The Magical Night

Seasons greetings to everyone. Praying for peace,tolorance, co operation and abundance in every corner of the earth. Let 2010 be the new begining.

With thanks and acknowledgement to Lily Yeh and her fellow Artists for the inspiration for this Christmas card.

Carol Marine and Olwen Tarrant

I have just added another blog to the blogs I am following. It is the blog of Artist 'Carol Marine's painting a day' and is superb. I came across her after reading an article on the BBC news page, about self publishing company Blurb, which featured one of Carol's book's '100 small paintings' and is one of their best selling books. This woman is a power house of activity, you can feel the energy emminating from her and her beautiful paintings. I think that any Artist would learn a huge amount from her about every aspect of an Artists life. http://carolmarine.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html

I went to visit another wonderful Artist this week called Olwen Tarrant. A very popular and sought after Artist. She very kindly agreed to look at some of my paintings and gave me some very good constructive feedback. One of her comments that I particularly appreciated was 'You have your own distinctive style of painting, whatever you do, don't lose that'

Olwen showed me around her home where many of her lovely paintings hang. It is so important to be able to see the actual paintings, even the best quality reproductions can't fully convey the original paintings qualities, so it was a real treat to see so many of Olwens original Paintings and drawings. It was interesting to hear about her life as an Artist, how she started out and how she established her reputation through her association with various Art societies, like the Royal Society Of Oil Painters.

I learn't a lot from Olwen and appreciated her advice and time. I will definately act on her suggestions. Thank you Olwen. http://www.olwentarrant.co.uk/

My painting for a Christmas card is frustrating me. The 'inner' picture is not yet materialising on the canvas. If the 'magic' doesn't happen on the canvas, then it is not right and if I don't get it right by next week, it will be too late to print and send people. I am SOOOOO angry with myself right now. I will look at it again with fresh eyes tommorow.

Update

Just back from driving along country lanes admiring the beautiful autumn colours this morning. I have made some good progress with my book despite being a slow writer, but I do love writing. The introduction and a section on the history and folklore of the olive tree is nearly there now. I will be starting the chapters on starters and breads and pastries next. I am getting a clear idea of how I want the front cover to look, white words against a turquious blue background, with my painting of intermingling olives, lemons and bourgainvilleas,set against it.

I feel so excited about the book, that I have made up my mind to self publish if I have to. Interestingly enough, as I was flipping through my local paper The Malvern Gazette, I came across an article featuring a local company who specialize in self publishing. They will be giving a talk at the local library shortly and I will make sure to go along with my questions. I will find out more about lulu.com who also specialize in this.

This year I have decided to make my own christmas cards, so next week I will be working on a painting for that.

Another idea keeps comming into my head with ever greater insistence, and this will be the subject of my next project after I have finished my book. For some time now I have been looking for a way to combine science and art as a basis for an exhibition of paintings that deal with things happening now, things that effect all of us and I think I have found what I was looking for. As always you have the conflict between the little voice that says 'Don't be ridiculous, who on earth would be interested' and the big voice that says 'Why not, if you are going to dream, you can dream big just as easily as you can dream small, go for it' Today I told Little voice to take a hike.

I have already identified the two people I would like to work with on this, but I happened to mention my idea to a scientist I know, he was interested enough to say that if I was serious about it he would like to get his company involved in helping to promote or sponsor me.

There is a great deal of work to do, but all of it is exciting and inspiring. How lucky am I. No matter what age we are, life stops being exciting when we stop dreaming. I expect to feel inspired when I am 90.

Writing a book

Finally ready to begin writing my book, based on my family's olive grove in Cyprus and my Mothers recipes. Plans to travel to Cyprus recently, for research and painting were postponed after a nasty fall at home a few days before flying out. I am looking at doing this later on in the year now.

In the meantime I am doing some on going research and fact finding. I have decided on a size and rough layout for my book, also the number of pages and chapters and what they will be covering. I have been experimenting with ideas for paintings for the front cover and chapter openings and should be able to post new images soon.

