The Dandelion community Celebrates the Spirit Justice tour

When I talk about my artwork and its role as illustration or painitngs on prints on walls, I always talk about its ability to start conversations. This is the point of it being on exhibition or being sold. When I began as an artist, I had no idea that this would be any individual piece’s purpose or my overall purpose as an artist. I just created art. As my art started to blend with my theology after my ordination, I noticed that the artwork, in whatever form, became a kind of proclamation about justice. This was as unexpected for me as it may be for you.

The Spirit Justice tour is on its second leg, now at The Dandelion Community in Wythenshawe, south Manchester. This is what the Revd Kate Gray, minister of the community, told me about their first Sunday with the paintings:

“We had a whole service about it yesterday with 50% of the congregation with adults who don't read or write and the conversations were amazing - with reflection on experiences like childlessness and fathering, about education in schools, about the slave trade and human trafficking, about people in small boats seeking safety. They shared about childhood experiences of abuse, of religious control and of what kind of God, what kind of church and what kind of people we are in relation to all of these. People loved that they didn't have to go to an art gallery to see your art and that the materials and professional presentation of your work was very important for them too in receiving it. Wow. Thankyou.”

Kate kindly took a few videos of me talking about the work. Here’s the one on Padonna:

https://youtu.be/PP6sPFesXM8

If you want to see others, they’re on my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc1k_-8erzjYvKmtPS6wldg

Appreciating Health and Social Care

Appreciating Health and Social Care is the name of the new book in which I have illustrated the concepts and processes of Appreciative Inquiry for the health and social care sectors in the UK. I am, of course, delighted to have learned that it is the only book in the world addressing a cultural change in the health sector through a positive strength based approach. It has potential to change everything. Truly. I share this post from my commissioner, Appreciating People, with whom I’ve worked before. They are your source of the book and more information: https://appreciatingpeople.co.uk/

I have an excellent photographer :-)

It only occurred to me today in a conversation with someone else, that I rarely mention, and never I thank in writing, that I have an excellent photographer. This is critical. Every time I talk about a Gallery Print or a Giclee or an embellished Giclee on cavas, I’m talking about a photograph of my painting which is then transferred to digital print. There would be no print sales otherwise. Only one painting has been proffessionally scanned and I’d never do that again (!).

An excellent photographer is a hard thing to find. The first criteria is that they understand the point of the photograph, not only what the image should be in terms of focus, light and colour, but what the overall idea is supposed to be. They get the context and higher purpose. But they are also skilled at seeing the fine detail. My photographer is an absolute gift and he also happens to be my husband. I had no idea, even when we were first married, that this is the skill he would bring to a real working parnership.

When we work on a photoshoot, we use a room with excellent surrounding light, not direct light. We used to use my studio, north facing with a huge window and blinds. We now use our front room with a light mushroom coloured wall, a large south facing window and lights we can position as needed. Pete chooses all the camera settings for things I didn’t even know existed. I then plug the cameral into my Microsoft Surface Studio computer with a screen resolution of 4500 x 3000 and open the image, usually with the painting next to me. Seldom, but possible, is that I’ll open the photograph in Camera Raw and make adjustments. The fun thing is that if the image isn’t quite square becasue we may not have the distance of camera to size of painting which we need, I can straighten it when I move on to Adobe Photoshop.

When I write ‘We’, I truly mean we. My artwork gets out there because of Pete. Quite a team.

Prints!!!

Well, my word, I’ve been learning about prints.  Six years ago, in the midst of a good deal of consultancy and ministry, I thought I could just add a string to my bow and let prints sell themselves.  This, dear reader, does not happen.  It’s taken me over five years, a significant ministry, stopping teaching project management, retirement from the United Reformed Church, the closure of one printing company and the search for another to take up the music of prints again.   

The exhibition tours have been a wonderful context in which to learn!  As I’m raising money for Open Table Network and anti-racist charities, the ability to sell prints makes sales much more affordable than originals.  Beautifully, some originals have found new places to live when the exhibitions close in August. Prints though, are selling faster and raising those needed funds for me to put my passions into tangible resources. Thank you, the dear customers who are reading this.  You and I are making a difference.  

If you were to visit a page of an artwork you like on my website, you’d find a button called print availability.  It gives you a list of the print formats available. So far, the only type of print not to sell so far is the embellished giclee on paper. No, six years ago I didn’t know what one of those was either.  Now that I know, I honestly believe that I like some of my work in print more than I like the original.  The tangible feeling of a giclee print is amazing; it looks like printing on velvet with rich colour.  Art prints are generally a run of them and signed. Everything giclee is a limited edition print, numbered and signed. Embelleshed giclees become new originals and signed as such.

