Cow Parsley . . .

Cow Parsley
original linocut © Teresa Newham

It began with a walk on Harpenden Common, where this year the Cow Parsley (or Queen Anne's Lace, as it is more elegantly known) has been blooming profusely in the damp weather.  I made some little sketches, took photos, and drew up a design or two at home.

original sketches & photos
© Teresa Newham

My idea was a quick and simple monoprint - roll out one or two colours onto the inking glass and draw the design straight into the ink as we'd done in the first ever printmaking workshop I attended years ago.  Place paper over the ink, apply the usual pressure to the back of the paper and Bob (as they say) would be your Uncle.

rollering ink for the experimental monoprints . . .
© Teresa Newham

Except it didn't quite work out like that.  Maybe I just hadn't recalled the technique correctly; or perhaps I was expecting too much. I either produced pieces of paper so heavily inked that no design was visible, or with a background so faint that the images were almost useless.

. . .  which didn't work that well!
© Teresa Newham

But not quite useless, because the design was there.  Several designs, in fact:  so I cut my favourite into a piece of softcut lino I've had lying around the studio since I retired nearly three years ago (as happens so often, I'd never quite got round to trying it out).  The block itself looked pretty good, especially after the prints had been pulled . . .

the design carved into a lino block
© Teresa Newham

. . . and the prints themselves were just what I'd been trying to achieve!

the final, successful prints!
© Teresa Newham

view from the cash desk . . . .

the Alban Street Festival, seen from the cash desk at our pop-up Open Studios
© Teresa Newham

To everyone's relief the sun came out for the Alban Street Festival last Sunday.  Along with a dozen or so other artists from St Albans and Harpenden, I was in a marquee outside Waterstones - a pop-up Open Studios to encourage folk along to the main event in September - and great fun it was, too!

the HVA marquee, with some of Sandy Andrews' oil paintings
© Teresa Newham

Some of us had set up our work on a gridwall along the front of the marquee -  I managed to cram nearly a dozen paintings and prints into my space, including some old favourites I haven't shown for a while.

part of my display in the marquee
© Teresa Newham

It wasn't just about watercolours and oils though - as visitors made their way round the gridwall they found stalls showing examples of illustration, textiles, jewellery and glass.

artists' stalls inside the marquee
© Teresa Newham

Opal Seabrook of Starburst Glass was working on stained glass throughout the day, while Hillary Taylor was weaving paper for one of her mixed media pieces.  There was also silk painting, and I managed to produce a sketch or two during my stint at the cash desk!

Opal demonstrating stained glass
© Teresa Newham

The Festival itself was an eclectic mix of music (there were two sound stages), some amazingly varied street food, children's activities and much more, all flagged up by the cheerfully painted signs which proliferated the length of St Peter's Street.

signs advertising the various events
© Teresa Newham

Venturing out with my camera, I was nearly mown down by Garden City Samba - that's twice in the space of eight days - my own fault for getting in their way!

Garden City Samba . . . again!
© Teresa Newham

The performance highlight for me - and for many I suspect - was this amazing wheel made from recycled materials, which was moved to music up and down the roadway.

performance wheel made of recycled materials
© Teresa Newham

Fighting my way through the crowds back to our tent - the streets were packed by now - I found our interactive area in full swing, with children making and decorating cut-outs for the I Love St Albans collage.

HVA artists helping children make street art
© Teresa Newham

We had many, many visitors to our marquee during the course of the day and it was lovely to chat with them about Open Studios and art generally.  Well worth doing!

manning the cash desk - with my cards behind me!
© Teresa Newham

forewarned is forearmed . . .

Saturday - two gazebos with home-made bunting!
© Teresa Newham

. . . and we were certainly forewarned about the 'traditional' June weather expected for this year's Art on the Common.  This year more than forty artists were due to spend two days exhibiting just by the Park Hall in Harpenden - it was going to be a much bigger event than usual!

our work: L-R:  Sue, Hillary, me
© Teresa Newham

Three of us were sharing a double pitch - myself, Hillary Taylor and Sue Wookey.  Thanks to Opal Seabrook of Starburst Glass, who lent us a second gazebo, we were confident that we'd be able to keep everything - including ourselves - relatively dry. According to my mobile phone, the Met Office were updating their rain warnings every couple of hours as heavy thunderstorms crossed the whole of Southern England.

colourful costumes in the Carnival Parade
© Teresa Newham

But - on the Saturday at least - we were lucky. Once again, we were running alongside Harpenden Carnival, and our pitch was next to the main road.  So we had an excellent view of the colourful parade which wound its way from Lydekker Park to the Carnival showground onto the Common proper.  There were plenty of people about, and even a heavy downpour at lunchtime didn't deter the crowds - or us!

