Friday 15 May 2010 By Claire Harrison

I have finished the oil of the flowers and orchid which can be seen to the right. This is an oil on board and is 50x50cm square. I have also started to layer the turquoise and magenta leaf with a ring of leaves which can be seen on the left. Although it isn't finished as it needs a better focal point to the picture. I have also been experimenting with layering watercolour, ink and gouache which can be seen below. The geometric background is based upon the microscopic image of a cross section of the stem of the flower depicted in black and white.

Monday 15 March 2010 By Claire Harrison

Continuing the theme of layering I am currently working on 2 pictures, on of which is based upon the design to the left in pen/ink. It is an orchid overlaid onto lots of little daisy type flowers. I have almost completed the first layer in oil which is shown to the right. I have then started working on some branches which are shown below, these in fact are based upon veins of a leaf. I like the paradox of not knowing whether they are branches are veins by removing any indication of scale. This image will have the image of the circular leaves shown under Novembers painted over the top and the psychaedelic branches painted in that month will be left as it is so that the detail of overlapping branches is not lost by adding another layer.

Sunday 22 November 2009 By Claire Harrison

in September I moved my studio from Farnham Maltings to Horsham which was quite an upheaval! Since then I have been enjoying gazing out of my studio window at the fields and deer. I have finished the spiral shown in the last blog, shown left and started work on the geometric background (shown below) for the black and white leaves described in the last blog. I have started working on the black and white leaves over the top which can now be seen on the right.

I have continued to work on my artist book and my latest sketch is to the left, which is soon to be painted in watercolour. I am also working on a psychedelic tree/branch design , shown to the right and either a tonal orchid or tonal leaves will be worked over the top, both of these are shown below.

Tuesday 7 July 2009 By Claire Harrison

Since my last blog I have been to Wales and Italy and have developed new ideas for artwork. Firstly I shall begin with my next large picture which will be complimenting the Passiflora Gastropoda below. This is shown on the left and is the first layer of oil the patterns are based upon my own Protozoa shown in the 17 March blog below. This spiral will have a microscopic image of scabious pollen painted over the top in black and white.

Tuesday 14 April 2009 By Claire Harrison

I have finally finished both the pictures below! The snail to the left will be called Passiflora Gastropoda based on the latin names for both snails and passionflowers. I may have combined the two of these because the snails in my garden have eaten my passionflowers or it could be commenting upon the interacting relationship of all living things - I think I ought to choose the more profound of the two ideas! The painting of the four Pasque flowers is also finished, shown to the right, this as yet is unamed - so any ideas are welcomed! I am currently working on my next ideas, which will be shown on the May blog...

Tuesday 17 March 2009 By Claire Harrison

The base layer to the passion flower spiral has finally been finished and I have begun work on the actual spiral and making it 3D with a passionflower pattern across the surface, which can be seen to the right. This is now going to be worked back into so that the pattern and the shading on the spiral becomes one. Hopefully causing the pattern to be in the same dimension as the shading and allowing the 'pattern' to reappear. I think I still have several months of work left on this painting!! Meanwhile I have also been working on the composition of the 4 Pasque flowers which can also be seen below.

This work still needs a lot of work as each flower needs an extra petal to balance the flowers and make them slightly asymmetrical, and I need to re-highlight the underlying pattern.

The two pictures on the right are based upon a Protozoa and will be part of my new work which will be an artist book of small pen/ink and watercolour works.

Sunday 25 January 2009 By Claire Harrison

The image to the left is a sketchbook work which will be developed into a Gouache painting. This is inspired by the works of Ernst Haeckel, as I was lucky enough to get two books of his work for Christmas. He was a scientist/artist in the 19th Century who documented and discovered many Radiolarians which are single celled protozoa found in our oceans. I have included some of my sketches of his work below. What fascinates me most about his work is that the familiarity of the shapes that are formed by the single celled organisms. If you didn't know that these were protozoa, they are very similar to other organisms that are much larger in scale, for example flowers and shells.

Thursday 11 December 2008 By Claire Harrison

All my good intentions of updating my blog on a monthly basis has obviously failed as it has been 5 months since my last update. The only good news is, that it is easier for me to write, as so much has happened and I don't get the hateful writers block of staring at a computer screen for the next 4 hours with perspiration on my forehead!

Firstly I have been working on my painting of passionflowers and tesselated 10 sided shapes. The painting is 50x50cm square and is quite literally taking hours because I am building up the detail with layers of oil paint...

The picture below right is a close up of the detail in each shape.

