Inspired by the trees that fell during Storm Ciaran on November 2nd 2023 and how they appeared after the unusual snow fall of January 9th January 2024.
My Dad died less than 48 hours before Storm Ciaran hit Jersey. My Mum was staying with us; feelings were very raw and when the large old trees in the woods opposite our house fell that night, thankfully falling away from our house and not into the bedroom that Mum was sleeping in; it felt like Dad was keeping an eye on us.
Hence I feel a need to create a body of work inspired by the aftermath of storm Ciaran and how our Island is recovering. ‘Slippery’ is an ink with gum arabic and gouache resist painting and is the first artwork of this body of work.
I wanted to share with you the magical processes that went into creating ‘Slippery’. Please check my short videos below
It has been an incredible experience both as an Artist and an Educator to have guided the Year 3 class at St Martin’s Primary School through a wonderful Artistic journey. An inspiring group of children with a fantastic class teacher, Mrs Brown.
Our journey began with a visit to Plemont beach where we observed and discussed coastal erosion as part of their Geography learning and then we created a giant Land Art of beach views the children saw.
We documented our Artist journey in our sketchbooks, learning new Artistic techniques, skills and vocabulary.
The children created stunning combination paintings incorporating their new learnt skills which we mounted as beautiful wall hangings.
The children made Art Exhibition invitations and proudly invited their families to the children’s very own Art Exhibition.
I am so proud of the children, who not only had fun but were truly engaged through this entire process.
Art is powerful way of learning and a vital piece of the national curriculum that must never be forgotten.
Please click on the photo below to watch a photographic journey of the project so far.
I have begun my journey to become an Artist Educator for MAPS, thanks to the Genesis Education programme at ArtHouse Jersey and The Jersey Government Department of Children Young People Educations Services (CYPES).
The first block of MAPS training for the selected Artists and Teachers was held at ArtHouse Jerseys’ headquarters at Greve de L’ecq Barracks.
MAPS is a training and educational programme with artists and teachers working in collaboration to enhance the delivery and provision for art in Jersey’s primary schools. Each Artist is partnered with a school. I have the privilege of working with St Martins Primary School and I look forward to our partnership flourishing as we develop our besopke project over the next few months.
Recently I was very fortunate to be invited by Greek Artisit and owner of Elounda Island Villas, Leda Alexpoulou, to become their Artist in residence.
The residency entailed responding directly to this unique place by creating an Art installtion for Elounda Island Villas gardens.
I am fascinated by the stripes created by the reflections of Elounda town’s lights on the sea at night as viewed from the Islet. I have painted them many times but needed to created more than a painting, something that was connected to the Spinalonga Peninsula…..
The creative process of my Artists residency began with hiking the islet of the Spinalonga Peninsula in search of driftwood washed up from the Aegean Sea. It was fun but hot work and couldn’t have managed getting all the driftwood back to Elounda without my husband, Steve’s, help. The intention being to use the beautiful flotsam and Jetson, gifted by the sea, to create a canvas for my Art installation for Elounda Island Villas.
The next process of my Art installation, with the help of Steve’s building skills was to make using only the driftwood we sourced from hiking the Islet of the Spinalonga Peninsula, a canvas for me to create my Artistic response to evening reflections of the lights of Elounda on the Aegean sea as viewed from the Islet. I made a paper template of the driftwood canvas which I use to design my Artwork which I will eventually pyrography burn and acrylic paint onto the driftwood.
The next process for this work was my painting response which could only happen after sunset…I sat and observed how the reflections of the lights changed as the sky darkened, then I did a watercolour painting study of the light reflections on the Aegean sea.
In the daylight, I created an abstract design of the pattern of light reflections I saw. Then transferred the design onto my driftwood canvas ready for pyrography burning and acrylic painting.
Using traditional skills of pyrography I hand burn each mark onto the driftwood using different pyrography tool tips; It feels like you are sketching with fire. Then with only Acrylic high key primary colours and white I created colours that represent the specific light reflections that I have studied and painted in my watercolour painting study.
I am fascinated by the way the different types of timber we found and used as the canvas reacted differently to the same temperature of the pyrography machine as I burnt. The dryer softwood squeaked, the older softwood smelt of the Aegean and the hardwood fought the burn.
The vertical burnt marks are my interpretation of the reflections of the silhouetted mountains in the water and the colour stripes are the reflections of lights of Elounda town as seen from Elounda Island Villas on the Spinalonga Peninsula. The occasional horizontal block of burn or colour signifies the gentle movement of the water
Come see the world through three local female Artists’ eyes!
I am pleased to confirm that myself, and two other fellow local female Artisits, Lucy Fleming and Sophie de Faye, have been brought together through a collaboration process instigated by Arthouse Jersey. Arthouse Jersey have kindly invited us to hold a pop up collaborative Exhibition at their Headquarters at Greve de L’ecq Barracks. The three day Exhibiiton will commence with opening night show on Friday 14th October 2022 and then open to the general public all day Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th October.
I am so pleased that my painting ‘The old Kitchen of the Garrison Hospital’ has been selected for the JJ Fox International Art Competiton. The exhibition is showing in the Berni gallery at Jersey Arts Centre until 6th November 2021. If you get a chance do come and visit this diverse and exciting show
‘The Old Kitchen of the Hospital Garrison’ at Elizabeth Castle.
A combination painting using watercolour, tissue paper and candle wax.
At last we managed to revisit the beautiful Island of Crete, our sanctuary for a couple of weeks.
The much needed healing powers of the coast, and the mountains certainly rewarded us with their magic. We look forward to our next visit.
Experimental Art practice. Playing with ideas for an outdoor Art installation for Elounda Island Villas to be made hopefully whilst being an Artist in residence next year:
This beautiful films depicts the beginning of the creative process for my latest work in progress, following my journey of discovery around the Garrison Hospital at Elizabeth Castle. Now the hard work starts as I put pen to paper and paint to canvas.
Just simply being in this old neglected building steeped in history was awe inspiring.
Different periods of history surrounded us as we walked, observed, sketched and filmed this deteriorating yet beautiful building. Stunning visual historic clues provide windows into times when the building was used. Evidence of it’s use as a modern military hospital in the 1800’s, visual glimpses are on view of the German forces during the Occupation of the Island in 1940’s and even graffiti on the walls which oddly stops in 1960’s shows the pure beauty and life of this building.
The inside of this buildings role in my next Art Exhibition, ‘The Unseen’ just got a whole lot bigger!
Jess Troy, my daughter and very talented professional film production specialist kindly documented our visit as part of the creative process. This short film intimately allows it’s viewers to get a snapshot into our visit and an understanding as why as an Artist I am so inspired to create paintings of this unseen place. We will release the film shortly for to you enjoy. In the meantime here are some photos from our visit.
So looking forward to exploring and visually documenting a hidden gem at Elizabeth Castle this weekend. Thank you jerseyhertiage for making this possible.
