Jan Harbon, Artist and Illustrator

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Wisley in late August

Friday, August 29, 2008, 06:40 AM

I seem to have been going to Wisley forever - not true, but it is odd that a journey that becomes very familiar seems to become shorter. I suppose you don't have to think about the way so much. I hope it doesn't mean my mind wanders, because that wouldn't be a good thing to admit to on the A3!

Here are all the brilliant students at work. Really good to meet new people and catch up with those I've met at previous workshops. Everyone worked really hard and achieved a lot - we still had a jolly time though!

As usual,
I am amazed at the way everyone paints in such a different way. I know I shouldn't be after all this time, but it's like handwriting. Whatever is it that makes us do things differently? I can see that the way you hold a brush might change things, but I know it's more fundamental than that. Putting paint on, knowing what will happen if it's wet, dry, etc., that's experience to a great extent. Not entirely though - some beginners have an exuberent attitude and throw the water at the painting, and others will have a tentative approach. They might change with practice, but that underlying character trait will always be there and affect their style (I think both ways are excellent by the way! I envy one and sympathise with the other - my painting is not immune from my personality!). It really starts at the "seeing" bit I think. It makes me believe that what I'm seeing is the same as my neighbour but we're seeing it in a slightly different way. For a start, what do we think is most important to begin with? To some, the shape is priority, or how the object sits in it's surroundings, or is it the colour first for some? And it's not the same colour for all of us either. Yes, it may be yellow, but I might see it as having lots of red in it, and someone else may think it tends more to the green or blue. Ain't it fascinating?

I know of course that we do see colours differently, but to see it appear on paper somehow underlines it in a very striking way.
We know that men of course, see it all quite wrongly! I don't know how often Geoff and I used to bicker about blue-green versus green-blue. Doesn't seem to have occured recently that I remember, perhaps he's given up!

Anyway, the main thing is, everyone had a good result at the end of the day!

After clearing up, I went for a walk around the gardens, all the lovely August dahlias and red hot pokers etc. The cannas were vibrant. How lovely that they grow so well here. They still look exotic, but don't seem to have the alien feel of a few decades ago. (Gosh, that dates me). I remember seeing them first in bedding at Hampton Court in the late 1970's and being a bit uncomfortable with them in their surroundings.
I'd hoped to go into the glasshouse to see how it was developing, but it was closed when I got there. Looked like it was developing rapidly from what I could see through the doors though. On the route back to the Hillside Centre, I saw quite a flock of these Ring necked Parakeets. I hadn't realised that they had moved out of London this far. It seems however, they've been around longer than I thought when I looked it up - 1969 they were recorded breeding in the wild, and are now established as "class C exotics", whatever that is (common, I imagine). Anyway they do look alien still - unlike the cannas!
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Wisley Flower Show - over for another year - and the sun shone!

Friday, August 22, 2008, 06:43 AM

Well, it did most of the time anyway!

A very busy show, with record numbers coming through the gate at Wisley - and all coming to the show at some point or another. The fuchsia growers were delighted with all the visitors, and they had put on a magnificent display of, it seemed, infinite varieties. I did get to see inside the marquee on the third day! It really was that busy! Because of the crowds, Wisley allowed people into the gardens early, so they were able to queue outside the marquee, which didn't open until 10.

As our stand was on the outside next to the main entrance, this made our opening times at least half an hour ahead, and then it was non stop until closing time. Which a lot of visitors will not have realised, did not end at 5.30pm, as we had 2 evening events.

Firstly "Music in the Garden" as part of the open garden scheme and then the "Good Housekeeping" event on Wednesday. Both were a bit damp (well, a lot damp on the second night). Geoff took this photo of a trio playing in the pretty pagoda structure by the lake, but there were musicians, bands, choirs all over the place. We could hardly get out the gates at the end for the crowd around the bagpipers playing everyone out.
I can't remenber how I ever used to manage these shows on my own. It's brilliant now Geoff comes with me.(here he is on right)

He's always set up the structure of the stands, and always, of course, he's done all the mounting and framing of pictures anyway. I hope it's nice for him to hear all the praise for his work directly now. It's great for me, although I'm still tired out by the end! Good night's sleep however, and I'm happy to get back on track in the studio today!

