Hot News – Jubilee Jazz Festival; New Roses Highland Views

Happy Jubilee M’am

HRH Diamond Jubilee oil on canvas Lee Campbell

Haven’t done any portraits in ages but couldn’t resist this one. What a heroine she is – in this age of self self publicity and power seeking, a woman who had power thrust upon her at a early age, she accepted the role with grace and carried out her considerable duties with dignity and charm worldwide for all these years. A national treasure and a real diamond!

Jubilee Jazz Festival at Strawberry Hill House 3 -4 June

Jubilee Jazz at Strawberry Hill – oil on canvas Lee Campbell

Delighted to be invited to show paintings at the Strawberry Hill Arts Village and have produced some new paintings especially for the event.

Jazz 1 – oil on canvas- Lee Campbell

Jazz II- oil on canvas Lee Campbell

See link to site:  www.jubileejazzfestival.com

Art Workshop at Warren House - 14th July 2012

In collaboration with Warren House I will be holding a one day Drawing and Water Colour Workshop. This an ideal place to explore drawing and painting skills in a fabulous location with a highly experienced professional artist – it is ideal for both complete beginners and those with some experience. Participants will be given a set of materials to keep and all techniques will be demonstrated. Buffet lunch, tea and coffee provided.

The Rose Room Warren House

Spaces are limited – to  book please contact Warren House; 
http://www.warrenhouse.com/event.php?id=163

Other exciting news this month was collaborating with Mike of Asana Health in Kingston to provide artwork for the purpose built yoga and therapy centre on London Road, Kingston. There are now two of my larger pieces in the centre – see below:

Revelation oil on canvas Lee Campbell

Petersham Dusk – oil on canvas Lee Campbell

News from Asana Health

A new series of monthly “Optimum Health Evenings” commencing on Monday 21st May 2012 @ 7.30pm which Mike and his team of therapists and yoga teachers think would be of benefit to you.

For more info please  visit the web site: www.asanahealth.co.uk

New Roses (or neurosis?)

Heart of Gold – Lee Campbell

Heart of Rose oil on linen Lee Campbell

Peonies oil on canvas Lee Campbell

Deep Red oil on canvas Lee Campbell

At least once every year I feel the need to paint roses and these are the latest ones. This began with a commission to paint a single red rose and reached it’s peak with the design of Union Jack comprised of roses on a baby grand piano during a public art project in Soho 3 years ago. May have been generated by growing up surrounded by rose patterned wall paper perhaps..they would ‘swirl’ in a disturbing way if I stared at them too long.

Since then I have produced several paintings of this design and it also available as a giclee print.

Union Jack/Roses – Lee Campbell

Highland Views

Loch Morar Sunset oil on linen Lee Campbell

Highland Cow – oil on canvas -Lee Campbell

Loch Morar – The Red Boat -Lee Campbell

 Loch Morar – Oil on linen – Lee Campbell

Delighted to be commissioned by Edinburgh Arts who produce quality Giclee prints of my work to do some painting of the  Scottish Highlands. This area is so similar to the South Island of New Zealand – an area I know very well having hiked both the Routeburn and Milford Tracks in Fjordland – that I feel a real resonance with these places.

For some superb scenery watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2kzFIXzFGk&feature=related

Romantic Paintings:

Coer de Luminiere – Lee Campbell Oil on canvas 24″ x 36″

This piece (Heart of Light) has a trompe l’oeil painted frame and is something of a departure from recent work which has been mostly landscapes.

Borne on the Mist – Lee Campbell oil on canvas

Tall Roses – Lee Campbell oil on canvas 40″ x 12″

Red & Gold – Lee Campbell oil on panel 8″ x 10″

Pansies – Lee Campbell oil on panel 4″ x 6″

Richmond Gold II – Lee Campbell oil on canvas 16″ x 22″

Eel Pie Island Winter Blog

Sailing - oil on canvas - Lee Campbell

'Adrian Rocks' oil on canvas - Lee Campbell

Petersham Golden Green - oil on canvas - Lee Campbell

Happy to report an excellent turn out at the Open Studio weekend so a big ‘thank you’ to all who braved the cold and mud. I’ll be busy with commissions right into January and have enjoyed some interesting and requests as varied as boats in full sail and beach pebbles – also a large painting of The View from Richmond Hill using quite different colours – see above.

'Twickenham Gold' - oil on paper Lee Campbell

Twickenham Mist - oil on paper Lee Campbell

'Twickenham Blue' - oil on paper Lee Campbell

Thames Mist - oil on canvas, Lee Campbell

The Thames November Draw Off

 This new series of local scenes feature the ‘draw off’ which takes place each November between Richmond and Teddington Locks to allow for the river bank to be cleared of debris. This year the draw off will last until 25th Dec to allow for repairs to Richmond Lock gates, apparently they are waiting on a cable to be sent from Russia.
This can result in some unusual views of the riverbed dotted with feeding birds – swans, ducks, coots, gulls, rooks, crows, cormorants, grebes and herons can all be seen easily from the bridge over to the island.  Whilst these low tides reveal many horrors to be cleaned away by volunteers, they also reveal all sorts of treasures normally hidden beneath the waters. Under the rocks are hundreds of freshwater shrimps, crabs and  eels. These range from 2-inch elvers right up to more mature specimens over a foot long. Marine biologists from the Zoological Society of London have previously recorded he freshwater gastropod, the river snail, pea muscles, zebra muscles, freshwater cockles, swan muscles, leeches and flatworms.

