Painting Carshalton

 In my last post I wrote about the Wapping Group of Artists exhibition at the Mine Gallery and their day of plein air painting. click here
Later in the afternoon I chose this scene to sketch. and painted it later at home. The traffic over the bridge was incessant  queuing  up to turn either right past the Greyhound or left past the church and I didn't want the cars in this painting.

The Greyhound Hotel, Carshalton Ponds. (c) Tessa Spanton watercolour

The Wapping Group in Carshalton

Members of the Wapping Group of Artists are showing work at The mine gallery in Carshalton until Oct 6th. This is one not to be missed, click here for more details and some images of their work.

Last week they were painting en plein air in this beautiful historic area. When I arrived they were painting, umbrella in one hand and paintbrush in the other. And talking of hands there are a few left handers among them. Only the next day I spotted this on Squidoo asking whether left handed people are more likely to be artists. The results of the poll are interesting.

Anyway back to  the Wappers as they are affectionately known. Most were painting in oils and a few in watercolour.

Above  John Stillman is painting All Saints church in oils

Below shows one of the  Carshalton Ponds and the Greyhound Hotel. Beyond the pond is the Heritage Centre at Honeywood  Lodge, the tallest tree in London and out of the picture, the Ecology Centre and Grove Park.

I lived in this picturesque area just the other side of The Greyhound for about ten years so know it well and have painted here before. 

  Bert Wright is capturing the scene in watercolour. I returned to this spot later to do my version.

Below Outside the church, Carshalton High Street is being tackled in oils by Roger Dellar and Derek Daniells.

 and below David Penney with Carshalton church in watercolours.

I had a wonderful afternoon watching everyone paint and they were most generous in answering questions so thanks Wappers!
 I shall make my third visit to the exhibition before it closes.

'Lavender Blue Dilly Dilly' at the Corner Gallery

See that little door on the left? That is the way in to the Aladin's cave of a gift shop then through another door at the back of the shop to the Gallery. Follow your nose as there are lavender smellies for sale. I park my car just around the corner and smell them from there.



'Lavender Blue Dilly Dilly' features the work of several artists and started last night with a lavender themed private view. We had lavender biscuits baked at Cocoa River a few doors away and lavender tea from Marks and Sparks.
One of my silk paintings is in the window. The rest of my paintings are grouped together as shown in the third photo. The other artists' work includes some large oils on canvas, watercolours and some stunning photographs.
When I arrived with my paintings on Monday morning and saw all the paintings I wondered how Jacky would fit them all in. When I came back later in the day it looked amazing. It felt as if the walls had been stretched. The different styles of work together make a lively mix.
My silk scarves are displayed on little easels behing the paintings in the window. (photo to follow)

My paintings below range in size from tiny up to about 28x 24in. They are mostly watercolours with one oil, one acrylic and 2 silk paintings.

The exhibition is on till the end of November. There will be a demo of lavender crafts on Sat 6th and I am doing a watercolour demo on Sat 20th.

and if you should visit don't miss popping in to Cocoa River afterwards.

The gallery is only a few steps away from Carshalton Beeches station.

Work in Progress

Mayfield Lavender, Woodmansterne.

Well I've done a lot of work on these since Friday. I may still add some finishing touches before framing them for an exhibition next week.

The painting above was started earlier in the month and has just had some finishing touches. The first layer was done using FW acrylic inks. I like the way these spread and mixed on the paper creating some interesting effects. I was a bit reluctant to work to over this with acrylics but it was only intended as a base so I took the plunge. The colours from the inks glow through the painting and create an effect that I would not have got otherwise. I will use the inks again both under acrylics and as a wet loose watercolour in its own right.

Lavender Landscapes

I have been working on these two paintings over the last few days and think they are now just about finished.
The frames and mounts are ready and waiting. They are going to an exhibition at the Denbies Wine Estate at Dorking on Thursday morning along with some other paintings.