Enthusiastic Encouragement

Last week, the Studio welcomed its first 'Photoshop for Artists' workshop participants into our new digital training suite. Sited directly above the main studio each was assigned their own PC or Mac work station connected via the network to a large format scanner and printer. This unique course . described by one participant as a kind of 'boot camp" for anybody looking to update their practice or refresh their photoshop skills, covered scanning, sending images by email and saving files to CD. A must do for artists looking to promote, store or develop their work into digital print. During the day participants took a break, taking advantage of the tea and coffee facilities before being turned loose in the studio to make prints with our enthusiastic encouragement,

What we failed to do was to take any photographs. Oh dear.

ARTISTIC MATTERS

Originally trained as an architect, Margaret Jones has turned her skills to painting local scenes. It comes as no surprise that buildings, figure in much of her work, and it is their setting in the Oxfordshire village of Deddington and its surrounding landscape and countryside that in general provides inspiration for various watercolours. When talking to Artfusion about her work Margaret said " I have found that since becoming more interested in artistic matters, that there are many visual experiences which inspire and motivate me to paint. Often the topics are buildings, but also landscapes. However, ornamental and historic gardens, and other subjects can all get me painting".
Following her recent visit to the Studio Margaret is now planning to deconstruct and experiment with a number of her images, producing them on a larger scale and using a variety of media. We look forward to working with her.

A Voyage of Discovery

Intrepid artist Sue Templeman recently attended a 'Mixed Media' workshop at the studio home of Cotswold artist
Anuk Naumann. Exploring different themes from still life to landscape Sue and other students embarked upon an exciting voyage of discovery,experimenting with a range of media. Inspired by her journey Sue immediately set about creating a number of pieces of work some of which she has now selected to be produced as limited edition Giclee prints.

If you would like to know more about the work of Anuk Naumann, or indeed her workshops you can visit : www.anuknaumann.co.uk

London's Calling

During 1979's hothouse summer, London Calling was to prove to be the magnus opus for punk legend The Clash. For London based artist Carlo Antonio Zenone it is surely his series of charcoal and ink drawings of St Paul's Cathedral and the Millenium Bridge. Adopting a calligraphic technique and using Chinese brushes Carlo's work relies on being immediate, spontaneous, and uncluttered. When Carlo phoned the Studio from his London home inviting them to produce a series of limited edition prints we were more than pleased to respond to his calling.

INTERNET ACCESS

Artfusion deals with a wide range of artists both young and old (our oldest artist is 86 yrs of age) and they all want to promote and sell their work. What they are all aware of is how things have changed in the art world. Colleges of art and design, galleries, art agents, print publishers and the buying public are all increasingly seeking information about artists online.

However, despite the plethora of 'self build' web sites and associated low entry level costs many of our clients are still daunted by the thought of setting up their own site. Many are not web or computer savvy, others have time or financial considerations. In recognition of this fact and in order to provide an extended service to our artist community we began to utilise self build services to develop and maintain sites on their behalf. As a not-for-profit organisation our rates are extremely attractive and more importantly affordable - making the Internet accessible to all.

MATCHMAKER

Artfusion's role extends beyond simply being a digital print studio. We are often required to act as an art consultant which involves matchmaking between artists and their clients needs especially in a time when people are increasingly aware of the look of their homes, colours and furnishings.
We recently acted in such a role with the artist Dianna Homer. Dianna who divides her artistic talents between producing fine art and decorative art visited the studio last week to discuss a client brief. The client had expressed an interest in two of Dianna's ink drawings depicting leaves. However the client wanted the drawings to be reproduced on a much larger scale and placed on a coloured background that matched a specific Farrow & Ball manufactured shade of white. Utilising the Studio's spectrometer and
regulated colour workflow we were able to produce a perfect match.

BIRDS-EYE-VIEW

Many modern and contemporary artists have produced work inspired by aerial views of landscapes, including Georgia O'Keeffe, Susan Crile, Jane Frank, Richard Diebenkorn, Yvonne Jacquette, and Nancy Graves. So it was a suprise and great delight when the Studio visited the home of Oxfordshire based artist Andrea Eyre who also identifies with the aerial landscape.

Andrea has created a fantastic series of abstract paintings consisting of linear non-representational shapes that resemble a birds-eye-view of the regions fields and meadows. Andrea says" There is a natural kinship between aerial landscape painting and abstract painting, not only because familiar objects are sometimes difficult to recognize when viewed aerially, but because there is no natural "up" or "down" orientation in the painting"

Andrea will be working with Artfusion to explore the possibilities of extending this work. We will initially reproduce the images on a large scale, printing onto specially prepared raw cotton canvas. Andrea will then paint back into the images. It is an exciting project and we will report the results on the BLOG.