Image of the Month — The Harling Christ by Maz Jackson

The Harling Christ by Maz Jackson SGFA
Egg tempera on gilded oak panel  62 x 45 cm   2007 – 2011

Maz Jackson SGFA has lived and painted in Norfolk all her life, winning national and international awards for her distinctive surreal, spiritually inspired art. An egg tempera painter, sculptor and printmaker, Maz exhibits at galleries and museums around the world and has art in public and private collections in the UK, China, Italy and the USA. Her art has been described as “a post-modern medievalism that is fragmented and mixed with modernity”. In Image of the Month Maz describes how she came to create the first egg tempera painting in St Peter and Paul’s Church since the 15th century. Her painting inspired a new anthem which was given its premiere during the painting’s service of dedication.

---

“The Harling Christ was commissioned in 2007 by Reverend Nigel Kinsella of St. Peter and Paul’s Church in East Harling, Norfolk and Sue Dolling of the Friends of the church.

The brief was to create an image to include the Resurrection Cross, the Harling Lamb (emblem of East Harling) and a squirrel (heraldic badge of Lady Anne Harling, who rebuilt the church in the 15th century). I also included a frail basket — a workman’s tool basket — as many are depicted in the stonework and stained glass of the church. I also wanted to represent craftsmen, as Christ was a carpenter, too.

Maz Jackson and the Right Rev Graham James, Lord Bishop of Norwich
photo courtesy of Harvey Trusswell

Originally the image was for an altar cloth, but after much discussion the project evolved into the tempera painting. It was dedicated to the church by The Right Rev Graham James, Lord Bishop of Norwich on 14th April 2013.

In his sermon the Bishop said that ever since he had received a copy of the painting he had been using it as an aid to prayer. “The stigmata are gilded,” he said, “reminding us of Christ’s pain on the cross, yet now He is resurrected the gilded palms shine out to the rest of the world.”

Drawing played a major part in the creation of the painting.

After receiving the commission I visited the church many times, making sketches, researching, and remembering the symbology of colour and emblems of the Saints, aided by David O’Neale, a local historian. I was a “cradle Catholic” and had learnt much from my father while visiting churches and cathedrals.

He would carry a Latin dictionary to translate the inscriptions, telling me about the methods of artists and craftsmen of those times. It gives me a warm feeling to be part of that tradition, to be one of those people.

During the Middle Ages many of our craftsmen came from Flanders, Germany and France, and would have boarded with the Master Mason and his wife.

Their knowledge was influenced by the Middle East, and as a result in St Peter and Paul’s Church we have the crescent moon of the Muslim faith, carved owls representing the Jewish Faith, and a carving of John the Baptist holding a scimitar and wearing a Turkish-style turban.



It’s remarkable to think of all the languages being spoken by these journeyman artists and craftsmen as these amazing buildings were rising up in every village — not unlike  “The Gherkin” skyscraper being built in London in our own era!

The exchange of both knowledge and materials in the Middle Ages was extensive. Oak was imported from Scandinavia through the Hanseatic port of King’s Lynne, as there was not enough timber in England, and the stone for both Norwich and Ely Cathedrals came by ship from northern France. In my painting I wished to honour all these artists and craftsmen.

I also wanted to honour all those people who had worshipped and visited the church over the centuries, gradually wearing down the step and putting a patina on the woodwork, as well as all the people who take care of the church today.

I would like another father or mother to bring a child and look at the painting and learn some of the things I did with mine.”

---

Awakening by Maz Jackson SGFAEgg tempera on gilded oak panel, free standing and double sided 200x40cms 

Editor’s note: “Painting can be a spiritual journey, whatever your faith,” Maz says. She was talking to Paul Dickson, blogger, Director of The Tagman Press in Norwich and Director of Chamber Orchestra Anglia, about the ancient medium of egg tempera, which “goes back as far as cave paintings and was championed by early Christian icon painters.” Maz says she respects the materials she uses, “pure pigments mined worldwide, 23 1/3 carat gold leaf, as well as seasoned oak that is the ‘canvas’ for my work.”

It’s Dickson who quotes Prof Giampaolo Trotta on the occasion of Maz’s 2011 exhibition at Basilica di San Lorenzo in Florence. Maz’s art, the professor said, was “a post-modern medievalism that is fragmented and mixed with modernity. The use of the past for critical reflection is clear in all the artist’s works.” To read the entire article and find out more about Paul Dickson, visit his blog here.