First though, I need to write the introduction. I will post more as I go along.

Would love to hear from anyone who has written and published their own book.

Have good day.

Bioneers Conference - Lily Yeh

Artist Lily Yeh is an absolute inspiration and magnificent human being, please watch this video of her talking about her brave journey. http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/2370643

The video came from Carlos Santana's website AOAND, Architects Of A New Dawn.

Blue Ginger - Big Draw

This time last year I was working from a studio at Blue ginger Arts and Crafts centre. Owner Sue Lim wanted to take part in 'The big Draw' and suggesed a 'pet on a postcard' theme, in which I took part. The pictures, by local Artists and School children, were exhibited in her gallery and later auctioned. A panel of judges chose the best in each category from the childrens Art and Miles meagre from Mi-frame, framed them for free. £300 was raised for Acorns childrens hospice. Sue is taking part again this year and hopes to do even better. I will be donating a drawing for her next week. Here is an article in the worcester news, with a photo from last year when I was working from Blue ginger. http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/local/4667180.Draw_pets_on_a_postcard_for_charity/

Exploring ideas with pastels

Finally clearing the clutter from my mind to think and feel my way into paintings for my next project. I think it will be at least eighteen months in the making. I will be taking two weeks out shortly, to go and research, photograph and sketch, which will form the basis of more paintings. I will post more pictures and information as I go along. In the meantime here are some pastel roughs exploring some of my ideas. This is the elusive and scary stage when you can see exactly what you want in your head and you can feel how you want to paint it. The pastel roughs are a start, but now you have to transfer all of that onto your canvas without losing any of it.

Mandrill - Acrylic on canvas

SOLD
This painting of a Mandrill was completed in late 2008. It was my first entry for the David Shepherd wildlife Artist of the year competition. Not an obvious choice for me as I imagined all the paintings would have to be very realistic, but I was advised by one of the promotors that it is open to all styles of work. Although I was not lucky enough to be accepted, the painting is now in the collection of a fan who loves it.

You can submit your entries for 2010 by going onto the David Shepherd wildlife foundation site, Click on wildlife artist of the year 2010 to download an entry form . For more details go to http://www.davidshepherd.org/index2.shtml

All the winning entries are exhibited at the Mall Galleries in London and will be well publicised. Well worth a go and all the money goes to very good cause.

The Wallace Collection

I was so pleased to visit the wonderful Wallace Collection in Manchester Square, London, yesterday. My first visit in a long time. A peaceful calm haven, right in the middle of the city. I especially wanted to see The Lady with a Fan by Diego Velazquez. I love every inch of this painting, the position of the figure on the canvas slightly to one side, and the way the shape and mass of the sitter creates a perfect balance with the background space. Velazquez's colours are elegant and low key, mainly browns, blacks, silvery whites and greys. The beautifully painted and perfectly positioned blue ribbon on the rosary, provides a note of contrast.

The shape of the opened fan is echoed in the sweep and curve of the brown dress and at the top of the silvery glove gently holding the black shawl. The beautiful and mysterious face is superbly painted, a living breathing human being being with thoughts and feelings. There is so much humanity in the painting and I find it so moving.

Well worth a visit.

Mary Fedden - Inspiration

After a long break from painting, it is so hard to get back into the flow again. The ideas are begining to come now so I can start having some fun with it. It often helps me to look at the work of other Artists for inspiration. I have been looking at Mary Feddens wonderful still life paintings. What an amazing Artist she is. Here are two I particularly like. What I love is the quality of light in them, the gorgeous off beat colors, the way the pictures have been composed as though seen from an unusual angle, and off course the sheer beauty of her brush strokes. She has such a unique and beautiful way of looking at the world. How good to know such people exist to create beauty and enrich our quality of life.

