November to January 2021

During November I was asked if I’d have a go at creating two boxes for an Advent Calendar – with a difference! The Greening the Earth Gallery in Wincanton planned to install a window display of 24 decorated wine crates to be opened daily during December.

‘Leaf Litter’ for wine crate Advent Calendar 2020
‘White Christmas’ for wine crate Advent Calendar 2020

I enjoyed decorating the crates using a lot of rubbish that I would normally throw away or put out for re-cycling. Next year they will be re-used for a new theme.

At the end of November I took my first online workshop for the Petersfield Arts & Craft Art Society in oil pastels. It was a good experience, and was appreciated by the members, with helpful support from the organisers.

In December I gave a talk online on Colour Theory to the Leighton Buzzard Art Society. The group liked the talk on the basics through to colour contrasts, touching on the effects of the light. A late evening sun bathes a landscape in a warm light, so different from the cool misty morning light particularly in the winter.

During December three of my paintings were part of the Bath Online exhibition in aid of Children’s Hospice South West run by ArtGallerySW.

‘Bolter’s Bridge’, acrylic ink on board

One of a series of four pack-horse bridge paintings: Bolter’s Bridge is an ancient bridge in the Somerset hamlet of Hornblotton, (horn-blowing), where travellers were warned if the river was too high to cross the bridge safely. It is still used by riders, on the 625 mile Monarch’s Way, a path closely following the escape route taken by Charles 1. I liked the way the paving stones were laid to follow the bend in the old drover’s route.

2018, 43 x 36cms in a dark wood tray frame

£515

Nativity figures

For a bit of creative fun, I made a set of nativity figures for a friend out of bits of loo roll (of course), foam and scraps of material.

I finally finished the next painted tapestry painting for my mother to stitch. It is based on the Aesop’s Fable, The Stag at the Pool.

Meanwhile, keeping up to date in the January Somerset Life magazine, an article by ArtGallerySW features a group of artists including myself.

My next online workshop, ‘Aspects of Colour Theory’ will be for the Frome Art Society at the end of January.

And so, time to do my accounts so I can return to the studio to work on two unfinished paintings…