More than a Private View

The Dungscape show opening event: an evening of art, conversation and seasonal food at Knepp Wilding Estate

At last I can send your invitation:

The product of a year’s research and making, this body of work brings together paintings, drawings, prints, and sketches developed in close consultation with museum curators and ecologists. Showing at Knepp feels especially fitting, as the oil paintings are based on their landscape, flora and fauna.

If you visit the show, stroll along the paths from the exhibition into that very landscape - and see which wildlife you can find from the paintings!

I’ve been hand cutting and printing linocuts for the show, reconstituting my membership of Spike Print Studios - a wonderful community of printmakers with great facilities. Here’s the first proof being printed (sound up for squelching ink and the clattering mechanical noises of my trusty steed the Vandercook press!):

The Private View is 5.30pm-6.30pm on Saturday 15th August at Knepp Wilding Estate.

For those who would like to continue the conversation into the evening, please join us as we step across the courtyard for a communal dinner, in the Michelin Green Star Knepp Wilding Kitchen. The chefs will prepare a sharing feast with

“the best of seasonal ingredients, from Wild Range meat grown on Knepp, organic produce from our on-site regenerative Market Garden and sustainable fish caught by day-boat on the British coast”

Places are limited, so reserve a place at the table if you’d like to join us for food:

In case you’re around the night before - Leon and I will be letting our hair down after setting up the show: On Friday 14th August we have tickets for the Knepp catered BBQ with live music, so book here to join us for that.

The oil painting diptych that forms the centrepiece of my Dungscape show is varnished at last, here’s some gratuitous footage of the process to whet your appetite

In other news, I squeezed in a lot of sketched portraits last week: On Saturday I gave a quick sketch portrait demo in London, within The Society of Women Artists 165th Annual Open exhibition. It was lovely to see so many people enthusiastically trying my simple system with the pencils provided. We were so lucky to get a range of volunteer models, including with glasses/hat. Having introduced the materials and method, I narrated my way through 4 portraits, about 20 minutes each. The audience were delightfully game, no howlers, and no pencils left at the end 😁#result. Let’s just say it clearly wasn’t their first rodeo 🤓👌🏻

Sunday was a beautiful last meeting with the art model and poet Bianca Pavetti before she heads onwards on her travels. It has been wonderful to get to know her while she visited Bristol. I tried to sketch her thinking and talking about her plans for the future. She made such an impression on the Bristol art scene over her short stay - we will miss her very much.

Then on Monday I hosted a figure drawing client for the morning (I offer this as a commission service). He really wanted to try being a model for the challenge, and was delighted with the experience and the results. He reminded me so much of Lucian Freud’s painting of Leigh Bowery (final picture above), that I showed it to him, and he agreed to model in that pose for his final drawing (shared with permission).

I hope your week is going well - don’t forget to check your calendar, because I’d LOVE to welcome you to:

Gail xxx