Summer arts begins at Coughton

Well the sun did shine for a while for us today but regardless of the weather we had a fabulous day creating some lovely drawings along with all the other arts activities for the whole family to enjoy.

A big thank you to the Perry family who started off our Blind Contour Drawing session which resulted in some terrific portraits. Everyone had a go, there is no such thing as 'I cant draw'. This exercise is really about looking and this young brother and sister ( Jevy and Zara) from Northants really had fun staring into each others eyes!

Jevy, Zara and Dawn

Zara by Jevy

Jevy by Zara

 and I'm very proud of Me by Zara

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And of course once the drawings started there was no stopping the visitors to the 'Arts' shed..... Thank you for a lovely day.

David Age 12 from Droitwich Spa

Anna age 11 from Northfield (spa)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patrick age 8 from Northfield (spa)

A family divided

I have been fascinated to learn about Katherine Vaux and her very large family.
I have learnt of the unique time in English history, and how this influenced the fortunes of the Throckmorton family.
Katherine’s family lived through the turmoil of the Reformation, some of her sons remained Catholic (notably Robert) and some turned to the Protestant religion (notably Nicholas). Whichever choice they made, her children and their descendants faced danger and deceit. This being influenced greatly by the changing monarchs of the time and their preferred religion.

A family divided

Charcoal and Pastel on Kozo 17" x17"

This piece is a culmination of many of the concepts that I have been drawing on in connection with Katherine Vaux.
The overall shape represents the flower of a strawberry; this flower shape has been torn apart through the centre creating a divide. In addition there is an element of the strawberries from the dress in Katherine's portrait on the stairs of the Court, sometimes hidden, sometimes visible depicting times of danger and times when in favour. The two sets of colours also suggesting times to shine brightly in the forefront and maybe times to hide in the shadows.
The image has lots of layers, this is a feature of my drawings that depict the many different layers within our identity and how our identity changes and grows as time passes by.