Author Archives: Mari French RI

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About Mari French RI

Mari French is emerging as one of East Anglia's most respected abstract painters. She grew up in Manchester close to the Pennine Hills, originally working as a graphic designer. She then lived for several years on the Isle of Skye developing her abstract landscapes. Mari now lives in Norfolk, working as a full-time artist, from her studio on a former 1930s RAF airbase. The roots of her paintings lie in her deep-seated affinity with landscape and weather, capturing the elemental forces of wild and less-visited landscapes. She says about her creative process “I try to evoke the shift of weather and light on a place and this is reflected in the sense of movement and change in the work itself. I sketch on location but in the studio I work instinctively, using a variety of media to evoke my experience of a place rather than a representation”. Mari has exhibited widely; she regularly exhibits with the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours (RI) at the Mall Galleries, London; she has also exhibited with The Royal Watercolour Society (RWS) at Bankside Gallery, London; was a finalist in Artist & Illustrator Magazine's 'Artist of the Year' 2016; and a finalist in The Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2014. In 2022 she was elected a full member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI). Her work has been featured in both the ‘Artist’ and ‘Artist & Illustrator’ magazines as well as in several art books and is held in private collections around the world.

sunshine & scallops in Suffolk …

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Maggi Hambling's Scallop, Aldeburgh. (photo © Mari French)

Maggi Hambling’s Scallop, Aldeburgh. (photo © Mari French)

A drive of 86 sunny miles to Aldeburgh in Suffolk earlier this week, I’d been invited to take a selection of my artwork to Thompson’s Art Gallery on High Street.

They are a well-established gallery, with several large light-filled rooms on two floors and a reputation for showing quality contemporary art; they also have a gallery in London.

It was worth making the journey – Graham, the manager, and Devi, chose six of my abstracted mixed-media landscapes to hang there.

Thompson's Gallery, Aldeburgh (© Thompson's).

Thompson’s Gallery, Aldeburgh (Photo © Thompson’s Gallery).

Later I had time to wander round the town and seafront. There is quite an art presence in Aldeburgh with several galleries and Maggi Hambling’s famous ‘Scallop’ sculpture right on the shingle beach. The words cut into the metal are taken from Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes opera.

On the seafront the interesting structure of the old South Lookout tower is now an art project/exhibition space run by Caroline Wiseman. What an amazing place for an artist! I loved the effect the shadow of its spiral staircase was making on the walls.

Aldeburgh is definitely well worth a trip for artists and art lovers.

South Beach Lookout, Aldeburgh © Mari French 2013

South Beach Lookout, Aldeburgh © Mari French 2013

pressing on …

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I finally started using my own tabletop press yesterday in my studio, to produce the first of what I hope will be a series of collagraph prints. As regular readers will know I recently attended one of Laurie Rudling’s excellent workshops, so it was good to be able to put the experience into practice.

My aim is to sell the successful prints at my exhibitions, starting with ‘Beyond the Surface’ in King’s Lynn in September, giving visitors who like my work the opportunity to purchase an original piece at a price most people can afford.

Inking up

In the inking up photo above, you can see I’d been trying out a burnt sienna ink, but didn’t like the results (see bottom photo).

Below is the preferred result, a diptych abstract plate inked up in cerulean blue with a raw umber ‘rub’ over it. The wide angle camera lens unfortunately gives it a wonky look! The original print is actually quite square. 

Untitled collagraph, Mari French 2013

Untitled collagraph, Mari French 2013


Something I think many people (including many artists) are unaware of, is that the inked up collagraph plate usually gives only one print, plus perhaps a ‘ghost print’ – a second print usually quite a bit fainter than the first, but often of interest in itself. This means that each collagraph print has a unique quality; it may be from the same plate but each is different due to the individual inking process involved.

collagraph plate inked in Burnt Sienna

collagraph plate inked in Burnt Sienna

 

chasing the light …

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Two new artworks from my current series ‘Towards the Light’…

See previous posts Towards the Light and Shadow & Light which explain the inspiration for these.

I’m still thinking up a title for the first one below, which I only finished today. That glorious plum colour in the shadows is a glaze using an Inktense block I bought a few days ago, the first time I’ve used them (although I do use the Inktense pencils for sketching).

Untitled.JPG

Untitled, Mari French 2013

I’ve entered the first two of this series (Flight, shown below, and Towards the Light, shown on earlier post) into the National Open Art Competition, so fingers crossed! If they don’t get through I’ll be trying them in other open competitions – I think they’re some of my strongest works.

These are a bit of a departure from my usual landscape work, as regular visitors to my blog and followers of my work will realise. I’m enjoying working on them.

All Acrylic/ink/mixed media on watercolour board, approx 20 x 30 inches.

Flight, Mari French 2013