Review 2014

The Kitten

This time last year I wrote about being very excited about the year to come as I felt I had discovered what my paintings should be about. I finished the post with "So, this year the aim is to put together a body of work of which I am proud, dealing with how people present themselves." And have I achieved this? Yes.

I am proud of my solo show in August and although I still have a lot of work to do in exploring how we tell stories about ourselves visually I do feel I've made a decent beginning. Thankfully, buyers do seem to agree with me, as almost half of the works from the show have now sold.

Which is terribly encouraging - all the paintings were bigger than I had tried before, and two of them were 3 x 4 ft - so I was working on quite a different scale from previously. Big canvases are clearly in my future.

This was my first solo show, so I had an awful lot to learn, not least how to create a group of work that hangs well together and making sure the paintings were done on time. Through doing this I learnt a process that works well for me where I draw the proposed painting on a smaller scale. On some occasions I also did a colour study to try out options or to see if a bigger version will be possible. Which is very traditional but in my case updated with the use of digital camera - if considering a change if tone or colour I would play around on the computer. But sometimes there is no alternative to doing it in oils.

What else was new? Well, several of the people I painted were folk I had never met before but had volunteered - I was nervous that I couldn't paint someone whom I didn't already know, but fortunately it worked out well which hopefully means that my first commissioned portrait to be done soon will not be a problem.

What else happened this year? Several new galleries have been in touch with me, so I will be showing at various new places next year, which is quite exciting.

So I had quite a good year, unlike Glasgow in general, which suffered greatly in various ways. But onwards and upwards.

RGI Postcard Exhibition

Two Forks

A couple of weeks ago I listed the christmas shows that'll have my work in this december - but I forgot one - the RGI Kelly Gallery Christmas exhibition .
As I was included in the last RGI show, they've asked me to put in a postcard sized work - The Two Forks, above, for sale unframed at £250 along with everyone else's small works. The private view will be next friday (the 5th) from 5 til 7 - the chances of picking up a bargain are fairly high, so I'm disappointed I'll probably miss it - maybe next year I'll declare the last week of november/first of december a holiday and just float around all the openings without having to worry about getting some stuff done - might be fun!

Christmas Shows 2014

Fourteen of my paintings have been delivered to four galleries in preparation for their Christmas shows.
First up is Mansfield Park Gallery, who will be having a changing show, as buyers will be able to take their paintings with them, rather than waiting for the show to end - my contribution is two paintings of tea-cakes as well as one of a magic wand and a tiny 10 cm painting.
Leiper Fine Art have also started hanging their Christmas show but won't be having the opening until the 4th. It will be my first time showing with them - although not the first time at one of their openings - and it will be interesting to see The Beauty and The Innocent in among other painter's work.
Art Exposure Gallery is now on Great Western Road, a couple of doors down from Dominoes and across from the underground, and will be having their opening on Friday the 28th. They will have the upstairs area all finished by then so I expect it will be a great night to see a good range of work - along with Peek-a-boo (above), The Crest , Metamorphosis and two of the clown drawings.
Finally there is The Glasgow Art Club with their exhibition open to the general public from the 24 th. This one is particularly not to be missed, as it includes work from past as well as present members so provides a bit of a survey of painting in Glasgow since it opened - there is a watercolour painting of roses by Mackintosh, an oil by his teacher Fra Newbery, a couple of Muirhead Bone's prints, several luscious David Donaldsons and John Cunningham's fab Garden Festival painting, for example. Hanging the show, getting a close up look at these, was a real pleasure, and I do feel honoured to be hanging on the same walls as them - The Fool and the The Queen are both near the bar, while The Fall is in the newly restored big hall.
See you there?

Drawing Tank Girl, Mew Ichigo and a Skyrim Warrior

Painting people has made me think a lot about how we present ourselves using clothing, hairstyles, make up and so on. Therefore when I went along to the Glasgow comic con in July I was fascinated by all the cosplayers - it was amazing to see how far appearance could be pushed and fascinating to see 2d images like Harlequin come to life.

