Lucian Freud

We were saddened to hear of the death of Lucian Freud last week. Although he was not one of our favourite artists, we did see some of his pictures earlier this year at the John McCracken exhibition at Hartlepool Art Gallery.

Freud is a very popular British artist and is probably best known for his portraits which have been exhibited and sold all around the world. He has painted a wide range of people from family and friends to fellow artists and celebrities like Kate Moss and even the Queen.

His portraits are characterful, often nude and highly focused on the individuality of the sitter. He liked to get to know the people he painted, finding out about their unique personality and characteristics. This, along with his slow and deliberate painting technique, meant each picture could take weeks, months or even years to paint.

In 2008, Freud's portrait "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping" sold for over £17 million, becoming the highest price ever paid for a work by a living artist. This picture took around four years to paint with Sue Tilley, the subject of the picture, posing for a few days each week during the process.

Having learned a bit more about this remarkable artist, we have become much more interested in Freud's work and we are pleased to see that the National Portrait Gallery are to hold an exhibition of his portraits early in 2012. We will certainly be amongst the visitors to that show.

The exhibition runs from 9 February to 27 May 2012.

Vicky And Vince,

Love Your Art.

John Jones Linoprints

One of the highlights of our day visiting Scarborough recently was calling in to John Jones' studio a few miles to the north of the town. We wanted to visit John as Vicky likes linocut prints.

John uses the reduction block method to create his prints. This involves building up a picture with layers of different coloured ink, working from lighter to darker shades. For each layer areas of the lino surface are carved or etched to form the printing area needed for the layer. When the final layer is complete, the block can't be used to make any more prints as the patterns for all the previous layers have been reduced to the final one. The end result is not only visually attractive but is also a high quality piece of art.

We were given a demonstration of the actual printing process using a linocut of a goose that John had previously used to make Christmas cards. He used a roller to apply ink to the lino then positioned the block in the press, a hand-operated Albion platen press from around 1830. In a matter of seconds, he had a perfect print of a goose!

John normally uses photographs or drawings to guide his work, either copying them closely or simply using them to inspire his own interpretation of the subject. Although he doesn't favour any particular themes in his work, we did notice that there are quite a few windows - stylish Georgian fanlights, Gothic style windows framing the scenes beyond them and, our favourite, images representing the seasons viewed through the window of a railway carriage.

As we were about to leave, John gave us the goose print he had made - a lovely reminder of our visit.

Vicky and Vince,
Love Your Art

Art In The Park

As far back as I can remember, Brinkburn Dene in Darlington has been a place for leisure and relaxation. It's where I learned to ride a bike. It's where I saw Punch and Judy for the first time, gathered conkers each Autumn and enjoyed endless hours of hide and seek in the bushes (when the Park Keeper wasn't around). But over the years, the six denes became a bit neglected; seats were vandalised, flower beds were abandoned and gates fell apart.

However, in recent years, the council have given more attention to this useful local amenity. And this year an award from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Big Lottery Fund has meant some further developments including a bit of art.

Last week I witnessed the installation of a steel arch at the Pierremont Road entrance to the "Sheddy" dene. This is the first of the new, artistically decorated entrances that will soon be installed in all six denes.

The artistic effects are fairly subtle and have been created to reflect a different theme in each of the denes. This one (lower picture) has a theme of water and wood - representing the numerous trees and the beck that flows through the dene.

The designs for the arches have been created by artist Coralie Turpin. As part of the re-development project, she held workshops with community groups of all ages to identify and explore themes for each dene. She then took all the ideas and artwork from the workshops and consolidated them into simple themes for the six denes. Ideas ranged from the wood and water mentioned above to butterflies, flowers and footballs.

The £878,500 project also includes new bridges across the beck, lighting along some of the paths, new seating and signs. I'm looking forward to seeing the other archways and enjoying some new experiences to complement my childhood memories - there are still plenty of bushes for hide and seek!

The arches are being manufactured by Sheffield-based Mayflower Engineering,

a specialist in sculptural metalwork.

You can read more about the denes project or visit the website of Coralie Turpin.

Vince,

Love Your Art.

Digging Deeply

What an interesting and popular series Fake or Fortune has turned out to be. The BBC show (BBC1, Sunday evenings, 7pm) has told some fascinating stories about the art world. We have learned a lot about how the art world works and have been entertained at the same time.

The first programme informed us about research into a painting that was claimed to be by Monet. Presenter Fiona Bruce and art expert Philip Mould visited Paris to investigate the picture's history. The found what seemed to be conclusive evidence that the picture was genuine, linking its previous owner with a dealer's label on the back of the picture. However, the people responsible for authenticating genuine Monets flatly refused to accept the evidence. The picture's owner and the presenters were all hugely disappointed at the news.

In the second programme, a painting by American artist, Winslow Homer, found near a tip in Ireland was due to be auctioned in New York. The investigators established the history of the painting but shortly before the auction the original owners got in touch to claim it back. The painting was withdrawn from the sale and a long-running legal battle continues to decide who really owns the picture and what is to be done with it.

Last Sunday, the investigation set out to find whether a picture thought to be by Van Baburen, a pupil of Jan Vermeer, was genuine or a forgery. The picture had been donated to the Courtauld Institute in the 1960s and their team had mixed views as to the artist. Some experts were pretty sure that it had been painted by Van Meegeren, a prolific forger during the first half of the 20th Century. After much to-ing and fro-ing between London and Amsterdam, the scientific evidence proved that it was a forgery. However, this may have increased its value as there are many keen collectors of Van Meegeren's work, despite its dubious status.

If we were to make one criticism it would be that the programmes are filled out a bit to fit the one hour slot. This is not uncommon with documentaries these days as producers seem to want to fill their allocated broadcast times with only as much as they can get away with. Vince fondly remembers the early Horizon programmes that were packed with facts and information, an entirely different style to today's stretched out documentaries.

The final program in the series is next Sunday but you may be able to catch up on earlier episodes on the BBC iPlayer.

Vicky And Vince,

Love Your Art.