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Jacqueline Ford Fine Art (Look What Jacq Made)

Hello - long time no see, remember me?

16/5/2021

Do you have a list of activities on your 'To Do List' that get carried over from week-to-week or month-to-month - or even year-to-year?

It would appear that my 'update website and restart blog' is one such entry and it is with some surprise that I find it has not just been one year, which as a nine to five key worker I could put down to Covid-19 - but nearly six years since I last wrote an entry here about my adventures with paper, paint, scissors and glue!

The younger 2015 version of me would most likely be appalled and embarrased (and beat myself up as a failure), but the older 2021 version of me is kinder and more accepting.

Life happens and those of you that know me well know that a good bit of life has happened since I last typed in this box - and a good bit of creativity too. Infact the work that I have on here as my window to the wider world is not reflective of the work that I am doing now at all as is the creative evolution process over time.

I love the immediecy of Instagram as it indulges my 'Japanese gene' for photo taking - but of late I have re-discovered a delight of words and story telling (with thanks to Isabel Abbott for Begin [again]) and it is that which has bought me back here today

Six years is a lot to catch up on and if an experience from this timeframe sparks my muse so be it - but I certainly do not plan to attempt a chronological catch up!

One small step at a time - or few words at a time and as in the words of Elbert Hubbard "the secret to getting ahead is getting started" so here we are - beginning again.

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The Robin's Nest Gallery Summer Exhibition

10/6/2015

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Today I am getting some of my original artworks and greetings cards sorted ready to drop off to Jo Sinclair's lovely Robin's Nest Gallery in Wargrave tomorrow ready for her Summer Exhibition.

The theme of the exhibition is 'water' which suits my river and seaside scenes perfectly - I can't wait to see the finished curated show as this is just the subject matter that I like to buy for my home too (could be dangerous).

The Summer Exhibition opens on the 17 June and runs through until the end of August.

The Robin's Nest Gallery
72 High Street
Wargrave
RG10 8BY

Opening times
Tuesday to Saturday: 10:00am to 5:00pm
Sunday: 11:00am to 2.30pm
Closed on Monday

www.therobinsnestgallery.com

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Marlow Art and Crafts Exhibition

25/5/2015

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Our annual exhibition is now in full swing.

The Chairman's Reception on Saturday evening was well attended and we had some lovely comments from visitors about the range and quality of the work.

As a Committee Member who helps with the set up of the exhibition, it is always exciting as you never know what subjects our members have been painting over the previous year - and what they will bring with them!

This makes curating the exhibition a bit of a challenge at times - but it also a delight as we get to see how peoples style and techniques have developed over the year.

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Bucks Open Studios 2014

1/6/2014

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May and June are my busiest months for exhibitions and this weekend I've been putting the finishing touches to some more new work for Bucks Open Studios.

Working from my kitchen table in my small house means that for practical reasons I can not open up my home to visitors - and so am very grateful to have been invited to be one of eleven 'Emerald Artists' showing work at Emerald Framing and Gallery in Chalfont St Peter.

If you find yourself in the area do pop in - you will be in for a visual treat and each weekend from 10.30am - 3.30pm there is a series of workshops and demonstrations planned for you to get involved with:

Saturday 7 June

Ruby Sharp: ceramics - come and throw a pot!

Sunday 8 June
Hazel Williams: laser cut artist - pop in and make a masterpiece

Saturday 14 June
Teresa Mills: mosaic - our ever popular mosaic make and take day

Sunday 15 June
Julia Hayward: glass - glass make and take day

Saturday 21 June
Nigel Sims: printmaker - printmaking demonstation

Sunday 22 June
Oenone Randall: copper - copper make and take day

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Something old - something new

25/5/2014

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In this post I would like to invite you to join me on a creative journey to make something new out of something old - and in the process end up on a completely different path from the one intended . . .

Don't get me wrong, I love producing my collage work - but the part that I don't like so much is cutting out all the fiddly bits. I use a very sharp scalpel on a glass cutting mat, but even so, this still takes time and sometimes you cut a vital appendage off and have to start again!