So I thought of them when I decided that going back to basics by spending some time drawing.

There are a few compositional things I'd like to explore, tonal stuff to work out, and some basically just messing about to see what happens - this is much easier and quicker with drawing than painting. For example, with the Mew Ichigo drawing I was thinking about telling the story more with the white than the black. The Skyrim drawing explores vagueness versus sharp line whereas Tank Girl was my first drawing on white for many years - much harder to get the tonal balance right.

Anyway, these drawings and others will be for sale at Hanson St Open Studios, 4th and 5th October - come along and tell me what you think.

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

Erm. Ooops.

Earlier in the week I said that I'd be showing The Coins at Glasgow Art Club's Autumn show.

But unfortunately I missed the deadline for entering the painting - my only excuse being that everyone has daft days and that yesterday was had more distractions than usual.

So, no painting in the show and I won't be going along to the opening. If any of you were planning on going, please do so, there is always a lovely variety of work, just not mine this time.

And the painting will be on show at the Open Studios, 4th and 5th of October. See you there!

Glasgow Art Club Autumn Show 2014

The show at Mansfield Park Gallery is over and some of the paintings have come back to me, to be sent out to new places.

The first of these new places is the Glasgow Art Club Autumn show, opening this Saturday afternoon and the painting I'm sending is The Coins. The rest will stay with me for the time being.

If you want to come along and see how my painting looks in amongst other works from the Art Club members either let me know or just come along between 3 and 5 on Saturday. Otherwise the place is open most days and the show will be on for around a month.

Last Chance To See The Performance

The Reader was the last painting in the show to be finished, but in many ways is my favourite as there is more of me in her than any of the others - always reading, always dreaming.

What I'm dreaming about now is drawing, new paintings, developing some of the themes that have arisen during making this show - it is time for me to take stock and move on. The show closes Sunday afternoon and I get some of the paintings back next week - but they will never all be together again. But some of them will be mixing with other paintings by other artists in new shows, which is quite exciting.

As for what book she is holding? I left it blank in the painting but in reality it was Alice In Wonderland.

The White Witch

The White Witch was the very first painting painted for the show, after Fran was nice enough to pose for me. She also worked as a sounding board for all the ideas I had and in many ways I felt as if the portrait was keeping an eye on us the whole time, making sure I was at least trying to do all the things I said I wanted to do.

She also brought a fair bit of her own taxidermy with her, but sadly I have not yet been able to incorporate any of them - except this little mouse.

But the show finishes this Sunday so sadly The White Witch won't have her little group of unruly women to watch over much longer, as they all go their separate ways.

Mansfield Park Gallery -

A few folk have asked me about shots of the paintings hung in the gallery - so here they are.

Falling In Hyndland

Today I went back to Mansfield Park Gallery and found that The Fall had been put in the window.

So now she can look out onto Hyndland Road. Before I've always though of her falling backwards down through the air or maybe the sea and indeed the reflections add to the feeling she is under water but for the first time it has occurred to me that rather than falling down she may be falling up.

Whichever direction she is going in though I feel she's not quite sure but she is resolute and she will make a go of it wherever she ends up.

Superwoman and The Teenager

The Superwoman came first and was a joy to paint - the model hand such capable hands I really felt it was important to paint them, along with the wedding ring and the very practical jeans.

Later I noticed that another model was standing in a very similar pose, but communicating defiance and uncertainty rather than capability and confidence. It seemed natural to explore the differences through colour, with a orange/green rather than blue/yellow pairing, as well as making the second painting much darker overall.

It has occurred to me that this particular stance may be much more common to women than men - I've certainly been both at some point - what do you folks think? And do you prefer one painting to the other?

Performance - Jane Gardiner's Solo Show

Today I am recovering after the day before, as yesterday was the private viewing of my first ever solo show, at Mansfield Park Gallery. . If you missed it, the paintings will be there for another three weeks.

