused audience of weary travelers.

An act of necessity. Clearing the several inches of snow and compacted ice for passenger safety. However there seemed a delight in all of those watching not simply of the reassurance that they will be getting home now. But of a joy of witnessing proficiency in a skill, a servicing of a collective need with a generosity of showmanship; like a main stage Christmas ballet.

The ploughs, sweepers, heavy plant machinery danced across the taxi ways and circled amongst flashing lights in tighter and tighter rotations, circles-of-eight until mounds, causeways and marks in the subtle shades of greying whites revealed an environmental sculpture on the stage.

Can You See The Dogs?

2010-12-05T04:39:00.000-08:00

A couple of images from the '@home' show. It has been a successful and fun venture midst decorating and festive madness, and I will definitely do it again and maybe with other artists/makers. Watch this space...

I hung work all around the three rooms of the flat and even the bathroom did not escape a selected mono-chromatic hang!

The dogs were on best behaviour and exhausted by all the attention they got.

Alternative Creative Juices!

2010-11-30T03:40:00.001-08:00

So the freeze has set in deep throughout Kent. Country Lore tells us that the best recipe for Sloe Gin is made with sloes left on the bush for the first harsh frost. So braving the snow we went out along our hedgerow and picked a couple of kilos of the little purple frosted gems.

Tempted by further words of folkloric wisdom I am making sloe vodka and sloe schnapps this year. Any excuse to escape the cold of the studio. So the creative juices flowing for me presently are white spirits... (hic)

For those interested the Recipe I work to is:

1 litre of gin (generic own brand is adequate! but be aware checkout operators do look alarmed if you buy 30 litres of the stuff!)
250 grams of sugar
250 grams of sloes, either those picked early and pricked with a hawthorn, left on the bush for the first frost, or picked and frozen in the deep freeze, or picked and hit with a mallet.
you can add caraway seeds, licorice sticks, cloves, black pepper corns or cinnamon for a spiced alternative.

I will be serving a 2004 vintage of pricked season end sloes on Friday at the show, so mail me for an invite.

Let it Snow... Let it Snow!

2010-11-29T04:06:00.000-08:00

The weekend, and this morning again, saw snow fall on our little part of Kent. A depth of white silence covers previously farrowed hills and smaller vegetable beds of swelling onion sets and next seasons garlic.

With the warmth of the studio I am able to look out and feel smug at the dropping temperatures. Like Canute I am abating the creeping low temperatures at the door by means of oil radiator, the life models friend the fan-heater and 10kw from my body heat. However the work is stubborn in it's curing parameters and I find some surfaces still wet. Not put off, rather wishing a chance of climactic conditions to cause accident or a eureka moment I make some gesso and commit to layering up some studio collection squares. The white surface of the gesso smothers the french linen as the snow does to the pebbled driveway. Boot prints, dog hops, skips and jumps to avoid long contact in the depths of the white stuff and bird toes are all the marks upon that surface I can see.

As I start to inscribe the surface of the gesso....

Will this or the wet work be ready for Friday? Invites still on offer for the Private View if you mail me or direct message me on twitter.

Chilly Studio

2010-11-26T03:30:00.000-08:00

I return to the studio today after several days of accounting, (Yes it will be posted on the 30th November, Mr HMRC if you read this) and working between Essex and London. I have been offered an artist practitioner role in a school in Essex in the new year, but more of that in another post.

So back to the studio; I find the work I left last week, still not dry. Forgetting the curing time retards with colder, neigh freezing weather, our pond has an inch of ice covering it. So working with the magic of fan heaters I attempt to thaw the studio and finish the work for the show on Friday.

See you in SOHO folks.

Small and Affordable

2010-11-22T05:23:00.001-08:00

With a little '@home' show coming up in the next 10 days, time is at a premium. I am having to complete the tiling in the bathroom, so guests have a reasonably pleasant trip to the smallest room of a very small flat. But it is all about the location! or so they say. Charing Cross Road in the heart of SOHO in London's West End. So if you are planning to come to the show you can also;

Check out the Christmas lights in Oxford Street, Regent Street, Seven Dials (Covent Garden) and my favourites in Carnaby Street
Book to go ice skating at Somerset House
German Christmas Market along the Southbank
Also take in the East London Design show and pick up gift ideas or take a trip south of the river to Cockpit Arts in Deptford
Lovers can go illuminate the tree in Covent Garden in an interactive project called Merry Kissmas
and those with kids can pet a Reindeer on the 4th December in Covent Garden Piazza (not the flat)

Is there any excuse not to come into town and come to my show?

