Say Hello BS9 arts trail, Wave Goodbye N. Somerset Arts Week.

Posted on May 31, 2017 by ianpriceart

A lot of news to catch up on…

My open studio at North Somerset Arts week was a great success and was capped off by a Ceramics Raku firing by Brian and Nibs Fowler on the lawn on the final sunny Sunday afternoon. As well as being great fun it raised money by selling little Raku ceramics in aid of Black Nore Lighthouse. Thanks to you all also for your card purchases and tea and cake consumption, in particular the huge amount of sponge consumed on the previous Sunday, which help boost the overall amount raised to £400, nearly double the amount raised in previous years and thank you Lois Pryce too for her support and paintings.

After Arts week I dropped off work at Clevedon Pier and am pleased to share that I got a commended in the painting category of the Clevedon Pier Community Competition and my work is on show in the Porthole room at the pier until the 4th of June. It’s a beautiful venue and the school category work on show is tremendous including a portrait by Zoe the granddaughter of Brian the raku potter, what a talented family. The winner in the Photography section by Mike Kleinsteuber really pushes the boundaries too.

School category, Zoe’s top.

THE porthole

The PV was a beautiful evening

My little one and the Photographic winner by Mike Kleinsteuber.

I’m still rearranging the house following the upheaval of having three rooms of paintings and ceramics and my lawn has not yet recovered from the kiln scorching but no time to rest there’s another art trial coming up. The BS9 arts trail covers Stoke Bishop, Westbury and Henleaze.

I’m really excited to see how this goes as it will be my first time in a Bristol Arts Trail and the venue is allowing me 5 metres of space in a hall with 11 other artists so I should get a chance to meet lots of people and get to know the other artists in the hall.

I’ll be at Elmlea school (venue 5) which is in the middle of the trail; a great spot. If you didn’t get a chance to see my work in Portishead then try and call past and say hello.

Ian

Don’t forget you can also follow me on twitter and on Instagram @ianpriceart as well as Facebook @ianpriceart or just browse the updated galleries on my website.

My Open Studio Weekends in Portishead

Posted on April 18, 2017 by ianpriceart

I’ll be opening my studio for North Somerset arts week again 11.00am to 6.00pm over the May Day Bank Holiday weekend (including BH Monday) and the following weekend, 29, 30 April, 1,6,7 May.

Hopefully there is something for everyone to enjoy, come along to browse, chat, listen, eat, drink or explore…

As in previous year’s Black Nore lighthouse will be open for visitors to climb inside during the afternoon while I’m open. This is accessible via the garden and I’ll be selling tea and cakes in support of its upkeep.

I’ll have many new plein air oil paintings of the local area and from further afield on show for the first time as well as a new studio paintings. Much of my new work is exploring the fast changing light at dawn and dusk.
I’ll also be showing some examples of my portraiture including a painting of my son that was recently preselected for the Royal Portrait Society show.

Last Light, Black Nore

Lois Pryce (no relation) will be exhibiting with me for the first time. Lois paints local scenes, still lives and life studies in a bold expressive style that I hope you will enjoy.

Also I’ll have Raku pottery by Brian and “Nibs” Fowler, they’ll be exhibiting a range of vessels, bowls and figures that show this exciting medium off to the maximum. If you’ve never seen the Raku process before it’s fiery and unpredictable, there will be a couple of Raku burnings in the garden on the final Sunday when you’ll have an opportunity to scrub off the carbon yourself and reveal what the process has created.

Raku Pot, Brian Fowler

Avonmouth, Lois Pryce

Finally I’ll be showcasing some estuary soundscapes by a local producer Dave Howell to add to the atmosphere. When that’s not on I’ll be playing a bit of vinyl on my turntable, or LPs if you are my age.

So something for everyone, hope to see you there.

Thanks

Don’t forget you can also follow me on twitter and on Instagram @ianpriceart as well as Facebook @ianpriceart or just browse the updated galleries on my website.

