Comic Con Glasgow 2015

No work in progress this week, as I spent the weekend at Glasgow Comic Con then had to do much more boring things the rest of the week.

P Last year was the first year I went to this comic con and I enjoyed myself tremendously, talked to loads of people (friends and strangers), drank wine, and bought comics.

So this year I did it all again, only with a mission to spend some money, get some new inspiration as well as previous favourites.

From the bottom up, I got (for free) Alan Grant and Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips's Criminal: The Last of the Innocent - I got a drawing from Sean which is lovely, and it was fascinating to watch him do it - both similar and different from what I do. Looking at his webpage he does paintings as well as illustrations/comics - there is a blog, which looks fascinating (a few entries down is his reference/art books - what's not to love about that?). If I like this one, I suspect I'll soon be gathering all the rest of his work.

IDP 2043 is a collaborative effort overseen by Denise Mina whom I saw talking about the book with http://hannahberry.co.uk/ at last year's comic con so it was lovely to pick up a copy. It seems to be stuffed full of good writers and artists so should be a treat. Collaboration also produced Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist which is described as a visionary gothic novel and looks beautiful. Both books were from stands held by the publisher's rather than the authors/artists it's nice to see them making the effort. Accent Comics in particular had a lot of very, very tempting books so choosing one was difficult - but I just had to go with the victorian gothic vibe, since that's close to my heart at the moment.

Saga 4 by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples was on my to-buy list, having already got volumes 1-3. And my, they are beautiful - so much so that my friend Fiona was oohing over the book, asking me where she could but the comic with the legless person and tv headed baby. The answer was the Forbidden Planet stall and I was really impressed by the range of titles they had - I have always rather put them down as being very TV and film based. Maybe I'll actually wander in to their store the next time I'm in town.

Tillie Walden's The End Of Summer also comes from a publisher's page and was pretty much chosen becasue it looks beautiful and had a cat on the front cover. Avery Hill Publishing told me it's a first book by a 19 year old, so maybe I'm supporting the next big talent - who knows?

Clare Forrest's Mighty Women Of Science had me sold just at the title - never mind she is a charming illustrator. She was also helping run the drawing room up in the CCA so unfortunately I didn't really get to chat with her much as she was really busy helping all the kids - but most definitely one to look out for in the future.

Dungeon Fun issues 3 and 4 are lying on the top of the pile and were also on my to-buy list - since I missed the party for issue 4 last Thursday. Issues 1 and 2 were random buys for me last year and were utterly charming, so I'm going to re-read them and then finish the tale. Neil Slorance is the illustrator and Colin Bell the writer - both are local lads and £16 for all four copies seems a real steal to me, for the amount of pleasure I'm going to get from these comics.

Tim Bird's Grey Area From The City to The Sea is another impulse purchase from Avery Hill Publishing - it just looks so elegant.

Lastly is The Curse of Barry Starkey by Neill Cameron and Adam Murphy . Adam's Corpse Talk was one of the hits of last years show - so much so, he had sold out on the first day. Because of this he was offering a drawing to everyone who ordered a book - I got mine of Alice Liddel and was very pleased when it was delivered suprisingly promptly. There will be a Cropse Talk 2, but not for another few months sadly.

So, that's my round up. What did you get, what would you recommend?

Flights Of Fancy At Mansfield Park Gallery

Time For Some Fun

Last weekend was a busy one, as the Flights Of Fancy exhibition opened at Mansfield Park Gallery on the sunday and on the saturday I was at the Glasgow Contemporary Art Fair - non stop art!

The afternoon was great fun, long chats with many artists surrounded by beautiful painted birds. If you weren't lucky enough to be there the show is on till the 16th of May and I very much recommend taking the time to go see it - it really is a delightful mix of work by many of the best artists working in the area (and me).

Hanson Street Wasps Open Studios 4th and 5th October

It is Open Studios time of year again and Hanson St will be open for 12 till 5 Saturday the 4th and Sunday the 5th of October.

This year I will have several paintings on show from the recent exhibition as well as drawings and colour studies, so a wide range of sizes and prices.

My studio mates are as always showing terrific stuff - you can see more and keep up to date at Facebook .

WASPS other studios are open on different weekends throughout October - details at WASPS open studios

Painting The Queen

As soon as I knew I was going to have a solo show I asked Moira Buchanan to be the star of the show.

She was the first person ever to be pose for me, back in the days when I didn't know what I doing and needed at least three hours at a time. Since then I have moved into a studio downstairs from hers, making it awfully easy for me to say "There is this idea I've had, would you mind . . . ?". To her ever lasting credit she has been incredibly patient, being willing to lie on the floor with coins in her eyes, have butterflies pinned to her hair and to wear a paper crown, to list just the successful paintings.

