Open Studios Event
in association with Visual Images Group, Bucks Art Weeks 2022
It’s come round to that time again – and this year I will be able to welcome you into my new studio on the ground floor in the beautiful 17th Century house at Westbury Farm. I am honoured to have taken on what was the kitchen in the 1600’s, with it’s huge inglenook fireplace.
This large, light room has a calm atmosphere and I now have the space to develop my practice, to have models and sitters and to make sculpture again.
Along with 12 fellow members of Artist Collective @ Westbury I will be in situ here to welcome visitors from 11th – 19th June. We also have guest artists The Rookwood Group showing work in the Barn. There will be refreshments (including cake!) and a chance to see and talk to artists at work. Please check the brochure or http://www.bucksartweeks.org.uk for details of individual artist’s opening times.
I am opening my own studio 11th – 19th June between the following times:
Sat 11-5pm
Sun 11-4pm
Weds/Thurs/Fri 10-5pm
I have framed and unframed work for sale in the studio as well as pieces in the exhibition around the house. If you’d like to commission a portrait or other piece, this is a great opportunity to have a good look at some of my work and to talk in person about what you have in mind.
Of course it’s also a chance to come and be nosey! I’m happy to chat about my work, and it’s fine if you’d just like to browse…
Hope to see you in the next few days!
NEW! Solo exhibition:
“TRUE COLOURS”
November 6th – 14th 2021, Westbury Arts Centre, MK. www.westburyartscentre.org.uk/events
Observing colour is an intense experience for me; each variation in hue resonates so that I hear, taste and feel the subtleties. Conversely, sounds, tastes and emotions have colour.
Only fairly recently have I come to realise this is something called “synaesthesia”.
Although my art isn’t about this, this is the way I see – and because I work almost exclusively from life – it adds another layer of meaning, particularly when making portraits and allegorical pieces.
This exhibition brings together a selection of my most vibrant paintings in oils and watercolours:
If you wish to make an appointment to come and view the exhibition during the week, please use the contact page (above right) to get in touch.
I look forward to seeing you there!
Joanna
Interview for Westbury Arts Centre Blog
I was interviewed recently for the Westbury Arts Centre Blog https://www.westburyartscentre.org.uk/post/interview-with-an-artist-joanna-stone
– do please have a read and give us a like!
And the Sun Shone!
Here is a portrait of lovely Emma, made in a friend’s garden on a warm day just as Autumn was making the trees dance…
The picture was made from life in one sitting of approximately 4 hours, – then the background, dress and hair were finished off in the studio from a photograph.
Bucks Art Weeks Online Gallery
Today we would have been celebrating the beginning of our Open Studios for Bucksartweeks at Westbury Arts Centre, with “Pimms On The Lawn”…
However – you can visit https://www.westburyartscentre.org.uk/bucks-art-week and take a look!
New exhibition with a new group!
I will be showing recent work alongside fellow artists in a mixed exhibition of paintings, prints, textiles, ceramics and wood. Please come along to browse and buy, or simply to chat to the artists and eat cake!
Solo exhibition next month!
I am excited to announce my solo exhibition at the Eagle Gallery, Bedford, in March, entitled “JOANNA STONE: PORTRAITS”
“I’m fired by the challenges of working from life. This informs all my art.”
This exhibition features works in oils, pastels, ink and watercolours that have all been made with the person there, in front of the artist. Some are portraits that show direct connection with the sitter and include significant objects that are meaningful to them, giving vital clues to their personality. Others are characters re-imagined from fairy tales, folklore and Shakespeare. Also included are nude figure studies from life.
Work is for sale, but you are also very welcome to come along just to have a look! I also undertake commissions.
The exhibition runs from 2nd – 9th March at the Eagle Gallery, Mon-Sat, 10 –5.30pm.
Private View : 1st March, invitation only. Please get in touch if you would like to come along.
“Meet the Artist”: Sat 2nd March 10.00 – 5.30pm. I shall be there all day to talk about my work and show some of my sketchbooks etc.
Eagle Gallery, 101, Castle Road, Bedford, MK 40 3QP.
Tel: 01234 346995
“Making a portrait from life reveals much more to me than a photograph. A photograph freezes the fraction of a second and flattens perspective. When looking at eachother we are constantly moving and our eyes take in many thousands of tiny shifts of view, allowing our brains to process lots of visual information to help shape our perception of the person we’re observing.” ©Joanna Stone.
Recent Commission
Here is a photo of a double portrait I did for a lovely lady called Jill, who commissioned this piece as a special thirtieth birthday present for her son, in memory of his father who sadly passed away three years ago this year.
It was executed in charcoal and watercolour on 640gms hot-pressed paper, in order to achieve a subtle grainy effect and to integrate colour in the roses, as requested.
