Red Oriental Poppy

Red Oriental Poppy (c) Tessa Spanton  mixed media

I used watercolour, acrylic, oil pastel, tissue paper and watercolour paper. The tissue I used made lot of texture which does not fully come across in a photo.

These poppies grow in my garden and originally came from my friend Elizabeth's garden.

This painting has been selected for the

2012 SWA 151st Annual Exhibition


at the Mall Gallleries London


to be opened by:
HRH Princess Michael of Kent

on Wednesday 27th June 2012 at 11am
the Show Runs from the 28th June to the 7th July 2012


I will also have prints and cards from original silk paintings in the exhibition.

The Faberge Big egg Hunt

Around 210 giant eggs, created by leading artists, designers, architects and jewellers were placed around London during the 6 weeks leading up to Easter. This was sponsored by Faberge. The event broke the record for the greatest number of entrants for the egg hunt. Of the 12,773 entrants one of them stood to win a Faberge diamond encrusted egg.

The eggs were auctioned to raise money for charities, the target being two million pounds.

The Big Egg Hunt

These 2 eggs were in the Burlington arcade off Piccadilly. I spotted these while visiting the Hockney exhibition in the Royal Academy next door.

They were all brought to put on show at Covent Garden over Easter. One of them was coated with chocolate and the winning bidder could bring it back the next Easter to be recoated by the chocolatier who made it.

Hockney A Bigger Picture

Hockney A Bigger Picture

Royal Academy London 21st Jan -9th April 2012

To see some of the work and hear Hockney speak about it click here

To read an excellent and comprehensive review by Katherine Tyrrell on Making A Mark click here

There are just 2 days to go before this exhibition closes and moves to the Guggenheim, Bilbao where it will be on show from May 15th-Sept 30th. It has been well attended with queues for tickets lasting 4-5 hours and opening hours extended till midnight.

I went last month and spent a lively 35 minutes in the queue. There was a sense of anticipation and interesting snippets of conversation to tune into. People were discussing a recent TV documentary about the artist and his work. what an amazing opportunity to be on the threshold of a blockbuster of an exhibition of work by a living artist.

I took these photos while in the queue.

Passing through the arch and up the stairs into the first gallery space was like entering another world, stepping from the urban streets into a leafy Narnia like environment. In this space are 4 huge multi canvas paintings of the same view ' Three Trees at Thixendale' each at a different season. Moving through the exhibition this sense of the passage of time is evident at many levels. After all much of the work was done on location at many different times of day and through the seasons, sometimes starting work as early as 4 am.

The are several sequences of paintings.

The Arrival of Spring at Woldgate is written above a huge multi canvas oil while the other 3 walls of this large gallery show a sequence of about 51 large works. Each has a date next to it.

Such a large group made possible by the creative use of an ipad. People looked with a puzzled curiosity as the 'penny dropped' for some.

In the next room was the fascinating multiscreen film and beyond a room with sketchbooks and a collection of pictures on a sequence of ipads.

'Everything begins with the sketchbooks' David Hockney

Whether with traditional paint or use of an ipad it is clear that Hockney's intention is that the eye, the hand and the heart are working together.

This is not a retrospective exhibition. Much more amazing is that most of the work was done in the last 4 years specially for this exhibition and a considerable amount is from the previous 12 months.

Books

A Bigger Picture (hardback) is available from Amazon

A Yorkshire Sketchbook here

Oranges and Lemons

Oranges and Lemons silk scarf

I finished working on this today by adding some embellishments of gold and copper gutta. These were diluted with water then splattered from a paintbrush onto the silk. I had previously dyed the scarf using microwave fix dyes. I blended yellow and red on damp silk to produce a range of yellows, golds and oranges with a hint of pink.

It was warm enough to work in the garden and leave the scarf to dry in the sun.

Botanical Celebration

I am delighted to have had 5 silk paintings accepted by the Society of Botanical Artists; four will be on show at their exhibition ” BOTANICAL CELEBRATION”. The theme is inspired by the celebrations for the Queen's Diamond Jublilee and the Olympics and some of the flowers painted will have some kind of link with these celebrations.

