Last Couple of Days

We're now into the last couple of days of my big show in London, which closes on Tuesday 8th March.

Thank you very much indeed to everyone who has visited the show!  It's very much appreciated,and hope you enjoyed it

Before the show ends, there is still a little time to look at some of my favourites that are still for sale.

View the show HERE.

This little painting was done from the banks of the Thames at Bermondsey.  The sun was setting and the lights slowly appeared on Tower Bridge, bringing out its lovely sweeping shapes, and creating a soft orange glow on the surface of the river to match that of the gentle peach colours of the sky.

Tower Bridge at Dusk from Bermondsey (Oil on linen, 12 x 12)

This painting  is of the fountain in the middle of Central Park, when I was visiting New York.  (I also have paintings in the show of Clearwater in Florida, which I visited before going on to New York.)  

The park was busy, and it was a blistering hot summer's day, but I loved the way that there was so much coolness and calmness in the colours of the water and the greens, blues and purples of the plants, and in the simplicity of the beautiful, pure white waxy bloom of the lily itself.  

I loved the rhythmical shapes of the leaves and flowers against the water surface, and the way the fountain gently moved the reflections.  I also liked the way that the upright stems of the purple flower buds made a pleasing counterpoint to the horizontal planes of the lily leaves on the water surface.

White Waterlily, Central Park (Oil on linen, 26 x 32)

This is a painting of a favourite walk of mine in London.  I love walking across Hyde Park, especially during autumn, which is probably my favourite season of the year.  

Just in the distance on the right, you can catch a glimpse of the Round Pond, which usually has its fair share of Canada geese grazing around it.  The trees are turning all sorts of beautiful shades of crimsons and oranges and cadmium yellows, which catch the warm autumn sunlight.  Invariably, there is the rustle of squirrels rooting purposefully around the dead leaves.  It's all very peaceful in the middle of the big city.

Autumn Trees near Round Pond, Hyde Park (Oil on linen, 26 x 32)

This is of Sea Cliff beach, the great, wide sandy beaches on the east coast of Scotland near Edinburgh.  It's a great place to take a dog for a walk and let it run. That's the Bass Rock in the distance, with its little white lighthouse.  The rock is covered in noisy seabirds, whirling around their nests.

The sand has a pinky granite-like tinge to it, and the reddish tones contrast with the bright, sharp acid green of the seaweed on the rocks.  The sky is a brilliant, early summer blue, and the brisk wind is whipping up little white caps on the waves as they break on the shore.

Rocks and Seaweed, Sea Cliff (Oil on linen, 20 x 20)

This little painting is a like a bright jewel of a thing.  It's of the flowers which I grew in my back garden from wildflower seeds.  

It was a happy accident that meant that the beautiful cadmium yellows of the calendula and California poppies came up against the lilacs of the tall honesty, as yellow and purple are of complimentary colours!

Calendula in Bloom (Oil on linen, 12 x 12)

Lastly, I'm going to mention one of my favourite Northern Ireland paintings.

I go every year to the Causeway Coast.  This is the view looking over the hedgerows and down the glen, over the fields towards the coast.  

Rathlin Island is the long, low island on the left on the horizon.  Fair Head is the little spur of dark headland towards the right, which the branches of fuschia are pointing to.  I love the pattern of the fields, like a huge soft quilt, which are all shades of green.  The soft greens contrast with the bright pinks of the fuschia hedges, which line the narrow roads.

There's a huge, exhilarating  feeling of distance which I like about the Causeway Coast, how you can look right along the coast, and right out to sea for miles and miles.  On clear days, you catch tantalising glimpses of the land beyond - Ailsa Craig, the Mull of Kintyre, Jura and Islay, Southern Ireland.

Fuschia Hedges Looking Across to Fair Head (Oil on linen, 20 x 30)

So if you're in London today or Monday, you can visit the gallery and see the paintings for yourself!  Let me know if you do and what you think, or feel free to email me at judith@jibridgland.com and ask me any questions.

