Jane Galvin

Event Horizon 2

2012-02-05T08:17:00.000-08:00

I am creating a new incarnation for the piece of work finished before Christmas using bright colours - quite an interesting exercise for me.

So - here we have the first stage. I rather like the way that the green and yellow melt into each other. I may do more work on this I think............

Day 3 at the Slade

2012-02-05T05:22:00.000-08:00

Here we have a general view of the room in which we are working - not much space and certainly nowhere to spread into. Feel as though I am working with my elbows tightly tucked in all the time. Although people do work on the floor this is not for me at my age!

I share this corner with Michaela who does the most lovely work which she brought in today. Small glowing abstract landscapes - just beautiful. The large piece belongs to her - mine is the tiny piece on the wall and under the table - it can just be seen...

We arrived to the shock of an orange wall where an orange wall should not be! We tried to lessen the impact by putting up brown paper. It worked a bit.

Today's tutor was Daniel Preece a very good teacher and also very approachable. He worked us jolly hard but that's no problem - that's why I am there. ..

I was very fortunate to be able to see the Hockney exhibition at the Royal Academy on Friday. It was really interesting to see his work close up and to see how he actually covers his canvases. I felt as though I was actually there when standing in front of the large pieces. Now it would seem, that the world and his dog are heading to Bridlington - goodness knows what the locals will make of all this...

Week One at the Slade

2012-01-22T06:59:00.000-08:00

Although not in the 'real' Slade it was still pretty exciting to be turning up - three-quarters of an hour early - for my first session.

It was a day of working in shades of grey, black and white acrylics. These can be surprisingly colourful if there are no other colours with which they can be contrasted. Never having used acrylics before was an interesting experience. I still don't like them but there is a place for them when speed is an issue.

Working with unrelated images we created pieces which were then photocopied and scaled up on to large pieces of brown paper.

Sadly, we were a bit pushed for space I think and working on the wall all the time is a bit stressful and I missed having my own table.

The tutor was very good and very encouraging and as usual it was really fascinating to see what everyone had accomplished by the end of the day.

Four more Saturdays to go.............

Art Clases

2011-12-31T07:26:00.000-08:00

At - last - I have decided to organise Art Classes here in the studio!

Thursday mornings from 10 until 12 beginning on the 26 January.

Should anyone be interested - ring for details:-

Tel: 07903 502625

Finished and gone!

2011-12-19T05:50:00.000-08:00

My painting is finally complete and though the photo above isn't too brilliant it's not too far from what was on the easel.

My friends that commissioned the piece came to collect it this morning and were pleased. It had been an anxious morning - I always worry whenever I do a commission - it's a bit like exposing your baby to the harsh glare of the real world....

The final title became

EVENT HORIZON.

I am unable to explain this title I fear - titles just appear when I am working. This was no different and it wormed its way into my consciousness.

Finished.....

2011-12-06T06:46:00.001-08:00

Well - my big piece is finished but as those who commissioned it have not yet seen it - no photos......

Day 5

2011-11-20T07:58:00.000-08:00

Getting near the end now I think. The colour is not quite true in the photo. There are some wonderful things happening between the boundaries of the colours at the top. It will be AGES before it dries and I can get more detailed photos. I enjoy seeing what the pigment does when I leave it to its own devices........

Day 4

2011-11-19T08:16:00.000-08:00

Well - it's coming along...........

Day 3 painting

2011-11-18T08:30:00.000-08:00

Am beginning to put on colour but have been rather seduced by a very dense, light-absorbing black. Interesting..........

The work begins...........

2011-11-06T06:29:00.000-08:00

I begin by swamping the canvas in pigment. This is a very satisfying thing to do, watching how the colours melt into each other creating a foundation on which to build.

That's all for now - it needs to be dry............

A Commission

2011-11-05T06:54:00.000-07:00

Here we have a lovely sparkling white canvas waiting for me to reveal something wonderful. I find this stage of my work almost unbearably exciting and not at all intimidating. Who knows what's there and what I will find?This is a large canvas - 36" x 48" - and is for a commission. I intend to cover it with great blocks of colour but it could turn into anything as I work. I shall keep posting updates as I work.

Watch this space...............

Exposure at last...!

2011-10-29T05:23:00.001-07:00

At last, our local paper has put in a mention of my exhibition in Heckmondwike. Shame they used an awful old photograph of me but I was very happy to have anything in the paper.

Work online.

2011-10-07T07:32:00.001-07:00

I now have 8 pieces of work on the website: - www.taketoart.co.uk. If only I was able to take a decent photograph ...... oh well - at least people can see what I have done and what is available to buy.

New selling website.

2011-10-07T01:19:00.000-07:00

I have just posted 8 pieces of work on a relatively new website - www.taketoart.co.uk. It would be nice if there was some interest - but I am not too hopeful. However - I need to keep trying.......

