Loose and fluid abstract and semi abstract landscape and floral paintings.
Candle flames and smoke
I try and spend time each week on a drawing and meditation zoom call with artist Katie Sollohub.
This month we’ve been concentrating on the theme of fire, and working in candlelight. It’s been quite lovely.
These are my interpretations of the candle flames and the smoke when blown out. Lovely smudgy charcoals and soft pastels.
What could be better than testing a chai latte from after a walk on the fens. Walk, hot drink, the boys, a sketchbook and weather just warm enough to sit out.
Chai latte was delicious
Time to Paint is a lovely 4 hours once a month at Redgrave and Lopham fen - just show up and paint, chat, drink coffee, walk, whatever feels right for you on the day.
I had no idea what I wanted to do, so I just took my usual basket of bits (ink, watercolour, sticks, brushes…) and spent the whole time happily painting oak leaves. I can’t think what I would have preferred to have done today.
And lovely to spend the time with .thornton.art and so many other local artists.
Well, I suspect these people wouldn’t be impressed with my blind drawings! It’s tricky staring at people in a cafe, without looking as if you’re staring at them!
Repetition
Knitters in the village have knitted these 15 hats for the homeless in Norwich. Experienced and beginner knitters. And a few people who are happy to be knitting again.
I’m back to doing some blind selfie drawings - slightly scary!! I keep this book, with a sharpie, in the bathroom so I remember to do a quick selfie before I go to bed.
I do love blind drawing, and am fascinated at my eyes and hand working at different speeds so nothing ever meets or matches
Another feather and reed pen drawing for Christmas cards. I'm not sure I'll get them made up in time for Sunday's Christmas fair at Redgrave and Lopham Fen with
And here is my little harlequin pumpkin - totally delicious! Baked for 40 minutes and then stuffed with a leek, quinoa and plant based soft cheese and popped back in the oven for a bit longer (no idea how long as I was sidetracked by something else)
I rather wished I’d put an apple in the oven while it was on. Ah well.
A few sketches of my lovely harlequin pumpkin (thank you ), which is destined for the oven tomorrow, filled with a leek and quinoa mix.
Indian ink with one of my reed pens. The pen is getting stronger as it gets coated with layers of ink - an unexpected happy discovery.
Drawing and meditation with is about colour this month. Today I created sludge (I’m quite good at doing that!), but within the sludge there are some interesting areas. And these sessions are not about the end result. It’s hard thinking about colour without adding words.
Woohoo! Red dot today at Swaffham Rotary Club art exhibition
Meanwhile, while I ponder the oil paint solutions, I’ve framed up these small Quiet Moments. Drawn with my long pen made from a reed from the fens. A nice little group of 4 which I shall take to for their Christmas fair on Nov 6th.
Hmm, oil paints….last time I got these out they made me quite ill, but I’m not giving up on them. My studio is quite big, and so far, 2 hours in, I’m feeling fine. Fingers crossed….
What mediums and solvents work for you, if you paint in oils? I’d love to know, so that I can keep going with them.
Today’s drawing and meditation with involved words, just whatever words tumbled out on to the paper. The first time it was whatever words appeared, whereas the 2nd time Katie guided us through a meditation about autumn. Swipe across to see the nightmare that was going on in my head, followed by an autumn walk through our local woods. I needed this session today!
Once all the words are out, we were guided to pick just 6 to cut out or highlight.
This was a good practice to be doing today, , and one that I’ll be doing a lot more often. What about you? Do you incorporate words in your art practice?
You can guess what I’ve been up to this evening - hold their Christmas fair in 2 weeks time at
These have been drawn and painted using a pen cut from one of the fen’s reeds, and a feather - they are naturally rather wonky, which is just what I like. I’ve used some of my hand spun linen thread to attach the art to the cards - my goodness, that was fiddly!!
To get one of these cards, you’ll need to visit the fair - November 6th.
2 weeks away - yikes!! I'd better get busy
Redgrave & Lopham Fen: Original gift ideas from local artists and makers.
Snail mail is the best mail. Is there someone you could write to today?
I'm writing to one of my beloved elderly aunts in Australia, using one of my Parker pens, given to me by my godfather some 45 years ago.
Nothing better than a handwritten envelope popping through the letterbox.
