Newsletter: July 2024
Finally the weather has been a bit better up here in Nidderdale, although distinctly chilly at the start of the month…there were several days when the studio only made 13 degrees! I love this photo above; it’s from one of our favourite walks and particularly beautiful yesterday in the early evening sunlight.
The most exciting news this month is that I’ve now delivered a lovely group of new work to the Hayden Gallery in Marlow- such a beautiful place, on the River Thames and close to London. I’m really thrilled to be represented by them; its a family owned and run gallery, led by Tracey Hayden who is an artist herself, and above all it’s a beautiful gallery space, showing gorgeous work!
Thumbnails above show new work available from the Hayden Gallery-click on an image to see it larger and also for links to the gallery.
We had a great time looking around Marlow and Henley, see images 👇
The River and Rowing Museum is a bit of an unexpected gem! Loads of interesting stuff about the history of the Thames and area, loads of Olympic stuff, and some interesting art, including:
The contemporary painting shown right, by Justin Mortimer, who is a former BP Portrait Award winner-the painting is of Sir Steve Redgrave the Olympic rower.
John Piper-small selection of paintings and stained glass.
I particularly loved this Etching and Aquatint by Julian Trevelyan, which is also in the River and Rowing Museum…he’s an artist I hadn’t come across before, and I love discovering new people!
I’ve had a bit of a problem with a painting, and I thought I would share the resolution, as I think it’s really useful!
A little while back I made a bunch of paintings on loose canvas. I had a roll of beautiful heavy canvas; really top quality, and I also wanted to experiment with painting flat and stretching afterwards….the painting part went well and I had a really lovely group of paintings. Then I took them to the framer for stretching and framing, and that’s where the problem happened. They came back looking great, but the canvas was too saggy in the frame…too late to re stretch because of the way they had cut it, and also no canvas keys because of the stretcher style, so no help there.
I Googled like crazy and tried a range of options, which didn’t seem to make a difference at all.
However the technique that worked, is surprisingly straightforward, totally safe to do on a finished painting, and does do the trick. Basically all you need to do is get some good quality (not too thin) gesso and cover the reverse of the canvas very thoroughly, working it in to the grain of the canvas and getting as far up to the edges, under the stretcher bars as you can.
Be generous and take your time making sure you’ve got really good coverage, then let the gesso dry thoroughly. If its very soggy you may need a couple of coats, but it does work and as a bonus, it gives a nice clean back of canvas surface for pasting a certificate of authenticity to, signing etc…
Studio time this month has been more about thinking and planning and creating themes for new work….which means nothing visual yet. It’s part of the rhythm of making art; part of the process, and just as important as any other. ‘Doesn’t look great or provide exciting images, but it is the reality of being a working artist. The practicality of this stage, is that I’m giving myself space to think, and I’m getting out walking, and gardening, and reading my art books, and yes just mulling!
Our garden has come to life, from the damp grey place it was when we arrived, it’s full of bees and butterflies, and I’m happy that we’ve improved the bio diversity a huge amount. It’s a tiny plot. but I think it matters.
In amongst this, Live the Dales Magazine asked if they could do a feature on me, so their photographer came out and took loads of images and the article appears at the end of August. Unfortunately I think it only goes out to businesses and homes in the Dales, but it was fun to do!
The photo on the right is from the photoshoot, and shows me in my tiny studio in Nidderdale.
Actually my garden did set me off on a little botanical distraction…. It’s a loose abstracted painting inspired by some of the plants currently growing there. The paint is thick and juicy and quite textured, and made up in many layers with scumbled paint and overlays to create quite a rick picture surface.
The painting is 76 cm square and probably finished.
The lovely guys at Northern Lights Gallery in Keswick, also have some new work this month, so if you would like to see my work in the flesh rather than as just images on a screen, it’s really worth calling in especially if you’re off to the Lake District for some walking and general down-time.
I currently have work available from Silson Contemporary, Hayden Gallery, Northern Lights and Look Gallery, all easy to find online as well as in person.
Under Deep Waters
…an abstracted painting playing with ideas of flowing water in a deep reservoir surrounded by hills, with incised detail.
60cm x 60cm excluding frame
Currently available from Northern Lights Gallery, in Keswick.
*Please click on the image to find out more
I think that’s about all from me this month…I’m off to make some new starts on a bunch of gessoed canvases that are looking eager in the corner of the studio!
Links from this month’s news:
Hayden Gallery: https://haydengallery.co.uk/artists/jo-york
Silson Contemporary: https://silsoncontemporaryart.co.uk/artists/jo-york/
Northern Lights Gallery: https://northernlightsgallery.co.uk/jo-york
River and Rowing Museum, Henley: https://rrm.co.uk
John Piper at The River and Rowing Museum: https://rrm.co.uk/collection/the-artist-john-piper/
Until next time, have a great summer, take care and keep in touch!
Jo XX
All content, text and images ©Jo York 2024