Exhibition at Heckmondwike

2011-10-05T06:45:00.000-07:00

Here is my big poppy picture on the wall and looking good. It makes quite an impact as you walk into the cafe and I am very pleased with its position.

One of my large water colours faces the door and also makes an impact.

Oh dear - here I am in front of my three small abstracts looking a bit fed up. I never know when Mick will take the picture so I am never prepared and never appear at my best!!!

But the pictures look good.

That is not a small furry animal round my neck - it is in fact a bunch of hair showing the red streak, rather nicely I think....

The abstracts without any distraction...........

All in all, I am very pleased with the way my work is being displayed so many thanks to Pam Lonsdale who did all the hards work.

The Gallery at the Tapas Bar and Grill, Heckmondwike.

2011-09-30T07:07:00.000-07:00

We chose this piece to go into my first solo exhibition. I would be unbelievably happy to sell it though it's pretty unlikely but never mind a lot of people wills see it as they sit drinking their coffee.

Here we have a rather poor photograph of a large water colour which is based on the repeating pattern of a tulip head.

I have tried to involve transparency in this piece which gives it a pleasing kinetic quality I hope.

There are prints of my big poppy available here as well as a selection of cards.

Perhaps someone may buy a card..............

Slaithwaite Vintage and Craft Emporium

2011-09-30T06:53:00.000-07:00

My friend Heather has opened this brilliant unit in a mill up the canal.

There are several artists and crafts people with work in there who man the shop on a rota basis.

I am in there on a Thursday morning

I have two of my large pieces there on the wall as well as some water colours behind the counter along with cards and prints of the big pieces.

The unit is open Thursday through Sunday - same opening hours as the Handmade Bakery Cafe - absolutely stunning bread, cakes and croissants which they make fresh every day.

The walk by the canal yesterday morning was quite blissful in the golden light of a quiet autumn morning.

A September Sunday in Slaithwaite.

2011-09-19T07:27:00.000-07:00

On September 18 in the round car park I was part of a local food fair.

The idea was to show people what food can be found in the Colne Valley.

Although the weather look a bit grey we did have sunshine and it didn't rain which was the main thing.

There was a nice buzz for most of the afternoon and there were plenty of people wandering around.

The ladies of the Women's Institute manned the cake stall and sold raffle tickets for the quilt in aid of the village Christmas Lights. We raised about £100 and we were all very pleased.

I brought plants and cards to sell as well as my 'signature dish' of treacly flapjack which always goes down well and I sold most of it.

2011-09-16T06:44:00.003-07:00

2011-09-09T08:39:00.000-07:00

Marion completes her work before clearing up and packing.

I left my painting lying flat on the table so that the exciting dribbly bits don't go awol. I want them in specific areas.

I have a lot of pieces ready to work on over the next few weeks but I must put my studio back into some kind of order before I allow myself such indulgence.

I have packed all my pieces for the exhibition next month and feel as though that is at least a bit under control - only time will tell......

The painting continues...........

2011-09-05T09:02:00.000-07:00

This is not the most flattering of pictures.......!!!

A very dismal Monday afternoon sees us working in the studio with the door open even though the rain is torrential - we have no wish to suffer from inhaling turps and goodness knows what else we are using!

I have decided to work with great slabs of colour that have boundaries which blur and bleed. I find this really very exciting but I'm not quite sure where it is taking me. However, it is an interesting journey which I am enjoying hugely.

Marion is working with shades of grey and has used no colour today at all. She is very disciplined and hasn't been deterred from her investigation of grey tones at all. Commendable.

Painting week.

2011-09-03T06:26:00.000-07:00

I met Marion last year when working at the Slade in London. She is a ceramicist of tremendous talent creating the most lovely Raku pottery and smoke-fired work. Her website is www.crabbytaylor.com. Check it out people.

Anyway, she has joined me here in Slaithwaite and we are concentrating on our painting this week. Mick has gone off to see his brother in Toronto so we have no-one to worry about or get in the way. It's rather nice.

Another Monday.

2011-07-25T08:46:00.000-07:00

Monday again and the day dawned pretty cold and grey. At the end of the afternoon out comes the sun which is nice....

Picked up 2 unsold paintings from an exhibition. This gets a bit depressing. The only high point was when the traffic warden told me to hurry up instead of giving me a ticket. I was going to smile and say something amazingly witty and clever which would make his day (!) but as he remained stony-faced and glared at the pavement I thought I'd better not in case he changed his mind!

Another exhibition to hang tomorrow at Tunnel End. Fingers crossed again although rather hopelessly.

