I saw this book for sale recently and on buying it I discovered that the artist Mary Sumner had very sadly passed away: 1957 – 2016.
I was really miserable – she was such a talent and to think there will no longer be anymore of her wonderful art in the world put a cloud over my day.
She had such a unique eye for composition and rhythm in paintings; coupled with her textile background which brought pattern to everything.
She was an amazing colourist too, layering up paint and colour with texture to create images that pulsate with an energy from colour.
I connected with her textile designing view for painting, her colour sensibilities and choice of content. It’s given me pause for thought that the art we make is our legacy and what that might mean.
I have poured over each page of this book; looking and learning and would highly recommend it for its abundant beauty and charm. It’s very picture heavy which makes for a good study but and I was also left wanting to read some more about who Mary was, her journey through life and her thoughts. So sad for such a talent and life-force of an artist not to have years and years more to live and time to make art to share with us.
If you hang out on my other social media or get my newsletter at all then you will already know how much I flipping love teaching art and running art groups.
I currently run two: one called Painting & Drawing Flowers at Winterbourne House & Garden on a Tuesday morning and on a Wednesday morning at Warley Woods called Painting & Drawing Nature.
Both classes share a similar structure in that each week we focus on using a different medium : charcoal, watercolour, acrylic, pastel, oil pastel and mixed medias.
Then I might throw in a wildcard by incorporating something like collage or print too.
One participant described it like a box of chocolates with a new flavour every week – I love that.
At Winterbourne we focus on floral items, leaves, seed pods etc. And of course you can visit the beautiful gardens and enjoy the tea room for lunch too.
At Warley Woods we look at drawing and painting things from the broader spectrum of ‘Nature’ and this can include landscape, mushrooms, shells, vegetables, butterflies etc. Then take a walk round the 35 hectare parkland and get your steps in.
Those who have experience and confidence can fly free from the programme as much as they like and use the time to shape their own artistic journey.
I find it really gratifying to nurture peoples creativity as it is so often also linked to self-confidence, socialising and good mental health.
Drop me a line hello@claireleggett.co.uk if your a Birmingham local and fancy coming along.
Adrian Berg is a recent discovery of mine. He was a painter living and working in 1929-2011. One of his first big bodies of work was the view from his flat window of Regents Park which he painted multiple times. These paintings show variations in playing with colour, pattern and composition and interested me because I look out over a wood and I wonder why I’ve never thought to do similarly.
As he developed and worked he distorted perspective and patterning to sometimes abstract effect which also caught my eye – as a pattern designer I’m aware that I too see the patterning in the world around.
I’ve read the book from cover to cover and poured over image like the one below. I love how he has reduced shapes to patterns and adore the treatment of the water reflection – lots to learn.
The other day I came home from teaching my class at Winterbourne House & Gardens with some lovely Japonica blossoms that they had cut for us to paint. I spent a lovely, soul-repairing quiet hour painting these and catching up with The Archers.
You may not know that I’ve been selling my surface pattern design licences on @patternbank for a little while now.
It’s what I originally trained to do back in 1990 and is still a part of my studio practice that I love to find time for.
This is my recent Japonica painting put into a pattern repeat and some of the cool mock-ups that #patternbank use.
Oh poor blog – I do mean to love you more. I always intend to keep you full of what I’m currently up to, the things I’ve made, the events I want to remember and then (because you’re old fashioned and not a quick app on my phone) I put it off or forget to do it. I’m sorry.
Here’s some things from the last 6 months that I want to keep here:
I went to Bruges and looked at so much art that I came back bursting to paint again.
I took part in Birmingham Open Studios for the second year – lots of very supportive friends, neighbours and students came to visit and have tea and cake and all in all it was an enjoyable couple of weekends.
This cyanotype print on paper had been knocking about the studio for aaaages as I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. Then one day inspiration struck like lightning and I realised it just needed filling in, in places with paint.
Went to Copenhagen in January and ate a lot of bakery products, walked miles and just happened upon my favourite Matisse painting ever- Pink Onions – delighted.
Again, looking at art made me want to make art. Also I resolved in 2024 to make more art and do less admin so I guess that brings me full circle to the dichotomy of keeping my blog up to date whilst also staying off the computer to paint more!
You can find me more often here and here (instagram and facebook respectively) but I do promise to try and be a better blogger because I do still value it – so see you again in less than 6 months 😉
Number 4 has been mailed out today – did you know I have a newsletter? Want to sign up?
It’s old school analogue! All you have to do is email me at: hello@claireleggett.co.uk and I’ll add you to the list.
All my recent trips looking at art inspired me to paint A Picture.
That, combined with all the homegrown garden flowers I’ve got like these amazing Chiffon Californian Poppies and a new pot from Bruges to put them in. It feels like a long time since I’ve wanted to Make Art and it feels good to have broken through again.
