College of West Anglia Equine Centre

Today I again did some print on site photography at the College of West Anglia Equine Centre. Here are three of some of the falls that take place whenver showjumping takes place.
There were no serious injuries and it was only the riders pride that was bruised. All three got back on and rode making sure they then jumped a fence before leaving the arena.

It was a lovely sunny but cold day so lots of coffee was needed as I stood in the arena. They are a great bunch of riders always encouraged and supported by staff and helpers.

The next event I will be covering will be dressage in a few weeks time so unlikely to have these sort of spills then.

My daughter Sarah did the printing and selling for me even though I think she was feeling the worse for wear after Carleys birthday party last night so thanks to Sarah for her help and also to Marian for putting some of the images on my website so that more sales can be made.

My landrover Discovery ( well I think its mine as Sarah always seems to have a reason to "borrow" it ) had a dog guard fitted yesterday which turned into a 3 hour job to get the fixings correct. Thanks to Chris at Fenlandrover for his skill and patience.

Will post again soon

Rob

Music and Dance Wisbech

Wisbech is holding a Music and dance festival tomorrow and sunday where Fenvac has an art exhibition in support of their event. Marian, Heather and myself have spent today setting up the display boards and hanging the work. We will be staffing the exhibition for the two days and I will be photographing the event for the council.

Here are some of the images I have hanging, some of which are "straight" and some altered in photoshop.

A number of the instruments I photographed are very old and are part of the Chatteris Museum Collection so thanks to them for the loan.

I have included a number of ballet shoe shots in the exhibition and a thanks to Lou for getting them for me

This final image is not in the exhibition but was uploaded by mistake and has nothing to do with music and dance but as I dont Know how to remove it I will leave it here lol

Journeys

Monday sees the start of my next joint exhibition entitled "Journeys" with Marian. This exhibition is representative of my journey through life with a first for me, this is the addition of some prose to some of my images. I have written some prose for years and untill now I havent felt happy to add them to the images. The "preview" or "meet the artist" evening is Tuesday from 6:30-8:30. Everyone is welcome at March library for this evening and the exhibition will run for two weeks.

Busy Time

Its been a busy few weeks with the finishing of my joint exhibition with Marian and then this last weekend Fenvac has put on an exhibition of its members work. This was part of the towns Medieval Festival. Five of us put on workshops with Marian and Kath doing one on Art Journaling and mine being on Portrait Photography. With this over I have to get busy on my next exhibition with Marian entitled "Journeys" and overlapping that we are putting an exhibition of art based on music and dance as part of a nearby towns festival. Also managed to visit a reclamation yard to take some photos, a few of which I have posted here.

I love to see "found shapes" and photograph them and reclamation yards although at first glance look like things have just been dumped it is when you look closely you can see a sort of oder and lovely shapes and textures as well as interesting signs. Hope you enjoy the images

Gerorge Clare Surgery Chatteris

Tuesday saw myself with two members of Fenvac at the George Clare Surgery in Chatteris to meet with Barbara Green the Practice Manager to get a publicity photo for the local press. The partners through Barbara have kindly invited Fenvac members to hang art work throughout the building giving us the opportunity to reach a wider audience with our art. Four member currently have work displayed, Marian, Heather, Richard and myself. The work will change on a regular basis so all members will have an opportunity to show their work.

Here is a picture of Heather Barbara and Marian.

Yesterday saw six Fenvac members at RAF Wyton at a special day where we were able to show the art we produce and to chat with staff from the base. It was a great day with lots of interest shown in our work. A big thanks for their invite and hospitality

Cavell Centre

The Cavell Centre is based in Peterborough and is for people with mental health difficulties. Having been approached by a representative from Arts & Minds, Marian, Ric and myself were invited to submit work to be displayed in this new centre. After a selection procedure all three of us had work accepted. This one one of my images that was selected and will soon be displayed for up to a year.

Its always nice to have worked judged by a panel of people and know that the work, as well as being decorative will be used by the staff to elicite memories and feelings from those being treated at the centre.

Exhibition

Hello again



First can I say "hope you get well soon" to Marian who has snapped an achillies tendon playing badminton last evening. We have a joint exhibition leading up to Mothering Sunday which starts with a preview evening this comming Friday from 5pm-7pm at Chatteris Library. All are welcome





I have agin done some mixed media acrylics to compliment my photographs mainly involving shoes and handbags which you all know is one of my ongoing projects. I hope you enjoy the images posted which will be in the exhibition.

