Time the sun came out

You might notice that the Blog looks a bit different! For the last couple of years I've had a cool (literally) background image of Galley Hill covered with snow. Perhaps it's the miserable weather we've been having - the T-shirt's have hardly seen outside a drawer - but I suddenly longed for something sunnier. So now the sun's out and the corn is as high as an elephant's eye. Well, maybe more like a hare's, but you know what I mean. Perhaps it will encourage the warm weather before this weekend's Art on the Common, the annual extreme arting on Harpenden Common in aid of Cancer Research UK. This year I will be sharing a double pitch with fellow artists Teresa Newham and Hilary Taylor, although we won't be sheltering under a full gazebo after last year's total gazebo failure! Come along and cheer us on, and support a good cause. Start praying now for fair weather and no wind as it's not looking so good....!

Art on the Common

Harpenden Common

Sat 15 - Sun 16 July

Three Leaping Hares

Three Leaping Hares © Sue Wookey

I've thinking about it for ages and have finally got down to it - painting another version of the Three Hares. I painted my first, Three Running Hares a few years ago (see below) and there was such a wonderful response to it I put it on all my publicity postcards. It also appeared in the Earth Pathways Diary, in 2011. But I've been painting a lot of hares since then and I know how much everyone loves them, so I wanted to visit this extraordinary symbol again.

This time I've tried to orientate the hares so that they form a clear upward pointing triangle. There is a moon in the centre (hares love the moon) and three ancient mounds containing three of its phases. The hares are contained in three interlocking circles, which I hope bring a sense of movement to the painting. I've surrounded the whole thing with trees representing the four seasons.

No one knows the real origin or meaning of this strange symbol, but it is found all along the Silk Road from ancient China to South West England, where it can be seen on church roof bosses and in stained glass. Adopted by the Cornish Tin Guilds it became known as the 'Tinners' Rabbits'. The Three Hares chase each other around and, in an optical illusion, share only three ears. It's one of the many symbols that contain a trinity, like the triskelion (the Isle of Man symbol) and the Celtic symbol of three interlocking spirals.

The words around the border are written by me and are - appropriately - a Celtic Triad :

Three things the Hare loves: the deep green meadow grass,
the circling light of sun and moon,
the unfolding seasons bringing all their joys in turn.

Prints of Three Leaping Hares can be ordered online from my website at Galley Hill Art.

Three Running Hares © Sue Wookey

.

I'm joining the Eagle Gallery

Wonderful news - I've been accepted as a member of the Eagle Gallery, an artists' co-operative based in Bedford:

'The Eagle Gallery is a unique, artist-led gallery, run by a co-operative of 45 Bedfordshire artists. We provide an informal, accessible and friendly space to show original art works produced by our members. We show a wide range of work embracing ceramics, glass, jewellery, sculpture, printmaking, collage and photography, as well as painting in oils, watercolour, acrylics and other media.'

It will be lovely being part of a group and have a place to exhibit regularly. It's a great gallery and I urge anyone interested in local art to pay it a visit as the exhibitions change each month with a mixture of group exhibitions and solo/small group exhibitions. I'm thrilled to be joining them and will keep my Exhibitions Page regularly updated with anything I'm taking part in.

As I have joined as both a painter and a photographer, I've added a long overdue Photos Page to my blog. I can't imagine why it's taken me so long.

The Eagle Gallery

101 Castle Road

Bedford 

MK40 3QP

.

Fashion Show and Summer Fair for Macmillan

Fashion Show and Summer Fair
The Meadow Barn
Tewin Bury Farm Hotel, nr. Welwyn
Monday 20th May 2013

In May I'll be taking part in this really enjoyable event in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. As well as some beautiful crafts there will be a Fashion Show. The ticket price of £12.50 includes champagne and nibbles, or you can order a two course lunch from www.tewinbury.co.uk. Click on the poster for full details

For tickets contact helenelizabethbrookes@talktalk.net or ring 07538 079410

A new Sacred Landscape

Sacred Landscape 7 © Sue Wookey

I thought it was about time that did a new painting in my Sacred Landscape series - it's been ages since I did some standing stones and I've had this one sitting in my sketch book for about 6 months!

