Wild Fire

I’ve put the Holmes Chapel Camera Club Annual Exhibition up in the local library this Monday. It contains a selection of prints from the members of the club, covering a range of styles. It was selected to show the diversity of styles that the members of our small village club have. I’m pleased to say that two of my images are included.

Steel and Glass

‘Wild Fire’ (left) is an image created from a small area of the back of a headstone in the Lake Ditsrict, while the other image, Steel and Glass (right), is a monochrome image of a (much larger!) piece of a modern building in Manchester.

The exhibition will remain in the Holmes Chapel Library Meeting Room until the 2nd August.

I have been working on getting together a decent amount of small affordable items to sell as I think they will be more appealing at this sort of event. I am currently working on 3 more magnetic shopping pads and a hardback note-book. I have ordered plenty of new cellophane bags in which to display and sell these and am waiting for their delivery.

These are the ones I have already created and I have since made a few more in a similar style. If I don’t sell them all at the weekend I will be putting them up on my Etsy shop and my personal website too.

Remember Me

I’m currently concentrating on producing work for the Chelmsford Arts Trail 2010. The paintings shown here are all based on Essex rural and coastal scenes. Although I haven’t decided exactly which pieces I will exhibit yet (the Trail starts in September) I want to build up a collection of works to choose from when the time comes. I’m very much enjoying expanding on my floral themed landscape paintings and plan to create a few more incorporating wild flowers.
www.andreafarmer.co.uk
www.roguegenegallery.com

Watching the Tide

Wild Dunes

For my cup, I chose an African Drum as my model. It was difficult to work on something small and with such movement on the work surface. I used some modelling paste to create an extra rim at the bottom of the cup and make it look more like a carved wooden drum. The rest of it was painted in acrylic paints and the skin of the drum and handle are made from scraps of suede that I cut off a pair of boots I used to own!

I based the design on one of the many African hand-made bongo drums that I saw on my travels across Africa when I was younger – two of which I actually still have as mementos of my travels. The hardest part of re-creating the drum from a paper cup was getting the skin of the drum to look as though it was stretched tightly across the top of the cup! There was just not enough rigidity in the paper cup to actually stretch the suede across, so I just did the best I could.

I hope to visit the exhibition once it has started and get some photos of the rest of the exhibits – it will be really interesting to see what everyone else has created.

I will be writing about the weekend in more detail on my personal blog soon, once this nice weather has gone!

Mike's Work

The Rogue Gene Collective is a small group of artists who are committed to helping each other attain a higher level of visibility for their work. We do this by networking; pooling resources, information, knowledge and contacts. There are currently seven members, and four guest artists

As a group we hold exhibitions all over the country acting as agents, couriers and publicists for each other. Our aim is to offer a wide variety of quality original artwork to the collector, occasional buyer or corporate buyer.

This exhibition is a rare opportunity for the group to come together in person to exhibit a comprehensive collection of original quality work, representing some of the best competitively priced contemporary artwork available. There will also be a special stand showing a selection of collaborations between the group members. This is a new and unique idea where two artists have worked together to create an original artwork.

The exhibition will be on Sunday 16th May at Pinder Hall, Lower Road, Cookham, SL6 9EH. Amanda Hunt, Andrea Farmer, Helen Davison, Kos Marton and Rob Kirbyson will all be available throughout the day to answer any questions or just for a chat.

Cookham is a small village on the banks of the Thames just off Junction 4 on the M40, and Junction 8/9 of the M4. Why not come for the day – a visit to the exhibition can easily be combined with a stroll along the river and maybe a pub lunch in one of the many small local country pubs. Entrance is free and the event is suitable for all the family.

It is the annual Summer Open Exhibition at the Wolds Gallery, and this year the theme is “Coastal”. I will probably also be entering my “Aitch At Sea” painting and maybe try to paint another one before the entry deadline.

I have combined an abstract styled background with a realistic style for the people on the foreground. The painting is on box canvas and measures 10 x 8 inches, painted in canvas.

You can view the gallery at Wolds Village here, just click on the “Art Gallery” tab on the left hand side.

The threatre owns two lockable glass cases, suitable for displaying smaller artworks. Most of the paintings from my works on paper collection are on display plus a few from my mini art collection and a few larger coastal landscape paintings on canvas board. I’ve also included several items from my wearable art collection – colourful corsages and button pin brooches. This eclectic exhibition runs until the end of March 2010 and all works are for sale.