Paul Martin from Centre Stage Photography, Blyth, visited the gallery this month and has taken photographs of both myself and the gallery environment.

 

 

I very much enjoyed working with Paul, who was informed, inspiring and relaxed - and I'm delighted with the photographs.

 

 

Paul works with dancers, artists and other businesses and I would readily recommend his photography work - http://www.centrestagephoto.co.uk/

 

 

Let me know what you think.

I'm pleased that the story of one of my favourite paintings has been featured in the Tyne Valley Express this month. I found both of these windows in a long-abandoned house in Huntshieldford, Daddry Shield, Weardale. The house was in such a poor state that I had to crawl into it - the back wall had completely collapsed. And yet, once inside, it was a treasure trove of 'found' objects, including a tallboy, stuffed grouse and plant pots. There was an elderberry tree growing right through the floor.

 

I produced both of these paintings based on windows in that house, 'Tree House' and 'Window' - and the hole in the roof in 'Window' makes me think of the painting to myself as 'Velux.' It's a personal favourite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Students and customers often ask who frames my paintings and prints. I always have them framed by the Framehouse, Consett, and they are helpful, professional and reliable - a superb service.

 

This is a really interesting blog about the beautiful and historic village of Blanchland. Janice Hutchinson of Jaspah Crewe wrote the blog, copied below. Jaspah Crewe is a shop beside the White Monk Tearoom, just across from the Lord Crewe Arms. Jaspah Crewe stocks my paintings, prints and books and is an eclectic emporium of arts, jewellery, glass, ceramics and cards.

 

 

The picturesque village of Blanchland (above), set in the glorious landscape of the North Pennines, grew out of Blanchland Abbey and takes its name from the monks’ white habits.

Not Persil-white, apparently; a 15th-century report rebuked the monks for drinking too much beer and told them to get proper haircuts and employ a washerwoman.

 

Today, this greatly loved village is so picture-perfect that TV aerials are banned. Hence its appeal as a film location in period dramas, including Catherine Cookson TV adaptations and the movie Jude, starring Christopher Eccleston and Kate Winslet. Recently used in the filming of VERA with Brenda Blethyn. 

 

 

 

 

 

I saw this painting in the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh and I looked at it on the gallery wall for a full half hour. The light is superb. You can see the oil that she's cooking the eggs in, and sense it bubbling as you look at the painting. 

 

 

Essentially, what I aim to do when I paint, is to paint light on surface, and that is what Velazquez has achieved here. It's an extraordinary piece of work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t detect paint when I look at Ivan Shishkin’s work, I detect light. The care he has taken is phenomenal. Like Andrew Wyeth, Shishkin could paint light on surfaces beautifully.

 

 

I discovered Shishkin’s work after creating my etching ‘The Pathway’ – and he had been making forest etchings almost 200 years earlier – he was a Russian Itinerant Artist. His work is well crafted and has real integrity and authenticity and the detail he excelled in helped to influence my own paintings, such as ‘Rhododendron’ and ‘Plantation Pathway.’