Being the flat is so small, work on show will be from the 10x10cm studio collection ranges and small mounted gesso on linen colour studies (as shown in image).

New Tondos (cracked and smooth) will be on the wall along with a selection from the 'crater' series popular at the recent art fairs.

A new earthy palette, of ochre and sepia, small studies and sketches will be present straight from the studio and the trip to Norway. Landscapes and the archaeology of marks prevail.

If you would like an invite to the show, mail me.

Inspired and Informed

2010-11-14T01:37:00.001-08:00

I have just spent 7 days and long nights (between 2 and 4 hours of daylight) at sea from Kirekness on the Russian Norwegian border along the coastal route on the working ship Ms Nordstjernen within the Hurtegruten line.

An opportunity to be surrounded by amazing scenary, passage on a form of travel from a bygone day (our boat was from the 1950's) and soak up the breadth of the experience through every sense and ones intellect.

The colours, the scale, form and marks within the landscape were fuel to an ideas stove that will forge new marks upon my surfaces in good time. Images captured digitally and sketched will be reflected upon in the studio over coming weeks. Along with a new insight into my process generously offered by a fellow traveller.

A chance conversation onboard ship, with a chap who turned out to be a colour chemist of some note. He put the stripes in a famous toothpaste and the green mint bubbles in a chocolate bar. I gained some valuable information from the science and chemical and molecular theory behind how I work with ink on and within the gesso surfaces and how/why casein from milk seals and polishes the work.

On the back of the ship, in a lounge befitting an episode of Poirot, I received a chemistry lesson and instructions on creating new surfaces that will offer greater potential for the marks I make to penetrate the surface on a physically deeper, chemical level. This is incredibly exciting and will really push the rationale for my work with a rigorous scientific research enquiry.

Calling other colour chemists and artists interested in opening a dialogue. Get in touch!

Thank you to Malcolm, I never got your surname, but if you read this your passion for your subject was appreciated.

It's HUGE!

2010-11-01T04:21:00.000-07:00

Have just taken receipt of a two part architects plans chest form local firm Roger Joyce Associates. Thank you to Roger for bringing it up on Saturday evening in the dark.

The new addition to the studio will provide much needed storage for my drawings and colour studies on stretched linen and gesso. When located in the corner they will also provide much more needed horizontal surfaces and a work area able to take a small printing press where upon I can start dry point etching and collagraphs. Watch this space and flickr for the new work to come from the studio.

All Quiet.... But, for how long?

2010-10-19T01:17:00.000-07:00

Following the mad (and very enjoyable) couple of weeks that was the lead up to Brighton Art Fair followed shortly after the inaugural Palace Art Fair. Both of which were personal successes and fun, it was great to be a part of such a well run event. However it is nice to be back at the barn and able to breathe in the changes in seasons that surrounds us.

Some respite is being permitted by self and then back to work. Ideas from conversations, sketches made in between conversations, comments and enquiries...

'don't you want to make sculpture again?'

have left an internal voice resonating in my head. So with some new materials ordered and days blocked out in the ever filling diary. I am back in the practice of booking studio time and making this non-negotiable for other events, meetings with clients or admin or simply coffee and cake. The discipline feels good.

This new work will be shown in December at the '@home' show in SOHO, London. Between the 3rd and 5th December. HOLD THE DATES

PAF10

2010-10-11T03:42:00.000-07:00

Palace Art Fair is over, look forward to next year!

Less work has returned to the studio so that is a good sign. Enthused by the conversations and sales, I am recovering for a day or two then set to start some new work for an '@home' show in central London towards the end of the year.

And for those interested in the Sculpture I did before. I will be posting some images up on Flickr shortly.

New work may include three dimensional forms too! so watch the various spaces on the web.

Palace Art Fair

2010-09-25T03:15:00.001-07:00

The studio has once again become populated by work on every horizontal surface drying between marks made and glazes. In anticipating of the Palace Art Fair.

Informed by the conversations I had at Brighton Art Fair, the work is responding to my reactions to the visitors feedback. To the allusion of depth my richly layered work plays with and the spartan qualities of the reductive work. Where marks are made and worked towards erasing them, leaving but a trace of the ghost like original or an archeology of my mark making process.