My Grandad Mac stellar geranium won a first prize at York yesterday but just failed to get the best in show for the second time this week! There seems to be a pattern emerging here............ Anyway, on arriving home I popped him in a 'bath' to perk him up from all the travelling and promptly forgot about him. I remembered him at four in the morning! Couldn't leave him there to get waterlogged so I leaped out of bed and rescued him to drain and dry off. Fortunately there was no-one about to see me ferreting about in the greenhouse at such an unearthly hour!!!

Allotment images.

2011-07-03T05:32:00.000-07:00

A sunny Sunday morning on the allotment. Although very untidy, it does look rather lovely and the colours just lift the spirits.

Mick does his strimming in the sun.

Please note the wonderfully blue sky we very occasionally see here in Slaithwaite! If only we saw it more often.............

Every gardener need a shed - this is mine seen through the bean poles.........

Aspects of summer.

2011-06-30T06:51:00.000-07:00

My tank full of surfinia - the fish were found a new home and I decided to plant up the tank for the summer. This has been jolly successful I think and when the sun shines on it in the morning it is an uplifting sight. The colours positively glow.

I have had a good harvest of gooseberries this year having picked three lots so far and they are now safely in the freezer for fools and pies. I just had to take a photo of these because the colours are so lovely - every shade of green and pink.

And here I have the first tiny, delicate broad beans in my salad which contains my own lettuce and cucumber as well.

I always grow cornflowers and cosmos - what wonderful, glorious colours! Such unassuming little flowers which give so much pleasure albeit for a short time.

Holmfirth Art Week

2011-06-26T10:32:00.000-07:00

I struggled along to 'taking in day' at the Civic Hall in Holmfirth today with my three pieces for the exhibition next week. Why do I always have to enter three big pieces??? Mick is happily wandering around Cornwall in shorts and a Tshirt and I am wrestling with bubblewrap in uncomfortable humid heat! I requested that my 'Toucan' be hung at the top of the screens. In the past couple of years, my big ones have been at the bottom of the screens and they really don't look good. I do feel that a bit better hanging is in order - we'll see.

New work.

2011-06-25T08:46:00.000-07:00

Am quite excited by this. Haven't yet discovered what it's called though. In my experience at some stage in the creative process whatever it is that I am working on reveals its name. I am looking forward to learning what this is called.

The other night when half asleep in bed, I was thinking about some tiny pieces that I am working on and thinking that I wasn't too happy with the texture of the paint. It suddenly came to me that I should mix my paint with sand. I did this and find that it solves several problems that I occasionally run across. The resulting texture is just wonderful and creates whole new ways of looking at a painting, for me. I can only hope that others find this interesting - it always helps if someone is kind............

I sold a small unframed oil today and had the winner of the Northumberland Plate up at Newcastle to top it all as well. Not a life-changing win - I rarely bet more than 50p - but that was nice especially as Tominator started off right at the back of the race but steamed through all the other runners. My jaw was dropping by the end of the race - it was quite something.

The painting I sold was a postSlade one. I've sold 5 of those now. Very pleasing.

Back again so soon..........

2011-06-24T05:57:00.000-07:00

Was seduced by this most beautiful of poppies.........

And also have finally raised my 'Glastonbury' flag! It was being saved for the wedding and I am now allowed to have it back.........

Welcome return of Google!!!

2011-06-24T05:32:00.000-07:00

Have had trouble accessing all things Google recently but the wonderful Simon has ministered to the PC and all is right with the world again. If anyone ever has problems I recommend Simon - he is absolutely brilliant when it comes to ferreting about in your computer's innards! Contact me for details if you ever need him.

I am actually going to paint this afternoon - first time in a few weeks. The wedding did take over rather.

I am working on a series of small - tiny actually - abstract oils which I intend to mount together on a board. I find that I am quite excited by this and am looking forward to getting on - so off I go.....................

Back on Google...

2011-06-08T08:06:00.000-07:00

Well - at last my constipated computer has been fixed by the wonderful Simon and I am back on Google. Haven't been able to access Google since the beginning of May - no idea why but jolly irritating all the same.

I really need to spend a while creating new information for this blog but as we are now in serious training for -THE WEDDING - it will all have to wait for another couple of weeks.

"I'll be back..........."

Spring in Slaithwaite

2011-04-23T07:15:00.000-07:00

The weather continues to be unusually stunning and my little garden looks lovely in the sunshine. It may sound churlish to complain but I fear that everything is going to be over very quickly and blossoms and blooms will soon fade.

But oh - what glory........

The bees are all over my little crab apple.

Slaithwaite couldn't be more picturesque if it tried...

The neighbours!

Jolly useful early border perennial.

And to top it all, I have a blackbird nesting amongst the rambling rose above my studio door...

London trip

2011-04-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

Mick and I had a brilliant week in London with unexpected warm, sunny weather. I had arranged to see our MP Jason McCartney at Westminster, hoping that we could have coffee on the terrace. Sadly that was the only dismal, wet day we had but we managed a photograph.

