An interview with Diana Crafer

Q – Could you introduce yourself briefly to the readers?

I am the present Chairperson of The Swindon Artists Forum and also a member of several other societies Marlborough Artists Society, Wiltshire Artists Society, Highworth Artists society and the late Swindon artists Society.

Swans in Queens Park

Q - How did you become interested in art?

I cannot remember when I wasn't. I have been interested in art as long as I can remember.

Riot in the Hedgerow - Pastel by Diana Crafer

Q - What inspires you most as an artist?

Lots of things inspire me: light on water, the fluid grace of an animal's body, sunsets, clouds formations... I could go on. Sometimes they swirl in my brain until the right moment comes.

The end of a lovely day - Pastel by Diana Crafer

Q - What is your favourite medium or media? Why?

My favourite medium is pastel. The immediacy of the medium delights me; I feel so close to the work in progress; no tools - just the pastel, my fingers and the support. I like the feeling of being so closely in touch with my work.

Q - Could you tell us some more about your work?

If I am painting a landscape or a seascape, I try to convey my own feelings at the time of seeing the view - it may be amusing or something that thrilled me or filled me with awe.

Land's End - pastel by Diana Crafer

Q - How would you define your style?

My work is conventional.


Q - What are your influences; artists from the past or present who inspire you?

There are many artists past and present whose work delights me but I try to make my work my own.

Evening Glow - Pastel by Diana Crafer

Q - How do you choose the subjects of your works?

Quite often I feel the subject chooses me, demanding that I paint it.

Q- How do you prepare yourself for an exhibition or a show like the Open Studios?

I have never formerly taken part in Open Studios. For an exhibition it would depend whether there was a theme, this would probably take time to think about first.


Q- Did you take part in the Swindon Open Studios in the past?

As I said, I have not taken part in Open studios before.

Q - Are there territories (media, subjects, etc.) you want to explore in the coming years?

I am always promising myself that I will try this or the other - time is the enemy.

The Champion - Pastel by Diana Crafer

Q - As an artist, what would be your dream?

To paint a picture and be completely satisfied with it.

Q - Could you share one thing that you have learnt in your own art practice that would be useful to other artists?

That the important thing is to enjoy whatever you are doing; to observe and be delighted in the beauty which is always to be found around one, even in the most surprising places.

An interview with Vital Peeters

Q – Could you introduce yourself briefly to the readers?

My name is Vital Peeters. For 20 years I have had a glass studio in Oxford and have done hundreds of commissions for stained glass panels around Oxford and abroad.
For 10 years I have been sculpting in stone.

Oxford Town Hall windows by Vital Peeters

Sitting room window by Vital Peeters

Q - How did you become interested in art?

From as soon as I could hold a pencil, I was drawing and it grew from there.

Q - What inspires you most as an artist?

Everything.

Nimbus (alabaster) by Vital Peeters

Q - What is your favourite medium or media? Why?

Glass, stone, anything to draw with. Every medium has its magical properties.

Q - Could you tell us some more about your work?

Most of my work is in glass and lead and is taylor made for apertures in buildings, mostly private. My largest to date is a 8 metre stretch of windows for St Christopher’s Hospice in London.

St Christopher's window, London - by Vital Peeters

My sculptures are mostly free style, and created in the sculptress, Pat Elmore’s studios (Longcote, nr Faringdon) one day a week. They are abstract and figurative and carved out of all types of stone.

Sleeping dragon by Vital Peeters

Q - How would you define your style?

My work often incoprorates all manner of inter-linking curves and circles and is distinguished by the use of contrasting textures.

Q - What are your influences; artists from the past or present who inspire you?

My influences are from the modernist period, with deco touches.
Like Picasso, I am also very interested in tribal art.

The onlookers 2008, linconshire stone by Vital Peeters

Q - How do you choose the subjects of your works?

Exhibitions, magazines, life.

Q- How do you prepare yourself for an exhibition or a show like the Open Studios?

99% perspiration…

Striding bird (marble cast) by Vital Peeters

Q- Did you take part in the Swindon Open Studios in the past?

No

Q - Are there territories (media, subjects, etc.) you want to explore in the coming years?

Recently, I have been doing some casting in glass in master workshops.
Welding metal is also in my mind.

Wing by Vital Peeters

Q - As an artist, what would be your dream?