My favourite fragments from today's meditation session with
Tearing drawings is so freeing and fun, and if the paper is still wet, you can get some unexpected surprises
Next layers; I’m trying really hard not to cover all the underlying layers, which is hard for me. Time for a cuppa while it dries. It’s still just warm enough here to sit outside - I hope it is where you are, or you have a nice cosy corner to hunker down in.
I’ve not painted for such a long time, so today was a good surprise. The colours in these early layers are inspired from my birthday flowers. Don’t you just love that orange?
It helps that I think we’ve fixed my heater down in the studio, but I am going to try and keep it turned down a notch or 2 over the winter. Maybe I should think about a heated gilet!
Tomorrow is the last day of this year’s ; I’ll be here from 10 - 5 if anyone would like to pop in. There’s 3 years work to explore! If visitors are as lovely as today’s visitors, I shall be one happy artist (hey, I called myself an artist! )
I’m so happy that these are going to new homes today - to a local viola player, to a spare bedroom and to Norway
It’s been a lovely day.
I've made some "pens" from old gorse twigs picked up on my wall this morning, and will be trying them out tomorrow with . I'm looking forward to some joyful playtime
Just me and my older boy, Coota, out gathering inspiration for my mark making. Actually he wasn't that interested - sniffs and rabbit warrens are more to his liking.
I rarely have only 1 dog with me, and even more rare that I can let him off lead, so it made for a gentle relaxed time on the common.
I collected some old gorse bush twigs too, to make into pens later
Chatting with visitors and friends for Open Studios today, so I didn’t get much art done. I like to start, or finish, my art day with a quiet time with my stick pens and ink. I’m loving my pebble stacks, wonky bottles and foliage at the moment; they give me real peace with their strength and fragility.
Thank you to those of you who came and said hello - always so lovely to see you
2nd weekend of and the sun is shining! Our opens at 10 o'clock- small bit interesting g! You can visit myself, .thornton.art and and there are other studios open in nearby Attleborough, Banham, Diss, Harleston.
Don't forget you can get a fabulous Butterworth coffee from this morning
What a lovely way to spend an hour, with Katie Sollohub. Meditation and drawing, every Tuesday. I’ve added a link below to the info to book.
Today we were acknowledging that we have enough; an abundance, a harvest. Drawing and mark making, followed by cutting and tearing it up and reconstructing. I just combined it with my pebbles and balance.
Do come and join Katie - on zoom. She has such a calm and gentle voice guiding our activities.
https://www.katiesollohub.co.uk/about
I like to go back into a sketchbook to explore an idea. I find working with my long black bamboo pens with ink very relaxing, and while I'm relaxed, ideas just come.
I'm currently exploring 3 words, freedom, simplicity and clarity, as part of my work with . Early days....
diggingdeep
Possibly a bit busy now. Time to let them snooze for a while
busy
1st layers
media
Black and white beginnings
Thank you to everyone who visited my studio today. It’s been lovely. This one, Dalek Flowers, will be off to a new home shortly.
I look forward to seeing more visitors tomorrow - how good is it to have such interesting arty chats!thornton.art will be opening tomorrow too. 10 - 5.
I’m off for a well deserved pizza at the
A rather jerky video (sorry) giving you a speedy tour of my tiny gallery and much larger studio
Open Studios start tomorrow
Gill Thornton Art is just up the road with her beautiful lino prints
The banner is up, so that can only mean the start of Norfolk Open Studios soon. This Saturday, in fact! thornton.art and I braved the traffic to put this up, so please do visit if you can, to make it worthwhile for us to have taken the risk!!
media trail
Today I should have been getting the studio fit for visitors for but I squeezed out some paint instead! Not finished, and all old work that needed help. Not sure where they're going but it was a fun couple of hours.
A different colour palette for me
While stewarding at for the exhibition, I enjoyed some gentle drawing of wonky bottles with my black bamboo pens, and chatting with visitors. I'll make these into cards, I think
I've rather a lot to do before ! Walls to organise, piles of works on paper to sort so that visitors can look through my art from when I started painting 3 years ago, business cards to make, and my little gallery to hang.
I'll have lots for you to look at
I'm looking forward to 3 weekends of arty talk! And if you can't make a weekend, message me to arrange a weekday visit
Let's see how these works - Green reed stems picked up on the fen this morning
I'll let you know later, but I suspect they may be too soft
2 weeks until Norfolk Open Studios and I can't wait to welcome you through the doors.