It was jolly interesting to see the Houses of Parliament and to stand on the exact spot in Westminster Hall, on which Charles l stood when he was being tried, was quite significant - all that history....

The exhibition at the V&A, the Aesthetic Movement, was really very good. and I would recommend it to anyone who appreciates beautiful things. There was a spectacular reconstruction of Whistler's Peacock Room that people could enter and see how it must have looked. There was much to do with Morris and the Pre-Raphaelites as well as Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley.

Me - on the steps of the V&A.

As usual we went and checked out the British Museum which never fails to delight. Our very favourite room in there is the Enlightenment Room - we would like to live in it...!

April 1

2011-04-01T07:26:00.000-07:00

At a Month of Sundaes in Marsden, Valley Arts is staging its spring show. Lots to see and good coffee as well.

If you are in Marsden then do take a look. Admission is free.

There will be artists 'hanging about' the place on Cuckoo Day, 16 April.

2011-03-20T08:45:00.000-07:00

I have been working on a series of water colour pieces which rely on the paint itself to show me what I have done.

I started with a grid which I filled with circles and diagonals. I then tried to concentrate on emphasising transparency which should lend a kinetic quality to my work. I then felt myself to be led on to blending and swirling the paint. These are the ensuing images. Obviously all the work is unframed at the moment but hopefully I will fix this as time goes on.

Spring Show

2011-03-06T07:30:00.000-08:00

Valley Arts

has just had a meeting to prepare for our

Spring Show

Month of Sundaes

Marsden.

We are taking over two whole floors for the whole of April and hope that this will raise our profile as well as being a selling opportunity.

If you need an extra reason to visit Marsden then there is

Cuckoo Day

on the 16 April.

Jolly frolics in Marsden!

Moonraking

2011-02-26T10:29:00.000-08:00

Well - here I sit in splendid isolation, all on my own with my G&T courtesy of the kind partner, wondering where everybody is. The night is fine so that's good. People have been busy all week making lanterns for tonight's procession and the procession comes right past the studio. It would be nice if one or two people wandered in merely to relieve the tedium....

2011-02-24T05:10:00.000-08:00

The sun shines - birds sing - hmmmmmm - must be something going on...................

Did You Know?

2011-02-21T05:40:00.000-08:00

One of my favourite quotes...........

2011-02-21T05:21:00.000-08:00

"If thou of fortune be bereft,
and in thy store there be but left
two loaves, sell one, and with the
dole, buy hyacinths to feed thy soul."
Publish Post
— John Greenleaf Whittier

Framing

2011-02-16T05:05:00.000-08:00

Just had some pictures brought back that have been framed. I love that. It's always so exciting to see how each image is changed - always for the better - by a good frame. I have posted the painting of a cyclamen which when framed looks particularly good - if I say so myself!!! That's definitely one for the Holmfirth Exhibition.......

Saturday

2011-02-12T05:15:00.000-08:00

Crikey - the sun is shining...

Mounted some small abstract

oil pieces yesterday and was pleased with the results. They are part of a continuing series I am working on which are all 4"square and very intense. My idea is that people really have to look hard at the image to see what is going on.

2011-02-11T02:38:00.001-08:00

Creative Colne Valley: Another wet Friday...

2011-02-11T02:28:00.000-08:00

Creative Colne Valley: Another wet Friday...: "Although the weather is pretty revolting again today I am mildly pleased having sold a small amount of work from a gallery in Hors..."

Another wet Friday...

2011-02-11T02:18:00.000-08:00

Although the weather is pretty revolting again today I am mildly pleased having sold a small amount of work from a gallery in Horsforth. Just waiting for the cheque......

Continuing to work on Castle Hill for my daughter. The three choices are coming along well. Need to finish them for when she comes up next month.

Will post photos of some more work when battery is charged up on camera.

Avalon

2011-02-05T10:12:00.000-08:00

Moor

2011-02-05T10:11:00.000-08:00

Oh how it rains......

2011-02-05T09:45:00.000-08:00

48 hours of non stop rain, here in the Colne Valley. Not easy being creative in the midst of mud and rain. And - the well in the cellar is making an interesting, unusual sound. It brings to mind thoughts of flooding... Hmm - bit worrying. Normally, the level of the water never alters. It comes in - it goes out - no idea from where or to where it flows. Today the water seems to want to hang around a bit. I am ignoring it.

Worked on a couple of pieces this afternoon for my daughter. India marries in June and requested a painting of Castle Hill. Panic sets in just thinking of it - oh the pressure! Anyway, I shall hopefully come up with a couple from which she can choose. I feel really quite honoured that she wanted some of my work. Her own talent is prodigious.

I am hoping for sunshine soon...........