The Discerner Art Publication - December 2018 / January 2019

THE

DISCERNER

Discerning The World of Arts

“A Swirl of Silence” by Barbara Krupp

Abstract | Cubism | Expressionism | Figurative | Fine Art | Modern

December 2018 / January 2019

Editor’s Letter

Dear Readers, I hope your preparations for Christmas are going well and that you are as excited as I am about it!

Christmas is, as the famous song says, the most wonderful time of the year. It is the time when we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, enjoy spending time with our family and friends and it is also a time of indulgence.

A time when we can allow ourselves some little pleasures and finally spoil ourselves.

So why not push the boat out a little more and purchase a fabulous artwork, a piece that will forever remind you of Christmas 2018?

Some think that an original artwork is ‘expensive’ but if you consider the hours of work put into it by the artist and that it will stay with you forever, it is perhaps not a huge expense at all!

There is of course no obligation, but it’s a wonderful opportunity. Think about the joy it will bring into your life, and the amazing addition it will be to your residence!

I wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a fantastic New Year!

Kindest regards Celine Gaurier-Joubert

Contact & advertising enquiries: E: celine@thediscerner.com W: www.thediscerner.com T: 0044 20 7491 9925

Every effort has been made to ensure the content is accurate.

The Discerner Ltd does not endorse any of the advertisements in the magazine unless otherwise stated. No part of the magazine may be reproduced without permission of The Discerner Ltd. We reserve the right to refuse advertisement or editorial not suitable to the publication.

Contents

Barbara Krupp

Michael Batey

Caia Matheson

Michael Boffey

David Henty

Michelle Hold

Emma Davis

MJ Tom

Georganna Lenssen

Sarah Jane Brown

Ken Karlic

Scott McLachlan

Lou Hamilton

Stephen Schubert

Mary Pfaff

Tim Short

Melanie Wright

Barbara Krupp I was born in Elyria, Ohio, a small town in northeast Ohio. After graduating from high school I trained as an x-ray technician. As a self-taught artist, I place the beginning of my profession career in 1976, when I both gained my first gallery representation in Rockport, MA. and had a painting accepted into the permanent collection of the Massilion (Ohio) Art Museum. Through the venues in which I chose to exhibit, my paintings to date found their way into dozens of private and public collections throughout the world. As I eventually broadened my personal outlook through travel, my artistic horizon widened, as well. I have studied with many well known artists including Graham Nickson, a painter educated at the Royal College of Art in London.

A recipient of the Prix de Rome and Harkness Fellowship at Yale University, Nickson is celebrated for his monumental canvases with figural abstractions. Since then my large paintings in acrylic on canvas have has become more minimal and my color more sensuous.

My current work is a culmination of all I have learned to date, after decades of commitment to the practice of my art. For me they are also an exciting new beginning in my search for a totally abstract form of expression.

I just start working with colors because I’m really a colorist. I know what goes with what, I have my feelings and I just want to get everything flowing, and the color working great. I trained to be an x-ray technician. From that time on, as T.S. Eliot wrote in his “Whispers of Immortality,” I have seen “the skull beneath the skin.” The structure of the painting is very important to me, and in my most recent series I have, in a manner of speaking, allowed the bones of the painting—both compositionally and metaphorically, become the painting’s’ subject matter. Georgia O’Keeffe, whose early 1940s series of pelvic bones enclosed spaces that later in the decade became forms themselves, I found the areas of interest in my own landscape and floral abstractions to be the atmospheric spaces between forms. I came to realize that the significance in my paintings was not in the forms, but in the spaces in between them.

In my “Abstract Stories” series, those atmospheric spaces became increasing bounded by spontaneously drawn shapes. Painted in shades of ochre-tinted white –the color of bone-- the enclosed spaces began to take on shapes that suggested something as intimate and normally hidden as bone; organic shapes that suggest body parts unveiled here and there as though to tease a lover. T.S. Eliot ends his poem with, ”Our lot crawls between dry bones to keep our metaphysics warm.” I explore the interface between passion and the intellect, pulsing tissue and desiccated bone. Our lot may be to crawl through our mortal span but, like the poet, we also sing.

www.barbarakrupp.com

IG barbarakrupp

“A Swirl of Silence” Acrylic 91.44cm x 91.44cm Yes, it swirls, you can hear it. I like quiet, the world is at peace.

Enjoy!

“Sea Objects” Acrylic 61cm x 61cm Is it an abstract, we don’t know but we do see the objects, now your mind can sort them but let the fun begin also. Enjoy!

“Mr. Toad Is At It Again” Acrylic painting not stretched 152.4cm x 152.4cm I have done a series of “Mr. Toad” paintings.

He is always mischievous and we can never really see him but we know he is there.

Caia Matheson Caia Matheson is an award-winning contemporary oil painter based in Brighton, UK. She was born in Johannesburg and educated in Tokyo and London. Matheson has exhibited widely in the UK, and has been shortlisted for numerous awards, including winning Brighton Artist of the Year in 2004. Matheson painted Europe’s first Rainbow Pedestrian Crossing Brighton in 2014, and in 2013 her work was selected by author Neil Gaiman for the book A Calendar of Tales.

Matheson is inspired by wabi sabi, or the beauty of imperfection.

For Matheson, painting is a very physical process. She loves to mix paint mediums and experiment with the effects. This, for her, can be the most exciting part of the creative process. Her mediums are oils – tubes of oil paint, oil bars, oil pastels and mixtures of oil paints and dyes. She enjoys the texture consistency and smell of them. Matheson paints with her hands and washing-up sponges onto canvases laid flat on the floor, building and scratching off layers of oil paint to create a world within worlds.

The layers are designed in a way to expose different subjects of the composition. These subjects are buried in the dark and light spaces and come out and disappear as the light changes presenting different aspects depending on shifting light conditions and mood.

My work is about words and verse from all sources such as radio plays audio books stories song lyrics and poetry. I get such great pictures from words and translate them into my work as a visual narrative.

I begin painting with a specific colour that I have in my mind’s eye. I then introduce other colours and begin to build layers on the canvas. These layers are then scratched off and layered over again like a palimpsest literally meaning ‘scraped clean and used again’. I love the idea of previous markings that are not visible but are still an inherent part of the composition.