This particular painting was an idea I had after I finished The Fool, as I felt every fool needed someone to serve. I also very much wanted a portrait that felt very Moira, with a sense of her mischievousnous. So I was giving myself a bit of a challenge but thankfully everything worked. So much so, in many ways this is the turning point painting of the exhibition, the portrait that made sense of all the rest, to the point I went back and repainted several of them, including The Fool.

So thank you, Moira!

Morandi in Bologna

Last Thursday we went to Bologna - and it took five hours.

But was most definitely worth it. And I got to share the bus with Sharon and her group as well as being able to watch the lovely Tuscany landscape, so it wasn't all bad.

Once there, we went to MAMBO , which was mainly full of all the sort of stuff you see in GOMA - what is it with these capital letter acronym places? - but also had a set of rooms set aside just for Morandi. The above is some of my notes from this - fascinating stuff. Lots of ideas to steal for my next still lifes. If you ever get the chance, go. It may change your life . . . or at least your painting.

After that I wandered up to the old town. It was 41C, but all those colonnades made it comfortable even for me. There I went to the Munipical Art Collection which was quite fascinating - there wasn't really any stunning, big name stuff, but instead lots of charming very old altarpieces and icons, very competent portraits and a lovely little room at the end, painted to be like standing in the middle of a particularly well looked after wood. There is also an art gallery, but sadly I was running out of time (or so I thought) so went back to the meeting place, drank wine and chatted about the Slade School with a charming gent who knew Coldstream and Uglow amongst others. Its a hard life . . .

JSS in Civita Residency

As you may have gathered by now, I'm off to Italy.

This is for a residency for two weeks with The Jerusalem Studio School , or JSS for short. They have been going there every summer for quite a while as Israel Hershberg who runs the school felt that his students needed more access to some of the masterpieces of western art - an awful lot of which hang out in Italy. For the last few years the school has settled on Civita Castellana , a town an hour or so north of Rome and not far from the road to Florence. Naples, Sienna, Bologna, Arrezo, San Seplochro and Urbino are also all on the excursion list - the two planned trips when I am there are Florence and Bologna.

This is the first year there has been residents - and the first year Terrano Studio Center has been open. So its quite an honour for me - especially as one of my co-residents is the amazing David Kassan who has been busy wetting my appetite over the last few weeks with his postings on facebook.

Also there will be students and teachers of the masterclass and also there are the students of the affiliate group run by Sharon Sandberg who is an american painter of lovely, calm still lifes. So, plenty folks - all of whom are representational painters. I'm guessing most will be oil painters like myself and most will be concentrating on landscape (also like myself!). This will be a first for me - even in life drawing there tends to be few oil painters - and I am really looking forward to talking to everyone else and seeing how they work. Lets just hope I don't spend so much time gassing I don't actually do any painting!

The Commercial Galleries of Paris

No pictures today, as I am not quite sure of the morality or legality of sharing contemporary work.

Anyway, I had heard that Paris was only good for museum type art work, with no current scene to speak of. So I wasn't hoping for much.

But I had read that Galerie Claude Bernard would be having a show of Giacometti's drawings so I thought I'd have a wander along.

And I'm so glad I did. There are a plethora of galleries within about 5 minutes walk of each other and as they all are clearly visible from the street it is very easy to decide which ones to inspect further. This particular gallery has shown a stunning range of artists in the past - check out the list of previous shows on their webpage.

The Giacometti drawings were in some respects a disappointment, but in an odd way also encouraging - it's always nice to be reminded that the works that end up in museums are the distillation of gazillions of not-quite-as-good work.

Galerie Bayart was showing Christoff Debusschere's lovely paintings of museum interiors - much nicer in the paint than they seem online - they have an amazing sense of light to them, which just doesn't seem to be captured oline. This is a theme I have been thinking about so it was nice to come across a kindred soul.

H Craig Hanna at Laurence Esnol Gallery was colourful and lively, with a real mix of media - interesting to see life drawings given the full gallery treatment. Claire Castagnet at La Galerie du Crous de Paris was showing a whole wall of watercolour pigeons. I was very tempted, but decided that one would not be enough!

Another surprise was the quality of the art magazines - Beaux Arts (especially the special editions), Connaissance des Arts and L'Oeil all stand out, but there were others. Even better, they were not only available in the galleries, but also at the airport and the one kiosk I visited.

Overall, a refreshing change from both the atelier style representational art from America and the ongoing traditions we have here in Britain.

