Tricksters and Totems : A Virtual View of the Exhibition

So, here we are! My exhibition is up in the Courtyard Cafe, Chagford, for the month of April.
I'm sorry for the colour in most of these photos - they were taken indoors without a flash, and have a very yellow cast!

'The Goat Guardian'

These are the lovely oak frames that I salvaged from the Proper Job recycling centre, which fit the Guardian paintings perfectly.

'Hare Guardian'

'She Waits'

'She Wishes'

And these are a pair of small mixed media paintings which I finished in time for the show. There will be prints of these on Etsy any day now.

Thankyou so much to everyone who leaves comments - I really love to read them, and appreciate them all. I'm sorry I have been extremely slow moderating them recently, but I'm having some major issues with my internet connection at the moment.

More work....

Well, the weather has been so atrocious this last week that I have battened down the hatches and got stuck in to work. I finally finished the Hare Wheel Quilt. I just need to find a suitable bony stick from which to hang it. I'll show you close ups next time. That is a Hare's head in the middle, by the way, not a tadpole, as my small son thought. He also commented that all the words go round and round in circles 'just like your words do when you talk, Mummy'. Hmmm, I'm not quite sure what to make of that!

Here are the fox and magpie, tricksters and lovers, spirits circling and dancing.

And some of the composition sketches, large ones by my standards, listed on Etsy, as I REALLY need to start paying the rent on the studio :)

Time to choose

Time for a long overdue 'Illustration Friday' submission, as my current piece fits this weeks theme.

Last week I finished a painting, of the Fox and Magpie, the bones of whose story has been rattling around in my head for a while. The story is not quite there yet - each time I throw the bones, the pattern comes out a little clearer, but in the meantime the images are shrieking to be given life on paper.
So, I painted them. But I wasn't happy with the result, so I decided to 'reverse' the composition and try again. I like todays painting much better. Curiously,in the studio, everyone else disagreed and preferred the first.
I'm not telling you which is which, but I'd be interested to know which you like best!

*** Thankyou to everyone who gave their opinion :) The bottom picture was the first one painted, and it was the top one which I preferred. Interestingly the majority of you agreed with that, but of the people who have compared them 'in the flesh' so to speak, it has been the lower one which was liked better. I'm wondering if this is simply due to the way I scanned them and uploaded the images. *****

New Hare Paintings

( * I thought I ought to point out that the hare's ear in this , my latest quilt, is actually a piece of voile with an embroidered pattern that I found in an old samples book. The shape just seemed to make a perfect hare's ear, and I couldn't resist using it for that square!*)

Firstly, can I apologise to anyone who has been trying to get hold of me for the last week or so - my email account has been giving me lots of grief, often just disappearing completely. So I'm sorry I haven't answered you. I think it is ok again now, and I will be playing catch -up for a couple of days!

I have been at home all this time looking after my small son, who has been poorly. ( He has returned to school today, still not 100 %, but it is World Book Day, and he got to dress like a pirate for the day) So, although the housekeeping has completeley gone out of the window this week, I did at least manage to get plenty of time to sit and paint, while small boy dozed on the sofa, listening to stories.

Hare Study 1
12cm x 16cm
Watercolour on heavy paper

Hare Study 2
12cm x 16 cm
Watercolour on heavy paper
Both these paintings are UNMOUNTED AND UNFRAMED
These are both offered for sale here on the blog, before going into my Etsy shop after the weekend, for the princely sum of £45 each, plus postage ( £4 UK, or £7 elsewhere in the world)
If you would like one, give me a shout - dbarlowart at aol.com
As usual, it will be on a 'first come, first served' basis.

Proper Job Recycling Centre, Chagford

I spent yesterday afternoon down at Proper Job, trying to sort through the portacabin which is going to be the bric-a-brac shop. It's a pretty daunting task - stuffed to overflowing with boxes and sacks of stuff, but it's good to see it starting to get organised. There is a phenomenal amount of kitchenware! Pots and pans ( and several woks that appear to have never been used), cake tins and jelly moulds, and piles and piles of china. Every kitchen implement you could ever imagine needing, and enough oven proof dishes to cook for an army. I love rummaging through and sorting this out. I even found a barely used mini frying pan, perfect for cooking eggs in. At 50p, that came home with me!

There are hundreds and hundreds of glasses - so many are in sets, and some are so fine and delicate I can't imagine using them without breaking. Wine glasses, and sherry glasses, and cocktail glasses, and cut glass bowls in every size and shape you could ever want.

Magpie came with me, in disgrace and feeling very sorry for herself. During the night she stole and ate a tub of margarine, and spent the first half of the day throwing up. Unfortunately she insisted on doing this indoors, at my feet, despite being out in the porch and garden for most of the morning. She specifically chose to come in and be sick on the living room floor. I'm afraid I was rather lacking in sympathy.

And now, Jana Johnson has made a great youtube video showcasing the work of some of the WHOA equine artists. This one features Unicorns, and includes one of my paintings. Do check it out!