To carry on as I am doing now.

Q - Could you share one thing that you have learnt in your own art practice that would be useful to other artists?

Always expect things to go wrong, then to have a success is always a triumph.
Never stop trying to find a new way of creating your work.

Make sure you visit Vital Peeters' website to see more of his works.

An interview with Pat Elmore

Q – Could you introduce yourself briefly to the readers?

Born in Rugby, I travelled around a bit being a railwayman’s daughter, but ended-up in Longcot, where I have lived since 1975.

Fossil - Stone resin - by Pat Elmore

Q - How did you become interested in art?

In a boring drawing office job, I carved the erasers with a one sided razor blade.

Q - What inspires you most as an artist?

My family of four sons and two daughters and a Morris dancer husband who looks like Father Christmas, also the flow of geometric shapes.

Q - What is your favourite medium or media? Why?

Wood and stone, its magic to carve natural materials that could be 1000s of years old.

The Plait - Walnut - by Pat Elmore

Q - Could you tell us some more about your work?

I am a direct carver I don’t work from drawings or maquettes; attitude and movement in my work is my aim and revealing the natural beauty of wood and stone.

Q - How would you define your style?

Being self taught my style is unique.

Nina 1 Soapstone by Pat Elmore

Q - What are your influences; artists from the past or present who inspire you?

Frans Hals for capturing the soul in a face and Rodin the master of attitude.

Q - How do you choose the subjects of your works?

My grey matter is so full of ideas, my problem is which one to use.

Nina 2 bronze resin by Pat Elmore

Q- How do you prepare yourself for an exhibition or a show like the Open Studios?


I tidy my studio, finish as much work as possible and prey to the gods.


Q- Did you take part in the Swindon Open Studios in the past?

Yes last year.

Q - Are there territories (media, subjects, etc.) you want to explore in the coming years?

No.

Q - As an artist, what would be your dream?

I would love to make a 6 metres high sculpture. My dream would be when I am pushing up daisies, that my work would still be giving people pleasure.


Q - Could you share one thing that you have learnt in your own art practice that would be useful to other artists?

Life is too short, so do what you enjoy, sod everything else, work from your soul, don’t let anyone influence you.

Go to the website of Pat Elmore to see more of her works.

An interview with Jane Milner-Barry

Q – Could you introduce yourself briefly to the readers?

I am a Londoner but have lived in Swindon and Highworth for twenty years. I work for Swindon Borough Council some of the time and have a typing speed of 82 words a minute. Painting is a much slower process unfortunately.

Blue and White by Jane Milner-Barry

Q - How did you become interested in art?

As children we are all interested in art. We enjoy playing about with colours and patterns, making likenesses of things, telling stories with pictures, all the different aspects of the visual arts. Some of us just have the good fortune not to grow out of this inclination.

Q - What inspires you most as an artist?

If I had waited to be inspired, I wouldn’t have got much done.

Cistus and Cranesbill by Jane Milner-Barry

Q - What is your favourite medium or media? Why?

I have always used oil paint, as well as drawing of course. Oil paint is slow to dry, often it doesn’t behave as you want, it’s cumbersome to use outdoors, the nicest colours are very expensive, and I don’t suppose years of inhaling white spirit have done me any good. However, as I know I have hardly even begun to explore what can be done with this medium, I don’t feel any urgent need to try another one.

Q - Could you tell us some more about your work?

I hope people will come and have a look at it on 12th and 13th September at the old Reference Library, Regent Circus, which is a really beautiful place for displaying paintings.

Q - How would you define your style?

A painter doesn’t have to think about his or her style. That’s a job for critics.

Empties by Jane Milner-Barry

Q - What are your influences; artists from the past or present who inspire you?

I like pretty well everything – but maybe Goya best of all, because of his seemingly casual technical mastery, his variety, his anger, the affection and empathy with which he paints some of his sitters, the wonderfully sinister quality which pervades his most idyllic pastoral scenes, all these things. I don’t like artworks that can be easily dismantled, or that require a lot of technical maintenance to keep them going - like, for instance, unmade beds, or dead sharks in tanks. That doesn’t seem right to me. Though I suppose those Goyas are kept in highly controlled environments and are constantly being monitored and restored!

