Art&Ghosts Blog

New Prints

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New arrivals at the Art&Ghosts Shop:

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I am expecting more to arrive very soon.

I have also rejuvenated my tired old Reading List just this afternoon (located in the left hand menu here). An ongoing, ever expanding phenomenon, my reading list: I can never seem to remember anywhere near all of the books that I should like to recommend. Anyway, if you are inclined, please feel free to have a look around. I ought to mention my current favourite, The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington. A remarkable and magical story.

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Oh! And I almost forgot to share these:

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Counting The Hours With You 

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Detail

An unplanned digital drawing that emerged yesterday evening. A brand new technique, for me, for this way of working is quite unlike the methods I use when digital painting, which involves creating many layers and textures, colour palettes and blending. The urge to draw on paper led me to treat the digital canvas in much the same way that I would approach pencil drawing - but alas I have run clean out of drawing paper and am still awaiting a truck load of new art supplies which were supposed to be a Christmas present. 

But this is quite interesting, because the urge to draw, pencil fashion, led me towards something entirely new. 

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Hobby Horse boy

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Edwin's Garden

Digital drawing and watercolour.

More nature reveries. Can you make out the three leaping rabbits in the background?

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Edwin detail

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NatureSong

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Hobby Horse Boy

The drawing prior to colouring

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How he began:)

Take care and make merry!

xxx 

Seasons Song

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New works for the Singing Tree series

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Forever Underground

Pen, acrylic, watercolour and digital drawing. See alternate version here

Dreaming along to Vashti Bunyan songs.

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Seasons Song

Digital drawing with watercolour.

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Wandering Star

Digital drawing.

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Merry mcFluff

Digital painting, watercolour and acrylic.

This years Xmas card:) 

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Rainbow Doodle

Digital pen doodling. This was a small section taken from a much larger canvas. The different elements are taken from other works. This was the most pleasingly coherent part.

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I hope that you all had a very pleasant Christmas time. 

Back soon!

xxx 

Winter Mornings cont.

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Christmas book joy! .

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Shop update

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New prints have arrived!

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Just updated: A huge selection of old and new, and plenty sold out items restocked.

All currently at sale price.

 ♥

Myrtle's Fantasia

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Kerry

Acrylic on paper. Samples taken from a little book of patterns, colour and shapes which often progress into digital works. Sometimes they are quite sweet on their own.

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Flok 

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Myrtle McFluff

An accidental novelty: a kitty shape emerged from a torn piece of paper and a mass of random brush strokes. I instantly recognized Myrtle! Which then inspired this....

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Myrtle fantasia

I do believe she has stage-fright, and I'm not surprised, considering how much we giggled at her last night. Poor, sweet little Myrtle McFluff.

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Berenice

My lady bear also inspired this earlier anomaly

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Mirlo and I wish you a very happy Christmas week ahead! 

I will be sure to return within a few days, regardless.

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Our seasonal sale is in full swing still, and new prints are due to hit the store at the start of next week!

More soon ...

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Do you

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Do you

Watercolour, coloured pen, acrylic and pencil, scanned then recomposed digitally. More works for the Singing Tree series (I had originally intended to call the series Wild Imaginings, but changed my mind)

I am a sleepy head. Lulled by the moonlight and nature's songs. A dreamy phase, for me, curious and sparkling like the frost. Rose Madder and Rose Dore are my new favourite colours...

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Falling

Same media as the previous work.

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Make Free

This evolved from the scraps of other works. A fortunate little tumbling of shapes and colours.

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To the end of the world

And some recent pencil sketches (which often accompany me through the night):

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I'm not incredibly comfortable with pencil work, but these were quite enjoyable. The seal/selkie was lovingly inspired by just having experienced the beauty of The Secret of Roan Inish for the first time. This incredible film moved me very deeply, not merely for aesthetic reasons. 

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The meerkat is just too silly!

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The Singing Tree

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I am happy to announce the onset of the Art&Ghosts seasonal sale! All open-edition, 10x8 prints will be available at a reduced price over the next few weeks, so be sure to take a peek at what's in store. I shall also be adding a selection of brand new works to the shop within the next few days - including the remade Ruby child above and other, more recent creations.

Please check out my News section for more details.

Continuing work on the Wild Imaginings series this weekend. These are such a joy to create: beginning with watercolour and acrylics, coloured pens and paper cutouts, then taking them into the digital arena to recompose. I absolutely adore this method! Primarily influenced by music - folk songs, dreamy, almost barely there songs, lost to forever sea shanties, both old and new, and playful, meandering, darkly soothing melodies. So perhaps these are my visual lullabyes.....they are playful, colourful, yet contain so many hidden references to what moves me, makes me wonder, shakes me up inside. For all of these reasons, working on this series feels so very refreshing indeed.

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The Singing Tree

I had initially planned to populate the 'tree' with a multitude of creatures, but the detail became a tad crowded, so this is what remains. Mostly composed of watercolour and pen sections, re-cut into new shapes. The colours take me back to primary school, the location of one of my earliest memories: standing in awe before an easel and a terrifyingly large sheet of stretched paper almost larger than myself (I was possibly about six years old). When the process was everything and the end result so unimportant! 

