Tag Archives: colour

West Dean 05.23

Teaching at West Dean College, Sussex. 12-14 May 2023.

I’ll be back at West Dean College soon, teaching ‘Botanical Photography – Plant Portraits’. Photographing plants in the beautiful gardens and in the studio, students will learn new techniques and experiment with individual and mixed plants compositions. 

Autumn Studies. November 2020.

Autumn Studies. November 2020.

This month there are a number of new autumn plant studies on sale. You’ll find them in the Prints for Sale and #artistsupportpledge pages. Here is one of the first: Vitis 2. This is a grape vine which I planted about fifteen years and, at this time of year, it produces a wonderful range of autumn leaf colours. Here, I was drawn to the beautiful yellows which come as the stronger colours fade just before the leaves fall.

Feb 2019

Spring Shows. February 2019.

I will be leading another botanical photography course at the Victoria and Albert Museum on 1st & 2nd March. After that, my work will be on show at The Affordable Art Fair, Battersea, London 0n 7-10 March. I’ll also be at Midcentury Modern in Dulwich, London on 10th March and on  11/12 and 18/19 May, my images will be part of a group show at the Dulwich Festival Artists’ Open House. There will be plenty of new pictures on show which I have been retouching during the autumn and winter months including this one, Mixed Summer Plants 2, 2018.

 

New images 12.18

New images and last orders for Christmas. December 2018.

Here is one of the new images which has been on view in the last few weeks at various shows and exhibitions. It is part of a series of dahlia studies using eight different varieties of dahlias grown in the garden. This one is called Dahlias 3, but there will be more coming soon including landscape versions. It’s almost time for last orders for Christmas. I don’t think framed images are now possible but print only orders before 10th December can still be delivered in time for Christmas. 

Secret Charter/MCM 11.18

Secret Charter and Midcentury Modern Show. November 2018.

Here’s the image which I donated to the Secret Charter fundraising event recently to help fund the art department at The Charter School in Dulwich. Hundreds of artists gave pieces of work including Gary Hume, Tracy Emin and Anthony Gormley. Tickets were bought for £40 and the artworks were randomly allocated. Everything sold out in 25 minutes! The work was on show at the Dulwich Picture Gallery and the event raised over £50,000. Looking ahead, I will have new work on show on my stand at Midcentury Modern, Dulwich, London, SE21 7LD on Sunday 18th November, 10am-4pm. Feel free to contact me for free tickets via my contact page – I often have a few spare pairs.

AB show 2018

Exhibiton at AB Design and Interiors. September 2018.

My first show of the autumn will be in London on 28th and 29th September where, in a beautiful house in Dulwich Village, a number of my framed pictures will be on show as part of a group show. AB Design and Interiors will be hosting at 93 Woodwarde Road, SE22 8UL. Full details on their site by clicking the link. There will be more information on forthcoming winter shows soon.

Tillmans/Radical Eye. March 2017.

Wolfgang Tillmans and The Radical Eye at Tate Modern. March 2017.

The Radical Eye, Elton John’s collection of twentieth century modernist photography is impressive. Great works by Paul Outerbridge, Imogen Cunningham and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy were all on display, beautifully printed (albeit in rather dandy frames!), many of which inspired me to take up photography. Following this I went to the other side of the Tate Modern to the Wolfgang Tillmans show where, to my great surprise, the images I had just seen suddenly seemed not just small (few were larger than 10″ x 8″ prints) but also felt far more culturally distant. Tillmans, working in full colour and sometimes on a huge scale, cheerfully takes on the task of producing all forms of photographic imagery. No genre restrictions for him (The Radical Eye conservatively had themes of portraits, objects, bodies etc.), he gives us everything and more. There are bits of photographic sculpture, political displays and even a room with no pictures at all: just a room with music. It’s not that the The Radical Eye is a bad show. There are numerous undisputed masterpieces there.  it’s just they now felt like old masters. Tillmans’ work and especially his ability to use colour – on any scale – felt visceral and immediate. Amusingly, we were welcomed by being told you are allowed to take photos at the show, so here is my shot, looking up at one of Tillmans’ huge unframed hanging giclee prints.

tillmans

 

Affordable Art Fair and Midcentury Modern. 3.15.

