artblog and online gallery Archives - Page 4 of 4

January 17, 2020September 16, 2020

Mythical Creatures – including Dragons !

Dragons , Monsters and Angels – a Ceramics Exhibition Review

William de Morgan plate in blue and white with Medieval dragon motif , one of the mythical creatures at Cannon Hall — De Morgan dragon plate

We went a couple of times to our local stately home Cannon Hall quite recently to look at the “Mythical Creatures” display, taken from their famous ceramics collection.

The Dragons – Mythical Creatures at Cannon Hall

It was really very impressive. And I felt quite inspired by the fascinating dragon vase and the plate upstairs in the gallery. In fact , they were produced by the famous Victorian designer William de Morgan . He married Evelyn , whose family lived in Cannon Hall. ( She was , of course a famous artist in her own right ). Actually , this particularly caught my eye as it was a medieval depiction of a dragon . As you can see , it looks like a huge worm or serpent, with no wings. So I painted my own version, first in watercolour [ see above] and then acrylic.

I modelled my acrylic painting on this style of imaginary beast – it still took me a while to figure out how to make the body look realistic without the wings.

Some Other Mythical Creatures

Pencil drawing of the head and shoulders of a ceramic statuette of the Greek God Pan — **Pan , the Greek God**

I had a great time sketching the ceramic bust of the Greek god Pan that was also displayed upstairs .Surprisingly ,the porcelain piece was so delicately coloured that the flesh was quite convincing and realistic ! In fact , I really enjoyed the challenge of drawing his crown of leaves, pointed ears and horns too.

Greek style plate in orange and black with angels - one of the photos in my exhibition review. — **Greek style plate with angels**

Black and orange bowl with sphinx motif — **Sphinx Bowl**

Back downstairs, you could see all the mythical creatures you could think of . And a few you never would have thought of . So , there were fairies, gods, dragons, angels, unicorns, sphinxes and other strange hybrids of human and animal origin. To be honest, I was even inspired to paint my own angel this Christmas. To see more angels, look at my December post ‘ Christmas Paintings in Acrylic on Canvas ‘ here

A watercolour sketch of an angel with golden wings , inspired by the images of mythical creatures in the ceramic collection. — **An Angel for Christmas**

This is a real treasure house of plates, sculpture, vases and tableware. So I’m looking forward to the next display that the curators will, no doubt, put together.

A beautifully illustrated page from an old journal with illustrations of mythical creatures — **Imaginary Beasts at Cannon Hall**

Finally , the image above is from a sketchbook kept by one of the residents of Cannon Hall , in the past. As you can tell , the beautiful detail on these imaginary beasts is quite exceptional.

To sum up , there was loads of inspiration for creative work, if only I had the time ! I hope you enjoyed my little exhibition review .

January 6, 2020September 22, 2020

Colourful Painting – Sunshiny Days

A Colourful Painting of a Mediterranean Coastal Scene in Watercolour

This is my latest – a fairly quick watercolour sketch of a harbour scene. Because I was so fed up of all the dark , damp days we were having , I chose something light and sunny to paint. And it really worked ! My mood lifted straight away and , as an added bonus, everyone else who looked at it cheered up too . I really enjoy creating a colourful painting . I don’t know about you , but what I work on always affects my emotions. Art Therapy, anyone ?

An orange and blue abstract composition. — **Sunshiny Day**

Now , this acrylic painting is another example of my colourful painting that I did to brighten up dark November days . But this was put together in a completely different way from the harbour scene which is carefully detailed . To be honest , Sunshiny Day was painted quite instinctively . And I really had no idea before I started whet it would turn out to be . And it evolved gradually. It was a surprise to me , but I liked it ! I must say , I don’t often produce work this way – but I feel a series coming on. Are there any more Abstract Expressionists out there? ( I added the words afterwards to make it into a poster for my current exhibition – see previous post for details )

You can find this abstract painting with a few more in my Gallery Abstracts here

January 4, 2020September 22, 2020

My First Solo Exhibition of Acrylic Paintings

A Walk Round My First Solo Exhibition of Acrylic Paintings

A semi-abstract acrylic painting in red and green showing apples falling from the tree at harvest time. — **Apples Falling**

A photo of plates of biscuits and delicious homemade cakes — **The Refreshments**

Well – we had a blast at the opening of my first solo exhibition this morning at Skelmanthorpe Library Gallery.

Hanging the Exhibition

The curator hanging up my exhibition in gallery style — **Gallery style hanging**

It didn’t take us too long to put the exhibition up yesterday . Really, we were quite well organised and Mike Roberts [organiser and curator] was pretty nifty up and down the ladders.

Update – Spring Blossom in Wales – SOLD !

The Abstract Paintings at my Solo Exhibition

A big bright pink Spiral on a vibrant deep blue background - an abstract in my first solo exhibition . — **The Spiral**

A semi abstracted acrylic of a vase of sweet peas in pink , purple and green .This was the image for the poster of my solo exhibition . — **Sweetpeas**

I was thrilled when Mike invited me to exhibit at this fabulous gallery for the month of January. At last – an exhibition all to myself ! I was also really pleased because Mike had seen my paintings on this new website – so , quick result ! In fact , this gallery is a new idea for the Community Library and it is really well worth supporting. Just remember , the library closes on Tuesday, Saturday afternoon and Sunday.

A semi abstracted composition portraying Jamaica and Reggae music . The best painting in my solo exhibition. — **Reggae Reggae**

I would really like to say a big thank you to all my family and friends for their support this morning. You know , it really means a lot. And it was great showing off my work to you all.

2 acrylic paintings from the Landscape section - Still Standing and Ladybower Reservoir — **Boat People and Hadrian’s Wall**

All for Sale at my Solo Exhibition

The exhibition is open till February 1st.