There are a number of electronic cutting machines on the market and at the end of last year, after botching a boat, I began to seriously think about investing in one of these. Logic told me that if I could cut down the time it takes me to cut stuff out - I could be more time efficient and make more pictures.

In January, Brother announced the European launch of their 'Scan N Cut' machine at the Craft and Hobby Association trade show (CHA) in the USA. This is a just awesome bit of kit and at present in the UK you can buy one via Create and Craft

In short, you can scan an image in and the machine can cut it out. You can also save the scanned image (if you have the copyright) and then change the size of it and cut it out - bigger or smaller - and did I mention that the machine can even draw the image - and cut fabric and lots of other materials too? The machine comes with hundreds preinstalled shapes that you can use - but the selling point for me was the potential to use my own images in a new way.

This got me thinking about how I could recycle and repurpose my favourite elements from previous collages and present these in a new way - to challenge the little grey cells and try something new.

So I scanned in my boats and people and birds and started to play.

Picture 1: A cut sheet of images before the great peel reveal - I didn't stick my paper down well enough so the blade scuffed a bit on the tiny details - this was pure 'operator error' and not the machine!

Picture 2: The great peel reveal . . .

Picture 3: Incredibly detailed cuts can be achieved with the Scan N Cut - just look at the bunting!

Picture 4: My 'signature' seagull with some swans for company.

So now I had all these fab cut images - how was I going to use them?
Since visiting the Oxford Printmakers, my chum Julie Rumsey's Print Shed and taking a lino cutting workshop at the St Ives School of Art (see earlier blogs) I have been wanting to try more printmaking techniques.

Last autumn while on holiday I purchased a Gelli Plate which was still in its box waiting to be invited out to play. A gel plate enables you to create monoprints without a press. What would happen I thought if I used my cut out images as 'masks' on the Gelli plate - could I produce an intentional print?

Picture 5: The wonderful Gelli Plate from Gelli Arts - do check out their You Tube channel for inspiration.

Picture 6: A selection of acrylic paints - you can use tube paints but I like the flip top lids on these. The bottles are standing on a bit of plastic mesh which can be used to add texture to the Gelli plate by removing paint before pulling a print.

Picture 7: Why limit yourself to one colour I say! My favourite colour combo at the moment is blue, white and orange so I had to use this to start with - I did put out a bit too much paint in this instance!

Picture 8: Brayer out the acrylic or use a brush until you get a pattern you like - you can also use various mark making tools / stencils etc at this stage to remove paint from the plate to create a texture on the pulled print.

Picture 9: Lay the paper 'masks' directly onto the paint - this will preserve the white of the paper on your print sheet.

Picture 10: Use a brayer or your fingers to smooth the paper onto the Gelli plate.

Picture 11: Pulling the print . . .

Picture 12: Ta Dah!

Please note it took me a lot of attempts to get to this stage and although I like the result and it was what I set out to achieve (an intentional print) - there was just something 'missing' to my mind.

This is where the first deviation from the path took place because as well as getting a print - I also got something that I hadn't anticipated liking as much as I did . . .

Picture 13: The paper masks are still on the Gelli plate and if you carefully pull these away you get something just fantastic!

Picture 14: My monoprinted 'Blazers and Boater' chappies - I am very precise when I do traditional watercolour / acrylic and couldn't paint that if I tried.

One of my favourite things to use in my collages is vintage book text and I wondered what would happen now if I went through the stages above and instead of using white card to print - used a book page as my substrate?

This did work but the text placement was a bit hit and miss - and book paper is quite fragile and prone to tear when pulling from the plate.

I sat looking at my lovely monoprinted boats and people - and my pile of books when the final deviation from my original path occurred. Instead of printing directly onto a book page - what would happen if I used intentionally placed text as a background and then collaged the lovely monoprinted elements over the top?

Picture 15: Some of my vintage book text (1920's and 1950's editions) and old Regatta programmes. These books are much to rare and precious to cut up and many of the pages are foxed with age and would not retain their integrity if used 'as is'.

