Art & Wine - Join Me

Shameless promotion of a great day out...

Art & Wine Workshop

Ah Art and wine, Napa does it so well and who hasn't enjoyed that moment of divine inspiration after a Chablis or two? So EVT decided it was time the UK explored the vineyards artistically speaking except I decided to go as a punter and fellow artist on the first Sussex Art & Wine Workshop to Carr Taylor Vineyards.

After meeting with the most delightful group of ladies you could hope to on the tour, Dave our guide from Carr Taylor gallantly showed us the vines, winery and shared a joke or two whilst tasting 6 wines from the estate (if you're ever in the vicinity, ask about the Pinot More...)

After a yummy ploughman's lunch with a glass of sparkly surrounded by the vines we spent an inspirational afternoon with artist Katie Sollohub. An amazing colourist, Katie's laid back approach to making art was incredibly playful (and I'm someone who can be somewhat tight with work), but by the end of the day we were tearing, dabbing, sticking, and spattering in response to the tastes of the wine and amazing scenery in the vineyard. We drew inspiration from Kandinsky, Hodgkin, Sisley amongst others for their mark making and colour interpretations.Using three different materials we warmed up making a large mark, long line and small mark, each in a different material. We worked like this for a while and then ripped it up! Using the pieces as starting point we stuck a couple of these pieces (some from other peoples work) onto a clean sheet and started to work more from the landscape this time. The results were beautiful - fresh, dynamic and colourful. I'm terrified of colour usually but I came away with a new sense of colour confidence.Coming home, I tried the exercise with my children 5 & 7 and was astounded by the results especially by my 5 year old. Laying down marks in a variety of materials and colour and allowing yourself to just see what happens is incredibly liberating. Working in design and in the constraints of the digital environment I really enjoyed this exercise.

The vines have flower set now, the precursor to bud-set - that's when the grapes start appearing to you and me. In 2 to 3 months they will be ready for picking and in quite a few months after, ready for drinking. I plan to repeat this exercise drinking the wine that was made by the very grapes and vineyard that provoked my creative juices to start flowing once more.

PS Thanks to Ben for being Gofer for the day and the additional glass of wine or 2 :)

PS: Crossing the Channel

For some reason, in all my years of using Photoshop, I've never truly explored and exploited the power of channels and masks within Photoshop - a mental block of some sort I guess. However I've conquered this fear and quite frankly I'm hooked. From isolating complex images (in this case bones, feathers and hair) to using a soft brush to subtly mask out areas resulting in more naturally blended elements, this work in progress has enlightened me to yet another powerful Photoshop feature.

English Vine Tours

Here's the latest project and the reason I haven't been blogging here much since August. English Vine Tours is a new venture, providing exclusive wine tours of some of England's finest vineyards. My responsibilities apart from being Director of Vine Tours Ltd include the logo design, website and general all round developer of the company. The official launch is this Thursday (20th Nov) at The Sussex Wine Company portfolio event. Can't wait!

Work in Progress

I'm keeping a record of how a piece of work progresses, from initial sketch through to final image (painting or digital illustration). This piece is the final in the set of three ('Boudica' & 'Boy Georgie'). I've sketched it out and have taken it into Illustrator (eyes looking scarily spooky currently but it's in early stages :) )...

Boy Georgie

Detail from latest painting 'Boy Georgie', mixed media on canvas (recycled material and paper with oil paints), 100cm x 100cm, 2008.

The Sussex Wine Company Wine Club Flyer

The latest flyer for The Sussex Wine Company Wine Club. Front and back, A5 showcard.