James D Innes
A while back I happened across the above image and thought it gorgeous. I hadn't heard of the painter James Dickson Innes ever before so I did a Google search and liked what I saw and so began to track down the only book there is on him. I've since realised that what I saw and liked was all there was to see and like.
I've just finished reading it and have mixed thoughts - he died young at 27 from tuberculosis and so he never really hit his stride as a painter. The pieces I like show that he was beginning to be onto something; inspired by French Impressionism and The Fauves he brought unusual colour to the Welsh and French landscape pieces he painted.
His watercolours also describe the landscape with semi-abstract dots and dashes which is a style I'm drawn to.
What I haven't shown you here are the terrible (sorry to say it but it was said to him at the time) portraits and mediocre pieces. I'm guessing if he'd lived he'd have continued to hone his skill and produce more pieces of worth and standing but as he didn't, I felt this book included them to his detriment. I have piles of sub-standard stuff that will one enjoy a trip to the recycling - I wouldn't ever show them publicly. Other than his association with some high profile names (Augustus John, Eric Gill, Walter Sickert) I'm left not entirely sure why he warrants a whole book?
I do take away his delicious use of colour and representation of light but stick to Googling him - you can borrow my book!
Studio sale stock cupboard
Here is a 'holding post' or Studio sale stock cupboard for the remaining pieces from July's studio sale. There are loads of pieces -still life, landscape, florals, teacups etc at really good prices.
What to do: please scroll down and have a look through.
Please email me:
hello@claireleggett.co.uk saying what you want to buy and I will send payment details to you.
Standard letter postage within the UK is included.
Please email for postage quotes outside the UK or if you choose to upgrade the postage to tracked/ins (in or out of the UK) and I will send you a postage quote.
Most photos show the whole paper size (inc the brown tape I use to stretch the paper prior to painting) so that you can see what additional space there is for framing.
Sizes given are for the whole framable size of the paper - some paintings are placed within a bigger sized piece of paper which you can cut into to frame - I have given the largest sizes.
Thank you
Thank you to all who bought a piece of art and made my studio sale a great success. As it's been so well received I've decided to round up the remaining pieces in a blog post and link it to my website under the Paintings heading should anyone have missed the sale week and want to look in the future.
Massive studio sale starts today for one week only
I'm having a big studio clear out - there are loads of pieces -still life, landscape, florals, teacups etc at really good prices for one week only:
What to do: please scroll down and have a look through.
Please email me:
hello@claireleggett.co.uk saying what you want to buy and I will send payment details to you - first contact and payment = first served= sold.
Standard letter postage within the UK is included. Larger pieces which have to go by small package post have a £3 postage contribution added.
Please email for postage quotes outside the UK or if you choose to upgrade the postage to tracked/ins (in or out of the UK) and I will send you a postage quote.
Most photos show the whole paper size (inc the brown tape I use to stretch the paper prior to painting) so that you can see what additional space there is for framing.
Sizes given are for the whole framable size of the paper - some paintings are placed within a bigger sized piece of paper which you can cut into to frame - I have given the largest sizes.
All pieces will be mailed out on Saturday 25th July.
In no particular order of size or price....
Massive Studio Sale
I will have been a self-employed artist for 8 years once Sept rolls around. 8 YEARS! Where does the time go? In that time I've made A LOT of paintings. Right now I'm in the mood to make some space and sell them off at great prices. Sale starts tomorrow 5pm GMT - details to follow tomorrow.
Elephant textile
When we visited Asia last year I was so inspired and awed by the new-to-me culture and decoration of Buddhist and Taoist religious spaces; in particular the use and construction of a variety of temple hangings.
I have had these hangings in mind as I am working my way through all kinds of delicious inspiration from those travels. This first completed hanging is a bringing together of all kinds of interpretation and methods of print and stitch.
I began painting this beautiful illuminated manuscript from the Islamic Arts Museum in Malaysia in a simplified way by isolating the little scalloped shape and flower.
I then developed that into a printable silk screen using flour and water paste - a very simple and easy homespun method.
As you can generally only use the screen once (the paste deteriorates as its washed clean) I printed up a stash of luscious fabrics to use, overprinting one particularly yummy fabric that I had previously batiked and tie-dyed.
I chose to stitch the flowers into each shape rather than hand-print them as I was looking to add texture and colour to the surface. The rectangular bottom section features a simple floral lino-block I developed from drawing embroidery motifs on items in the Textile Museum in Kuala Lumpur.
The elephant print began life as a teaching demonstration for how to using screen filler to screen-print hand-drawn images. I re-drew a section of this beautiful wall decoration from the Wat Chaiya Mangalaram, a Thai Buddhist Temple in George Town using drawing fluid. It is later coated in another filler and later the drawing lines are washed out leaving the space as printable mesh (I don't have of photo of that - sorry)
Here it is printed onto a randomly dyed base fabric and I added some fabric foiling too (another demo).
I lived with the pieces up on my design wall for a while, visually editing it and adding in sequin trim and a fantastic gold dangly bit I'd squirralled away sometime. I decide to learn a stitch called Cretan Insertion to attach the gold ribbon to the bottom seam and I think it finished it off perfectly.
Now to re-group and begin the cycle again.