And I am knackered, both from the drink, the talk and the relief of my part being done.

So I'm having a couple of days off, today drinking tea, lounging with the cat, thinking of all the lovely things people said about my paintings yesterday and maybe drawing the flowers that Fran Hanley gave me later.

Tomorow I go to Edinburgh for the festival and to see what artists are up to over there - particularly looking forward to John Byrne's two exhibitions.

But I thought that now would be a good time to remind folks of where you can find me elsewherre on the internet.

At facebook I am Glasgow Painter , Jane Gardiner is the webpage, with a listing of exhibitions, a bio, and a link to my mailing list as well as my email address. Flickr is mainly paintings and I'm not around there as much as I used to be. Pinterest is full of ideas but I know some people worry about how easy it is to share pictures and that attribution can be lost. Finally, there is twitter.

The Romantic

This lady I had hoped to have on the card for the show, but unfortunately she took too long to paint and then caused the poor photographer no end of trouble. Still, here she is now.

She is another big painting at four feet high. If I hadn't been doing the show and trying to make sure I filled the walls I'm not sure I would ever have attempted anything like this - but I'm so glad I did. There is just so much more you can do with more space, with including clothing and hands and little hearts and wild hair, that you just can't do with closely cropped head and shoulders.

Maybe there is a fair bit of romantic in me, too - I'm certainly looking forward to the future, meeting you folks at the opening, just as she is looking towards whatever is next - although we do both have a fair bit of trepidation.

The Classic

Another painting from the show, another back view, another beautiful lady.

This time I very much wanted to contrast the warm colours of her skin and the background with the cool, reserved pose. The most detail in the painting is in the ear, an area of the body that is entirely receptive and very individual. It was this balance between control/lack of control, natural/done, warm/cool that I found fascinating. Her hair and make-up is very classic, hence the name of the painting, and of course bare skin is the most classical garment of all - especially when worn with poise.

The Clown Princess

The Turn was interesting to paint - not least because it is my biggest painting so far, and the only whole body one - but didn't explore the challenge Donna had set me by wearing whiteface to the modelling session.

This particular pose stood out for me as she looked so regal - almost like Queen Elizabeth the First - despite wearing clowns make up. While she was there we did talk about how the same piece of clothing has different meanings and associations depending on what the are combined with, and one of the things I like about Donna's costume is that each individual item has so many possible associations - the tiara is mine, from my wedding, but is very similar to what debutantes would have worn, as well as the plastic variety each little princess has somewhere. The white make-up has a long association with clownery, but originally was used by court ladies (and some men). Ruffs have also a long tradition, especially in art, that they really deserve their own post. Kohl is of course as old as the hills . . . whereas denim is relatively new but has gathered many associations. Dungarees are workwear, but are also often worn by young children - like those in E.T. Oh, and stripey tops do also have a tradition all of their own.

And those are just some of the more obvious clues - I'm sure each of you will think of your own associations.

Altogether, along with Donna's marvelous eyes and hint of a smile, you get a clown that is ready to rule.

Skin Tones Palette

A couple of days ago I had a terrific lunch at Once Upon A Tart with the very talented Cate Iglis - I had the Victoria Sponge, much recommended. Anyway, we talked of many things, including what colours I used - Cate had thought that I might use similar colours to her, as I use greys in a similar way. As it turns out, I don't, and as I struggled a bit in explaining what I do use, I thought I'd write it all down.

The photo above is from this afternoon, at the end of play. Normally it would be a lot messier as this was really a tweaking rather than a laying down large areas of paint day. You can still see the threads I lay out initially - unusual!

At the top is my greys, mixed from Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna, both W+N artist's oils. Today the mix was more brown than grey, it changes every time. The advantage of this, rather than pre-mixed grey or raw umber is that I can change the temperature fairly easily and that the darks are pretty transparent. Both Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna get used independently, especially the Sienna for hair. White, of course, adds opaqueness, the degree depending on which white (titanium or lead) I am using.

