A retreat in Laugharne

Posted on November 22, 2016 by Judy

While others seek winter sun (and yes, I’m tempted), I often find myself drawn to the more secluded places, the out-of-season contemplative corners where mist and moss hang from the trees and the only sound may be the distant waterfall of a curlew’s call.

Laugharne in Carmarthenshire, Wales, on the estuary of the River Taf, is one such place. I had the chance to spend four foggy, magical days there in Spring 2012, and returned there this November.

Home to poet Dylan Thomas for the last four years of his life (he died in 1953), Laugharne is the perfect spot to squirrel yourself away for plenty of thinking space and glorious views.

With my family, I stayed at the Season’s resort situated on the hill there, in a self-catering cottage with views over the Taf Estuary and the village rumoured to have been the starting point for the fictional Llareggub in Dylan’s Under Milk Wood. Although the invented name looks genuine enough for that area of Wales, if you reverse it you’ll discover the words bugger all, which tells you everything you need to know about this peaceful retreat.

Ironically, Dylan’s time there has resulted in a number of attractions to visit and influxes of literary minded tourists in high summer, but at this time of year the majority of the visitors are wading birds, searching the estuary’s shallows for molluscs.

Just along a little forest track from the resort, called Dylan’s Walk (and decorated lavishly with the afore-mention mist and moss hung trees), you’ll find Dylan’s writing shed, where you can peer in through the glass-panelled door and see it just as he left it, with a jacket hung over the back of his chair and bottles, books, paper and other ephemera littering the desk and shelves. I think it looks as though he’s nipped out for a moment’s think, and is standing somewhere nearby staring out at the Taf and swilling words around his mouth.

A short way beyond this, you’ll find the Dylan Thomas Boathouse where he lived with his family, and now a museum. It’s a lovely building, with a cute café so you can pause for a coffee and a ponder. The Boathouse is also a great place for a spot of word bombing, as I did in 2012!

A few minutes walk in the other direction leads to the village past the dramatic ruined Laugharne castle, which apparently boasts a summerhouse where Dylan used to write – presumably when he needed a very slight change of view. He described the castle as “Brown as owls” in his Poem in October.

He was also known for frequenting Brown’s Hotel, which still thrives today – apparently his routine was to write at his shed in the mornings and then head to Brown’s in the afternoons, where he could drink beer as he wrote. According to the hotel’s website, he said he liked to “moulder” in the corner facing the entrance as he worked. Back then it was known simply as a bar with room, but now it’s a luxury boutique hotel – ideal for a romantic hideaway.

If you head inland from Dylan’s writing shed, you’ll eventually reach St. Martin’s Church, where Dylan Thomas’ grave is marked by a plain white cross with exquisitely curly lettering. The name of his wife, Caitlin, adorns the other side as she’s buried with him. It looks like they’re finally achieving the marital harmony in death that eluded them in life!

Further afield there are plenty of diversions. On our previous visit, we spent a pleasant day visiting the pretty harbour town of Tenby, and this time we went to Carmarthen and Pendine Beach, and called in at the excellent National Botanical Garden of Wales – another perfectly tranquil spot – on our way back to England.

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Natural wonders illustrated

Posted on November 5, 2016 by Judy

For illustrator Shelly Perkins, the natural world is full of small wonders. While otters or hares may take centre stage, every leaf, snail shell or length of seeding grass adds a swirl of beauty to her canvas, and reminds us of the wealth of life in every corner of woodland, field and river.

“My work is all influences by my love of the outdoors,” says Shelly, “I spend a lot of time in the countryside, out walking the dog, riding my horse and running. I see the British landscape in all shades of colour and seasons and I am constantly getting inspiration from it.”

Increasingly her work has been influenced by travels. “My husband and I are keen wildlife enthusiasts and love travelling abroad and seeing animals in their natural homes,” she says. “Our trips recently have included the Okavango Delta, Namib Desert and Yellowstone national park, all wonderful places for getting inspiration for wildlife pieces.”

In fact, Shelly’s enthusiasm for drawing animals hasn’t wavered since childhood.

“I have always loved to draw,” she says. “I spent hours drawing after school, on weekends and school holidays and nurtured the art of drawing from a young age. Those early years spent mastering getting a horse’s hocks right or the lie of hair on a cats face have been very important to my drawing style now. I always tell anyone who asks me for tips on becoming an artist that practise makes perfect!”