'Twickenham November' - oil on paper Lee Campbell

Draw Off - Sunday

Portland Gallery Christmas Exhibition

Opens 3rd December – all welcome

Christmas Exhibition Lee Campbell 2011

Other exciting news- I have been invited to exhibit 3 pieces of artwork  in the

RCA’s Secret Eighteenth Birthday
Exhibition and sale of original postcard-sizzed artworks, donated by internationally acclaimed artists plus up-and-coming graduates from the

Royal College of Art from 18th Nov

To purchase ‘Secret’ Postcards register: www.rca.ac.uk/secret Postcards signed only on the reverse  – last years contributors include Maggie Hambling, Peter Blake, David Bailey and Tracey Emin

Networking news

I have joined the very pro-active Kingston Chamber of Commerce run by Lisa Gagliardi and enjoyed an excellent breakfast last week at Bentalls – good food, good company and a goodie bag!

To find out more about the group see: http://kingstonchamber.co.uk/

Follies Galore

We visited the fantastic Pains Hill Park in Surrey with Holly one glorious autumnal day: http://www.painshill.co.uk

Folly on the lake

The Mill

Hours of pleasure exploring the winding water features, a mill, a grotto,  a tower, a Medieval tent, bridges, forests and follies with excellent panoramic views across the Surrey countryside. Dog-friendly and on a week day very few people.

Dog Portraits

Speaking of dogs, after several commissions painting dogs I find I rather enjoy it and am now taking orders to do oil paintings of dogs from photos. This cute little chap was a pleasure to paint.

'Toby' - oil on canvas Lee Campbell

Have begun a series of drawings of Holly the Saluki and took this pic as she adopted her default setting – ‘Dreaming of Me’.

The Sleep of Reason

The Shard & The Savoy – Byrne Bros Project

Last autumn I began a collaboration with Michelle Tilley, Health and Safety Executive of The Byrne Group to produce a body of work based on two of their current projects – one being the state of the art Shard at London Bridge and by way of contrast – the refurbishment of the much loved old Savoy Hotel on The Strand. This project is almost completed now so time to reflect and share some of the artwork produced exclusively for their head office in Teddington.  Due to the nature of the on going work it was impossible to do more on both sites other than take photos and make notes, but as with most of my work a degree of imagination becomes an enormous asset in these circumstances.

The Savoy

Working from photos taken during site visits I produced oil on paper sketches and charcoal studies of each of the sites.

'Ballroom' Savoy study Lee Campbell

'Serpent' study Savoy - Lee Campbell

I was fortunate to be able to visit The Savoy just before the furniture was installed and to see the completed interior beautifully lit and this formed the basis for the completed 4′ x 4′ oil painting that resulted. Using details from the interior and gold figure who stands majestically above The Strand entrance, I designed a composition which I hoped would capture the sense of history and the unique mood created by the presence of so many notorious guests and staff. The variety of different styles proved a challenge – how to incorporate the elaborate decoration of the ballroom with the stylish deco chrome pillars and leopard skin patterned carpet with gothic glamour. I have, of course also included the mysterious ‘white lady’ who has been seen disappearing into walls as recently as last year by the security men.

Study for Savoy - Lee Campbell

I also included Kaspar the shiny black cat in the lower right hand corner  – the story goes that in 1898 a South African diamond magnate by the name of Woolf Joel was visiting London and held a banquet at the famous Savoy before returning home. At the last minute one of his guests had to cancel, leaving thirteen to sit at table, which one guest said was unlucky. After a successful dinner, Joel said his goodbyes and rose to leave; the same guest then said that the first person to leave would also be unlucky and would be the first to die. Joel was not superstitious and thought this remark very amusing — but a few weeks later he was shot dead in his Johannesburg office.

Kaspar

For some years after those events, anxious not to have a similar incident that could damage their reputation, the Savoy provided a member of the hotel staff to sit at tables of thirteen, to avoid the unlucky number, but that idea proved unpopular with guests wanting to talk about personal or private matters; so in 1926 a new solution was found. A British architect and sculptor called Basil Ionides was commissioned to design and carve a three-foot-high model of a black cat, which he produced from a single piece of London plane.

Kaspar in his display case at the Savoy Kaspar awaits a party of diners Named Kaspar, the cat now resides in his own display case in the entrance hall at the hotel, but whenever a party of thirteen requires an extra guest he is brought out to sit at table. He has a napkin tied around his neck and is served every course, just like any other guest. Winston Churchill became very fond of Kaspar, to the extent that he insisted the cat should be present at every meeting of The Other Club, a political dining club he had founded in 1911, and so Kaspar has been at all the fortnightly meetings — always held at the Savoy — since 1927.

During World War 2 Kaspar was catnapped by some mischievous Royal Air Force personnel and flown to Singapore, only to have Churchill himself demand its immediate return!

There are two theories as to the origin of the number thirteen being unlucky. One derives from Norse mythology, in which twelve Gods sat down to a banquet in Valhalla. The evil spirit Loki gate crashed the party as thirteenth member of the party and killed the Gods’ favourite, Balder. Thirteen also has significance to Christians, as there were thirteen people at the Last Supper, and the traitor Judas Iscariot was the thirteenth and last to arrive. As to why a cat — the animals have held an important role in mythology and superstition over the centuries, and black cats in particular are considered by many cultures to be lucky.

The refurbishment began in 2007 and over 1000 craftsmen, artists and builders had been involved in the £100 million re-fit. The whole neo-renaissance limestone facade had to be moved forward by hydraulics 0.75cm – a very complex feat of engineering. The original Edwardian style had previously been updated in the 1930s and these current sumptuous theatrical interior designs are by Pierre Yves Rochon. I was shown the sealed room No 878 where a murder had once been committed and told of the many famous guests who had graced this hotel with their presence; Monet and Whistler (a huge hero of mine) had both painted the splendid view of Thames from the hotels windows, Winston Churchill, The Beatles, Marylin Munro and Richard Harris. I was very gratful to my delightful guide Stuart Harvey, The  Project Manager, who explained that the company enforced strict rules about good behaviour and to facillitate this ran an education programme for the 800 strong workforce. A very impressive opperation.

