Author Archives: Lynda Stevens

So 2016….

The summer was an enormously creative time, thanks in part to being able to work with artsits in the public, at the Gozsdu Court every Thursday in the city of Budapest (and at home too) via the Ferdinand Gallery.  Alas, that is no longer possible for the time being due to other commitments and anyway it is starting to get colder……

Several small pieces of mine are already on show at the Jancsó Galéria, at a cosy cellar in Kazinszky Utca 3.

Meanwhile, on the 25th November I will be involved in a group exhibition at Ráday Utca Budpest, organised by Péter Fekete, who has been hosting life-drawing classes, with wine and snacks – sometmies more – at the end of each session. On the 4th November I have been invited to show my work through the Mo Mo Csoport, or group, at the Rottenbiller Café, in the 7th district.  The working title will 1The Pearl of Great Price,’ or in Hungarian ‘A Nagy Értékü Gyöngy.’ Once  I have the invites ready, I will be posting more precise information.

 

So watch this space…..

Open Studio Day and New Works

This coming Saturday, March 19th at 4 00 PM, I will be hosting an Open Studio at my home at Rákosfalva. Nibbles will be provided, some drinks already available, but visitors are asked to bring either a bottle, or nibbles. I will show visitors my latest works, alongside older pieces, and present other smaller pieces in albums. I will give instructions on how to find me as soon as I know that enough people will be able to attend.

Here is an image of the latest work to be shown on My Colour Drawings page:Spring Paisley

This kind of design is very labour-intensive and soon I hope to have enough to create a keep calendar purely of these on my RedBubble website, which can be viewed here.

I have also ben working on a small series of citiscape works, which can be viewed here – some of these, at just 20×20 cm, cannot realy be inclided among my larger works, even though they are on canvas:

Columns in twilight

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All work shown here now comes with my unique signature.

Life Drawing and Small Works

Girl, reclining Girl, lyingThe life drawing group, organised by fellow artist Peter Fekete, is getting more lively, though new artists are always welcome to come: here are two new recent pieces of mine. The model was particularly pleased with the one I completed on the right.

Recently I attended an exhibition of EgyedEgyed László, at the Örkény Bookshop gallery on St István Körüt: his work is that of a real master. The exhibition venue was very well attended. Most of the pieces were drawn in subtle shades, though others were created using more pronounced outlines and others still were almost minimalist in places:

egyedworksEarlier on, the host of the life drawing class, Peter Fekete, put on a retrospective show for his late brother, Andrew Fekete, at a private venue, at the  Berekei Art Studio, 17 Andrassy Utca.  The work is described as being lyrically expressionist, borrowing from the themes of alchemy and Jung – the alchemy theme is certainly something that has interested me for the pőurposes of my own work. Here is a photo of Peter with the main organiser and the gallery owner behind him. The venue was beautifully lit and exceedingly fine wine was served fot the occasion. The work was rather mixed: the later works consisted of thick landscape daubs, whilst his earlier pieces, which I preferred, showed great intricacy in design. Peter talked about the work expressing the sense of alienation of growing up as an alien in London. Being a stranger in a strange land really can be fraying on delicate souls but there are plenty of ways in which it is easy enoughto end up feeling alienated to my mind.

Recently, for example, I encountered a small venue in the city that catered for Outsider Artists at the so-called Tárt kapu galéria – the art brut exhibition in this case, belonging to a group of individuals suffering from autism.  artbrutThis of course means that the artists cannot very well speak for themselves, with all the potential for such individuals being marginalised and therefore possibly patronised as a given – all the same, it was good to know the venue exists.

There is in any case still the chance that the life drawing group will be able to have a group exhibition at some point in the near future, depending on how well this can firt in with various commitments and timetables.

Finally here are some new pieces I have also put up here, belonging to my newer series of mixed-media works on paper:

Light and Gold Cave Light on sand and ocean surfaceMany of these have been completed at Gozsdu Court, as part of the Montmartre show, organised by the Ferdinand Gallery.

I am not sure how far that is running into the winter but for the time being, that does appear, still to be ongoing.

The Montmartre experiment, the Whale and the human

This year has not been an especially eventful year from the point of view of exhibitions. However, I do have one work on view at a venue in Budapest called the Bálna, or Whale – on the ground floor. This is a place run by a certain Mihály Lapú, who also puts on solo exhibitions for local artists. The interior venue of the gallery space, called Új Nesz, is very shabby chic, with old antique artifacts and furniture set against more modern-looking artworks. The Old Curiosity Shop.

IMG_20150610_184151There is also the possibility of a new society forming in the city for a small group of artists who meet together to hone their life drawing skills. The classes take place once weekly and afterwards there is usually a party involving food and wine. In the future there may also be the possibility of a group exhibition. I hope to have featured a few of my works – more on that if this does come into being.

