2010-03-10T15:22:42Z Jan Copyright 2010, Jan SPHPBLOG I've finished the amaryllis, and it's now with the clever Doug Hawkey, who can scan big paintings and do lots of other stuff too. (Very good printer for small runs, limited editions etc. See Links for contact).
So lots of snowdrops, crocus and blessed sunshine too. Long may it last, and I'm looking forward to a busy season of painting new flowers. Could even say excited really, which is quite pleasing in itself. March means the start of this year's workshops, so I'm looking forward to both a new 'crop' of students and return of those I've met before. So we can all be enthusiastic together then. Ain't painting great for that.
Two exhibitions coming up -

Society of Floral Painters at Compton Acres Poole - starting 11th March

secondly "Spring into Life" at the Gallery shown here. If anyone would like an invitation to the opening on Saturday 13th March 2.30 - 5.30pm, just contact me or the Gallery directly of course.

See events for both these exhibitions and workshop dates.


Gilbert White's House is looking fresh and pretty - the garden has lovely sweeps of snowdrops on the hill and in the enclosed garden. The tea parlour has opened it's doors, and we've hung the walls with my paintings and prints. I rather liked all the ancestral portraits that used to be there, but I do admit not everyone enjoyed their grumpy expressions. Hope the customers enjoy my paintings, which equally may not please, but are at least bright.
I shall start painting at the House at least one day a week soon, just as soon as I can get the current card designs underway. I have just started on the next one, and like 'Vegetable Plot', I will be doing a step by step painting on Facebook. Also veggy themed - 'Allotment' this time. Starting late Monday I should think. Aren't Mondays odd? Even though I try to tie up all the admin. on Sunday to leave the week free for painting, it doesn't ever seem to work that way. I'll cross my fingers. (Not my drawing hand of course). Probably part of that 'must I really commit to paper' scenario, beloved of us all. However, I did read something that cheered me up no end. "Painters (and writers) start the day with nothing and end end up with something." So that's a good feeling don't you think?

As for Gilbert, some years he's cheerful too -
"A smart frost, & very strong sunshine all day. The bees work very briskly on the Crocuss amidst the banks of snow. The snow melts only where the sun shines. The blackbirds begin to whistle" (4th March, 1765)

]]> http://www.janharbon.com/index.php?entry=entry100307-121016 2010-03-07T00:00:00Z 2010-03-07T00:00:00Z Yes, I'm engaged in another large painting - that feels as though it's going on forever...but I'm quite happy in my own little world with it. Red and white amaryllis. I asked Geoff if he thought I should do white as well as red, and he thinks it's appropriate in World Cup year. Well, that's a good reason then! No chance in this family of not knowing where my life's work is placed in the greater scheme of things! (He did follow up with a far more 'painterly' reason later - but I suspect that was merely a justification!).

What is more humbling is my complete admiration for my daughter's commitment to her marathon training schedule. As I write this, I know she left home at 7am in the cold rain for a 20 mile run. She's been out in the snow and miserable weather every day this horrible winter, and I can't tell you how impressed I am.

Kate was always a sporty child, but never a natural 'runner', and like most people, work and other interests took over once she had left school. (er..sorry Kate, have to say about 14 years ago...).
What's always been constant is her concern for animals and their welfare.

Spurred on by her charity raising effort for the Blue Cross, she has her entry for the London Marathon on 25th April, and she's going to complete the event in style.