I consider each successive layer a generation to populate or depopulate the canvas as needed and create my own world as I go.

I like to create a world within worlds.

As a kid I used to be fascinated by the Lowly worm in the Richard Scarry books. I loved scouring each page to seek out that worm and when I found it I would feel most content like I had discovered a piece of secret truth that would uncover all the answers to my questions about the universe. There are some Lowly worms in my abstracts albeit in symbolic form.

Matheson has exhibited widely in the UK and abroad.

www.caiamatheson.com

IG caiamathesonart

“Breathe” Oil and dyes on hand stretched canvas H 100cm x W 100cm x D 3cm “Breathe, breathe in the air. Don’t be afraid to care” - Pink Floyd Lyrics

David Henty With more than twenty-five years experience replicating great works of art, David Henty is nowconsidered the world’s best art forger/copyist. He has considerable expertise in convincing the viewer and art experts, having mastered the techniques and idiosyncrasies of some of the most iconic artists, from Michelangelo and Caravaggio through to Pablo Picasso. Each piece involves rigorous preparation through David’s immersive research process, studying the original painting, developing an understanding of how the artist worked, and sourcing materials true to the period.

David Henty’s history as a copyist/art forger starts, appropriately enough, with a conviction for forgery, more than twenty-five years ago. It was while serving the resulting prison sentence that David’s passion for art was rekindled. Quickly seduced by the technicality of copying, he has honed his craft to perfection, establishing a thriving legitimate business.

David explains that his is a very different discipline to producing the original artwork, and that copying is notoriously difficult.

Mastering an artist’s unique style, however, is a challenge he embraces. It is only once he’s developed an affinity with the artist, that he’s connected with him or her that he will attempt to emulate their style. This means that David’s preparation for a painting begins even before his brush touches the canvas!

Prior to starting work on a piece, David will delve into the artist’s life and thoughts in order to get beneath the skin of that person.

He derives huge satisfaction from deconstructing a work and analysing how to lay down each stroke, as well as mixing the perfect palette. There is the upmost importance of copy artists in the art world, to produce works of the greatest artists that have every lived.

Once this art form has gone it will be lost forever.

David Henty produces his highly collectable paintings for enthusiasts and private collections around the globe. Each original piece is presented in its own bespoke, handmade frame and signed on the reverse by David to certify authenticity.

A star in his own right, David’s copies have come to the attention of high profile media channels such as The Sunday Telegraph, the BBC, and Radio 4, who’ve all run articles on him, as well as an appearance on the Sky Art channel, Sky News and many more. David also speaks on his specialised field of art forgery.

There is also a book in process and a film about David’s life. Hereford Films is in the early stages of producing the film based on the life and crimes of David Henty. The working title is “Picasso Before Breakfast”.

The script is being written by the one and only Nick Moran, the actor and producer, known for Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows and The Musketeers to name but a few!

“Arguably the worlds most celebrated copyist” - Stratford words and music festival.

Pablo Picasso: Good artists copy, great artists steal.

DAVID HENTY does both!

www.davidhentyart.co.uk

IG davidhentyartforger

“The Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius” Oil on canvas 50cm x 39cm

This 362-year-od painting of a tiny bird has become one of the most popular of its time and is one of the most celebrated paintings of The Hague.

Carel Fabritius (1622-54) trained in Rembrandt’s studio and later moved to the same home town of Vermeer – where he died, tragically young.

This small charming painting, on a wooden panel, depicting a goldfinch perched on its feeding-box, seen against a whitewashed wall is the inspiration I needed to replicate it. The goldfinch is an intelligent bird and sings beautifully, especially the males, they were very popular pets and often appear in 17th Century Dutch paintings depicting captive love.

“I like to be creative with other peoples ideas” David Henty

Emma Davis Emma Davis lives and works in London. She holds an MA degree in Literature and in Fine Art from studies at the Slade School of Fine Art, Chelsea College of Art and the University of York. This year, she returned to India and Antibes as Artist in Residence. She was recently selected for the London Creative Network, the London Intensive (run by the Slade School of Fine Art and Camden Arts Centre), and was shortlisted the ArtSlant International Prize, National Art Prize and the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.

Emma Davis is a writer and a visual artist. Led into abstraction, she is greatly influenced by Howard Hodgkin, as well as by Japanese block prints and Chinese pottery. She works across a variety of media, including oils, watercolour, etchings, monoprints and pencil on paper, but all of her work really relates to drawing, an activity she finds somehow intimate. An avid traveller herself, she draws a lot on public transport, or at galleries and concerts, where people are lost in their own thoughts, their private worlds on public display, absorbed and unselfconscious. Etching makes the drawings easier to read, more permanent, more finished. Davis often adds text to her works, making reference to what is in her head, what an image suggests to her, or what sensation is conjured. The act of drawing slows her down, allowing her to access her thoughts more directly. Similarly, her watercolours are mainly about the effect and meaning of line – an abstract quality but one that refers back to pictographic languages and calligraphy. Her palettes are intense, reflecting heat, a jangle of colours reacting to one another. – Anna McNay.

www.emmadavisartist.com

IG emmadavisartist

“Fan drawing IV� Media charcoal on paper 168cm x 236cm

This work is one of a series produced by a piece of charcoal suspended from a ceiling fan. The repetitive circular movements and delicate marks play with chance and automatic drawing. The resulting drawings have an organic and almost spiritual quality.

Georganna Lenssen Georganna Lenssen’s paintings are evocative and mysterious in nature—they merge instinct, memory and sensation, creating a visual language of markmaking, color interaction and ultimately a landscape of painted surface. Gallery representation includes South Street Art Gallery in Easton MD, J.Cacciola gallery in Bernardsville NJ, and Red Raven Art Company in Lancaster PA. She exhibits regularly and also competes in plein air events including the prestigious Plein Air Easton and Paint Annapolis. Originally from Seoul, Korea, Georganna studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and Villanova University.

The work of contemporary artist Georganna Lenssen draws inspiration from nature, then moves into a realm so unique and individual it cannot be bound by the representational. While constantly referencing the natural world, she creates images which are ambiguous, sensual and evocative.

