Category Archives: Wales

nearly winter

I have been away from home, visiting family and being a Granny in Wales, for two months, as well as a ten day break in Portugal

So I’ve been away from my studio and not painting

During the last couple of weeks I have begun to crave paint and canvas. So I bought a few materials from local shops and made these two small works on the floor in my daughter’s spare bedroom. In between visits, and in between layers, they’ve been drying in the shed.

My bedroom at my daughter’s home has sliding doors out onto the garden, with views into the trees beyond. And a view out of the side windows to a stand of Scotch Pines. From my bed I can see both dawn and dusk through these trees.

The paintings are not at all a representation of these photos of views. In fact they have more of an essence of a walk in the woods. I even embedded a fern leaf in the paint, removed it the next day to leave its impression, then rolled over it again with more layers.

However, some of the colours are there. A friend of mine said of these two latest pieces that they were a return for me of a ‘confident enigma’. I like that

Dawn:


Dusk:

A Poem By Huib Fens

(from my painting  residency at Stiwdio Maelor in Wales, when Huib Fens was on a writers residency)

 

Liz and Malachy
She has retreated in Wales
under rafters, stretching
canvasses on frames,
boiling emulsions of
oils and waxes.
She smears and brushes until
land appears, still unknown
and undiscovered and keeps
on working it until it
liberates itself from her.
Two islands to the west,
in the harsh mist the ocean
is sending up the surf,
he is cutting turf in
long and muddy strokes
he will pile up with his
bare hands to hand-
knotted stacks while
groundwater runs into
the newly cut furrows.
Huib Fens, 2016/17

 

residency at Stiwdio Maelor in Corris 


A great 3 weeks at Stiwdio Maelor

If you are interested in having some time there yourself for your art (including writing) you can email for an application form to stiwdiomaelor@gmail.com 

The 5 paintings in the top image are all also available through the same email. Funds from any sale of donated works goes both towards the ongoing costs of the residency programme and helps to fund the artist’s next residency!

The other image is of a 65cm painting on canvas that I completed on the residency which is on its way to @greenfusegallery  in Westport, County Mayo, Ireland for their next show opening mid November

big canvas small space

Each new challenge brings a fresh approach to the work

I am painting in an old ‘back kitchen’ with poor light and much less manoeuvrability than I’m used to. I started by working on paper on the table. Progressed to 2 A1 (c. 60 x 80cm) canvases propped up in the doorway. And a few days ago bought 2 big canvases c. 100 x 130cm (40 x 50inches) These I started off leaning against the wall on top of the radiator. Then some layers applied with my right hand while I held and rotated the canvas with my left.

I had to carry the painting out into the lean-to conservatory (trying not to get paint on the tomato plants/ chair /bike) and out through a second door into the yard to see it in the light

Here are some progress shots and the finished piece in the garden

Dance