New Website

My web address hasn't changed - it is still www.amandabatesart.co.uk/ and is linked to from the Home button on this blog. However, I have stopped adding new work to this blog. You can subscribe to my new blog at www.amandabatesart.co.uk/blog-grid/.

This blog will be retained as an archive.

Cannon Heath Down revisited

The Vale of Kingsclere, oil on canvas, 60 x 30 cm

I have been neglecting this blog recently in favour of building an all-new Web site on another platform. This site will remain as an archive.

However, it only seemed right to post today's work here.

Hampshire Open Studios

Today was the first day of Hampshire Open Studios! I have lots of new work, especially on paper, so if you are thinking of visiting, don't forget to have a look through the browser and the rack of "4x4"s.

Sunday 19 August:	open 10am - 5pm
Monday 20 August:	open 10am - 5pm
Tuesday 21 August:	closed, but the Artikinesis Exhibition, Traces of Prehistory is still open in Andover (10am to 5pm)
Wednesday 22 August:	closed, but the Artikinesis Exhibition, Traces of Prehistory is still open in Andover in the morning (10 am to 12 noon)
Thursday 23 August:	open 10am - 5pm
Friday 24 August:	closed
Saturday 25 August:	open 10am - 5pm
Sunday 26 August:	open 10am - 5pm
Bank Holiday Monday 27 August:	open 10am - 5pm

Full details on my Open Studios page here.

4 inch squares

Three "Crashing Wave" squares

It all started earlier this year when I got my hands on a supply of square mounts, eight inches square with a four inch square aperture. They were a nice size, but I didn't have very many pieces on paper to suit them. Then I realised that some bigger pieces, which didn't quite work as a whole, would look great if they were cut up and the choicest parts presented in these mounts. It seemed to work especially well with pictures done in acrylic ink, with trees and waves being good subjects.

The boar tree - SOLD

The boar tree, ink on A3 paper

The roots of this roadside beech tree reminded me of a wild boar - I could see its head and one giant piggy trotter. I haven't deliberately enphasised either feature, not least because the tree is a beautiful sight in itself, with the large, sinuous branch to the left curving up like the muscular neck of a herbivorous dinosaur (I'm thinking diplodocus or brontosaurus), set against the sundappled screen of leaves.

Hanger: two drawings

Hanger, ink on A3 paper

Square Hanger, ink on paper, 29 x 29 cm

These two pictures were drawn to investigate the way that the beech roots cling to the steep slope of the hanger (a hillside wood). I had no intention of introducing fantastic beasts, but they crept in, nonetheless...

Downed

Downed, ink on A4 paper

I found this dragon lying between two roadside beech trees on Nuthanger Down, its tattered wings spread on the ground, looking intently up. Was there a squirrel up there? Or was it remembering its days of flight?