A watery big adventure with Bristol Biennial

Posted on September 2, 2016 by Judy

Bristol Biennial begins today, with a programme of peculiar, beautiful, imaginative and immersive events taking place across the city.

I’m really happy to have been chosen as one of 12 artists taking part in The Floating, a collaborative writing project taking place on the Bristol’s waterways, and set to culminate in a series of works inspired by the boat journey. Excitingly, these will then be published “in an experimental way” along the harbourside where you’ll be able to see them throughout the week of Bristol Biennial.

The project is being masterminded by graphic designers Conway and Young and writer Amy Spencer. It’s the first time I’ve been involved in anything quite like this, and I’m buzzing with anticipation!

The Floating is just one of an array of fabulously inventive happenings, many of which are free to experience. Find out more about Bristol Biennial and The Floating.

The fizz and sparkle of Alce Harfield’s art

Posted on September 1, 2016 by Judy

Colour Calypso by Alce Harfield

From her trademark busy blooms to vivid cityscapes to roiling seas and skies, Alce Harfield’s paintings fizz with energy, and offer a gloriously colour-saturated view of the world.

She says she had little choice about becoming an artist. “It was in my genes with my mum being Head of Art and my dad being a professional photographer!” she exclaims.

Peony Passions by Alce Harfield

Following guidance from her parents, Alce completed a degree in Commercial Interior Design at Leicester poly “in order to get a ‘proper ‘job.’” However, during her finals, Alce started painting professionally, and that changed everything.

“I realised that was what I’d always wanted to do, then after two years working as an Interior Designer in Bristol, I took the plunge following redundancy and opened my first shop.”

Two years after launching The Silly Fish Shop in Bristol. Alce opened a second shop in Bath and went from strength to strength “selling my paintings and three dimensional plaster wall hangings.”

It seems that even, or perhaps especially, on the greyest British days, we’re drawn to seek out colour and light, and Alce’s creations meet that need perfectly.

The vibrancy of Alce’s artwork comes naturally. “I’m a happy person, so colour was always going to be my thing,” she says. “It gives me massive pleasure to use colour so I thought my customers might feel the same way too!”

It’s clear that they do as a whole page of Alce’s website is dedicated to ‘satisfied customers’, proving that happiness can be contagious!

It’s also evident simply through gazing at Alce’s paintings that they’re immensely cheerful things to be around, with splashes of scarlet, green and blue offering plenty of levity.

“I keep a scrapbook of photos and cuttings, plus sketches of everything that inspires me, from a beautiful landscapes to a colour combination,” Alce says of her working methods. “That is my inspirational bible – crucial if I’m having a blank moment!”

Her early training, as well as the examples set by her parents, taught Alce the importance of a good work method too. “I’ve always been hard working,” she comments. “My dad was self employed all his life and I’ve learnt his values of hard work equalling success. Plus, who wouldn’t want to splash paint on a canvas all day? It’s the best job in the world!”

Alce’s verve for life is enviable, and shines through in each canvas she covers. How could you not want a piece of that in your home?

There’s plenty to enjoy about being an artist, she says. “I set my own rules (it helps that I’m a control freak and incredibly driven). I can take time off for my kids when I need to and I can also work late as my studio is in the garden. I’m in complete control of my life and if I fail it’s my fault, but if I succeed it’s also down to me! That’s very empowering.”

Last One to the Pub by Alce Harfield

Alce’s overflowing energy serves her in more practical ways too, as she travels the UK from Edinburgh to Windsor, and Manchester to Dartmouth, selling her work at art fairs and other shows, “including 25 years of trading at Glastonbury Festival!” She also has a stall at The Tobacco Factory market in Bristol during the winter months “when there aren’t so many shows.”

For further information and to see more of Alce’s paintings, visit www.alceharfield.com.

Are you an artist or do you know an artist who would like to be showcased on SkyLightRain.com? Get in touch at judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’m also happy to receive reviews of books, exhibitions, theatre and film. To submit or suggest a review, please send an email to judydarley (at) iCloud.com.

Writing prompt – discarded

Posted on August 31, 2016 by Judy

I found this plastic racing car washed up on a Malaysian beach some years ago, and have kept it ever since. Each time my eyes graze it, I wonder who it once belonged to, and how it came to be ownerless.

The smallest item, lost or discarded, can resonate with possibilities for a short story writer. Glance down occasionally and look out for a dropped earring, a button, a playing card (quite a lot of those appear close to where I live for some reason!) or a misplaced toy. Then begin your story by wondering how it happened to fall there, to lie alone and abandoned by the side of your path.

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to Judy(at)socket creative.com to let me know. With your permission, I’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

Book review – Songs Without Music by Tim Stevenson

Posted on August 30, 2016 by Judy

Author Tim Stevenson is a master of the final line, turning a tale on its head with a few carefully chosen words. Throughout his collection of “flash-fictions and curiosities” (what an enticing sub-head!), in just a single page or so Tim creates worlds that feel like close parallels to our own, where our own fate, and how to avoid (or embrace) it, is shown up in eerie technicolour. Human nature is spotlit and dissected, not only in the tales themselves, but through toying unsettlingly with our preconceptions, so that we’re caught off-step without even realising we’ve been led astray, as in Feral Oxide and in An Artist’s Impression.