The completed large oil painting took many months and had many transitions before reaching the final composition:

First study - Savoy - Lee Campbell

Second study -Savoy - Lee Campbell

The Savoy - oil on canvas 48" x 48" - Lee Campbell 2011

For additional information see:

Gilt trip: Refurbishing the Savoy hotel 8.10. 2010 – Thomas Lane

The refurbished Savoy hotel looks a million dollars – which is just as well because it cost more than £200m to do up. Happily nobody was to blame for the cost and time overruns – except possibly the owner’s insatiably lavish tastes- see images:
www.building.co.uk/buildings/gilt-trip-refurbishing-the-savoy-hotel/5006858.article

For a comprehensive history of the Savoy: Wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savoy_Hotel

The Shard

Renzo Piano, the building’s architect, worked together with architectural firm Broadway Malyan during the planning stage of the project. Funder by Qatar the tower will stand 1,017 ft (310 m) tall and have 72 floors, plus 15 further radiator floors in the roof. The building has been designed with an irregular triangular shape from the base to the top. It will be clad entirely in glass. The viewing gallery and open-air observation deck will be on the top (72nd) floor.

Keiren Long of the Evening Standard  has written a piece examining the impact that the Shard will have on the area: http://the-shard.com/shard

Andy Bowden – crane operator has also written a piece about the experience of being at the top of his game://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/architecture/8314250/The-Shard-of-Glass-view-from-atop-the-tallest-skyscraper-in-Europe.html

When I first visited the site last year I wrote a blog about the experience of going up the side of the building to a considerable height in a wire cage and The Shard is now almost finished. In fact it is clearly visible from Richmond Park, the Thames at Hammersmith and probably from most of London. It is already truly magnificent! So what a challenge to complete a painting of an incomplete building. It seemed right to show the exposed core while simultaneously showing how the glass membrane will look. when completed on one side. Because the painting is being commissioned by the people building it, I also decided to use the main construction materials to represent the two Byrne brothers – one who specialises in steel and the other in concrete.

The textures that occur on the pillars of concrete are truly lovely and it seemed such a shame to render then with a smooth concrete over layer. The patterns on the raw steel are equally fascinating golden textures which occur as the metal oxidises.

Charcoal studies - The Shard - Lee Campbell

Oil study - Shard - Lee Campbell

Top Floor - oil study Shard - Lee CampbellGround Floor - Shard -Lee Campbell

Below - Shard oil study - Lee Campbell

The Shard oil on canvas 48" x 48" - Lee Campbell 2011

Finding a good image of the Shard would have been impossible without the help of the photographer Mike ODwyer who was kind enough to allow me use his images taken from a helicopter to get a good perspective on the rapidly changing cityscape from London Bridge.

To summarise – the project has been hugely interesting and absorbing and I have learnt a great deal about both the process of refurbishment and the constructions of a new build. The contrast between the old and the new could not have been more pronounced  but I have attempted to make the work fit into the modern offices of the Byrne Group and am looking forward to seeing it in situ. 

A special thanks for the idea and support to the prize winning architect Cathy Stewart.

Other News

Summer Exhibition – Portland Gallery 2011

A selection of new work is now on display at the Portland Gallery on Hillrise Richmond

Petersham Hotel - oil on canvas - Lee Campbell 2011

The above paintings  show how I paint around the edges of the block canvas I use. They do not need a frame but can easily be set into a floating or suspended frame with a gap to expose the painted sides.

Eel Pie Sunrise - oil on canvas - Lee Campbell

Sailed up the Thames from Eel Pie Island to Chelsea on L’Estrelle – a big houseboat converted from a Dutch barge – she had been having maintenance done in the boatyard on Eel Pie Is. and was due to return to her moorings Cadaogan Pier. Lovely adventure! Thanks John and Harry.

Web Site Updates

The video of my moment of fame of telle – ‘House Gift’ can now be seen on my site: http://www.leecampbell.co.uk/Video

There is also a new Gallery entitled ‘ Commissions’ with examples of past projects and private commissions.

Music, Mischief and Battersea Peace Monk

 

Charcoal study ‘The Savoy’ – Lee Campbell

Drawing – I love it and charcoal is such a fantastic medium to explore ideas and solve problems, so forgiving and suggestive. This is a ‘collage’ of images of the Savoy from photos taken during the refit last year in preparation for a large oil painting. So many ghosts seemed to be lurking in the lovely old building – so many stories of excess and larger than life characters.

 

Kaspar the Cat

It was in the 1920s that the hotel’s most famous resident checked in and never left. Kaspar the Cat, a 3-foot-high wood sculpture of a regal feline, was expressly created to ward off any superstitions of guests dining at the hotel’s Savoy Grill. Apparently, to dine with only thirteen guests is ominous, and the first to rise from the table will soon meet with tragedy. Kaspar’s role is to be the official fourteenth guest, served with every course as normal, should anyone unknowingly hit upon the unlucky number of diners.

Good to be back in the studio again too now the weather is warmer – it gets so cold in there that ice forms on the inside of the skylights.

Studio in snow - Lee Campbell

Old boat winch

Would like to pretend we had ‘two feet’ of snow but it was only about 6 inches – however this is what my feet felt like working in there until I treated my self to some seriously solid and waterproof Ugg boots. Fabulous!