Over the summer I have also been taking part in a new opportunity in Budapest to work alongside other artists in the open air and in front of the public, at the Gozsdu Court in the city centre. This is the Montmartre experiment. The venue is organised by the Ferdinand Gallery – here is their page on Facebook.  The idea is that real artists will have the chance to connect with real people, as well as literally adding more colour to the ambience of the vicinity.

IMG_20150804_140415Do come and visit if you are in the area. I can update individuals locally on whther or not I will be there via my art page on Facebook.

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New Experiments in Pattern and Colour

Recently I have been returning to the very first media in which I worked – that of patternistic colour drawings in pen and ink. There drawings are created with Caran d’Ache colour pencils – occasionally with Derwent colour pencils too – covering a whole A4 surface of paper with contrasting and complementing shapes and patterns.

The imagery mainly comes pretty well automatically- but compositions such as the one featured here are experiments in colour too. Red Sickle ChaosThe earlier ones I have posted here, such as this more recent one, titled Red Scythes, was created against a warm beige background, so that the red scythes were given more emphasis.

In this newst one, however, I worked against a grey background and the red shapes here are subsequently far more subdued, whilst the blue and their opposite numbers on the spectrum, the primrose yellow patterns, stand out far more dramatically.

Purple Paisley on GreySoon I hope to have more compositions like these to post – in the meantime, there are more to see on my page here for colour drawings.

Print-on-Demand websites that also show my work

I would like to draw our attention to some of the sites where my artworks can be bought as prints, cards, calendars, or more. I am aware, however, that it is now possible to get printed all the things offered on these sites from local outlets – and possibly more.  I would also be more than happy to answer genuine inquiries about creating customised prints using a local outlet. The same naturally applies to the question of inquiries regarding any one of my original pieces.

The first of these print-on-demand sites is Red Bubble. The calendars are generous in size and so not clutter with unnecessary detail, the cards pleasant to look at.  I also have a selection of works  available as prints, either on paper or on canvas, at FineartAmerica.

A similar POD service is available at ImageKind as well as at The Untapped Source.

I do of course have a presence at Saatchi.

Meanwhile catalogues of my work are available at Blurb.com.

 

 

 

Updates to Site

Recently I have added or replaced several pieces as well as adding a whole new page for a set of much smaller pieces a while ago, some of which I had made into cards – these can be seen in ‘Smaller pieces.’

Untitled

There are some new canvas works in my ‘Larger mixed-media’ page too: This is another experiment in reflective, matt ad opaque surfaces, using gold and copper shades alongside greys, whites and iridescent opal.

Shimmer

 

I have also uploaded two or three additional life drawings.

Male Nude, reclining

 

I have added several new gold-paint based pieces created on paper on my ‘New paper mixed-media pieces’ section, experimenting still further with different textures, reflective surfaces and shapes.

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Finally I have just completed a new colour drawing using caran d’ache pencils at my colour drawing section.

Red Sickle Chaos

Much of the last few months has consisted of retracing certain steps made in order to move forward again and in looking both forward and back.

New exhibition coming up!

My next exhibition will be in just 2-3 weeks now – at the Müszi, at Blaha Luiza Square, Budapest, on Thursday November 20th at 6.00 pm. The exhibition will be opened by Egyed László.

I will be showing a larger number of pieces, both recent and older, than I did at the Ékezet Gallery.

The title of the Exhibition is ‘Here and Now’ and I will be showing mainly newer and more recent compositions, alongside a few older works. The exhibition is meant to show how some of the techniques I have worked on have evolved in terms of style, up to the present. I work using materials ranging from acrylic to wax, metal foil and glass fragments, creating further layers of complexity over reflective surfaces.

And I am delighted to be getting the opportunity to show my work againl.

Szimpla Kert mixed exhibition and other updates

The exhibition at the Ékezet Galéria went very well.

Here is a Facebook link to the photos taken in the course of the evening. And a big thank you to the Ékezet for helping to make it such a pleasant occasion! The exhibition will still be there until the 28th September.

Another place where I have a work on view as part of a mixed exhibition is still on at the Szimpla Kert, a ruin pub in the heart of ‘alternative’ Budapest. This is part of the ongoing programme to open up the world of art to both artists and viewers within the city of the Kazi30 Galéria, now moved to Paulay Ede Utca 56. The anarchic atmosphere and ambience of the Szimpla Kert does seem to be one of the better places to do this.

Until more recently I did not really know any other practising atists within the city, but now I do have the chance to meet artists regularly to do life drawing together. Here is the opening of one of these other members, Egyed László, whose very fine and sensual life drawings were exhibited not so long ago.

Seems there could be quite a lot happening in November, so stay tuned.