If you'd like to know more about Kate, the London Marathon, or more importantly really, about Blue Cross, follow the link. Thankyou! www.justgiving.com/Kate-Harbon ]]> http://www.janharbon.com/index.php?entry=entry100228-103328 2010-02-28T00:00:00Z 2010-02-28T00:00:00Z Bit late with the blog, and nothing really for the Facebook either at present. Been out such a lot - delivering, handing in, talking (lots of), and having a good time too...no painting though and the amaryllis are now looking a bit sad, as is the piece of paper with nothing more than the drawing on! Must get some colour on tomorrow.
Went to a meeting at the RHS this week, also visiting the February Winter show while I was there. Lovely snowdrops of course, but not ever such a lot of colour. Except of course for the NAFAS stand which was fabulous. This was the second day, and the anemones were still standing to attention. How do they do that?
So, these photos, left and right. Outside the Channel 4 building, as part of the Public Art Project started in 2009. This structure is by Stephanie Imbeau, you can see and read more about it on her website. Like all those Ch.4 'lead-in's they do before a programme, if you approach it any other way than directly, you can't see the '4', it's just an interesting shape. Fun, anyway. It's lit from inside as darkness falls, looks like balloons then from a distance.
Last week I met friend Margaret under the Dale Chihuly chandelier - just love it - at the V & A. I have a lovely Chihuly glass 'kiss', that was a present from friend Jan when she went to the Kew exhibition. I really think his work is stunning. Anyway, on a purely housewifely note (and I know, I'm not in a position to criticize), the chandelier in the V & A was really a bit dusty. Well, what are they going to do about that. And did they think of that when it was installed? (in 2000). As my mum said darkly and often about things I admired "mmm...dust collectors" Evidently they did not have someone of her ilk on the panel.
Anyway Margaret and I enjoyed the new medieval galleries - although we would have liked to see more bling scattered about - but that's just us.
We then decided to look at the temporary exhibition 'DECODE', which was obviously a great attraction to many, many art students that day. (Oh, I forgot, this is all after the very good lunch and before afternoon tea. Trust us to priortise) It was very entertaining with a lot of interactive exhibits. These 'rods' were called 'Dune', and were wonderfully reed-like. They swayed and lit as you passed, making a soft noise. I'd really like them in the garden... But there were so many good things. One, you just threw an imaginary pot of paint at the screen and colours splashed onto it. With several people painting at once, it soon built up into a kaleidoscope of colour. Brilliant. Another (photo right), started off as a whole dandelion head, then by blowing (laser actually I think), a hairdryer, you could blow and swirl the seeds in the direction you chose. These of course, may not have been the cleverest installations - they were all fascinating - how would I know if one were more ground breaking than another? They all were to me! The website (also interactive) is www.ac.uk/decode/recode - hope you enjoy it. (You may find link broken, but follow instruction to find site).
Well, there you are. Before this exhibition I thought that I would have been seduced by photoshop were I an art student now. But no, I don't think I could ever have coped with the logic and maths of it. Because however skilled you might be at using photoshop, there must be a time that to be truly innovative and creative, you would have to understand what lays behind it. So I'm better off being me. That's a happy ending to today then?!
]]> http://www.janharbon.com/index.php?entry=entry100218-155426 2010-02-18T00:00:00Z 2010-02-18T00:00:00Z This is meant to be a thumbnail - something is going wrong here, but at present I'll have to go with it as I haven't worked out what I've done wrong. It's bound to be something I have/haven't done. Why now? I've done this hundreds of times - that's computers for you, and pretty much that's painting for you too! Be good to have at least one of them a bit more predictable!
No, and I know it's not a painting of amaryllis either..... All week I hoped the buds would unfurl, but no, they are just coming onto being just right for Monday, and I have something else I must be doing next week. Flowers are not predictable either it seems (They are for those tremendously talented nurserymen who get everything just right at the RHS shows - but that's another story). I have managed to get the amaryllis to pencil stage though. So......thought I'd do these tulips, who behaved themselves, instead. Cropped, they will be another addition to the new card range. So, something got done!
A new article out in this month's Flower Arranger - pink parrot tulips - finished picture shown on the right here. (Yep, thumbnail worked that time)
I'm always pleased with their reproduction and Amanda who does all the graphic design and layout for the magazine, is just brilliant. Makes all the difference to the way it "reads". Clever girl.
Been planting pansies today. Although the pots are not full of frozen earth, it did get a bit chilly. Hope the plants survive so I can paint them later. The Japanese pansies are still alive. Mmm... that's about the best I can say of them.
I have to get all the paintings ready to hand in to the SBA next Sunday. Don't rush to the calendar, they have to be there ages and ages before the exhibition. Here follows 7 days of agony, self-doubt and probably bad temper working out what to submit and making so-called positive changes to the paintings. I have learnt to try Geoff's patience sorely, by just wanting to make one more brush stroke AFTER he has put them all in frames. The man is a saint. He, however, has learnt to show me the job before it's all taped up, saying "are you SURE that's it????" (Implying there's no going back from now on.) The joys of exhibiting.........

]]> http://www.janharbon.com/index.php?entry=entry100207-160802 2010-02-07T00:00:00Z 2010-02-07T00:00:00Z Well, I have enjoyed painting this! So much so that I think I'll move onto "Allotment" next...there's a few more vegetables and fruit I want to get in somewhere... Some years ago I did this card on the right with a couple of scarecrows on, I think they were mostly used as anniversary and valentine cards, and I went through quite a phase of different characters. Anyway, there will be a scarecrow in the new one I've decided. But in the meantime, I'm halfway through a painting of red & yellow tulips, but, but, but, even that will be abandoned for the sake of some absolutely gorgeous amaryllis that are just unfolding. So that will be Monday's task, getting that underway. It serves to remind me about how I feel about Spring. I want it to come so much, and when it does I'm NEVER READY for it. And then the flowers come thick and fast, and it's so frustrating! This is the flower painters lament I think. Felt by us all. Prioritising, that must be the key......it's back to my favourite pastime then - making lists!
I did eventually get to spend sometime in the Gilbert White's veg patch. As expected, decay, but Wakes Weeders look as if they've been tidying up, so not nearly as wrecked as I would have thought after the snow. I was really in love with a slowly rotting cabbage, but I had to work in situ with the sketchbook as I can't imagine how awful it would have smelt indoors........
Gilbert grew a lot of cabbages - he must have been feeding the whole of Selborne.

