Leaving Blogger - farewell!

I am now leaving blogger and nipping over to Wordpress. Changes are good and I love the new layout - even if it is taking a while to master, hope you can follow over there

Jane Denman's New Blog at Wordpress

Exhibitions coming up for May

See my work in the Brighton Festival Open Houses at:

31 Havelock Road, Brighton

Four weekends: 7th, 8th, 14th, 15th, 21st, 22nd, 28th, 29th May

Opening times: 11am - 5pm

Catch me at the house:  2-5pm 7th, 11am - 2pm 14th, 11-5pm 22nd and all day 29th

The house, owned by my good friend, Frances Doherty, is in the Fiveways Artists Area (see her website for her fab work on the left. If you would like a guide sent to you, please contact me and I will pop one in the post. This year I will be showing some small original works on paper, large scale dance paintings as well as prints and cards.

As always we run 4 weekend Art Prize Draws, all you have to do is come along and enter - you may win a piece of art by one of the artists in the house.

Also I will have some free artwork in the Brighton Open Magnetic exhibition. The mini magnets are FREE! Takes place

7th May down by Brighton Pier on the railings from 10am

The exhibition was very kindly sponsored by Tooveys Art Auctioneers and should be great fun It was great collaborating  with artist Alban Low with his super idea of magnetic art see www.brightonopen.blogspot.com

 

Finally I will show 2 floral paintings at 

Tooveys Contemporary Art Auction

Saturday 28th May at 6pm

(Pre-sale exhibition will be at 'Hung, Drawn and Displayed' at Horsham Museum & Art Gallery from Friday 8th April to Wednesday 11th May)

Tooveys website

Horsham Museum

East Preston - amazing photo!

Tree Goddess by Roy Matthews 2011

Roy captured this amazing photo, not far from where we live. Aptly named 'Tree Goddess' it is quite extraordinary! Thanks Roy!

Roy Matthews Website 

Stepping up the pace for the Brighton Festival 2011

One of the prints I have been working on for the Brighton Festival in May. This one I have decided to title 'Race Day' in honour of Denman racing in the Gold Cup at Cheltenham. It was a great race by a wonderful horse and came 2nd!

The style of the dancer is inspired by the wonderful Rene Gruau

Ballet week - "Whats done in the Dark.....

"Whats' done in the dark, is revealed in the light!" (Nora Gamlin)

 

What a fab week, action packed with two trips to see some amazing dance. First stop was Brighton Dome to see Ailey 2. They were fabulous. I have to say I am not keen on all dance but these were so so good. Full of energy and a truly "mesmerising togetherness" if that makes sense. I came out feeling that the sun had shone, somehow all of their 'Southern' type dances had rubbed off onto me. I did a lot of sketches in the dark and managed to move seats a few times to get different perspectives. I am only able to see the sketches in the interval or at the end of the performance (such a shame I didnt have the time to stop for the talk afterwards). As you can see a lot of them are quite entertaining.

Whilst listening to the radio

Col Gadaffi is busy announcing, for over an hour, his views on his people stating that they are rats and cockroaches. His words must instill a sense of terror...

I happened to be submitting some drawings whilst the radio was on in the background, for the next Fridge Magnet show in London, one of which I have titled "You are all Cockroaches"

Cockroaches are pretty indestructible.....

Flyers out for the Brighton Open

Magnetic Artworks in
the Brighton Festival 2011

Super flyers! 
Click here for full details of how to be involved
Brighton Open Blogspot info

Tuesdays are great for painting

Having great fun getting this painting together now despite the rain thundering down outside, its back to the partial reveal painting. One of my favourite bits is applying the line in oil, it is slow work and requires a lot of focus but it soon comes together. 

 

This painting originates from sketches in pen done whilst watching a super ballet where the dancers wore flame red skirts and were topless (quite unusual for a ballet!)

Close up detail of the above

I am applying glazes to other parts of the painting - a fantastic red.

The reveal painting

Getting on with the paint is such a wonderful thing. Enjoying it immensely and trying to ignore the fact that the light is still bad at 3.30. Oh well.

Here is the next part of the reveal painting, leave a comment :)  - lots of people have had a look but wondering if anyone has guessed it yet? 

This painting will be finished by next week (fingers crossed)

Hurrah for the promise of spring!

Such a wonderful day today and Tuesdays are favourite for a whole day painting. Windows open and even the back door for a while, with the cat lying in the sun in her usual upside-down- arms-up to get "max" sunshine, and its down to the wonderful experience of paint. So here you can see the 2nd reveal pic, working with bright red, ultramarine blue and magenta plus a little cad yellow and lots of white. I have done a lot more than these 2 pics but thought it would be fun to unravel a painting. Dont forget to check over the next coming days!

Brighton Festival paintings have begun

In earnest! Not thinking about the deadline here (May) but anyway.... Thought it might be interesting to try and do a 'reveal' of a painting. Just like Rolf Harris used to say, with a laugh in his voice 'can you see what it is yet?'. This pic is day 1, I am a little behind with each day (now on day 3) but then I have been painting!

What I love about this painting - is the size (very large), colour and well you will see! Dont forget to tweet it to others if you feel the need and revisit for the next ones :)

Brighton Open: Calling Artists for Brighton Open

Brighton Open: Calling Artists for Brighton Open: "Exhibit with us on the streets of Brighton.Send up to 2 images to openfridge@googlemail.comYour image will be turned into a small magnet (5..."

Acrylic workshop last Saturday

This was the first of a series of workshops I am running focusing on fluid acrylics. It was a super day, lots of experimenting with acrylic gels and there were some interesting discoveries, see Margarets free flowing acrylic composition here. Next workshop is on 26th March www.skyblueartclasses.co.uk

March and April Art Classes

Fancy joining an art class?  We offer a range of classes in; Photography, watercolour, drawing, acrylics and oil painting workshops, courses and drop in classes throughout the year.

Skyblue Art Classes were started about 7  years ago with one lady wanting to learn watercolour and from there it has gradually built up. Classes take place in the Worthing, West Sussex area, see the website for full details Skyblue Art Classes

Now on Twitter!

This year has certainly started off in a very techie way, now I have managed to get signed up to twitter and am nervously following my friend, Lou, Twitter Queen. Still havent worked it all out but I will make a few changes here to the blog so that it is a port of call for my own drawings and paintings and for my other business "Skyblue Art Classes". Hopefully the crossover wont be too confusing! .....

New Year and lots of admin

Its quite a feat I think a lot of the time to get down and actually paint! For over 2 weeks I have been caught up in the net of the dreaded admin. Starting back with the other business of running art classes means that all hands to the pump are necessary. 

I have, however, been working on 2 projects. One commission for a dear friend in Germany and the other for Tooveys Art Auction being held in spring. Painting has barely begun and in fact is fairly tricky due to very poor light most of the time. If it is too dull, colours appear darker and too bright (in summer) there is a lot of reflection! Still I could be just making my own excuses as usual. No time to waste as the May Brighton Festival looms and it is very hard not to panic! I am also helping out with the wonderful Lamppost exhibition listed here on the blog....

Brighton Open: Calling Artists for Brighton Open

Brighton Open: Calling Artists for Brighton Open: "Exhibit with us on the streets of Brighton.Send up to 2 images to openfridge@googlemail.comYour image will be turned into a small magnet (5..."