'Still Life' - Gallery & Report at Creek Creative, Kent

Teddy Kempster

Each of the twelve Freedom in Painting workshops in Kent have explored a different aspect of painting. We have looked at 'Red', 'The Circle, 'LIbra (Balance)', 'The Diptych', 'The Space Between'. We have worked with the model on several occasions, there was a workshop that explored composition using the two lighthouses of Dungeness and recently we looked at the work of Richard Diebenkorn. 

This time, eleven artists from all over the country gathered together at Creek Creative Studios in Faversham to explore the important genre of Still Life. In advance, the artists were asked to look at the work of Morandi and William Scott and also to bring in one or two of their own favorite objects.

A talk on the history of the genre was followed by a loosening up, compositional drawing exercise. The artists were then split into three groups and each group was asked to arrange on their own table, by consensus, a still- life of six objects which they drew for the rest of the morning, conventionally and unconventionally!

After lunch, the painting session began, and without giving too much away, the still-life changed during the afternoon. 

Day 2 began with a challenging painting exercise and throughout the day, the artists pushed their paintings forwards, in the spirit of the words of Richard Diebenkorn:

'I have found in my still-life work that I seem to be able to tell what objects are important to me by what tends to stay in the painting as it develops'   

As always, the workshop ended with an invaluable group critique. Over the 2 days the artists gave their all - intellect, painting skills and instinct, and through their intensity of working produced an incredibly strong and varied set of paintings. 

Many thanks again to Anne and Simon at Creek Creative for promoting the course and helping set up the room.  

GALLERY

Griselda Mussett

Griselda Mussett

Hazel Crawford

Hazel Crawford

Jan Bunyan

Jan Bunyan

Jane Crane

Jane Crane

Kathleen Alberter

Kathleen Alberter

Margarita Hanlon

Margarita Hanlon

Nicola Waters

Nicola Waters

Jo Dunlop

Jo Dunlop

Philippa Langton

Philippa Langton

Robin Marks

Robin Marks

Teddy Kempster

Teddy Kempster

The next 'Freedom in Painting' workshop at Creek Creative will be:

'Looking at Lanyon'       Fri 31 March - Sat April 1 2017       £90

If you would like to book a place, email  ashleyhansonart@gmail.com

Upcoming Workshop in Kent: 'Still - Life' 21-22 October

This 2-day workshop at Creek Creative will tackle the enduring subject of the Still-Life but as always there will be twists and challenges along the way. 

I have found in my still-life work that I seem to be able to tell what objects are important to me by what tends to stay in the painting as it develops'  Richard Diebenkorn

In my own practice, 'Still-Life' is rare -  I was probably traumatised by having to paint my first ever still-life on my art college interview!  In the early nineties though I painted collections/arrangements of pebbles,stones and shells, fused with landscape. Appropriately, with the workshop in Faversham, these paintings from the early nineties, are about nearby Whitstable, a favourite place where I lived during my time at Canterbury College of Art. 

'Tankerton'  40x50cms

'Tankerton' depicts standing on 'The Street', the strange shingle strip that is revealed at low-tide, looking back towards a pink-beach and green slopes of Tankerton.  

'Whitstable'    120x60cms    oil on wood

Looking towards the Isle of Sheppey, carved out of the paint, my favourite objects grouped in the foreground. 

detail - 'Whitstable'

'Black-Beach'   80x80cms   oil on wood

I feel 'Black-Beach' is the most successful of the series, taking the ideas further and more spatially interesting, escaping the 'tabletop'. This painting won second prize in the Observer Hunting Art Prizes in 1993. I think there is a compliment about the painting here:

Brian Sewell writes in the Observer Magazine 10 Feb 1991:

Of Ashley Hanson’s ‘Black Beach’, winner of the second prize, one of the grander judges complained that the idiom eluded him and that in it he could see nothing better than the tarred surface of a London street – to which the response of the real grandee of the occasion, ‘It is a compliment to the painting that it leaves you critically disarmed’

'Pebble/Shell/Stone'  20x60cms  oil on wood

I remember sculptor John Gibbons liking these....

'Beach'  180x60cms  oil on paper

The 1st year painting that kept me in art-college, when i finally let go of photographic imagery. I think I have this rolled up somewhere- maybe... it's oil on paper!

'Looking at Diebenkorn' - Workshop Review

Teddy Kempster

The latest Freedom in Painting workshop, 'Looking at Diebenkorn', took place recently over 2 days at  Creek Creative  in Faversham, Kent. As it was a new venue I was a little nervous, but the room we worked in was ideal, with its features and central columns featuring in several of the paintings. I've already booked it for the next Freedom in Painting workshop 'Still-Life' in October. 

Jane Crane- in progress

In advance of the course, the 14 artists were asked to choose their favourite Diebenkorn painting and bring along an image to the workshop - a difficult task but of course it forced everyone to look at all of Diebenkorn's work. 

After an introductory talk about the three distinct phases of Diebenkorn's career, his ideas and methods, I asked to the artists to find a connection between their chosen image image and reality, with something out there, and make a drawing and use this as the start point for their painting. Some artists found their inspiration outside, others in the studio, perhaps proof that, because of his range and his seamless shifting from abstraction into figuration and back again, Diebenkorn is everywhere.

Drawing was an integral part of the workshop: drawing from Diebenkorn's work, from the world outside, from the drawings themselves and from the paintings in progress. Here is a selection of studio shots and paintings - I'll be adding more images as they arrive. 

Anne-Marie LePretre

Jo Rollnick

Jo Dunlop

Catriona Campbell

Jane Crane at work

   Jan Bunyan

We had a fascinating conversation in our Group critique about Jan Bunyan's paintings working as a diptych (or not) 

Margarita Hanlon- work in progress

Teddy Kempster

Rob Frampton-Fell's three paintings

Here are a few comments about the Workshop:

'Outstanding tutoring and camaraderie really helps the atmosphere of serious enquiry'  Margarita Hanlon

'Having Diebenkorn's range of work was inspiring and stimulating. The course is a springboard for future work. Ashley's a great teacher!'
Teddy Kempster

'Every time I work with Ashley I feel more confident that I am progressing my art' 
Catriona Campbell

Looking at Diebenkorn - 2 Day Workshop in Faversham

Freedom in Painting Workshop with Ashley Hanson

Only 3 Places Remaining!!

Without question Richard Diebenkorn's paintings have influenced many artists working today and during this two day painting workshop we will be using his ideas and methods as a springboard for developing our own paintings.

Dates: Thurs 30 June - Fri 1st July 2016,  9.30 - 5.30pm

Cost:  £80

Venue: Creek Creative, Faversham, Kent. See here for parking and location details.

To Book: email denise@ashleyhanson.co.uk or call 01208 77656