Maz Jackson SGFA www.mazjacksonart.com

Image of the Month – Hannah by Keith Kennedy Hon SGFA

Hannah by Keith Manning Kennedy Hon SGFA
Pen and sepia ink

“Life drawing was part of art school life, and as I spent 11 years as an art student at my parents’ and tax-payers’ expense, I had time to get used to it –  even though for the first two years I was too young to be allowed in the life room.


Tali
Ballpoint pen

I was born in Ewhurst, Surrey in 1941, which was then a small remote village, the noisiest traffic being German bombers overhead enroute for London. I studied at Reigate and Redhill School of Art & Craft, and at West Sussex College of Art & Design.

I also studied at the Royal Academy Schools, where I remember in the life studio we were persuaded to develop a searching and selective eye, and to let creativity look after itself.




‘Searching’ and ‘selective’ I can aim at, but ‘creativity’ has always been a bit of a mystery to me.

Model in Rattan Chair
Ballpoint pen

Since graduating I have developed a bit of a talent for teaching, and have possibly affected the education of generations of art students. Which I guess is a creative way to pass on some of the know-how that I have soaked up over the years. Latterly, I simply share my enthusiasms for watercolour on a Monday morning with a group of adult education students. I am also a regular at a Saturday three-hour evening life group where we have three-week poses, which allows for some more in-depth study in drawing or painting.

Not being familiar with fame or fortune, I am proud to boast inclusion in both the Compendium of Watercolour Techniques and The New Encyclopedia of Watercolour Techniques.



The former considers me to be a noteworthy exponent of ‘negative space’, so I’m hoping for a positive future.”

---

Editor’s note: Keith Kennedy Hon SGFA is the Society’s newest Honourary Member. Keith joined the SGFA in 1998, was elected a full member in 2002 and went on to distinguish himself as a member of the Council, latterly serving as joint Vice President. It was Keith who worked with web designers to lead the SGFA into the digital age with the launch of its own web site, and today he remains Web Master.

Keith’s eye for drawing that communicates with the viewer, and his ability to bring out the best in each artist regardless of his or her level of skill, are just two characteristics that have won the respect and admiration of students and colleagues through the years.

Keith is also passionate about drawing from life. For more information about Keith’s life drawing group, please follow this link  http://www.draw-brighton.co.uk

Artist’s Proof — Birmingham Reflections – Birmingham & Worcs by Eric Gaskell SGFA

“I have been making prints for many years, but a few years ago I started making a whole series on and around canals. They vary from the downright figurative to more abstracted realities, but they are all recognisable to the canal user.




This particular print is part of a series of multi-block and reduction linocuts for an exhibition at the National Waterways Museum in Ellesmere Port from May through July 2013.




Rather than have as many blocks needed to create all the colours I want, I like to make my life more difficult, and to create the same image with the least number of blocks. This print is made from four blocks: blue, yellow, red and key.




The blue is inked as a graduation from a warm blue to a colder cobalt. The red (which is really a pink) overprints the blue, and the yellow is printed as a graduation from a bright yellow to an ochre. From these almost all the colours are  in place. The key block was printed in a deep blue/grey, but the top (ie., the “real” world) portion was printed three times, making the colours — which are already brighter than the reflected colours — stand out even more.




My work is about the process of making a picture. I let the works swap ideas, each picture influencing the next. When an idea, a mark, or a colour works on one picture, I use it on others.




When I paint I work on board (MDF) as I like to feel the resistance of the surface. I use acrylics, which lets me reform the painting, block out areas and change colour balances quickly. But I also use canvas and oils.




I am interested in letting the picture develop from within itself, allowing each shape and colour, texture and mark to suggest the next, letting the image itself dictate and change the form. The lino cut has become an important part of my work. The graphic and immediate mark-making suit the way I think. So far.”

Editor’s note: Eric Gaskell SGFA is exhibiting his canal linocuts in a solo exhibition at the National Waterways Museum in Ellesmere Port from 04 May – 31 July 2013. The official Canal & River Trust poet laureate, Jo Bell, will be showing a number of her poems alongside Eric’s prints.  Find out more by visiting the exhibition page on the Trust’s web site — just click on the image at right.

---

Profile of the artist: “I have been painting, drawing, printing and exhibiting since 1980. I believe good draftsmanship is the prerequisite of good art, and I always have a drawing book in use, drawing from life and experience. Generally the “life” helps to realise form and structure, while the “experience” lets me move ideas forward.

I was born in Wigan, Lancashire in 1957 and studied painting and printmaking at Wigan College of Art and Sunderland University. I left art college in 1980, winning two painting scholarships, one to New York and one to Istanbul, as well as the Sunderland Fine Art prize. Since then I have continued to develop my art, and I now teach drawing, painting and printmaking in Rugby, Warwickshire. I am a member of the Society of Graphic Fine Art and have exhibited widely in the UK, Europe and North America.”

