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.

 

 

 

'City of Glass 9 (Fiction & Fact)' - work in progress

 

The painting is getting closer after a week in the studio but the balance is not right yet between freedom and control. There is not enough range in the paint, not enough movement or precision.  At this stage, the idea- finding the letters of T..H..E..T..O..W..E..R..O..F..B..A..B..E..L..in the streetmap of New York- is stronger than the execution.  I found my 'R' at last! I do like the spaces towards the edges though, flanking Manhattan. Not sure about the palette either- for the first time in many years in places I have used a tube-black instead of my own mix and those areas seem a bit dead. I'll put a coloured glaze on top and also use a glaze to break down and soften the edge around Manhattan.  There is also the problem of familiarity/similarity but I am sure this will go away when I work the on the the left side of the diptch -(the 'fiction' side, with the letters formed by Stillman's walks in the novel)  The piece will read as an opened book, fiction and fact side by side.

 

It is a curious phenomena- the painting looks stronger online than in reality.

Just Released - Our Painting Holidays for 2013

 Following 2 highly successful holidays in 2012, we are delighted to announce our Painting Holidays/Courses for 2013.

15 - 20 April & 23 - 28 Sep 2013

 

The concept remains the same, a unique opportunity to work with Ashley spending 2 days  on location in Cornwall’s stunning coastal landscape followed by 2 full days developing the painting’s and ideas further in a studio set in a sleepy village high on Bodmin Moor.

 

 

 Prices start from £360 and include:

• 5 nights accommodation
• 4 full days tuition
• 1 to 1 tuition
• Group critiques
• All lunches
• Ferry trip to Polruan
• Celebratory evening meal

 

'The Artist 'magazine February 2013 edition, features 'In Conversation with Artist Ashley Hanson',  see link for editorial  http://www.painters-online.co.uk/Features/In-Conversation-with-Artist-Ashley-Hanson/_ft344_mg13

  

 ‘Ashley’s concern as an artist and teacher, is to unleash the emotional response to the subject matter that enables the painter to take risks, discover a ‘personal colour palette that excites’, and to provide the fresh vision of Britain’s natural beauty that places him within the long tradition set by the masters of the landscape genre.’

Quoted from February 2013 edition of ‘The Artist’ magazine by editor Dr Sally Bulgin

 

 

New for 2013

 

• More cottages - giving lots of accommodation options depending on your budget. Hire your own cottage, get together with a group of friends or make new friends sharing a cottage.

• Option to go on the course and source your own accommodation if you prefer.

• Non particpants welcome.

To Book or for More Information:

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

See also www.ashleyhanson.co.uk for detailed information

 

Limited to 16 places, book early to guarantee your place.

 

 

Comments from our Previous Holidays

Thank-you so much, both of you. Ashley is a very good tutor and such an enthusiast that it is completely contagious. I am buzzing with picture to paint in my head, like I never had before...it is almost a waste of time to sleep! You were both so generous with your time and care...very memorable and can’t wait to come down to Cornwall again!

Jane Crane September 2012

 

Thanks to this experience I have been jettisoned into a new confidence about myself and my work and I know I shall be doing more painting in the future. My abstract has been hung in our living room by my husband, who wouldn’t hang anything up in our room if he didn’t like it.....so it must be good!

Susan Emms April 2012

 

I didn’t know what to expect—but I have been delighted that it lived up to its title ‘Freedom in Painting’ - suggesting that the painting comes first, it dictates the subject matter. Its been very useful for ideas for future work. Ashley’s a very passionate, selfless teacher. He tries to get into the mindset of each student and find out what they want to achieve. He really gives of himself. Excellent.

Kate Newington April 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas from Ashley & Denise

We would like to say a BIG thank-you to all of you who have supported us in the last year, come along to the workshops, painting holidays and exhibitions and also to those of you who have followed Ashley in his most successful year to date.

Our last 2 workshops were very well received . From the feedback of  the 'Drawing & Painting the Life Model' workshop, it seems that everyone enjoyed the experience and would like to do something similar soon: we have St Breward Village Hall booked for Sat 23 Feb & Sat 1st March, so pencil in the dates, more details to follow early in the New Year!

 

Painting by Hunter Graham

Ashley's most recent 'Freedom in Painting ' workshop in Canterbury Christchurch University was once again a full house with 16 artists. The workshop began with explorations into colour and as always there were a new set of challenges.




Colour & Balance Explorations taken by Claire

This time everyone was asked to think about the word 'Libra' in advance of the workshop as a means of investigating the idea of balance/imbalance in painting. Everone worked really hard and some interesting work emerged by the end of the second day. Here are some shots of some of the paintings in progress.



Photo by Claire Bliss














 




Painting by Rosemary Graham

Painting by Catriona Campbell



Next year's Holiday/Course' Freedom in Painting in the Cornish Coastal Landscape' to be released vey soon, watch this space!

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your families a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year with best wishes from Ashley and Denise.