My work presents the culmination of response, absorption and interpretation of place or content. From exquisitely patterned African wild dogs and densely sensual, frosted cakes to the suggestive nature of aged and abandoned structures – a thread of commonality exists - the multi-faceted richness of imagery. Opacities, transparencies and translucencies offer an endless array of painterly suggestions.

Instinct, memory and sensation merge for me, creating a visual language of mark making, color interaction and finally the landscape of the painted surface.

My process is phenomenological — I follow my materials, intuition and the emerging imagery. It is an interactive process — a sort of dialogue between myself and the work . The abstract qualities of my paintings are always anchored by references to the representational, however if my subject becomes too articulated, I will deconstruct it, creating chaos in order to reconstruct a different kind of organization. Scraping down entire paintings or working over previous pieces increases the depth and complexity of the image and its narrative.

Painting is my life and my passion — it is through paint that I process my world.

www.georgannalenssen.com

IG georganna_lenssen

“Light with Pink” Oil on board 20.32cm x 20.32cm Subtly shifting colors complement bold mark making in this airy portrait of a wildflower

“Still Life with Pitcher” Oil on canvas 76.2cm x 76.2cm Richly complex layers of color and varied brushwork merge to produce this vibrant and engaging still life

Ken Karlic Contemporary artist Ken Karlic paints with a sense of urgency and passion that is about capturing the essence of a subject. Trained in graphic design, painting and architecture, Ken merges these disciplines in his fine art watercolors to speak in a voice and with a style that is uniquely his.

My goal in painting is to push the limits of watercolor to an exciting new place, and to challenge its traditions beyond what has typically been considered to be a translucent medium. For me, one of the main distinctions between watercolor and other media is that it is alive. Rather than stay put where it is placed, painting in watercolor excites me because of how it behaves, and misbehaves, beautifully. I don’t paint in a conventional sense of light to dark, but rather light and dark, building layer upon layer, opaque over translucent and vice versa until I reach a sense of completion.

I refer to my art as Sophisticated Chaos, where a planned design and structured drawing give way to an expressive painting. My work has a basis in the representational—from cityscapes to industrial landscapes to interiors—but it dissolves into varying levels of abstraction. I often draw inspiration from scenes of complex forms, and incorporate a sense of movement and interconnectedness with expressive brushwork, scrubbing, spraying, dripping and splattering. The resulting final piece becomes a rich and textural experience, and a painting with a very physical presence.

My inspirations are far and wide—from nature to city, sketches to photos, travels near and far, artists’ work and their philosophies. I take what I need and leave the rest, staying true to my own vision and lens of the world. With my watercolors, I splash plenty of water on the paper, apply paint directly from the tube and scrub it in with my fingers. If I’ve gone too far, if there is such a thing, my spray bottle is an eraser, and then it’s onward to capture the scene, the experience, as I see it and wish to share it.

For a long time, I painted industrial and urban landscapes not quite understanding the draw other than the formal qualities of the scene. At some point, I realized a deeper reason as to why I often returned to subjects of factories and trains—they remind me of my youth growing up on the South West side of Chicago, in a heavy industrial area made up of Polish immigrants. I remember the frequent rumblings of freight trains which rode past a mere few hundred feet away shaking the entire house. I’m reminded of the soaring of planes leaving regularly from a nearby airport, and the hum of manufacturing just across the street. I think of all of this and remember it fondly. And of the structures which once housed hundreds of manufacturing jobs that raised hundreds of families, left now to stand as reminders of our past.

Regardless of the subject, I seek a deeper emotional response, one that I feel personally and one that I may communicate through paint to a viewer. Above all, I’m drawn to mystery and ambiguity, and in my paintings, I try to suggest rather than to simply illustrate.

I don’t want to tell a story. I want to write a poem. I want to engage a viewer to participate in a dialogue, and invite them to bring something of themselves to the encounter in order to fill in pieces for themselves. It is when this connection occurs that I believe a painting becomes a work of art.

www.kenkarlic.com

IG kenkarlic

“Eiffel” Watercolour on paper mounted to board, finished with cold wax medium 91.44cm x 91.44cm Capturing the energy and force of the towering icon with expressive brushwork, this watercolor painting transforms the global and cultural icon of France—and one of the most recognizable structures in the world—into something entirely brand new, as the familiar structure dissolves into almost pure abstraction.

“Meditation” Watercolour on paper 50.8cm x 50.8cm Inspired by several grand places of worship throughout Europe and beyond, this painting is made up of layers of iridescent paint combining with washes of rich pigments to create an expressive and hallowed hallway of reflection and meditation.

Lou Hamilton Lou sells to collectors worldwide privately & through the online gallery Saatchi art. Her work has been commissioned for site-specific projects, won prizes and exhibited in both group and one-woman shows. She studied at Byam Shaw School of Art and Chelsea College of Art, graduating from both with Distinction. Her conceptual work was followed by welding scrap steel and wielding an early video camera, and the TV/film industry seduced her while she raised her kids until she finally returned to painting and drawing. Her book of drawings “Brave New Girl” was published in 2016 and her new illustrated self-help book Fear Less is out in April 2018. Her painting, drawing & sculptural installation show “O” is to be exhibited from March 22nd -25th 2018 at The Other Art Fair London. She is a life Member of the Chelsea Arts Club.

Lou Hamilton’s work consists of abstract oil paintings and ink drawings on paper. Her focus has been on landscape but gradually her view turned from looking forwards to the horizon, to seeing the world from above. At first she painted the hotch potch rectangles she saw from a plane until her attention turned to the domestic, piles of crockery piled on top of each other like a target. The concentric circular patterns took over her paintings but then her drawings started to simplify the imagery still further. Each day she started to draw freeform circles with beautifully viscous inks using calligraphy brushes. They weren’t perfect and they were finished off with a wiggly line led away by her character Brave New Girl who steps off a red Chinese block mark, into the unknown. These repetitive drawings, one day after another became like a meditation; a circular trace of calm and order in the chaos of the day. Lou turned back to her paintings and simplified them too. Pale rings on dark backgrounds or dark circles against light. Yin and yang. Chaos and order.