Clifton Suspension Bridge and More

Posted on March 30, 2017 by ianpriceart

I’m exhibiting work at the Clifton Suspension Bridge Visitor Centre with Clifton Arts Club, it’s a great space and it runs until Sunday the 1st of April. I’ll be there Sunday afternoon if you want to say hi, it’s open from 10 to 5pm and is free.

Winter Mizzle, Suspension Bridge

Za Za Bazaar

It’s been a while since I’ve posted but I have been out painting over the Winter and to prove it I’ve just updated my Landscape gallery, take a look here. I’ve also broken it down by area, Wales, West etc. Any comments welcome, I’ll be updating the lifeless and portrait galleries in the next few days too.

I’ve got lots of new work to show at the North Somerset Arts week which is coming up in the next month. The paper brochure is already out and it should be downloadable from the NSA site shortly. I am exhibiting from my home “studio” in Portishead again on the Sat 29th, 30th April, 1st May (Bank how Monday) and the following weekend 6th, 7th May. I’m easy to find as I’m last in the brochure! I’ll be exhibiting with painter Lois Pryce and Brian Fowler who creates beautiful raku and pit fired pottery, More news on this shortly.

Thanks

Don’t forget you can also follow me on twitter and on Instagram @ianpriceart as well as Facebook @ianpriceart.

Selected for ING Discerning Eye for Third Year

Posted on November 14, 2016 by ianpriceart

I’m very proud to share that I’ve had a painting selected for the ING Discerning Eye exhibition in London for the third year in succession. My selected work is an oil painting of a peat black ploughed field from a weekend on the Somerset Levels in the Spring.

The Discerning Eye annual exhibition is a show of small works independently selected by six prominent figures from different areas of the art world: two artists, two collectors and two critics. This gives the impression of six individually curated exhibitions with separate personalities. They always have a “celebrity” collector, this year it is Celia Imrie. It’s alway interesting to see who has picked your work and how it fits in on their wall.

It was originally supported by the late Brian Sewell who thought that small works were often overlooked in the art market.

Here is this years work along with my previous submissions and private view photos. (Note to self, work harder to avoid appalling glare in photos!)

Ploughed Peat

Private View

Spot the red dot

Have We Enjoyed Ourselves Enough Yet, 10 x 12 inches (ING Discerning Eye and RWA Open selected, Clevedon Selector’s choice).

Porthcawl Lifeguard Lookout

Click the links for the posts about the 2015 and 2014 exhibitions.

It’s well worth a visit if you are in London but if you can’t make it then don’t forget that you can see my work at the Portishead Lido cafe again in a few weeks from the 25-27th of November. I’ll be exhibiting again with the Portishead Arts group.

The 2016 Discerning Eye Exhibition will be open from Thursday 17 November until Sunday 27 November, between 10am and 5pm daily, at the Mall Galleries, The Mall, London SW1, just to be clear that I’m not talking about a Bristol shopping centre. Admission will be free and all the works will be for sale.

Another Lido show last weekend of November

Posted on October 31, 2016 by ianpriceart

Thanks for all your support during the last Lido show.

I can reveal that the Portishead Arts group are running another pop up show at the Portishead Lido cafe for three days in November , Friday 25th, Sat 26th and Sun 27th, 10am – 5.30pm, with a late night opening with a bar on the Friday until 9pm.

Take a look at the Portishead Arts group website for more details of the other artists taking part.

I’ll be displaying a wider range of work than last time including some work from Cornwall and the Peak District so if you didn’t make it last time or want to see some paintings from further afield come along.

Here’s a little plein air (well inside the cafe) painting I completed during an afternoon cake induced lull. If you look closely you’ll see it’s a drier, more blocky technique than usual. This was mainly due to it being solvent free to allow the visitors to enjoy their triple decker coffee and walnut sponge without being in a turps haze. I’ll take low odour solvents next time!

Everything has gone green

Posted on June 11, 2016 by ianpriceart

I’ve previously favoured a muted palette so at this time of year with all this lush, verdant growth wherever you look I feel a bit intimidated.

My theory is that evolutionarily we are programmed to discern differences in the many shades of green to help guide our ancestors to sources of food and water. Also green in Spring is especially acid. How many works of art can you think of that accommodate the true strength of these greens? It’s very easy to foul up a painting that includes green.

