'Canvas & Cream' Art Prize - Private View

Come Visit the New South London Art Hub - Show is on till 2nd April 2012

After 6 years of leaving this area amd moving down to Cornwall it was good to be back in my old stomping ground. Denise and I were lucky enough to escape from the children for a night (thanks to a very good friend) and thoroughly enjoyed the event. The turn out for the PV was very impressive and the place was alive and buzzing - at times bursting at the seams! Joanna Gore and her family have really done a good job with the venue offering art, workshops, culture, food and much more. We loved the gallery space and the work looked pretty good too! I had lots of interesting chats about my work and met up with lots of friends - old and new!

 Thank-you to 'Canvas & Cream', it is definitely worth a visit and will no doubt build a great reputation for showing an eclectic mix of interesting art. By the way don't forget to vote for your favourite artist!!

http://www.canvasandcream.com/open-exhibition-2012/

Hurry!! 24 Feb - Last Chance to Book April Painting Holiday

Our April holiday deadline is fast approaching - don't miss out on this  wonderful opportunity to work with Ashley on location & in the studio!

'Freedom in Painting in the Cornish Coastal Landscape'

16 - 20 April 2012

• 5 DAY HOLIDAY
• 4 STUNNING LOCATIONS
• 2 FULL DAYS IN THE STUDIO
• 1 to 1 EXPERT TUITION & GROUP CRITIQUES
• FROM ONLY £340 INCL.5 NTS ACCOMMODATION. & MUCH MORE !!!!
• LIMITED SPACE - 16 PLACES ONLY

If you would like to take part without accommodation, please get in touch for prices and availability.

Contact denise@ashleyhanson.co.uk or 01208 77656 for more details view the links below:

http://www.ashleyhanson.co.uk/HolidayIntro2012.htm
http://www.ashleyhanson.co.uk/HolidayComment2011.htm

'Canvas & Cream' Art Prize - Exhibition Dates

'City of Glass 1'

We now have dates for the 'Canvas & Cream' Art Prize Exhibition in Forest Hill, London.

The show will run from 18 Feb - 2 April and Ashley is one of 18 artists who have been shortlisted for this competition. The prize was open to all artists nationwide. Votes from viewers visiting the exhibition will decide the winning artist, who gets a solo show at the'Canvas & Cream' Gallery.

This new gallery is an exciting project as it combines a gallery space, restaurant, artist studios, therapy rooms and a creative events programme all under one roof. 
http://www.canvasandcream.com/2012/01/ashley-hanson/

Follow the  link to see info on Ashley's work and  more details on the gallery.

'Working with the Life- Model' Sat 25 Feb & Sat 5 March

'Emma' by Ashley Hanson

2 Day Drawing and Painting Workshop with Ashley Hanson
St Breward Village Hall 10am - 4.30pm

We are currently taking bookings for this new exciting workshop

The first Saturday will concentrate on drawing using a variety of techniques, materials and poses.

On the second Saturday, we will focus on painting:both from drawings and directly from the model.

Under Ashley's expert guidance, students will explore line, composition and mark-making and follow the journey from drawing into painting.

Cost £30 for 1 Saturday or £60 for both Saturdays
Contact denise@ashleyhanson.co.uk or call 01208 77656

Early booking recommended - limited space available.

New Workshops and Student Exhibition for 2012

Happy New Year to you all!
We have a new and exciting workshop for the start of the year:

'Working with the Life Model', 
Saturday 25th  Feb & Sat 3rd March at St Breward Village Hall 10am -4.30pm

Under Ashley's expert tuition and guidance, Day 1 will be spent drawing using a variety of techniques, materials and poses, with Day 2 focusing on colour and painting, working from both the life model and the drawings.

The workshop is suitable for all levels of ability and the cost for the 2 days is £60.

(There may be an option to attend 1 day only for £30, subject to availability.)   

For a booking form or for more information please contact Denise Hanson on 01208 77656 or denise@ashleyhanson.co.uk


Colour & Coast Exhibition - Artists Working with Ashley Hanson

2 - 23 February, Shire Hall Gallery,Bodmin TIC, Mount Folly
01208 77616   Mon- Fri 10am - 5pm

We are delighted to announce an exhibition featuring many of the students work that has been produced in Ashley's recent workshops 'Colour and Coast' at both St Breward Village Hall and Truro College.

