One of my first big projects after coming to live here in the early 90s was the interior of a restaurant, which was to be called Les Fresques. It was attached to a Château in the throes of being gutted and restored as a hotel complex. On a previous château commission I had divised a…
Lockdown has created all sorts of online activities in all walks of life: out of necessity freelance people in the arts, theatre, cooking, teaching, yoga, singing…. the list is long and varied, have had to find new ways of earning a living until life gets back to normal. In this respect I think the internet…
I’m trying to catch up with my blogs…. back in November we were invited to friend car design engineer Professor Gordon Murray’s retrospective on all the cars he has designed over 50 years. It was such an impressive sight to see them all collected together in one place, I think even he was amazed at…
Forgive me for promoting, but we’ve a friend who has an fascinating project on the go: Professor Gordon Murray (F1 designer) and his design team have been developing the OX flat-pack truck, designed with a view to benefiting people living in remote villages and townships across Africa and other parts of the developing world; in…
As I’ve done so many sketches and drawings lately, for a change I thought I’d try a relatively new medium for me: collage. I did a few some years ago, and in my usual disorganised fashion I’ve mislaid them, thereby giving credence to them being lost masterpieces in my imagination; of course when and if I find…
Here are 3 commissions I’ve completed recently. I didn’t like to post their progress until the clients had received and okayed them. The remit for this one was to have a mermaid and the sea in the piece. Here’s the sketch I did , in the ArtRage app, which I then moved into the Sketches…
I’ve taken on 4 commissions recently. At the moment I’m working on three simultaneously, the fourth is finished and has been delivered and hung by Graham. Here’s that piece in various stages of completion. 1st the design, sketched on the iPad: 2. The plywood panel, to which I glued linen then plastered lightly: 3. The design has been squared…
Glad that the awful treacly paint finish is completed we moved on to the first coat of colour; having quickly and very loosely marked out where the opening to the sky will be, we painted the cream surround first. In age-old fashion, I drew out my designs onto sheets of paper taped together, some are 4mx3m. I…
Last week on Feb 12th the cranes started flying North, their rasping cries lift the spirits for I know now that Spring must be coming, especially as I hear swarms of tiny bees buzzing in the sun collecting pollen from the flowering remnants of an old box-hedge and from the catkin lanterns high up catching the sun’s…
Another week has rolled on, and here are the remaining Christmas cards from the archives. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas , and a Happy and Healthy New Year! Eat , drink and be merry! year 2005 the new pup: year 2006 new pup learning to be boisterous: year 2007: year 2008, I designed…
This is to show some graphic design work I’ve done. My design work can vary enormously: whole rooms, murals, screens, chandeliers (which Graham makes, although the best chandelier he has made he designed himself, which I will post later), furniture ( ditto), letterheadings and wine labels. Whatever it is, after an initial meeting, I present…
Last week I was at Château des Vigiers, in the hotel area, painting 2 doors both sides plus their surrounds. They were fire doors which replaced beautiful old carved wooden doors, which, incidentally, I painted 25 years ago. This probably sounds rather boring to read about, and you can be forgiven for giving up on…
Progress on the barn wall has been minimal this week; I have managed to draw some of it out, but then, when I reach for my paints it starts raining! The Bergerac meteo is so unreliable, I compare several forecasts, they never correspond to one another, so I plump for the one that suits…
Putting my thoughts about classical music into words.
Life with Art
sharing the creative process of artist, illustrator, and book lover, Judy Watson
Sharing my work and thoughts....
painting...drawing...making small worlds
Essays on Mathematics and Culture
postcards from the hedge - a blog by Phil Cooper
views from the artist's studio.
ARTIST: oils, watercolours, trompe l'œil and design