Two Feet of Snow

Lost in Music

Xmas was a delightfully cosy and musical affair with champagne and a CD of Dylans’ radio show choices – ‘Theme Time Radio Hour’ – an excellent selection of early American music. This was enhanced by reading ‘White Bicycles’ by Joe Boyd which provides an overview of the birth of Rock n’ Roll. I also accompanied Steve to the radio station where he helps out with mikes for the live recordings – Radio  Wey (named after the river Wey) where Martin Clarke runs a blues show on Friday nights (9 – 11pm). The live act that night was Marcus Bonfanti – who writes his own songs and sings them with the conviction  and experience of someone many years older -

I also revisited an old favourite of mine John Prine and watched this video of him – what a lovely person he is with a rare mixture of humour and compassion in his song writing. Was lucky enough to see him in the 80′s here in London.  Also revisited a favourite from the 80′s – great lyrics about ‘dealing with the hazards’ by King Trigger it was the soundtrack of my migration back to London from Melbourne in 1983.

Other favourites from this period were ‘Modern Love’ by Bowie, Joe Jackson’s ‘Stepping Out’ and ‘London Calling’ the Clash.

All this and Huey Morgan on BBC Radio 6 current on 6 times a week!

Peace Pagoda – Battersea Park

Last weekend we were visited by Reverend Nagase the Buddhist Monk who is the guardian of the Peace Pagoda in Battersea Park. I first met him when he visited my shop on Ebury Bridge Road in 1998 and despite not speaking English very well his delight in art was obvious and we have been friends since then. Sadly, he is being ‘terrorised’ at the moment by a particularly tenacious vandal and is particularly vulnerable due to cut back in park staff. He lives alone and needs support more than ever so please help if you can – he welcomes visitors and can be contacted on 0207 2289620.

The Rev. Nagase spends his day in Buddhist meditation, ‘other works’ and in maintaining the pagoda, a job not made easy by the fact that people climb up it and make a mess on the second floor, an area forbidden to the public. He relies on donations to live and is grateful to the bread he gets from a local Caribbean bakery and vegetables from a Chinese vegetable shop. Any help is welcome, not least with his heartfelt pleas for assistance in cleaning the pagoda.

The idea of Battersea Park being home to one of Japan’s foremost Buddhist sects may strike the casual visitor as incongruous – to say the least. But to early morning joggers and dog-walkers it will not be a surprise. A saffron-robe clad Buddhist monk, gently beating a drum as he does a daily perambulation at sunrise from his temple to the Peace Pagoda, is a familiar sight.

The Reverend Gyoro Nagase first arrived in England in 1978 from Aichi prefecture, near Nagoya, in Japan, to assist in the construction of the first Peace Pagoda in the UK in Milton Keynes. In 1984 he moved to London, as part of a team of 50 volunteers and Buddhist monks and nuns of the Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist Order, to construct the Peace Pagoda in the park, which was completed the following year. They were living in what is now the Children’s Zoo but, as the site was expanded, the Buddhist order was offered a storeroom, in the trees near the Old English Garden, by Wandsworth Council, on the understanding they carried out all renovations and the conversion into a temple. Gratefully the offer was accepted, the work was carried out by volunteers and today, with just one remaining monk, that temple has developed into a successful centre for the sect, attracting Buddhist followers from not just London and Japan, but also people from China, Sri Lanka, India, Burma and Taiwan who are now living in the UK.

The Peace Pagoda stands about 33.5m high, and is made of concrete and wood. It has four large gilded statues of the Buddha, one facing North, one facing South, one facing East and one facing West. A small temple has also been built nearby, with just one monk of the Nipponzan Myohoji order as permanent resident. The monk currently occupying this position is Rev Gyoro Nagase, who came to England in 1978 from Aichi prefecture in Japan. Each morning at sunrise Rev Nagase makes the short journey from the temple to the pagoda, beating his drum and chanting the Daimoku. He spends his day in Buddhist meditation and maintaining the pagoda, among other tasks. Rev Nagase is a regular participant in the annual London Peace Pilgrimage, organised by Westminster Interfaith, under the auspices of the Catholic Church.

 

Gathering Battersea Park

Each year in June a ceremony for peace is held at the Peace Pagoda. Monks and nuns of the Nipponzan Myohoji sangha are joined by monks and nuns from other Buddhist traditions, in chanting and offering prayers in front of a temporary shrine set up in the environs of the pagoda. Representatives of other faiths and of secular peaceseeking organisations also offer prayers for peace. The ceremony finishes with traditional dances from India and Sri Lanka, and music of various kinds.

 

Peace Pagoda, Battersea Park

Nasty Scam – Artists Beware

This scam is currently targeting artists and people selling goods on line and from web sites.

It was quite a convoluted scam that took place over 5 weeks from the initial contact from a chap in Denmark asking about the artwork on my web site. This is quite normal  I get a lot of genuine enquiries, and after many e mails he finally selected paintings to the value of £6,000 and said he was also buying some furniture from Manchester and asked if the paintings could be transported there.

He then sent a cheque despite being asked to use Pay Pal or BACs transfer but alarm bells rang when I saw it was a UK company cheque – with someone else’s name.
Then he requested that I send him £2000 to cover transport – by Western Union – and this is where he came unstuck as I’d not agreed to pay for that.
I notified the bank and despite the cheque clearing initially it proved eventually to be stolen.   Easy come  – easy go!   It seems that this scam is being used worldwide and they are particularly targeting artists at the moment.  Such a waste of time but good lesson.