A large amount of my time over the last 5 months has been spent on researching microscopic photography. I have invested in a microscope and want to start exploring the patterns and shapes within nature that occurs on every scale. This mostly caused me to dissect and destroy the majority of the unsuspecting plants in my garden this year. So far this work is still in the sketch book stage and hasn't progressed any further yet... This is my challenge for 2009... Below are a few examples of the photography and my sketchbook work inspired by the photography. What I have found fascinating in this research is finding out that the pollen grains of an evening primrose appear to be pyramids, the stamens of a Cosmos flower are in fact miniature flowers in themselves and the cells in a Scabious stem appear to be hexagons. Of course I realise that scientists found this out before me and are not enthralled perhaps as I am! I'm not sure where this body of work will lead me but I am going to enjoy finding out!!!

Fuschia Stamen
(Looks like bread?!?)

Please ignore that I foolishly the work on the left was photographed on a zebra type cushion from my studio... This work has been deliberately shaped to the subject which is based upon 6 hexagons tesselated around a central hexagon. It will eventually be based upon the sketch book image to the right. However it will not be exact as all my work takes on a life of it's own during the painting process.

May I wish you all a Happy Christmas, and a prosperous New Year despite the dreaded 'credit crunch'. As always I welcome your comments which can be made by emailing me by clicking on the link below.

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Thursday 24 July 2008 By Claire Harrison

Since my last blog I have been on holiday to a very rainy Cornwall and visited The Eden Project which I have longed to do and wasn't disappointed! I found lots of inspiration there! The structure of the Biodomes are amazing. To my glee the building of the hands on museum is in fact based upon a sunflower and the spiral that appears in its seed head. There is the most beautiful granite sculpture within the centre of the building. The roof I found less impressive than the sculpture but what I did enjoy are the photo's which are hidden away on the roof which are concealed within the glass windows. These are photographic paper which has been damaged by water and then exposed. I was pleasantly surprised to find so much art tucked away when of course everyone only tells you about the biodomes!

My discipline of updating this blog is definitely slipping and my weak excuse is that I have been preparing for Battersea Contemporary Art Fair which is 16-18 May.

Part of this has been finishing the two pictures to the right. These are Magnolia buds repeated to create a larger flower. Continuing the theme of naming my work the one on the right is called sunflower and the blue one (somewhat tongue in cheek) is called Moonflower. These images to me personify what my art work is about - the patterns and imagery that repeat on multiple scales in nature to create the overall form that we see with the naked eye.

Meanwhile on my Geometry quest I have created the picture to the left, which is more of a study of how different geometric shapes fit together. This is a precursor to my next painting and idea, where I want to create a geometric patter and warp it by a curve. I have no idea how I'm going to draw this - but the image just keeps floating around in my head!!

I have also finished my latest oil (the red image to the left) which is based upon tulips and ivy from my garden, cornily, I have called this one 'Homage to the Hexagon'. All I hope is that all those people that continually nag me for titles are happy with my lame attempts!!

The only other mischief I have been up to, is rewrite a lot of my website, log onto to my gallery and services pages - comments are welcomed! I'm still working on a few pages so you may get that really annoying 'page under construction' message.

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Now the question is does it need a title? This is a long debate I have been having with my husband, who claims all my work should have a title. My argument is that I express my ideas and themes visually and therefore do not need titles as I don't want to bring pre-conceived ideas to my work before the viewer can 'read' the image. What are your views?? However, whilst having a Eureka moment this morning and re-writing my artist statement in my head at 8am this morning, I thought of titles for quite a few of my new works... This one I am still debating - but have thought of 'From Conception to Order'.

This I hope will make more sense once I have launched my new statement about my work, but essentially my work has changed direction slightly.... (and I quote the new statement..)

My new work is exploring patterns and forms that occur and re-occur in nature. Specifically concentrating on the patterns and forms that we do not notice but are all around us.

Our relationship with nature is a contradiction and a paradox. What man perceives as wholly natural is often planted and cultivated by others and what is perceived as wild and untamed is natural and ordered and structured. Natural disasters are perceived as wild and cruel but they often have a purpose within nature and are often the trigger for regeneration and life.

Since this piece of work I have been working on several different pieces together, one of which is nearly finished - an Orchid that is based upon a square - because whilst I was looking at the my photograph of the orchid, I saw that it fitted almost perfectly into a square.

Therefore I developed this image into an orchid structured on 4 squares. This is not quite finished as it needs more contrast. The title for this one I thought could be 'Orchid ²'

My next work is a pattern that has been developed from a flower (an abstract flower that has come from my head) into a celtic pattern.

This is in its infancy and has a lot more work to be done. I'm working on a few other ideas as well which I will share with you in the next blog!

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Comment - By Raj Curry

Is it my wasted youth, but when I find repetitions in nature I tend to think in terms of the idea of 'Fractels', something I heard about ages
ago in a club context but feel there is more mileage in as a design idea. Nature is not only poetry, but mathematics in the poetry..
identical replication, but with tiny differences. Petals obviously. Crystals of each mineral have a similarity, but differentiation too,
the beginnings of individuality.