Near Swindon we can see the perfection of stained glass at Fairford , the bewitching Sleeping Beauty paintings by Burne-Jones at Buscot House, and the Sandham Memorial Chapel, Stanley Spencer’s moving memorial to the dead of the First World War. In the Swindon Art Gallery there are some fine paintings including a terrific John Bellany, a double portrait of himself and his wife.

Q- How do you prepare yourself for an exhibition or a show like the Open Studios?

In June this year I had an exhibition at the gallery at Coleshill Village Shop which is a lovely place, well worth a visit any time! It was a very useful experience because I had to review all my work, tidy up some paintings and make the decision to throw some away.

Still Life with Lemons by Jane Milner-Barry

Q- Did you take part in the Swindon Open Studios in the past?

Last year I left it too late to take part, so I did my own open studio in Highworth, which was fun.

Q - Are there territories (media, subjects, etc.) you want to explore in the coming years?

New territories . . . maybe I’ll take to the road with a sketchbook and my dog.

Q - Could you share one thing that you have learnt in your own art practice that would be useful to other artists?

Look after your paintings properly. Put as many as you can on your walls. That is the safest way to store them, and you will be able to criticise them on your way to the fridge.

Swindon Open Studios on the Big Screen

Great news! A short video will be played on the Swindon Big Screen to promote the coming Swindon Open Studios 2009.

The slideshow will be on the Big Screen in Town Centre from Saturday 22 August. You can catch it during the dedicated local films slot between 6 p.m. and 6.30 p.m. on Wednesdays and between 12:30 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. on Fridays.

If you can't wait to see it, this trailer is also posted on YouTube.




WARNING: this video contains some nice music. Put your headset if you are in the office.

If the embedded video does not work, follow the link to the SOS 2009 trailer on YouTube.

An interview with Derek Gale

Q – Could you introduce yourself briefly to the readers?

My name is Derek Gale and I live Watchfield – where the wind turbines are - although I’m originally from the wilder, Heathland, side of Surrey.

Invisible Beauty 27 by Derek Gale

Q - How did you become interested in art?

I’ve been a photographer since I was a little boy, and had an inspiring Art teacher at school, Mr Wills. His nickname was “Fag End”*. I remember our class being given a description of Breugel’s painting “Hunters in the snow”, and then us having to draw/paint our interpretation of it. The results were fascinating.

* W D & H O Wills company used to make cigarettes.

Q - What inspires you most as an artist?

I’m inspired by how some artists can make a single brush stroke or pencil line perfectly represent a place, a person or creature, or even an emotion.

Invisible Beauty 32 by Derek Gale

Q - What is your favourite medium or media? Why?

My current favourite medium is photography – although I have started painting in acrylics. Very, very much a beginner with those though!

Q - Could you tell us some more about your work?

It has different areas and freedoms. In one area, as a professional portrait photographer, I am constrained to an extent by needing to please the client. With my Fine Art photography I only have to please myself, so I can take images free of any constraints.

Invisible Beauty 36 by Derek Gale

Q - How would you define your style?

I try and keep things simple. Whilst some of my latest abstract Fine Art images seem complex on first examination, there is an underlying simplicity, either in their colour palette or the compositional structure.

Q - What are your influences; artists from the past or present who inspire you?

In my portrait photography I’m influenced by such photographers as Richard Avedon and Jane Bown, and love the work of National Geographic photographer Tim McCurry. My Fine Art photography style has been influenced a lot by an old Kodak Desk diary! There are some wonderful “landscape abstractions” in there, especially by Gwen Fidler and Willard Clay.

Q - How do you choose the subjects of your works?

To some extent I am driven by events. For example, my current series of images came out of an attempt to take another sort of image. I saw the results and loved them, even though they weren’t what I wanted to do.

Invisible Beauty 48 by Derek Gale

Q- How do you prepare yourself for an exhibition or a show like the Open Studios?

I am preparing for Open Studios by producing a small series of large (1 metre wide), colourful, abstract photographic images that are printed on a surprising medium. The results should be very eye-catching!

Q- Did you take part in the Swindon Open Studios in the past?

This is my first Open Studio, although I have exhibited in Oxfordshire Artweeks, and had solo shows including The Wyvern Theatre and the Western Library.

Invisible Beauty 73 by Derek Gale

Q - Are there territories (media, subjects, etc.) you want to explore in the coming years?