Points to look out for:

The amount offered not same as price of goods

Offer to send cheque only – they are stolen and will bounce

Poor English that becomes increasingly worse

Requests for money

Please pass this on

Shocking News from New Zealand

Update December 2010

More earthquakes! Poor old Christchurch has had nearly 4,000 aftershocks since the big one. Another big one 2 days ago.

Poor old Christchurch is still being rocked by aftershocks and according to my friend Bev, who lives there, they have had over 150 of them- follow this link to see them recorded as they happen.

http://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/quakes/recent_quakes.html

So much damage and apparently there was a terrific roaring sound as it was happening – what a horror -  however the true NZ spirit – thriving on adversity is illustrated well below:

On a happier note  – fabulous weather last week and off to Brighton to deliver a painting to a customer – lovely excuse for an outing to the seaside – fish n’ chips on the beach and the countryside looking lush in the last bloom of summer. Coincidentally, within the last few weeks I’ve been contacted by 2 customers from the Claremont Gallery in Brighton which was run by the lovely Pat Dodd until 2001 and who I’ve sadly lost touch with. It’s so good to hear from people who have my paintings particularly people who had bought them many years ago. Although they’re sold they still continue to be an integral part of my creative evolution and it’s been an excellent reminder.

Holly at the beach

Another delightful piece of news: ‘Rosie’ The Patriotic Piano finally has a new home – she was purchased by a father for his daughter and is now residing in North Yorkshire having raised money for the charity in the process. What a lovely end to her long journey. A very big ‘Thank you’ to all who helped to make that happen and you can hear her being played beautifully by her new owner

Went to a reunion on Frid night held at my old art college in (KIAD as it was then) Canterbury and the only people I saw there that I knew were my old art tutor Tony Mott, who taught me to draw at The Heatherley School of Art in Chelsea long before I went to Canterbury, and a fellow student from the year below me, Sue Fisher, who didn’t even know it was happening but had popped in to see the MA show which was also on. Lovely to see her though and made it all worthwhile. Good also to see Ted Harrison’s MA paintings, very thoughtful spiritual work. So weird though seeing my old studio space all empty and bare – I felt like a ghost – an invisible memory echoing down distant hallways. After all it has been 20 years since I graduated and I would really like to contact Sarah Dodman who graduated with me in 1991. Sarah are you out there?

Finally finished this painting I’ve been working on all summer, it’s part of a series of river paintings like this one

'Submerged' oil on canvas - Lee Campbell

More young talent in the form of Danica who is 16 years old and has auditioned for the famous Berwick St Studio in Soho in London and she has just got a recording deal with a record company
Check our this link – you’ll be amazed

What a sensational voice!

SAVOY RE-FIT NEWS

Also last week, a visit to the Savoy to gather more images for the project I’m working on for The Byrne Group – overwhelming, sumptuous, hyper-decorative, fantastic – like a series of film sets – especially so as there was no furniture in place yet – waiting for all the actors to appear. A real privilege to have a  preview as it doesn’t open till 10/10/10 – very auspicious I’m sure.

The blue feet are to protect the newly laid flooring – some carpets still had covers on.

Shrubs with Attitude – Clanfield to Chester

At last – a holiday! Short but very sweet. Started with a visit to my cousins who run Silver Pear Weddings at historic Friars Court, Clanfield.  Seriously old building:

The first recording of buildings on the site of Friars Court dates back to 1142 and the establishment of the first ‘Hospitaller’ in Oxfordshire by the charitable, religious order of the Knights Templar Order of St. John of Jerusalem. An ‘Hospitaller’ was a place of rest for travellers and from it are believed to derive the words ‘hospital’ and ‘hostel’.

In a chronicle of 1338, Friars Court is mentioned as being “… a small house with gardens, dovecote and adjacent crofts worth 30s a year”. This accommodated the preceptor (the only serving brother), a chaplain, a steward, two servants and three pensioners.  A few years later after the building of a bridge over the River Thames at nearby Radcot (now the oldest surviving crossing to remain standing), the increase in passing traffic must have had a strong influence in making Friars Court a more important stopping point.

By the middle of the 15th century the “small house” had become a stone-built hall with a ‘great chamber’; a separate kitchen, with an adjoining building; latrines to the east; a bake-house and a stone-built chapel with a walled garden to the north.

The house remained under auspices of the Order of St John until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s after which it became a private residence. From 1558 until the turn of the 19th century Friars Court had a varied succession of owners, often joint owners, most of whom let the house and land to tenants. During this period the most significant change to the house, before the alterations of the 19th century, was the addition of an attic storey and the remodelling of the façade in the 1650s.

We stayed in the sumptuous ‘Brides Room’ which is apparently haunted and overlooks the water meadow where I joined a family of  coots for a spot of morning yoga beside their water lily pond.

Later, a lovely summers evening walk along the upper reaches of the Thames to Radcot Lock as the sun was setting – took loads of reference photos including these amazing ‘hedge faces’ – perfect reflections of the hazy Oxfordshire sunset with swans, reeds and wildflowers as we made our way past the cows and wheat fields to the local pub.

On to Symonds Yat (Yat means gate in Welsh I think) on the Wye where we visited the red stone Goodrich Castle that we could see from our hotel window. Later with rain threatening we climbed up to the lookout for spectacular views down the valley and made it down to the pub just as the heavens opened.

Next day we took the tiny roads across beautiful Herefordshire countryside to Hay on Wye, up to Ludlow for lunch (renown as being a town to delight gourmets) then Shropshire and on to Meole Brace Hall in Shrewsbury – a historic house full of exquisite antiques and artwork tucked away next to a church. I’d never been to this part of England before and was delighted to discover what an interesting town Shrewsbury was. Our host was the charming Charles Hathaway who directed us to a hidden walking route into the town and made us an excellent breakfast next morning. Just wonderful!