Mallard by Shelly Perkins

Shelly accepts commercial illustration jobs from magazines, as well as from organisations such as the national Trust, RSPB and WWF. “I am fortunate that I have now become known as a wildlife artist and as a result I get clients who commission the sort of work that I enjoy creating!” she says. “Commercial jobs are always challenging for different reasons – often deadlines are tight and clients may want a lot of input into what the illustration will include. Frequently I’m expected to represent a variety of species very accurately, which can be a challenge as I tend to create looser freer work when I’m creating work for my own portfolio.”

Otters by Shelly Perkins

Shelly begins a work of art by creating rough sketches “to get a feel for the composition that I want to achieve, I tend to sketch out my idea for the composition fairly small and may make several rough drawings of the same idea until I get a feeling for the movement I want to achieve through the piece.”

For the final drawing, Shelly works with HB pencils onto thick smooth paper, and warns: “Timid lines will be lost in the scanning process if they are too weak, but it’s important to have a balance in the depth of line to make it look flowing and varied, I try to use a rubber as little as possible and to keep the pencil really sharp at all times.”

She splits the artwork into three groups: “the main characters, the background landscape and the flowers, foliage and trees that are prominent in the piece. Each drawing is finished to a high standard line drawing with details like the way the fur lies, the bark on a tree and the veins on a leaf all being included.”

Colourwashes and textures give each illustration a lively, graceful finish, offering the sense of that magical moment when you glimpse a wild creature for a moment, before it disappears into the undergrowth.

“I love that each of my days as an artist are different,” Shelly says. “Sometimes I’m out and about visiting wildlife reserves or visiting galleries, sometimes I’m dealing with framers or suppliers or sometimes I’m just tucked away on my own creating my work. It’s a very diverse role and you have to be very proactive to keep lots of plates spinning!”

You can see Shelly’s artwork at galleries throughout the UK. Find details at www.shellyperkins.co.uk.

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.

Open eyes and minds

Posted on October 27, 2016 by Judy

Fuelling Up by Jason Lanes

The RWA 164th open exhibition is currently on at the galleries on Queen’s Road, Bristol, populated by strange creatures, wondrous landscapes and portraits with soulfully intriguing expressions.

The open exhibition is always a highlight, showcasing a wonderful breadth and variety of artistic talent. Narratives whisper and wriggles on every page, canvas board and plinth.

The Maenads Series by invited sculptor Tim Shaw (shown at the top of this post) exudes a wonderfully satisfying sense of joy as they cavort, drum and wave their arms in the air, filling more space than their few inches in height would have you expect.

Other works prompt laughter and smiles, such as Simon Tozer’s Mermaid screen print and Fuelling Up by Jason Lanes. Jean Crosse’s A Bowl of Eyes is exactly what its title suggests – a ceramic bowl with eyes on stalks, which led us to remembering old teddies with cataracts and myopia or a single off-centre orb offering the impression of a sly wink.

Tabula Rasa (Elsie 1914) by Ruth Wallace

Quieter, meditative artworks take their place on the edges. Self-portrait as Icarus by Richard Twose depicts the artist conducting a flock of pigeons on strings, as though they are marionettes or kites, while the Tabula Rasa (Elsie 1914) by Ruth Wallace gazes steadily back at the viewers, unfazed. Grey Rouge by Rhiannon Davies, is a miniature portrait in watercolour and gouache, well worth crouching down to see.

Yurim Gough with her Heart Chakra -> Ego bowl at RWA annual open exhibition 2016 photo cr Jack Offord

Yurim Gough with her Heart Chakra -> Ego bowl at the exhibition launch

Heart Chakra -> Ego by Yurim Gough looks to me like a new take on her elegant life studies on clay, with a serene face imposed over the model’s own and a perimeter of dreaming figures kneeling at the bowl’s rippled edge.

In a trio of paintings by Karen Bowers (Flood and Willow, Sue’s Field, Late Autumn, Late Afternoon and The Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Garden), autumn mists catch in trees and halt us with their atmospheric beauty. These are artworks that present a moment in which to pause, exhale and renew your strength – how fitting for this time of year.

Quite simply, this is an exhibition where humour, contemplation, landscape and memory are offered up in an exceptionally wide-ranging array of works. Escape there for an hour or two, and you’ll inevitably emerge refreshed and inspired.