"Hares driven by the severity of the weather, crop the pinks in the garden"
27th January, 1780 G.W.

Gosh, wish we had hares eating our pinks - don't feel quite the same about the rabbits doing it.........
]]> http://www.janharbon.com/index.php?entry=entry100131-144616 2010-01-31T00:00:00Z 2010-01-31T00:00:00Z Just begun the latest project - "Vegetable Garden". I'm never quite sure whether this type of work constitutes painting. Probably not - more a design perhaps. Nevertheless, I am in the act of painting. Now there's a dilemma. Anyway, in a fit of lets see what happens, I'm putting the progress onto Facebook as I go. I don't know if a 'proper' painting could be charted on there in this way. I know I do step-by-step articles, but there's always text around them. That's not really appropriate on the "wall" of Facebook. This sort of painting that I do (see the "Collections" in Limited Editions page in "Gallery"), is buit up from the centre outwards.Each bit I add on is completed as I go. This is unlike the method of painting "pictures", that are built up in layers and composed first. Not to say I don't have an idea of where I'm going with these pieces, but the initial sketchbook stage takes more the form of brainstorming. Far closer to my roots as an illustrator actually. Perhaps that's why I enjoy doing them so much. It looks a tight sort of concept, but I find it enormously freeing. Each item is a new piece of the jigsaw to be fitted in somewhere just so.
Anyway, to get back to the "wall concept". Me and Banksy it isn't, my version of graffiti being 100% more staid, unedgy and legal. What I hope they have in common is thought. Because I am an admirer of Banksy, he is a clever man in all sorts of ways.
I've noticed several greetings cards recently that have taken his most iconic images, plagarised them and sent them out into the world with different text and so on. Since graffiti is by definition in the public domain and mostly illegal, I assume there can be no copyright....well I guess he doesn't mind the money part, but I do wonder how he feels about the use of the images for someone elses profit? Perhaps he thinks OK, more publicity, I don't know. Because there is no doubt his success is partially built on his work being recognised. This does not of course, retract from it's merit, but still...........
Here's one of my favourites - from the Leake Street project 2008.

Not sure what Gilbert would have made of it all.......
"Bees come out, & gather on the snowdrops...." G.W. 23rd January 1785.
No snowdrops showing here yet......
]]> http://www.janharbon.com/index.php?entry=entry100123-080409 2010-01-23T00:00:00Z 2010-01-23T00:00:00Z I think I started this painting last August - then got sidetracked. Anyway, I do need another sweet pea card so have finished it, and intend to use it in a cropped version for the next range. 'Nearly' finished it I should say, will fiddle with it later as I'm beginning to think that the purple might be too strong for the composition.
Must say, there are lots of bonuses with my new studio. One is that I've not been frozen in the last few weeks, which would have been a certainty if I'd tried to work in the old one. (By the by, yes Muffin the cat STILL doesn't want to move, so she has had a heater, Geoff built her a cardboard house, she's had two blankets and a cat-lit tray- hope she doesn't think THAT's permanent).
The second thing is I have lots of room to put part finished work up - I'm such a strong advocate of walking away and leaving paintings to stew. Come back and you can see what to do (or put right, more often than not). Over the period of a week you can improve a lot. I so like not having these desperate publisher deadlines any more too.
I'm looking forward again to the third great advantage over the old place - NOT baking hot directly under a south facing window. I'm so fortunate. Even better, the snow is melting, so the walk across the garden is no longer such a hazard. I'm not even complaining about the rain............

and in Gilbert's day...
"The snow is drifted-up to the tops of gates, & the lanes are full.."
G.W. (13th January, 1776)
"Grey sun, sweet day. Bees, & flies moving; air full of insects: spiders shoot their webs: butter-fly out".
G.W. (16th January, 1777)
-There's something to look forward to.]]> http://www.janharbon.com/index.php?entry=entry100116-105104 2010-01-16T00:00:00Z 2010-01-16T00:00:00Z If the snow were not so pretty I would be whining about it. Although in truth,the novelty is slightly wearing off. But definitely photocall weather. This is the lane from the back gate, not much moving here....
Then on the right and below are pictures of the oldest (and biggest) apple tree in the garden. I love this tree at any time of the year, but it's looking magical at the moment.The studio is really cosy (boiler ON), and is flooded in light with the reflections from the snow. It could be Summer.
Therefore I have had no difficulty in continuing with this painting of poppies. First started in September - shame on me - now completed. It may seem early to be thinking of submissions for exhibitions - but the entry forms will soon have to be filled out. With my new zeal for "planning", I am doing things in the proper order, and finishing what I've started - see, I can be organised!


