PV at Margate Gallery, Workshop and Open Studios

It was a great night at the opening of 'Opposites' at Margate Gallery on Friday. Ashley was delighted to see you all and especially honoured to welcome Victoria Pomery, Director of the Turner Contemporary to the show.

 Comments & Tweets About the Exhibition

Great show at @MargateGallery  - @AshleyHansonArt vibrant, colourful and exciting, a feast for the eyes http://bit.ly/19732Es

Just back from @AshleyHansonArt  exhibition @MargateGallery  it is a colour sensation. A MUST SEE!

Ashley's colourful artwork was a great way to brighten up the weekend. I highly recommend a visit to a great gallery and a fabulous art show.



The show continues until 22nd June see link for more details:
http://www.margategallery.co.uk/exhibition/opposites Ashley will be giving an informal talk about the work Saturday 22 June 12pm - 2pm at the gallery.

'Freedom in Painting with the Life - Model', 2 Day Workshop in Canterbury

Coinciding  with the exhibition is a new exciting workshop at Canterbury Christchurch University ‘Freedom in Painting with the Life Model’ Thurs & Fri 20^th- 21^st June,  9.30-5.30pm . Cost £70 for the 2 days. 

‘The Life-room is a special place for artists, and links artists working today with those of the past. Working from the model is a timeless, challenging and essential discipline but is rich in possibilities: the aim of this 2 day workshop is to build on observational skills and gain a greater understanding of painting through our own personal interpretations of the human figure.’

During the workshop we will be exploring colour, mark-making, composition, the physicality of paint and the journey from drawing into painting. The aim of this course is to build on observational skills and gain a greater understanding of painting through our own personal interpretations of the human figure.

 

Book soon as places are filling up fast!!

Email  denise@ashleyhanson.co.uk or call 01208 77656 to book.

 

Open Studios in Bodmin

 

 

Ashley and Janie are teaming up again at Bodmin's Shire Hall welcoming visitors to the studio over a 3 week period, 25th May- 15th June 10am - 5pm, Mon -Sat . Do pop in if you are near by, come see the exhibition and say 'hello'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Freedom in Painting with the Life-Model

To coincide with the exhibition Ashley will be running a workshop at Canterbury Christchurch University ‘Freedom in Painting with the Life Model’ Thurs & Fri 20^th- 21^st June,  9.30-5.30pm . Cost £70 for the 2 days. 

Ashley comments ‘The Life-room is a special place for artists, and links artists working today with those of the past. Working from the model is a timeless, challenging and essential discipline but is rich in possibilities'

 

To book or for more details about the workshop please contact denise@ashleyhanson.co.uk  or  call 01208 77656. Limited to 16 places only

 



Our April 2013 Painting Holiday - Photos and Update

 

We really were a very multi-national group this time, with guests coming from Germany, France, Singapore and South Africa , along with our UK participants, some who were brave enough to return again! The sun came out for our first day on location, after the dreary, cold winter weather we had all been experiencing  and Port Isaac came alive amongst the backdrop of yellow gorse and beautiful Spring flowers.

 After the morning session at Port Isaac, it was time for a well earned, delicious lunch at the Port William Inn,  Trebarwith Strand. Situated over looking the cliff tops, it was an ideal location to relax and take in the view. Thank-you Larry, Sue and the team for looking after us so well. The group were not disappointed with the dramatic coastal landscape - one of our special places.

 

Having taken in the north coast on Day 2 we were heading for a very contrasting Cornwall on the south coast. Our day began at Charlestown, a place that has inspired a whole series of paintings for Ashley. Here we looked at the lines and curves of the unusual arrow shaped harbour against the natural landscape. A welcome, substantial lunch followed at the Pier House Hotel before it was on to our next destination- a ferry  trip to Polruan.

Most of us took up the challenge of climbing to the summit,  the effort was rewarded with a breath taking, panoramic view over Fowey and the open sea. It was pretty gusty up there but some of the group, were determined to paint regardless (Woon and Sue you were very brave!)

Our next 2 days were very different, as Ashley pointed out in his introduction to the studio 'this was where the holiday ended and the real work began!' The studio was now about to become the place of invention and Ashley introduced the group to his way of working, away from the subject matter, allowing for a whole range of possibilities to begin.  

