We haven’t heard anything from Sue today and hope that she is safely ensconced in the hotel in Frankfurt.
I have been marking assignments for LAC all day and I am still only halfway through them. But people have put so much work into their assignments that they deserve good feedback to move onwards.
More pictures. I gather that they are of great interest, hopefully not only to botanical artists. It would be lovely to get more people in the detail of what is our everyday.
It has apparently been a good day at the botanical art exhibition in the botanical gardens of Frankfurt, Palmengarten. They have had quite a few visitors there, interested in both the beautiful gardens and the exhibition.
But tomorrow Sue Henon who is manning the exhibition there will have her life made even more complicated.
Apparently there is to be a week long strike of the railways, starting in the evening. This means that she is now in search of somewhere to stay for the rest of the week as there is no other way in which she can get home tomorrow night and back again to the exhibition. But as she quite rightly says, her problem is no different to everyone else’s who travels into the city by train.
As a fellow member of the SBA I am hugely grateful to her for what she is doing for the society and for me as an individual; I too have some paintings in the exhibition.
Today I have been putting together some designs for new cards and downloading assignments ready to start marking after I have finished teaching my weekly class tomorrow (today actually!). Unfortunately the trip to Germany has left me a little behind with that work. As botanical art tutor for the London College of Art (LAC) I am really pleased to see that there seems to be an increase in interest for learning to paint botanically.
More pictures from the exhibition. Some of the artwork looks as though it isn’t hanging straight in the photos. But unfortunately it was me not hanging straight when I took the pictures!
A total of 26 pictures now have red dots on them.
This week we have had visitors at home, therefore I have done little work. However, now it is catch-up time.
I have been sorting through some of the over 450 photograp
hs Robin and I took leading up to the trip out to Germany, the exhibition hanging activity, what the exhibition looks like, the opening and home
again. I thought that you might like to see some of the photographs from the exhibition itself and I will try to post some fairly regularly for you to see.
Last but not least, we now have deposits on 21 pictures of the pictures in the exhibition.
I think that this evening we all look rather tired, but first of all the British hanging contingent want to thank the SBA member who treated us to a drink. We are all very grateful and overwhelmed by her very unexpected generosity.
But many will wonder how the day has gone. Here are a few of the pictures taken. Susan Christopher Coulson headed up the decision making hanging party, with Sandra Wall Armitage.
The rest of us were ‘hanging dogsbodies’. Our husbands, Ian, Ken and Robin; Sue Henon and a DLDC (distance learning course) student, Miriam Pampas; Jonas & Peter (both from Palmengarten); Pam Henderson (SBA); Renate Tessmar-Leonardy (friend of Palmengarten and lover of Camellias) and her husband (lover of Fuchsias) and of course Karin Wittstock from Palmengarten who was involved with the Palmengarten/ SBA initiative from the word go.
We have not quite finished placing all the pictures yet, but had to stop today for fear of falling off ladders!
My last blog mentioned that the botanical art exhibition at Palmengarten is now less than a week away. Each day that comes I think that I might get a little painting in before we go – but no such luck. I will show you a couple more pictures from the pen and ink drawing of Bear’s britches progression though.
I thought I had all the paperwork for Palmengarten clear in relevant folders etc, but then the cat jumped up onto the keyboard and knocked my tea all over the paperwork and the printing paper. That took a couple of hours to reprint it all as well as clear up the mess.
But today, my husband Robin got up early, gave me a cup of tea in bed and then took the train to Portsmouth to collect a van for our trip to Frankfurt. It is quite a large van, but he thinks we will be comfortable enough during the long journey, although it doesn’t seem to have all the mod cons one might expect/ wish for.
So we checked all the paintings etc against the spreadsheet I had done and loaded everything onto the van. Robin fastened everything securely and one of the cats, Fudge, inspected the lot to see that we had done it properly. His black and white brother (guess what his name is) inspected the suddenly empty spare bedrooms. They will be having a strict cat-sitter for the duration!
A good night’s sleep tonight and tomorrow we will be on our way to Kent to pick up the other half of paintings.
