hanging at the Hoo

the Walled Garden project at Luton Hoo
© Teresa Newham 2012

Last weekend was the third annual Open Art Exhibition at the Luton Hoo Walled Garden.  The renovation of this garden is an on-going project, and it was good to see how much work has been done since last year.

the Open Art Exhibition at Luton Hoo Walled Garden
© Teresa Newham 2012

As usual, the exhibition was held in the Conservatory,  and included exhibits from local schools on the subject of  "The Secret Garden", as well as entries from all over the UK to the Open Exhibition itself, which had the theme of landscapes.

"Poppy Fields" was displayed with other exhibits of a similar colour
© Teresa Newham 2012

I had entered two of my watercolours: Poppy Fields and Lavender Fields, an older work which is still one of my favourites.  Given the amount of interest and the number of entries, I was extremely pleased that they were both hung.   The whole event had been extremely well curated, with works of similar colours grouped together into a pleasing whole.  It's a while since I visited an exhibition and this one was particularly enjoyable!

Lavender Fields
© Teresa Newham 2012

NB many thanks to the organisers who allowed me to take some general photos for this blog.

Work in Progress 3

The final element of my ongoing linocut project is now complete.  For many reasons, it was the trickiest image to realise; that of the Shepherd.  Not only did I have to attempt to depict Our Lord;  I had to draw a sheep and a lamb.  I copied a suitable lamb from the internet but struggled with the sheep, until I remembered a photo I took several years ago in Kerry: 

from Valentia to the Skelligs
© Teresa Newham 2012

So my favourite sheep made it into the image; and, having discarded as a cop-out the idea of denoting the presence of the Shepherd by a hand, or a foot,  I did what so many artists do, and plagiarised something else - in this case, the Paternoster statue by Dame Elisabeth Frink.

tracing the image
© Teresa Newham 2012

As you can see from the above photo, I changed my mind about the design halfway through, deciding to omit an unnecessary horizon and swap some of the black and white elements around.  Plus it was vital not to repeat the mistake I made with the previous image in this project - it had to come out the right way round.  So I was understandably nervous by the time I took the first print:

first print of The Shepherd
© Teresa Newham 2012

The half-dozen prints I made of this image required a bit of touching up; but are none the worse for that. The next step will be to display all four images together . . . !

linocut prints: The Shepherd
© Teresa Newham 2012