As previously mentioned, I am trying to get to grips with acrylics. I don’t exclude mixing paint, computer editing, and photography together. The latest mixed media work by David Hockney is very interesting.



Q - As an artist, what would be your dream?

I would love someone who is building a new hotel to commission me to provide all the art for the public spaces and bedrooms.



Q - Could you share one thing that you have learnt in your own art practice that would be useful to other artists?

“Look different”: meaning that they should try and look at things in a different way. A useful tip is to turn an object upside down, which gets you away from its familiar outline and context.


Make sure you visit Derek Gale’s website to see more of his work.

An interview with Sue Dickinson

Q – Could you introduce yourself briefly to the readers?

My name is Sue Dickinson, I’m originally from Plymouth, but have been living and working in Swindon for the past 9 years

Q - How did you become interested in art?

My interest in art came from taking an evening class in ceramics run by Swindon College, I enjoyed it so much, I then did a years access course followed by a 2 year HND in ceramics

Q - What inspires you most as an artist?

What inspires me most as an artist is the sea, pebbles and washed up articles found on the shoreline. I also love it when people praise my work-don’t we all!

Q - What is your favourite medium or media? Why?

My current favourite medium is clay especially porcelain slip (liquid clay) and crank clay-both have such different textures and qualities

Q - Could you tell us some more about your work?

I create pendants that are very tactile, like washed up shiny pebbles on the beach. As a sideline, I’ve just started producing small ornamental cats-I love cats and have made a few in the past for friends

Jewellery by Sue Dickinson

Q - How would you define your style?

Each piece of my jewellery is hand crafted, so each piece is unique.

Q - What are your influences; artists from the past or present who inspire you?

A few of my favourite ceramicists who are influencing my work include Paul Jackson, Nicky May and Charlotte Jones who are all from the present day

Q - How do you choose the subjects of your works?

From being influenced by the elements and the weather-the sea can be all different colours and take on so many shapes depending on the weather

Q- How do you prepare yourself for an exhibition or a show like the Open Studios?

I am preparing for open studio by producing as much as I can beforehand! I have a shared studio space at Wagon Yard in Marlborough, which I share with 3 other potters and we all give each other a lot of support and encouragement when it comes to exhibitions!


Q- Did you take part in the Swindon Open Studios in the past?

This is my first open studio

Q - Are there territories (media, subjects, etc.) you want to explore in the coming years?

I’d like to do more with textiles and somehow use textiles and ceramics together-but that’s a long way off!

Q - As an artist, what would be your dream?

To run my own shop in Devon/Cornwall where every article I made got sold!

Q - Could you share one thing that you have learnt in your own art practice that would be useful to other artists?

Keep at it and believe in your dreams!

An interview with David H Jones

Q – Could you introduce yourself briefly to the readers?

My roots are in Wallasey, Merseyside. Foundation studies at at Wallasey School of Art, and then graphic design at Leicester Polytechnic. Not happy with the prospects a career in advertising, I left and transferred to fine art painting at Bristol West of England College of Art. Which was really what I wanted to do. Whilst there I married Judith a fellow student, graduated, moved to Berkshire, had three children, established a paint-work restoration business and tutored painting and drawing. I have lived in Lambourn for the last thirty years, and I balance restoration work with doing my own paintings. I have a large studio and workshop space at nearby Foxbury Farm.

Distribution 2 -2008-Acrylic on canvas (46 x 46cm) by David H Jones

Q - How did you become interested in art?

I was fortunate to have parents who didn’t mind a mess and they encouraged creative activities and a grandmother who loved impressionism Like most children I loved to paint and I have an early recollection of the frustration of trying to get hold of a paint box which was out of my reach. When I was about eight, whilst on a family holiday, I met an artist selling his paintings half way up a Welsh mountain and thought I’d like to do that. I bought a postcard of his painting which is now pinned to the studio wall. As a child I was afflicted by a speech impediment, a combination of a stutter and speaking nonsense. I overcame the stutter through speech therapy which was great because it meant getting out of school early, going to a clinic each week and just sitting on the floor painting, whilst a very nice lady chatted to me. I overcame the stutter, the nonsense is sometimes still a problem.
So from childhood I got it into my head that I was going to be an artist.

Q - What inspires you most as an artist?