The bear’s britches (Acanthus)
There has been little time to do the pen & ink drawing of the Bears Britches as I have been organising the co-ordinated exhibition between Palmengarten and the Society of Botanical Artists; or at least everything from the UK side of things. Additionally I have had to keep on top of marking assignments as the botanical art tutor for the London Art College.
So, the Bears britches has been done at stolen moments of time.
Last weekend however, The London Art College had their annual meeting of tutors just outside Bristol. It was a very nice break away from everything that had to be done, and being able to talk with the other tutors at the college. A very welcome recharge of batteries before the final Palmengarten onslaught.
The exhibition at Palmengarten starts with the official opening and private view next Thursday evening, 23 October. There will be 205 exhibits from SBA members around the world, from as far flung places as New Zealand, Japan the USA, France and of course the UK.
This is the third time that The Palmengarten Gardens and the SBA has liaised in this way. The first time was in 2010, then 2012 and now the largest exhibition will be this year. The exhibition will be open to the public from Friday 24 October until 23 November 2014 and I think will be well worth a visit.
Some of you may well have picked up from earlier blogs that I have been working on this, together with Sue another SBA member in Germany. It is thanks to her that the exhibition is happening in the first place, so our members have a lot to thank her for.
I intend to write a blog as the actual preparation is happening. I have received half of the exhibits in our home over the last few weeks. The remaining half have been collected in Kent. My husband Robin is collecting a van on Friday and with this we will make our way to Germany, collecting the rest of the pictures on the way, arriving on Sunday evening.
I will be glad once we are on our way as setting up is the fun bit – other people are then involved and the load will be shared rather than mostly on the shoulders of Sue and I.
The first couple of pictures are from our guest room. It will be lovely to have it cleared for a short while!
Now a couple pictures from the progression of the Bears britches.
In between marking assignments and receiving pictures for the SBA exhibition at Palmengarten, the botanical gardens in Frankfurt, I have been painting.
Last time I suggested you find the part in the picture where I had made a mistake, but had rectified it.
Now I have three photos of the final work on the picture – I think!
What to do with the plants now as it is poisonous. It nearly took the life of one of our cats and is very much a temptation to play with – as well as being very beautiful and exotic looking for our colder climate.
I have to be honest that the photos I am sending out in my blog are ones taken during work done over the last couple of weeks. I suppose that rather than show you them as I am doing them, I am still hesitant as to where the painting will go and if I will get over my fear of doing it badly yet again!
I am still spending quite a bit of time on the Palmengarten exhibition organisation which means that some days I have virtually no time to paint. Additionally I mark the assignments for the two botanical art courses at the London Art College. It all takes time off the actual painting. But, I am enjoying seeing the assignments that come in and the development of the students.
Do have a look at the London Art College website if you are interested in doing botanical painting either in watercolour or coloured pencil. Obviously getting hands-on tuition is the best, but sometimes distances preclude this and the distance learning is a good option.
Now a couple more photos from the Dipladenia picture.
Yesterday I was in London at the SBA annual exhibition opening. It is well worth seeing and there is a lot of good botanical art. You will need plenty of time, but luckily you can stop now and again and get a cup of tea – or coffee, in the cafe in Westminster Central Hall.
Tomorrow is the start of the last weekend with Open Studios art trail . I understand that the weather here will be really good tomorrow after all. We have been hearing all week that it was going to be especially bad tomorrow, but it looks as though this will happen overnight.
Luckily, if there is any rain there is no problem coming in to see me with wet clothes and shoes and it would be an opportunity to dry out. However, I can imagine that at some venues they might struggle.
I look forward to seeing you either tomorrow or Sunday. My watercolour picture is coming on leaps and bounds. I think I might use the ‘template’ for my coloured pencil demonstration on Tuesday at the SBA exhibition. It would be a good comparison between the two media.
I am showing you some pictures of my gallery this weekend. It is only a glimpse, but you will be able to see the pictures properly when you come. I’m sorry that all those of you who live abroad will not be able to make it.
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