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By Ashley, 01/28/2010 9:08 am

I have been working on this abstract painting on off for a four months now. I used thick paint and mixed many of the colours directly on the canvas.

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By Ashley, 01/25/2010 9:01 am

Please to announce the art auction at Williams Gallery raised well over £2000. All the art for sale was donated by Cambridge Arts Movement artists. I donated broken circle which I am pleased to say sold.

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By Ashley, 12/09/2009 10:17 am

This painting is experimental in both technique and subject matter. I have used both acrylic in the early stages building up layers and dribbling paint from a stick at different angles. I then used glazes of oil paint to build up depth, colour and tonal changes. As for the subject – well judge for your self.

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By Ashley, 10/09/2009 3:10 pm

Six paintings from the Fenland series of landscape paintings are on exhibition at the Cazimir Cafe, King Street, Cambridge.

Fenland painting series exhibited at Cazimir Cafe, Cambridge

Two more fen paintings on display

The exhibition runs for one month starting 8th October 2009

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By Ashley, 10/05/2009 9:30 am

The Cambridge Arts Movement self-portrait exhibition made it into the Cambridge Evening News. And featured my artwork.

Article in the Cambridge Evening News

Mixed-media self-portrait

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By Ashley, 09/23/2009 6:52 am

The private view for the Cambridge Arts Movement self-portrait exhibition at Williams Gallery was great fun and very well received. The range of work from all the different artists is very exciting and many of the visitors were interested in how each artist approached the subject.

And I was very pleased with the very positive feedback I got from fellow artists and visitors. It has given a real drive to do more experimental work.

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By Ashley, 08/27/2009 7:44 pm

Have finally completed the first of a new series of paintings titled them ‘Explorations of the Mind’. I have struggled with the title and toyed with Mindscape, Dreamscape and Mind Exploration but they just did not seem right.

Exhibited at Williams Art Gallery

Below is the first in the series (I have two more underway). For this, I have used used acrylic paint, oil paint and car spray paint.

Explorations of the Mind 1

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By Ashley, 08/16/2009 1:02 pm

Most of my recent paintings are in oil but a lot my earlier experimental work is in acrylics and mixed media. And for some of my new abstract paintings I have dug out my acrylics again as one of the benefits is it dries so quickly. This allows me to experiment with different effects and to continue working on the paintings for extended periods rather than wait for it to dry.

Still, I love working on oils and will work over the top with glazes and stumbling.

However, the question arises of is it okay the paint over acrylics with oils? Many artist do this and belive it is okay and believe that the acrylic paint is a sufficent ground to hold the oil paint. Conversely, other artists say it is not the ideal surface for oil paint. Perhaps only time will tell – probably long after we have gone! One thing I do know is I have paintings that finished fifteen years ago, that I painted oil over acrylics, and they are perfectly fine!

Another reason I have returned to acrylics, is after several conversations I had with artists whilst on holiday in Dorset. The artist I spoke to work almost exclusively with acrylics (well, actually emulsion and acrylic), mainly because they have a large turnover of work through their galleries and cater for the tourist market. Many said they did use oils for longer and more experimental work: By experimental I mean work that is not so targeted at the tourists and work that perhaps takes longer to sell.

What interested me most was the fact that they used emulsion paint with the acrylics. One artist advised me to buy the strongest red, yellow and blue I could find (or have mixed) but make sure it was a very well known brand. In their experience it worked absolutely fine. Again, I have found mixed views of using emulsion but I intend to give it a try. As long as you are honest about its use I don’t see a problem. Anyhow, it has been used by many modern artists recently in work that is highly valued. John Myatt, the famous art forger, still uses it and did so in many of his works that fooled the ‘art world’!

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By Ashley, 08/12/2009 6:20 pm

Finally, my painting titled Mayday Marina is dry enough to be hung in an exhibition at the Williams Gallery. Whilst painting this, I really wanted to capture some the energy of the busy yachts and the array of colours. I applied the paint thickly with big brushes and palette knives.

Mayday Marina

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By Ashley, 07/24/2009 1:04 pm

I painted this view, another in my Fenland Series,  of Ten Mile Bank near Brandon Creek in June. I painted this wet in wet with mostly a large brush as I rushed to capture the vivid blue fen sky and the morphing clouds.

Ten Mile Bank Viewed from Brandon Creek