Sunday - this ceramic artist has everything under cover . . .
© Teresa Newham

The Sunday, however, was a different story.  It was chucking it down from the moment we arrived to set up. Some artists had decided not to turn out but there were enough hardy - or should that be foolhardy? - ones prepared to give it a go.  The weather was supposed to improve, and crucially there was very little wind. So up the gazebos went again.  This time we kept everything well away from the edges, including ourselves, huddling damp and chilly behind a table of greetings cards.

. . . . our neighbours didn't worry!
© Teresa Newham

Our neighbours didn't have a gazebo, but their pottery was robust enough to withstand the constant rain.  Everyone else did what they could to keep their art dry - towels, dust sheets, even a shower curtain - and it was worth it; at first a trickle, then (as the weather cheered up) a steady stream of visitors arrived.  At one point the sun came out . . . I even put up my home-made bunting!

exhibitors stayed cheerful despite the weather . . .
© Teresa Newham

Having recently started to use a new supplier - Moo.com - to print greetings cards of my paintings and photos, I was keen to gauge the reaction, which was most encouraging.  One or two cards of new paintings had slipped into the boxes by mistake (I usually keep them back until the paintings have been exhibited) and proved to be popular!

. . . some just relaxed with their dogs!
© Teresa Newham

All together I believe the event raised over £2000 for Cancer Research (commission and pitch fees).  And there were some excellent sales.  So it was worth hanging on in there!

the rain did not keep visitors away
© Teresa Newham

Special thanks and congratulations to David Whitbread and the rest of the team from Harpenden Photographic Society, who organised this year's Art on the Common.

A drawing a day - view from the sofa

drawings off the telly
© Teresa Newham 

Much of my regular sketching this Spring has been done from the comfort of the sofa in my living room.  A series of colds and sniffles - plus a lot of chilly weather - put paid to any outdoor sketching for a few weeks; but there's plenty of inspiration around the house if you know where to look!

a holly tree in the front garden
© Teresa Newham

Much of the time I found myself gazing out of the living room window or at objects on the windowsill. The blue glass vase below has been drawn countless times - in the process I've been reminded that a quick scribble can be just as effective at conveying a the essence of an object as a careful drawing.

yet more flowers in the blue glass vase!
© Teresa Newham

By contrast, I took a while over this sketch of a wall light - in fact, it was the play of sunlight on the wall which first drew my attention to it. Making a slow, deliberate drawing of an everyday item can become quite meditative . . .

even the light fitting provided inspiration!
© Teresa Newham

I've also had a lot of fun doing scribbles from the TV, not by using freeze frame but trying to capture the likeness of the presenters 'live'.   By their very nature, these have to be quick - often finished from memory, or left incomplete - but it's good practice for drawing people out and about (regular readers will recall the tendency for my chosen subjects out on the street to wander off at inconvenient moments!).

a quick impression of the weather forecaster
© Teresa Newham

Even the simplest bit of line can convey the energy of a character and this is something which I'd like to develop more.  So it's back to the sofa . . . !!

left and right profiles of a TV presenter
© Teresa Newham

McCarthy Mór Castle, Ballinskelligs

McCarthy Mór Castle, Ballinskelligs
original watercolour © Teresa Newham

I fell in love with McCarthy's castle on my first visit to Ballinskelligs more than ten years ago.  Ballinskelligs beach has become a fixture to visit whenever we are in Kerry - it's a great place for dog walking - and I have photos of the castle in sunshine, rain and mist.  It was the subject of one of my earliest watercolours - now mercifully consigned to the bin - so it was high time for another painting . . .

source material, and the painting blocked out
© Teresa Newham

The ruin is more properly known as Ballinskelligs Castle or McCarthy Mór Castle, but it's really a tower house built by McCarthy Mór in the 16th Century to protect the bay from pirates (and so that he could charge a tariff on incoming trade ships).

mountains & rocks appear . . .
© Teresa Newham

We were always frustrated that we couldn't get close to it because the causeway was cut off at high tide: to our delight, after the storms a couple of years ago this was built up, enabling visitors to walk there at any time.  But the sea is gradually eroding that possiblity once more.

. . . then the castle itself
© Teresa Newham

Ballinskelligs Bay is an atmospheric place, so I've chosen to portray it using just two colours - raw sienna and cobalt blue.  These have combined well for me in the past (remember Swan and Skellig Morning?) and I'm happy to say that they've worked their magic again!

grass added in the foreground to finish
© Teresa Newham

Studio practice: daffs

daffs ~ watercolour study
© Teresa Newham

It's always a good idea to flex those watercolour muscles before trying to do any serious painting.  And as I haven't touched my paints for while, some studio practice seemed to be in order!  The jug of daffodils in the kitchen - past their best, I have to say - made an excellent subject.

the subject . . .
© Teresa Newham

Because this was just a practice, I didn't bother to stretch the 300 gsm Arches sheet of hot pressed paper I took from my trial pack; I simply taped it roughly to the backing board and started to sketch with the paint on the unfamiliarly smooth surface.

