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by ANN WARREN  Croatian Shore I have always been fascinated by contrasts between dark and light and how the shadows frame the sunlight. This was a scene painted on the beach in Croatia where there are wonderful views out across the islands opposite. So much of life goes on along the shore and just seeing the water lifts my sprits.
We lived for five years right on the beach in Papua New Guinea where sometimes the sea came right up into our garden, and when the waves were high it felt like being in a ship at sea! At night we could watch the fishermen out with lamps on each tiny boat, stringing their nets between them to catch the fish as they swam up towards the light. A lot about painting is in catching the atmosphere and transmitting the feelings that stir us onto the blank page in front of us. Seeing the painting again later can transport me back to how exactly how I felt at that moment, sitting beneath the trees and listening to the gentle stirring in the leaves above.
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by ROSIE PHIPPS  In conversation with Rosie PhippsQU “How long does it take to finish a picture?” ROSIE “Well, it depends. There are two ways of looking at it. Contemplation and action. Contemplation belongs to the inner man. Action is an extension of this inwardness. One needs to wait until one is possessed. It is like religion.A painting is not a painting until one is possessed. A religion which lacks possession is not a religion.” QU “Are you saying that a religion is not a religion unless it has a technique of possession attached to it?” ROSIE “Yes. A religion is like painting. It is something to be experienced. This is why it is so uncomfortable to exhibit them. One is turning a private space into a public arena.” John realised that what Frances painted showed both her pain and her pleasure. Was she, and were the pictures, crying out to be looked at and appreciated by others, or was the act of creation enough in itself? QU “I listened to John Cage's 4. 33” at a concert last week. 4.3 minutes of silence. The pianist sat motionless at the piano.Her fingers outstretched and tense ready to play.The cellist raised his right eyebrow indicating to her that she should start. She sat there and did nothing. The cellist, reflecting her silence, sat motionless again with his arms poised as if to strike the first note.” ROSIE “ I know the piece. He is allowing us to experience the silence as a composer, not just a listener.The room was filled with people some of whom were drawn into the silence. It felt like a cathedral. We were held in that state of being that perfect attention creates. ” QU “Yes. He is allowing the audience to experience the power of silence. The possession, and the action that follows from the possession of silence, and from which compositions are made and played.” ROSIE “ What Cage did was to take that private space into a public space. What the audience then did with it was up to them.” QU “ Yes. The silence is there for us all.It comes and goes with one's awareness. One has to listen for it. It can come spontaneously when one is alone, or holding someone one loves, or just by walking in the woods. The point is to be able to recognise it.” ROSIE “There are times in one’s life when one's inner state matches that of the world and there appears to be no way out.There is no starting all over again with a new beginning. One just has to start where one finds oneself, within that silence, and pick up the pieces and start all over again. With art there is always an empty canvas.” QU “What are you working on now? ROSIE “The sensuality of the land. The sheer eroticism of it. It is like flesh. I want to stroke it.I want to grab and mould it.” Recent landscapes by Rosie 250 x 105mmby ROSIE PHIPPS  In conversation with Rosie PhippsQU “How long does it take to finish a picture?” ROSIE “Well, it depends. There are two ways of looking at it. Contemplation and action. Contemplation belongs to the inner man. Action is an extension of this inwardness. One needs to wait until one is possessed. It is like religion.A painting is not a painting until one is possessed. A religion which lacks possession is not a religion.” QU “Are you saying that a religion is not a religion unless it has a technique of possession attached to it?” ROSIE “Yes. A religion is like painting. It is something to be experienced. This is why it is so uncomfortable to exhibit them. One is turning a private space into a public arena.” John realised that what Frances painted showed both her pain and her pleasure. Was she, and were the pictures, crying out to be looked at and appreciated by others, or was the act of creation enough in itself? QU “I listened to John Cage's 4. 