wildlifeart

banner image showing a paper wasp nest sculpture on a white background with Text detailing the exhibition title and dates

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas break. As life returns to normal, I am gradually emerging and turning my attention to the year ahead in my usual haphazard and unplanned way. As always, there is plenty to be getting on with.

The new year has started rather well with my paper wasp nest being accepted into the Royal West of England Academy Open exhibition, which has the theme “Paper Works”. It is also an excuse for me to book a short trip to Bristol to attend the private view and see how others have interpreted the theme. Bob, of course, is delighted to hear that another trip is being planned!

Getting my drawing head back on again

Despite the cold and wet weather, I have managed one trip to the beach with my paints. This black headed gull was paddling furiously to try and coax a snack or two out of the wet sand. And a heron stood stately in the shallows.

The Society of Wildlife Artists have an exhibition in April, but the deadline for me to send my list of pieces is next week. 

Getting my comic drawing head back on again!

I will also be starting work on a new cartoon for the LD Comics online comic fair. That will be for another post as the fair isn’t until July. However, the first deadline to have something to show for myself is the end of February so I need to crack on with it! Watch this space.

Upcoming Workshops

Closer to home, the winter and spring is all about workshops with three coming up in the next few months. read on for more details, and please feel free to forward to any friends you think might be interested!


Winter Paper Bird workshop at Rowallane Gardens

My first workshop of the year will be at Rowallane Gardens National Trust. We will be making Robins and Bullfinches to bring a little bit of colour to the dark wintery days.

Saturday 18 January

10.30am – 12.30pm

Rowallane Gardens, Crossgar Road, Saintfield, Ballynahinch, BT24 7LH

The cost of the workshop includes entry to the gardens, so fingers crossed for a nice day for making birds in the morning followed by enjoying an afternoon in nature!


Paper Bird Workshop at the Craft Room

In February I will be back at The Craft Room in Newtownards for another workshop. By then we will be looking forward to the spring, so I thought we would make great tits and coal tits, two of the first to start singing, so we will also have a go at learning the songs.

Saturday 15 February

10am – 12pm

The Craft Room 24a Frances Street, Newtownards, BT23 7DN

Tea and coffee will be available to keep you going!


Paper Bird Workshop at Aghalee Village Hall

My final workshop of this spring is a bit further a field in Aghalee Village Hall. If you are in that area, or willing to travel this is a great opportunity. The cost is very low as this workshop is subsidised with funding obtained by the local group to deliver a program of art and craft activities to the community.

Saturday 29 March

2pm – 4pm

Aghalee Village Hall, 6 Lurgan Road, Aghalee, Craigavon, BT67 0DD


if you are interested, please email [email protected] and leave your name and number. They will get back to you as soon as they can.

Happy New Year Read More »

Insects all over the Place this Autumn

There is a nip in the air and it seems summer may finally be over. I hope you had a good one and managed to enjoy the good weather. I have been busier than ever, and not complaining despite nearly losing sight of myself a few times! I am hoping that once the dust settles and I get the chance to reflect on all the activities and hard work I have put in this year, I will find I have made some progress. But in the mean time, there is plenty to be getting on with, Autumn may be upon us, but I am taking a few summer vibes on into September and October…


Paper Magic, Belfast

Opening this week at Craft NI in Belfast, Paper Magic promises to be an eclectic and slightly bonkers exhibition by 5 artists working in paper (yes, I’m not the only one!). I am very happy to be exhibiting along with Sue Cathcart (of Mr Papers fame), Susan McKeever, Jayne Cherry and Emma Whitehead (of Top Floor Art fame!). I have chosen to make my pieces about wasps because they invented paper. And pigeons, because I like pigeons. There will also be collages, strange hats, butterflies and a giant rabbit, Don’t miss it, we may never see the like again!

Official Opening: Thursday 22 September 6-8pm

Late Night Art: Thursday 6 October 6-8 pm

Keep an eye on Craft Ni social media for workshops and demos taking place as part of the ongoing entertainments!


