Work in progress: 'City of Glass 16' -update

I may change the name to Red Rivers or Euphrates or Babylon.....

In progress- 'City of Glass 16 - (1 block = 1 brick)'

 

'City of Glass 16'   210 x 120cms

Early days for new City of Glass* painting - but now going through the gears with longer sessions in the studio. Still trying to establish the scale of Manhattan and position of Central Park.  The only certainty is the central axis of 69th St and Park Ave, the location of the Stillman apartment, with the divide leading the eye down to Grand Central Station.  It's too fragmented, everything needs to be simplified, including the colour-scheme. The grid pattern of the streets will be extended over the entire canvas forming the bricks of the tower shape. There may be a tiny figure of Stillman exiting the painting in the bottom left corner.

Music has been driving the painting: Neil Young's After the Goldrush and Sleeps with Angels with the epic Change your Mind and Closer by Joy Division: ' you can't replace the fear and thrill of the chase...' Sums up painting really.

* from 'The New York Trilogy' by Paul Auster

Detail

Detail

'City of Glass 15- (Stillman walks.....)' 50x40cms

 

 

This is the smallest painting yet in the New York Trilogy series. It's always a problem going from big to small - there is no room, no space! - but I think that problem has been resolved. 

In this painting I returned to the idea of how to place both the figure of Stillman and the map-shape of Manhattan in the same painting, without Stillman appearing giant.  The painting started with Stillman in a gallery, walking past a painting containing the Manhattan shape ('City of Glass 1') but the verticality, which has been a constant throughout the series, was missing. I think the solution above is far more intriguing and ambiguous.  The vertical grid on the right is a specific section of the Upper West Side. As 'detective' Quinn discovers, Stillman's daily walks, (where he invisibly writes the letters that spell T.H.E.T.O.W.E.R.O.F.B.A.B.E.L.) are all within 'a narrowly circumscribed area, bounded on the north by 110thSt, on the south by 72nd Ave, on the west by Riverside Park, and on the east by Amsterdam Avenue. No matter how haphazard his journeys- and each day his itinerary was different- Stillman never crossed these borders' *

 

Next painting: 'City of Glass 16 - (1 block = 1 brick)', investigating again the enormous scale of the new Tower of Babel in New York, which would be 'large enough to hold every inhabitant of the New World'.*

 

*Paul Auster  'The New York Trilogy'

 

 

 

 

 

Just Released - Our Painting Holidays in Cornwall, 2014

 

12 - 17 May & 22 - 27 September

We are delighted to announce the release of our painting holidays in Cornwall for May and September in 2014.

The concept remains the same, a unique opportunity to work with Ashley spending 2 days on location in Cornwall's stunning coastal landscape on both the north and south coast (on each holiday), followed by 2 full days developing the paintings and ideas further in a studio set in a sleepy village high on Bodmin Moor. We have a new location for you this year on our May holiday with the introduction of Polperro on the south coast.

 Prices start from £395 and include:


 

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

 

The holidays/courses are extremely flexible with lots of accommodation options depending on your budget. You can hire your own cottage, get together with a group of friends or make new friends sharing a cottage. There is also an option to go on the course and source your own accommodation, if you prefer. Non participants are also welcome.

Heather Rachel's Painting & Photo Sep 2013
 

There is also a place on our September Cornwall painting holiday to be won!! We have teamed up with the new art magazine Discover Art and the art materials specialist Great Art and all you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is to paint a postcard in any media of your choice. Pick up your copy of the Discover Art magazine from WH Smiths high street stores or see here  for more details.

To Book or for More Information:

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

See also here for more detailed information

 

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

 

www.ashleyhanson.co.uk
 

 

Comments from our Previous Holidays

It was beyond my expectations and extremely helpful. You both worked so hard and the workshop was brilliant. Thank-you so much for giving us such a creative and inspirational time!
Petra Rohr-Rouendaal September 2013

The workshop was a highly purposeful environment and precious time was used appropriately. The demonstrations were thought provoking and stimulating. St Breward is pleasant, rural and the studio has the air of a retreat - perfect for painting and the artistic soul. Overall the course delivered something special and I think different and more 'out there' than the norm. Ashley is an inspirational tutor. Thank-you!
Alison Garner April 2013
 
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 pictures 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

 

 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

Thanks to everyone for allowing me to use their comments and special thanks to Heather Rachel for the use of selected photographs.

