A VERY, VERY, VERY FINE HOUSE

Our house is a very, very, very fine house

With two cats in the yard

Life used to be so hard

Now everything is easy

'Cause of you .....

- Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young

This was one of my favourite songs many moons ago and it still makes my heart miss a beat when I think of my first love singing it to me . (Listen to it here)

Nicholas Wilton painting the house in his studio.

One of the finest houses I've seen is the one above by Nicholas Wilton . He is one of the 20 artists who have created unique houses to be auctioned off in aid of The Ritter Centre. This is an organization that serves low income families and the homeless in San Rafael, California. Nicholas has written about the progress of his house on his blog, starting here . It is well worth reading to find out the ideas behind it and the meaning of the symbolism.

I love the fact that Nicholas has scratched words into the paint to form sentences which spiral up around the sides of the house. These words are often used by the homeless to describe their experiences.

Threshhold : Folded with Blue and Umber by Kate Hunt at the Cadogan Contemporary.

Folded. Mixed media on canvas by Kate Hunt


Settled. Oil on canvas by Selene Santucci, here.

A Slip in Time & Place. Mixed media by Maurice Gray. See more here.



It Was 5 Years Ago Tomorrow. Mixed media by Maurice Gray

For some light hearted relief have a look at Elaine Thompson's delightful art here. Whimsical houses feature in many of her drawings and paintings.

Hello There. Matted Graphite on Paper by Elaine Thompson

SHADES OF GREY

Untitled (Hitchcock series) by Robert Natkin.

Whilst walking along a misty beach early one morning, I realized that it was on the soft grey days that I felt most contemplative and content. The muted colours were somewhat soothing ...... and actually, it was a relief not to have the sun in my eyes as I searched the shoreline for bits and pieces to put into my niche carvings.

Sorting through the flotsam which had collected in the crook of a sand dune I marvelled at the beautiful shades of grey. Mussel shells which had roiled at the bottom of some rock pool, pebbles and driftwood rubbed smooth by the sand, downy feathers dropped by industrious sand pipers and my find of the day, remnants of a weathered fish trap .

Driftwood Assemblage from Hanspeterroersma's Flickr photostream. See more here.

Once home and happily reunited with my computer (though I hate to admit my obsession), I found I was gravitating toward art and photographs in beautiful shades of grey.

Black to White by Robert Natkin.

Robert Natkin is an old favourite of mine.

"He is a visual poet whose apparently abstract images actually exist to enchant us with intimations and evocations of things we can sense but never quite see." - Theodore F Wolff

Kalahari by Nicholas Wilton

Rhythm of the day by Leslie Avon Miller

"Having always lived in the Pacific Northwest very near the rain forest, I often live in an environment of grey and white – white caps on the waves of grey seas, seagulls in their grey and white finery, dark grey sands and rocks contrasted with white sea foam and white sea shells, and grey mists hiding the mountains…..the list is long. I see the beauty in the mists as they lift and reveal part of a decomposing dock, or bits of the mountain tops, or a wind carved tree on a cliff as exquisite as a sculpture of granite. One learns to love the subtleties of the colors and the nearly monochromatic shifts." - Leslie Avon Miller

Haunted by Sarah Giannobile.

My friend Lyle often sends me links to new artists and Sarah Giannobile is one of them.

" I use my imagination as a tool to opening up my experiences that once were forgotten." - Sarah Giannobile

Cloth by textile artist India Flint , who is also author of Eco Colour

India Flint has posted glorious detailed photographs of her new series 'landskins', on her website, here. An exquisite series in which "wool felt is used to bind fragments of silk, wool and other natural fibres together to make a cloth; then dyed using plant dyes."

Desire turns concrete by Shayla Perreault Newcomb

Shayla Perreault Newcomb has filmed an Oil Painting Tutorial where she chats about her process, here.

Transience by Donna Watson.

" Currently, I am interested in the passage of time, and what remains. This may be the physical effects in nature or the psychological effects on memory or identity. With the passage of time there is a transience depicted with traces, layers and recollections. I try to take what is personal to me and make a more universal connection." - Donna Watson (interview with Leslie Avon Miller, here. )

Painting from the Expert Mover series by Laurie Pearsall

Laurie Pearsall exhibited the Expert Mover series at her recent exhibition which you can read about here.