Picture 16: Instead I scanned specific sections, printed them out and cut them down into squares (my preferred compositional format is a square so this was a natural choice for me!)

Picture 17: Some squares were then painted with a metallic glaze from Paper Artsy to give a subtle shine in the light - I also like to use foreign text to break things up a bit too.

Picture 18: Some squares were embossed to add some dimension.

Picture 19: The squares were then arranged to make a balanced background composition. The final stage was to get the glue out and stick the monoprinted elements onto the book page squares.

Picture 20: The 'new' interpretation of Blazers and Boaters - float mounted.

The great thing about creativity is that sometimes you start a journey with a very clear idea of what you hope to get at the end - but, as you play, the process reveals other delightful possibilities that lead you to a better place.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this post and that it has given you an insight into the 'behind the scenes' thought, work and multiple processes that often go in to creating an original piece of artwork.

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'Flotsam' by Jo Atherton

4/5/2014

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Jo Atherton - photo taken at Waddesdon

Last October I had the pleasure to meet Jo Atherton at Sally Evans' Makers event at Waddesdon. Jo's work caught my eye not only because of the intense colour - but also because of the unusual material that she was working with. Jo weaves with flotsam that has been washed up on the beach. The colours of her 'flotsam stash' were a real draw to a mixed media magpie like me - I've never seen a neon pink fishing line on my beach walks before!

Jo kindly gave me a little bag of 'flotsam treasure' to take home and incorporate into my next boat pictures (which I did) and I in turn promised to return the kindness with a 'flotsam exchange' from my stash.

This weekend I got the opportunity to deliver a jar of flotsam (from Cephalonia) to Jo in person as she is holding her first solo exhibition at the Space2 Gallery at Watford Museum.

Seeing Jo's work displayed in this bright sun lit room was fantastic. It was also very thought provoking that so much 'stuff' is being washed up along not just our coast line - but other countries too all of the time. It made me think of our oceans and the random plastic pieces that are floating about and not degrading . . .

Many of Jo's works were composed by colour and others had quirky content such as random doll parts that had been found washed up. 'Goodies and Baddies' is made up of plastic toys - you can decide which are the goodies and which are the baddies!

My favourite, if I was pushed to chose was 'Plenty More Fish in the Sea'. This includes lots of lobster pot tags that were found in Cornwall washed over from Newfoundland, Maine and Rhode Island! Each tag can be traced back to an individual fisherman - and has made a true transatlantic journey.

Flotsam runs at Watford Museum until the 28 June and is well worth a visit: http://space2.watfordmuseum.org.uk/index.html

You can find more details about Jo's innovative work on her website:
http://flotsamweaving.com/author/joannaatherton/

Like me, I bet your walks on the beach won't be quite the same after viewing these works . . .

The pictures below were taken with Jo's permission:

Jo (centre) explaining her work to one of the Museum staff

One of the medium sized 'colour specific' weavings - all of the component parts were found washed on on beaches in Cornwall.

Jo (left) reflected in her weaving picture!

Explanatory text for my favourite work in the show

Detail shot from 'Plenty More Fish in Sea'

Clever use of driftwood within this weaving - makes you think doesn't it?

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Remembering Paul Wright

23/2/2014

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One week ago today I received the news that Ben’s Dad, Paul Wright had sadly died. Paul became unwell in November and the speed of the progression of his illness has been a shock to everyone.

The first time that I spent proper time with Ben’s parents, Paul and Gillian, was on the 29 December in 2004. Ben and I had only recently started ‘dating’ and I had travelled up to Suffolk on the train to spend New Year with him.

We drove to Thorpeness and parked the car, ready for a lovely walk down the beach to Aldeburgh where we saw a pint of Adnam’s and fish and chips in our future . . .