Suffering and the search for meaning. A balance of opposites. Life as eternal, infinite energy that never disappears but only changes form; the circular span of life.

Carl Jung was compelled and comforted by drawing mandalas long before he discovered what they meant. “Formation. Transformation.

Eternal Mind’s eternal recreation.”(Memories, Dreams, Reflections 195-196) He believed they represented the wholeness of the Self, the complete personality that is harmonious when everything is going well but will not tolerate self-deception. We cling to a round earth, are warmed by a round sun and our waters are guided by the pull of a round moon. At the beginning of humanity we sat round a camp-fire. We built stone circles like the British Stonehenge or the Polish Seven Sisters in answer to our spiritual call and gradually over time we came to construct grand cathedrals with ornate round rose windows that gave us the vision to something higher than ourselves. Yurts, igloos, geodesic domes, the roofs of temples and mosques envelop us in the three-dimensional semi-circle, with its footings forming a complete circle at its base. In hill forts and fortress towns the rings of walls, circle of ramparts and tower sitting on the plan of a circle offered protection, sanctuary and power. We were comforted by the secure enclosure that a circular boundary traced around us.

Buddhists view the circle and their Mandala as a symbol of the sky, as transcendence; and the Universe is symbolized by The Wheel of Dharma, like the wheel of a cart that keeps moving, as in the teachings of Buddhism that continue to spread endlessly across geography and time. The eight spokes of the wheel symbolize the eightfold path of Buddha; guidelines to living well, with the right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, concentration and mindfulness. When you’ve got it ‘right’ in any of these areas you can feel it. When you work towards achieving ‘rightness’ in all of these then your whole life feels balanced. It makes for a life in progress. Every day is different and each challenge tests our ability to hold onto the right way. We are constantly slipping away from the guidelines, and so coming back to the circle is a constant reminder.

We feel the substance of history, culture and time behind simple circular marks; behind the significance of the circle. The foundations of its symbolism run deep and its narrative has many layers. Because of all this Lou returns to it over and over and finds something new each time she puts ink to paper or paint to canvas. Creating a circle tunes her into the forces of nature, whilst her work is set in the square of the paper or canvas as geometric stillness and quiet in a busy and chaotic world. She aspires for the viewer to feel that same sense of completeness and comfort, a focus in which to rest our eyes and our minds, a place to re-energise our spirits; a cyclical continuum in which false starts, mistakes and challenges are all part of positive progression and learning.

www.louhamiltonart.com

IG brave_newgirl

“Canal warehouses through trees” Watercolour, oil pastel & ink 20cm x 20cm

“Bones of trees reflected” Watercolour, oil pastel & ink 20cm x 20cm

“Drop shadow of winter” Watercolour, oil pastel & ink 20cm x 20cm

“Reflecting trees” Watercolour, oil pastel & ink 20cm x 20cm

Every day I paint what I see from my studio window, looking out over the river at the changing light and unfolding seasons. The contemporary abstracted landscapes & cityscapes reflect feelings and moods at different times of the day and of the year. Often the transition times are the most captivating and my daily painting practice attempts to capture a meditation with moments between stillness & movement.

Mary Pfaff Mary Pfaff is a contemporary Canadian abstract painter. Her passion for painting spans over 4 decades.

Pfaff is a fine arts honour graduate from the University of Ottawa and shows her work in solo and group exhibitions. Mary’s work can be found in public and private art collections in Canada and internationally in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

Mary is a respected visual arts teacher and creativity coach, an avid art and health advocate, founder of Artswell an Arts and Health charity in Canada and a recognized community art collaborator.

My paintings and drawings explore life’s journey, the mysterious beauty of nature and the act of free expression. They are said to be quietly powerful things that can dazzle your senses and fill you with emotion. I like to say to paint is my lifelong aspiration – and favourite verb.

Attracted to Abstract Expressionist art at an early age, I developed a distinctive visual language a language by its very nature, continues to evolve. Since graduating from the University of Ottawa’s Fine Arts program in 1990, I have initiated creative arts programs for use in healing and wellness; I am a full-time studio artist and shared my joy of painting with others through teaching.

I approach my work with determined energy, guided by instinct and intuition, digging deep into my creative soul. Rarely a realistic depiction of subject matter, it seeks to be an essence of it. The process is a full sensual experience, a wordless conversation: the sound of the brushes against the canvas, the smell, the touch, seeing, moving, changing and becoming.

Whether working on canvas or paper, I build up surfaces through brushwork and drawing with various media – acrylic paint, Venetian plaster, graphite, charcoal, pastels, cold wax – so that something from each preceding layer remains visible. I express through gestural drawing with equal measures of looseness and control. My intuitive actions result in an orchestration of light and dark, colour, texture, line and form. Some think of them as ‘visual symphonies’.

My creativity is fueled by experiences and landscapes – both external and internal. In recent years, long walks in the forests of Ontario, France and New Zealand have provided sanctuary and inspiration.

My current work, part of an exhibition called Life Amidst the Trees talks about my experiences with trees. Experiences I found transformative, revealing, nourishing, energizing. I have focused this energy directly into my work, aiming to capture the impression of forest life and the inner life of trees. Specific trees can leave indelible impressions. Their immensity suggests a long and storied life, their enveloping shape a symbol of nurturing within the community of surrounding wildlife.

Forests are ever-changing places where all the senses come alive, offering a chance to slow the pace of life. The myriad plant and leaf forms are endlessly fascinating. Filtered light dances along the forest floor, gently coaxed by random gusts of wind. From their subterranean root systems to the tips of their tallest branches reaching towards the sun, trees are the dominant form in a forest – strong and impressive, providing a sheltering canopy for all other life.

www.marypfaff.ca

“Homage” Acrylic on canvas 152.4cm x 101.6cm

“Copper Woods” Acrylic on canvas 152.4cm x 101.6cm

“Companions” Graphite and pastel on Stonehenge unframed 76cm x 56cm

“Revealers” Graphite and pastel on Stonehenge unframed 76cm x 56cm

From the exhibition Life Amidst Trees at General, fine craft, art and design in Almonte, Canada

Melanie Wright Melanie lives in the Cotswolds, where her deep affinity with horses and the landscape inform and inspire her paintings. She is well known for her equestrian sporting images in the fields of Racing, Dressage and Polo. Melanie trained as a portrait painter at Heatherleys School of Fine Art in London and carries both her formal portrait painting skills and her endless fascination with depicting movement, spirit and the atmosphere of place, into her artwork.

