North East Open Studios (5)

Our exhibition during North East Open Studios at The Creamery was a great success!

Thank you to all who came along. It was lovely to catch up with friends and meet new people from the local area and further afield. I'm still overwhelmed by your wonderful and positive feedback. Thank you also to those who took part in my drop-in workshop and who have signed up for my upcoming mixed media art and Ipad workshops (www.fenfolio.com/workshops). The 7th of October is now fully booked, there are just a few places left for the 16-week course so I will be very busy this winter!

Here are some photos I took just before we opened our exhibition to give you an impression:

Sculptor Sarah Gordon creating a sign in wood

Homemade cakes and biscuits

Paintings, digital art and notecards by Fenfolio

Paintings, digital art and notecards by Fenfolio

Sculptures by Sarah

Fish made from driftwood by Sarah

Paintings (Fenfolio), installation (Sarah) and photography (Leonie)

Objects and table wrapped in wool by Sarah

Handmade Book Thongs" by Iain Gordon

Participants during one of my drop-in workshops

Participants showing their art piece made with kitchen foil

North East Open Studios (4)

Most of you who follow my blog already know that I take part in North East Open Studios every year. This time I've found a different venue, The Creamery, where I will also run my art workshops from October this year (more info on my website www.fenfolio.com).

The poster I designed is now being distributed. There is still lots to do, even finishing some new work, but I'm really excited about the event and I think it will be as successful as previous years! I know some of you won't be able to make it along but I will post some photos afterwards to give you an idea how it was.

Artistic Explorations: Colour & Texture (1)

Every year I look forward to the Fabric of the Land exhibition which takes place in the Geology Faculty of Aberdeen University. It explores the link between art and science and gives artists the opportunity to create pieces inspired by characteristics of the physical landscape. This year I submitted a painting which was derived from the colours and textures of minerals. Before I started though, I did some research and found some excellent pictures that would be the perfect reference during the creation process.

Iridescent Hematite/Goethite
Copyright: Mark Streeter

Petrified Rocks
Copyright: Frank Townsley

Fluorite
Copyright by DansPhotoArt

Labradorite
Copyright: Unknown
Source: Pinterest

Iridescent Goethite
Copyright © C.R. Carnein

Iridescent Hematite
Copyright: Unknown
Source: Pinterest

For each MDF panel I used metallic acrylics from Old Holland and different acrylic mediums from Golden to represent a particular texture. Unfortunately the beautiful iridescence of the paint can't be seen from a monitor.

Mineral Series, Top Left
Acrylics and soft gel gloss
©Fenfolio2013

Mineral Series, Top Right
Acrylics, molding paste and crackle paste
©Fenfolio2013

Mineral Series, Bottom Left
Acrylics, molding paste and clear granular gel
©Fenfolio2013

Mineral Series, Bottom Right
Acrylics, molding paste and extra coarse pumice gel
©Fenfolio2013

This is my final piece "Mineral Series". It hasn't been selected for the exhibition unfortunately, but it will be shown during my own exhibition at North East Open Studios which will start 14 September.