I will be present on Stand 9 at Fulham Palace from the 8th- 10th October. I look forward to seeing you on stand.

Brighton Art Fair 2010

2010-09-20T02:36:00.000-07:00

Brighton Art Fair 2010 is over...

Thanks go out to Jon, Sarah, Anne-Marie and their team for ensuring another successful event.

It was a chance for me to show the larger work that has been percolating in the studio over the summer and to have the ever valuable conversations with fellow exhibitors and to engage with visitors. The fair was rammed at the Private View, with a 'one in; one out' policy operating on the door and work seemed to really shift from the hall over the three days.

For me it was a great weekend, sales and commissions were up and was good seeing previous buyers and new folk step up to the stand and comment on the new developments. I am encouraged to get back to the studio to complete and start replacement work ready for Palace Art Fair in three weeks. See you there!

The Wood Shed!

2010-09-11T06:29:00.000-07:00

Tight for space in the studio, with work drying on every horizontal surface, I am forced into the wood shed to glaze and finish the last couple of pieces for next week.

I am on target to complete all work by Sunday and photograph it on Monday. Ready for a NEW Gallery page to be loaded on Dawlton Barn website to coincide with the Private View on Thursday in Brighton. Keep an eye on the site for new completed work!

All work seen on this blog and my website are for sale or approach me to see more work or to talk about the commissioning process.

Planning the Stand!

2010-09-10T09:41:00.000-07:00

Taking a break from the surrounds and smell of the studio, I pour myself a glass of wine and sketch out to reasonable scale my thoughts towards the layout of Stand 2 at Brighton Art Fair next Thursday. Taking a mix of my new large work and familiar small delights, that are my studio obsessional pieces, it is reassuring that keeping a uniformity of size enables the shifting of a variety of squares around fixed walls easier than irregularity.

A partial premature delight in curation comes when the pinning and moving and re-pinning of thumbnail computer prints upon and around a cardboard model starts to bring a cohesion and dialogue to this year's work (not showing you an image of that, you will have to come to the Corn Exchange over the weekend to see).

Sketches

2010-09-09T01:50:00.001-07:00

Strewn across the studio floor are what have become sketches, studies and experiments on paper. The immediacy of committing to paper is extraordinarily liberating for a someone so engaged in the process of constructing my usual surfaces of panel, french linen and the obsessive many layers of hand-made gesso. I can go: "straight to it", with less investment in the surface I am less precious about the marks I make.

The sketches are stand alone pieces and also inform the work ongoing. I am mindful to take the lessons from working on paper and am also drawn to think about... 'what if I made my own paper?'

Something I have not done for many years since constructing paper pulp sculptures in Sheffield and Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Off to research how I might do this again. But it will have to wait until after Brighton. ONLY 8 days to go!

Tondos

2010-09-05T04:30:00.000-07:00

Round paintings. Any comments??

Apologies for quality of images, posted from iPhone

Developments...

2010-09-05T02:21:00.000-07:00

Studio work can often feel like one step forward and two steps back, seduced in one direction by the process and 'happy accidents' on the surface it is easy to be hi-jacked by this spontaneous freedom with a loss of intention.

This week I have chosen to reign back a couple of images built up from many layers of ink and glazes, this often incurs the editing back of marks and revisiting the colour ways. Whilst I relish in the ambiguities that my images evoke, there is a point of clarity where I start and where I conclude, the in between is a balance of control and play.

Committing to Big!

2010-08-31T02:02:00.000-07:00

Having had some studio visits from friends and colleagues recently. I have been reminded of the need to engage with your work as a viewer and not just as the person who makes it. It is easy for thinking to become contained within the 'studio references' and not be wider, bolder, connected, multi-layered and bigger than intention and process.

Imagining myself as a viewer approaching my work, I was challenged to not just give an intimate up close selective experience. But rather ask: 'What if the work was present and greater in scale?' the impact being physical and visceral as well as ocular.

So be it.... I started getting bigger.

The series of 50x 50 cm gesso panels will be taken to Brighton Art Fair along with several 1 metre sqaures. Larger work can be seen in London at the Palace Art Fair in October, where I will have a bigger stand to take the bigger work.