Affordable Art Fair and Midcentury Modern.

It’s been another busy weekend with two fairs at the same time (!) – The Affordable Art Fair in Battersea and Midcentury Modern in Dulwich. It’s always a great opportunity to meet the public to get feedback on the new work. There’s been a great response to my new plants studies, especially the mixed plant still life images. I now have to sort out the printing and framing orders, including some large framed orders of the image below, Mixed Plants 1, one of my studio compositions of various plants and flowers (including Philadelphus, Parthenocissus henryana, Humulus lupulus ‘Aureus’, and common blackberry flowers) which I grow in my garden or up at the allotment at Knight’s Hill.

mixedplants1_blog

 

Apple iPhone 10.14

Apple iPhone Wallpaper. October 2014.

One of my images is now available as one of the new wallpapers for iPhone users who have IOS 7 or 8. It’s been chosen by Apple as one of their new range of minimal plant pictures. iPhone users can find it by going to Settings>Wallpaper>Choose a new Wallpaper>Stills and you’ll see it, fourth row down.  Alternatively there’s a link http://freeios8.com/ac97-wallpaper-ios8-apple-iphone6-plus-flower-minimal/ It was taken from a shoot I did of an Allium Hunton.

iphonewallpaper

AAF 3.13

Affordable Art Fair, Battersea Park, London. 7-10 March 2013.

There are new images on show at AAF this week. Look out for Gas Gallery, stand F2 where there will be work, framed and unframed in all sizes.

Chard/Frost 1.13

Frost, Knight’s Hill.

I’ve managed to get up to the allotments early on a few occasions this month to document some uncharacteristically severe frosts. Here the frost has built up on (someone else’s) chard.

Geranium. 10.11.

Autumn leaf colour.

It’s hard to pick out any particular plant in the garden at this time of year, such is the riot of autumn leaf colour. This Geranium wlassovianum is always present with its striking red leaves.

Lichen – Cornwall 8.12

Lichen, Cornwall.

More lichen, this time on the Cornish Coastal Path near Porthcurno.

Gas Art Pop Up 25.5.12

New work on show in London.

I’ve currently got some work on show at Gas Art’s Pop-Up Shop in London. From May 17th – June 1st.  Le Garage, 115 Dulwich Road, London SE24 ONG. Opening hours 12 – 8pm. On sale: Screen prints, linocuts, giclée and digital prints plus lots of other artworks. click here for more details.

 

Flowers, Swaffham. 4.12.

Artificial Flower Market Stall. Swaffham, Norfolk.

Wandering around the market in Swaffham, Norfolk, my eye was caught by this seriously colourful floral display.

Primula 26.3.12

Primula Vulgaris. Knight’s Hill Allotments.

Primulas seem to be everywhere right now. Resisted strong urge to dig these ones up & rush them to the studio.

23.03.12 – Blue Shed

Allotment Shed. Knight’s Hill Allotments.

Went to collect scaffolding planks which were delivered to the allotments yesterday, but sadly all had been snaffled. This peeling shed caught my eye on the way back. Knight’s Hill has an extraordinary mixture of natural and artificial colour.

9.3.12 Arum leaves

Garden. Arum leaves.

Arum italicum ‘Marmoratum’ (Lords and ladies). This provides lots of engaging leaf colour which is much needed at this early part of spring.

9.3.12 Daffodils

Daffodils. Peckham.

On my way to the studio, cycling through Peckham, I noticed the first daffodils… Pedants: note my bike in background is precisely this colour of yellow.

9.3.12 – Viburnum

Garden. Viburnum bodnantense ‘Dawn’.

Despite being rather roughly transplanted from front to back garden, this Viburnum has provided flowers throughout winter with sweet honeyed scent. Just starting to fade now.

9.3.12 – KH Shed

Knight’s Hill allotments.

Rather surreal-looking new shed with Canary Wharf visible in the background.