The focus was colour and everyone participated in a variety of exercises. Ashley continued to challenge the group during the next 2 days, taking them out of their comfort zone- after all they had signed up for 'Freedom in Painting'. The work produced was very exciting, colour dominated and there were plenty of surprises. 

 

Kathy's Painting

Sara's Painting

Regine's Painting

The Friday evening wouldn't be the same without our finale dinner, where we could all let our hair down after an exhausting - but exhilerating week. After a quick swifty at The Globe Inn , we dined in Cornwall's Silver Award winning restaurant for 2012, Asquiths in the historic village of Lostwithiel . It was a true fine dining experience, I'm sure the rest of the group will agree the food and service were second to none.

Thank-you Graham and Sally for a wonderful evening and a special thank-you must go out to our guest Christian, who entertained us with his guitar and charming French  songs. 

Both Ashley and I would like to say a BIG thank-you to you all for signing up, we loved being with you and sharing some of our special places. I hope Ashley didn't work you too hard and that you enjoyed it all, just as much as we did and that we might see you again soon, keep in touch!

Denise & Ashley

If you would like to join or find out more about our next holiday:

 

23 - 28 September 2013

 

Contact denise@ashleyhanson.co.uk or call Denise on 01208 77656 

Hurry- we only have 2 places left!!

Exhibition at Truro Arts - Royal Cornwall Museum

'Porthleven 17'

 

Ashley is currently showing a selection of his Porthleven, Charlestown and Penzance paintings at the Arts Cafe at Truro Arts, which is linked to the Royal Cornwall Museum.
The show runs from 28th March - 9th May, opening hours 9am-5.30pm, Mon-Sat.

Truro Arts are very much part of the cultural Truro Festival, from 29 March - 14 April, which is celebrating the diversity and creativity of the arts with an array of events featuring art, music, literature and film. Hope you can come and visit Truro Arts and the exhibition and take part in this wonderful event.
 
To coincide with the exhibition Ashley will be hosting a workshop , 'Colour & Coast' at Truro Arts Thursday 9th May, 9.30 - 4pm.

Students will learn the principles of colour- mixing and how to use colour creatively and imaginatively.  Ashley will be hands on demonstrating and sharing many of his tips and techniques about colour, mark-making and composition. Please bring along a drawing or photograph with a coastal subject to work from.

For more information about the exhibition and workshop contact Truro Arts at 01872 240567 and see link for more details http://www.enjoytruro.co.uk/whatson/art/9423

'Colour & Coast at Truro College- Evening Class


For those who prefer a longer more indepth

'Charlestown 1'

course , Ashley will be running a 'Colour & Coast' evening course at Truro College over 10 weeks
from Wed 24th April.
To enrol or for more details contact Truro College
Part-Time Courses on 01872 265800 or see link
http://www.truro-penwith.ac.uk/pt/colour-coast-painting-with-ashley-hanson/

Our April Painting Holiday

We are very much looking forward to our forthcoming holiday and welcoming our participants from far and wide including Singapore and Germany.

This year we will be visiting Port Isaac, Trebarwith Strand, Charlestown and Polruan followed by 2 intensive days in the studio. We hope the weather is kind to us!


'Penzance 8'

'City of Glass 9 - Fiction & Fact' 120x200cms

The painting was resolved and the two sides pulled together when I put in the blue-grey drip/vertical in the right-side painting.  The drip stopped in the perfect position. Love the division line between the canvases and the power of the pink dot (which is no longer an attention seeker but an incident in the whole). The other dots/perforations were repainted to bring back their shape & clarity and reinforce the idea of the opened notebook. Curiously, by putting in the long blue/grey vertical there was no need to extend the pink horizontal from the left side into the right. The eye picks up and connects the existing horizontals and the repeated motif of the large rectangular block of Central Park. The eye is tricked, the large blue rectangle is not Central Park, (which is of course the large orange rectangle to the right). The blue/grey line is just enough to suggest a building and moving across the painting into the left-side, the orange rectangle of Central Park becomes an almost identical building ( the Twin Towers?) and the left side can be read as architecture/buildings/skyline- buildings that are there but not there.  The verticality of New York implied in the grid pattern of the streets. There is an interesting feel about this piece: scale, orientation/viewpoint are all subverted and ambiguous. Painted facts and painting truth derived from fiction.