Layers and Glazes

2010-08-29T03:28:00.000-07:00

Few more shots from the studio as work develops. The daily series are accumulating a critical mass or colour, texture and references.

Apologies for quality of images, posted from iPhone

Work in Progress....

2010-08-27T00:56:00.000-07:00

A couple more studio shots of the progress I am making with completing new work ahead of forthcoming shows.

Studio Shots

2010-08-25T02:11:00.000-07:00

Work is well underway for Brighton Art Fair in a couple of weeks time. You will be able to find me on Stand 2, just as you enter the Corn Exchange to the left.

I will be showing new work from the daily studio collection (the small 10x10cm ones!) Along with larger work. Watch out for the 1 metre square, the 1.5 metre square and the departure from square format.... a whopping 2 metre x 1 metre panel, stretched French linen and gesso.

I have some spare tickets to the Art Fair, so if you would like to come see the work you have been following on this blog, then drop me an email.

Drawings in Sand

2010-08-19T02:45:00.000-07:00

The One That Got Away

2010-07-27T05:19:00.000-07:00

I took a break from work for some R&R and sun in Spain. And as ever ended up working however some of it in my sketchbook on the balcony, working some ideas through for new works in the studio upon my return.

As I was in the throws of creative inspiration a gust of warm light Mediterranean wind took the one I was working on off from the ledge up, up and into the trees. Where it remained. Staying at the Hotel Romantic in Sitges, known for its' own art collection of local and regional artisans. Can I now say, 'Work hanging in an international art collection'?

Lots of sketches and colour studies made, so keep an eye on my flickr page for new work as it evolves ahead of seeing it in the flesh at Brighton Art Fair in September. Contact me for invitation or ticket details.

Landscapes

2010-07-01T11:34:00.000-07:00

Done a fair bit of traveling by train the past week or so. I took the west coast route and saw the changing landscapes out of a Virgin train window and was inspired again, as you cross the borders at the numbers and grace and presence that wind turbines have, and the collective beauty of them en mass, as well as the singular homesteads through the Cumbria section that are doing their bit.

So what is the collective noun for wind turbines?

I could not find the answer online, or think of anything witty right now, but had fun looking at this site. (Above studies from the daily studio 'one a day' series, indian ink on gesso on linen and milk glazed, 10x10cm)

Started reading Patrick Gale's 'Notes from an Exhibition', that I picked up in Foyles from the art and literature point of sale display, on the journey up to Scotland and I hope to conclude it on the journey to Cornwall this weekend. How fitting? as it positions itself in this particular geographic and relative movement in art. So let us see what inspires, falls into place from the end third of the book and having the experience of the sea, coastline and light that these long days can offer.

Time for a new sketchbook.

See You Next Year, if Not Before in Brighton!

2010-06-21T01:31:00.000-07:00

Time was called upon my participation in SEOS 2010 at 18.00hrs Sunday 20th June. I have had 86 visitors over the 8 days I was open and sold some work to new and past buyers. So to those new collectors of Rod McIntosh, I say;

"Thank you, and welcome to a journey I hope

we will continue to take together."

Sales are great; it is rewarding putting money in the bank to pay the fees and subscriptions I have. However what again I was surprised at were the conversations I had. From those who came out of their way to find me (thank you for your persistence with SatNav and maps) and those that rambled across me or were out in the car. I would like to share some of their comments.

very zen
great location, so peaceful, what a space to work in, what a view!
the poppies moved me, the drips of blood red and then almost erasing of the marks, like a memory that should not be forgotten
your textures and surfaces are delicious
the little ones are like glazed gems
like ceramic tiles, remind me of Delft ware, would love to see a whole wall full
the circle piece is haunting
when are you running classes?

Thank you!

To check out what I got up to in the studio visit my Flickr site and for news of courses send me an email at rod@dawltonbarn.co.uk

Of course my involvement with SEOS does not stop here. As Chairman I look forward to reviewing this year with my team and members, holding our AGM in July and starting the planning for making SEOS 2011 even better than this year.

Artists wishing to participate in next years event visit the website and register your interest with the Database officer. I look forward to welcoming you next year.

Open for Business

2010-06-19T00:51:00.001-07:00

I am back and OPEN as usual for this last weekend of Open Studios.

Your last chance until September to see the progress of the daily pieces and to see how I am doing with the 'big ones' in the corner of the studio.