Next is an Old Holland colour, Italian Earth, which is basically a less greenish yellow ochre. As you can see, it is a mid tone out of the tube and I progressively lighten it to a tone a couple of stops darker than white. Generally if I need a lighter colour, I need very little and can therefore mix as I go.

Next to my yellow (which is easily the most used colour, especially for light tones) is Vasari's Scarlet Sienna - a lovely warm earth red, that gives both great peach tones and deep reds.

All the other colours change depending on the painting, but most have had Mars Violet, a convincing deep purple out of the tube that lightens to a nice lilac colour - I use this a lot in backgrounds and in the darks and it is very useful in cooling/dulling warmer, brighter reds.

Next is Cadmium Red, a little of which goes a very long way but I really, really hope I will be able to continue to buy this - although I suspect the tube I have may well last a decade or so!

Finally today I have some Michael Harding's Kings Blue Deep, as I was using this in the clothes and background - most of my paintings have one or two guest colours and this is one of the commonest ones. Vasari's Video Blue Pale and Cadmium Yellow have also put in appearances on more than one occasion, as has a blue-red, can't remember which one.

So, that's what I've used for the last six months, working on the show. Next maybe is some still lifes, so I will be breaking out some quite different colours. Or maybe not - we'll see!

Metamorphosis

Everyone loves butterflies, don't they? Caterpillars not so much.

Which is clearly a wee bit of a shame, as most of us spend an awful lot of time as caterpillars, struggling to grow and change into something beautiful.

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!

Hearing Loss And The Artist

This post is a wee reminder to folks that I am a wee bit deaf. By which I mean, of course, profoundly deaf in my right ear and moderately deaf in the left.

Most of the time as an oil painter this is not a problem, indeed can count as a blessing - I don't notice traffic noise and people in other studios being very loud doesn't bother me. When I have someone modelling for me there is little background noise and I can lip read easily so again it doesn't tend to be an issue. Also I rely on body language much more than most, which must help in portraiture.

Openings and (even worse) dinners are another matter.

To recap a little, I have mainly a conductive deafness that I have had since being a toddler. This is different from most peoples deafness - which tends to be sensorineural, comes on much later in life and mainly affects higher pitched noises.

Because I lost most of my hearing on one side when I was very young I find wearing my hearing aid difficult - I am so used to sound coming from the left that I find hearing stuff on the right disorienting. Unfortunately the sound I do get from the aid is not actually enough to understand speech - just enough to be aware that someone is speaking. It also tends to rub, leading to infections. Bah. However, at openings I do try and remember to wear it, because it does seem to be common for people to start talking to you before you can see them and without the aid I am quite likely to entirely unaware that someone is speaking to me. I'm sure I've probably lost many potential friends over the years through perceived rudeness. But if I cannot see your face directly I am unlikely to be able to hear you.

Background noise makes life more difficult as well. If we are in a crowded, noisy space and you are trying to tell me someone's name, especially an unusual one, forget it - what noises I can hear and lip read relatively easy are vowels - consonants are much harder to distinguish. This is one reason I often have a notebook with me and may ask you to write a name or word down - this is much quicker, often, so please be patient.

What else? Dinners - urgh! If you are on my right hand side, you'll notice that I virtually turn round in my seat to talk to you, as I try and get the good ear closer. But this is tiring so I may well end up just talking to the person on my left - much easier. As for those across the table, no way. Just too far away. Which means, of course, that generally at dinner parties I talk to one person all night. Great when it is my husband, but then, why be at a dinner at all?

Towards the end of the night I'll often be tired and prefer to talk to long term friends - this is easier for me as making sense out of the noises I hear is simpler and less exhausting when I am familiar with their turns of speech and body language. So please don't be offended if I don't want to party the night away - maybe next time.