Back to work

Now that the school summer holidays are coming to an end, my children are looking forward to going back to school and I am looking forward to claiming back my studio. During the holidays, the studio has been used as music room, homework room, reading / study room, computer room and getting away for some peace and quiet room. Not much painting has been happening in there! What I have been able to do is develop ideas, make notes and do some research for my next book project involving my Mother’s recipes and our family Olive grove in Cyprus. I will be keeping a diary of the whole project from beginning to end. Roll on Monday 7th September!

Snoring

Apparently my snoring is so bad, my children warn their friends about it before they come for sleepovers. They give them advice like ‘If you hear a terrible noise in the middle of the night, don’t panic, it’s just Mum snoring’

The subject of my snoring came up again recently, my teenage son likened it to ‘A walrus having an asthma attack’ Lovely, thanks so much!

If anyone knows of a ‘proven’ cure for snoring, please let me know! I will send you a reproduction print as a thank you.

Art Fairs - For Artists?

I have been looking into Art Fairs, to see if this would be a good way to exhibit my work or even if I would be welcomed or included in this scene. I have always felt that the Art World can be a very exclusive place, not at all welcoming unless you happen to be 'inside' this world, otherwise it seems the door is firmly shut, and the key thrown away. So far I have looked at these sites, Frieze Art Fair, The Affordable Art Fair, London Art Fair, 20/21 British Art Fair, Art London and Brighton Art Fair.

From what I can see, it is only Brighton Art Fair, that offers applications for individual Artists to take part. Otherwise applications are for Galleries only, not individual Artists.

If you have taken part in any of these Art Fairs, I would appreciate your views.

Have a great day.

Hani

Giclee prints offer - Buy one get one half price

I am offering these six A3 size Giclee prints on a buy one get one half price basis, up to and including November 30th 2009. The prints are £60 each. For more details, please contact me by email hani@haniokeeffeartist.co.uk or use the contact details in the 'About me' section








Giclée (pronounced "zhee-clay") is an extremely high quality ink-jet printing process that produces beautiful digital reproductions that last much longer than those produced using traditional 'commercial' printing techniques.

Images are generated from high resolution digital scans and printed with archival quality inks onto various substrates including canvas, fine art, and photo-base paper. The giclee printing process provides better color accuracy than other means of reproduction.

Enterprise Nation

Yesterday I contacted Emma Jones, founder of Enterprise Nation, the UK's largest website for people growing their business from home. I wanted Emma's views on my idea to promote the giclee print side of my business to her members, with a special Buy one get one half price offer. I will post all the details and prices on my blog shortly, once I have paypal up and running!

Emma suggested doing a feature about my work, for her website, with a link to my blog. She has already posted the interview entitled Business on Canvas on the home page of Enterprise nation. Here is the link.http://www.enterprisenation.com/detail/Business_on_canvas/2968/1.aspx

Emma is also the Author of 'Spare Room Start Up – how to start a business from home' that was Waterstones business book of the month on publication and is a best-seller on Amazon.

Thank you Emma.

Can do better

I have spent the past few days working on a small'ish painting of mock orange blossom. This is one of four small paintings I want to paint, in time for an Art Festival next Month. The idea being, to offer people a range of sizes. What I wanted to acheive was a beautifully composed and painted picture, with stunning colours, in a dreamy, twighlight, mysterious atmosphere, filled with the scent of orange blossom. Hmmm! What I ended up with was a very ordinary and boring painting. Not nearly good enough.

As I paint quite freely on larger canvas's, this change in scale means I need to compose a much simpler picture, if I am going to retain the same sense of freedom and spontaneity. The mistake I made was putting too much into a small area, focusing on painting details, and losing sight of the overal design, the bigger picture. When the composition is right, and you have that balance, everything else falls into place. So back to the drawing board for me, to put what I have learnt to good use.

I will post the paintings once they are right. Perhaps I should follow Husbands advice which was to make small prints from large paintings. Et voila!

