orchard

"Orchard" is the name of the exhibition at Gracefield Arts Centre by local artist Maggie Ayres - Have a look HERE as it its difficult to convey her work in a single photo. I chose a detail from one of them because I liked the bright yellow - I had read in a magazine article that she had started using this colour after seeing some bright gorse, and associated it with happiness. The starting point for a year of work was memories of an orchard from her childhood in the Lake District, hence the title. It resonated with me  as we had an orchard to play in at the school I attended between the ages of 8 and 10 - a very happy period of my life.

The pictures are made by mixing beeswax, tree resin and oil paint, which is melted with a blowtorch and painted onto wooden panels. I really liked the physicality of the process, and the photos of Maggie which her husband Kim has taken for the exhibition really make her look like a strong and creative woman.

One of the best parts of the exhibition for me were the wonderful titles of the paintings and boxes. This one is called "Where she thought the light was hidden". Although the paintings are abstract  and I could only surmise from the titles what might have inspired them, I felt I could sense the joy of creativity and the freedom of expression in the work on display.

I was only able to spend about half an hour there today, but shall go back again. I have spent some of the day making up Luke's bed and hoovering his room in preparation for his flying visit home on Wednesday :-)