Jan Harbon, Artist and Illustrator

originals
limited edition prints
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SBA Exhibition London

Monday, April 15, 2013, 02:19 PM

A very busy few days.

Although quite happy to be sitting down at the SBA Exhibition, it was nevertheless not quite the relaxing day out it might appear. The thing with demonstrating watercolour using my "happy accident", serendipity approach is that, well, accidents can happen! A bit of holding of breath went on - mostly mine.... Everyone concentrated so hard on what I was doing, and in between holding breaths, Idon't think I stopped talking. But,how much better it was to have so many interested interrogators (in the pleasantest way of course), than complete silence. The day passed very quickly, and I think the painting may actually come to something in due course, which is an unexpected bit of serendipity, and not atall the rule!
The exhibition itself is quite awe inspiring - not just because it is a very large exhibition of one genre, but it is of such consistent high quality. It was a priviledge to be asked to sit in on the day.

And here is Martin the most meticulous printer imaginable. He can spot "dots" that other human eyes cannot. He's also the most tolerant of people, with my sound bites of "while you set up this next run Martin, I want you to THINK PINK!!!" and he did too. A bit of a magician with the ink mix.
So we are looking forward to receiving the cards ready for sending out the advance orders by the end of this week.

In the meantime, I am still painting away in preparation for Chelsea. I do hope the parrot tulips come out in time to do some of those. Come on sun - we saw a bit of you on Sunday, but more is needed! And I'm not building a garden at Chelsea - that must be SO stressful....
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Spring 2013!

Monday, April 8, 2013, 02:35 PM

You might be thinking I've been hibernating - or even emigrating come to that. But no, I've been working away at various ideas and projects (and in truth of course, a few other things like Christmas and a short break in wonderful Barcelona...warm and sunny in January - why aren't we living there, remind me?).

There are new cards and new limited edition prints that will be ready for Chelsea, including the card shown on the left - you may recognise one of my favourite 'motifs' - a wren, and the iris "Unravel", shown on right.

The iris will be on show at the SBA's "Language of Flowers" Exhibition, Westminster Hall, London 12th - 21st April. I will be demonstrating there on Sunday 14th. Also exhibited are the Anemones shown below.

Really looking forward to seeing all those other artists, friends and visitors I only get to see rarely in person!

We have held several workshops in the Studio already this Spring, over a three week period, and that was a lovely time too. Such enthusiastic and talented people - it's a pleasure to have these special days here.

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Tomorrow!! Blog will be available

Thursday, April 4, 2013, 05:27 PM

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Recent Exhibitions

Monday, June 11, 2012, 12:03 PM

First up, a mention for the brilliant exhibition being held in Chichester at the moment. Tucked away in the Oxmarket, it's worth a visit from all those lovers of flower painting. The SFP is a diverse society - the techniques vary from the concise botanical illustration to the abstract. I had the pleasure of demonstrating there on Saturday, and it was lovely to see the public's reaction to the exhibits. I was also pleased to see I'd won an award, which was a great bonus, and made my day (month actually!).

Also, do have a look at the Society's new website www.thesfp.org which has a blogspot, links and info.

An interesting visit to London last Friday with a trip organised by the brilliant Sue Briggs of Petersfield Art Society. I hope she doesn't mind carrying on doing them, because they are always to things I'd like to go to, but probably would end up missing if left to myself. So thankyou so much Sue!
Firstly we visited Kensington Palace, the most recent of the Royal Palaces to have a make-over. Very "new" ways of presenting exhibits and explaining the history of a venue. Contemporary craftsmen and artists were employed to visulise and illustrate events - some parts of the Palace were more successful than others I think - but perhaps that is a fairly subjective point of view, and I know others on the trip didn't like the same things as me. Interesting, and unusual, that a "stately home" can be controversial isn't it?
The photo is of a newly built loggia at the entrance to the palace - commemorating the Diamond Jubilee. I liked it very much (Janet, my companion, would like one just like it. mmmm...so would I!).

In the afternoon we visited Tate Britain for the Picasso exhibition - the purpose of which is to demonstrate the influence Picasso exercised on British Artists in the post-war period. This was acknowledged by the artists themselves of course, and for myself it was enlightening. I'm not particularly enamoured with Picasso's work, but it just goes to show what a man with ideas can do for a whole generation. I realise now that people whose work I really do admire (for example, Ben Nicholson), looked at an idea and ran with it, interpreted it in their own way, and were, artistically influenced by Picasso. Such is the nature of movements, trends, art and design. Fascinating to see an exhibition curated in this way.
Before we went in, we diverted to a run-around trip to the Turner Wing. I think I enjoyed that as much. There is an artist who influences us still I think - and I unreservedly love his paintings too! (And gosh, what a lot there are!)

Such is the length of time between my blogging efforts, I didn't ever say that Sue also organised a trip to David Hockney at the RA. Hockney was an artist included in the Picasso exhibition, he acknowledged very early in his career a debt to Picasso's influence.
Hockney's current techniques using both i-pad, and camera for multiple imagery in film are as ground-breaking as anything Picasso may have done. I really, really loved it. It's only at times like these that I would like to be starting over, learning new technology - but what am I saying? Hockney is at least 10 years older than me, and shows no signs of doing anything other than embrace every new facility and tool that comes his way. What an inspiration!

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Chelsea 2012 - Geoff's Hello/OK pics

Monday, June 11, 2012, 10:08 AM

This year's stand, and the view looking down Eastern Avenue. By an extraordinary stroke of fate, the weather, previously a cold wintry Spring, bucked up and Chelsea week was glorious. All the flowers that weren't quite out in the gardens, burst into bloom, just as if it were planned - and it's been really quite gloomy since. With the exception of the following Saturday when were quite lucky to be holding our annual family 'barbie'. I think we must have used up all this year's Harbon weather luck in the space of a few weeks.

Look! Sunshine and shadows - and no raincoats!

Tuesday 5th June (my birthday, apart from the Queen's Jubilee) Geoff and I went to see a matinee performance of "The Mousetrap" in London - so we missed all the flag waving in the Mall, but also the rain! We thought appropriate as the play is also celebrating its Diamond Jubilee, and we'd never been to see it. On the way we had lunch at the new Skylon restaurant in the Festival Hall (picture below), which was really quite a lovely experience. Great views over the river too.