If you haven’t found that page button on print choices yet, here’s the list, below. All you need to do is let me know which image and type of print you want as well as the overall finished size you have in mind.  I’ll let you know what is possible bearing in mind paper and printer sizes and we’ll go from there.

 

∞     Art Prints are created with laser printers onto quality wood pulp art paper.

∞     Gallery Poster is a typical art gallery format with laser printer on poster paper, supplied rolled in a tube.

∞     Giclee Prints are inkjet sprayed onto quality cotton rag paper. They’re known for their vibrant colours, fine details, and archival quality. The term "giclee" comes from the French word meaning "to spray," referring to the precise inkjet spraying process used in their production. They’re guaranteed to last at least 100 years (though no one’s been alive long enough since development to know…)

∞     Embellished Giclee Prints are customised by me adding details, textures, or hand-drawn elements to make each cotton paper print unique. The result is a print that combines the advantages of digital printing with a personal touch.

∞     Giclee Prints are inkjet sprayed onto artist canvas material. This gives the print a texture and appearance similar to a traditional painting on canvas so that they resemble original paintings.

∞     Embellished Giclee Prints on Canvas are customised by me adding details, textures, or hand-painted elements to make each print unique. Embellishments added on top of canvas give the print a more three-dimensional painterly effect.

Exeter! Spirit Justice!

The Spirit Justice Tour has begun, I am delighted to say. The minister and officers of Southernhay United Reformed Church were incredibly prepared and deeply welcomeing for the first stop on this tour, with the well lit windowed foyer turning into a lovely gallery. This exhibition in a busy city centre is raising funds for Anti-Racist charities and I’m delighted to say that prints were sold at the opening to help the Plymouth and Devon Racial Equality Council. In other venues, churches will make their charity connection of choice and 40% of sales will go to that chosen charity. One of the paintings from this exhibition, I Am Your Neighbour, is going on after the exhibition to live at DARE to support asylum seekers, refugees, their work and their workers. I am so very pleased.

Part of the Spirit Justice Exhibition

St Asaph's Cathedral is stunning

What a stunning place tor the Open to All Exhibition. St Asaph’s is the smallest Cathedral in Wales in one of the smallest cities. Yet, the welcome is huge and the open arms for anyone and everyone is an enormous hug of support. Open every day, the Cathedral is open for visitors who can see much about prayer and spirituality alongside the building and people’s historic difficult relationship with England; yet, they can see so very much to let them know that they can find space and hope in this sanctified space. This exhibition sits well, helping the church, like Coventry Cathedral, say what it wants to say for itself. The more this tour goes on, the more I realise that Open Table Network and my artwork are in each venue because that church or cathedral wants to reinforce what it is already proclaiming – good news for all.   This is profoundly hopeful when much of the media wants us to see otherwise. This was the point of the tour and I’m delighted that this has been so welcomed.  Money is being raised for the Open Table Network from artwork sales and that means that advocacy for open churches is able to continue. Hurrah and hurrah.  

One, Am I Free, I Don’t Know Yet and Nativity Tancred

Points in the bright transept

The Unfolding

Coventry's gorgeous sale display

I asked Coventry Cathedral if I could sell prints and postcards from their shop - and they said yes! They even dismissed the customary shop overhead so that there would be more to share with the Open Table Network. Not only did they display the work for the shop, they made a gorgeous display for it! There is still just time to visit today and time tomorrow morning. But by after lunch, the exhibition will be folded away, tucked into Abi for the next trip. St Asaph’s, here we come!

Please contact me if you would like prints. The following formats are available. All prints on paper are sold on ivory mounting board. Frames may be ordered. Prints on canvas are stretched on wood.

Art Prints: Art Prints are created with laser printers onto quality wood pulp art paper.

Gallery Poster: Gallery Poster is a typical art gallery format with laser printer on poster paper, supplied rolled in a tube.

Giclee Prints: Giclee Prints are inkjet sprayed onto quality cotton rag paper. They’re known for their vibrant colours, fine details, and archival quality. The term "giclee" comes from the French word meaning "to spray," referring to the precise inkjet spraying process used in their production. They’re guaranteed to last at least 100 years (though no one’s been alive long enough since development to know…)

Embellished Giclee Prints: Embellished Giclee Prints are customised by me adding details, textures, or hand-drawn elements to make each cotton paper print unique. The result is a print that combines the advantages of digital printing with a personal touch.

Giclee Prints on Canvas: Giclee Prints are inkjet sprayed onto artist canvas material. This gives the print a texture and appearance similar to a traditional painting on canvas so that they resemble original paintings.

Embellished Giclee Prints on Canvas: Embellished Giclee Prints on Canvas are customised by me adding details, textures, or hand-painted elements to make each print unique. Embellishments added on top of canvas give the print a more three-dimensional painterly effect.