The 164th RWA Annual Open Exhibition is on until 27th November 2016. Find details.

All photography in this post is by Jack Offord, provided courtesy the RWA.

Poetry review – Impossible Memories by Chris Tutton

Posted on October 25, 2016 by Judy

A palpable joy of language ripples through Chris Tutton’s latest poetry collection, Impossible Memories. Wry comments on human existence and musings on advancing age are tempered by heartfelt declarations of love.

I had the impression of memories being savoured throughout, as though Tutton was leafing through his mind for moments worthy of being rescued and pressed onto the page. There are whispers of regret over love’s dissolution, but also incidents glowing with quiet bliss – held gently cradled in two hands to share with another before it flutters away.

Frequently, humour spikes through, reminding us that human relationships are more complex than daydreams, as in the drolly titled Fawning in Love Again, in which our narrator laments: “Your wool is coarse as a/ drunken curse, yet I wear it/ next to my skin.”

Continue reading →

Never a still moment

Posted on October 20, 2016 by Judy

Dancer Flora 1 by Cody Choi

Capturing the essence of movement through the stillness of photography is no easy feat. Choreographer and teacher Cody Choi has a deep understanding of the way the human body’s capabilities, and has made it his goal to portray this dynamism through the split-second click of a camera’s shutter.

Step one of gaining this knowledge was becoming a dancer himself. After graduating in Modern Dance from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (where he twice received the Jackie Chan Scholarship), he received a full scholarship to join the Transitions Dance Company in London, and has since danced with Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, English National Opera, Royal National Theatre, and more, including being a feature dancer in the films 47 Ronin and Walking on Sunshine!

Yet, his early goals as a youngster were to be a pop star.

“I learnt my dance moves from music videos and I began to dream of becoming a dancer,” he admits. “I went to a full time performing arts school when I was 17.”

Cody began to experiment with dance photography when he was doing a three-year world tour with Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, “And loving every minute of it!”

He says: “There were many places I felt I would only get the chance to go to once, so I bought a Nikon D50 to capture different places and start to take dance photos of my colleagues. Years later I started doing exhibitions and art fairs.”

The 3rd Day 16 by Cody Choi

Cody’s aims are self-evident in the sizzling vitality of his work.

“I love energy, I love moving, I love jumping,” he says. “I always like to capture the highest point of a jump – the max point of any movement.”

Dancer Flora 13 by Cody Choi

At present, Cody manages to balance his time between dancing, choreography, teaching, modelling and dance photography, saying blithely that he devotes himself to: “Whatever comes. The things I love most about life are the freedom to seek inspiration and to grow.”

You can see more of Cody’s photography, and find out where he will be dancing next, at www.codysmovinggroup.com.

Gazing upon serenity

Posted on October 13, 2016 by Judy

Big Sky, Small Trees by Laura Boswell

Laura Boswell has a distinctly economical way of regarding a view. With a sharp eye for the most important and aesthetically pleasing or telling elements, she strips everything else away, until all that remains are a few colours, sweeping lines, and a sense of utter serenity.

For me there’s an impression of having struggled uphill or through a tangled forest, and then happened upon the most beautiful, breath-taking, equilibrium-restoring scene.

Persimmons And Rice by Laura Boswell

Laura studied printmaking at university, but then went into the photographic industry. “It was only in my forties with the loan of a printing press that I began work again as an artist, and I sort of fell into it as a career,” she says. “ My main drive was that my work should be good enough to sell to strangers, rather than amassing a drawer full of prints, so by that very ambition, rather than by planning, I became a fulltime artist.”

Likewise, Laura’s affinity for linocut and Japanese watercolour woodblock printing came about through practicality.

“I was the only student in my year to embrace printmaking and, from necessity, I found I could work on lino alone and still achieve good results,” she says. “Consequently it became the focus of my work. Japanese woodblock I admired, but knew nothing of the technique until I studied in Japan (again a chance comment from a friend led to that residency) where I found that Japanese woodblock’s subtle painterly quality was such a good counterpoint to linocut that the two techniques give me everything I need for a lifetime’s printmaking.”

Laura’s landscapes and shorelines have a wonderful lightness and elegance about them, which is due in part to her overarching aims for each piece.

“I think I try to give people space and room to escape through my work – a private escape for the viewer,” she says. “I also hope to catch something of the familiar for the viewer – the feel of a remembered walk or view. My main ambition is to allow my viewer a quiet moment of pleasure and peace.”