Fernand Pelez - Grimaces et Misere

After the Musee D'Orsay and the Orangerie, I went to the Petit Palais. It is a lovely place, empty apart from me, the guards, and a group of primary school kids (who were being taught about the different supports you can paint on. They were about six years old!). The building itself is lovely, with huge ceiling decorations, a japanese garden and cafe as well as a wide ranging collection of artworks.

It has a fascinating (big) room full of portraits painted around 1900 - the stuff that is generally considered a bit boring, but very inspiring and useful to us painters.

But the highlight for me was the above painting. It stopped me in my tracks. It has been quite while since that has happened - partly as I have read a lot of art books, so most things I have seen before. This I never have.

Nor have I heard of Fernand Pelez and judging by his wikipedia page, few other people have, either. His other couple of paintings on show, although well painted, were not as strong - but I will be looking out for his work again.

(Have a look at the google images here for some more close-up looks. Totally worth it.

"

The Orangerie and the Waterlilies

After the Musee D'Orsay, I went to the Orangerie, where I sat with Monet's Waterlilies for quite some time.

While there, I thought of death and war.

This may seem odd, but I have developed something of an obsession with Monet over the last year, since I have started painting landscapes myself. So I know a little of the history of these paintings and that they were installed in 1922. They were donated by Monet as a monument to World War 1.

They are both incredibly sad and joyful. Life goes on. This too shall pass. Light and darkness co-exist. The willows weep, the clouds pass, the lilies float.

All created by a man in his 80's.

In Praise Of Lautrec's Bed

This is Henri Toulouse-Lautrec's "In Bed", as the Musee D'Orsay calls it.

Since I first saw it (at around 14) this has easily been one of my favourite artworks. Well into the top five. So I went and paid my respects, much as I do to the Botticelli Mars and Venus every time I am in London.

Being in love with a painting is as mysterious as love of anything else, but I will have a go at explaining why I think this is so great.

Firstly, it is fresh in technique, composition and subject matter. Previously I have said that I think originality in painting is over-rated, but a new vision has a place - Lautrec painted what he saw around him (like the Impressionists before him) but the world he created for himself had not been considered a fit subject for painting before. This world has been a favourite of teenagers (who identify with those on the outskirts of society) ever since.

His compositions and colours are unlike those of official art and work hard at looking careless and unposed - a stratagem that is aided, oddly, by the artificial poses that his performers like to strike. This one, however, comes across as a snap-shot - despite taking half an hour minimum to paint (and likely much, much longer) as well s working in various compositional techniques, such as the placement of the center of interest. Much of it is very sketchy - but like all truly great works, nothing could be added or subtracted without lessening the work.

It is nothing less than a painting of love - any two people who have this kind of connection are among the blessed. Here is sex, trust, honesty, familiarity, warmth, joy - all from one and a bit faces and a crumpled bed!

There is ambiguity, too - are they two women, two men, one of each? I don't care and do not think it matters.

Timeless Figurative Oils

Saturday was a good day - my husband brought me tea in bed then went out and got the shopping. I was still loafing around when he got back with the paper . . . and I was in it!

Like many glasgwegians, I am a long-term reader of the Herald and always read the visual arts section before anything else.

So I was delighted that Jan Patience has written a lovely wee article about our show.

The bit about me reads "while Gardiner's timeless figurative oils mix contemporary with traditional." Not bad for my first press-cutting!

Before The Show - Glasgow Art Club Winner's 2012

James Fraser's "Prezy Posy and Pot" along with my "Leaving" - I loved his work, and was considering fitted one under my coat before I left!

"In A Green Place" along with June Carey's "I sent a letter to my love" and Irene Blair's "On A Sunday Afternoon"

My "Skulls" and James McNaught's "The Return of Esmeralda"

Jane Carey's "Written in the stars", Elaine Speirs "Siblings" and my "View from the 11th floor"

Glasgow Art Club Award Winner Show 2012

Just a wee reminder that the opening is tomorrow.

The show looks great, with work from Irene Blair, Donna Briggs, Cara Broadley, June Carey, James Fraser , Fran Hanley, John Kingsley, Sheila MacMillan, James McNaught, Elaine Speirs and Euan McGregor

There will be wine at 3pm and a wee speech from Natasha Raskin.

If you can't come along tomorrow, the show will be on until the 5th January - opening hours and some photographs of the work can be seen at the art club webpage

See you all soon!

Yellow Roses Painting

This is going to be a busy weekend, with not one, but three openings!

