Burnham Art Trail 2024

Posted on 4th July 2024 by kathrynhockey

Welcome to the garden shed at venue 4 for Burnham Art Trail 2024!I was really fortunate to have a wonderful haven of a venue for Burnham Art Trail 2024: the shed in the Franklins’ lush back garden in Fernlea Road, venue number 4 on the map. Also really fortunate to be able to enjoy the lovely company of Andrew and Frances Franklin as well as Sue Jones, who I know through Burnham Art Club. Frances, Sue and I developed our works in progress at a very relaxed pace and Andrew took charge of showing visitors around our respective exhibition spaces and the garden.

The shed was a perfect match for my artwork which has a nature theme this year, including mixed media paintings of seeds, seedheads, flowers and bark. I displayed the larger paintings on this beautiful old work bench among the art materials I used to make them and the subject matter that inspired them.

All photos above courtesy of the Art Trail publicity team member Donata, @pastaandpurses on Instagram

Sticking to the garden theme, I also sold printed greetings cards sets of my Mayland Garden series of pen and wash paintings.

And sticking with the Burnham theme I sold printed greetings cards sets featuring my two series of Burnham-on-Crouch pen and wash paintings.

Click here to see a video of my artwork installed in the garden shed.

I made the smaller paintings into greetings cards and hung them like bunting from the beams using garden twine and little pegs.

Here I am, below, painting my poppy cards. Photo courtesy of the Art Trail publicity team member James @burnhamarttrail on Instagram.

… inspired by a tenacious little plant that fought its way up through the gaps in the paving slabs of the patio at home.

Click here to see these and my other Art Trail mixed media paintings in more detail.

And here’s a little video showing my may blossom mixed media, original artwork greetings cards.

I made a temporary chalk sign pointing down from the High Street to the musuem (below). I adapted the Art Trail logo and cut stencils of the larger letters for ease on site. Once the Trail was over the sign washed off really easily.

In total there were 43 artists showing diverse and beautiful work across 35 venues, with workshops throughout the week at various locations and Art on the Quay at weekends. I’m very grateful to be part of such a friendly and creative community.

Please contact me if you’d like to purchase any of my original artwork or sets of printed greetings cards featured in this post.

And don’t miss Burnham Art Trail 2025 – always the last week in June!

Mixed Media Pieces – Burnham Art Trail 2024

Posted on 13th June 2024 by kathrynhockey

A visit to the community allotment in Burnham-on-Crouch inspired me to make some mixed media paintings of seeds, bark and flowers for this year’s Burnham Art Trail which takes place during the last week in June.

I started with sunflower seeds – they are so graphic and the black and white shells really mix well with colour.

I wanted to work in a way that was freer than my usual pen and wash approach – with rougher lines and more abstract shapes.

I also wanted to use a wider range of materials.

After the sunflower seeds I moved onto runner bean seeds.

Runner bean seeds are such a beautiful colour – that glorious pinky-mauve with the abstract black markings.

I used black permanent marker pens in various thickness for the outlines and backgrounds of these paintings. They are much broader than the water resistant pens I usually use and I really like the way they bleed into the watercolour paper, accentuating its texture.

The base colour I used on all these pieces was watercolour paint.

As well as flat washes, I also added watercolour paint in splatters and printed circular shapes using the rim of a glass.

Then I went on to add marks with ink and acrylic paint, using nibs and brushes.

After the runner bean seeds I moved on to poppy seedheads, I was attracted more by the shape of the seedheads than their colour.

I also used coloured pencils and metallic pens and inks.

I found that charcoal and pastels gave an interesting finish on the rough texture of the watercolour paper.

And scraping the pastel with a blade gave a satisfyingly intense dusting of colour which I set with hairspray.

I was particularly pleased with how the splatter and the pastel dust worked on my depiction of the these lichenous twigs. I’d really started appreciating the colours of lichen on tree bark during the winter months when there’s so little other colour around.

As well as being beautiful, the seeds are impressive because of their huge potential, that’s especially true of the acorn.

Marigolds caught my eye next. They give vibrant splashes of colour in the garden nearly all year round.

As well as being self-seeding, the marigolds have insect repellent properties so it’s great to have them growing in the greenhouse.

