Tag Archives: exhibiting

an abstract perspective…

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Artist Ruth McCabe chats with Gallery owner Susie Turner in front of my wall of work.

Artist Ruth McCabe chats with Gallery owner Susie Turner in front of my work at Gallery East, Woodbridge. © Mari French 2019

Last Saturday, along with several fellow artists at the launch of ‘Surface: women abstract artists in East Anglia’, I gave a short talk on my working process at Gallery East, Woodbridge, Suffolk. I’m very pleased to have my work included in this exhibition, alongside artists I admire including Jane Lewis RWS.

The Private View was mobbed, with people spilling out of the door and, although nerve-wracking for a few of us(!), it was fascinating hearing other abstract artists speak about their own work and creative processes.

 

 

The video above (which looks the wrong way up but is fine when clicked on!) was taken at the launch and is of my own short chat explaining how I take my inspiration and turn it into a painting. (Looking at it now, I feel that if my arms were cut off I’d be dumbstruck!).

The exhibition continues till  mid-November. Gallery East is a beautiful new contemporary space in East Anglia, but is already gathering a large following. They can be found at 24 Church Street, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 1DH or online at
www.galleryeast.co.uk

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Talking with artist Michelle Cobbin in front of her work.

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Busy PV which got even busier!

coves and harbours …

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Cove (i) © Mari French 2018

I’ve been falling behind a bit with my posts and this is the first one for May, so I better make up for it. It’s been very heartening to see so many people signing up to follow me lately and I’m very grateful. As is usual in Spring for me, May has been a pretty busy month, but one of the first things I want to tell you about is a new gallery that is now taking my work.

I’ve wanted to show in Cornwall for a while ever since doing art residencies in the area since 2014. So, when The Harbour Gallery Portscatho, asked me a few weeks back if I’d let them have a few pieces of my work, (having sold work for me through their online sister gallery BritishContemporary.Art ) I jumped at the chance. I was planning a week’s holiday (and sketching of course) in St Ives in May, so I was delighted to deliver the work myself.

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Cove (ii) © Mari French 2018

These two pieces (50x60cm mixed media on canvas, framed) are both inspired by my experience of the small rocky coves of the West Cornish coast. I’m so pleased to be showing with the award-winning Harbour Gallery as it’s not only a lovely busy artspace in the beautiful coastal village of Portscatho on the Rosedale peninsula near Truro, but the owner Mark David Hatwood is such a friendly and supportive person, a great salesman and also very effective with social media promotion for his artists.

Hopefully this will be a long and mutually successful collaboration.

For more on my recent sketching holiday in Cornwall, see my next post (coming very soon!).

Portscatho harbour, near Truro, Cornwall. © Mari French 2018

Portscatho harbour, near Truro, Cornwall. © Mari French 2018

ochre clay, pale stones, rusting metal…

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Coastal erosion abstract, acrylics on paper, 18x18cm. © Mari French 2018

Almost chickened out of going to the studio today seeing 2 inches of snow outside and plummeting temperatures. But I’d been looking forward to painting having been busy doing other stuff for much of the past week.

So, quilted overalls on (of which my hubby is very jealous) and calor gas heater going full blast I actually had an enjoyable few hours working on 3 small pieces on paper I’d started last week. When fingers got a bit frosty I blasted them with the hairdryer I use for drying off acrylics.

Coastal erosion abstract, acrylics on paper, 18x18cm. © Mari French 2018

These three works continue the series I’m currently developing in response to coastal erosion on the North Norfolk coast (mainly around Happisburgh), which I wrote about in my previous post. I’m attracted to the colours of the crumbling cliffs and broken structures littering the shore – ochre clay, pale stones, rusting metal, concrete etc, set against the shadowy land slips below the fields above. For these small paintings I used acrylics, gouache and inktense pencil on watercolour paper – I sometimes use a smoother paper or board support, but here I like the grain exposed by the dryish edge of the dragged paint.

Coastal erosion abstract, acrylics on paper, 18x18cm. © Mari French 2018

My solo exhibition, from 24th March for one month at the Grapevine Gallery, Burnham Market, North Norfolk, will feature these three works alongside other larger pieces in the series and several new reedbeds paintings. Below are a few of the earlier stages of these small paintings.

Early stages of painting, coastal erosion works. © Mari French 2018Early stages of painting, coastal erosion works. © Mari French 2018Early stages of painting, coastal erosion works. © Mari French 2018