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.

Art For All

Darlington Society Of Arts is holding its annual exhibition at the Arts Centre in Darlington. We couldn't miss seeing a large number of paintings, ceramics and mixed media by local artists so off we went.

We were impressed by the quality of the works, the range of styles and techniques used as well as the variety of subjects. We would love to talk about them all but we only have space to mention a few items that caught our attention.

Bella Staithes by Cassandra Anderson is a watercolour of Staithes harbour in unusual shades of purple, pink, brown and turquoise. To us, it seems to be alive with movement and activity, we can almost hear the seagulls and splashing waves. It has an atmosphere that many similar pictures fail to achieve.

Cassandra likes to paint all kinds of subjects. She told us that she paints very quickly and has built up a diverse collection of work. She is now studying Art History through the Open University.

Jack and Rosie Mackenzie are brother and sister and both obviously talented artists. At the show they are exhibiting mutual portraits in acrylic. Both pictures use completely different styles yet both are full of character and emotion.

Rosie's portrait of Jack won the Junior Award. It captures the light and shade on Jack's face perfectly. Jack's portrait of Rosie was highly commended. His technique of bold brush strokes works well to portray his sister in an intimate pose of laughter. It's a pleasure to see some younger artists applying their skills to portraits, a genre that seems to have lost its popularity these days.

The exhibition runs until 19th November 2010 at Darlington Arts Centre.

Love Your Art,
Vicky and Vince

Guess Who?

As she gazes out from her frame, her eyes seem to follow you around the room. She poses gracefully, a lady of elegance and beauty. Her enigmatic expression puzzles you - what is she thinking? Is she happy, content, amused?

Sadly we don't have the original Mona Lisa on our living room wall. Not even a copy. But we do have Rosita, our very own Mona Lisa! She languishes in the corner of the living room pondering the everyday comings and goings. Her expression is undefinable. An expression that is sometimes curiosity, sometimes fascination, sometimes disapproval. Like the Mona Lisa, her enigmatic expression makes it difficult to tell what she is thinking. Her aura is both charming and disconcerting.

We discovered Rosita in a charity shop earlier this year. We were looking for a portrait and it's hard to find an attractive one! She looked old and tired behind the dirty glass and distressed frame. We almost passed her by, but her eyes followed us from the moment we entered the shop. We had no choice but to rescue her.

Back home, opening up the frame revealed a modern painting in acrylic on board. The frame is probably old, with traces of old woodworm, chipped areas and rippling glass. Once cleaned up and hung on the wall, she came to life and her true beauty shone out.

She begged for a name; we chose Rosita from her Spanish appearance and the pink roses in her hat. We admire her poise and deportment, her confidence and experience, her slightly un-nerving gaze and her endearing charm. But she remains a puzzling enigma on the living room wall.

Love Your Art,
Vince