Sunday 26 May 2013

Inky Leaves at the Espacio Gallery - Preview Night

So it was the opening night of 'Natural Selection' at the Espacio Gallery on Bethnal Green Road on Friday night and it was an absolute blast! It was super seeing all the other artists work and to meet my friends. I am so grateful to everyone who has supported me, including you. Without the encouragement of my readers and followers this exhibition might not have happened.

The Botanical Paintings all in a Row
Sally was everyone's favourite - she is such a poser!
There was a lot of excellent work on the walls in this show, so do pop in if you can. I am invigilating the space a couple of times during the fortnight, so drop me an email if you want to meet me in the gallery. My favourite work was by Kit Boyd who had some really beautiful etchings on show. Apparently he also has a solo show from 31st May at the Barbican Library so I might have to pop in and see that. It was his little creatures in seed pods against a London skyline that I liked so much, they had a wonderful nurturing quality to them.

I also liked Carlos Martybn Burgos' work. He works in tea, so naturally a favourite! I very much liked Tania Beaumont's work - she had several beautiful  prints on display and a couple of really seductively made three dimensional canvases which had a Georgia O'Keeffe feel to them. Kirsty O'Leary had some super graphite pieces on show. She interestingly draws on plaster which actually gives the graphite a super smooth quality to it - such a great idea! I think you guys will like her work as she does a lot of beautiful trees. 

Pod by Richard Rogan Brown
The incredible work by Richard Rogan Brown

Lastly incredibly detailed work by paper artist Richard Rogan Brown is on show too. I have never seen anything like it. I am impressed that someone can work both two and three dimensionally in one piece

Interviewing Inky Leaves at the Espacio Gallery
This took me by surprise - there was a camera crew there and they came over to my corner for an interview.
Inky Leaves at Espacio Gallery
Team Monthope Road (my street) came to support me on the night. I am so lucky to have such great friends
Espacio Gallery
A view of the upstairs portion of the gallery space - a busy night!
Putting on the Inky Leaves stickers onto my prints - my step dad made these for me and it was brilliant getting them on the night.

Friday 17 May 2013

Tulipa 'Rory McEwen'


We had a lovely delivery in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art this week - six bottles of beer, filled with water and each holding one cut Old English Florists’ Tulip. Naturally, these are no ordinary Tulips - they are very special varieties which had come all the way from Wakefields. Dating from 1836, the Wakefield andNorth of England Tulip Society is a long established floral society with a tradition of growing English Florists' Tulips and today it is the only society left specialising in Tulips. They have an Annual Show which is held in the Wakefield area each year. This is open to the public and I really want to go!
           
Tulipa 'Rory McEwen'
Tulipa 'Rory McEwen'
English Florists' Tulips had their peak of popularity in the early 19th Century, with many florist societies growing the Tulip and other florist's flowers such as Carnations, Anemones and the Auriculas. The English Florists' Tulip has to conform to certain strict standards, particularly in having a shape like half a hollow ball, and having a base colour cleanly white or yellow, on top of which the darker colour is overlaid. The attractive markings on some of the flowers arise when their bulbs are infected with Tulip Breaking Virus. The markings have been known about since the days of 'Tulipomania' in the 17th Century, but it wasn't until the 1930s when Tulip Breaking Virus was discovered to be the cause. The flowers do not seem to suffer from the infection (one of the oldest cultivars known is Habit de Noce (Wedding Coat), dating from the 1790s, and it is still grown by society members today). 

Tulipa 'Rory McEwen'
Tulipa 'Rory McEwen'
Two of the six bottles in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art each had a very special Tulip in – Tulipa ‘Rory McEwen’, named after the man himself! They were so uttlery beautiful. You can really feel their rarity - they are like diamonds in a botanical world. I just had to take a photograph, complete with the traditional beer bottles in the background, which Wakefields traditionally exhibit their Tulips at shows.

Web Cow Girl has lots of images from one of the shows if you are interested...