The first, on Friday night from 5 til 8, is at Art Exposure, where the above painting will be, along with a couple of small portrait paintings based on New York people. Most of the rest of the show will be small works under a hundred quid so should be quite inteseting. And, of course, the wine, canapes and chat is always good. There is a big, comfy sofa . . . .

On the same night is Virginia Gallery's christmas show. Being a little different, they have gone for a white theme - and I suspect at least a few of the works will be a little naughty. They also promise snow. Hopefully Jon Snow. I would like that.

The next day it is on to the RGI Kelly Gallery for their postcard exhibition - this year there will be small 5x7 inch works unframed for £250 as well as works up to 60cm in diameter. Promises to be very varied - my two little ones are both oils, one a painting done in the life room, the other a small landscape which is part of a new series that I am working on at the moment.

The big brother of the little landscape will be at the Glasgow Art Club Winner's Show from the 8th December - more on that later on!

The Little Mermaid and The Frick

Also recently finished (maybe) is this one, which has also gone through many stages since it was begun back in Vytlacil. She is based on photographs I took of what appeared to be a model shoot at the Staten Island Ferry terminal. There was something about the light that was just magical as well, of course, of all the effort that had clearly been put into her clothes, make-up and so on.

Later that day I visited the Frick, which I heartily recommend for anyone interested in paintings of people. They have an amazing collection of first class paintings that span from Holbein's Thomas Cromwell to fine Degas , hitting various high points along the way. Almost all of the paintings are not only by great painters but are among the best of their works - the Raeburn's , for example, are top notch, which is quite impressive. Having such great works in close proximity makes it very easy to compare and contrast and try to have deep thoughts. There isn't the scope of the Metropolitan, especially as almost all paintings are portraits. This is, of course, also a strength.

So, after seeing all these three-quarter length portraits I wanted to have a go myself - and this is the result. She started out much darker but seemed to become more mermaid-like as she progressed. I had gone on the ferry as I was missing the water (having grown up by the seaside and having a view of the Kelvin from my front window) and every time I started painting it took me back to the pleasure of the ride, the mystery of the sea and rivers, and the unfathomableness of what goes on behind another person's eyes.

Ribera's Hands at the Brooklyn Museum

One friday I went paddling up the beach from Coney Island to Brighton Beach, ate some fab russian pastries then took the train back to Brooklyn Museum.

Despite a woefully rubbish cafe, I enjoyed my visit here, although I didn't bother with any of the trendy, modern stuff. Instead I spent ages looking at second rate paintings, with a few first class paintings thrown in. At my stage of learning this can be very useful - they are, of course, still way beyond me, but tend to show the workings and give me use-able ideas. Masterpieces are great to look at, very inspiring, but often difficult to assess for help in how to paint. It can be hard to use the critical mind when your jaw is hitting the floor . . .

These photo's are of Ribera's painting of St Joseph of the Flowering Rod. Seeing these hands were a jaw-dropping moment, although I can't saw I am too keen on the whole thing - Ribera for me is a first class painter but his subject matter can make him a little hard to love. But look at these hands.

I'd hoped that the photo's might help me show how to paint skin better, but I think that they are just going to be reminders of how important hands can be, and of how much distance there is between my paintings and a class act such as Ribera.

Patricia Watwood and Friends

Way back again to the start of my trip, I went to a talk organized by Patricia Watwood at the Forbes Galleries.

The talk was a panel discussion between Patricia, Nelson Shanks, Sabin Howard and Peter Trippi . I had a nice seat near the front and after a while began sketching. Sitting still for more than half an hour is a real trial . . . Obviously, they kept moving, Peter Trippi at the end in particular - while the others tended to go back to the same pose, he was always different. And the hands! They were absolutely fabulous, never stopping, very expressive - even when not talking. Odd that he was the one non-artist in the panel. He saw the sketch later (a very approachable chap) and didn't seem to disapprove too much.

It was Nelson Shanks (the first face in my sketch) whose viewpoint I understood most - he talked very much of the joy of painting what is in front of you and how expressive that can be, and how there will never be an end to the subjects to be painted. The others were more political and a lot of it went over my head - especially as I had not yet realised how very little representational art there is in NYC. It was a bit of a shock to me that my kind of art is seen by some as very old fashioned. But at the end of the day, does it matter? Only in the sense that the audience for my work may be smaller than I'd wish

Anyway, I got to meet Daniel Maidman, who introduced me to Joe Ongie (who is a big Raeburn fan), Nelson, Patricia and Peter, Karen Kaapcke (another great painter) and various other interesting folks. Wine was drunk, the party moved to the Salmagundi Club (which had a startling range of representational art on show, from the brilliant to the embarrassingly bad) and there was much talk of art amongst other things.