Then on to the Cheshire border to visit Welsh relatives Alan and  Joy Parry who took us on a grand tour of Chester, up the Moelfamau Hill,  then to The Wirrel for ice creams on the edge of a sea of grass, complete with gulls and holiday makers at Parkgate where water had once been.

Alan spent his working life at Shotton steelworks on Deeside.  The plant opened gradually in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and was huge concern employing thousands by the time of World War One.  Nationalised in 1967, by 1979 the plant and the whole industry was struggling under the pressure of foreign competition and industrial unrest. In 1980, British Steel took the decision to close the furnaces at the plant, making 6,500 workers redundant and leaving only the finishing operations such as rolling and plating.  However, Alan worked down the line from the furnaces in logistics where he pioneered the use of computer systems to track the loads of metal travelling through the plant.  Shotton was ahead of the times in this way, having first installed a computer system in 1976.  Alan retired in the 1990s and Shotton is now a much smaller private concern owned by Corus.

Home on Monday and a production team from ITV arrived in my studio to film someone buying one of my paintings for a programme with Lawrence Llewlyn Bowen – House Gift. Sadly she only had a limited budget but it will be great to see the studio on tv.

'Pulse' oil on panel -Lee Campbell

That evening was also the Bridgeman Art Library’s annual summer garden party at the Chelsea Art Club – very exclusive, no mobile phones allowed and just great to meet all the people who help sell the rights to my images which are held in the library.  Always a thrill to see a long lost painting appear on a book or CD cover. Lots of well know artists there and I also spotted Antonio Carluccio – whom I usually associate with networking breakfasts.

 

Pearls & Bubbles - Lee Campbell

Above is the large 6′ x 4′ commission that I’ve completed for Joseph’s Hairdressing Salon in St Margarets. So many bubbles! I did get a bit carried away but they were such fun to do. Pearls and bubbles a theme in keeping with the previous ‘Orb’ series and the bubble paintings that I did at the NPL last year.

A very big THANK YOU to all who braved a hot sticky night at the Portland Gallery on Richmond Hill last night- the show continues till 26th August – contact gallery for opening times Tel: 0208332 1200

Great event in St Margarets yesterday – food, live music and happy people! Looking forward to our very own Queens Rd street party next Sunday.

 

 

Blasted slag and Dr Feelgood at London Bridge

Q. What grows at 3m per day and has roots 50m deep?
A. The Shard – destined to be 72 floors high it will be the tallest building in Europe when completed in 2012.

This magnificent building designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano had already climbed to 21 storeys high when I was invited on a site visit with the architect Cathy Stewart by Michelle Tilley of Byrne Bros who has commissioned me to design and produce artwork for the foyer of the Byrne Group who are the concrete sub contractors who are building the core structure.

What an amazing experience it proved to be – after penetrating the tight security we were kitted up with glasses, gloves, boots and high vis. jackets by Rob Moore who gave us an in-depth tour of the site. Rob shared my love of rock music and had been the tour manager of Dr. Feelgood when they had played Melbourne where – by coincidence – I had seen them play in the 1970’s – people have such multi-faceted interesting lives these days. Quite bizarre to be discussing this in a wire cage as we were pulled the side of the building, past the crane driver reading his paper, to the 21st floor with London sprawling  below on a glorious sunny spring day.

With the 2 Robs

The tour started with the 3 levels of basements we clambered down the narrow stairs into a noisy hive of activity and witnessed the rendering of the huge pillars of concrete textured with spirals and ridges (like ancient Romanesque) by the earth and clay walls of the bore holes that the concrete was forced into.

The scene was reminiscent of a Piranesi drawing – with activity deep below and high above, glimpses of glowing welding sparks, gigantic metal tubes, sheets of metal – some steely grey others golden with corrosion. It is the sheer scale of everything reminiscent of the lair of one of James Bond’s villains and the noise of all the activity – felt quite  relieved when it was time to return to ground level and ascend.

There had been an enormous ‘pour’ the previous week which had been organised along the lines of an army manoeuvre: over a gruelling 36-hour operation, 700 truckloads of concrete were deposited at the London Bridge site. The 5,500m3 single concrete pour ranks among the largest ever undertaken on a building in the capital, with trucks arriving on site at 2 min intervals from Battersea and Greenwich it marked the first major milestone in the construction.

This culmination of the building’s groundworks package has created the huge raft foundation that will support the tower. The build is a ‘top-down’ construction which involves casting the ground floor slab and excavating the ground below while work on the superstructure above continues.  Fascinating process with concerns for safety due to the busy location and the heat generated as concrete cures. A ‘secret formula’ was used and described by Don Houston (the snr. project manager of Byrne Bros, ground granulated blast furnace slag to replace 75% of the cement. Plasticisers and retardants are also added to increase the flow.    At last  – the language of artists! Which reminds me why I am there… my brief is to complete 2 pieces – one about the Shard and the other based on the Savoy Hotel re-fit which Byrne Bros. are also working on. I am off to visit the Savoy next week and can’t wait to see how things are looking there – what a contrast to a spanking new build where, as Renzo Piano so beautifully put it – one is ‘taking from the city – the air – but you give back the land.  He is referring to the angle of the design which allows the sky to continually reflected down to the street.

Following the visit Cathy and I crossed Borough High St to the café in Southwark Cathedral where I was astounded how similar the oldest part of the walls were to the most recent parts of the Shard. I have so many images, sounds and ideas buzzing around in my head, can’t wait to begin.

Who says concrete ain’t sexy!

