Adventure 2015

We're not the most techie bunch so despite the lack of posts, a lot of work has been going on behind the scenes all year, culminating in the return of our annual Adventure exhibition at Jubilee Community Centre, East Grinstead.

The exhibition opens with a private view on Saturday 5 December, thereafter it runs until 13 January. With 13 artist's work there should be something for any art lover. Please do come and long, we'd love to see you!

 

First picture of the new year

At our session last Tuesday, I finally managed to finish my first painting of 2013. Trees again, but this time in a larger format, being 1m square.

Acrylic on canvas, 100cm x 100cm

Richard - Winter Birches 2

I've been a bit remiss in posting work over recent months. With our exhibition fast approaching, I thought it would be a good idea to start posting pictures of some of the new work I'll be showing. This first is a set of pictures inspired by the trees in winter on Ashdown Forest.

Ashdown Autumn

I've been a bit remiss in posting work in progress recently. This is a picture I finished a couple of weeks ago. Oil on canvas, 24"x24".

Michael: Ashdown Forest 14

While I try to work out what to next with the linocut that's in progress, here's another of the small paintings from the Ashdown Forest series.



7 October, 2.45pm. Autumn sun on dry bracken, fire gold.
Acrylic on canvas, 15 x 15 cm.

Michael: Ashdown Forest 13

Another of the small paintings from the Ashdown Forest landscape series.



10 December, 3pm. Winter's afternoon quickly turns to evening.
Acrylic on canvas, 15 x 15 cm.

Michael: Ashdown Forest, summer days

27 July, 3pm. Long hot summer days stretch beyond the horizon. Another of the small paintings from the current Ashdown Forest exhibition.



Acrylic on canvas, 15 x 15cm.

Michael: Solarplate etching, Ashdown Forest

Another experiment with what can be done with solarplate (photopolymer) etching. This time, I started with a photograph of one of my recent paintings of the Ashdown Forest landscape...



...converted it to black and white, and then etched it on the solarplate.



I like this. The solarplate has picked up all the brushwork and even the weave of the canvas. (Click the picture for a bigger version.) These are much clearer in this etching than they are in the original painting, where the colour grabs the attention. The result has got the quality of a traditional, pure aquatint plate.

I printed the plate again in dark blue.



I like this. I like this a lot.

Michael: Ashdown Forest 10

3 April, 11am. In the distance, yes, the first sight of gorse.

Acrylic on canvas, 15 x 15cm.

Michael: Ashdown Forest 9

Start of a new series of the Ashdown Forest landscapes. I'm trying to push harder to the boundary between naturalism and abstraction. This series is on smaller size of canvas, to see how much information can be packed into the smaller space.



9 January, 1.15pm. Searching for colour in the depths of winter, and finding it everywhere.
Acrylic on canvas, 15 x 15 cm.

Michael: Ashdown Forest - High horizon

A hard climb to the high horizon.



Acrylic on canvas, 25 x 25 cm.

Michael: Late summer rain

Late summer rain threatens to spoil the afternoon.



Acrylic on canvas, 25 x 25 cm.

Exhibition panoramas

Panoramas of the London Road Group exhibition at the Ashdown Forest Visitor Centre. Click the pictures for a bigger version.





More information about the exhibition: londonroadgroup.blogspot.com/p/exhibition.html.

Michael: Ashdown Forest — Last of the sun

The last of the sun going down over the hills catches the edge of the bracken.



Last of the sun. Acrylic on canvas, 25 x 25 cm.

Ready to go

Here are pictures of the final hang for the exhibition, just before the crowds rushed in for the private view at 6pm.

Richard

Lynn

Marina

Caryl

Sheri

Liz

Karen

...and Michael: Last to finish, as usual. Just managed to hide the hammer, tape, cardboard boxes, carrier bags, nails, and bottle of water before the public arrived.

Richard - Putting up pictures

Yesterday Sheri, Karen, Caryl and I spent a hot afternoon starting to hang pictures for the exhibition. First of all we had to decide where to start:


And then what should go where:

And finally see how far we had got:

With hindsight my arrangement looks a bit rigid. I might try to break it up a bit before the private view on Thursday.

Michael: Ashdown Forest 4

Dusk comes early to the forest hills as autumn draws on.



Acrylic on canvas, 25 x 25 cm.

Richard - Winter Birches

Just one day away from starting to hang the exhibition. From the last few months some pictures of the forest in winter.

Preparing for the exhibition

We spent a happy afternoon arranging the exhibition, which opens on 22 April, 2011 at the Ashdown Forest Visitor Centre, East Sussex.

Michael: Ashdown Forest 3

A sunny afternoon in early Spring cut short by storm clouds moving northwards from the English Channel and across the downs.



Acrylic on canvas, 25 x 25 cm.