Burnham Art Club – Winter 2022-23

Posted on 12th March 2023 by kathrynhockey

Happy to present the remaining pen and wash paintings I made between December 2022 and February 2023.

Above and below, a couple more attempts to capture the colourful sky as the winter sun sets behind our neighbours’ poplar trees.

And since I’m partial to a silhouette, here’s Asheldham church backlit by a January sunset.

While taking a short, time killing wander around Maldon one December evening I noticed these illuminated leaves still clinging to a tree behind the Blue Boar pub.

It never ceases to amaze me how winter pansies can continue to bloom after being repeatedly frozen, aparently solid.

The two beauties above live in the neighbourhood.

My mum bought this beautiful Singer for £32, 12 shillings and thruppence in 1962 which is worth between £658 and £873 depending on your inflation calculator.

Burnham Art Club – November 2022

Posted on 27th November 2022 by kathrynhockey

Even if I can’t get to Burnham Art Club meetings on a Tuesday morning, to either paint out in the open air or inside the Art Club meeting hall, I set time aside to make a new painting at home.

These are the paintings I made in November.

I actually made a version of this view of Tillingham Church about six months ago in May. I drove to Tillingham on a bright morning and sat drawing in the street until the chill from the wind got a bit uncomfortable. The passersby were mostly curious and friendly and the guy whose house I was sitting outside kindly offered me a cuppa. He’d overestimated the warmth of the sunshine too – he came out wearing shorts and no top!

I was out of practice back then and although the painting came out ok, I wasn’t happy with the composition so I redid it this month.

We’ve still got tomatoes growing in our greenhouse here in Mayland. I was struck by the elegance of this particular branch as it draped over the bamboo cane. I also love the colour gradation of the fruits as they ripen at differnet rates.

And finding this beautiful rose blooming in our neighbours’ garden while I was house sitting recently was a lovely surprise. Its scent was diivine but, sadly, capturing that was beyond me!

You may recognise the form of the trees above from a painting I made almost exactly a year ago.

It’s the view from my bedroom window, and by November the sun has crept around the house to set behind the neighbours’ poplars, with Mayland Hill in the background.

Although the silhouette of the trees is basically unchanged, there’s huge variation and sometimes drama in the sky colours as the sun goes down.

Amalia’s Arch Mural

Posted on 31st October 2018 by kathrynhockey

My lovely friend Amalia (herself a talented watercolourist) asked me to design and paint a mural for the back room in her Vejer pharmacy which she is renovating.

The room has an impressive archway and will be used as a venue for workshops on health related matters such as diabetes, pre- and post-natal care and managing stress through yoga and meditation.

Amalia’s brief for the mural was that it should include plants and impart a sense of harmony and tranquility.

I selected various plants with tranquililising properties during a web search, printed photos and set about developing drawings in my sketchbook.

I came up with two options for the mural; one using the arch as a frame for a botanical drawing of an entire valerian plant

the other embelleshing the arch itself with a more stylised arrangement of kava, valerian, passionflower and chamomile.

Amalia selected the second option which I then developed into a more detailed drawing (below).

I drew just the left half of the design in detail. I then photographed it and used Photoshop to duplicate and flip it to create a mirror image. I printed out the drawing and packed it in my suitcase in readiness for my trip to Vejer.

Being faced with the actual wall was quite daunting at first, I had to be up and down a ladder to gain proper perspective as I worked which took its toll on my neck and ankles!

I drew the left side of the mural onto the wall in pencil. When I was happy with the layout I traced it in sections, flipping each one over so that I could copy the mirror image to the right side of the arch.