As with the others, this is an imaginary landscape - I seem to carry them around in my head - with energy spiralling out of the trees at the top and flowing down to the circle of stones in the foreground. This is a little circle with little stones and a running hare brings a bit of life to it, mainly because they seem to be muscling their way in to every landscape I do at the moment. In fact I have another nearly completed local landscape where a furry long-eared critter is emerging from the long grass. Though I strongly suspect that one is actually a rabbit!

Prints of Sacred Landscape 7 are available from my website at Galley Hill Art.

.

The Apple's Heart

The Apple's Heart © Sue Wookey

About time I posted another new painting, I hear you say. Well - honestly - I have three but I've been hoarding them while I get around to scanning them and making prints (not my most favourite pastime...). This is probably the most interesting of the three and came from some extensive doodling at the Houghton Regis Craft Fair, while waiting for customers. It's dangerous to doodle because simple ideas just get more and more complex when you have time on your hands, and you end up with something excruciatingly difficult to paint. Like this. But then The Apple's Heart shows that most complex of all symbols, the Apple, token of wisdom, fertility, healing, sacred gifts and much more in myth and folklore. So it never would have been easy! With its star shaped heart and association with the mystical Isle of Apples, Avalon, the painting barely touches the magic associated with the fruit of the Tree of Life and Knowledge.

The words I've composed to go around the border read:

The wassail fades from Wisdom's field, 
yet full I grow and branches part 
for Avalon and Gawain's shield, 
and you who know my secret heart. - SW 

Prints of The Apple's Heart can be ordered online from my website at Galley Hill Art.

.

Luton Walled Garden Exhibition

 The annual Luton Walled Garden Exhibition is fast approaching, running from the 22nd - 24 March. Not only do you get to look at some fantastic garden and nature inspired art, but you can check out the progress being made to restore this amazing octagonal kitchen garden.

This year the theme is The Garden and Beyond and I've definitely gone beyond by submitting Badger Moonrise, Grove and The Owl Knows. I wish I had them all in my garden, though the tawny owls mooch about the bridleway behind my house at night! I expect they fly over the walls sometimes to check out the shrubbery. Hopefully at least one of these paintings will be on the walls when the Exhibition opens.

I will be there on the Friday afternoon, probably around 1-4 pm, set up with a table so that I can demonstrate. This involves not only painting, but saying 'aaaaargh' a lot and chucking water at 300gsm paper until it squeaks.

The exhibition is open from 12pm - 7pm on Friday and 11am - 5pm on Saturday and Sunday (when there wll be other artists demonstrating what they do), and this year there will be cards and prints along with the wonderful exhibits put together by local school children. Who could forget the cute elephants made out of milk bottles?

Craft Fair at Houghton Regis

I'll be setting up my stall in Houghton Regis this coming Friday 8th Feb, and again on Friday 8th March, at the Community Centre, Tithe Farm Road. This is next door to the Library in Bedford Square and there is plenty of parking nearby.

I'll have all the usual prints (including a couple of new ones), cards and mini-originals. The Craft Fair runs from 10am - 3pm and is a new venture for Houghton Regis. Hope to see some of you there!

More details available here.

Badger Moonrise Prints available!

I now have prints of Badger Moonrise available at my website at Galley Hill Art, where it forms a companion piece with all the others in this series. Click on the images below to find out more:

© Sue Wookey

Badger Moonrise

Badger Moonrise © Sue Wookey

Here is the promised new painting in my Animals with the Moon series, a rising moon with a beautiful black and white striped badger amongst coppery beech leaves. He (or she, I haven't decided which yet!) has emerged with a very gentle and joyful expression, in that kindly and wise way that badgers have. As always, the animal has taken on its own life and personality as I've painted it.

The words around the border reflect the way that the Badger lives between two worlds - within the earth and underneath the moon - while bearing the colours of both on its coat:

From the black of the deep delved Earth,

to the silvered white of the round Moon rising, 

the Badger, dark and light, knows both Mothers

and walks in joy with them both. - Sue Wookey

Prints will be available from my Galley Hill Art website soon - with the pre-Christmas rush I'm a little behind making them! But I couldn't wait that long to post the painting. When I have the prints ready I will post the link here.