 

Elton plays Patriotic Piano

Busy couple of weeks getting the dear old piano up and running again for her re-launch in the Plaza on Oxford St. Meeting up with my old friend John – the piano puner and John Ellis (aka Elton John) who did his tribute act bringing the mall to life last Wednesday. The piano had been languishing in the basement of the arcade since last summer and has finally been re-assembled, cleaned and had the paint work re-touched ready to go to a new home which will be decided by popular vote. The choices are between Nordoff Robbins, Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity and The Brit Trust.

To cast your vote – go to – www.facebook.com/theplazaoxfordstreet

What a delight to see the piano being played with such gusto and attracting lunch-time crowds – many taking photos – wonder how many will end up on Youtube etc?

More lunch time ‘tributes’ will take place Weds 17th (Sinatra) and Weds 31st March (Stevie Wonder).

I completed a commission to paint this misty scene last week – where does it remind you of? I’ve heard a number of personal interpretations and I think that this is probably a measure of success – like haiku poetry perhaps – where simplicity allows people to project personal ideas and memories into it.

'Misty' oil on canvas Lee Campbell

The client is the professional horticulturist Valerie McBride-Munroe – aka Aunty Planty – who is no doubt able to name every species of grass in the painting, so I took care to ensure a degree of accuracy. Although the original is not available I am allowing it to be made available as a limited edition giclee print and The Bridgeman Art Library will also hold the image with reproduction rights. They currently hold over 50 images of my paintings which have been sold over the last 10 years – so its good to know that through this the images can live on, appearing on CD and book covers etc. worldwide.

www.bridgemanart.com/search.aspx?key=Lee%20Campbell&filter=CBPOIHV

There has been more international exposure in an Istanbul Art Gallery who saw my work at the Florence Biennale and I am delighted to allow them to represent me. They are able to accept the paintings unstretched which makes transport so much easier for me and means I can re-use the stretchers.

Bad Green, Getting High and waiting for Mr Wright

Birthday Blog
So many friends having birthdays at the moment and a great gathering at the Roebuck, Richmond Hill for Sunday lunch, despite dire weather predictions the sun came out and lit up the bend in the old Thames. It’s become a bit of a tradition to meet there to celebrate my birthday – this location is very significant for a great number of people, myself included – ‘The View’ was first glimpsed when driving by on the way home to Thames Ditton where I lived in 1974. I returned to this place briefly in the summer of 1988 then, by sheer coincidence, found myself living nearby in St. Margarets in 2001. Since then I have painted this view many times and never tire of shifting light effects and changing colours.

Birthdays can be times of reflection and with so many years and so many journeys I feel blessed to be living the life I always wanted (every day is different) in my favourite place, with dear people. It has been a fine time to catch up with long-lost friends too – some who have found me through my website and others who I have found through networking sites. People have always been extremely important to me and as a lonely kid on an isolated farm in NZ I longed for the postal deliveries from Mr. Wright our mailman, who drove the red VW van that brought bread, English magazines (Jackie, Girls Crystal), and best of all – letters from my pen friends (India, Japan, UK, Tonga). On sunny summer holidays I would lie in the long grass and wait for the sound of his van on the dusty gravel road – other days I would look down our drive to see if the metal flag on the side of the US style mailbox (fixed to a tall post) was up – this would indicate a delivery.

Much of my twenties and thirties were devoted to travelling to the exotic places my pen friends had described – in fact travelling became quite an addiction (49 countries last count) making it hard to decide which hemisphere, let alone country, that I wanted to settle in. Now with Google Earth, Facebook etc. it’s possible to feel part of the global community and the sense of isolation that haunted my childhood has vanished.

I recently spent a delightful evening at York House in the company of the Riverside Communicators, our local branch of Toastmasters, where I met a lively group of people dedicated to improving their public speaking abilities. I was asked to speak in a spontaneous session at the end – very scary but fortunately the topic was ‘green’ and as any of my painting students could tell you – I am quite passionate about the use of bad straight-from-the-tube shades of green paint instead of either mixing one’s own or overlaying yellows and blues – so I enjoyed an opportunity to air this view to the somewhat surprised audience.

Avatar What an excellent movie! All my foresty flying fantasies brought together in one glorious place. Tall sinewy blue people so thoroughly connected to their environment that they lit up the forest floor where they walked. The use of the reflections in the glass was a real stroke of genius too. Shades of ‘The Field’ my favourite book by Lynn McTaggart which explains the connections between all matter at a quantum level. A life changing read that I thoroughly recommend. My ‘Orb’ series of paintings is based on the self similarity of microcosm and macrocosm – they could be tiny photons or vast stars in far-off galaxies.

While I’m on a nostalgia kick – The first movie I ever saw was Disney’s animated ‘Peter Pan’ – cotton wool clouds and aerial views of tropical islands jewel-like in a turquoise ocean – what an excellent introduction to imaginary worlds.
Also as a tiny child I was given a 3D Viewmaster with discs that could be rotated to reveal stories with a magical depth – my favourite one was Aladdin with jewel-encrusted caves and a magic carpet that ‘flew’ over exotic nocturnal cities. Streams with water so clear you could see every stones and fish transported me from my sickbed to fantastic landscapes. How such things can shape our lives without us even realising it and how lucky I was to have parents who valued the power of imagination.

Below is a commission I completed last week for Ken Sethi of Genesis – the West London company who do the prints of the ‘Union’ painting for me. They do a huge range of image reproduction processes to a very high standard and are an excellent company to work with. I worked from a small photo, scaling it up into a large oil painting. I enjoy commissions because they can be challenging and take me out of my comfort zone.