Ashley says ‘ We  have had a great response to the exhibition from the artists taking part. There is a healthy mix of people at the workshops, from beginners to more experienced artists and full credit to all the students for rising to the challenge and making work that deserves to be shown! I think it is very important for artists to show their work and to invite criticism, good and bad- plus the artists get to meet and see each other’s work’.

Patricia McGovern

Sara Bor

Barbara Heseltine



Cindy Arscott

Lisa Cooper

 

 

 

Nicki Kimberley





  





The exhibition will feature work from the following artists:

Cindy Arscott            Sara Bor

Lisa Cooper               Val Cox

Rosamund Derry         Barbara Heseltine

Nicki Kimberley           Shirley Kirkcaldy

Patricia McGovern      Di Studdart

Sue Whitnall

Workshops at Honeycomb Animation

Sara Bor, one of Ashley's students has an extensive background in children's animation and together with her husband, Simon Bor have produced many TV animation programmes including 'Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids'. They have a studio in rural Devon where they also run various art workshops. Sara has enjoyed Ashley's workshops so much, she has invited Ashley to host a second workshop at Honeycomb Animation:

Painting Workshop based on Colour in the Landscape

2 Day Workshop, Friday 9th and Saturday 10th March

You are welcome to attend just 1 day or 2 days.

Cost £65 for 2 days or £35 for 1 day, including a light lunch.

For more information about this and other courses available at Honeycomb Animation

go to  http://honeycombworkshops.blogspot.com/







 

'Freedom in Painting in the Cornish Coastal Landscape'

16 - 20 April & 24 - 28 September 2012

• 5 DAY HOLIDAY
• 4 STUNNING LOCATIONS
• 2 FULL DAYS IN THE STUDIO
• FROM ONLY £340 INCL. ACCOMMODATION. & MUCH MORE !!!!
• LIMITED SPACE - 16 PLACES ONLY

Contact denise@ashleyhanson.co.uk or 01208 77656 for more details view the links below:

http://www.ashleyhanson.co.uk/HolidayIntro2012.htm
http://www.ashleyhanson.co.uk/HolidayComment2011.htm

City of Glass 2 + detail

Big, big battle with this painting- finished at 3.30 a.m.  Elation and relief.  My head is buzzing with ideas for the next paintings. I am thrilled with this way of working, finding possibilities and direction for paintings in text (Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy). In the studio, I am surrounded by drawings and maps and drawings of maps but the book is driving the paintings and constantly referred to and images are flying off the page.  I am reading it in a different way as well, instead of a fluid whole I am taking fragments and collecting information, ‘Fictional Facts’, to use in the paintings. The book itself has changed physically during the process, now battered and splattered with paint.

 With both paintings I have been concerned with depicting the fact of Manhattan being an island and its extreme verticality. To achieve the first, I de-cluttered the map to reveal its pure-shape. The verticality is emphasised in both by orientating Manhattan itself on the (just off) vertical, then by using long drips of paint to form the avenues.  It was amazing to see the buildings and architecture of New York implied and suggested within the grid patterns of the streets.

 With this new painting, I think the idea of a diptych with ‘City of Glass 1’ confused the issue- maybe I was trying too hard to do the same painting but with Manhattan on the left. Unlike that painting, I could not fix Manhattan into the flat, empty space: the drawing was not strong enough or graphic enough and I had big problem with the Bronx/East River curve.

 The red stripe in this painting was introduced to smash the space and with the proportions of the twin towers, which are referred to in the novel (it was written in 1987).  The stripe also suggested a window, a la Rothko, and implied a building of such great height that the whole of Manhattan could be seen below.  This ties in with the story of the Tower of Babel, (the idea embedded in the novel,) being so high that a man would have to walk 3 days to escape its shadow (this image will drive the next painting in the series).  Initially, the stripe was far too crude and my biggest critic, Denise, did not like it at all. So the stripe was softened and expanded into the right side of the painting.  I hit upon the idea of introducing another curve, the curve of Broadway, from W103St - W108St, to mirror the East River curve.  So, in effect, the right hand-side is a blown up version of an area of the left, and also an area of New York that is significant in the novel.  This is my breakthrough in this painting, this repetition, this link, this dual scale.  The building on the right creates balance but is also ambiguous, with the horizontals becoming cross-streets. This is the territory I’ve been exploring throughout my career, integrating the view from the air with the view on the ground.   I love the duality: the visual and the context working in harmony.in the detail the small blue rectangle pulsates against the colours around.  It is also the Hotel Harmony.

 Denise loves the painting.