Working in oils, watercolour and drawn media, Melanie’s paintings have been exhibited in London and Oxfordshire and feature in private collections in the USA, Europe and Scandinavia.

For as long as I can remember I have been making art, in the form of drawing and painting. I was born into a family in North Yorkshire, that shared a passion for the countryside, horses and art. Both my grandmothers were art school trained practicing artists.

My paternal Grandmother was a gifted watercolour painter, notably of winter landscapes, and my maternal Grandmother was for a time, an illustrator, in London. My Grandfathers were keen riders, and racing enthusiasts, with hunting and polo (in Burma and India) playing a key part in their lives. This background has been an influence on my own creative path, as has the dynamic of enjoying life outdoors, equestrian pursuits and handling horses, balanced with reflective, concentrated periods of study and painting from nature, learning to look and to explore the beauty of the landscape.

Following those formative early years, I went to Art School in London. Training firstly as a textile designer and then later as a Fine Art portrait and life painter at Heatherleys School of Art, followed by a History of Art Course at Christies Education. I was particularly drawn to and inspired by artists from the Modern British Period, such as Ivon Hitchens, Paul Nash, John Skeaping and Alfred Munnings. For a number of years I ran a portrait studio and teaching practice in London. After moving away from the city, to North Oxfordshire, in 2008, I reconnected in some ways, through my painting to those early influences and have focused on equestrian painting and landscape subjects ever since. The Cotswolds provide an endlessly rich source of inspiration, offering such a fantastic variety of equestrian sports, and of course the stunning landscapes.

Working in oils, watercolour and drawn media (occasionally mixed media), my approach is unashamedly old school. I like to work directly from the subject, wherever and whenever possible, filling sketchbooks with observations, studies and ideas. This approach proved particularly rewarding when ‘Artist in Residence’ at specific locations, such as a racing stables, racetrack, or national park. I relish the opportunity to build a connection over a period of time with both ‘place’ and ‘people’, observing the day to day activities and variety of subject matter, that residencies present. Occasionally, alongside painting for exhibitions, I work to private commission, notably for equine portraiture. My two main category subjects, while being on the face of it, rather different, work both independently and combined in a painting. Much of my landscape painting is carried out spontaneously, on the spot, on a small and intimate scale, through multiple studies. Larger landscape pieces are developed further later on in the studio, away from the subject, with a focus on memory and surface interest. Both ‘equestrian’ and ‘landscape’ provide me with the inner connection and outer movement I am searching for. My aim is to capture the fleeting moment, be it dramatic or meditative in nature. This could be the charge of horses across a polo ground, or around a racetrack, or the shadows of overhead clouds scudding across a valley bringing a rapid change of light and atmosphere. I look for the palpable energy and my own emotional response. And ultimately, this is what I feel compelled to engage with, to continually explore and to create through my art.

“Winter Morning Ride” Oil on linen 19cm x 39cm Framed size: 33.5cm x 54cm

This atmospheric oil painting captures perfectly the scene of a group of horses being ridden out on a windy winters morning. The whole composition vibrates with brisk energy and movement. The broken brushstrokes and a lively, layered application of oil paint depict a small group of horses hacking along a leaf strewn edge of the field; beside a wood, with the wind rustling the late autumn leaves and blowing through the trees. The clouds against a smoky blue sky and the kickback of strewn leaves and soil in the horses wake accentuate the dynamic of the procession. The lead horse, a striking grey, is momentarily glancing away from the viewer and into the woodland as he passes , highly alert , creating a strong contrast in tone and mood, to the dark bays and warm chestnut horses that follow behind.

‘I am always struck by the manner in which the weather affects horses behaviour and mood and their extreme sensitivity to different weather conditions. I also enjoy painting a moving group such as this so as to describe them becoming as one with the landscape around them, especially here, when recreating the subtleties and quieter toned palette of this morning in winter’

www.melaniewrightartist.co.uk

Michael Batey I am a self taught Cumbrian born artist based in Dumfriesshire, Scotland where I have lived for the past thirty years gaining my main inspiration from the elements.

Having had many successful exhibitions, my work is now widely collected internationally.

Very much inspired by the the Scottish Colourists and Turner which suits my style. Having worked outdoors all my life seeing the light and power of the elements.

I am very lucky to have a friend who owns a boat moored in Ardfern, Scotland, and have had two sailing trips along the Western Isles which gave me a lot of inspiration for my most recent works. Sketching the landscapes around me not to copy but to feel the power of the Highlands. It cannot be explained how much power it has unless you have experienced it from the sea itself. Back in my studio I aim to portray this in my paintings and take the viewer on a trip of light.

Michael having a cat nap between sketching on the trip

www.michaelbatey.com

IG batey3490

“Rhum” Oil on linen 100cm x 65cm View from Atlantic

“Swell” Oil on linen 100cm x 70cm Out in the Atlantic west coast Scotland

Michael Boffey Michael Boffey was born in Liverpool in 1971. He trained in Fine Art Painting at Loughborough College of Art and Design (1991-1994), and received an MA with Distinction in Fine Art from De Montfort University, Leicester (1995-1997).

He has participated in the touring shows Flora, (with artists Emma Bennett, Anya Gallaccio, Ori Ghersht, Owen Griffiths, Ann-Mie-Melis, Jacques Nimki, Yoshihiro Suda, and Clare Twomey) and Fleursdumal in London.

His work has been exhibited in many group shows including Saatchi’s New Sensations/The Future Can Wait, at Victoria House, Bloomsbury Square, London, and The National Open Art, London.

Michael currently lives and has a studio in East London.

According to psychopathologists people’s abiding tendency is to avoid confronting loss. Instead, they cherish it by refusing change and subject the relics that remain to endless emotional ransacking as a continuation of their own withdrawal.