The Natural Eye, London

The Natural Eye is the annual exhibition of the Society of Wildlife Artists. It is probably the UK’s most prestigious wildlife art exhibition so I am delighted to report that 4 of my aphid drawings which some of you may have seen in Ards arts centre in June, have been accepted into the show this year. It gives me the opportunity to show alongside some of the finest wildlife artists working today, many of whom I am in awe of! It also means I am planning my first trip to London since before Covid and looking forward to catching up with some friends and fellow wildlife artists.

13 – 22 October 2022

10am – 5pm

The Mall Galleries, London SW1

https://swla.co.uk/news/the-natural-eye-2022


Catalan Butterflies, Waterford

At the end of October, I will be returning to the Waterford Imagine festival with poet, Laurence O’Dwyer. Last year we presented work in progress from our collaboration “Catalan Butteflies”. Larry asked me to create pop up butterflies in response to some of the poems in his collection inspired by his travels in the Pyrenees and a Catalan field guide to butterflies that he bought along the way. The Imagine festival kindly provided us with further funding to present more developed work at this years festival. Larry’s collection is to be published in the near future and I am also happy to report that an image of my piece “Vanessa Atalanta” is to be used on the cover. 

An evening of music and spoken-word poetry and pop up butterflies!
 

Friday 28 October at 6pm

Christchurch Catherdral, Waterford

https://imagineartsfestival.com/catalan-butterflies/

Insects all over the Place this Autumn Read More »

New Solo exhibition at Ards Arts Centre

‘In the Field’

Sunburst Gallery, Ards Arts Centre

Tuesday 7 June – Saturday 16 July

There will be an informal Wine reception on the evening of:
Thursday 9 June, 7pm – 9pm
all welcome to attend

New solo Exhibition

I am excited to announce that I have a new solo exhibition opening this week. Ards Arts Centre are giving me the opportunity to share a body of new work that I have been developing for a couple of years.

The works I will be showing are all Field studies, that is, they were all made form life in the presence of the creatures they depict. Drawing in this way and experiencing nature directly has always been central to my practice. For this exhibition I wanted , for once, to show a body of work all completed in the Field, with all the scuffs, smudges, coffee cup stains and footprints collected along the way! There are squiggles that went nowhere, my subject having abruptly departed about its Business. In one case slugs ate part of a drawing! The rough and ready nature of these works is a trade off for the immediacy and vibrancy that I am never able replicate in the studio.

These drawings began life as a response to the Covid 19 pandemic. As lockdowns began in 2020, it became clear that I would be unable to make my usual trips out to draw wintering birds. But as the initial shock of the situation subsided and the good weather settled in, I decided to experiment with sketching insects in the garden.

The experience proved eye opening, challenging and refreshing. I was amazed at the variety and abundance of insects and spiders sharing relatively small areas of foliage. The challenges were many. Firstly even seeing animals so small was difficult. Clip on magnifiers and a hand held magnifying glass were promptly ordered on line. Secondly, I know nothing about entymology, so everything I was drawing was new to me and I was unable to put a name to any of the species. I was forced to dig deep into my seeing and drawing skills to try to make sense of the constantly moving tangle of legs, antennae and wings. At the same time this was liberating. Unencumbered by knowledge or preconceptions about the animals before me, I was free to explore what I was seeing and express my excitement at this new experience. As 2021 brought more lockdowns and yet more warm weather, I was back in the garden with my magnifiers, pencils and watercolors braving bites and sunstroke and discovering that bumble bees do indeed have a sting.

Making this work has, in turn, had an effect on me. I have a greater awareness of the invertebrate life all around me, so much so, that even mowing the lawn now seems a gross act of violence! My interest piqued, I have started to explore the role of invertebrates in the ecosystem, their importance for soil health and thereby for carbon storage. This research has recently led me to the even more mindboggling topic of microbes.

Admission free. The Gallery opening hours are:

  • Tuesday – Friday 10.00am – 4.00pm
  • Saturday 10.00am – 1.00pm
  • Sunday and Monday Closed

For more information and directions pease see the Ards Arts Centre website

New Solo exhibition at Ards Arts Centre Read More »