I’m not a great devourer of sci-fi, but literary thought-provoking futuristic tales please me as much as any well-wrought fairytale, and Stevenson is particularly adept at these. Mother’s Milk is gorgeously chilling, ending with a satisfying pinch of justice, while The Mr Jones Emulator raises questions about what it is to be a person, while remaining a soothingly jolly read.

Continue reading →

Waves, harbours and hills

Posted on August 25, 2016 by Judy

Beach at Es Trenc, Mallorca by Paul Needles

I initially met Paul Needles when I was a teenager taking GCSE Art and fairly unaware that he had a first name, let alone that he had a thriving practice as an artist beyond the secondary school classroom where he taught. Paintings of oceans, fields and harbours capture the tranquility of the English countryside and Spanish coastlines, and offer evidence that teachers do in fact have lives beyond the schoolyard gates.

“I’m unsure how my interest in art first developed,” he says. “I came from a strong and supportive working class background. Both of my parents needed to work and neither were especially interested in the visual arts although my father was a very accomplished musician, playing a variety of brass instruments.”

Paul was fortunate enough to pass the 11-plus and attended Cotham Grammar School in Bristol “where art was pretty low on the curriculum. We did however have a very inspirational and slightly eccentric art teacher called Gerry Hicks.”

Mr Hicks had a significant impact on young Paul. “He was a well known character on the Bristol arts scene and was also a keen environmental activist at a time when the environment was low on the agenda,” Paul comments. “Gerry was a great inspiration to me. He and his family became great friends and were very supportive when I decided I wanted to follow him into teaching. Sadly, Gerry died last year but I still keep in touch with his wife and family.”

Having such an inspirational art teacher influenced Paul’s career choices. “I guess that I wanted to give kids the experience that he had given me. After all, nobody forgets a good teacher, do they?”

Bristol Harbourside by Paul Needles

After Paul completed his teacher training he started his career in Kent where he worked for five years before returning to South Bristol. “I taught there for 18 years before moving to Thornbury, staying for just over 15 years.”

Paul had always believed strongly that teachers should be practitioners of their subjects. “I always managed to find time to produce my own art work,” he says. “Some periods were rather lean but I made sure that I kept my hand in throughout my career.”

Then, around 15 years ago, Paul was encouraged by another former teacher and lecturer, John Stopps, to show his work at a gallery in Bristol. “I have done so every couple of years since then. I’ve also shown at Thornbury Arts Festival as well as the Octagon Gallery at the Castle School.”

Mendip Stile by Paul Needles

Paul spent his early years painting portraits but his focus shifted gradually towards landscapes. “I love Britain and the West Country in particular,” he says. “The Forest of Dean is a favourite and much loved haunt, as is Bristol itself. I also travel a great deal in Spain and am really inspired by the Spanish landscape with its wide variety of environments.”

Paul retired in 2006 at the age of 60. “I still loved teaching but didn’t want to become one of those sad old teachers who were out of touch with the pupils and decided, after teaching for almost 39 years, my time was up,” he says. “I had a great team of young teachers at Castle School and felt confident that they would carry on where I left off.”

With his teaching years behind him, Paul is busy creating his own artwork rather than guiding other people’s. “I built a large studio at the end of my long garden a couple of years back,” he says. “It means that I can be as untidy as I want and can leave my work out. My former studio was much smaller and is now used as a workroom by my wife.”

Paul is now lucky enough to paint every day. “I enjoy the solitude of working with only with the radio or my CD player for company,” he says. “I can easily get lost in my own thoughts as I work.”

Paul’s already has an exhibition planned for next year, taking place at the Guild Gallery on Park Street in Bristol from 12th August – 2nd September 2017. In the meantime, find more of his work at paulneedles.com.

Writing prompt – weir

Posted on August 24, 2016 by Judy

This photo shows Bath weir, but cropped so close I think it resembles some kind of vortex! The seagulls paddling around the edge just add to the weirdness.

Imagine your protagonist coming across this unexpectedly. You can either use it as a prompt for a straightforward sci fi tale, or delve into a character’s damaged mind – why are they so convinced the weir leads to another dimension or world? What dramatic implications could follow on from this?

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to Judy(at)socket creative.com to let me know. With your permission, I’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

Exploring starfields with Sarah Duncan

Posted on August 18, 2016 by Judy

White Noise by Sarah Duncan

The skies above are full of beauty, wonderment and mystery. For artist Sarah Duncan, the big secrets are not what they show us of the universe, but what they help us to perceive about ourselves.

“Throughout history, the night sky had been a screen for our projected dreams. My work seeks to reflect this screen, and to find others to illuminate,” Sarah says, stealing lines from her website blurb. “I’m inspired by our relationships with the remote and inaccessible, seen via telescopes and microscopes. We’re fascinated by phenomena, which appear on the surface to be constant, but on further inspection reveal themselves to be unique, constantly in flux and ever changing.”

