Henry Ascencio

Henry Asencio at work, a favourite of mine. I love the emotion in his artwork.

Eternity

Transition

a colour too far?

Painting is so torturous sometimes! I picked some new colours, new for me, to create four personal pictures for my dining room. Lime green, my new absolutely favouritest colour, orange, my previous colour of choice (which in itself was a surprise to me when realisation hit that it was my favourite) and yellow, well who can not like yellow. Its sunshine and flowers etc etc you have to be a pretty miserable bugger not to be cheered up by yellow.

Anyway three colours that look lovely on my coffee mugs,cushions, i-pod nana (as i mistakenly called it and now its stuck) and allegedly were to look amazing on the new paintings BUT DONT.

Admittedly I have only done the backgrounds but they remind me of the garish 'we've fallen in love with the Caribbean' pictures that you see tourists in flip flops clutching at airports on their way back to the fog, rain and grime that is home (after the Caribbean fairy has sprinkled her ganja scented magic dust over them) Its the green i think, its not the right green :(

I'm hoping they can be rescued when further layers go on the top. Its a tall order tho...

Helen xx

Danielle O'Connor Akiyama

My new figurative collection is coming along splendidly, very pleased with how the work looks, its free and full of vitality which was the initial aim. Have pushed my boundaries a little, adding new mediums and am thrilled with the result, hope you will be too.

I'm hoping to make Danielle O'Connor Akiyamas appearance at Whitewall on the 12th, she is an artist with Demontfort Fine Art and was charming at her Nottingham Exhibition. I'm so looking forward to seeing her vibrant new pieces.

Interestingly Danielle told me that her paintings are actually landscapes.

Danielle O'Connor Akiyama

Helen xx  

Charcoal Figures

Charcoal Nudes are something I just love to do, the shadows, the curves, the emotion, its just wonderful to see a figure come to life before your eyes.....

My new Gallery!

To be fair, it isn't 'my' gallery. Leading on from the Art Fair we held at Desford Hall we (the six artists involved) where approached by 'The Earl Shilton Business Forum' to set up and run an Art Gallery.
The business Forum are involved in a scheme to regenerate empty shop premises and had the keys to a suitable vacant one, which we re-furbished and stocked with our work within two months. Quite an achievement!
The best news is that we've already sold seven pieces of work and we've only been open for two weeks!! The Gallery is called 'Art In Earl Shilton' http://www.artinearlshilton.co.uk/
I have a range of my work there including my canvases so I'm very grateful to the Business Forum for their wonderful idea. The grand opening day is on Saturday 3rd of April 2010 from 10a.m. come along and have a look!

Helen xx

Helen Watson-Jones and the Ghost!

A corner of my studio

A funny little story, with a loosly artistic theme :o)
I get into my building around 8.30 in the morning, I'm always first there, unlock the side door, go up the stairs, through the classrooms, stopping to fill the kettle and switch it on to boil before unlocking my studio door and dumping my bags inside. I put on my heater, put a Teabag in a mug and go back to the kettle to fill up with boiled water.I then spend half an hour in front of my heater with my tea before creation begins, easing myself into the day, heaven. Same every morning, my little routine.
So this week, I'm up the stairs, through the classrooms and the kettles boiling hot when I pick it up - no water in it, just hot - spooky spooky spooky.
Its a gorgeous old building were in, centuries old, and our 'ghosty' if that's what it is, seems to have a thing for heat. The ladies who work in the cafe often come in in the morning to find the cooker rings on, they don't use the cooker rings, well occasionally on Friday evenings if there's a 'do' on but never in the week.
I used to survey old pubs in a previous Architectural life, dilapidations surveys and I never believed in ghosts before then - but 600+ pubs with assorted cellars and attic rooms, well at the risk of sounding like a fruitcake, that job changed my mind I can tell you!!

Helen Watson-Jones Nose

Its hard to be creative when your nose is dripping in your acrylic!

Lovely image but I have been a poorly person for almost two weeks now - how very dull!

Lets have some cheery pictures to lift the mood, some of my caricatures for a coffee table book currently being written....