Open 20-29th April 11-5pm every day, admission free. Westminster Central Hall, Storey’s Gate, London SW1H 9NH for more information click here The exhibition will be opened at the Private View by Elizabeth Banks, President of the Royal Horticultural Society. Some of the artists will be demonstrating their painting techniques throughout the exhibition.

Iris spuria Silk Painting (C) Tessa Spanton

The painting above is one of the paintings to go in this show. I am a member of the Kent group of the British Iris Society and was invited to an open day to bring some of my work and to draw some of the flowers on display. I was given a big bunch of irises to bring home which included several different Iris spuria flowers. these are what I used for this silk painting. During the day I drew a Space Ager iris. I chose it because of its unusual appearance. In place of a beard this iris had a little spoon shape emerging from its lower petals.

Strelitzia reginae silk painting (c) Tessa Spanton

This beautiful flower was named after Queen Charlotte of Mecklenber Strelitz, Queen Consort of George 111. She was an enthusiastic amateur botanist who helped expand and develop Kew Gardens.

This flower is a favourite of mine to paint. The one in my painting was growing in Madeira and glowed with sunlight streaming through it. It seems to me to have an almost regal bearing with its vivid crown of orange yellow petals.

Th

The s

Paintings at Pashley

above painting in the garden last September

Pashley Manor

3rd April to 29th September 2012

Gardens, Café and Gift Shop Open
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, Bank Holiday Mondays and Special Event days – 11.00am to 5.00pm.

There are also several special events for garden and art lovers, for more details click here

I have been invited to show some more silk paintings this year at this beautiful place. I took the paintings there last week. As I waited for the huge wooden door to open I noticed that 1550 was carved in the wood over the door as well as some decorative carving. After I had handed over my work I had a look at the garden. It opens to the public on April 3rd and the gardeners were working hard to get things ready. It was almost a year to the day since I last delivered my paintings there. The garden was waking up again after the winter with daffodils in flower and the promise of so much to come. I visited the garden several times last year observed the changing of the seasons and I painted and drew there. I felt a sense of anticipation seeing it again. The daffodils are in flower again and the leaves of the tulips herald an amazing show of around 22,000 flowers. Last year I drew a rose named Just Joey. In the midday heat of the July sun the rose opened further as I was drawing it. There it was, pruned and beginning to produce new shoots. Back in my studio I did a silk painting of this rose. There will be limited edition prints of it in the Pashley shop.

Chihuli in London

CHIHULI 5th Dec - 31st March UPDATE now extended till 21st April

at the Halcyon Gallery 144-146, New Bond Street, London W1 2PF

I would like to give a big thank you to the Halcyon Gallery for giving me permission to photograph these beautiful works.

The Mille Fiori Garden fills a whole room and is 24ft long. It was made specially for this exhibition. The photo below really doesn't do it justice.

I came up the stairs and through the door (at the back of the photo) The lighting in the room was dimmer than in the previous space and the glass garden glowed with rich saturated colours.

The colours and reflections in the glass danced as I moved round it and the relationships of the colours and sculptural shapes changed.

There were Chihuli paintings too in this exhibition and this illuminated glass panel shown below.

There was also a video of him at work. Fire and sand and the huge energy of Chihuli and his team combine to create huge flowing masses of molten glass. Skillfully and creatively handled. Now no longer molten and hot I find they convey something of the energy from which they were wrought. The paintings too seem alive with energy and movement.


I glimpsed the piece below through a doorway and from a distance and was drawn in by the electric effect of the blue and orange. This one as many of the pieces is like mysterious underwater life.

Cranberry and clear chandelier with part of the quartz and gold chandelier showing beyond.

The beautiful Waterford wall sconces above the door create patterns and colours on the wall.

The gold and quartz chandelier below reaches from floor to ceiling and can be viewed from above as well as floor level as here. It is made from hundreds of glass made pieces assembled on a metal frame.

These were some of my favourites out of 57 works/groups/installations.

Do go if you can as there is so much to explore and discover.

The following video is from Halcyon's website