The day was cold and breezy and walking into the wind was a bit of a challenge at times! It was on this walk that I got to talk to Paul and find out more about him. I knew already that Paul was a skilled artist and portrait painter, but found out that he also had a deep love and knowledge of classical music. With Aldeburgh in view, Paul told me about Benjamin Britten and his work – in particular the opera Peter Grimes.

Paul loved this work and told me the story about the fated fisherman and the haunting nature of the music – the Sea Interludes. “You really must listen to it” he said.

Since 2004, when talking about music, Peter Grimes was mentioned often and Paul would always ask me “have you listened to it yet?” Despite my good intentions, I never did.

At the start of 2014 I found out the English National Opera (ENO) were doing their first ‘live’ transmission from London via cinema - and the opera was no less than Peter Grimes. I booked a ticket immediately and finally got to see it today.

The ENO show was outstanding and the music, as promised by Paul was both beautiful and haunting and evoked the spirit of Aldeburgh for me. It also made me cry.

I had been so looking forward to being able to tell Paul when I next visited Suffolk that I had finally seen Peter Grimes - but that is not now to be.

Instead I decided to commemorate this special memory of Paul and a piece of music he loved in a picture. The silhouetted figure next to Maggi Hambling’s scallop shell is an image of Paul taken on that very first walk on Aldeburgh beach back in 2004.

Thank you for introducing me to Benjamin Britten and Peter Grimes. I’m sorry I never got to tell you in person.

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2013: A weekend at Waddesdon and meeting the 'Biggest Friend'

26/1/2014

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2013 in review - October

In October I had the pleasure to be invited to take part at an event run by Sally Evans in the Plant Centre at Waddesdon Manor.

One of my crafty chums, Nicky Bibby of Bee Bee Crafts was also taking part and we were lucky enough to get our request for tables next to each other granted. The Plant Centre is a huge glass house and, with the sun shining, was surprisingly warm inside. In fact I had to take my shoes and socks off to set up - and re-think my wardrobe for the weekend!

On the Saturday afternoon I was joined by my crafty chum Stephanie Moffat who helped me man the stand - and gave me the chance to go and see all the lovely arts and crafts on offer (as well as being able to sit and eat cake without the fear of having to speak to someone as soon as I took a mouthful!)

Nicky making the finishing touches to her lovely stand:

Part of my stand:

Nicky and my chum Steph:

On the Sunday Cath Friend from Emerald Frames popped in with her Dad Michael Friend. It was great to meet Michael as Cath had commissioned me to produce a picture of her Dad on his beloved recumbent trike last Xmas. Michael is a 'local icon', well known for riding up and down the prom on the Wirral.

This picture was a fun commission to work on and the brief included the following items:

Michael on his recumbent trike
Tug boat
Chocolate
Reference to the 'Biggest Friend'
Reference to 'Meols'
Reference to 'The Wirral Way'
Reference to the 'The Wirral Community Canal Boat Trust'

Michael Friend and a small version of his picture from my portfolio book - followed by some more detailed shots of the original work:

A great bonus of doing events like these is that you get to meet new people and see work and techniques that fire up the imagination. To finish this post I would like to mention just two:

Displayed on one of the stalls opposite me was a fabulous silver necklace that had silver bird shapes, chain, silver rings and shells and a blue 'element' with a bird on that from my stand was difficult to work out what it was. On closer inspection the 'blue' was a dolls ear that had been flocked and set in silver - and represented the 'sound of the sea'. It was a stunning and original piece produced by a recently graduated artist called Robyn Golding

Robyn likes to repurpose and recycle old silver and broken doll parts - into truly original jewellery - and I just adore my seagull earrings!

You can see more examples of Robyn's unique work on her website:

http://www.robyngoldingjewellery.co.uk

Robyn and a couple of flocked dolls feet:

I also found a kindred spirit in Jo Atherton who repurposes flotsam into magical woven designs. I thought I was the only person who filled my pockets with such 'treasure' when at the seaside - but Jo had a stash of flotsam to die for!

Jo kindly sorted me out a small bag of mixed flotsam - including some amazing (and rare) fluorescent plastic threads that I have certainly not found to date, to incorporate in my work. I have used some in my most recent Aldeburgh pictures - along with flotsam from Suffolk too.