My inspiration comes from near and far, the exotic and the mundane. Visits abroad, India, Turkey, North Africa, ancient cultures and the work of generations of artists.
But on a daily basis it is the wonders of the everyday visual experience; the energy of colour and the changing light of day, the progression of the seasons, the rhythm of life and natures patterns.

2009' Circulation-on-R by David H Jones

Q - What is your favourite medium or media? Why?

No particular favourite although I work mainly in acrylic.
I like oil paint for its richness and smell, acrylic for its speed of application and water-colour for its directness.

Q - Could you tell us some more about your work?

At art school I produced large abstract paintings. After art school I didn’t do any of my own work for about fifteen years. In the late 1980’s I was invited to tutor water-colour classes for adult education. I didn’t really have a clue about water-colour painting, but it was an opportunity for me to learn, as it was for my students. This brought me back to basic traditional disciplines of observational drawing and painting; still life, landscape and the figure. During the 90’s I took on more classes, teaching painting and life drawing. By the late 90’s my interests had shifted back to earlier abstract ideas about pattern and colour although informed by my work on landscape and the figure.

My Recent paintings explore themes of circulation and rotation. Visits to Turkey and Tunisia in 2006/7 had an important influence on this work. In Turkey I was mesmerized by Islamic ceramic tiles. In Tunis I visited the Archeological Museum to see the collection of Roman Mosaics. The tessellated surface patterns of the mosaics and repetitive motifs of tile patterns initiated experiments which developed into this series of paintings which play upon the viewer’s cognitive response to pattern and contrasting colour. The sequences of colours on a common ground create a restless and often alarming visual response as patterns emerge from seemingly random marks. The paintings are further enriched with a high build of paint and textured surfaces.

This year , these ideas have been further developed in a series of painting entitled Arboretum, inspired after visiting Westonbirt last autumn.

2009 - 'Arboretum - Autumn Yellow' - acrylic on canvas (95x74cm) by David H Jones

Q - How would you define your style?

I don’t really know. Contemplative – Energising - Colourful Abstract Painting.

Q - What are your influences; artists from the past or present who inspire you?

Too many to mention mostly gone before.: English Romantics: Turner, Palmer,- The Impressionists Monet, Pissarro,- Masters of the modernism, Kandinsky, Picasso - Constructivists & Cubists, American & British Abstract painters, - Tutors Paul Feiler & Terry Frost.


Q - How do you choose the subjects of your works?

Often from a momentary observation. A combination of colours.

Q- How do you prepare yourself for an exhibition or a show like the Open Studios?

Usually at the last minute

2009 - 'Circulation on Yellow Orange' - acrylic on canvas (95x74cm)

Q- You took part in the Swindon Open Studios in the past, what did it bring to you?

In 2007, I exhibited several paintings at the old railway museum in Faringdon Road.

Q - Are there territories (media, subjects, etc.) you want to explore in the coming years?

Yes, but no specific objectives apart from trying to get present projects completed.

Q - As an artist, what would be your dream?

More Time

Q - Could you share one thing that you have learnt in your own art practice that would be useful to other artists?

Have faith and conviction in what you’re doing.

An interview with Robin Woodford

Robin Woodford will be exhibiting during the Swindon Open Studios 2009 as part of the Swindon Artist Forum group.

Caen Hill Flight

Q – Could you introduce yourself briefly to the readers?

My name is Robin Woodford, I spent my early years in a farm cottage on the edge of Savernake Forest near Marlborough, which gave me my love of the countryside which is reflected in the rural images of my paintings When I married I moved to Swindon and I have lived here ever since.

Q-How did you become interested in art?

I have always had an interest in art and enjoyed drawing and painting all my life.

Canal House Pewsey

Q - What inspires you most as an artist?

What inspires me most as an artist is the satisfaction I get from reproducing my own interpretation of a subject and I, like most artists also enjoy the appreciation of my work by my friends and customers.

Q - What is your favourite medium or media? Why?

I enjoy water colour for its atmosphere and acrylic for its vibrant colours. Acrylics are very versatile and can be used in a similar style to either water colour or oil paints.

Devizes Whasrf

Q - Could you tell us some more about your work?

