On Stand at the Affordable Art Fair, Bristol

Here's my paintings in all their glory on the Lime Tree Gallery E9 Stand at the Affordable Art Fair in Bristol, which opens to the public tomorrow.

At the top at the back we have Sunlight on Red Fields, Argyll, Burn in Spate, Argyll and Glen Lochy - all oil on linen, 32" x 40", and in some rather splendid minimalist frames.  I think you'll agree that they make quite a splash on the stand!

Here's another view of the stand.  Looking fabulous up at the top is Narcissi in Bluebell Woods, Dalkeith, along with a selection of little paintings of North Berwick and Northern Ireland 

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The fair is open from 11am until 8pm tomorrow (Friday), and 11am - 5pm on Saturday and Sunday.

More information on the fair HERE.  

And if you can't make it to the fair, you can view all the paintings and see how they're selling HERE!

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.

Northern Ireland Paintings Arriving Today in London...

...a selection of Northern Ireland paintings, all set around the Causeway Coast...

Clouds over White Park Bay (Oil on linen, 26 x 32)

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

Montbretia, Causeway Coast (Oil on linen, 20 x 30)

Old School House, White Park Bay (Oil on linen, 20 x 30)

Rain over the Sea near Fair Head (Oil on linen, 26 x 32)

Thistles at the Giant's Causeway (Oil on linen, 16 x 16)

Towards Portrush from Rinagree (Oil on linen, 26 x 32)

Water's Edge near Ballycastle (26 x 32)

Yellow Flowers at Rinagree (Oil on linen, 26 x 32)

Read more about these paintings in my blog HERE 

HERE 

HERE 

and

HERE. 

As usual, if you'd like to know more, either email me or contact the gallery at www.duncanmiller.com

Today's Work - White Park Bay

Today I finished my painting of the old school house at White Park Bay.  The long, low island in the top right is Rathlin Island.  On a clear day, you can see Scotland and the islands of the Inner Hebrides.

The school house is down there at the bottom towards the left...

If you'd like to see what the real place looks like, there's a video HERE.

Makes me feel slightly tearful just looking at it.

And Today's Painting...

So here is today's piece.  Both are of Northern Ireland - the bottom one is at Rinagree, between Portrush and Portstewart, with Ireland on the horizon, and the top one is of White Park Bay, with Rathlin Island on the horizon.  

The top one is only half finished. by the way!

As you can see from the unfinished piece, I don't paint on to white canvas - I use a midtone, usually in a warm grey, lilac or I've been using a lot of cobalt blue backgrounds lately.  It makes the sea colours really zingy, and contrasts with the oranges of autumn scenes.

Meanwhile - fancy a quick art historical romp through colour and shape?

Have a look at this article with short videos HERE.

It gives a timeline on the development of abstract art from Turner to Sol leWitt.  And it has Andrew Graham Dixon - why wouldn't you want to watch it?

 Rain, Steam, and Speed - The Great Western Railway by JMW Turner, National Gallery / Bridgeman

Spot the connection?

 

Wall drawing # 951 by Sol LeWitt, Museo Civico, Spoleto, Italy / Bridgeman

Affordable Art Fair, Battersea

It's a busy week...

If you missed my recent solo show in London, then you might like to know that I have paintings going on display at the  Affordable Art Fair in Battersea, which opens tomorrow. 

It's held twice a year (March and October) in large tents in Battersea Park, and there's over a hundred galleries with work on display, all of which is priced at under £4000.

A selection of my work will be on the Duncan R Miller Fine Arts stand, so look out for it if you're there!

Heather and Harebells, Torr Head (Oil on linen, 12 x 12)

Thirty Sales at Preview!

Back now from London, and the opening of my show.  Really delighted by the huge response before the show even opened, with thirty sales and paintings with multiple reserves!  Several people were very disappointed that their favourite had gone before the doors even opened...

You can view the paintings in the show online HERE.

Here's the windows of the gallery in St James's (just along from the Royal Academy), with two of my paintings Haybales, Ayrshire and Poppy Field, York.

It was an extremely busy preview, with lots of very interesting people and familiar faces, all enthusiastic about the work, excited about the colours and the textures. Apologies if there was anyone that I didn't get to speak to!  A huge, heartfelt thank you to everyone who came along.

There was even some heavy-duty signing of catalogues!

The show continues for another 3 weeks, but here's a quick peak....

Autumn, Queens Park.  The view is looking out from the high point of Queens Park on the south side towards the centre of Glasgow and beyond to the Campsies and Ben Lomond.  This painting didn't sell on the night, but a lovely couple came down from Edinburgh the next day especially to buy it, so its gone to a really good home.

