Cards
I like the physicality of cards and letters as opposed to emails and other forms of high tech communication. A postcard can sit on a mantelpiece, a chest of drawers, a ledge or a kitchen window sill and remind you of a moment, a dear friend or a glimpse into someone else's life.
Instead of buying postcards from a mass produced source I like to make cards. They are more personal and more of an art object.
I like the challenge of making something original and small and the challenge of the short time frame in which to do this.
Often people keep my cards for a long period of time and some even get them framed. I enjoy seeing them at friends' places years after they were sent. Sometimes I have difficulty remembering making them but, somehow, they have a strange familiarity. I just know that they're mine!
Below: A Birthday card to Mary. We were going through a phase of 'lost consonants' and it looks like the 't' got lost from this card, which led onto something more Russian and more fun!
Above: Card sent to Mary & Rob called Old Orchard at Oratia (2011) Watercolour on paper
Below: Card sent to Marian called Much Loved Goldfish in Our Pond (2011) Watercolour on paper
Below are a series of postcards made for Thelma inspired by commercially bought postcards she had sent. They are: 1) Thatcher Rock off Torquay, South Devon; 2) The font at the church at Montepulciano, Tuscany; 3) The River god Illissos from the Parthenon west pediment 438-432 BC; 4) A Self Portrait by John Constable
Above:Epiphany in East London (2004) Crayon on textured paper
Drawn whilst living in Forest Gate, witnessing flocks of pigeons gathered around the grain importers yards, the rumble of heavy goods bearing trains shaking the house and the mayhem of car repair yards. This and a broken boiler and a severe skin infection! Welcome back to Britain Gareth. Epiphany is a humorous rhetoric.
Above: Japanese Landscape (2005) Collage of printed and coloured papers
Below: Printemps (Spring) (1998) Watercolour and Crayon
Above: Night Landscape , New Zealand (2009 )collage
Below: Feeding the Hens in a Tuscan Village (2013) Pen and ink, collage