Although I like to paint traditional landscapes I also enjoy the freedom of abstract artwork and often combine them into semi-abstract paintings.
I sometimes find that my work follows a theme and I paint several different scenes of the same subject . I have for example painted a series of paintings at different locations of the Kennett and Avon canal. I seem to have a liking of painting waterscapes and water features in lots of my paintings.

Kennett and Avon Canal at Kintbury

Q - How would you define your style?

My style is fairly traditional watercolour and even my acrylic paintings are painted in a similar style and could be mistaken for watercolours.

Q - What are your influences; artists from the past or present who inspire you?

I am very much influenced by my two favourite artist’s Constable and Turner.

Liddington Hill

Q - How do you choose the subjects of your works?

I have a large selection of subject matter that I have collected over the years.
If I have a commission to paint I may be able to find inspiration from this. Mostly however a commission is of a particular place so I visit the site, do drawings and take photographs to be used for reference and then I complete the painting in my studio.

Q- How do you prepare yourself for an exhibition or a show like the Open Studios?

I collect together all the paintings that I can muster from my studio and choose those that will show my work to the best advantage. These will contain mostly local landscapes which are always popular.

Kennett and Avon Canal Pewsey

Q- Did you take part in the Swindon Open Studios in the past?

Yes, I have but this is the first time as part of a group. (i.e. the Swindon Artists Forum.)

Q - Are there territories (media, subjects, etc.) you want to explore in the coming years?

I am always looking for new materials and methods so if anything new comes along I am willing to give it a try.

Q - As an artist, what would be your dream?

I would like to be successful with an instantly recognised name.

Q - Could you share one thing that you have learnt in your own art practice that would be useful to other artists?

If you are doing a painting that is going wrong carry on until you have completed the painting. Very often it will work out better than you thought it would. If not you will still gain valuable information and may avoid the same problem in the future.

An interview with Ray Castell

Q – Could you introduce yourself briefly to the readers?

My name is Ray Castell. I was born on the North East coast of England but have lived in many places, including Germany and the Orkney Isles. I've been an engineer, shellfish farmer, trainer and small business adviser, but always to some extent an artist.

Preening Swan

Q - How did you become interested in art?

My interest in art has been there for as long as I can remember. It grew when I started working with clay but really took off when I began working with stone.

Q - What inspires you most as an artist?

Most of my inspiration comes from both natural and theoretical forms, and concepts of existence and togetherness.

Eternity

Q - What is your favourite medium or media? Why?

The moment I started working with stone I realised I had found my medium. It helped that I've always worked with tools, but somehow I quickly understood how to work with stone and the pace of working with it suits me too.

Together

Q - Could you tell us some more about your work?

Most of my sculptures involve shapes that to me, and hopefully others, are flowing and calming.

Q - How would you define your style?

I attempt to strip away detail and try to encapsulate the idea I am working on in a simple form that still evokes the emotion or reaction I have in mind.

Calming her mind

Q - What are your influences; artists from the past or present who inspire you?

My influences are mainly from my experiences in life, from growing up and living and working with a love of the sea and the countryside, and from my times spent working with engineering and science. I don't think I have been influenced by any particular artist, but I love to visit exhibitions and will almost always find something to set me thinking.



Q - How do you choose the subjects of your works?

Sometimes I just have a block of stone which I look at and think about until I see a form in it. More often I have an idea that I want to work on and I search out a piece of stone of the right size, type and texture. Ideas are not usually in short supply, but it can be difficult finding the right piece of stone.

Locked Horns

Q- How do you prepare yourself for an exhibition or a show like the Open Studios?

I take part in quite a lot of exhibitions during a year, so the main thing is to make sure that I have enough pieces to exhibit at each. Keeping a good calendar system is essential!

Q- Did you take part in the Swindon Open Studios in the past?

This is my first open studio

Q - Are there territories (media, subjects, etc.) you want to explore in the coming years?

I want to continue exploring different stones and carving techniques. I also want to work on larger pieces.

Searching for light

Q - As an artist, what would be your dream?

Of course, I'd love my work to be more widely recognised. I'd also love to find an affordable workspace near my home where I can work on larger pieces without upsetting the neighbours.

Q - Could you share one thing that you have learnt in your own art practice that would be useful to other artists?

Don't be in too much of a hurry. Don't get too close to the final form until you know it is what you want. Stand back and look at it regularly, and don't hit your fingers.

