Success in London - the Royal Watercolour Society
I am very pleased to say that my painting "Moon Over Lincolnshire" was accepted by the Royal Watercolour Society for showing at their annual open exhibition, 21st Century Watercolour. The exhibition is at the Bankside Gallery on London's South Bank, just between Blackfriars Bridge and the Tate Modern. The painting can be seen on the right, packed up awaiting it's trip to London.
This is the third time that I have had work accepted for this most prestigious of exhibitions. I seem to be in a pattern of alternating years, 2004, 2006 and 2008! Last year my submissions didn't make it to the final selection. In 2005 I had to miss the exhibition due to teaching commitments.
The exhibition is open every day between 11am and 6pm until the 8th. March. The painting was sold on the opening day, but will remain on show until the end of the exhibition
August sketching workshop - A Norfolk Sketchbook with Stephen Martyn
My sketching workshop in April proved very popular, so I am running another one in August. It will be suitable for both beginners and more experienced artists who want to refresh their drawing and watercolour skills, or simply discover the joy of sketching in the beautiful Norfolk countryside. Based at the Carter Gallery in Great Bircham, West Norfolk, there will be studio sessions together with plenty of opportunity to work outside in and around the village. Weather permitting, of course! I will demonstrate and give one-to-one guidance throughout.
The date for the workshop will be the weekend of 18 - 19 August 2007, from 10am - 5pm on the Saturday and 10am - 4pm on the Sunday. The cost for the weekend is £95. If you require a kit of sketching materials to start you off, then I can supply one at a cost of £15. This will include a cartridge paper sketch book, pencils, pens, charcoal sticks etc. There will be a one hour lunchbreak each day, bring a picnic lunch, or visit the nearby King's Head pub.
To book a place on the workshop, email or phone me (01485 571523) to reserve your place. You will need to send me a deposit, which I will tell you about when you contact me. Early booking is advised as I will limit the maximum number of participants to eight. However, if there is sufficient demand I will run a second date in August, but this will have to be midweek.
The Shop is open
I now have a range of reasonably priced prints of my original watercolours. There are two sizes - Mini-prints which fit an A5 size photo-frame, and the larger prints which are ready to fit a standard 12in x 16in frame. These can be browsed by visiting my on-line shop where, if you wish, you can purchase using secure on-line payment through Pay-pal.
Pennine Way Sketches now on-line
It's taken me a bit longer than I thought to get round to it, but I have now built a new page with half a dozen of my ink sketches that I did as I walked the Pennine Way in September 2005. To see them click here.
Walking . . . my inspiration
As it says on the welcome page of the site, I spend a lot of time just walking, looking for inspiration, an effect of the light, something in nature that makes me go "Wow, look at that - where's my sketchbook!". Most of my walking is round my local area of the Norfolk Coast, but I do venture further afield sometimes, because I love the hills and dales of the North of England.
Well, I'll have plenty of time to study those hills over the next three weeks, as I'm setting out to walk the most famous long distance footpath in the UK - the Pennine Way. Needless to say, my trusty A5 sketychpad and a few pens and pencils will be in my rucksack, so wish me good walking and good sketching! Assuming it doesn't rain every single day, I will post some of my sketches on this site, when I return in early October.
Since writing the above I have successfully walked the Way, completing the trek in 19 days. Phew, a lot of hard walking! I did manage to do some ink sketches - to see some of them click here .