The letters that spell T..H..E..T..O..W..E..R..O..F..B..A..B..E..L  are all there on the right 'Fact' side - map-truth (though it depends which map you are looking at), letters that are there but not there-looking for them turns the viewer into a detective. On the left 'Fiction' side, I had intended to transcribe the letters invisibly written by Stillman's walks, superimposing them on top of each other & spiralling around their start-point, the Hotel Harmony. However, once I put down the grid and the painting started to develop, this seemed unnecessary, with the off-straight purple line, the drip that misbehaved (and the missing cross-streets) providing the fiction.  I am certain the original idea will re-emerge in another piece with a simpler background.  There is a rawness about the paint on this side but this is tempered by the discipline of the grid.

There are links to the other paintings in the series, particularly 'City of Glass 2-Hotel Harmony' where a section of the Upper West Side, with the curve of Broadway, sits alongside Manhattan. Also 'City of Glass 4- Truthville N.Y' where the dot of Truthville balances on top of the Tower.   While Paul Auster's 'New York Trilogy' is the inspiration for the painting, I am also indebted to Mondrian - I have long admired the purity and beauty of his later works, their asymmetric balance and the exquisiteness of their execution. I can also see connections with some beautiful books made by artist Ruth McDonald, about her journeys in Cornwall and Kent, that I saw recently.

The next piece will explore Paul Auster's layers of identity. There will be a figure(!) -Stillman- who will be covered by six layers of human shadows of increasing size representing Max Work, (Quinn's fictional detective whose persona Quinn adopts on his assignment), William Wilson (the pseudonym Quinn uses for his detective fiction, Quinn himself,  author Paul Auster, myself, the artist and finally the viewer. Ideally, this piece to be lit in such a way that the actual shadow of the viewer is superimposed on the shadows in the painting.

Already I can see the shoulder of the figure jammed up alongside and following the curve of Broadway..............

I was looking for a description of Stillman in the novel for my painting - tall,white-haired, a long shabby brown overcoat and then today met some friends in Falmouth and Simon was wearing.............a long shabby brown overcoat. Took some pics..a perfect Stillman (not that Simon Bor is old or white-haired!). Strangely, I have used a similar figure before: on a red hot day on Blackpool promenade I saw an elderly gentleman in an overcoat, scarf and hat. I named him Harold Parkinson and he appeared in several paintings in the early eighties. Love these connections. 

'City of Glass 9- Fiction & Fact' - latest

Frustration!- this is so difficult to see.  I was hoping to be in a larger studio but it hasn't worked out.
Nevertheless, this is exciting challenging stuff trying to make this work as a diptych and read as an open book.  There is a beautiful symmetry and linkage between the curves of Riverside Park on the left painting and the curves of the east side of Manhattan in the right painting. The line where the 2 paintings join is so powerful. The piece needs a building, a Tower of Babel- there is the suggestion of one, with the ziggurat shape in the left painting but I might make more of it. The large tall vertical on the right side of the left painting represents Central Park but I'm thinking of introducing a similar sized block up the left side of the right painting so that the blocks read as the Twin Towers, exquisitly divided by the physical divide of the paintings. The painting needs a strong unifying horizontal- I'll make the pink horizontal of W100St pop up from behind the towers and either cut across Manhattan in the right painting or go behind, cutting the space and de-flattening the painting.  The pink dot is no longer an issue- it is an incident in the whole. The lines of dots/perforations will work better when they are more regular and properly lined up.

Still have the option to split the piece into 2 paintings- would welcome any comments about how it's working as diptych (or not)

'City of Glass' Series at Modern Artists Gallery, Reading

2nd February - 16th March 2013

 

 

 



 

If you missed the chance to see the 'City of Glass' series in London, the first 8 paintings in the series are now showing at the Modern Artists Gallery until 16th March. The gallery is in a beautiful spot at Whitchurch-on -Thames, not far from Reading and a close drive from the M4. http://www.modernartistsgallery.com/index.php

 



'City of Glass 8'- The Red Notebook' (& Penzance 9)

 

  

Ashley is now back in the studio working on the 9th painting in the series. No doubt there will be big changes this week - please keep the pink dot on the left! See post below.  We are still trying to contact Paul Auster, the author of 'City of Glass', anyone have any suggestions, or even better an email address?!!

 

A big thank-you to the gallery director Peggy Brodie who has championed Ashley's work over the years.