Imaged in these photographic works of Michael Boffey, these remnants, here in the form of cut flowers and other domestic and ornamental paraphernalia are not superfluities then. These faded fancies have been transformed through various nominal and procedural processes, both gentle and violent, to allow a meditation on reminiscence.

The playing fields of memory contain a superabundance of richly complex accounts, sometimes embellished and sometimes faded.

Apparently nostalgia is a very bad thing, but despite benign advice about not to looking back, we have little idea of what our world will be like in the future. It seems that coping with the fears and pleasures of now and with those of tomorrow does necessitate acknowledgement of a past.

Jean Taylor

www.michael-boffey.co.uk

IG michael_boffey

“Forgotten Consciousness�

Flock mono screen print, on vynl printed lining paper, mounted on aluminium 120cm x 80cm A mono screen print is a one off single work

Michelle Hold Michelle Hold is a German-born artist based in Italy who paints vibrant abstract works inspired by emotion and energy. Her canvases are loud and layered, enticing the viewer to look further and further into their depths. We just love the expressive force of Michelle’s canvases, and we’d recommend them for any interior in need of some punch.

The artist, who grew up in Austria, had begun to study architecture when she fell into modelling. On her travels, she took various art and textile design classes. She then worked as a textile designer in Milan before later throwing herself full time into painting.

Michelle has held solo exhibitions throughout Italy and in London, and she has participated in international art fairs in Miami, Athens, Milan and Berlin. Her works have featured in group exhibitions across the globe.

She has been shortlisted for the RiseArt Prize in 2018.

Art is my life and passion.

My work is based on capturing the essence of feelings, emotions and the invisible, eternal energy that pervades in the universe, focusing on beauty and it’s scarcity in current time.

I am inspired by nature and new science that meets spirituality.

Creating from a place of no time , no space no body in my studio in Italy.

Like an architect I love to construct the images with multiple layering, but at the same time leaving space for surprise, for something unexpected to happen, where my dance like gestures encounter the vibrations of color.

Color is vital to convey my message of harmony and wellbeing and I am interested in the perception of space and emotion through the equilibrated use of color, which I have trained while working in textile design.

Currently I am working on paintings for my solo exhibition for 2018 ‘Color is calling’ where I will elaborate the deeper, silent message color brings and the healing influence it has on us. Color isn’t just color, specially in my paintings it shows a state of mind, feelings and emotions.

I aim to offer the spectator a view into special moments of time where all is possible and like my creations to enchant, add to wellbeing and open the mind.

www.michellehold.com

www.twitter.com/holdm4

“Different timelines� Acrylics, pigments on canvas 120cm x 150cm

In quantum physics all potentials exist.

Basically if you can think it then there is a reality that corresponds to that thinking If you think that your life is on a specific track and has a specific destination or outcome imagine that by changing tracks you can change your destination or timeline or destiny. This can be done at any time on your journey or during your life.

Its a fascinating that everybody sees a different reality because everybody creates what they see.

Mj Tom European Visual Artist Mj Tom chooses not to share any personal information.

Since 2003 he established the Visual Poetry | Urban Art Group LosOtros with his alter ego Andrea Nada. He lives between Berlin, Barcelona and Paris. His work has been exhibited at London, Paris, Hamburg, Berlin, Barcelona. His current body of work includes mixed media, collage, sculture, installation, and digital printing.

Irreverent and fleeting, able to define himself as a copy machine of art, sarcastic and deliberately anonymous, he questions almost every probable fact. The veneer of normality, the history as written, the common way of understanding nature and oneself as a part of it.

As he remarks “I don’t want much to be known “about me”. I am not trying to be elusive as some people might say. I just think what is important is the artwork, not the artist. I want you to have my work on your …wall, not based on who I am, where I have studied or where I have exhibited my work. I don’t want to get between “You” and the “Artwork”. I want to live quietly behind it… and pass away sometime quietly...” Adding that “We are low value with high purpose. We are dedicated to non-educational activities, selfindulgent thoughts, unfinished and incomplete actions. Our work is not easily classified or marketable. This protects us from analysis, judgment or criticism. We have no direction, motivation other than a cursed reflex to purge our anonymous mental overflows in a public forum and then run away from it and hide behind our cloak of concealment. Art is simply our lifestyle.”.

There is no Reality | Until You Create One. Art is my way to conciliate with reality. In some cases, I can bring it closer to my standards. And psychoanalysis too. Both of them are hopeless. It is a try to put an order in the hectic world around and inside me. To value better what had happened and possibly what is happening, at least a part of it. It is a lost war. Before I can understand what had happened in reality, or at least what I perceive as reality, the latter flips and turns to something else. I ‘m a witness, an eye witness. I revise meticulously what it is around me. I examine, select, collect, put in order emotions. Stating what is important and what is not, what could be regarded as beautiful, or ugly, what would be funny or sad. If I can’t change it, I can barely transform it, good enough in order to compromise with it. Sometimes the attempt is successful, sometimes it isn’t. I ‘m urban. I like nature but I feel comfortable only in the city. It is my battlefield. Especially, the afterhours, when everybody sleeps so I can walk quietly in the streets and hear the sounds. My paints they are made for me, but in reality they refer to others. It is an attempt; to speak enough for me but not in a verbal way. What is entitled inside the frame, presuppose my aesthetic viewpoint. But what they produce is beyond my control. I exist in both of them. It is a miracle, when it happens. Unfortunately isn‘t an everyday experience. Or, I believe so.

My Reality | Ιn Halftones.

My work is an exploration of paradoxes and contrasts which are torturous and utopian, wild and serene but definitely resilient. As my reality is in halftones, I capture fragments of life often ignored or forgotten.

My art echo’s the unease and mixes it with the uncomfortable reality of continuous transformations of the urban environment in which I live. Faces, pseudo familiar situations, characters belonging to various walks of life… they all inject emotions with such a warm identity to characterize the experience of ordinary people, those people who would say and tell through the eyes their own existence. Ι represent ordinary people; those actors unaware of being protagonists of present days and to represent them in spite of a reality in half-tone that essentially results a kind of summary, which, in the end, is life! An arrested motion in time.