This is Gorse by the Shore with Distant Cottages, Morar and Sea Pinks, Land's End.  The painting on the left was purchased largely because of the beautiful gorse (which I assured the purchaser was in fact actually growing there, gorse being a hardy plant often found by the seashore in Scotland.  It has a lovely coconutty smell.)  The right painting is at Land's End, and I scrambled down the cliffside to lie down and get the view of the tiny little sea pinks.  The ground is quite loose, so it felt a little precarious!  Risking my all for my art....

Avenue of Trees, Hampstead Heath.  This is the painting that featured in International Artist last month.

White Sand at Camusdarach and Moon Over the Sea, Cromer.  I love both of these paintings, but everyone raved about the one with the moon, which was painted along the clifftops near Cromer.

Top is Moon Over the Sea (which is of the North Sea at Aldeburgh), bottom left is Rocks on the Beach, North Berwick.  Right is Sunset Over the Sea, which is the beach at Weston Super Mare in October, which had the most amazing sunset blazing across the sky, constantly changing as the sun sank into the sea.

 
In amongst this group are paintings of the bluebells in my local park at Pollok (home of the Burrell Collection), the Balmoral Estate, the coastline in Cornwall and autumn fields in Fife.

 

Here's a group of London paintings on the back wall of the gallery, at different times of the day.

A selection of paintings from Northern Ireland, another of Weston Super Mare,the Lake District and autumn parks.  

Very many thanks again to everyone who was good enough to come along to the show and helped to make it such a success.  Please do drop in if you are in London!

Sacred Heart Primary School Paintings

I thought you might like to see some of the paintings done by pupils of Sacred Heart Primary School in Dungannon in County Tyrone.

As part of a farming topic, they painted pictures in a variety of materials including paints and pastels, using my picture Farm Cottage with Harebells near Cushendun.  My painting is of a scene in Northern Ireland about 65 miles away to the north of where the school is in Co Tyrone, on the road to Torr Head from Cushendun on the Causeway Coast.  But obviously it must look like a pretty familiar scene to the children at the school.

Here's my original painting..

Farm Cottage with Harebells, Northern Ireland (Oil on linen, 32 x 32)

And here's the children's paintings.  

It's striking just how very different and individual they are, even though they're painting exactly the same thing.  Which just goes to show you how much a painting reflects the character of the artist.

 

This one has a lovely sense of pattern and composition and order.  It's very calm.

 

This one has beautiful, bold brushwork.  Just look at that amazing yellowy-green mark wiggling across the top golden section.  Howard Hodgkin, eat your heart out!

Summer - Howard Hodgkin

This one is really accomplished and lively, with a beautiful sense of animation and colour.

Howard Hodgkin -In Tangier
(1991, Silkscreen)

 

This one is great as well, because it not only has a really interesting, more subtle colour sense, but it has that amazing bold swipe straight across the middle.

Howard Hodgkin - Red Sky at Night (2001-11)
© Howard Hodgkin, courtesy Gagosian Gallery
photo by Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

This one has turned out very differently because it is made using crayons, and has paid painstaking attention to the pattern-making two-dimensional elements of the original.

This child has also picked up on the pattern-making, but to quite different effect.  The final picture is beautifully abstract.

This one looks as if it has been made by printing or sponging, and is all house with some abstract landscape elements.

This one is all about careful control and order.

Another one using pastels, which emphasises the coloured line, but also has a joyous, bounding, energetic feel about it.

This looks as if the picture has been made using pastels, and then the paper has been soaked, so that the colours have softened and run.

I'd just like to say very well done to everyone, I'm so impressed!  Thank you for choosing to look at my painting in your lesson.

Glasgow Exhibition Opening on Saturday

I've got a show opening on Saturday at the Lemond Gallery in Bearsden, Glasgow, so last minute preparations are underway!

I very rarely exhibit in Glasgow - mostly it's down in London or the south, so this is very exciting.

I have been working hard at a selection of local paintings, with ones of the Campsies, and my local parks in different seasons.

Gorse, the Campsies (Oil on linen, 32 x 48)

Bluebell Woods, Pollok Park (Oil on linen, 24 x 26)

Paths in the Bracken, the Campsies (Oil on linen, 32 x 32)

Autumn Colours in the Forest (Oil on linen, 12 x 12)

I've also got some of Northern Ireland - where I was only a few days ago, at exactly the same spots along the Causeway Coast! - as well as the west coast at the White Sands of Morar and scenes of Arran and Skye.  The east coast is represented with paintings of Fife and North Berwick.  

Also in the mix are some favourite scenes of Wales, Cornwall and Dorset, with their distinctive rugged coastlines, plus some more reflective pieces, such as this one.

Moon over the Sea (Oil on linen, 32 x 48)

It's a two person show with the artist Jonathan Robertson, and you can view all the paintings HERE.  I'm relieved to see that quite a few have sold already!

The show opens on Saturday 6th September at 11am, and everyone is very welcome indeed to come along.  The gallery is very homely and inviting, and is a wonderful showcase for the work.  

The exhibition runs until 14th September, so not on for long!