Friday 30 March 2012

Enjoying the Exhibiton

We took a peek at the Comments book, to see what people really thought of the Pendle Artists Exhibition - it seems to be a hit! Here is a sample of the comments being given:

  • Very high standard and variety – Ann Williams
  • Very pleasant visit – Anne and George Brown
  • Full of life and stories – Cranny Family
  • First time visit, well worth the effort. – S. Marris
  • Fantastic, I will come here again – Meghan Rhoden
  • Enjoyed needlework exhibition – Richard England
  • A real treasure trove, we enjoyed it immensely – Jack and Gill Green
  • Well worth the visit. It is wonderful to see an amazing collection of work by artists in Pendle. Local talent at its best. – Bethan Evans-Shaw
  • It’s lovely to see the fantastic efforts of our local artists – thank you to all!  - Catherine Deakin
  • A lovely, varied display. Something for everyone – Pam Lister
  • Extremely good collection of paintings and artworks – Audrey Hall

Monday 12 March 2012

Pendle Artists Annual Exhibition 2012


So who are Pendle Artists I hear you ask?

David Lyons was recently elected to be Chairman of Pendle Artists, ‘until he expires, gives up or runs away’. He explains that this is the 44th exhibition the group have taken part in; this exhibition being the main one which takes place annually; other smaller exhibitions include Alston Hall (near Preston) and Samlesbury Hall.

David Lyons mid-interview

“Pendle Artists consists of an extremely talented bunch of people which form an excellent society. We don’t meet regularly – only to get together for exhibitions – so we are quite a disparate group of people, but it seems to work”.

This Exhibition is always completely open to the public. There is a maximum size of entries, but this figure doesn’t tend to get reached. Two cups are available; 1st prize is the Mackenzie Foley cup and 2nd prize is the Bert Rawlinson cup. Both of these are awarded based on votes taken at the preview evening.

 

First Prize: Donkeys by Sue Trigg



Here is the cup Sue wins.



Joint Second Prize: Ladybower by Denise Wheeler

Joint Second Place: It's a long way down by David Lyons
Winter Night Black Moss by Marjorie Lines was also awarded joint second place, but it has been sold and taken away already! Gosh, very fast, the buyer must have been desperate to have that on their wall - how nice!

The cup that Denise, Marjorie Lines and David now share

 
The price of the artwork on sale differs, so there is something for everyone’s budget. Amongst the number of professional artist’s taking part are David C Lyons, John Rickard, Trevor Lingard and Sue Tattersal. A number of art teachers from Blackburn College are also taking part.  

All the pictures were hung on Friday by the artists themselves, and we managed to grab a few of those artists who explained more about their work…

Name: Marjorie Lines
Title: Sundown Arnside
Price: £150


Story of the work: Margery spent a holiday in Arnside, and was enjoying the picturesque landscape, when suddenly the sky began to light up in beautiful colours ranging from oranges to reds to blues. “There was a panic to get the camera set up, as we didn’t want to miss the ‘chocolate box’ moment” says Margery “I feel very lucky to have captured the image”. All of the colours in the photograph are original.

Name: Geoff Brindle
Title: Estuary
Price: Not for sale.


Story of the work: “I never have a set idea for my pieces, I tend to make it up as I go along; my art develops on the canvas, a sort of unconscious painting” explains Geoff. His pieces are quite surreal, and he has a very recognisable style, often gravitating towards certain colours.

Name: Dorothy Turner
Title: Nuts
Price: £85


Story of the work: I saw the picture of this squirrel in a book, and recreated it in pastels. I paint what I see and like, which tends to be from pictures mostly. I would describe my work as humorous.

Name: Neil Terry
Title: Evening Hurstwood Reservoir
Price: £150

Story of the work: “I go walking and camping in the Hurstwood area often. I painted ‘Evening Hurstwood Reservoir’ from a photograph I had taken” explains Neil.


Name: Tom Procter
Title: Park Hill Farm, Barrowford
Price: £130

Story of the work: The idea for the piece came about as Tom used to get the bus to Barrowford, and one day came across the farm by chance. Tom said he has always been interested in older buildings, and the character that they have, and that this farm particularly seemed to appeal to this more older and atmospheric building. Tom looked at the farm further and walked by the river, to the side of the farm, to see there was an old wall that had collapsed and the stone used had texture to it. As Tom became more interested in the farm he looked at it from different angles, to try to decide which view suited him best. He took many photos, and began some preliminary sketches. The owners of the farm saw Tom more and more and were accomodating, by inviting him to finish his work on the farm. Over a period of time Tom experimented, drawing and painting different views of the farm. His original final piece was done in watercolour, but Tom said that he wasn’t pleased with it as the watercolour didn’t give him the level of control he would have liked. So, after leaving the piece for some months, Tom came across it and decided to revisit it and use his previous work to do another final piece, but in the medium of pastel. This gave him much more control, and allowed for better detail.

Name: Trevor Lingard
Title: Rome (Pantheon)
Price: £475

The wooden thing in front is an easel which I was not tall enough to take a photo above. To make up for this, I took a close up, below.




Story of the work: This piece was done in September, when Trevor took a trip to Rome to do some artwork. Trevor said that he only went for a week, so he really had to work fast and intensly, and didn’t have any time to waste. While taking in all the amazing architecture, Trevor began taking many photos and doing many quick paintings. He said he was spoilt for choice as there were so many things to paint around the city. Trevor is particularly inspired by the impressionist artists and that freer and more loose technique. That’s why he uses watercolour as his medium, as it is more spontaneous and free. Trevor always works in one session, and never revisits a piece, again keeping in style with the spontaneity. He also said that that he likes to leave parts white, and not be too detailed with his work, as then the viewer is left to make their own mind up about the piece, and everyone will get something a little different from the piece. It is therefore much more engaging with the viewer and people aren’t being told what to think.

To find out more about Trevor and his work please visit http://www.trevorlingard.co.uk/, or visit his blog at trevorlingard.blogspot.com

Name: John Rickard
Title: Dales Farm
Price: £250


Story of the work: John did this piece as part of a film project he has been doing called “Footsteps of Turner”, where he is looking at Turner’s techniques, what made him such a brilliant artist, and how he differs from other artists at the time. For example, Turner was one of the first to use  In the film John does demonstrations of Turner’s techniques, and so this piece was one of many that were done as examples. John said that he had always been interested in capturing Turner’s particular style, the way he used colour and lighting to create atmosphere to pieces, like his early stormy or shipreck scenes. John came across the scene that the piece is inspired by in Dentale while on a walk in the Yorkshire Dales. He took some photos and then used his own interpretation to create the piece. When I asked him what time of day he took the picture, John said it didn’t matter, as he had created the time of day from the atmospheric light to the piece, again keeping with the Turner style.

To find out more about John and his work please visit: http://paintingrickard.blogspot.com/

 Oh, and a big thanks to Rosie and Steph for doing these interviews and mostly of course to all the Pendle Artists who hung such a lovely exhibition. There is lots of work to see, so I hope you can get over here, Mon-Sat 10-4 until April 14th to see it in person.

I like this one; imagine looking at him everyday while making a cup of tea?

Lined Expression
By Peter Catlow
£150  

Hope you enjoyed all that!


Ta Ta



Kirsty