2 weeks to bring order to this chaos!
I'll be open each weekend from Sept 24 to Oct 9. More details to follow
On sad days I paint flowers.
What an incredible woman; dignity and grace; a most beautiful smile and twinkle in the eye; thank you Queen Elizabeth.
IP222QN
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2 weeks until Norfolk Open Studios and I can't wait to welcome you through the doors. 2 weeks to bring order to this chaos! I'll be open each weekend from Sept 24 to Oct 9. More details to follow
Some inspiration from a very dry walk on the normally damp Redgrave and Lopham fen - a favourite haunt of mine locally
After a lot of techie issues thiis week I'm very behind on letting you know my studio will be open tomorrow But don't expect to see much!! I'm at an inbetween stillness where nothing is happening, at least on the outside I'm reviewing and regrouping and you are very wellcome to pop in and find our more about this side of creating. There'll be a chance to have a go at something too - I'll post about that later @gill.thornton.art is opening as well and there will be the added bonuses of a @cafepiccolosuffolk barista coffee until 12, cakes from the village shop and @foxinngarboldisham will be open in the afternoon.
Tonight we all got a good workout unloading the boards and setting them up in the church for our exhibition Under One Roof. It took a while, but we’re almost ready for the artists to come and hang their work tomorrow. Friday to Sunday, 10-4. You are all very welcome, and I will try and make a little video for those of you too far away. Don’t know why there’s no sound…it was quite jolly, suitable for an evening workout!
Here’s a little video for you of a small sketchbook which I filled from start to finish over the weekend, just drawing a couple of purple poppies that the birds kindly sowed for me. Because I spent a lot of time with the poppies over the 2 days, it gave me a chance to think about why I was drawn to them. They stand tall amongst the other plants, tall and strong, with bold dramatic flowers, but the flowers are so fragile, blowing in the wind, so beautiful too. There’s so much contrast within one plant, so many delicious lines and shapes for my eyes to follow. So much that is true of ourselves…..
My 2nd board book upcycling. These are all monoprints using a limited palette with burnt sienna as my hero colour; putting them all in one book keeps them together and hopefully will give me ideas for colour combinations later on.
Members exhibition of the Society of East Anglian Watercolourists at the Old Goods Shed in Clare Country Park, Suffolk. Just a few of my favourites I’m stewarding today and it would be lovely to meet you . @seaw #artexhibition #clare #suffolk #eastanglianwatercolourists #artforyourhome #artforsale #clarecountrypark
Open Day at my garden gallery with an exhibition of my floral art. Open tomorrow, May 7, 11 - 3, or by appointment I hope you enjoy my tour. #openstudio #gardengallery #floralart #norfolkartist #garboldisham
Here’s a little video showing you round my garden gallery which is open tomorrow. I’m not keen, at all, on how I sound when I hear it back, but I’m being brave!
Not my best quality video, so apologies. But I had a lot of fun just drawing/painting rounded forms, pebbles, while on Redgrave and Lopham Fen for the monthly Time to Paint. There’s not a pebble to be found on the fen, so it was strange that this came into my head - maybe because I moved some pebbles yesterday that are on my raised beds. I used sticks, a feather, a cola pen, big brush and graphite stick to make the marks and a lovely big brush to move the inks about. Lots of fun. Now, what to do with them? I was asked this by quite a few of the other artists there. My answer went along the lines of: tear some up for collage, add collage to others, enjoy them, maybe frame a couple…. Any ideas what to do with them? I’d love to hear….
Here’s part of a series of loose watercolour florals - so far there are 15 in the series. We haven’t many flowers in the garden but these are variations on a theme of flowers in my garden in mid April. I’ve found real joy going back to watercolours for a while, although it took several pieces of paper to get back into the flow. My favourite tools? A black bamboo pen and a Chines brush. Do you have a favourite amongst these?
Time to sign the tulip paintings. Yes, I really do sign each one. If you’d like to buy one of these small paintings, they’re just £10 minimum, all money raised going to Ukraine. My target has moved (again!) - I’m now aiming to reach £2000, and you can help me achieve this. Thank you to everyone who has supported me this far. You are all amazing.