Catastrophic Optics and Brocken Spectres

Catastrophic Optics and Brocken Spectres

These are 2 visual distortions that have fascinated me over the last few months.
During my residency last year at the NPLab I was introduced to the phenomena of Catastrophe Optics – great name!
Have you ever stared into a cup of tea or coffee and noticed the play of light on the surface or the patterns light makes on sand when seen through water or the sun sparkling on a lake or pool?
These are delicate patterns are the optics of nature, the physics of light, otherwise know as interference diffraction phenomena.
The mathematicians Thom and Arnold discovered that there are only 3 forms that these departures from symmetry (known as caustics) take – the fold, the cusp and the swallowtail. To see these shapes – www.phy.bris.ac.uk/people/berry_mv/pictures/poster1.pdf -
I never quite found a way of incorporating these sculptural twisty geometrical shapes into my artwork but as someone who has spent a lot of time painting sunsets over water I find the idea that something as apparently illusive and transitory can be ‘pinned down’ scientifically and analysed. The image below is a painting I did of the Marshall Islands with the sun shining through the clear tropical water.

The second visual distortions are called Brocken Spectres – wonderfully ghostly phenomena sometimes witnessed by mountaineers when the conditions are just right. The examples below are closer to the earth – misty forest and in the headlights of a car.

This is the explanation with the help of wikipedia.

A Brocken spectre (German Brockengespenst), also called Brocken bow or mountain spectre is the apparently enormous and magnified shadow of an observer, cast upon the upper surfaces of clouds opposite the sun. The phenomenon can appear on any misty mountainside or cloud bank, or even from an aeroplane, but the frequent fogs and low-altitude accessibility of the Brocken, a peak in the Harz Mountains in Germany, have created a local legend from which the phenomenon draws its name. The Brocken spectre was observed and described by Johann Silberschlag in 1780, and has since been recorded often in literature about the region.

The “spectre” appears when the sun shines from behind a climber who is looking down from a ridge or peak into mist or fog. The light projects the climber’s shadow forward through the mist, often in an odd triangular shape due to perspective. The apparent magnification of size of the shadow is an optical illusion that occurs when the observer judges his shadow on relatively nearby clouds to be at the same distance as faraway land objects seen through gaps in the clouds, or when there are no reference points at all by which to judge its size. The shadow also falls on water droplets of varying distances from the eye, confusing depth perception. The ghost can appear to move (sometimes quite suddenly) because of the movement of the cloud layer and variations in density within the cloud.

The head of the figure is often surrounded by the glowing halo-like rings of a glory, rings of coloured light that appear directly opposite the sun when sunlight is reflected by a cloud of uniformly-sized water droplets. The effect is caused by the diffraction of visible light.

Fabulous! The science and beauty of these images is justification (if it was needed) for the inclusion of the occasional ‘ghost’ or presence in my paintings. The glorious neutral colours in the first image serve to emphasise the subtle rainbow effect and this may well find it’s way into the new body of work that I am currently working on. At least it will – as soon as the temperature in my studio rises above 5 degrees (and that’s with the heater on).

Recent noteworthy experiences
Nudity in Epsom
Cold misty morning loaded up the mini with art materials, my trusty assistant and navigator Steve, and model – Hugh Barnden who is also an established artist in his own right. We arrived at the Royal Automobile Club – an old stately home well off the main roads and set in a beautiful landscape of rolling hills and golf course. We had been hired to put on a one-day Life Class for the members and what a delight it was!
The class took place in the sumptuous Derby Room with heavy velvet drapes and ornately framed oil paintings of horses lit by chandeliers. It was without a doubt the best environment I’ve ever taught in, fabulous lunch, delightful participants and all really well organised by the RAC staff. The environment echoed the dignity and gravitas that was once awarded to ‘Life Drawing’ – according to my more elderly art tutors – students would have to spend their first years drawing only from plaster/marble figures until they could show sufficient skill to be allowed the privilege of entry into the hallowed ‘Life Room’ where a roaring fire and thick curtains would protect the naked model from draughts.

Porcelain Rocks!
Bathroom Fantasies and Dental Delights
The Atlantic ‘Creative Bathing’ exhibition – so much more than a plumbing showroom! Following my weekly networking breakfast I travelled to Fulham with Frank Harrington to understand more about his business. Well I knew that he was very professional in his approach to all the basic plumbing and heating needs but I wasn’t prepared for the astonishing array of state of the art appliances, ‘sculptural’ radiators, elegant heated fittings, and wall and floor surfaces displayed in a manner to rival any art gallery… there were beautifully lit mysterious alcoves – one revealing a shower/steam/wet room with seating, changing coloured fibre optic lights and choice of music. A stylish period bathroom complete down to the smallest detail, elaborate Art Noveau shower fittings fit for royalty and not least – a bathroom with built in flat screen TV complete with it’s own waterproof remote control. http://www.atlanticplumbing.co.uk/ Go see!

Still in awe of the way science and design can be combined to enrich the daily functions of our lives I make my way back to Hammersmith to my next appointment with Dr. Ian Greenwood – the dentist who has recently joined our group and has established new premises off Hammersmith Broadway. Ian explained that Salisbury House has a long history in the area as the home of dentists and he has spent some time sensitively restoring the interior. However, the actual waiting room and surgery are bang up to date with all the latest hi-tech dental equipment which he patiently explained and demonstrated – so amazing to see ones actual mouth quickly recreated on the computer screen. Classical music and artwork on the walls combined to produce a relaxing and professional environment. I have found my new dentist. Dr. Ian Greenwood 204 Hammersmith Rd. Tel: 020 87486543

Addition to Post – 28th Dec 2010

Below is a painting done from the reference photos – it was shown of several occasions but no one really recognised what it represented so I’ve since painted over it:

'Spectre' - Lee Campbell