If you are at all interested in reading more (and do remember my kind of hearing loss is unusual, if you know someone bit deaf, the best thing is to ask them what is best for them.) then the Action on Hearing Loss website is generally useful with lots of information on how to communicate, different types of hearing loss and so on - there is even a test to see if you need a hearing aid yourself. If you know any other good webpages, bloggers etc on the subject, please let me know.

The Turn

As some of you will know by now, the date has been set for my solo show at Mansfield Park Gallery . It opens after the private viewing on the 26th of August and will be open for three weeks - if you want to come along to the opening, email me at jane@janegardiner.co.uk. The gallery is now much further up Hyndland Road, being next to Peckhams and near the junction with Clarence Drive - so lots of good eateries and bars nearby and in one of the parts of Glasgow I remember from when I was very very little.

In this wee bit of Hyndland not much has changed in the thirty or so years since - new openings in the area is rare, so I am very honoured to be the first solo show the gallery is holding in the new premises - when I was there the place looked smashing so I am very confidant that the owner make my work look it's best.

One of the works will be The Turn, pictured above, which is my biggest painting so far. It should be a good size for the window so hopefully the denizens of Hyndland shan't disrupt her dream of reason.

There is also a portrait of Donna, The Clown Princess, which I will show later on when I have a good photograph to show you - the above painting was photographed by the very talented Ian Marshall . All my paintings from now own will be photographed by him, unless I specifically mention I did it myself (in which case it is likely to be a wip or just a duff photograph!).

Giving It Laldy - Glasgow Art Club Summer Show

The Glasgow Art Club Summer Show opens on the 29th and I'm planning on putting a couple of things in this time as I missed the spring show, being busy preparing the solo show (upcoming in August, so not long now!).

Since starting (back in February) to draw in preparation for painting I have got really quite into it, now using charcoal and chalk rather than graphite and watercolour. The new materials give me more scope for tonal changes and feel closer to my painting procedure - and I think make better drawings. The paper I seem to be settling on is mi-teintes touch - although the biggest size seems to be 50x70cm, which might not be big enough for some stuff. The colours are nice though and I have high hopes for them being lightfast. There is a bit of paper sitting on the windowsill presently as a test - we'll see be christmas!

Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to see this drawing in among other more formal art works at the show and see what kind of response it gets, especially as how people present themselves is becoming one of my main themes. My model was the lovely Moira Buchanan , who does feature in quite a few of my works - it is great to have someone willing to mess about, use her imagination and push a few boundaries of how a proper young lady is meant to look.

Edinburgh Drawing School Gallery

Last week a lovely lady came to see my studio and took five paintings back to Edinburgh. She was from the EDS Gallery and it is the first time I have shown in Edinburgh.

But already they have been photographed and added to her web site where there is a wee blurb with photographs - she does seem to be a very organized lady, I'm very impressed.

(Almost) Finished

These are the paintings for my solo show in August. The date has been set back, which is great as it means I have a bit more time to get everything as perfect as possible.

In this painting you can see the rogue's gallery of studies - a new face was added to this last week.

And this is the new couch, looked down at disapprovingly by Super Woman.

The Sleeping Clown up and on the wall - it will be exciting to see her framed, but that is still a while off - varnishing first!.

In Progress

What have I been doing since the end of February?

A bit of painting, that's what - as seen in this youtube video.

Somewhere along the line I had the idea of trying to measure my progress (so I could figure out how long it would take) so started taking a photo at the end of the night.

Unfortunately progress is not quite so easily measured - some days nothing much at all seems to have happened - the days in which the detail is added to the face or hands, for example, whereas on others several paintings can be started or large colour changes take place.

Oh well, never mind. Overall, though, there has been a lot of progress - eight probably finished paintings (the ones near the top), four nearly done and six started but with a fair bit still to do.

Hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll be able to post a finished photograph and then after that an installation view!