33” at a concert last week. 4.3 minutes of silence. The pianist sat motionless at the piano.Her fingers outstretched and tense ready to play.The cellist raised his right eyebrow indicating to her that she should start. She sat there and did nothing. The cellist, reflecting her silence, sat motionless again with his arms poised as if to strike the first note.” ROSIE “ I know the piece. He is allowing us to experience the silence as a composer, not just a listener.The room was filled with people some of whom were drawn into the silence. It felt like a cathedral. We were held in that state of being that perfect attention creates. ” QU “Yes. He is allowing the audience to experience the power of silence. The possession, and the action that follows from the possession of silence, and from which compositions are made and played.” ROSIE “ What Cage did was to take that private space into a public space. What the audience then did with it was up to them.” QU “ Yes. The silence is there for us all.It comes and goes with one's awareness. One has to listen for it. It can come spontaneously when one is alone, or holding someone one loves, or just by walking in the woods. The point is to be able to recognise it.” ROSIE “There are times in one’s life when one's inner state matches that of the world and there appears to be no way out.There is no starting all over again with a new beginning. One just has to start where one finds oneself, within that silence, and pick up the pieces and start all over again. With art there is always an empty canvas.” QU “What are you working on now? ROSIE “The sensuality of the land. The sheer eroticism of it. It is like flesh. I want to stroke it.I want to grab and mould it.” Recent landscapes by Rosie 250 x 105mmIT BEGINS! After 7 months of planning and preparation the first LiterArties exhibition has started at The Jam Factory, Oxford, on Tuesday 26th February 2019. The Jam Factory 27th February - 16th April InstallationEarly in the morning all our art was laid out and the walls discussed. It was very clear that the largest wall would be dedicated landscapes in a free form style. A section was for abstract art and and another figurative. Our ExhibitionDebrah and Karen left the hanging experts to it and this was the brilliant exhibition that showcases our artwork... Private ViewingContinuing with the theme of art inspired poetry....'capturing our creativity' in multiple modes. LiterArties Kay Jamieson and Dennis Hamley are an artist, author partnership. The beauty of Lake Hayes, Queenstown, New Zealand, inspired Kay to paint her tranquil artwork that, in turn, inspired Dennis to pen a poem. 
LiterArties' Deborah Martin's painting technique illustrated by a step-by-step example. "I thought it might be interesting to show a work in progress at the various stages from start to completion, as an example of the type of demo/talk/ workshops I offer. This painting I'm calling 'Heatherlands' ...  Step 1: Pick out the colours you see and place them onto the canvas in blocks of colour. Looks like a weird kind of patchwork, doesn’t it?  Step 2: Start smoothing with a fan brush. This is sfumato, a-la-Leonardo da Vinci; think Mona Lisa smile. Starting to look a little more like a sky now …  Step 3: Add more highlights and then go back to smoothing again. It doesn’t matter if the colours blend. They do in real life too. And it doesn’t have to be a carbon copy of anything either. It’s YOUR sky …  Step 4: Now look at your palette – ugh! What a mess; just the way I like it. What colours will you use, and which have you finished with? Get rid of the defunct colours- don’t be a messy Tike like me!  Step 5: Vary the type of fan brush you use to blend colours, I use about 6 different ones in total. Keep smoothing until you’re happy with the effect and you have ‘sky’. Step 6: Start adding the landscape, starting with faint delineation, and then building until you’re happy with the transition form sky to land. Now start to add the foreground …  Step 7: Use blocks of colour again, but also go with the shape of the land or the foliage. In this case it’s banks of heather so an arc shape movement works best.  Step 8: Add the path. I used a palette knife – good for coverage and you can get good effects by smoothing and stippling and scarping with it. It’s not just black, white and grey either. Look at all the other colours that are in there – yellow, cerise, purple, green, etc. Nothing is ever a block colour. There are always at least two other colours involved too.  Step 9: Now briefly smooth – but only a minute amount – and then stipple using the varying shades of the heather banks, following the line of the foliage. Sweep grass and underlying stalks upwards with a small fan brush to give the effect of stems.
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