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.
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
Been frantic getting work ready for my new Hampton Hill Playhouse Exhibition and what a delight to finally hang it today! I finished the last piece yesterday. This painting re-visits my old haunts in Pimlico. I lived in Dolphin Square and worked as Resident Artist on Grosvenor Dock during the week then Tate Britain in the weekends so I used to spend a lot of time cycling along this stretch of the Embankment.
I managed to get 12 fairly large pieces hung in the space without it looking crowded.
The Exhibition is at 90 High St. Hampton Hill and will run till 24th January. For opening times please contact the Hampton Hill Playhouse – 0208 4104541 or myself – 07900 242997
'From Above' - oil on canvas Lee Campbell
'Battersea Glow- - Lee Campbell
'Revelation' oil on canvas - Lee Campbell
Time now to concentrate on the on-going Shard/Savoy commissions for the Byrne Group and private commissions with Xmas deadlines.
Oil on paper study of the extraction tube at the Savoy - Sept '10
It’s been so good having Holly (Dog) and Huey (DJ) Morgan (Fun Lovin’ Criminal) to keep me company. I always try and get to the studio by 10 in time to catch the beginning of his show on Radio 6. He brings a gritty rock n’ roll reality to the station and has a genuine camaraderie with the musicians he interviews.
Twickenham Riverside
The Autumn colours have been fabulous and having a dog allows for much more time to appreciate them on the way to work and lurk in cemeteries (Holly’s favourite squirrel hunting ground) on the way home at dusk.
It’s also the time of the ‘draw off’ when the Thames is effectively shut down between Richmond and Teddington Locks so the river edges can be cleaned of debris – shopping trollies and the like. The boat dwellers complain of sloping floors as their home ‘bottoms out’ and things slide off tables.
Other news since the last blog was an e mail from my artist friend in Sweden, known simply as ‘Denis’ he sent me this amazing image of the painting that documents his battle with cancer.
He explains:
“I didn’t paint a face consciously. But rather worked on the whole painting in ‘one movement’ over a period of about six months. So the size (over 3mtrs) prevented me from making a deliberate choice of any specific image as such.(too close.. to physically see it.. I mean).
The work changed as I changed my acceptance and understanding of my illness and its psychological effect on my being as a male.(Penile Cancer does that to a man). I have worked on a version of ‘mind’ projection (sic: physiogenomic projection) method for over twenty years- now and over the last decade or so I have made efforts in integrating both emotional and spiritual content into an image relevant to my feelings and experiences of the world and life.”
What a journey and what a fine way of dealing with the battle.
Networking and enjoying my new role as Secretary /Treasurer of BNI Hammersmith, we have an all girl leadership team and with over 40 members are the most successful group in central London.
Breakfast networking people
One of the new members is the charming Dereck Celis who visited my studio with his girlfriend Georgina and entertained me with travellers tales and this great picture of himself with Johnny Depp channelling Keith Richards.
I took some great photos of Keith off the telle of him during an interview and although I haven’t done a portrait for many moons his face is such an inspiration that I’m really tempted.
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.
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.
See fabulous photo of a Sun Dog on BBC weather site:http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/feeds/16945733
After a month of working on moody misty landscapes like the one above, the arrival of spring means that my painting is due to take on a more colourful attitude any day now. Coming from the South Pacific where the colours are brighter means that using bright strong colours comes naturally so it has been a real challenge to find beauty in subtle neutral shades – one I enjoy – but occasionally I need to replenish my soul with deep turquoise blues and red golden purples.
I’ve been exploring atmospheric optical effects and the latest I’ve found are Halos, Moon and Sun Dogs – A circular halo, is formed by the refraction of sun or moonlight through cloud suspended ice crystals as opposed to raindrops or other liquid water suspended in the air. Sometimes only arc sections are visible as opposed to a full circle. Brighter sections can occur above, below, and lateral to the center (where the sun is visible). The lateral bright areas are referred to as “sun dogs,” “parhelia” (plural), or mock suns because of their bright appearance and possible confusion with the actual location of the sun.
The use of this awesome phenomena may be a way to introduce more colour while keeping the ghostly atmosphere in the landscapes.
With spring’s arrival our wood pigeons have been very active and are keeping us entertained with their antics.The one on the right (we assume to be the male) has lost part of his foot while seeing off a rival but he seems to be doing OK and has learned to balance even in the wind with only one claw. They are nesting in the lime tree outside our kitchen window. FAT BIRD HAS DUVET DAY
Fat bird has duvet day
That Monday morning feeling! This was the sight that greeted me along with a note under my studio door one soggy Monday. Some people have owls to deliver messages ……
NEWS FLASH
Steve’s new web site for his Sound Production company is launched www.dazzlesoundproductions.co.uk
Sound Recording – Music Production – Audio Restoration
For the last 8 years this station has been my constant daily companion when painting in the studio or working at home listening through my Mac. The DJs are like family (sad I know) but to start the day with Shaun Keavney’s wit and irreverence, coffee & chats with Lauren Laverne, lunch with Nemone and evenings with Steve Lamacq and dear Gid and his duffers. Sunday painting sessions are done in the company of Huey Morgan (Fun Lovin’ Crimals) and his muso-rock mates and the lugubrious yet scholarly Jarvis Cocker delighting with obscure and amazing tunes, and of course the gentle-voiced Guy Garvey (Elbow) late at night – what’s not to like! All these national treasures have an extensive knowledge and devotion to music most having played in bands themselves so can give illuminating insights and tell anecdotes of life on the road gigging. The variety of great music combined with the absence of dreaded repetitious brain numbing commercials makes this station simply irreplaceable – so you can imagine my dismay to discover that this wonderful thing is under threat from the BBC controllers BUT we can fight and so to help PLEASE click on the following link….
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/email-the-BBC-Trust
As my friend Steve says – it’s about music that doesn’t rot your brain… so in the name of the late John Peel and all that’s not SimanBullsick – support Radio 6 now.
Loch Morar – Oil on linen – Lee Campbell