New exhibitions

With the current exhibiion going so well myself and Marian are planning both joint and solo exhibitions for the next year. Booking venues that are suitable is always difficult and although many will be based locally we are also looking further afield.

I like the idea of strict deadlines as it focuses me in a way that gets lots done in a short time. Some people ask if that makes the work less artistic but to me it doesnt, I dont think the amount of time spent on a piece necessarily makes it better. Art in all its forms is the artist conveying their emotions in their chosen media. Some work can take minuites others can take years. I dont think you can value any art on time taken.

I hope to have a good proportion of new work for each exhibition and some will be all new work on a set theme. In the meantime here is some of my images to break up all the words. I hope you enjoy the blog and find inspiration in everything you see and do.

The day before Exhibition Prieview

Its Thursday and Marian and I are making last minute arrangements for the preview evening which is tomorrow evening from 5pm-7pm. Marian will hang the exhibition in the morning and then hopefully many friends will join us for nibbles and drinks.

Above are a few of my acrylic works that will compliment the photographic images.

I will try and post over the weekend to let you know how it went. Hope you enjoy looking at the images.

Ehibition starts on Friday

The joint exhibition I am having with Marian starts with a preview evening at Chatteris Library this comming friday from 5pm untill 7pm. As usual we are both in a panic both if we have enough work that is good enough and that people will turn up and even buy!!.

There are so many last minuite things to do and due to my work commitments Marian will shoulder most of these.

The two images I have posted do not form part of the exhibition but are from my ongoing project on shoes. I hope to have about 30 finished pieces which will include handbags by March.

This week has seen me both at lots of meetings and Friday evening I photographed performances by local bands and musicians at March Town Hall. Called Fenland Jam I hope to have some of the images on my website before the end of the week.

Yesterday saw a small but dedicated group of Fenvac members vist Chatteris museum to draw paint or photograph some of their exhibits. We also chatted about visiting all five museums in the group and putting on an exhibition of the work done during these visits. A big thanks to Jenny for organising it and being there to join in the art.

Hope to see any of you at the preview evening on Friday 30th Jan or if you canot make it then pop into the library during its normal opening hours

Rob

Sunday Morning

Well its Sunday morning again and I am thinking back to how much work I have done this week. The main focus has been on some textured acrylic on canvas. These are part of work for the joint Valentines exhibition which starts on the 30th Jan and lasts untill 14th Feb. There is going to be a preview evening on the 30th from 5pm-7pm.

The exhibition is going to be entitled " The Art of Love " and although I will be exhibiting some acryclis the main work will be my photographic images. The really hard part of selecting work for the exhibition is deciding on work that will appeal to women to buy for their man. I think it is generally much easier to buy gifts for women.

Ellie has been press ganged into designing the posters and flyers to promote the exhibition so the comming weeks will see us trying to get these posters into as many places as possible as well as targeting local media.

Wednesday saw me at a meeting to help organise the towns main event which will be a Medeaval Festival taking place in the summer with lots of local groups taking place. This will include Fenvac which is Fenland Visual Art Collective. I chair this wonderful art organisation and on Friday we had a committee meeting at my home to discuss plans for events over the comming months. Next saturday we are having an "art" day at Chatteris Museum where members can go and paint, draw photograph etc. Jenny who is also on the committee of Fenvac is one of the main people responsible for the museum so she will get out pieces from storage as well which will be great.

I have put a couple of images which I hope you like The one on the left was taken in New York and is the type of more reportage work I like to do. This is a homeless lady who spends her time around the financial district where all the big banks are located.

Sunday

Hi

Well its Sunday and having had a busy day in the garden, defragging my photo computer and finishing off some mixed media pieces I thought I would keep to my new year resolution and post to the blog. I have finished six pieces for the upcomming Valentines Day exhibition which will be taking place at Chatteris Library in the East of England. These mixed media pieces are art I would not normally do but thought it may be something new to add to my photographic work.

Marian with whom I am exhibiting is also working hard even though she took her daughter Ellie, another talented artist, to see the Mighty Boosh over the weekend. Ellie had tooth ache I think so hope she was able to enjoy the show!!!!!!!!

Being winter the weather is cold but even worse is the short days. I feel much more energetic and creative when the weather is nice and the daylight hours are longer. I dont think I suffer from S.A.D. but may just add it to my list of ailments when I just want to stay curled up in my warm bed and dont fancy facing the cold to take pictures.

I have added a couple of my images so hope you find them interesting and leave comments if you wish. Thanks for spending some of your valuable time reading this and I will post again soon.

Rob