Mission accomplished most beautifully, in that case.

Barrow Beach After The Rainstorm by Laura Boswell

“I get a lot of ideas from craft-made items, such as textiles, jewellery, and ceramics,” Laura says. “Since my work is chiefly about shape and colour, inspiration can come from anywhere. I do love a good transport poster and spend a lot of time simply looking at historical prints and engravings. Of course, mainly I work with landscape so do a lot of staring and sketching outside.”

More recently, teaching has become “an essential part” of Laura’s artistic life. “It challenges me and keeps me on my toes,” she comments. “It allows me to put my thoughts and methods into words and it always encourages me to rush home and work. I also get a genuine thrill out of coaxing a good print from my students and that happy feeling has to be good for my own work.”

The best part of Laura’s life as an artist is simple. “The fierce delight of beginning a new project. I can’t think of anything else as purely pleasurable as working on a set of design drawings and then working towards a finished project, whether that’s a commission or a personal project or even my annual Christmas card!”

Discover more of Laura’s work, plus a list of the galleries that stock Laura’s work along with full details of shows and events at www.lauraboswell.co.uk.

Bilbao – 10 Top Experiences

Posted on October 11, 2016 by Judy

We were warned that Spain’s fourth largest city was far from being one of the most beautiful, but discovered a marvel of architecture, fountains and sculpture that had us enthralled at every turn. The presence of the Guggenheim Museum since 1997 has inevitably helped its metamorphosis from industrial hotspot to cultural centre, with notable museums dotted along with more cafes than you could count, and the twisting tidal Ría de Bilbao to confound you, while mountains make up an impressive backdrop.

Here are my top ten recommendations for Bilbao.

1 Eat up

The food in Bilbao is marvellously varied, reasonably priced, and made from fabulously fresh ingredients. Naturally, you need to try some pintxos, the Basque Country version of tapas, generally costing between €1 and €3 for a delicious morsel of meat, fish or cheese piled on a small slice of bread. The pastries are light and moorishly delicious, while the seafood is outstanding.

Things we ate during our days here include salmon tartare with cod roe, pickled quail legs with haricot beans, steak, churros (Paul Hollywood would have been impressed by the crisp exteriors and fluffy centres), rose ice cream and a large quantity of puff pastry, usually served with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. To wash it all down, the Rioja wine is delicious, and cheaper than water. If you want a coffee, don’t forget to ask for “un Americano” – otherwise you’ll end up with an espresso. If you take your coffee with milk, ask for it “con leche”, or they’ll assume you want it without.

2 Meander in Doña Casilda Iturrizar park

This elegantly sprawling park comes to life around 6pm, when families flock to the winding paths, green lawns, and the duck pond, which gives the park its local name Parque de los Patos. With the evening meal not commencing till 9pm or later, this is the perfect time for a few drinks sitting outside at the park’s café, or simply to promenade and chat. Look out for impressive fountains, some spectacular tiling and albino peacocks.

3 Soak up fine art

The Museo Bellas Artes (museobilbao.com) or Bilbao Fine Arts Museum is set on one corner of Doña Casilda Iturrizar park, and is full of the work of Spanish painters.

Our favourites were upstairs, where you can marvel at glowing canvasses of everyday life by Aurelio Arteta, Benito Barrueta, Joaquin Sorolla and others, as well as this bust of a Bilbao docker by Quintin de Torre Berastegui.

The building is itself a work of art, created by blending the Fine Arts Museum of 1908 and the Museum of Modern Art of 1924 into a classical building in 1954, was extended in 1970 and again in 2001. It’s open daily apart from Tuesdays and costs €7 apart from on Wednesday, when it is entirely free. Bargain!

4 Ride the metro

This elegant transportation system makes getting about really simple, and only costs €1.50 per ticket. Your first sightings of it may be the sci-fi slug-like eruptions designed by Norman Foster, emerging from sub-pavement level in a shimmer of glass and metal. If the sinuous shining curve seems familiar, it may be because Foster was also a key architect on The Gherkin in London.

5 Go to market

Teetering on the riverside in Bilbao’s Casco Vieja (Old Town), you’ll find La Ribera – a market hall that’s been thriving since 1929. An amble among the stalls will offer up everything from pigs’ trotters to artisan cheeses, and a copious amount of fish. Up one level you’ll find bars selling wine, beer and pintxos to enjoy on the terrace.