To see more work by Eric Gaskell SGFA please visit his web site www.egdesign.co.uk

The Sketchbook Series – Susan Poole in Botswana

African wild dog and male lion by Dr Susan E Poole ASGFA
Pencil in Moleskine sketchbook

“I compiled this sketchbook during a recent visit to Botswana, where I wanted to make first-hand studies of African wildlife in its natural environment. We hired a private Land Rover and driver, and could stop and look as long as we wanted at the many animals that inhabit the Kalahari Plains and Okavango Delta.

My sketches were made, out of necessity, with the simplest equipment: a propelling pencil (to save the problem of sharpening) and a sturdy A5 Moleskine sketchbook (the thick, smooth-surfaced paper was ideal for quick work). I clutched my sketching kit in one hand and grasped a bar rail on the truck with the other as we bounced across very rough terrain through the bush (often actually over bushes!) in search of animals.

Female kudu and Okavango camp

It was like a cross between riding on a big dipper and sailing a stormy sea — not a place to try to balance a lot of art equipment.

However, I did also have in my pocket a stick of Pitt’s pure graphite (6B) which was sometimes useful to quickly block in very dark tonal areas, such as those on the wild dog and the black manes on the Kalahari lions. It could be easily sharpened to a respectable point with a penknife (another piece of kit I thought might come in handy if confronted by a wild animal!).

Kalahari black-maned lions

All sketches of the wildlife were made from within the truck, as venturing outside might have threatened the animals and provoked an attack. For the same reason, we could neither stand up inside the truck nor make any sudden movements.

Thanks to these precautions, in many cases we managed to stop very close to some of the potentially most dangerous animals, who must have seen us as a harmless square blob. We were frequently able to catch them resting in the hot sun, which gave me time to work on a sketch.

It was the elephants that most often challenged our presence. We had to back away quickly more than once, thanks to ear flapping, head tossing, foot stamping and swinging of trunks.

Black-maned lion and Kalahari camp

That’s what happened on one occasion when we found ourselves suddenly in the middle of a big herd which seemed to melt into our vision from amongst the camouflage of surrounding trees. My few sketches of elephants are very skimpy!

I found the animals interesting not only because of their varied forms, but also because of their surface patterning and the tonal contrasts created either by their own often very distinct markings, or by the strong multifarious shadows cast across their bodies by surrounding leaves and branches. As well as sketches I took many photographs that will help me work on more formalised images in due course.”

---

Editor’s note: Dr Susan E Poole has a BA (Hons) and MA in Fine Art from The Surrey Institute of Art and Design, University College, specialising in sculpture and printmaking. But she has always drawn and valued drawing, and has had drawings and watercolours shown in many national group open exhibitions over the years, for example at the Royal Academy, the Mall Galleries, the Westminster Gallery and the Menier Gallery, London. She took time away from practice to research Aegean art and archaeology, and was awarded a PhD at University College London. Susan was elected Associate Member of the Society of Graphic Fine Art in October 2011 and in 2013 joined the Council as Associates Representative. To see more of Susan’s art, please visit her web site at www.susanpoole.co.uk

Image of the Month – Excalibur (The Lady of the Lake) by David Brooke

Excalibur (The Lady of the Lake) by David Brooke PPSGFA
Berol Karisma coloured pencil on blue Canford card

“I’ve always had an interest in myths and legends. But when I’m producing a painting or drawing I usually embellish and adapt the myth with my own ideas and imagination.

Excalibur (The Lady of the Lake) was part of a series of paintings and drawings for “In the Footsteps of Gods and Heroes”, an exhibition of my mythological pictures at the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum in Bournemouth in 2012. This one-man show was designed to coincide with and compliment a touring exhibition of paintings by the 19th century painter and sculptor Frederic, Lord Leighton which were on show at the gallery at the same time.

This picture is intended to be slightly ambiguous, as it could depict either the beginning or end of the Arthurian legend. The figure in the trees on the bank could be taken as the young King Arthur being shown the sword Excalibur for the first time by the Lady of the Lake, or he could be Sir Bedevere just as he returned Excalibur to the lake after the battle of Camlan.

---

Editor’s note: David shares a studio in Bridport, Dorset with his partner and fellow SGFA member Caroline Ireland. Their two-person exhibition at Le Vieux Four, Beaminster, Dorset DT8 3DZ is on until 31st March 2013.