These are all original artworks , painted in acrylic on paper or canvas, with the occasional watercolour and mixed media piece. And they are all for sale, with prices ranging from £30 – £150 . Please contact me if you are interested. I’m based in the UK.

Do have a look in my gallery to see more of my acrylic paintings. There’s also a more in-depth report on my exhibition in the Exhibition section on the main menu .

I hope you have enjoyed my exhibition review .

The Exhibition Poster

Margaret Hall World of Colour exhibition poster — **A World of Colour**

December 19, 2019August 29, 2020

Christmas Paintings in Acrylic on Canvas

Ideas for Christmas Paintings

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Here are some ideas for Christmas paintings.

Small box canvas Christmas paintings in acrylic- Robin, Christmas tree and snow covered village scenes. — The **box canvas Christmas paintings**

I love this time of year but the downside is not having enough time to paint as well as get the house Christmas ready. Of course you have to buy and wrap the pressies, decorate the tree and so on.

So it’s a good idea to : 1] Paint Christmas paintings and card designs the year before and then have them printed in time to send this year.

A watercolour painting of a boy dragging home this year's Christmas tree in the forest. A forest landscape. — **This year’s tree**

And the second strategy is to recycle artwork from previous years, dust them off and arrange them somewhere different in the house.

Mother and child walking through the snow to the Christmas service at church — **Going to Church**

Last year, I took part in the Angel Festival of Hoylandswaine church with my art group. I must say, the church looked brilliant – full of beautiful angels.

A traditional angel walking down the path from Heaven to Earth . — **Angel of Peace**

Do you know , I got so enthused this year that I arranged an angel painting evening at Barnsley and District Art Society. And it was great fun. See more angels in my January post ‘ Mythical Creatures – Including Dragons ! ‘ here

And I did it all before the festive season to cut down on creative stress.

Merry Christmas everyone!

December 5, 2019August 26, 2020

Bright Nights – Light Installation

Christmas Lights at Barnsley Town Hall 2019

Barnsley Town Hall at night with red, purple and blue light installation - our Christmas lights. — **Moody Blue and Purple**

I went to Barnsley Bright Nights Festival at the weekend . The Christmas lights were very spectacular – there were lots of installations around the Town Hall area. Barnsley Town Hall itself was used for a stunning laser light display, focusing on the windows in this splendid building. My photos don’t really capture the beauty of the changing colours but, even so, they gave me some inspiration for Abstract Art compositions. The two photos above made me want to create a painting based on the idea of extra bright blocks of colour against a jet black background. ( Keep an eye on the Abstract section of my Gallery – you never know what might turn up ! )

The Unknown Soldier against the blood red light — **Blood Red**

The tower of the Town Hall in silver and the Christmas tree in blue at Barnsley Bright Nights . — **Silver, Red and Blue**

The floodlighting of the building in a deep red was particularly effective. The idea of blood dripping down over the scene was quite moving. Especially so as the First World War monument, showing the Unknown Soldier on a tall plinth, was silhouetted against the red.

I think I might combine some of the elements of both of the photos above into one painting. So many ideas, so little time ! But I really ought to get a painting of Bright Nights down on canvas .

The Gaia Installation at Barnsley Bright Nights

A photo of the Earth in the Gaia installation at Barnsley college , taken from the balcony above it. Part of Barnsley Bright Nights . — **The Beautiful World**

The Gaia installation in the Barnsley College was ‘out of this world ‘ if you know what I mean. In fact ,it was suspended in space from the top of the huge atrium. As we walked up the winding staircase, we could see it from all angles. And if that doesn’t convince people of the urgency of our situation, I don’t know what would.

But quite apart from climate change worries, I started thinking about painting an abstract , I was inspired by the beautiful globe of green, blue and quite a lot of brown ( taken from NASA photos ) . I imagined a composition of swirling shapes, wispy clouds and the Deep Blue. Quite a lot of inspiration for one day.

November 24, 2019September 16, 2020

Art Cafe Exhibition of Acrylic Paintings

Acrylic Paintings in an Art Cafe Exhibition in Rotherham

A photo of my oil pastel painting Apples and Fantasy Apples showing bright red apples in the art cafe exhibition . — **Apples and Fantasy Apples**

My acrylic painting Harbour Lights on the wall in the art cafe.A coastal landscape — **Harbour Lights**

This is the first post on my new blog. That is to say , I’m just getting this new blog going. Stay tuned for more. Meanwhile , this is my Art cafe exhibition !

When I was in Rotherham for a meeting on Friday, I popped into a lovely cafe Fitzwilliam and Hughes to have a look at 2 of my paintings that they have very kindly displayed – one right next to the counter! Actually, the cafe is close to the impressive Minster and you get really good views of it through the large windows.

A photo of the arched doorway of Rotherham Minster - great artists' inspiration. — **Rotherham Minster**

A photo of the art cafe doorway in Art Nouveau style - inside you can see my artcafe exhibition. — **The Art Cafe**

The Floods in South Yorkshire 2019

After enjoying good coffee and seriously good brownies, we walked back to the car parked next to the mighty River Don. Thankfully, the river has now gone down after last week’s floods. But it still seems to be flowing at a slightly alarming rate.

A photo of the River Don in full flow after the floods, taken in the town centre — **The Mighty River Don**

A photo of counter, the till and my painting of apples in the cafe — **Art Cafe**

There was lots of lovely artwork on the walls in the café, so I felt very pleased to be included in their current exhibition. And you can see these 2 paintings along with others in my Gallery

In fact, there’s loads more of my acrylic paintings on show now in Skelmanthorpe Library Gallery – have a look at the ‘ My First Solo Exhibition ‘ post here