To absorb the beauty of the building, walk to the far end and admire the windows and glass tiled ceiling.

6 Be boggled by the Guggenheim

This Frank Gehry construcion of sweeping titanium and soaring curves is a true marvel on Bilbao’s riverside. Happily, the Gugenheim Bilbao (www.guggenheim-bilbao.es/en/) one of the first things you see of the city as the airport bus drives over the bridge alongside, but its definitely worth a closer look. Like a dance of angles and planes, of jousting metallic butterflies and fogged up mirrors, the building is a sculptural masterpiece, and that’s before you reach the art within.

Erm, and no, I’m not sure who that is photobombing my pic above!

When we visited there were some spectacular Anselm Kiefer artworks on display, including the artist’s The Renowned Orders of the Night. We also had the chance to visit the Andy Warhol: Shadows installation – a fun opportunity to be immersed in pop art, not least through the evocation to take photos and become part of the show.

7 Meet Puppy and friends

The gleaming exterior of the Gugenheim isn’t the only reason to stick around, with an array of art adding humour and happiness to this part of the riverside. At the museum’s fron entrance you can meet Jeff Koon’s Puppy, an impressively enduring comment on extravagance and sentimentality, with a West Highland gigantic terrier build from petunias, begonias and other flowers. Originally created for a German castle, it’s been guarding its present home since 1997.

On the other side (as you exit close to the gift shop) you’ll find Louise Bourgeois’ Maman, an immense bronze and stainless steel spider, complete with a sack of marble eggs. Her impressive legs frame the view perfectly.

Then there’s Anish Kapoor’s gravity defying Tall Tree & The Eye, featuring 73 reflective spheres arranged as a tower of mirrored ball bearings. And Jeff Koon’s gloriously balloon-like Tulips. Plus, in case you hadn’t realised, that red structure on the bridge is another installation, Arcos Rojos, by Daniel Buren.

Hang around a while and you’ll experience Fujiko Nakaya’s fog pouring across the water and walkway. Somehow, this installation on a hot day in Bilbao seemed far more magical that the one I encountered on Pero’s Bridge during a naturally damp day in Bristol.

8 Look out for public art

Well, you can’t really miss it. Every corner seems to have something worth marvelling over, whether it’s drinking fountains adorned with bats, a statue or a pair of vast coffee mugs.

In Plaza de San José, you’ll find three sculptures by Vicente Larrea, created in memory of the architects and engineers who helped to build a new Bilbao in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The bridges themselves resemble sculptures, and occasional works of street art will stop you in your tracks.

See if you can spot any pixellated aliens, said to have been scattered through the city by a group of anonymous French artists. The fountains, too, are worth a few moments of your time, upheld as they are by wondrous figures and beasts.

9 Take a riverside stroll

This is one to enjoy slowly, during the siesta time that unfurl between 1 and 4pm, as that’s when you’ll see the locals jogging, roller blading and rowing – a reminder of why the people here are so friendly and laidback (unless you go to a post office, where you’ll find the folks are just as stressed out and pressed for time as they are in every post office in the world). What could be better than a culture that shoehorns a few hours of weekend pleasure into every working day? If you can get out on the water yourself, splendid. If not, satisfy yourself with a leisurely amble, pausing to sit and admire the views at every other bench you encounter.

10 Get out of town

The city is stunning, but the countryside is equally entrancing, especially the beaches of buttery soft sand. Watch the surfers do battle with the Atlantic waves, paddle in the icy shallows and see the Basque country that nature created.

Where to stay
Hotel Zenit Bilbao bilbao.zenithoteles.com
Petit Palace Arana Bilbao petitpalacearanabilbaohotel.com

Discover more about Bilbao at www.bilbaoturismo.net

Discover Brescia.
Discover Budapest.
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Discover Barcelona.
Discover Laugharne.
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Combing the world with Karen Stamper

Posted on September 29, 2016 by Judy

The art of Karen Stamper is the kind to stop you in your tracks, pause and lean in. Seen from a distance, it’s a beautiful mass of colours and suggestions, but a closer view offers up a wealth of textures and hints, thanks to Karen’s love of collecting found objects and putting them to excellent, satisfying use.