Sunday is Father's day; so bring a dad, buy for a dad or be accompanied by your dad and receive 10% off. Just say you saw my blog! I will honour internet enquiries with the same discount, just in case you are not in the eastern Kent area over the weekend.

Important Update to Opening Times

2010-06-17T10:12:00.000-07:00

It is with regret that I must inform you that I will not be able to open my studio as planned tomorrow, Friday 18th June.

I will look to continue with my last weekend of Open Studio on Saturday, bright and early from 11.00am till 6.00pm and offering special incentives for last chance to buy on Sunday, Father's day.

Silence of the Lambs

2010-06-14T02:29:00.001-07:00

'Baa-ter or Barter Economy?'

It has been a pleasure this week to discover that the president set pre-middle ages, of a barter economy amongst village folk along the Pilgrim's way (that I read about in Chaucer) is still alive and gamboling; for a wee bit longer at least! in the hills of Kent in 2010.

I have traded a painting or two, from the 10x10 daily series as above, for half a Kent lamb grazed on the local hills and slaughtered and to my front door within hours.

Not that I suggest you turn up to my last open studio weekend with livestock or poultry under your arms to see what is going for fair trade. But it is good to see that the creative economy can benefit from old fashioned yard haggling.

I should try this on my consultancy clients.....

Work in Progress

2010-06-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

In his book "Jamming', John Kao describes 'Going to the woodshed' as a place and a given time that someone has the opportunity to go and 'destroy what we know to get to what we don't know'.

It is a luxury to have several hours in a day and several days in a row to go to my studio and unlearn having an expectation of finishing something that day and letting the minutes run into hours where I can play, destroy, break the rules to only master them again and find I have changed my mind. Anything is possible.

Visitors today saw the alchemy unfold as fluids mixed, repelled, scorched by salts or fixed in a stasis by an enamel fix.

Scale has been taunting me for sometime. Not wanting my 10x10 daily obsessions to become mere studies for larger pieces I stand before my 50x50 (on the floor of drive) and wonder what they may become.... watch this space.

Opening Night

2010-06-06T02:07:00.001-07:00

"It was how big?"

Making sales and having conversations are a couple of the drivers for me to open my studio annually. This year I had an additional motive of inviting neighbours and friends to a little Preview on the Friday evening. It was a gloriously warm evening and the wine and critical discourse flowed.

We have lived in a small Kent village for 8 years, it was the move that slowly enabled me to reconnect with my art practice and have the space for a studio. However not having children at the local school, not being church goers (although Frank now is on the church grounds grass cutting rota) and not having a village pub; the opportunities for us all to get together are what we create for ourselves. It was a pleasure to spend time in the company of our neighbours and get to know one another more than a nod over a steering wheel in a lane or a wave above hedgerows as we ramble and walk with dogs.

I was happy to reveal some of my processes and share an enthusiasm for living and being inspired by such an idyll. Thank you all for coming.

Put the following reference in google maps and find the location of Dawlton Barn, take a street eye view of the village Elmsted and see what else is around. 51.159538,1.023161

Open for Business

2010-06-04T03:58:00.001-07:00

11.00am, 4th June 2010

The pips on Radio 4, blasted out of my studio as I walked the 'A' board out to street side and said good morning to the recycling men. Curious as to what I was doing, they asked and popped a nose through an open window to see what lies within...

'ah modern stuff' one offered as a nod of approval.

The other, a younger fella took his time and said;

'I did well in my GSCE art at school and I like the big black shapes!'

I thank them and wish them well with their day.

'Good luck mate.'

I hear them cry as they jump on the white wagon and drive odd noisily.

I have opened well, I think as I walk back into the cool of the studio and switch to Classic FM.

525,600 minutes.... How Do You Measure a Year?

2010-06-03T07:52:00.000-07:00

Where has the last year gone? from applying to join SEOS for the first year, to becoming the Chairman and learning out about the business and taking it forward. Now again I find myself preparing to open the doors of my private space, making public my studio to visitors; buyers, neighbours and friends alike.

I make no apologies for the fact that paint will still be drying and the smell of boiling rabbit skin glue barely out of air, it is indeed an open studio. So come visit and take in the Ashford area art trail available here.