In the perfect world there would be many such meetings and we would all be better artists for them - it is hard to quantify how much talk enriches, but I have no doubt it does. Otherwise I wouldn't be blogging - so please comment, folks!

Peter Cox Workshop

To go back, my first week in New York was attending a Masterclass taught by Peter Cox. This was very hard work for me, for several reasons - firstly, I am not a good pupil, hate group situations and classes, as generally feel quite self conscious . Much rather have a book to read. Part of this is that I miss a lot, having problems hearing . Art classes are particularly difficult, as often the teacher is painting and I therefore have a choice between watching their face or their hands/the painting. Difficult - and why I avoid them. Being unfamiliar with workshops in general also made me more awkward, never mind getting used to a new city and a new culture. The dodgy shoulder meant I ended up sitting on the floor, which naturally limited my choices regarding composition and probably irritated everyone else. Getting in from Sparkill by the half seven bus was a trial, and meant missing the first 15 minutes of the class.

To continue with my woes, the materials list sent out (contact me if you want a copy) was huge. At least twice what I normally use - and that was just the "essential paints". Most of my first couple of days was spent finding the right shops and trying to figure out what I needed - so much was in another language (fl oz? turpenoid? coffee can?). And then once the class begun, we only used six colours. Bah. Much of the discussion was around anatomy (the workshop was meant to be on painting clothing. Peter's point was that fabric hangs and moves according to the underlying bony landmarks. These need to made obvious in the painting if it is to appear solid). Not what I was expecting - so as you can see, I got sketching to fill the time. The second drawing was from before he made his point regarding fabric, bony landmarks, and folds.

The first sketch was of the lovely model's head (She was really great), along with notes as to how he recommends laying out the palette - as you probably cannot see, he recommends putting white in the middle, paints at the outside, and premixing strings from red umber, red umber and cadmium red, burnt umber and ultramarine, yellow ochre or raw sienna. These can then be mixed with the adjacent strings, so the yellow ochre with the red umber/cad mix and the b.umber/ultramarine with the red umber. Not something I have continued with, but I have continued using a larger pallete, and premixing a much bigger range of tones and colours - and ensuring the whole thing hangs together before painting.

So, in summary, I hated almost all of it, and ended up with another ugly painting. But something at some point clicked and I now feel I have the basics so I will be able to paint anything I choose. There is a whole world out there . . . . Peter and his model were lovely people (even got a gift of a coffee can from them!) and the other students helpful. Much thanks to the lady who explained that half and half was not semi-skimmed milk, and to Elsa, who as a fellow european could actually tell when I was joking.

28 Drawings Later - The Party

And to end it all, there was a party!
This drawing is from before people arrived, after all the helper monkeys had plastered the walls with reproductions of everyone's work - there was so much great work that I didn't remember seeing. Upstairs we had space to hang the originals - this was fab as we got to meet each other in real life - it is always great to actually talk to people you've only met online and to see there work in reality - it is always so much better!
Now it's all over it seems an appropriate time to write about my favourites of the year - like Fiona Wilson and her absolutely amazing sketchbook from Argentina (mega inspiring) or Donna Nicholson-Arnott's delicate line drawings, or Neil McChrystal and of course Victoria Evans our very hard working organiser who stunned us all with her great portraits this year (and her even more stunning sketchbooks!) - she is now accepting commisions for drawings at an unbelievably low price - a bargain not to be missed if you are in the Glasgow area. Joe Hendry stunned everyone with his graphite drawingsthis year, and even Frank To managed a couple of drawings. Moira Buchanan showed lots of lovely studies (especially liked the apples) as well as appearing in one of my drawings. Penny didn't do any drawings that she was willing to share but was the subject of at least 2 artists work as well as mine.
Above are all folks I know, so the following is a list of those that stood out - Graeme McNee's series of lost friends was charming - I hope he met up with a least one of these people. June Russell's work was as stunning this year as last and it was a real pleasure to meet her. She was probably the furthest travelled artist and I hoped she enjoyed her stay in Glasgow. Another returner from last year was the Cameron family - just brilliant. And Holgar's number series was tremendous - and very original. Also enjoyed Eileen Shona's work and Drew Johnson's bananas. Lin Chau was another I was pleased to meet, as I was the very imaginative John Grieve .
Oooof I'm running out of energy and I know I'll have missed several brilliant people off the list - this year it was so big it was hard to keep track of everyone. Looking back there are so many drawings it is next to impossible to look at them all. Still, I will try and come back here and post o few more later.