In arresting motion there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality, so I don’t arrest motion in time. I make it. I love my subjects although I don’t know them. I mean, they’re my friends. I’ve never meat any of them or I don’t know them at all, yet I live through them, or I can’t live without them.

www.losotros.eu/mj-tom/

IG losotros.mjtom

“S… like Solveig aka What [?] If [?] or a New Grate v.4.32” Acrylic, Chinese Ink, Spray Paint, Marker, Tape, Paper 100cm x 176cm

“Don’t Be Afraid, You Have Just Got Your Eyes Closed”

Sarah Jane Brown Sarah Jane Brown lives on the rugged Welsh coast, where her environment, and previous maritime career, have instilled a deep affinity with the sea. She studied ‘Fine Art - Painting’ at the West Wales School of the Arts, graduating with a first class honours degree.

Brown’s career as a full time professional artist has steadily gained momentum and recognition and her work now attracts international collectors. She has exhibited widely in the UK, has had many successful solo shows. The artist also recently exhibited with the Royal Society of Marine Artists at the Mall Galleries in London and The Royal Cambrian Academy in North Wales.

Sarah combines her knowledge of ‘old master’ techniques with contemporary working practice. Conceptually her paintings are an outpouring of personal feeling and a strong sense of place; using the landscape metaphorically to describe thoughts and emotions.

“Our surroundings form a part of us, they shape our perception and colour our thoughts and ideals. For me they are a vehicle to describe more internal aspects of our physical, emotional and spiritual selves. There is something about being immersed in the vastness of the landscape that gives clarity and focus to the space within. My approach to landscape is therefore introspective and intimate.

I enjoy the versatility of oil paint, and find it the best medium to convey the varied sensations of being in the landscape; sometimes calm, restorative, or spiritually uplifting and at other times wild, dynamic, rejuvenating and mentally energising. Oil paint is also equally responsive to my internal thoughts and feelings.

I walk the coast path or the beach near my home in Pembrokeshire and absorb; meditative space and light, magical junctures of land, sea and sky, endlessly changing colours, reflections and atmospheric conditions. I know it so well, after years of collecting observations it is ingrained. I photograph, make sketches and painted studies to get the landscape ‘under my skin’.

In the studio these observations are transformed, becoming more expressive as I engage with the physicality of painting, sometimes veering towards abstraction. My style is expressive and combines a variety of methods; staining, glazing and blending in many layers, gradually building up thickness and texture. Paint is applied with brushes, knives, rags and sometimes fingers. It is painted, scraped, flicked, spattered and poured on, and sometimes off again, until the finished painting emerges.

Titles are deliberately ambiguous. They emerge from phrases that cross my mind whilst I am in the studio or out in the landscape, sometimes they are excerpts from poetry, or are often just snippets of my own windswept thoughts.”

www.sjbart.co.uk

IG artsistsjb

“Leave me the darkness and the stillness” Mixed media on Canvas 168cm x 184cm This very large canvas is built up of thin staining and glazing layers together with thick impasto to create a semi abstract, highly atmospheric and evocative landscape. The title is taken from a poem by the 20th century American poet Sarah Teasdale which reflects the sentiment of the painting.

“I Have Loved Hours at Sea” I have loved hours at sea, gray cities, The fragile secret of a flower, Music, the making of a poem That gave me heaven for an hour; First stars above a snowy hill, Voices of people kindly and wise, And the great look of love, long hidden, Found at last in meeting eyes.

I have loved much and been loved deeply Oh when my spirit’s fire burns low, Leave me the darkness and the stillness, I shall be tired and glad to go.

Sarah Teasdale

Scott McLachlan Born in Scotland, Scott has lived and worked in The Netherlands for over 25 years.

Having worked in many disciplines in art and design, he has found oil painting to be one of the most challenging and yet rewarding, since there is always the lure of mastering this powerful medium.

As a freelance Product Designer, painting has become a means of leaving the constraints of the job behind, in order to be free to create and experiment with visual story telling of a different kind. Inspiration for his work comes from an early interest in the ‘fantasy’ artworks from the likes of Frank Frazetta and Boris Vallejo and an inquisitive desire to create visual images which can generate an emotional dialogue in the mind of the viewer.

After many years creating ‘fantasy’ artwork inspired by his fantasy art heroes, Scott has turned to more ‘earthly’ subjects and developed his painting style to suit.

Living and working in The Netherlands, one cannot help be affected by the great Dutch fine art tradition, but specifically for him, by the visual ‘storytelling’ of the old Dutch masters with their twists and hidden meanings. “ I’m continually trying to capture an evocative or poignant moment in order to stir the emotions of the viewer (and myself), whether it be laughter, curiosity or a tear. I love discussing the paintings since what others perceive in them is often an education in itself!”.

His atmospheric paintings offer the viewer a chance to expand on the perceived story within their own mind’s eye, perhaps completing a journey started for them.

Scott uses very limited colour palettes to create moody and thought provoking images, which some have commented on as having an almost ‘haunting’ nature. “ I don’t use too realistic or complex colour pallets since, like a black & white photo, I feel there is more drama without”. “ Each work can take weeks to complete, the struggle to create what i’m trying to portray can force me out the studio for days at a time. The sheer joy of creating interest, a discussion or even selling a work get’s me back to the studio again and again, it’s a drug.”

Interestingly, one of the most challenging parts of the painting process for Scott is deciding on the composition, to capture the chosen moment in time. “ I sketch up the basis of the concept and develop the painting as I go along, often changing the figures and setting, this makes for an exciting painting trip!”.

Scott believes the title of a work is almost as important as the painting itself since it can turn the meaning behind the work on its head.

His work can be seen on occasion at small art venues in The Netherlands and he is always open to discuss his work with those interested.

(One of the works shown here is dedicated to the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust, and 10% of the sale will go to the trust).

www.scottmclachlan.com

“The Waverley” Oil on canvas 120 cm x 60 cm

“Against All Odds” Oil on canvas 120 cm x 60 cm

Stephen Schubert LA-based contemporary, abstract artist, Stephen Schubert, is once again coming to the Vail valley with exciting work to show at the all new contemporary 166 Gallery. “I have some amazing, works that explores my reaction to the subtle and massive transitions in life”. Exposed to Japanese garden design at a young age, Stephen has incorporated many of the principals of that culture in his utilization of balance, scale and color.