The above image represents the joy of being, for me. New beginnings, optimism and the wonder of dreams. The importance of remaining true to yourself.

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New Souls

Inspired by the concept of past and future lives. Letting my thoughts run away with me in visual form. I like how the colourful, beatific atmosphere is just ever so slightly offset by the menacing presence of the gnarled trees. Nature and love and violence are inseparable, in dreams. And nothing is ever truly what it seems.

I will most definitely be taking this series further:)

More soon!

♥

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Wild Imaginings

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The messenger never sleeps

A new series, perhaps. Most of these are concerned with nature, a sort of visual poem to the wilds. I also wanted to try to express the concept of imagination visually, which culminated in this:

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Wild Imaginings

These works were created from previous watercolour and acrylic paintings, which were scanned into the computer and recomposed, digitally. A similar technique to how I create my silhouettes. As is most likely obvious, I am currently obsessed with the colour pink.

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Shapes Cascade

Long ago, I used to compose abstractions based primarily upon listening to music: allowing the music to control the composition to some extent, which produces so many exciting elements of chance - a refreshing way to work on occasion, delving into the unconscious purely in terms of colour, shape and form, etc.  

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Wild Imaginings detail

I may work on more of these over the weekend.

Finally we have the crisp, icy winter weather that I have longed for. The sharp, glassy sunlight, the freezing fog. Just walking - without any actual plans of a destination - in this glorious light is enough to inspire me for the remainder of the season.  In celebration I attached a brand new grey pompom to a sweet little red knitted beret in honour of the secret garden of long ago. 

I am also (belatedly) happy to present my little contribution to the new, 2010 Frankie calendar:

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My silhouette represents january (top left)......original here

And lastly, speaking of seasonal treats and the delights of internet shopping; I finally have my very own Le Train Fantome doll:

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An original Lumi, courtesy my sister. A joy!

Have a cozy weekend out there xxx

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Primary Joys

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Quick and simple watercolour sketches from last summer. I have experienced the urge to play again, to experiment with older techniques which have all but become unfamiliar to me now, after so many years of intense, detailed digital work. Sometimes I simply yearn to go back to the drawing board for a little while, to make a mess, to abandon myself to that raw, spontaneous, unpredictable state of being, devoid of the delete key. .

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I have very few materials at hand right now, just a couple of old acrylic tubes and a child's tin of watercolour primaries. The older experiments (above) were largely influenced by vintage book illustration - many elements of which occasionally find themselves merged into my digital paintings, or used for textures in digital collage. 

I am eternally intrigued with how my personal experiences inform my art. How my moods dictate my use of colour, shape, line and the overall feel of the image. Having worked with figures and portraiture for so long I appear to have developed an almost obsessive interest in abstraction, ambiguity. I am also interested in how different media alter our 'signature' style - how traditional paint seems to lead me into abstraction, whereas digital media tends to focus my attention on detailed narratives and realism (of a fashion!).

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Portal 

Portal began life over the breakfast table, possibly the result of too much coffee and laughter (a giddy morning, perhaps an unconscious defense against this interminable rain), after opening up the watercolour tin for the first time in oh so long. A torn piece of paper shall suffice, I said. And so it came to be. I have absolutely no idea what to say about it, except that frivolity and joy and maybe too much caffeine created a vibrant, colourful little monster! I both love and hate this painting. I love the suggestion, the bliss born terror and the spontaneity....... I hate my rusty painting skills....

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 The Joy

A floral painting layered over a photograph. This appears to reflect my current mood. 

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And finally, some shop related news: I shall be announcing the timeframe of my seasonal sale very shortly, which will feature reductions on all open edition 10x8 prints. For more information, please check out the news section over at the the Art&Ghosts shop. I will be updating as soon as I get a free moment:)

Back soon x

♥

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Winter Mornings cont.

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Little sofa cozy time....the sofa isn't actually so tiny, instead the cushions are simply huge. An assortment of vintage linen, patchwork, Ikea and Toast.

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Winter workspace. Tiny trees and fake birds and irritatingly entwined lily lights.

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Little Drops, seen through lace and glass. 

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1001 Paintings: I adore this reference book. Spent about six hours yesterday curled up with it. The title is a little off-putting, but well worth £10 (I found mine half price at Waterstone's UK)

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Winter hearth

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I am currently enjoying a little creative break. Working up fresh ideas, and plans for new photomontage. I shall also be contributing more works to the Anomalies series, based upon well known paintings (see Whistler's Kitten in the previous post for more details)

I have also been going out a little bit more than usual, catching up with friends, zipping around galleries and enjoying the occasional gig. Winter is when I will generally wake up and come back to life - I shall prepare to hibernate once again at the onset of spring;)

Next week, I plan to visit the Angels of Anarchy exhibition at the Manchester Art Gallery: this one is quite important to me, for it features works from the likes of Frida Kahlo, Francesca Woodman and (oh god I can hardly believe it) Dorothea Tanning.....

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Before I go, I should also like to remind would-be customers to check out the seasonal shipping deadlines over at the Art&Ghosts shop. The 10th of December being the ultimate date to ensure the possibility of xmas arrivals. 

Back soon!

♥