For this year’s Burnham Art Trail I’m showing my paintings in the potting shed of the wonderful Moroccan inspired garden of Frances Franklin – Venue number 4. It seems very apt to be showing these paintings of seeds, bark and flowers in a garden shed.

Here’s a link to the Art Trail map.

I painted the smaller artworks in threes. I tore the paper to separate them once they were finished, mounted them and glued them onto blank greetings cards which I plan to hang in the shed from twine like bunting.The last set of paintings I made have lighter feel; no black marker pen this time.The May blossom arrived with the spring and the white flowers and buds shone out like stars against the blue sky.

During Art Trail week, I made the mixed media poppy paintings below, while enjoying lovely company and weather at my Art Trail venue in Fernlea Road.

Do check out my Art Trail post to see photos of my artwork installed at my venue.

Arte Vejer on the Move

Posted on 14th December 2015 by kathrynhockey

Arte Vejer has certainly had a busy few weeks. The community group which promotes visual arts and creativity in the Vejer de la Frontera region has really been going for it as you’ll see and read below!

What is a mobile art exhibition? You might well ask…I had no idea before taking part on Sunday 13th December.

It turned out to be as dynamic, colourful and festive a procession through the streets of Vejer as the poster promised.

Sol Muniain (right), a truly gifted artist and the inventor and driving force behind the Arte Vejer mobile art exhibition unlocks the door to the castle for a session of painting faces Picasso style prior to the procession.

Sol paints the face of Ismael Virués, another dedicated Arte Vejer organiser and the banner bearing leader of the art parade.

Having picked up the art works we were joined by a band of marching drummers and set off around town.

I was wearing a couple of my artworks as well as carrying one (right, centre); my cockerel skirt and my 2CV silk scarf

The drive and energy exuded by the marching drummers was amazing, especially when the parade passed through the narrowest alleyways and the rhythm really bounced off the walls.

It was also quite surreal to look back and see a view of Vejer within a view of Vejer.

We made several stops en route, here we are in the Plaza de España for a photo opportunity…..

…and enjoying being part of the back drop near the Arco de Segur within the old town walls for this, the first of several short flamenco dance ‘tablaos’ …

…more flamenco dancing on La Corredera….

….dancing to an African style drum troupe in La Plaza de San Francisco…

…and returning to La Plazuela with tired and happy arms (and no, despite the crazed expression, I did not get arrested)….

…before replacing the artworks on the walls of the Hotel Convento San Francisco where they will rest, for sale, until January 10th 2016.

I was delighted to have my artwork accepted for the mobile exhibition and feel priviledged to have taken part in such an extraordinary event. Many thanks again to Arte Vejer for the huge amount of work and good will which went into coordinating all the art forms so beautifully and happily.

Click here to see yet more photos of the event on facebook, thanks to Jackie Cornwall.

And there’s even more:

On the 29th November Arte Vejer staged the first ever painting competition for young artists in Vejer.

I was honoured to be invited to join the judging panel and was really impressed by the high standard of the artworks produced.

About 30 participants signed up to the competition in Vejer’s beautiful Plaza de España and then dispersed to various parts of the charming old town to work on their paintings and drawings for several hours.

Click here to see photos of the event and the impressive range of artworks; the overall winner has her painting included in the (previously mobile) Arte Vejer exhibition in the Hotel Convento San Francisco and the other prize winning works are currently displayed in La Bodeguita, a local bar.

The 6th December was pueblo abierto (open village) day for Vejer, which coincided with the ruta de tapas. Arte Vejer celebrated its recent allocation of a room in the castle by the town council by mounting an exhibition of members’ work there and including the non-prize winning works from the young artist painting competition.

I made this pen and watercolour sketch (right) of the castle patio while sitting on the doorstep of Arte Vejer’s room and then went up to the ramparts to make an abstract watercolour sketch (below) inspired by the lichen which adorns many roofs and walls in the old town.

As well as an exhibition space the castle room will be used as a venue for creative workshops. I’m planning to host one early in 2016 for adult sketchers who are a bit rusty and lack the confidence to come and draw with the Vejer Sketchers group.

If that’s you, please get in touch!

Kathryn Hockey

Artist Illustrator

Tag Archives: lichen

Mixed Media Pieces – Burnham Art Trail 2024

Arte Vejer on the Move

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