Last Week of Show

Yes, it's in to the last week of my show, so here's a few images of the gallery resplendent with my paintings!

 

Sold Today in London

This dear little painting of waterlilies sold today from my solo show.  Somebody's got themselves a beautiful new picture.

Pink Waterlilies at Kew (Oil on linen, 16 x 16)

Next week is the last full week!  Can't believe it's gone so quickly.  The show closes on 8th March, but you can have a look at how things are going at the exhibition here...

"From City to Sea"

"From City to Sea" Catalogues

Yes, they're here!  This year's catalogue features the very lovely "Autumn, the Eiffel Tower" as the front cover.

If you've requested one, then it should have arrived on your doormat already.  If not, or if you'd like me to send you one in time for the show, then please send me a note of your postal address to judith@jibridgland.com

"From City to Sea" Invites

Here's a quick look at the invites for my show which opens in a couple of weeks.  They feature a Northern Ireland painting "Old School House, White Park Bay" on the front.

I'll be sending them out with the catalogues next week.  In the meantime, the show will shortly be coming online, and you can click to see the paintings in the show by going HERE.

(If you'd like an invite and a catalogue for the show, let me know by dropping a line with your postal addfress to judith@jibridgland.com)

 

At the Printers

The new catalogue for my solo show 'From City to Sea' is at the printers at the moment, and should be arriving next week.  Very exciting!  Can't wait to see it.

If you'd like a copy, and an invite to the show at Duncan R Miller Fine Arts, St James's, London, then drop me a line with your postal address to judith@jibridgland.com

The preview is on Thursday 11th February from 5.30pm.  I'll be there, and it would be great to see you if you're able to come along!

This year, I will have around 35 brand new paintings in the show, with scenes of Scotland, Northern Ireland, Cornwall and London, and I have chosen to explore some very different and contrasting types of landscape – "from city to sea".

Autumn by the Eiffel Tower (Oil on linen, 24 x 26)

Grasses in the Sand, Gulf of Mexico (Oil on linen, 12 x 12)

Those of you familiar with my work will know how much I love painting the sea and the rugged coastlines of Scotland, Cornwall and Northern Ireland.  There’s something very exciting about the wildness of the wind and sea, and about land that has been weathered and buffeted by the elements.   

These landscapes have a real energy and timelessness about them, a beauty and a wild intensity.  So in this show there are once again plenty of paintings of these familiar places, along with the peaceful, broad expanses of beaches around the east coast at North Berwick, and the deserted white and pink sands of Morar.

                                Wide Sweep of the Sand, Camusdarach (Oil on  linen, 26 x 32)

Whilst I enjoy the continuity and familiarity of going back to the same places year after year, I also look wherever I can for new ideas.  I like my shows to read like a story, to have something a little bit unexpected, to be full of surprising contrasts.

So this year I have also explored the landscapes in cities.  I wanted to contrast the ordered, controlled landscapes within the heart of urban areas against the wild, untamed scenery from the very edges of the country.

To that end, I have visited many parks and gardens in a number of cities, exploring the shapes and patterns of man-made landscapes.  I took my cameras to locations such as Kew Gardens, Hyde Park, Green Park and Hampstead Heath, experiencing the parks at different times of year, especially as the leaves turned towards autumn.   

 Cherry Trees, Kew Gardens (Oil on linen, 12 x 12)

I also made visits to the glasshouses at both Kew and Edinburgh to study the waterlilies. Waterlilies are a theme that I explored many years ago, and it’s a pleasure to return to them afresh.  Here I can juxtapose the calm and intimate close-up experience of their beautiful, logical patterns, with the powerful, exciting, energetically abstract shapes of waves on the shore, or the wide, open expanses of empty beaches or huge skies.

Pink Waterlilies in Sunlight, Kew (Oil on linen, 26 x 32)

A good exhibition should take you on a journey, tell you a story.  My show is therefore the story of a year of travel, of observing, recording, note-taking, and remembering, and it is also a story about what it is to be a Scottish painter.

Do hope you can come to the gallery and see the show!   The exhibition runs until 9th March.