An interview with Yolanda Cray

Q – Could you introduce yourself briefly to the readers?

My name is Yolanda Cray, my parents are Dutch and moved to Ireland for their honeymoon and stayed. I was born in Dublin and moved to the U.K. 25 years ago, and to Wiltshire 4 years ago.

Q - How did you become interested in art?

My interest in art has come from a love of colour and texture since doing an Interior design course and working in the interiors industry, as a result I started doing an evening class with Susanna Bailey a very talented tutor and it has grown from then

BEFORE THE WEDDING

Q - What inspires you most as an artist?

What inspires me most as an artist is encouragement from fellow artists, enthusiasm is infectious. Also the beauty of landscapes as a memory of a moment in time.

Q - What is your favourite medium or media? Why?

My current favourite medium is acrylic as it gives a lot of flexibility of use and dries quickly.

Q - Could you tell us some more about your work?

My style is traditional landscapes with emphasis on creating texture to give the piece a mood and feeling.

Q - How would you define your style?

My current work is influenced by places I have visited recently and have photographed or sketched wherever possible especially the relationship between sea and rock

CREAMY CORNWALL

Q - What are your influences; artists from the past or present who inspire you?

My influences from past and present are Rothko for colour, Turner for mood and Barbara Hepworth for shapes.

Q - How do you choose the subjects of your works?

I choose my work from photos taken, sketches made and memories stored, size and shape of the canvas and how one feels on a particular day when faced with a blank canvas

MELLOW MEADOW

Q- How do you prepare yourself for an exhibition or a show like the Open Studios?

I am preparing for open studio by putting together a series of paintings called aspects of nature, so there is cohesion with the exhibition. I am also setting aside as much free time as possible to get prepared


Q- Did you take part in the Swindon Open Studios in the past?

This is my first open studio

Q - Are there territories (media, subjects, etc.) you want to explore in the coming years?

I would like to explore other media such as watercolour, pen and ink and also to mix some of the above media. I would also like to attempt some very large canvasses in the future. My imagination is my limitation.

Q - As an artist, what would be your dream?

A large successful solo exhibition, where every painting got sold. I would also like my own studio away from my house to escape too.

Q - Could you share one thing that you have learnt in your own art practice that would be useful to other artists?

P -PATIENCE -be patient
A –AWARENESS -take in your surroundings whenever you can and sketch and photograph
L - LOVE -love what you do it must never feel like a chore
L - LIGHT -notice what affect light has at different times of the day
E - ENERGY -put energy into your each piece
T- TIME -try and set aside time every day even if it is only an hour each day

Getting the best of an Open Studios

This article was first published in "Frequency Magazine" – July 2009.


The Swindon Open Studios 2009 will be held over the weekend of September 12th and 13th (see http://www.swindonopenstudios.org.uk/) and I am going to take part this year. Here are some ideas to get ready for the event and to make the most of it.

Open Studios are all about bringing the public and artists together. You have a unique opportunity to get immediate feedback on your work, to see what people like and don’t like. You can learn a lot just by watching how people react and by listening to their comments. People are curious about the way artists work, what technique, material and the process they use, and the story behind a particular work. One way to make their visit memorable is to give some demonstrations throughout the day.

Bea Menier's studio

Make your own promotion. Send an announcement to your mailing list early enough for people out of town. Send as many invitations as possible. Use your website, your blog or your newsletter to spread the word in advance. You should not rely only on the promotion done by the organisers.

On the day, before your first visitors arrive, take some photographs of your final set-up for use in your future promotion. Have at hand a few copies of your resume, artist statement, some business cards as well as copies of your newsletter if you publish one. Advertise your coming events (shows, workshops). You should also have a copy of your portfolio with the media coverage you received and photographs of your works.

Encourage visitors to leave comments and their contact details in your visitors’ book. Remember that, in accordance with privacy law, you need to ask for their permission in order to contact them later on, so make sure there is a clear notice to that effect. Another way to do this is to create in the visitors’ book a column headed “Address or email Address to keep me informed of further works / exhibitions”

Safety considerations: The first rule is to have at least one person with you at all time, so ask your friends or family to help you on the day. This way, you will be more relaxed when talking to your visitors and you will be able to take breaks from time to time. Areas off-limits should be clearly marked and valuables put away. Carry out a safety assessment in your studio: tape down any loose electrical lead; mark low doorways, steps and uneven pavement; lock away dangerous chemicals; etc.