A quick video of painting more tulips for Ukraine. Apologies for the sun coming out and messing my lighting! Tomorrow I need to sign and wrap them. Just a few more will be available so I’ll update you once I’ve worked out what’s what
Here’s a quick little video from today’s flower painting session. Armed and dangerous with my favourite painter’s edge!
I had an empty bottle of indigo ink so added some water to it, picked up a hogweed stick and off I went drawing some of my bottles with snowdrops and twigs. I rather like the washed out look; what do you think?
What do you do during a stormy afternoon? Paint a pumpkin- lots of times! I had great fun though
A short little video of the Cat Inspection, by one of our feline visitors this week.
Just some experimenting going on over here. I put a few ink marks down and then thought I’d photograph it outside. I loved the shadows so rushed in to get some watercolours and a biggish brush. Shadows had gone as the sun was going down quickly, but I tried to capture some of the feeling; I then splattered paint and water, wondering how much water this paper could take. Painting on a sheet of paper moving in the breeze is fun as the marks are gentle, and unpredictable. I love unpredictable! And then I was actually quite cold!! When it’s dry I’ll do the next layer, of the fuchsias, as in the last clip here.
How was your Christmas? I hope you found some joy at the end of what’s been a difficult year. I’ve been playing with some rather yummy indigos and raw sienna, using a big brush and a bamboo pen. I’m told they’re a bit oppressive by someone in my house, but I like to think they are moody and expressive. As always, inspired by the local fens. Oh, and I hope you enjoy the glimpses of the treasures on the windowsill - primary school sculptures, fen sticks, hand thrown mug, little bottles, dead fuchsias and some lichen covered sticks!
My studio will be open tomorrow for the last time this year, along with @gill.thornton.art If you would like to visit, I am opposite the Methodist church on The Street in Garboldisham and you’ll see this hastily put together sign! I’d love to see you
Last chance this year to visit my studio and gallery. I love my tiny Little House garden gallery! It was where I used to do the photography for the business; I thought I’d turn it into a litte snug place to escape too, but then the gallery idea took hold and I love it. When I eventually get a comfy chair, it will also be my snug escape space. Win win! If you’d like a little look, my last open studio day for this year is Saturday Dec 4th, 11 - 3. Please message me for directions or if you’d like to arrange an appointment
This is what happened to that beautiful clean sheet of paper A quiet meditation
Here’s a little video of the inky explorations I’ve been doing in the last few days, as I’ve been asked about the process. Apologies for the state of my Halloween style finger nails! I’m just exploring some ideas, using old paintings for my substrate - which adds extra colour and extra interest.
Adding a splashy layer to a series of boards; this is layer 3. All part of the Find Your Voice course I’m doing as a follow on advanced course after Find Your Joy. Im using a horse hair brush I made for a children’s art club - such fun to just not care where the paint goes (and yes, there’s quite a bit of paint splattered across the studio!) I’m working on 9 boards at the same time as a series exploring layers - archaeological layers, little snippets of lives, lives lost through time. There is no thought to these early layers, just laying down collage, paint, collage, paint….and gradually the ideas will develop. It’s a joy to paint in this intuitive way - much more like playtime!
With Norfolk Open Studios in less than a fortnight, I’ve a lot still to do, including giving some frames a fresh new look before popping some lovely art in them. It would be lovely to see any local people if you’re able to pop in. I’ll post the days nearer the time
A little video of some flower doodles; these are the first cut flowers from my new raised beds in the garden, so I felt like celebrating them!
On my, these first Saturdays come round quickly! The studio will be open again tomorrow, 11 - 4 Here’s a sneak look at the new “gallery” space which is taking shape. The Spinney, IP22 2QN
Just one more day, tomorrow, to visit the art exhibition at Redgrave and Lopham Fen, if you’re in the area. Such a beautiful place to walk too. I hope that some of my paintings reflect this natural music in this little video - so peaceful
I was given a baby barn owl feather, and so of course I wanted to paint with it. It’s such a delicate little “brush”.
Here’s a glimpse into my body of sketchbooks done since April last year - my pandemic sketchbooks. I’ll have the whole collection with me on Sunday for our Open Day at Art At 15a if you fancy looking at them in more depth. Working in these books was a really vital tonic that helped me through those long difficult months
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