Jill was delighted with the result: “Lawrence loved the picture, it was very emotional again buts that’s down to you and how wonderful you portrayed them both, the whole family were very complimentary.”
Fast and free
First the glow
First the glow,
vermillion accents and a touch of the shadowy blues running down into ochre,
turning into green harmony
deep, warm bass notes in purple thought
a line of melody just heard
just caught
Colour
Recently, I was asked about the way I use colour. The person asking described my colours as “intense”.
It’s true, – I see colours intensely. I can feel/taste/smell even hear their notes. Colours “sing” to me – however subtle the tint, the hue is there…
Glass jar (watercolour)
Light iii, pastel (detail)
…pale skin reflecting warm light hums vermillion against a background of orchestrated blues…
Over the garden wall (Snowdonia Series)
…lilting violet perfumes the shadows, whilst the yellows rise to a pitch of buttery sunlight
Studio Days…
Friday 23rd October 2015 : “It’s Not All About Drawing…”
Why is it so hard to start?
Determinedly turning my back on pressing emails, and even more pressing washing up – I make it into my art studio, hidden away in the garden – by mid-morning. It feels cold and damp in here. In my coat, while the heater gets to work, I pull out some sheets of used watercolour paper. (If they’re already used on one side, I won’t feel too precious about what I produce on the other side!)
Musical accompaniment must be classical (-no lyrics or voices to intrude upon my conciousness!). Pagannini – violin & cello – energizing.
“back iii”,
Joanna Stone 2015,
Watercolour.
“back iii” Joanna Stone, 2015. Watercolour.
I seem to have created a “back” series…
I decide to take photographs of recent drawings as a record and to use online. This turns into a process of consideration.
CONTEMPLATION TIME: IMPORTANT TO GAZE AND CONSIDER.
Making notes in my A6 sketchbook (almost a diary, but with drawings & not quite a journal) and cross-referencing other sketchbooks (I have several on the go at any one time).
The music has stopped.
A flock of Goldcrests come through the garden all around the studio, sounding high, sweet, few notes. Moving swiftly, taking invisible insects from the trees.
Another “thread” tugs at my thoughts…
TREES
This studio, this house and garden, this village – we’re surrounded by acres of of ancient woodland and heath.
One A3 sketch book is becoming all about this landscape. I feel alternately hemmed in or liberated by trees…
Psychogeography
(Merlin Coverley, but also Dorothy Wordsworth, Richard Long and many more) – walking and recording – not just how it looks but how it feels, smells, sounds. Human interaction with the landscape. My connection.
Hunger suddenly drives me back into the house for a sandwich and hot tea, still contemplating ideas, undoing and reshaping in my mind’s eye.
Afterwards I go for a walk in the woods. Ancient woodland, mostly Sessile Oaks in this part, although I can’t find any over perhaps two hundred years (?)…Maybe they were cut down to use for building…? Our house has oak beams.
Drawing and taking photographs as I go. Occasional dog-walkers regarding me with suspicion or amusement.
My favourite tiny sketchbook, 2015.
Joanna Stone
My favourite tiny sketchbook, handmade for me by my daughter.
Sessile Oak,
Joanna Stone 2015,
brushpen.
Sessile oaks in bakers Wood, pencil 2015.
Joanna Stone
A couple of walking hours later, and back to the studio to allow the day’s wanderings and wonderings to settle into some kind of vision.
Now
I have a way
to begin
Exhibitions!
I’ve recently joined the Eagle Gallery Artists Co Operative in Bedford, and I’m very excited about it! The group run continuous shows at the gallery in Castle Street, Bedford. If you happen to be over that way, or fancy a day out in Bedford, there’s free parking along part of the Embankment, or in some of the side roads off Castle Street. The area boasts a lovely riverside walk and park with cafes, theatres, and of course the wonderful Cecil Higgins Museum – all just about within walking distance….http://www.eaglegalleryartists.co.uk/
I’m also taking part in the annual Autumn Art Shows with the Artists Network Bedfordshire: http://www.artsnetbeds.org.uk/art-trail-brochure/
The venues are dotted around the county of Bedfordshire, and most are open for the whole month.
I have work at the Golden Hare Gallery, Ampthill, – I thoroughly recommend a visit as it’s a delightful little gallery that’s full of beautiful paintings, prints, sculpture and pottery all artfully presented in an unusual setting: http://goldenhare.co.uk/
I also have work at the Cafe O.S.O. in Cranfield, which is a bustling contemporary cafe with cakes!
This coming weekend, a group of us are showing at the Memorial Hall, Woburn Sands, and I will be around on Saturday morning if you fancy calling in for a browse and a chat. The exhibition is open from 10.00-17.00 Saturday and Sunday.
“The thing I wish I’d never said”, oil on canvas, 80 x 60 cm, Joanna Stone
Joanna Stone 