Sean Mc Donnell created this lovely image of his daughters

This image was featured on a 'change of address' card sent by my previous neighbours. I really like it and it is almost certainly created by Sean Mc Donnell who is the father of the three girls featured. They are the gorgeous Roma, the very refined Aelish and the delightful Grace. We were neighbours for about five or six years and the time just flew by. I really missed them when they moved to a bigger house locally about six months ago. I was very fond of them. I never got to see that much of Seans work as a fine art photographer but it must have been good - for instance I know that the Photographers Gallery in central London took some of his work on consignment a few years back which is an indicator or marker of sorts. I must contact them soon to see how they are getting on in their new home.

I am back online all the way from Scotland

It’s been a hard days night. And I really have been working like a dog!!

What a week (well nine -ten days) it has been. It just went on forever. Moving from London to Edinburgh definitely was very hard going but the absolute worst part was driving up in the car with C. at the wheel and me and the 2 cats, and loads of our other paraphernalia, in the car. Never again, never again.
The trauma, the wailing........... Finny escaping from his recently specially purchased 'cage' while we were on the motorway..............having to stop every now and again as they were getting too worked up. Of course I felt guilty for putting the poor craters through all this but we couldn’t leave them behind and well I just had to hope that the 'medication 'I got from the vets, for their eight-hour ordeal would have some beneficial effect. It really was not up to much though. Rendering them as per a couple of drunks who couldn’t walk properly but who otherwise just wouldn’t shut up and who insisted on having their voices raised.

Anyway we all survived and are still getting used to being in a different place. The house is probably a little larger than our previous one and apart from the traffic that runs by the back of our rear garden fence (the roads about 30 meters away) it;s pretty good. The noise isn’t a problem = its just a huge change for the fur-bees i.e., misters M. and F.

Finny, who is featured lower down in this blog looking terribly relaxed, is the more nervous of my two cats and is taking a little longer to acclimatize to his new environment that his brother Monty.

Above is an image from my recent batch of printmaking works that I find very calming - it seems very fitting for right now and is appropriately called 'Healing Chamber'. Click HERE  to link to my Flickr album,  if you would like to see the other prints in this series 'Traces on Wood'.

Los Angelina Carol Es

Los Angelina, Carol Es is a quirky idiosyncratic artist whose work I came across today for the second time and she strikes me as someone who has turned her life around after some dark times – check her out on her website at esart.

Artists Blog Webing -other artist's blogs

click on the heading 'Artists Blogs Webring to visit other artists blogs

Silent Witness art installation 2005

This is a partial view of an installation that was first shown at the Jersey Galleries in London, 2005.
The work was initially inspired by a longstanding desire to create a work that was/is homage to those who died in the 'Coffin Ships' that crossed the Atlantic Ocean. This being a consequence of the Famine in Ireland in the 1830's. Thousands died on board the ships and were buried at sea. The coffin forms are surfaced with intaglio embossed Aran patterns, which were what fishermen’s wives, knitted for their men folk in the event of their relatives being lost at sea. In the course of my research, along with the process of creating the work - the piece became a homage to all those refugees and emigrants who face death on their way to seeking a life where they can endeavour to reach their full potential. By clicking on the heading you can find more details and views of the entire installation which used intaglio, digital, plaser casts, and led light.

Something Fishy is going on in the Loo !!

If you are viewing this blog and you are dying to go to the toilet then click on the heading above for a fun visit to the loo. Or as it is sometimes called here in the UK - the bog.

Sannea Venhuis has Come out to See the Light

I thought it was high time that some of the wonderful artworks I have collected over this past year made their way out of the folder called 'My Little Art Gallery' to see the light of day. Given that I have been packing box after box and nothing much else these past few days I thought that this would be enjoyable, i.e., to 'hang some artworks on the 'walls' of my blog.
Dutch artist, Sannes Venhuis, is I think ,very talented and she makes installations + 2d artworks a plenty.
You can view quite a number of her works at exto.nl which has some excellent artists featured on it. Well worth a visit.

Her work depicts human and animal forms as well as hybrids that serve to express more complex emotions concerning what appears to be the psyche of the outsider. Perhaps the central character portrayed is that of the ‘self’ i.e., everyman – struggling though the dynamics of interpersonal relationships as well as that,with himself.

Through an intuitive use of space and placement Venhuis beautifully portrays her forms in sometimes innocent and often fragile states of play.

Christian John Olsen is alive and well on Flickr

I came across this image on Flickr. If you dont know Flickr then you ought to because its great. It's packed full of images uploaded by all sorts of people. I mainly look at the printmaking group on there, although I keep coming across other stuff e.g., ' retro kids book illustrations' and ...................

Christians image was recently uploaded onto the printmaking 'pool' and as I am a member too, I go and look to see what other people have been up to, every now and again.

He is studying for his first degree at a University in Wales and has made other artworks which I think are excellent too.

I first came across his work on an online and actual exhibition that we were both in, based in Southampton. It was called 'Post It' and was organised by a chap called .....................