David was born in Somerset and attended Yeovil School of Art and Hull College of Art, where he gained a BA (Hons) in Graphic Design. He is a Past President and past Hon. Treasurer of the Society of Graphic Fine Art. He is also a member of and regularly exhibits with the South West Academy of Fine and Applied Arts, the Society for Art of Imagination and the Bath Society of Artists. For three years David was the Arts and Administration Manager of the Yeovil Arts Centre, and for four years he was employed by the Octagon Theatre, Yeovil, as their Visual Arts Co-ordinator.

For more information about David Brooke’s artwork see his Facebook page here. And to read an interview with David by Gil Dekel PhD visit the Poetic Mind web site here.

Drawing in the Media — Johanna Basford, TwitterPicture and the Edinburgh Fringe

In 2010 artist and illustrator Johanna Basford and members of the public made Edinburgh Fringe history: together over two days they designed the covers of 400,000 Fringe programmes in a live interactive drawing marathon that exploited the crowd-sourcing potential of Twitter.

This video shows Johanna drawing in a glass-walled studio from 10am to 10pm on the 25th and 26th of March, with a web cam overhead and a stop-motion camera at her back as members of the public Tweeted suggestions for the most unusual things they’d like to see at the Fringe. In just 24 hours Johanna fielded more than 1,600 Tweets, selecting the best ideas and drawing them as she went, to create 176 drawings that became the covers for the 2010 Fringe. Anyone  anywhere in the world could log on and watch the artwork develop. The project won a Scottish Design award.

---

Editor’s note: Johanna Basford is “an illustrator and ink evangelist who prefers pens and pencils to pixels.” She has a degree in Printed Textiles from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee, and creates intricate hand drawn illustrations, mainly in black and white, for clients such as Absolute Vodka, Crabtree & Evelyn, Tate Modern and many others.

Johanna’s TwitterPicture project is a series of interactive illustrations for which, Johanna says, “I invited people to tweet suggestions of what they would like me to draw, and I incorporated these into super-sized, hand drawn illustrations.” Johanna ran each event over a 24 hour period, streaming them live via web cam, “Because Twitter is more than just telling people what you had for lunch.” To see more of Johanna’s fascinating work please visit her web site www.johannabasford.com.

The Fringe cover project was filmed by Foundlight productions http://www.foundlight.co.uk

Artist’s Proof – Just Tulips by Ruth de Monchaux

In the first of our new series Artist’s Proof, in which we feature prints by Society members, Ruth de Monchaux ASGFA talks about her etching with aquatint Just Tulips.

Just Tulips by Ruth de Monchaux
Etching (aquatint) 20.5 x 14.5 cm
Limited edition of 15

“This image was a response to one of those moments when strong sunlight fell on tulips in a partially filled vase of water.

It created shadows and reflections that were just right, all of it illuminated in a mirror I have placed beside my studio window. I quickly snapped the vision before it faded. 

I often use a camera to capture those moments that cannot be drawn fast enough to fix the way light distorts reflections, particularly in water. I use the photograph only as an aide-mémoire.

Most of my work has been and still is made from looking at and making ‘portraits’ of plants from my garden and memory landscapes from my youth, when I lived in north Yorkshire. These are favourite themes.

Multi-copperplate etching with aquatint is my preferred way of working. I also use an aquatint to get really good depths of tones of black in my landscapes. Multi-plates, however, allow me to use a wide variety of densely layered colours when making images of plants. I use aquatints to achieve depths of colour, and the etched line to keep the drawing or structure strong.

Mosaic by Ruth de Monchaux
Screenprint 38 x 49.5 cm

Lately I have been working on some abstract, rather mathematical, screen prints just  to explore colour; those lovely surprises one gets by overlaying one colour with another. Sometimes shapes keep popping in and out visually.

I find them great fun to do, and very useful in making my more controlled aquatint work when I’m using several overprinting plates.

Nearly all this work is based upon plant form structures. That must be my original training as a sculptor coming to the fore.”

---

Editor’s note: Ruths’ work ranges from close studies of plant forms to the exploration of the most distant landscapes. Drawing, engraving, etching and screen-printing are her main working methods.

Ruth trained as a sculptor at Middlesbrough College of Art and then at the Slade, and remains as much interested in the three-dimensional qualities of her subjects as their colour. She later completed specialist courses in printmaking and surface design at The London College of Communication and botanical illustration at the Chelsea Physic Garden, and returned to both institutions as a visiting lecturer.

Ruth was also Chair of the Greenwich Printmakers and Southbank Printmakers Collectives, and was a founder member of Hampton Court Florilegium. She is a member of the Printmakers Council, and in 2012 was elected an Associate Member of the Society of Graphic Fine Art. Ruth coordinates the annual Brockley Open Studios event, which has just completed its twentieth year. For more about Ruth and her art, please see her web site here