Hi everyone, it’s been a while, a long while since I last blogged, some 4 months or so. I have been very busy. I will bring you up to date with what has been happening with my art and art business in the next few blogs.
Here I just want to mentioned that I am currently exhibiting in GalleryOMP which is at the Old Mayors Parlour, Hereford. I will exhibiting with some other great artists until the 24th April 2016.
Here are some images from the exhibition “Seeds of Change”!
Great feature in Walesonline and the Western Mail today on how art therapy is helping me to recover from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and how painting still helps me therapeutically today. I do not know where I would be if it was not for art and painting. Also I am thankful for my husband, Seamas, who runs all the art business side of things, as well as being my agent.
This frees me up and allows me the time to simply paint and nothing else. I paint when not teaching as I need to, it is an essential element of my therapeutic recovery from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD is a condition that can only be managed and is unlikely to ever return to “normal”. As the article states, it has left me with reduced energy levels and things can threaten to overwhelm me sometimes so I need time out with my oils!
As I paint so much the paintings obviously started stock piling so my husband decided to try and sell them. He contacted Artfinder and went online there. As we started selling from the start, we have kept going although I would paint regardless and I need to. So there you have it. That’s me. Thanks to you too for all your support, likes, comments, well wishes and friendship. It means a lot to us.
Every weekend my husband and I explore and almost mine the beauty of Gower peninsula with its amazing variety of beaches, woods, hills and valleys for inspiration for my next paintings. Increasingly I have used this peninsula to keep my artistic juices flowing. It is almost as if we are harvesting the beauty of Gower in some way and using it to create art before sharing this bounty with art lovers throughout the world.
Different paintings of Gower adorn walls in the homes of art lovers on various continents. Our weekend walks are not just for our aesthetic enrichment but for others too it would seem. What a joy to share the beauty of this stunning peninsula designated Britain’s first Area of Outstanding Beauty.
Transforming an art studio into an art gallery – I have recently put some curtains for privacy and a few picture hanging rails onto the white walls of my art studio and it has really transformed it from a studio into somewhere where one can view art, serving as a private viewing space for artlovers to have a look at my paintings in “the flesh”.
Having this viewing space is designed to help artlovers make that final decision about buying my artwork. I have sold dozens of pieces of artwork this way and really enjoy meeting artlovers who like my artwork.
It also helps some artlovers to meet me and to get to know who they will be buying art from. It all adds to the enriching experience of buying art.
Artlovers also often like to hear about the inspiration behind certain paintings and this brings the artwork to life.
Although my paintings are professionally photographed some artlovers simply like to see the paintings in front of their very eyes.
Also artlovers can say, in advance, what paintings, in particular, they would like “hung” or displayed for them to have a closer look at and they will be hung on the white walls ready for them to view.
They can do this in the afternoon or the evening as the tracking lights enable viewing in the evening too.
Delighted that Artfinder have chosen me as their Facebook cover photo today! 🙂
“This month we’re inspired by the Welsh landscape paintings of Swansea-based artist Emma Cownie.
Discover her collection » http://artf.in/nUOvGA “
Although Spring has sprung I am still painting in my attic studio, too cold to be in the outside cabin studio.
My skylight is north facing which is the best light for painting as one gets a good constant light all day. In the evening I supplant whatever existing day light there is by switching on the “day lights” seen in this photo so that I can get a few more hours work in the evening.
I do however prefer to paint in the day and usually use evening for prep work or to outline the painting to be painted the next day. I like to leave a painting primed for painting the next day as I am a morning person and like to get stuck in early as possible in the morning, usually around 6.30am.
In a meditative manner, to the music of Eric Satie’s gorgeous “Trois Gymnopedies”, I attempt to describe how working close to nature but in the city is a major influence on my painting, blending with my technique to create my artwork. In fact, place and painting are inseparable. I am greatly influenced by the light and beauty in Wales and around the Swansea area in particular. Most of my paintings inspired by the bountiful beauty that surrounds me, the sounds as well as the images. You might even notice the odd inspiration that made it to be a painting too (as well as the odd painting of my inspirational Swansea). Welcome to my Attic Art Studio and the place and surrounding area that inspires much of my artwork.
I was born in Hereford, and educated in Cardiff. I am a professional artist, specializing in oil paintings of the landscapes of Wales and Donegal, Ireland. I have exhibited in various galleries, online galleries, in print and on digital LED screens throughout London, UK.
I have one of the top best selling artists on Artfinder over the last five years and have sold widely on other online galleries. I have sold hundreds of pieces of artwork online. I have had hundreds of happy collectors and my artwork hangs in homes across the world and in numerous countries.
I love light and colour. In my art, I am drawn to light and shadows and how they shape our emotions. I remember visiting the South of France as a teenager and being mesmerized by the dazzling light, I have been attempting to capture that excitement about light in my paintings ever since.
I try and make my colours bold and bright but as realistic as possible. I aim to make people look at the ordinary and see the extraordinary beauty in it.
I offer a personalised approach to art for business and I sell affordable, original and limited edition artworks to companies, such as John Lewis, across the globe.
Whether you would like a single piece for your office or boardroom, or are looking for larger numbers for a hotel or restaurant chain, I can help provide the right art for you.
The paintings are wrapped securely in bubble wrap and cardboard packaging. All paintings also have a Certificate of Authenticity. Most of my paintings are sold unframed. This is to lower delivery costs. If the paintings have been framed it will be stated.
In my paintings the effect of light is often ‘heightened’ and similar to the sophisticated, precise ‘Pixar’ like animated light. I seek to paint the ‘experience’ of light on colour and form.
To achieve this requires the heightening of the effect of light otherwise light can often be dampened or subdued by the absorbing colours. I am much more interested in how light invigorates, resonates, generates or dare I say it animates colour and form, rather than simply dressing it. This effect is underscored by my use of drawing lines around colours and form, as with the fauvists, and others have suggested this too gives off an animated feel or quality.
I want colour to be the product of being generated, animated by light as if light was the genesis of colour. Thus light creates the colour in a sense rather than colour simply being illuminated by it.
Rusty Roofed House (Arranmore)
Everybody loves the Georgian Houses It seems like certain styles never go out of fashion. Last year Georgian-style houses topped a poll of the most popular home styles. I suspect that people like scale of the house as well as the the pillars and generous sized windows. Nothing says lord of the manor like a […]
Northern Ireland’s Tourism is very impressive. At Whiterocks Beach, just along from Portrush, there is not one, not two but three small carparks and a public toilets which are all free to use. What’s more, there’s another car parks specially for horses and their horseboxes. I will point out though, that there is height restriction […]
We recently went to see Helen Merrigan Colfer’s solo exhibition at the Alley Gallery, Strabane. She is a sculptor & painter. She lives & works on the tip of the Hook Head Peninsula, County Wexford, Ireland. She works with resin & steel. Her work is quite incredible and very engaging. This exhibtion included paintings, many resin […]
I spent almost a month in the Cotswolds visitng with my parents recently and had a bit of time to explore. They live near Stroud which TV programmes like “Escape to the Country ” tell me is the “poorer part of the Cotswolds”. I think “poor” may well be in the eye of the beholder. […]