“My grandma was a traveller and a collector,” she explains. “I would spend many hours of my childhood looking through her tins of trinkets, postcards with exotic stamps, tapestries and dolls from foreign lands.” She adds with a grin: “I was always more fascinated by the foreign newspaper wrapping a doll than by the doll itself.”

Early forays into art were largely an avoidance exercise. “My Sunday night homework time would involve drawing and collaging, always to avoid the more tedious subjects,” she says. “It wasn’t long before my parents noticed this and encouraged me to keep a sketchbook, enter competitions and paint bright murals on walls around the garden.”

This encouragement fuelled Karen’s interest and gave her a strong foundation in creative explorations.

While on a collage travel scholarship in Paris, Karen first fully recognised the true potential of colours. “I discovered turquoise shutters, red chequered tablecloths and curling iron balconies: shapes and colours so frivolous to me growing up in the worn, tough, solid fishing town of Hull,” she says. “It was in Paris that I saw Matisse’s cut-outs for the first time; it wasn’t just the scale of his work but the colours, pin holes, crease lines and torn edges that fired my imagination. I continued to travel and work overseas for 10 years, always with a sketchbook.”

A childhood “growing up on the east coast of Yorkshire as a happy beachcomber,” seeded Karen with a deeply rooted love of shorelines. “I was, and still am, attracted to the faded painted wood, scraps of gaudy plastic, brightly coloured fishing floats and nets: all sun dried, sand blasted, salted and weathered,” she says. “My dad’s passion was sailing, and each Friday we would pack up and spend the weekend on the coast. I was free to wander, explore and collect only returning at mealtimes. This freedom set my path.”

Summer Mercy Island by Karen Stamper

It’s a path she remains true to today. “Old boats, harbours, the sun-salty smell of tarpaulin and diesel, and the sound of halyards tapping on a mast, are all comforting childhood memories. They have stayed with me and I still naturally gravitate towards the harbour in any coastal town.”

In over ten years of travelling and working overseas, Karen gradually developed a blend of collage, painting and sketching that is very much her own. Throughout her nomadic decade, she was “constantly sketching and collecting a rich resource of tickets, labels, packaging, stamps, paper bags and scraps of lettering – each one telling its own story – scraps of city life ready to become the first layers of a collage.”

Karen settled in New Zealand for a couple of years, where she worked as a freelance illustrator for magazines and book covers, including her hoard of collected treasures in her designs.

“Working in collage, combining the found papers with layers of brightly painted tissue to create a vibrant integrated surface, reflects my life and travels: a patchwork of places and people bonded together; some fading, some peeling, some permanent; all full of joyful colour and happy memories,” she says. “My aim has been to remind the viewer of warmer climates of intense colours, hazy zapping heat and sun scorched walls. More recently I have focused on the urban shoreline in the UK. I am drawn to the rusting, paint peeling structures which lend themselves well to cut and ripped paper.”

Far from being arbitrary, the materials that make their way into Karen’s work are carefully selected. “I usually start with found papers on the theme that I am working on,” she says . “For example, in a French scene there could be stamps, envelopes, letters, posters, shopping lists, house sale papers, teabag labels, napkins, matchboxes and chocolate bar wrappers, all in French, of course. Stranger materials have included a Spanish fan, dried hessian tea bags, and spaghetti.”

In building up the images, Karen starts with colours and shapes from her sketches and photographs. “I usually zoom in on scenes so the view is flattened and abstracted, and then add text in different fonts, sheet music, patterns and then layers of painted tissues and washes of acrylic paint,” she says.

At this point, memories or themes relating to a place start to emerge, “and so the compositions starts to evolve. I am happy with bold abstract areas next to real or recognisable imagery. Viewers need a little clue into the ‘scene’ but then I would like them to make their own story.”

To Karen, “life is a collection of experiences – I need to collect, layer and absorb the places I visit – the colours and the countries are embedded in my artwork and in me.”

Moored by Karen Stamper

Karen says that she feels most grounded when working in her studio in Cambridge, “totally focused, creating a piece of work that sings. The visual energy of composition, colour and surface of my work feed my soul. From beach comber to city comber – I’m always seeking, gathering, arranging, sorting, storing, enriching and sticking.”

You can see more of Karen’s work at Byard Art Gallery, Cambridge; The Darryl Nantais Gallery in Linton, Cambridgeshire; The John Russell Gallery in Ipswich and at The Cambridge Art Fair on 1st-2nd October, as well as on her gorgeous website, www.karenstampercollage.com.