Sarah has “always made things and created pictures, there was obviously a time when I had to work out how I was going to make a career out of my artwork.” The answer came in the form of a BA in Textiles and Print, followed by an MA in multidisciplinary printmaking.

“My practice aims to embed the humanly experienced physical world into the unimaginable enormity of the cosmos,” Sarah says, explaining that in a philosophical sense her art “shares the central aims of science” in trying to understand the marvels of nature and the physical laws that guide them.

Neutrino by Sarah Duncan

Taking a step sideways and beyond a straightforward scientific gaze, Sarah also brings into the puzzle a focus on our “emotional and embodied response rather than just an intellectual one.”

I love the idea of Sarah’s portrayal of astral spectacles being laid out with all the questions and curiosities that define us as a sentient species.

Doppler Effect by Sarah Duncan

“I think being an artist is part of who I am; it has grown with me, and I have developed as an artist alongside growing as a person, says Sarah. “I love that my practice means that every day is different; that a final piece could have taken many mistakes, multiple rejects, and a lot of learning to arrive at the end result.”

Intrigued? You can discover more about Sarah and her art at print.sarahduncan.net, and at www.instagram.com/sarahduncanprint. “I currently work at Spike Print Studio in Bristol and often exhibit with them, and have also got work at the Gas Gallery in London and Cambridge Contemporary Arts, as well as forthcoming at The Printroom in Suffolk and Zillah Bell Gallery, in Thirsk, North Yorkshire.”

Writing prompt – residence

Posted on August 17, 2016 by Judy

I was meandering in Arnos Vale Cemetery the other day, and noticed that someone has taken up residence by one of the more secluded paths. Like a nylon mushroom, a tent has sprung up.

As rents increase in this area, it looks like a distinctly tempting option, though living among the graves may not be to everyone’s taste!

Similar tents crop up in parks all over the city at this time of year, offering alternatives to the local homelessness hostels, and ripe fuel for fiction as well. Who might live here and why? What consequences could this have?

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to Judy(at)socket creative.com to let me know. With your permission, I’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

Book review – The End

Posted on August 1, 2016 by Judy

We’re often told to begin at the beginning, but in art, as in literature or film, sometimes it’s far more interesting to begin at the end, or, at least, the beginning of the end.

So it is with this upcoming anthology, The End, from the adroit Unthank Books, commissioned by Ashley Stokes, for which authors were invited to respond to the artwork of Nicholas Ruston. Each painting itself uses the words The End, imprinted on shadowy backgrounds that offer the sense of a narrative drawing the close.

With a subhead of Fifteen Endings to Fifteen Paintings, you know you’re not in for the sunniest of rides, but with contributors ranging from Tania Hershman to David Rose and u.v.ray, you’ll want to hold on tight, right till the actual end.

The variety is wonderful. Each story examines a different image, veering off in dazzlingly unexpected directions. Yes, there are deaths, but also near misses, recoveries and quiet moments of realisation.

Continue reading →

Seeds of art

Posted on July 28, 2016 by Judy

Hyacinth watercolour by Gill Martin

“I don’t consider myself particularly creative, more as a recorder of natural things so that the viewer sees them afresh but also to give them a place,” says botanical artist Gill Martin.

Gill sees nature as a direct connection to art, and vice versa. “Art makes me really look at things and appreciate their beauty; I love that I can just be walking down a street and find a leaf or twig or something else that just makes me feel I want to draw it.”

Almond by Gill Martin

It’s a symbiotic process than began early on in her life. “I drew and painted from a very young age and did Art A-Level along with Sciences, which led me down the path of a career in dentistry; the drawings I did at school were always close observational, usually in pen and ink.”

Throughout her time working as a dentist, Gill’s artwork was, in reaction to this “very concise occupation” far more abstract than it is today. “I produced large pieces, stained glass and printmaking – it was almost like an antidote to the dentistry,” she comments. “After I retired from my profession I decided to do a long distance four-year distance learning with the Society of Botanical Artists and felt very much back with my natural inclinations.”

In particular she finds herself attracted by unusual shapes and forms. “Although during the course I had to do many flowery subjects, I have found that I am more interested in subjects such as individual leaves.”

Examples of this include an intricate drawing of a seedpod completed while in Australia for her son’s wedding.

“The course assignment was fruit, but all the fruit I looked at seemed very boring. Then I realised that the fruits of various trees were far more interesting! I think that I really like looking at the ground, or other places where perhaps things crop up unexpectedly.”

Australian Seedpods by Gill Martin

Using watercolours, coloured pencils and graphite pencil, Gill’s beautifully precise art has been exhibited in London, at Bristol Botanic Garden and in the BV Studios where she carries out much of her work.

She relishes the ability to show people the natural world in a fresh way by focusing in detail on small, easily overlooked elements. “I love the achievement of highlighting something that most people wouldn’t notice; nothing gives me greater pleasure than to find a fallen leaf amongst many others and then making a beautiful drawing or painting of it so viewers think, Wow, look at that leaf!”

Find Gill and her work at www.gillmartinillustration.co.uk.