However, what happened to the Gilbert's winter vegetable garden painting you may ask? Under at least a foot of snow and will have to wait. I don't think much will be in or out of Selborne for the moment (including me), but I do hope to get there to do some photography and drawing before the snow disappears. It's a treacherous hill up to the village from here, I don't think it would have been passable in Gilbert's time to be sure. I find it very satisfying though, to know that Gilbert almost certainly would have passed my back gate (although it would have been a field then), on his way to Bramshott. The three adjacent properties to ours are all very old, and would have been in use during his lifetime. It's a lovely thought, and one I like to weave a story around.

This is probably the first time too, that I feel that I can understand the landscape of Winter that he writes about.
Such harsh winters, and nowhere near our comforts and safety nets that we have, so in that respect, how could any of us imagine it.

"Shook the snow from the evergreens,& shovelled the walks. Snow-scenes very beautiful!"
G.W. (7th January, 1789)

]]> http://www.janharbon.com/index.php?entry=entry100109-141111 2010-01-09T00:00:00Z 2010-01-09T00:00:00Z There are some things in flower this time of year. Every time the sun comes out these plucky little pansies perk up, turn their happy faces to the warmth and cheer us up. These are not the worrying Japanese pansies that I have to keep alive until Spring - and I've just had news that I should have POTTED ON - so off to the garden centre later for more compost. Gosh, it's almost more resposibility than I can bear.
It has snowed again, who would have thought that a White Christmas was perhaps not such a grand idea. Be careful what you wish for - when will I learn? Well, this year perhaps the resolution is to conquer the mysteries of organisation on a better than day by day manner. Being flexible may sound very praiseworthy, but I'm coming round to the idea that workwise, having a plan and sticking to it may be more peaceful - for everyone. But.....it can be SO more exciting the other way....oh dear, day one and I'm wavering.. let's just see what the year brings!
January will be bringing painting, and lots of it, absolutely looking forward to back to work tomorrow and paint to paper. I hope by the second week to be over in Selborne, I want to record the seasonal changes, and I'm thinking at the moment that the vegetable garden may be interesting. It's a place that strives to have order, but this time of year tends to break down into decay and struggle against the elements. (Well, I think that's interesting, but others might just be cross with their sprouts). Anyway, we shall see, always worth keeping an open mind about what else may be a source of inspiration. There we go, 'off-plan' again......
Whatever your diary says for 2010, hope it turns out to be a good year for everyone.

"The fierce drifting of wednesday proved very injurious to houses, forcing the snow into roofs, & flooding the ceilings. The roads also are so blocked up with drifted snow that the coaches cannot pass. The Winton coach was overturned yesterday near Alresford."
G.W. (5th January, 1786)
]]> http://www.janharbon.com/index.php?entry=entry100101-120816 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z Any moment now I think it might snow, it's certainly bitter. (My friends from the North might not agree - I know, soft Southerner etc).
Anyway not quite a festive robin here, as it would be a bit unlikely to have fledglings this time of year, but hey, it's the thought that counts.
This is number 1 in the set of "bird" notecards I'm designing around a Gilbert White themed range. Like the other ranges I have done there will be 6 cards plus coloured envelopes, but this time they will all be different designs.
I'm enjoying working around things "Gilbert", although I haven't abandoned all else by any means. It's just a bit of a change to think other than floral sometimes. It refreshes the mind a bit - and stops things getting repetitive and comfortable.
Definitely UNcomfortable at the moment with nurturing some pots of v.special pansies that have arrived from Italy. I'm supposed to bring them to flowering point and then paint them for the customer in Japan. The responsibility of it all on the shoulders of a notorious pot plant killer. Oh well, perhaps it's not extraditable if it all goes wrong....
Not worrying, but a bit confusing is my attempt to organise a space on Facebook. After some nagging from several quarters, I am trying........so if you receive a mystery "be my friend" request don't be alarmed. Or (more likely) I can't get it right, and you may NOT receive a request. I don't know. You can always contact me if you'd like to!
I'm going to use it for the odd immediate images and bits of news, but I shall still be writing this blog as near to once a week as possible. So I'll give it a go... another technical challenge, but possibly easier than the pansies.
I'm sending out the Newsletter by email Wednesday or Thursday, so one way or another I'll be in touch!
I'm not going on Twitter though - I don't have THAT much to say...
Here's the G.W. quote for this week...
"Most owls seem to hoot exactly in B flat according to several pitch-pipes used in tuning of harpsichords, & sold as strictly at concert pitch."
4th December 1770


]]> http://www.janharbon.com/index.php?entry=entry091215-123541 2009-12-15T00:00:00Z 2009-12-15T00:00:00Z