Know an artist you’d like to see showcased on SkyLightRain.com? Give me a shout at judy(at)socketcreative.com.

Book review – A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman by Margaret Drabble

Posted on September 27, 2016 by Judy

The title of this short story collection by Margaret Drabble was enough to make me put it on my wishlist. There was no doubt in my mind that the smiles of the woman in question would be hiding a multitude of less presentable emotions.

The women in Drabble’s tales are often to be found smiling in the face of adversity. They’re quietly courageous individuals, usually unnoticed for the most part by the boorish men in their lives, and that’s how they like it, because it frees them up to get on with the serious job of living.

This particular collection from Penguin Modern Classics is laid out nose to tail, by which I mean the stories are organised chronologically according to original publication dates, beginning with Hassan’s Tower, published in 1966, and culminating with Stepping Westward, dating from 2000. As a result, we get a sense of Drabble growing and developing with her narratives. Her characters age and so do their preoccupations, not to mention their self-confidence.

Continue reading →

Swirling seas and skies

Posted on September 15, 2016 by Judy

Reeds All About It by Rachel

Textile artist Rachel Wright recreates the world with a rich palette of threads, building up scenes that shine with beauty. She grew up surrounded by her father’s paintings, etchings and engravings, so felt that entering that world was a natural step, even if she did choose an entirely different medium as her paintbox.

“By the time I was in sixth form I was already looking for a university course in textile design,” she says.

Rachel was determined to bring her drawing skills together with her textile work, despite the fact that the college she attended really didn’t regard being able to draw an asset – “in fact, I’d go as far as to say they almost tried to beat it out of you!”

Happily, since leaving college, she’s had the chance to explore the possibilities offered by melding her talent for portraying the natural world with her fabric prowess. “They lend themselves to the fluid restless motion that I try to portray in my skies and seas.”

Any Port in a Storm by Rachel Wright

The vivid swirling shapes captured in her work conjure up a sense of energy and movement reminiscent of Van Gogh’s Starry Night. In Any Port in a Storm, above, there’s a palpable sense of peril and the drama of being at the mercy of a wild sea. To create a piece like this, Rachel selects the fabrics with care, and then machine sews them into the shapes that reflect the image in her mind.

Floating City Detail 02 by Rachel Wright

“My first love was hand stitching but it was taking me far too long to complete each piece and once out in the real world I needed to start earning some money from my work,” she says. “My grandma had bought me my first sewing machine – it’s 30 years old now and still the one I still use everyday!”

Selling her work offers an emotional benefit too. “It’s such an enormous pleasure to know that people are prepared to part with their hard earned cash, to own something that I have made,” she says. “I love walking into and exhibition and seeing those little red dots on my work. It’s the best feeling!”

Her earliest pieces were beautifully abstract embroidery works, which provided her with the training to create the vivid landscapes and seascapes she’s now known for.

“I learnt a lot about using colour and composition, all of which stood me in good stead for the landscape pieces – using using fabrics, with all their wonderful colours, textures and patterns as my palette and threads as my paintbrush, adding in the details.”

Starting a brand new picture is the hardest thing, she admits. “I call it ‘Blank canvas syndrome’. Sometimes even the housework can suddenly seem like an attractive proposition when I should be starting a new piece. I really don’t like the beginning but inevitably, once I dive in and get going it’s usually only a matter of an hour or so before I’m hooked again.”

Rachel likes to work from photographs taken on walks or family holidays. “When I start to plan a piece, I will often sketch directly onto the calico before starting to work in the fabrics, “ she says. “I always like to have an image or several images to work from. I may not translate them literally but I think it’s important to know how something actually looks before you can start to play around with it.”

She adds: “My kids often get asked to draw things at school but are not given any reference to look at. It makes me mad because my dad always taught me to spend twice as long looking at the thing I was trying to draw, as I did actually making marks on the paper. Seeing what is really there is at least half the battle. It’s in noticing the small things that something becomes lifelike and realistic.”

That said, she has a passion for letting her creativity have free reign at times too. “I certainly like to allow my imagination in on the act. This is probably most evident in my foaming, swirling seas or my dynamic, dramatic skies.”

Find more of Rachel’s embroidered artwork at www.rachelwright.com.

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