Don't worry about painting coming to an end, on bad days I worry about photography's relevance now that it is so easy, and so widespread! I
keep thinking I should become a painter instead, and was never more pleased when someone mistook one of my canvases for a painting. I
felt, yes, I have done my job...

Sunday 18 November 2007 - By Claire Harrison

With my first blog out the way, I thought I would be slightly less nervous about writing my second, but obviously not!! I'd like to thank Jo for commenting who has 'hit the nail on the head' with my work by discussing patterns revealing themselves on all scales as with Islamic, rocks and crystals and infinite structures

With this in mind I have continued to work on my Magnolia flower, and have taken a bud of a Magnolia and developed this into a pattern that will ultimately create the open flower of a magnolia with the lady inside it.

I took the imagery of the bud and started to create a flower with this image by repeating it, I have attempted to create something that appears infinite whilst creating a separate image.

I have started to translate this back onto the canvas over my original magnolia image.

This is taking me hours to do, so hopefully in my next blog I will get back to you with an almost finished image with the combination of pattern and original magnolia! (The above are sections of the overall picture).

Meanwhile... what else have I been up to?

I have been developing another painting that has been sitting in the corner of the studio for a while... For those reading this who are creative they will know what I mean - the piece of work you are not sure what to do with - and for me I try and develop them into different directions whilst I wait for paint to dry (quite literally!!) on my current piece of work. The one below has had at least four layers now, and I'm still not sure how finished it is, I think it may gather dust for a few more weeks before I return to it again..

I started this painting in the summer, the faint areas of red you can see are in fact little celtic patterns (influenced by my holiday to Dublin in May earlier this year - I can highly recommend the Guiness Factory - it took us a whole day to get round, I can't think why!!) - anyway they are little celtic patterns I have based upon the flower in the centre of the picture, which has no direct influences as it came from my imagination so I am sure it is an amalgum of all those flowers I have drawn from life over many many years. The strange black curving shape that frames the flower came from a study of a flower, but by the time I stopped drawing it I thought it looked like a swan - but it definitely came from a flower!! Who knows where these ideas come from!!??!!

So, perhaps I should do a 'live x-factor' painting vote on the painting - does the image get to survive how it is - or should it be destined for the corner of the studio for when I will inevitably be waiting for paint to dry again!!?? :)

I have also been working extremely hard with my business advisor, Shawn Doyle from Liberty Consulting. He's an experienced executive management consultant who gives his spare time to help artists and craftspeople like me become real business people (rather than cliched starving artists!) I am extremely lucky to have someone that is continually focusing my thoughts towards developing my business, otherwise I think I may get lost in that fluffy world of creativity where I think of pretty brightly coloured patterns (or the continual dilemma of whether a painting is finished..) and forget the all important financial forecasting, business plans and publicity!! The best thing he has helped me with is managing my workload and getting me to be focused on my business, so that making a real living as an artist is possible but still leaves me time to paint and create!

Well, I think I have rambled on again enough, so my next update will be a pre-Happy Christmas update.

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Comment - By Jo Chiswell Jones

Enjoyed reading your piece on the Magnolia flower. It is certainly interesting to follow your thought processes and to see how your drawings alter.

Islamic art also has the characteristic of looking good from a distance and then revealing another pattern or aspect when you come closer. Nature of course is quite unrivalled in this respect: we can admire a mountain or a piece of rock, or the cryatals which compose that rock, or with a microscope, the structure of those crystals... There is no end to structure within structure. John Ruskin (Elements of Drawing) is eloquent on this subject.

I too love magnolias( though I have not often used them successfully as designs), and Dandilions, and Irises, and am working on Nasturtiums. I use plants rather more literally, but my challenge is to paint them on pots.

Some examples on my website, Jo Chiswell Jones Pottery

Saturday 20 October 2007 - By Claire Harrison

This is my very first blog, I have decided to use it as an insight into the process of how I create my works. Each month I will update my blog showing a work in progress. I have decided to write a blog about this as I hope it is of some interest to you rather than me writing about the adventures in my every day life!

This week I have been working on a painitng which I have taken inspiration from a magnolia tree. I have always loved the majestic and delicate bloom against the stark bareness of the structure of the tree and the quirky fact that on the flip side it looks completely over sized as a blossom and rather silly! The photograph below of the magnolia flower were taken at Easter with my parents and husband on a visit to Ramster Gardens. Ramster is a phenomenal location between Milford and Petworth, the gardens are beautiful, and I thoroughly enjoyed my visit there and gathered much inspiration for my work.

I like to build my images with translucent layers showing different elements of the landscape trying to expose realities wihich are not normally seen or noticed.... ok, for those who know me I shall stop there because I could go on for hours, for those who want to know a little more about my ideas behind that statement, please see the 'concept page of my website. So, back to the picture. I would like to now create my own pattern based upon the initial image in a layer underneath the final image, to explain this I will show you my last painting which was only finished this week. In the close up images you can see the patterns below, which is the direction I want the image to go in...

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