Canterbury Workshop - Exploring the Circle

Teddy Kempster

The group found our recent 'Freedom in Painting' workshop in the sculpture studio at Canterbury Christchurch University both intriguing and challenging.

In a series of exercise students explored the circle as a window, object,  sign, target, symbol and also as a circular space within painting before making their own interpretation of the circle. Ashley was very impressed by the strength and variety of the work produced over the 2 days, we hope you agree!
 
It was difficult to choose from all the wonderful work made but here is a selection of some of the paintings. Special thanks go out to Denise and Ruth for sending in the photos.

Denise Collar

I really did enjoy the recent painting course held in Canterbury last week and the experience has truly begun to liberate me into 'painting with freedom', Thank-you Ashley. The process which you planned informed us well before we began to paint and the structure of each session soon liberated each one of us into using paint to interpret the theme of the circle in so many ways. I could feel myself growing in confidence as the hours went by. What an intensive two days at an affordable cost and a really valuable investment of time for any budding artist who needs to discover their own direction,
Denise Collar

Linda Tucker

A mixture of inspiration, art, contextualisation, modelling and giving your all! I would give you a 1, that is 'outstanding' in Ofsted terms!
Linda Tucker











I've learnt  a lot more about mixing colour and documenting the mixes. Also I am much more confident about using acrylics. I really loved mixing and applying colour with the palette knife. Also I appreciate abstract art  a little more now. Lots of room in which to work - lovely!
Maria Welch



Rachel Wickremer

 

Maria Welch

  





Ruth McDonald

Sue Lock






Thank-you to everyone who came along to the workshop we hope to see you again soon.



Merry Christmas from Ashley & Denise

We would like to take this opportunity to say a BIG thank-you to everyone who has come along to our workshops, painting holidays and exhibitions and to those of you who have followed Ashley's Art, either via the Blog, Facebook or Twitter over the past year. We would also like to say a big thank-you to all of our partners and supporters who play an important part in helping to make our Painting Holidays and Workshops such a great success!

'City of Glass 8' - The Red Notebook

We wish you and your families all a very Merry Christmas and a creative, inspirational year ahead. With very best wishes

Ashley & Denise

'City of Glass 14' - (Dialogue) 120 x 80cms

Sunday 8 Dec

It's done!  And so, finally, is my Pollock Krasner Foundation application - ping, there it goes. 20 years in the making according to Denise!

Thurs 5 Dec 

'Possibly, maybe... once again I had big problems with the shock of the change in colour when I took the painting out of the lights in the studio to natural light -the painting looked terrible in daylight- especially the orange which was too dark, too dense, too cold.  This colour shift is always a problem : if you work with a daylight bulb the painting might look terrible in a gallery, so the painting has to work in all kinds of light. Anyhow, in the painting I tuned the orange up, warmed it up and made it more interesting, with the introduction of indian yellow and warm orange glazes and a greater tonal shift from top to bottom.   I did all this as a demonstration in my class at Truro College- thanks for the feedback everyone!  The title 'Dialogue' refers to the dialogue between the left and right sides, between map-shape and image- and of course 'dialogue' has a literary reference. All along I've tried to link the grids of the streets, the grid of the painting itself, my mapping-out grid with the grid of the façade of a building.  The building, giant and sinister, emerged from the paint-  it appears transparent, made of glass...... It's verticality links to the pink block of Central Park, the perspective line of the roof 'talks' to the angled spike of the Williamsburg Bridge.. it seems to lift Manhattan and and make it vertical too.

I love the leverage and breathing space on the bottom edge and I’m happy that, finally, the three canvases have a reason, a purpose and the strength of the lines where they meet add to the painting. They work formally but also, as 42nd St and W107St, they are significant to the novel.

Detail: the Upper West Side, the streets where Stillman walks.......

 
Below in sequence are 3 previous stages of the painting: