Exhibition round up
Last weekend I took one of my friends, artist Stella Brand, down to Wivenhoe to meet up with our mutual friend, the sculptor, Shirley Morrison and her husband, David. Shirley had some of her cold cast bronze sculptures in the Sentinel Galleries current exhibition, ‘Have I got nudes for you’, which is a mixed show of 2D and 3D work. There is a huge variety of media on show, including jewellery! on the theme of the nude. Shirley’s sculptures looked very well in the gallery, and I also liked some of Di Humphrey’s work, the wild colours of Emma Cameron’s large paintings, and a small drawing by John Wilson. The show is on for another week, until Sunday, 14th June – full details on the website www.thesentinelgallery.co.uk . While we were there Pru was busy putting handles on mugs, and popping in and out of her workroom to greet people. I bought one of her mugs – here it is!
My new Pru Green mug
Yesterday I went down to Maldon, to the Haylett’s Gallery to see the exhibition of screen-prints and paintings by Albert Irvin, who died in March aged 92. The gallery space was lit up by his amazingly colourful abstract works. Sally Patrick, who runs the gallery, was having a day off, but Jacquie said how much she had enjoyed working surrounded by them – they are so immensely cheering. She was telling me that Irwin sometimes mixed colours as much as 64 times to get the precise shade he required – the impression of spontaneity was underpinned by a great deal of planning and disciplined work. This show is also on for another week, until Saturday, 13th June – details of opening times from www.haylettsgallery.com
When I left Jacquie I went round to All Saints Vicarage to drop in on my friend Stephen Carter, who is Rector of All Saint’s church in the High Street. While I was there another friend of Stephen’s dropped in, bringing her new puppy, a miniature wire-haired dachshund called Pipkin, who couldn’t have been any more cute!
After a mug of tea sitting in the sun in the Vicarage garden, I drove down to Heybridge Basin in search of some new dinghies to paint. I walked along the top of the sea wall with my little bag of drawing stuff and my camera, and found some beauties, including one bright red one, with a turquoise blue interior – very striking!! Walking left along the river bank brings you round in a big curve, going up river, until you are opposite Maldon Hythe, and can see the Thames Barges all lined up against the quay and the town tumbling down the hill.
Maldon from the sea wall
If you look carefully you can spot the dark reddish brown sails of the barges, and on the sandy coloured spit of land on the right of the picture you can just make out the statue of Britnoth, Saxon leader against the Vikings in the Battle of Maldon, in 991. The spire in the very centre of the sky line is Stephen’s church, All Saints.
How can it be Friday again! The time flies by – hope you have something nice planned for the weekend. We had thunderstorms and torrential rain this morning . . . . . . . . . . 🙂