I was at a lovely PV (Private View) for the Winter/Spring Show at Silson Contemporary on Saturday. I met so many interesting people and had some great conversations…I got talking to a woman who really resonated with one of my paintings in the show. I’d never met her before, but she clearly felt a powerful connection to a painting called Walking In Cloud-it’s a painting about a very particular morning with low hanging mist, very strange and atmospheric. The weird thing was that she asked me if it came from a particular place, and if so where-when I explained where it was she was quite startled as she had been walking pretty much in exactly the same place earlier that morning!

It’s a strange thing as the painting is about the feeling of being there in cloud, with all the landscape features appearing to melt away in the mist, it’s about a sense of place and atmosphere, and not representational…even though it is very much abstracted, or perhaps because of this, the painting communicated a strong sense of place to her.

I came home and thought about it, and realised how much the conversation meant to me…seeing someone react in that way was quite emotional, and it gets to the heart of why I paint, and what my work is about. I started as an illustrator, and made very realistic technical illustrations as well as representational images, but long ago, I knew that this wasn’t what I wanted to do. Quite often people think that abstraction is a cop out, something people do when they can’t cope with realism, with detail etc…but actually it’s in so many ways much harder, more challenging, more personal and maybe on occasions like last Saturday even more rewarding.

As most freelancers will know, work life doesn’t tend to be steady, its often a case of feast or famine, and I’ve been really busy the last month or so; getting ready for the shows that are on now. I’m currently showing work with Northern Lights Gallery in the Lake District, The Jerram gallery in Dorset, The Look gallery in Helmsley, as well as the already mentioned Silson Contemporary.

Another really interesting show has been going up today; called ‘We Need To Talk About Landscape’, it’s curated by Keith Alexander who is a sculptor and print maker, as well as a maker of amazing arts related films. The show includes work by Jill Campbell, Richard Grey, Susan Dugdale, Keith Alexander and me-its free to view at The Witham in Barnard Castle, and runs until 24th February…do pop in and have a look if you’re in the area. All five artists see and respond to the northern landscape very differently, and the aim of the exhibition is to get the audience to look again at the landscape around them. I’ll try to post some images on Instagram when I have them.

Stuff has definitely got in the way of studio time this month; specifically having to barricade the studio door against the rain during the storms we’ve been having-unfortunately it’s a stable door and it leaks when the wind blows driving rain against it….it’s not too bad but does require a lot of taping up and floor drying! Unfortunately our air source heat pump also died on us without any warning, and the studio has been so cold, I just haven’t. been able to stay out there for long…we do have a couple of portable fan heaters but needed to prioritise the rest of the house which was also freezing! We’re currently keeping everything crossed that the parts are in soon and we can get back to normal!

Anyway in between all of the above, I have managed to squeeze in a bit of precious studio time.

The random looking image above is to remind to pass on a little tip…it shows my paper palettes hanging up to dry-to explain these are baking paper or tracing paper ‘palettes’ which I lay onto a tray with a couple of layers of damp paper towel to act as a stay wet palette. The reason I’m mentioning this is that I’ve found they’re great colour reference so I’ve started sticking them into my painting/ studio journal as a record. Actually they also collage into a painting surface really well too, so you can cut or tear out areas and apply them onto a painting using any acrylic medium as a ‘glue’.

I’m currently working on a little trio of paintings with a larger one…long way to go, but you can see some of the development below.

Otherwise, enforced time spent out of the studio has meant I really had no excuse to keep putting off my website updates. To be honest, I am terrible at prevaricating about it; even cleaning to avoid it!!!

Anyway it isn’t complete, but I have updated most of the website now, and I’d love you to take a look, especially if you normally just read the blog and don’t often venture any further.

…You can find out a bit more about me, look at a selection of current work, even listen to my episode of Authentic Obsessions Podcast with Margret Petrie.

Well that’s all from my studio for now-yes I’m working out there as that’s where the broadband signal is best!

Until next time take care and have a lovely month, keep in touch and let me know if you have any comments, queries or suggestions for things to cover- I love reading them and really appreciate all your lovely feedback.

Jo Xx

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