Quest

A good photo of my paintings on display at the Quest Gallery, Bath on the front page of their website.

Homage to the Hambledon Gallery

At the weekend I visited a local 'gem of a gallery', The Art Stable at Child Okeford.

I've often exhibited paintings there, and the owner – Kelly Ross – is an accomplished curator and art dealer who has a talent for putting on exquisite shows.

The current exhibition Homage to the Hambledon Gallery is no exception, and it held much personal interest for me.

The Hambledon Gallery is my favourite clothes and homeware shop. Tucked away in Blandford Forum in the heart of rural Dorset, I was lucky enough to grow up nearby – and I've been visiting and shopping there for longer than I can remember.

The 'Gallery' part of their name comes from the fact that when they first opened, nearly fifty years ago, the upper floor was run as an art gallery.

Kelly Ross has revisited many of the artists who exhibited at The Hambledon Gallery in those early days and put together this exhibition.

The paintings, prints and ceramics – by Mary Fedden, R.B. Kitaj, David Hockney and many others – are well worth a visit if you can get there.

I particularly coveted the ceramics by Richard Batterham, who produced much of his work in the tiny hamlet of Bryanston where I grew up, and where I still paint many of my riverscapes.

If you're close enough to get there before 11 February then do. It'll certainly reward your time and effort.

The photograph above shows my goddaughter Lucia admiring a Hockney print.

Seascapes & Riverscapes

My work seems to be being displayed thematically in different parts of the country. This wasn't a deliberate decision, just the way thing have happened.

An exhibition including a number of my riverscapes has just opened at the Quest Gallery in Bath (pictured above), and I have seascapes at Petleys in London.

In the meantime, if you'd like to see my nudes and figure work – they're in my studio. Just get in touch to arrange a viewing.

Exhibitions

I've been busy having paintings delivered to Petley's in Cork Street for their Christmas show – and preparing several more for an exhibition at the Quest Gallery in Bath in the new year.

I'll post full details of what is going to be on show, and when, in the next few days.

I will also put together a list of other work which is currently available.

Interview

I've just been sent this video of the Liverpool exhibition, including an interview I gave.

It's a couple of minutes long, and worth a look if you'd like to see more of the paintings, and some background to why I was there.

My thanks to Bill Bessant for sending this.

Finale

The exhibition of my drawings and paintings at the National Cancer Research Institute's annual conference in Liverpool earlier this month was an exciting and high-profile finale for this collection of very special work.

In my address there I spoke about how I had continued drawing and painting myself, as the model, following my cancer treatment and how – with the amazing energy and assistance of Dot Browning of Plush Art – this had become a project involving over twenty local women sitting for me.

For me, Breast Cancer LIFE was all about life – a affirmation that despite the fear of our illness and the physical and psychological scars left by our treatment, we continue to be beautiful, to be female – and that we can continue to express and celebrate this.

The women who gave up their time, who told me their stories, and who trusted me to draw or paint them during what for many was a difficult and vulnerable time – were an inspiration. They each got something different out of the experience.

Personally, I wouldn't call it therapy – they were sitting for an artist, no more, no less. But I do hope that it provided, and will continue to provide, some hope and encouragement to women going through diagnosis and treatment; and to their families and loved ones.

Those drawings or paintings which sold will shortly be passed on to their buyers, so the exhibition will be unlikely to be seen together again. The book is however still available via this link.

I'm back painting the landscapes and seascapes that I love; but I will always continue to draw and paint from the model. It's what I was trained to do, and I'll never stop.

There are some more pictures of the exhibition here. If I manage to get hold of a good quality video of my address, or the interview I gave at NCRI I will of course post them.

Update: Here are a couple more pictures from another blog.

Speaking

I spoke at the National Cancer Research Institute's annual conference last weekend.

It was a very large auditorium, and a select and knowledgable audience – so I was very nervous. The talk went very well though. Once I was up on the stage I managed to say what I wanted to say.

It was very encouraging to have so much positive feedback afterwards, both about my talk and the exhibition itself – which was on display there throughout the week.

I will put up some more photographs, and a short video, over the next day or two.