Many artists today (myself included) and throughout history have worked around this by downplaying the true strength of green to ensure a harmonious picture. Even Constable browned down his greens.

Gone Fishing, Usk Reservoir

Gone fishing. Avoiding green at Usk reservoir in the Brecon Beacons.

I decided to try to focus on this weakness, tackle it head on and paint more green, more strongly.

I sought some advice from artists about how they made such strong and believable greens. Mix your own greens from warm and cool blues and yellows, avoid viridian, practice with sap and hookers green and use premixed light green moderated with earth colours came the conflicting advice.

Here are more of my recent plain air paintings, my main finding is that the right green can be arrived at by many different routes but the important thing is to maintain the true variety of greens across the painting by careful observation. Sadly its easier said than done, I’ve not found a silver bullet and more practice needed.

There’s no better way to practice your greens than to paint outside at this time of year.

Liberty Leading the Trees

Usk Reservoir

A bit more green, Liberty leading the trees, also at Usk reservoir.
I also had a green disaster at Carreg Cennen castle. Total rework needed, no image to protect your eyeballs!

Friesans, Catcott

An improvement, Friesans on the Somerset levels. Also some camera glare, may crop this one.

Castleton Castle, 24×12

Castleton Highpoint, 12×8

Dark Morning, Hope Valley

Some views around the Hope Valley in the Peak District including Castleton castle. There’s plenty of variation in green between these paintings but plenty more to do.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this. You an also follow me on twitter and now Instagram @ianpriceart

2015 round up

Posted on December 31, 2015 by ianpriceart

I’m not a great fan of those round robin Christmas letters so I’m writing this with some trepidation. However 2015 has been a year of some progress so I thought it would be worth reminding you of news and any earlier posts you might want to look back on by clicking the links.

It was a year of two (unequal) halves a flurry of painting followed by a cycle of exhibiting.

I began the year by doing quite a bit of plein air painting and went on a course at Newlyn School Of Art with Paul Lewin. The course as well as being enjoyable was also an encouragement to loosen up with mixed media. With hindsight I haven’t taken this as far as I anticipated but it was certainly an inspiration to be looser when painting outside.

Ian Price Cape Cornwall from Carn Groose

Painting Land’s End

St Cuthbert’s Isle off Mousehole

This flurry of activity was mostly to get things to hang on the wall for North Somersets Arts Week. Once again it was great fun to have people coming through the house and I managed to raise £200 for Black Nore lighthouse by selling cards and Helen’s marvellous cakes.

The other main painting event of the year was the Andrew james portrait course which I’ve organised for a few years now and was a great success again fuelled by more of Helen’s cakes. I get a free course out of it and am still pretty pleased with my portrait of Viv.

Viv Portrait

Viv Detail with brush used.

I spent the rest of the year (well apart from life classes) punting these paintings around various juried exhibitions the highlights being the RWA in Bristol and the ING and rubbing shoulders with the Royal Institute of Oil Painters for the first time in London.

Dusk Tanker, exhibited at the RWA

I’m especially grateful to the judges of the Clifton Arts Club Open for awarding me the prize of excellence (which also doubled as my entry for the ROI).

Thanks to Trevor Haddrell RWA, Ione Parkin RWA and Ros Cuthbert RWA, what. a discerning trio.

People ask about my organisation and preparation but it all boiled down to this little scrap of paper I used for shepherding my meagre resources and time, so it’s all smoke and mirrors really. If you can read my handwriting you’ll see there are some misses among the hits so still plenty to aim for in 2016.

The Masterplan! (the only plan).

I mentioned not freeing up as much as I wanted and I am looking forward to a return trip to Newlyn for a course focussed squarely on abstract painting in March. I’m obviously hoping that 2016 will bring as much pleasure as 2015 but to be honest if it brings as much I’ll be surprised and very happy.

Thank you very much for taking an interest and I hope 2016 is a successful year for us all.

ianpriceart

Ian, an RWA, Mall Galleries and Holburne portrait prize exhibited artist also paints the Portishead coastline.

Tag Archives: painting