He got people on the internet to submit artworks in response to a list of artworks that the museum in Southampton already held.

Printmaking at the Edge

This shows the exhibition as it looked when installed at the Winston Salem Gallery North Carolina.

The invitations to artists to be featured in the book, 'Printmaking at the Edge' which is published by A & C Black of London, were extended by the author Richard Noyce way back in 2005. It has to be said that this a very well written book, focussing more on trends in terms of subject matter and directions rather than on technical information although these are mentioned. Richard has written other books on Contemporary art mainly focusing on Easter Europe previously.

International Portfolio Exchange Exhibition

Participating artists Aine Scannell, Naoji Ishiyama, Betz Scott , Adriane Herman, Alicia Candiani, Arunas Gelunas, Barbara Balfour, Barbara Zeigler, Beauvais Lyons, Brian Reeves, Cecilia Bakker, Chang-Soo Kim, Chila Kumari Burman, Daryl Vocat, Dave Best, Davida Kidd, Dorothy Krause, Egidijus Rudinskas, Grzegorz Banaszkiewicz, Hanna Haska, Hugh Merrill, Ingrid Ledent, Iwona Abrams, Jim Gislason, John Graham, John Hitchcock, Joris Martens Kestutis Vasiliunas, Koichi Kiyono, Konstantin Khudyakov, Laura Berman, Lisa Bulawsky, Maria Anna Parolin, Marjan Eggermont, Michael Schneider, Michiko Suzuki, Modhir Ahmed, Monika Lozinska-Lee, Patricia Villalobos Echeverria, Pete Williams, Philip Garrett, Rebecca Beardmore , Redas Dirzys, Valgerdur Hauksdottir, Wayne Eastcott and Yuan Goang-Ming,

Following on from the recently published book by Richard Noyce "Printmaking at the Edge' the artists featured ( of which I was one) collaborated in the production of this portfolio, each creating an edition of 40 prints. The portfolio is set to travel to other venues in other locations in the USA and to Europe. The portfolio was co ordinated by Scott Betz.
Here is a link to the website of the writer Richard Noyce if you would like to find out more about him. RICHARD NOYCE

BIMPE IV, 2006 - international printmaking exhib.

This is the web site where I found my old buddy - Angelo Evelyn's artwork. I quite like this one as there's a serious side as well as humour. Knowing his preferred techniques, it may be litho or possibly screenprint. When I know for sure I will enter the data here. There were loads of other stimulating and excellent artworks on view - but I could only feature a few here.

The second image which you see on your left, is by Georgina Arce, called "Maria" . It seems she came third place in the previous Bimpe(III) competition.

The third image which is to your left, is the winner of Bimpe 2006 by





Mikolaj Smolinski

I really love this one !! It is intaglio and I like the way the stringyness 'sculpts' the form of the wee beasty. Well just the whole look/feel of the thing.

it's called "Roped Boar"

BIMPE 2006 - I found my old buddy Angelo Evelyn

I was going through some files/jpgs trying to locate a particular image ( yes it's a nightmare trying to find things although shortly ie once our house move is over we are hoping to buy something called Extensis Portfolio 8, which will enable me to very easily find my images. Well thats the plan anyway!! Honestly the jargon these people use , I mean those types in the IT world- 'assets managment'.




Anyway I digress !! Yep there I was looking for some images when I came across my old pals Angelo Evelyns artwork images. We were in an exhibition together which I initiated in Ireland. It was at the Triskel Gallery in Cork. I had seen it when I visited a couple of years earlier at Christmas time.

So I "Googled' Angelo , as we have kind of not kept up contact and lo and behold I found an image of his which is created from this year i.e., 2006. The above two artworks are earlier pieces by Angelo. The one with the key icon was done while we were both post graduate students at Wimbledon School of Art in London in 1999.

'Ring a Ring a Rosies' .....contextual Statement

1

Finny the Cat....... shows us all how to Chill !!!

Time for a silly one.......here is a photo taken a couple of days ago when the lads ( Finny and Monty (my sibling four year old felines) were languishing it out on the planchest in the front bedroom. Occassionally watching the world go by. It was/is unusual that they should both be sleeping on there at the same time as they each like to pretend that the other guy does not really exist. Although this delusion comes crashing down, when they go into 'fisty cuffs' with one another (and the rest!!).
He does look very sweet and oh so .......... relaxed.

Semantica - exhibition in Spain

This is a picture of my most recent installation which was shown at an exhibition called 'Semantica' in Mieres,Asturias, Spain.
The whole project came about through a Spanish artist, Jaime Rodriguez, seeing my work on the internet and contacting me to find out if I wanted to be in an exhibition, he was organising. That was about 18 months ago !!
The show just finished. If you click on the link you can find out more about the entire project and see the other artists who were showing also. It's all in Spanish though but there's lots of pretty pictures !!

For more information about this installation itself, you can click here to connect with my website on Mac.com where I will be loading up a folio of images with details of this installation. It measures about 140 x 200 cm. Its a combination of digital print and intaglio and uses net and metallic card and wool.