The Amazing Olive

Amazing what can inspire you, so often it is the very things that have been there all along. My family own an Olive grove in Cyprus. They have had it in the family for hundreds of years. Every year towards the end of September, they harvest the olives. The olives that are 'ripe' are marinated and prepared for eating. The olives that are not ripe, are prepared in two different ways. One way is to sun dry them for a week, then take then to the village olive oil press, to produce dark olive oil. The other way is to take the unripened olives directly to the olive oil press to produce green olive oil. Either way it tastes wonderful.
All of this is done naturally and organically, without any chemicals.

My mind kept going back to those olive groves, I thought about all the beneficial properties of the olive, the wonderful food you can create using it, the environment it grows in, the colours, light and sun. There are so many things you can use olives and olive oil for, which I will share with you as I find out more. I will also post some authentic recipes.

Thinking about this wonderful subject has inspired many ideas for paintings. I have a
large project in mind. To start with, I will be doing a lot of research, I want to find out as much as possible, to make it authentic. This will mean a trip to Cyprus, where I was born, with note books, sketch books and camera. I see it as an exciting journey, and I will share it with you along the way.

First though,I have some drawings and and some paintings to finish off. Some of these will be exhibited at the Worcester Arts Fair, August 22nd. I will be here with some of my colleagues from the Blue Ginger Small Business Breakfast Club. If you are in the area, please come along and say hello, it will be lovely to meet you. I will post more about this nearer the time, as well as some of my paintings.

Please feel free to post your comments, it is always good to get some feedback and I will be sure to answer any questions or querries you may have.

Exhibit your work at Sofra Covent Garden

There is an opportunity for Artists to exhibit their work at central London Restaurant, Sofra Covent Garden in Tavistock Street. There is no charge for displaying your work, and no commission is taken from the sale of your work.

Their website has a virtual tour of the restaurant which needs updating, and I have suggested that they include the work of their current Artists on that as well.

Here are the contact details:

Restaurant Manager - Richard
Sofra Covent Garden
36 Tavistock Street
London
WC2E 7PB

T: +44 (0) 20 7240 3773
T: +44 (0) 20 7240 3972

Interesting Artists blogs

I have discoverd two great blogs for Artists, via https://twitter.com/TheArtistsWeb, who I follow on twitter. One is http://tonymoffitt.blogspot.com/ the other is http://onlinevisualartists.com/forum/ run by Sarah Schoenfield. They both offer a wealth of ideas, help, advice and support for Artists, buyers or collectors. So pleasd I found them, thank you TheArtistsWeb.

Had a good day yesterday, sitting in my garden with my pastels exploring ideas for my next series of paintings. Bliss. Always get excited by colour, and I am 'feeling' how I want to paint them and how I want to use colour and texture. Going through a phase where I don't think my work is good enough yet, so I REALLY want to dig deeper and go up a gear or two. I can feel that it is all there, just to need to realise it on my canvas.

I may be wrong, but I think that the best ideas pop effortlessly into your mind, when you are relaxed and open, and the best paintings seem to 'breath' themselves onto the canvas almost as though you had nothing to do with it.

Off for a walk now, then more pastel sketches when I get back.

Smiling dog with poppies

Available as a limited edition giclee print. Already mounted and ready for framing. Image size 15 x 20 inches - Price £70.00

Tilly

SOLD

Tilly is a Bernese Mountain dog belonging to Sue from the Blue Ginger Art and Craft centre, Cradley. I got to know Tilly when I had my studio there, she has a wonderful personality and nature and I always got a friendly and enthusiastic greeting from her every morning!.

Blind Artist Esref Armagan

I came across an amazing Artist today, Esref Armagan, who was born blind and 'sees' with his fingertips. http://www.esrefarmagan.com He says he 'feels' the shapes first, then works out the whole picture in his mind. It is incredible how he deals with space, light and perspective, without being able to see it. His colours are so fresh,vibrant and full of life. Truly incredible.