“I was always struck by the phrase,” Kohani Shitagau,” which means,” follow the request.” It is the basis for determining how to begin the design process when creating a garden. I thought, what a great way to create and in fact, live a life.”

Have you ever sat around a table of great, simple food and wine and felt transported? Or gotten lost in a soft focus dream? This is what Stephen likes to explore in his work; finding out where we find ourselves. His process is mostly unconscious.

Captivated by themes of transitions and transformations, his abstracts are created on elevated birch panels with a technique that includes placing up to 15 layers of paint. His approach includes dragging a spackle knife, board or other found object over the wood surface, then applying a topcoat of resin. But it doesn’t end there; Stephen then begins the process all over again. The result of this labor intensive process? A phenomenal vibrancy, great depth of color and surprising imagery.

Stephen has a love of foreign cinema. He’s been fortunate to attend film festivals around the world, which provide him with stimulation and inspiration from watching different perspectives on screen as well as from the cities and towns in which the festivals take place.

No stranger to television and film sets, his work was prominently featured in the Steve Carrell film, “Dinner for Schmucks.” Prior to becoming an artist, Stephen began his career acting and was the spokesman for Lincoln Mercury, Macy’s and guest anchored on the E! Channel. He was also seen on a classic Seinfeld episode.

Specializing in custom work, Stephen loves collaborating with designers and on projects for high-end residential, hospitality and health care design.

www.schubertmodern.com

“Girl” Acrylic on birch varnish top 91.44cm x 121.92cm

“Red Sun” Acrylic on birch with resin 85.09cm x 121.92cm

“Reverse” Acrylic on birch with resin 91.44cm x 121.92cm

The Art of Investing with Tim Short

More Data Explaining Why Women Are Better Traders Than Men Warwick University Business School (“WUBS”) have conducted a fascinating study on the investment performance of men and women. They show that women perform significantly better with a good sample size and temporal range. They make some interesting remarks on why this might be. I think I can add some extra psychological depth to this — so we can see that female traders appear to have some quite deep natural advantages and they should feel encouraged about managing their own investments.

What WUBS did was collaborate with the share dealing service offered by Barclays Bank. They looked at 2800 investors over three years. There are various ways of measuring stock market performance, but one of the most common is to compare the performance of a portfolio with a relevant stock market index.

It is quite hard to outperform an index consistently. This fact is what lies behind the recent strong growth of tracker funds. You may as well buy the index if you can’t beat it. The results from the WUBS study showed that women consistently outperformed the FTSE100 index and men did not. The male investors returned 0.14% above the index which is basically statistically consistent with having performed equivalently to it. However, I suspect that these investors would have been better off just buying the index rather than paying a lot of trading fees to obtain the same performance.

The female investors outperformed the FTSE-100 by a massive 1.80%. This may not sound much, but it is actually huge. Done over a lengthy period, it would lead to significantly improved results. Let us assume that the FTSE-100 returns 5% a year. If you started with £10,000 and performed as the male investors do, you would end up with £45,000 after 30 years. (It is always important to think long term in the stock market; to prefigure part of the answers I will discuss below, the women seem to understand this.) The female investors would turn £10,000 into £72,000 over the same 30 year period. That is a huge improvement over £45,000 and bear in mind that the female investors have taken the same risk, making it even more impressive. (One caveat is in order here: no one performs this consistently over the long-term–if they say they do, it is a huge red flag. Remember Madoff? But the point stands.)

Women stay away from terrible ideas like Bitcoin I have explained previously several times exactly why Bitcoin is a catastrophic “investment.” I was (admittedly slightly fortunately) able to call the peak of the Bitcoin bubble three days before it occurred at $20,000; the current price is under $4,500 and it will be consistent with $0 soon enough.

I have not seen any data on how many women bought into Bitcoin, but is is certainly consistent with my claim in the second post above that female investors have stayed away — we know that women did not vote for Trump very often and much less so if they had college degrees. In addition all of the online hysteria (!) from Bitcoin boosters appeared to be from deluded male market participants.

Women avoid “lottery style” trading It has always struck me as insanity to own a lot of penny stocks which are supposed to return ten times the amount you invest in a year because this almost never happens. As I discuss in my book, The Psychology of Successful Trading, traders can get seduced by vivid stories, incorrectly over-estimating massively their likelihood of coming about. A far better approach is just to sit still in major stocks for a long time, with maybe some spicy options for fun in a minor section of the portfolio. The problem with picking the next Amazon (or Bitcoin, for that matter) is that you can’t. You would have to own a million penny stocks for each Amazon or Apple. So this strategy is exciting but completely unsuccessful.

Men hold on to their losers It seems that women are better at getting out of something which hasn’t worked. This came very close to home for me. Infamously, I am still holding Deutsche Bank stock, partly because I recommended it in my book as a contrarian trade. Banks are supposed to trade at at least book value (in fact, 2.0x before the crisis). So if you buy a bank at 0.25x book value, you can’t lose right? Because it is buying something for a quarter of its value. That hasn’t worked for me yet — maybe a female trader would have got out of this position a long time ago.

In conclusion, we have seen some deep-seated psychological advantages which female traders will have over male ones. This should encourage women in their investing.

I would like to thank Dr M R Hampson for suggesting I look at this.

Improve your chances of winning in the market!

It is a fact that most people who participate in finance and the markets often lose instead of winning.

A winning strategy is of course required to win in the markets, but more often than not, the biggest culprit working against you is a lack of understanding of your psychology and biases.

In this thought-provoking book “The Psychology of Successful Trading”, author Tim Short analyse what it takes to understand your own psychology and mental behaviours.

Change your game, and become the winning investor or trader that you deserve to be!

The book is for sale on Amazon here

This book is the first to demonstrate the practical implications of an important, yet under-considered area of psychology in helping traders and investors understand the biases and attribution errors that drive unpredictable behaviour on the trading floor. Readers will improve their chances of trading successfully by learning where cognitive biases lead to errors in stock analysis and how these biases can be used to predict behaviour in market participants.

www.timlshort.com