Day 28 - All The Work Done For 28 Drawings Later 2014

If you count you will find there are 27 drawings here - all the ones I have posted, in order. Day 12 I posted a photo of the drawings and paintings I had done by that date, and of course today I'm also posting photographs instead of a drawing. Day 23 two drawings were posted although that was not the only day that I did more than one drawing - there have been plenty of maybes and rejects along the way.

I've also been painting. Comparing this to day 12 is a little disappointing - although there are six finished, in comparison with two. But since I can't paint full time yet I've only had six painting days since then it is actually a fair bit of work - especially if you remember that two of those days were spent messing about with lovely model volunteers.

Day 27 - The Ribbon

Almost at the end of the 28 days and I'll miss it.

This drawing summarizes a lot of what I've been doing - meeting lovely new people, working with clothing and different textures, emphasizing expressions and exploring non verbal communication. Oh, and having fun.

Day 26 - The Break

This drawing is titchy, at 12 x 16.5 cm - the painting, however, will be big - at least 48 x 66 inches.

The biggest painting I have finished so far was 16 inches square - so just a little bit terrifying. But I have started painting Peek-A-Boo which is 20 x 40 inches and have ordered the 36 x 48 inches canvas for Resting .

But I really want to do these paintings properly and I can't visualize them much less than life size. The shoulder has not been playing up and I have bought bigger brushes so I feel now is the time to get big. Well, bigger!

Day 25 - The Quill

The last time I was down in London I had a good nosy around Green and Stone Art Materials shop and found this beautiful quill.

I haven't quite found the right occasion to use it yet so currently it is part of the dress up box. It certainly adds a very strong vertical, giving quite a different composition from the other drawings.

Day 24 - The Shy Bunny

One of the props we played around with the other day was this gold rabbit mask.

It reflects light in a similar manner to skin - kinda diffuse - and is a very similar tone, so should make some nice paintings, especially combined with the dark hair and clothes.

Day 23 - Can't Decide

Today I did three drawings, but the third was pretty bad, so shan't share it here.

The other two are fairly similar, so am not sure which I'll paint - any opinions out there?

Day 22 - The Renaissance Lady

Cate Inglis was also kind enough to come and sit for me this week.

In this pose, she has black netting around her but I didn't draw that as the scale is just too titchy and you wouldn't have been able to see her face.

Whether I'll paint this I'm not sure yet, and if I do, whether or not I'll include the netting - it'd be fun to do so but I'm a little scunnered with painting lace at the moment and am not sure I want to do something similar so soon.

It would however be appropriate as Cate's landscapes are concerned with layers and structure and the net would add another layer to what is being depicted as well as reference previous similar paintings.

While she was posing, I was reminded of Leonardo Da Vinci's portraits - in turns out, La Belle Ferroniere , and indeed this is a pretty close mirror image. A good example of how woman's appearance has not changed all that much over the last 500 years or so.

day 21 - Feathers

Today I'm cheating - this drawing I did on the same day as Touch Not The Cat (day 7), but felt wouldn't make quite as good a painting although being a nice drawing, so didn't post it.

But I was out late (for me!) last night so too knackered this morning to draw as normally. Tonight I go out for dinner with the husband and may have a glass of wine or two.

So Feathers it is, done on day 7, shown today. Please forgive me.

day 20 - Double Trouble

This one is an experiment that I don't think will make it to the painting stage.

Partly this is because I have (finally) decided my definite theme, and this doesn't fit, and partly because it just doesn't quite work.

I was hoping to capture the suprise there is between the eyes closed and the eyes open image but don't think I quite succeeded . Oh well, maybe next time.

day 19 - The White King

Yesterday we had the White Queen, today the White King.

I have reversed the image, so the two can talk to each other, but feel the reversed image is a little strange - does it seem that way to those who haven't seen the correct way round?

Mirroring is appropriate in case as the white king is one of the first characters we meet in Through The Looking Glass - a book that has been obsessing me little recently - maybe the next show will be Alice themed?