Hereford Craft Fair

Visited Hereford Craft Fair today, in the centre of town near the Cathedral. The town has a lot of character with some very interesting architecture. The weather was great so there were crowds of people out and about looking at all the stands. Basket maker Jenny Pearce had a great selection of baskets, bowls and decorative pieces at very reasonable prices. Glass maker Elaine Mason showed bowls, coasters, sun catchers, dishes of all sizes and jewllery, all made from recycled glass and beautifully displayed. Designer Phillipa Day had a very colourful display of hand made bags, purses, cushions and brooches, all made with gorgeous fabrics, textures and colours. I got some good ideas for display which will help me when I next exhibit. Also visted the Library and Art Gallery, then went for lunch with my family.

Looking forward to the annual Blues Festival next week. If the weather stays like this, there will be as many boats on the river as cars on the roads.

James Halliburton - Raw Business magazine

James Halliburton, painted for Raw Business Magazine.

Imran Hakim - Raw Business magazine

Imran Hakim, painted for Raw Business Magazine.

Levi Roots - Raw Business Magazine

Bradley Chapman, MD of Million Impossible and publisher of Raw Business Magazine, recently asked me to paint some of the Entrepreneurs featured in Raw Business. They were Rachel Elnaugh, Ex Dragon, Author and Mentor, Levi Roots, creator of Reggae Reggae sauce, Imran Hakim, creator of iteddy and James Halliburton, creator of waterbouy, all of whom have been on BBC's Dragons Den. I was quite nervous, but had a great time painting these charismatic people. I did several drawings and pastel sketches first, to familiarise myself with their faces, features and expressions, work out composition and backgrounds, then used acrylics to do the final pantings. You almost have to deconstruct then reconstruct faces and form them in your own visual langauge.

The feature will be published in edition 9 of Raw Business Magazine

Went for much needed walk today. Surrounded by by fields of long grass and hedgegrows, wild flowers everywhere, spotted some vibrant orange poppies gently swaying in the breeze. Birds singing, bees buzzing. The hills in the background all smokey greens and browns in the hazy sunshine, with soft terracotta and some golden ochre showing through here and there. Dark olive green and deep bottle green trees and shrubs forming a freeze at the base. Wonderful colours. All good for the soul and costs nothing.

Water Melon and Lemon

One of a series of Six still life paintings, which were on exhibition at the Sofra Restaurant in Covent Garden, London. The restaurant specializes in Turkish cuisine and I wanted to create paintings that reflected the colours, shapes and textures found in Turkish food and Art.

24 x 24 Acrylic on canvas - £600

Lemon, Apricot and Pepper

One of a series of Six still life paintings, which were on exhibition at the Sofra Restaurant in Covent Garden, London. The restaurant specializes in Turkish cuisine and I wanted to create paintings that reflected the colours, shapes and textures found in Turkish food and Art.

24 x 24 Acrylic on canvas - £600

Pot of Herbs

One of a series of Six still life paintings, which were on exhibition at the Sofra Restaurant in Covent Garden, London. The restaurant specializes in Turkish cuisine and I wanted to create paintings that reflected the colours, shapes and textures found in Turkish food and Art.

24 x 24 Acrylic on canvas - £600

Rachel Elnaugh

I painted this portrait of Rachel Elnaugh after meeting her last September on one of her fantastic masterclasses. A very inspiring, creative, generous person, who is not afraid of showing vulnerability. She is a wonderful source of knowledge and inspiration.

SOLD

Pomegranates in moonlight

One of a series of Six still life paintings, which were on exhibition at the Sofra Restaurant in Covent Garden, London. The restaurant specializes in Turkish cuisine and I wanted to create paintings that reflected the colours, shapes and textures found in Turkish food and Art.

With this still life painting, I wanted to create something poetical and magical, with a stillness and timeless quality.

24 x 24 Acrylic on canvas - Not for sale

Fig with Walnut

One of a series of Six still life paintings, which were on exhibition at the Sofra Restaurant in Covent Garden, London. The restaurant specializes in Turkish cuisine and I wanted to create paintings that reflected the colours, shapes and textures found in Turkish food and Art.

24 x 24 Acrylic on canvas. Price £600