Make it easy for your visitors: Your studio should be easy to find and visitors guided by the event signs. Is there sufficient parking space for your visitors? (it is a good idea to let your neighbours know… and to invite them at the same time). Wear a name tag with the word “Artist” underneath, so that visitors can find you. It is another way to encourage a dialogue.

If you wish to sell, label all your works with their title, medium and price. Visitors may be shy and won’t ask for the price of your work. Have some blank sales receipts ready, plenty of small change and a supply of “red dot” stickers for works that you have sold. If possible, have someone to handle the sales for you and carry money and checks around (avoid leaving cash in a box ready to be stolen). Make sure you get complete details from your buyers on the invoice in case of a problem and to keep your inventory of works up-to-date. It is best to mark the work that has been sold with a red dot and arrange for its delivery after the end of the Open Studios event, because this will keep your display intact and will show other visitors that your have sold some works.

Refreshment and simple snacks are optional, but a good way to keep visitors longer in your studio.

After the event, follow-up with your visitors, send some “Thank you” notes and update your mailing list with the new contacts you have collected. Take note of what went well and what did not and make some checklists for next time.

Open Studios are also a networking opportunity and it is good to visit other studios if you can. But above all: Have fun!

Open studios Artist studio Art marketing Art exhibition

An interview with Jean Ramsdale

Q – Could you introduce yourself briefly to the readers?

Hi, my name is Jean Ramsdale. I live in Highworth just outside Swindon, with my husband Bill, grandson Chris, Max the dog and Scooby the rabbit.

Q - How did you become interested in art?

I have a disablement, so I became involved with a group called Living Options who gave me the opportunity to take a course in painting in Acrylics. I joined a course run by a most inspiring international artist called Susanna Bailey; she has been such a good friend and an enormous help to me through all my trials and tribulations.

Alone - Acrylic painting by Jean Ramsdale

Q - What inspires you most as an artist?

What has inspired me the most about being an artist is being able to help others to learn how to paint. This I do by jointly running a group which teaches disabled people how to paint, with the help of very good friends and colleagues. The look on their faces when they finish a painting is inspiration enough.

Q - What is your favourite medium or media? Why?

I choose to paint mostly in acrylics as it is a very forgiving media, the colours are amazing and they also dry quickly.

Autumn Beauty - Acrylic painting by Jean Ramsdale

Q - Could you tell us some more about your work?

I love bright colours: reds, yellows oranges, the colours of sunsets which I paint frequently... Recently, I have been painting autumn colours in the shape of trees in arboretums; they are so versatile and have so many beautiful colours. Of course there has been the odd landscape and also I have developed a love of seascapes, especially the shapes and movements of the waves.

Q - How would you define your style?

I think that I have a very unique style to my work, as most artists do. I am both precise and definite; it has to be right before the signature goes on.

Tranquil Lake - Acrylic painting by Jean Ramsdale

Q - What are your influences; artists from the past or present who inspire you?

I have found that Monet, when going through a particularly bad patch artist’s block, was the artist that put me back on the road; again his way of painting with dashes and small marks has helped me several times.

Q - How do you choose the subjects of your works?

Either from a photograph or it just comes to me. I have painted a few works from sketches but mostly, if I find a picture I like, I go ahead with it.


Q- How do you prepare yourself for an exhibition or a show like the Open Studios?

By using a theme and hopefully sticking to it and then panic at the end.

Q- Did you take part into the Swindon Open Studios in the past?

This is my first open studios I am really looking forward to it.


Q - Are there territories (media, subjects, etc.) you want to explore in the coming years?

I really want to conquer watercolour. It really is a most difficult media and very unforgiving, I have also started using inks and mixed media: watercolour with pastels, inks with acrylics. It is interesting to see what effect you can gain from it.


Q - As an artist, what would be your dream?

I am sure it’s “everyone’s”: just to be recognised, to paint that picture that stands you apart from everyone else and to have that idea that is just yours that really works and makes a difference.

Q - Could you share one thing that you have learnt in your own art practice that would be useful to other artists?

Just to keep working at it. We all know how hard it can be, but you don’t get anywhere if you give up on it.