. . . .sketched out in paint
© Teresa Newham

I used Transparent Yellow for the daffodils themselves and Cobalt Blue for the shadows, bringing in Permanent Sap Green for the stems and introducing Quinacridone Red amongst the other colours to deepen the trumpets of the flowers and brighten the pattern on the jug.  I added a red and green background for good measure, but the result was disappointing.  What's more, the paper had started to buckle . . .

wet and wishy washy!
© Teresa Newham

Under these circumstances it's usually best to keep going and trust your instincts.  So I deepened the red and the green of the background to bring out the shape of the flowers and the jug.

beefing up the background
© Teresa Newham

The result - which you can see at the head of this post - is far more vibrant.  What's more, that paper dried virtually flat!

from the archives : Kerry photos

white boats at Waterville
© Teresa Newham

Taking a look back through my photos recently, I found many which I haven't yet shared here on the blog.  This is a selection of some of my earliest Kerry photos, which over the years have been made into posters and cards; the images are so familiar to me that I'd almost forgotten about them.

near St Brendan's Well, Valentia
© Teresa Newham

The titles are largely self-explanatory:  but I cannot for the life of me recall where the one below was taken.  As it's been called Reflections since the outset I suspect that I couldn't remember where I took it by the time I got the camera home . . .

reflections
© Teresa Newham

All the examples here are point-and-shoot, with no set up at all.  Sometimes this technique works and sometimes it doesn't, which explains why I can take several hundred photos even on a short visit.  Most of which end up in the bin - good job it's a digital one!

Ballinskelligs Priory
© Teresa Newham

These pictures date from 2007 and 2008 and were taken with my trusty Canon Digital Ixus, which I still think of as my "new" camera even though it's nearly ten years old.  I should probably  think about getting a new one . . .

the shores of Lough Currane
© Teresa Newham

I hope you've enjoyed seeing at these as much as I've enjoyed revisiting them.  Sometimes it's good to look back and re-evaluate photos with a fresh eye - these seem to have stood the test of time, anyway!

Ballycarbery
© Teresa Newham

A Celtic Cross for Easter

the Celtic cross - a powerful and ancient symbol
original linocut by Teresa Newham

For my Easter card design this year I've turned to the image of the Celtic cross.  As anyone who is interested in Celtic imagery knows, there are many stories about its origins and history.  For me as a Catholic it symbolises the sun (Son) rising behind the cross of crucifixion, and reminds me that we come to the love of God through our sorrows and difficulties in life.

This day was made by the Lord

Let us rejoice, let us be glad

This day was made by the Lord

Let us rejoice in salvation.

Whatever problems or hardships you might be facing right now, I wish you a happy and blessed Easter in the love of Christ.

the Celtic Cross in a variety of colour combinations
original linocut design by Teresa Newham

Barcelona sketchbook

If you're expecting dainty depictions of sights and scenery, don't look in my sketchbooks.  I enjoy people watching and jotting down what grabs my attention, which ranges from the beautiful to the bizarre.  And I have to say, usually the bizarre wins out!

a shop on the Placa Sant Josep Oriol, Barcelona . . .
© Teresa Newham

Maybe it was the Barca football shirts - or possibly the Catalan flags on the balconies - and the contrast with the Art Deco shopfront. Either way, when we stopped at a café in the Placa Sant Josep Oriol, I got the zig pens out and made the first Barcelona entry in my A5 sketch diary.

. . .  and what the Placa actually looks like!
© Teresa Newham

At Park Guell I eased my aching legs by sitting on a low stone wall next to a street trader selling scarves.  Before long, my A6 sketchbook was out and I was scribbling innocently away, looking for all the world as though I was writing something down.  But of course I was really sketching (I added the colour later).  After all,  I had to do something to fill the time while my husband queued for tickets . . . . he's the one in the blue coat and grey hat!

selling scarves near the ticket office, Park Guell
© Teresa Newham

Still at Park Guell, we were enjoying the best cup of tea of our trip when my sketching urge started bugging me again, struck by the incongruity of three Japanese tourists enjoying a coffee in front of what is surely the most bizarrely decorated gift shop in the world . . .

Japanese tourists at the cafe, Park Guell
© Teresa Newham

The bug hit again when I walked into the tea-room at the Palau de la Musica Catalana - the main problem was what to leave in and what to take out.  It was beautiful and quirky at the same time.

as soon as I saw the tea-room at the Palau de la Musica Catalana . . .
© Teresa Newham

I edited it down by using a limited palette of colours and forcing myself not to include every detail of the background.  I could have done with a whole afternoon in there, but we only had twenty minutes until the guided tour . . .

. . . I wanted to draw it - and did!
© Teresa Newham

Even waiting at the airport became a chance for some more sketching practice.  At this time of year travellers are wrapped up against the cold, mostly in black or dull colours, which is why this girl's pink sweater caught my eye.  I love people watching!

tourist, Barcelona Airport
© Teresa Newham