Countdown.... to Friday 4th June 2010

2010-05-31T23:47:00.001-07:00

Doors to the Studio at Dawlton Barn will be open the following:

Friday 4th June - 6th June, 11.00am - 6.00pm

Saturday 12th - 13th, 11.00am - 6.00pm

Thursday 17th - 20th, 11.00am - 6.00pm

with late night openings 17th & 18th, 6.30- 8.30pm

Or by appointment at any other time. Email me rod@dawltonbarn.co.uk

I look forward to welcoming you.

Look Who is Watching....

2010-05-27T04:41:00.000-07:00

Body Casting Demonstration at The Art Room, Ashford.

I have just been sent the image above of the outcome of the body casting demo this month as part of the SEOS Preview Show. Body casting was a process I used a lot in my practice as a figurative sculptor.

I developed a whole body-drape approach over the many years worked at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, with anyone from young children sat in 'buddha' like poses to images of personal identity working with young adults that were wheelchair users. I had forgotten the magic of working with plaster and the impact it has when the model peels themselves from the cast husk.

You can check out a web broadcast TV film and interview by going to www.yourkenttv.co.uk and search for "getting plastered in Kent".

Thanks to Sharon Binnie (model) for braving the grey overcast weather with me.

Hold the Dates!

2010-05-22T09:30:00.000-07:00

Two Fairs in Two Months... twice the chance to see and buy new work.

Following on from the success of taking my own art work to Brighton Art Fair last year, I decided to apply for it again this year. I will be taking work from the studio and enjoying a few days by the sea 16-19 September.

I have also decided to support the team of Jon Tutton and Sarah Young with their venture of taking the excellent BAF product to London and I will be exhibiting in the inaugural Palace Art Fair 2010 in Fulham Palace, 7-10 October.

Art Fairs have been good to me. I have enjoyed taking groups of artists to fairs, fueled by the energy and buzz that you get from other participants and the punters. I have been invited to speak at several on developing successful sales and networking opportunities and indeed mentored artists during BAF several years back. I now find myself doing it for myself once more and relish the thought; a heady mix of market stall vendor and critical friend to those looking to make a first purchase or hardy collectors. Come and see me. Say Hi!

Getting the Studio Ready!

2010-05-19T23:39:00.000-07:00

Countdown to Open Studios is upon me!

Those that know me will be unsurprised at the project plan I have in my studio of what needs to be done by when. Colour coded too. The 4th June will soon be upon us all and I am intending to open with new work from the studio collection and my daily pieces.

The small 10x10cm pebeo linen frames I ordered from Chromos in Canterbury arrived and I have been busy applying the gesso (above). This will allow me time to work through while I am open without the smell of rabbit skin glue simmering away and the gesso thickening beyond workable. If anyone wants to see this process drop me a mail and we can arrange. rod@dawltonbarn.co.uk

I will be open the following days & times; 4th-6th June from 11am-6pm, 12th-13th from 11am-6pm and the 17th - 20 June from 11am-8.30pm or by appointment at other times.

Art Under the Hammer

2010-05-18T06:44:00.000-07:00

SEOS at the Art Room Ashford.

Jeremy Sparks, Regional Director of Bonhams held the audience in his hand as he called 'sold' on the works selected for sale at the auction (pictured above).

Emma Dove Gallery owner made a strong eclectic selection from members submissions that hung salon style in a perfect snapshot view of the breadth of what SEOS offers to its' thousands of visitors.

Emma said;

"I am thrilled to be a part of this event. Open Studios is a fantastic opportunity for artists and art lovers to connect."

Check out the SEOS website for full details. The auction also launched the Friends of SEOS Scheme, visit the website and become a part of the South Easts' growing creative and cultural economy.

SEOS at The ArtRoom

2010-05-18T02:00:00.000-07:00

South East Open Studios Preview Show at The Art Room in Ashford, Kent.

www.seos-art.org www.theartroomashford.co.uk

The SEOS preview show has been a great success for both organisations and participating artists, who at the VIP Art Auction last Friday sold work, myself included. It at times was a bidding war and others gracefully went over the reserve price to secure a much coveted new piece of art or craft for their home. The above reserve price also has enabled SEOS and the Art Room to secure enough funds to offer a bursary to a selected member next year.

I exhibited new work from the studio collection exploring the archaeology of the marks I make on gesso surfaces. More work like this and past collections can be seen in the studio at Dawlton Barn during June.