We gave out lots of invitations to the exhibition - I do hope some of the people come that expressed an interest, be nice to see them again.
It's Bank Holiday weekend - how quickly summer is disappearing, and the flowers with it! I always think summer comes in two parts really, as flowers are mostly divided between those that are early and those that come into their best in the last two weeks of August/early September. It's just the way I see it, but I always think of the earlier ones as being fragile and brightly lit types, and the later as being robust, hot and passionate. That's how I feel like painting them anyway. And once it's in my mind, it's quite difficult to bring a delicate touch to flowers that I know need it, like fuchsias. So it's a bit of a battle. But what isn't!
The struggle(!), continues next week, with a workshop back at Wisley - be nice if the weatrher stays good for that too.
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Wisley Flower Show

Friday, August 15, 2008, 06:07 AM

Wisley Flower Show coming up next week - the weather might just brighten up! See events
It's so like Autumn in the morning and evening here. You can see your breath it's so chilly - but without the autumn tints. Very odd. I know everyone says the sun always shone when we were young, but it is strange to see weather altering within more recent memory.
The picture on the left I started about 10years or more ago!
We had a an inexplicable rash of poppy fields in the neighbourhood. It even made the local paper! Some elderly locals could just about remember it happening before, and it hasn't happened since. It was really , really extraordinary to see field after field of scarlet. I'm not sure if anyone has satisfactorily explained the exact conditions required for the phenomenum, but poppy seeds can last for centuries. I'm not sure if it's just one of those 'tales', but I remember reading that seeds found in Egyptian tombs were capable of germinating. Hope for the future of botany if not the human race then!
I'm hoping to get the newsletter out by email before I go to Wisley - it is written, but I have to master something called 'mail merge' first! I have help.........
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landscapes

Sunday, August 10, 2008, 02:38 PM

Well I'm getting a bit messy this week with pastels. It's made me realise how often I rub my eyes since I quite startled my son Tom. He thought I had black eyes, but it was merely the pastel dust, truly! I have to remember to check the mirror before I go shopping.
I don't think I want to attempt flowers in pastel. There's just something that I like about using them for landscape though. In fact, I'd say watercolour for flowers, pastel for landscape and oil for abstract. For me that's it most of the time.
Some of my landscapes are semi-abstract however - I'm particularly fond of the sort of striations you get in cliffs. Very satisfying shapes in cliffs and boulders.

I'm a bit impatient to get back to the flowers now of course.(Really, is there no pleasing me), but the studio is so messy with the pastel that I'm reluctant to clear up before I've done another couple more paintings that I have in my head. Meanwhile we are getting ready for the RHS Wisley Flower Show in a couple of weeks time. (See Events for info.)
I do hope the weather stops being so wet before then. It's all so wearing to cope with dripping brollies and stuff. More for the public than me - I'm safe in my covered stand. I'm looking forward to it anyway, it's always good to get out there with the designs and see which ones are the most successful this year!
If only I knew - it's never the same ones as the last time......
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Fast beat my heart...

Thursday, July 31, 2008, 06:15 AM

Not a romantic interlude, the title of a CD! I've just finished the cover, it's for a compilation of poems, letters, recollections etc., of Edward Thomas, the war poet who lived locally in Steep near Petersfield. The poems are really lovely, and since he wasn't a "battle" poet, the illustrations are to do with the countryside around here. I first did the painting on the right, then extracted what was required for the cover shown on the left.

Chris Brown editor of the "School Librarian" has produced the CD, it will be available in Autumn, from the Edward Thomas trust, although contact me if you want to know more, as I don't think there is any more info. at present.
Actually, this is quite a good example of photoshop techniques! The painting, which will be a Limited Edition print as well, I manipulated and cut about until I had the right arrangement for the CD. I think there are about 20 layers there altogether. When I first started work illustrating, I would have had to literally cut and paste, with gum solution, and even so, it would be unlikely to be so colourful, as colour printing was an expensive affair. Just how revolutionary the computer, not to mention photoshop has made the business of preparing for print is astounding if I stop to think about it.
Looking for something in an old portfolio, I found a job from the 70's - it had three overlays, where I had separated the colour out ready for silkscreen. All in pen and ink of course. Black & white illustrations are a bit of a novelty at the moment - but I still think of myself as an illustrator in that medium in spite of the fact that I haven't done any for some time. It became very undesirable because colour was the exciting new thing. I remember what a buzz was around when (Times or the Telegraph?) the first Sunday colour supplement came out. It seemed so extravagant!
I'm hoping to include some pen & ink for the exhibition. I'm quite often asked if I use a pen and coloured ink for some of the work I do now, but in fact no, it's all brush and watercolour. History will out though, and that's what's made me paint the way I do.
EXCEPT! I'm just doing some pastels this week. Just for a change! I had to have a little holiday from flowers, although goodness, not the right time of year to ignore flora!
More next week!
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