Jo - I have not forgotten that I am due to send you a bag of flotsam in the post in return . . . watch out for the postie!

You can learn more about Jo's environmentally friendly work and see examples of completed weavings on her website:

http://flotsamweaving.com

Jo weaving with flotsam - she is also a talented potter:

My bag of TREASURE . . .

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2013: A fun commission

4/1/2014

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July

At the start of July I was contacted by Nick Brookman who had seen my Bucks Open Studios work at Emerald and was keen to discuss a commission to celebrate an upcoming 'significant' birthday. Nick knew that he wanted the picture to include images of him and his wife Freya dancing and, as we chatted, I explained to Nick that the way that I work lends itself to incorporating other personal imagery too - giving Nick some food for thought.

I like to work from my photographs and also to visit the location for the artwork so that I can get a feel for the place and sketch out composition ideas to complement the photos. On a sunny Saturday I drove over to the Brookman's and the fun began!

Nick and Freya had thought long and hard about the picture that they wanted and had come up with a really interesting list that we discussed over a cup of tea:

three images of them dancing
canalside location
willow trees
map of Regents Park Open Air Theatre
map of Spittlefields Market
map of the Everyman Cinema in Hampstead
lyrics from songs by Pink Martini
words from a poem read out at their wedding
two corduroy dogs
colourful quilt handmade by Freya
'happiness' tube sign
images of the Brookman's home

A well thought out imagery list really helps to define the brief and enables a truly personal story to be told in the finished work - and this list was an absolute treat to work to!

We headed out down to the canal and I took lots of photos and did some sketches. I provided the Brookman's with six composition ideas and once the favourite was chosen I got busy playing with my paper, scissors and glue.

Some of the elements on the picture were very fiddly to produce - such as the railings, but by the end I was really happy with the result and that I managed to incorporate all bar the last element on the list.

And the best news - Nick was just delighted with the finished work too!

An 'action shot' under the willows by the canal:

The chosen composition:

Nick and Freya dancing on my studio (kitchen) table:

Constructing the extremely fiddly railings - the willow branches in the background are the colours of Freya's handmade quilt rather than the natural green:

The corduroy dogs waiting to find a home on the picture:

Starting to put all the elements together:

Nick and his finished picture ready to mount and frame.

Thankyou Nick and Freya for giving me such a GREAT brief to work from - I loved making this picture for you and hope that you enjoy this for many years' to come!

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2013: MACS and Bucks Open Studios

1/1/2014

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June - MACS Annual Exhibition

Marlow Art and Crafts Society held their Annual Exhibition at the Church Hall in Marlow from the 25 May to the 2 June.

We set up on the Friday evening and it is always exciting to see the new work of our members - and that of guest exhibitors as it comes through the door. One of the great things about MACS is that anyone in the club can enter work, whether they having been doing art for a year - or many years and it is great to see peoples work styles an confidence grow year on year. The pictures get moved around a bit as new ones arrive - but the finished result is always a balanced display.

This year we had to erect more screens to accommodate all of the work which was great!

I exhibited a couple of Henley Royal Regatta pictures. One of which, the Thames Challenge Cup was awarded the runner up prize for the 'favourite picture' as voted for by visitors to the exhibition which was a real honour.

June - Bucks Open Studios at Emerald

I took a couple of days' off of work to help Cath with the set up of Bucks Open Studios at Emerald Framing and Gallery. When I arrived Cath was looking at the state of some of the walls and in a mad moment we decided that we just had to paint them before we displayed all the lovely work.

After a quick trip back to Marlow to pick up paint and my trusty painting gear we set to work - and what a difference a fresh coat of paint made - the works just shone!

Talking of differences, this year I asked Cath to professionally frame my pictures and was blown away with with the results - this was the first time I had seen my new work mounted and framed - no going back to Ikea frames now . . .

Note: Cath kindly reframed the others for me so they all look the same now!