It seems a long time since I sat down to write my blog. I guess that's testament to how busy things have been which is mostly a good thing. The winter/spring lockdown was a good time to knuckle down to some painting and reach a few personal goals, including completing this large studio painting of Clapham Common. I have three more canvases of this size to complete. Watch out for a big Albert Bridge coming soon!
March ended with the brilliant news that my @artistsreclaimthesestreets campaign had raised over £8k! I can't stress enough how proud I am of this achievement. In the end we had around 50 artists participating, lots of bids and money going to numerous women's charities countrywide. I also made lots of new artist friends in the process. I have kept the spirit of Artists Reclaim These Streets alive by organising regular paint outs and hope to arrange more fund-raising activities in the future.
I don't mind admitting to a number of rejections from various art societies and competitions. Rejection is always hard, especially after such an exciting start to the year, but each rejection spurs me on to make not just more art, but better art. I was delighted to be accepted to the Pastel Society Annual Exhibition 2021 and the show will finally take place at the Mall Galleries 14 - 24 July when this little lockdown painting of my garden will be on display.
Blossom season was particularly fruitful this year and I completed several paintings of the blossom in Battersea Park, against the urban backdrop of the power station. Just the kind of contrast I like! I also kept busy with Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Week and the #l2paintin and #l3paintin initiative on Instagram.
I was delighted to start teaching again in April and it was wonderful to welcome back all my students and some new ones.
The absolute highlight of late spring was my trip to North Cornwall. I spent five nights in Boscastle and completed eight paintings which is pretty good going for me! I really learnt a lot about plein air painting in the landscape while I was there and have brought back a wealth of reference material to work up studio paintings over the dark, cold days of winter. It seems that with the trend for staycationing this year, Cornwall paintings are in great demand!
It's now early July. The kids are about to break up from school, although they've not been at school much this year anyway so I'm not sure I'll feel the difference. Looking forward to getting out and painting in a group again, and hopefully appearing in a couple of exhibitions. Fingers crossed!