In order not to gorge on visual inspiration without digesting it, I have recently begun a new practice. I look at the photos I’ve taken and ask myself why? Why did this make an impact? What impact? And then either jot it in a sketchbook or print & pin it to the studio wall.
So here are the 8 artists who impacted me from the recent RA Summer Show 2023 and why:
No 757
The colours spoke to me! I am really enjoying using neon and fluro colours at the moment myself so Philip Suttons work caught my eye instantly. I also love how pattern orientated his approach is. And also that halo of blue around the flowers where he’s painted up to it afterwards – it kind of glows.
Adrian Davies
Adrian Davies Between the Cracks
Can’t find a single thing out about this guy. So its just one piece of work to study for now but what a piece. Unfortunately my photo of the whole picture is blurred but you can see the level of detail from these 2 close-ups. What fantastic use of tone, a solid black background, gouache paint (my fave) and layering.
Caroline used to be a pattern designer which explains her eye for & gorgeous use of colour. These pieces really evoke mood and emotion which really connected with me. I am also interested in the way she mixes media and translucency.
This delicious still life drew me across the room – that yellow scalloped shape, the aqua green next to that red stripe and the use of patterned paper collage paper. Some pieces of art make me just want to join in to and this was one. It conveys joy, play at work and inspired me to mix things up a bit by looking for simple shapes and complimentary colour pops.
Alexandra Blum Myddleton Square
Wow, just wow! What drawing capability. What a lovely soft graphite line. I love where its got rubbed and looks hazy and smokey. I love her use of erasing or keeping under layers of drawing light and indistinct. Her entire portfolio is jaw-dropping – check the link above.
David Brayne In Pursuit of Spring
Another piece from the show that had quiet presence. Featured on a wall grouped with other complimentary (and interesting paintings) the mood of it pulled me in; the figure looking out to me (sad, happy, ok?) and the composition of horizontal background stripes and circular yellow wheels catch the eye after the mood has caught the heart.
David Brayne – from his website
I read that he applies paint made from his own mixing of pigments, in lots of layers of textures and glazes, building up the surface – his process is considered and the art itself backs that up – there something deep going on in the narrative of them all. I’d v. much recommend a look through his website.
David Dawson A Wheel of Cloud
This guy has painted the Queen and worked for Lucien Freud. I was just inspired by the way he applies paint loosely, freely with lots of dark underpainting. It made me want to paint a landscape.
Indoor Cosmology David Remfry
I got lots from this – I like the format and composition of 16 studies of the same thing in slightly different ways in terms of viewpoint and from a limited and associated colour palette. I liked how the whole piece speaks of a scene while individual pieces are in vary states of abstraction.It reminded me of what can be achieved when you’re brave enough to cut up and re-order artwork.
Gaze – Sarah Berman
Last week I saw the Royal Academy 2023 Summer Show and enjoyed it hugely.
I must have been in a receptive mood that day because the joy of everyone making art, such beautiful art, really touched me.
Walking through rooms beautifully prepared to colour harmonise with carefully curated art was just delicious.
I go to galleries a lot but this quenched a thirst I didn’t realise I had and I think it’s because (to some degree) the Summer Show is an Everyman show; a chance for the unsung and unseen to have a moment in the spotlight and that’s inspiring in itself.
But also because there was such a breadth of styles, approaches and use of media – it was like a buffet table of goodies to pick at and devour.
I got such a lot of composition, colour and style notes from looking at all these pieces.
Ann Oram All Things Are Connected
The people who select works for the rooms in the show do a superb job of finding connections through colour, mood or subject matter.
The sum total of the whole grouping of pieces becomes an art form in itself.
And I love to find some unwitting person who colour co-ordinates with a wall!
Good Vibrations – Annie Folkard
It isn’t all painting or print – there’s textile art, sculpture and architecture too.
If Only He Could talk – Christina MacDonald
I love mini scenery (model villages, railway sets etc) so I really enjoyed the architectural building mock-ups.
In one way its almost over whelming that there is so much art being made and in another it felt like a invisible club made visible for a time – all these people making their way through life making art as the result of some deep need to create.
Paul Dash– Bacchanal
I love discovering new to me / contemporary artists and its really my main motivation in using social media (Instagram in particular) because my feeds are made up of the inspiring and educative.
Gregory Olympio (top) Mali Morris (below) who is showing at Icon, Birmingham till December 2023.
A show like this offers a wealth of discovery that I can ‘follow’ and looking and noticing aspects of another’s practice has a drip-drip feed into things I try in my own art-making.
I did come home and the very next day paint a still life, something I’ve not done in a little while, and I call that ‘proof in the pudding‘!
John Maine
Next post will be about what inspired me and why. Thanks for reading x
Paint Drops Keep Falling 