Fine Art Blog

Category: Washington Green Fine Art

  • Ronnie Wood: A Master of Creativity – Releases Limited Edition Art to the UK

    Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones is perhaps best known for the electrifying talent that’s created when he is handed a guitar. However, his creativity doesn’t stop simply at the playing of musical instruments. Art has been just as inseparable to Ronnie’s life and career in much the same way that music has, although it is maybe less publically known. However, this is all about to change…


    Ronnie Wood in his artist studio, surrounded by his paintings

    Ronnie’s “artistic awakening” was brought about from an early age, kick started when his childhood artistic creations were featured on the BBC television programme Sketch Club. Since then, he has continued to put pencil to paper; ultimately leading to his fantastic debut collection for Washington Green. This collection particularly conveys the intertwining of Ronnie’s two great passions, music and art; as his series of four pieces titled ‘The Famous Flames Suite’, and the fifth and final piece ‘Stones On Stage – Got Me Rockin’ all recreate the energy and raw atmosphere exuded by the Rolling Stones during a live performance.


    ‘The Famous Flames Suite,’ Set of 4 limited editions
    Available on paper or as box canvases set by Ronnie Wood

    Through his artistic interpretation, Ronnie offers us a front row view of the Stones in action. Wood references photos of the Stones taken during performances to recreate the accurate facial expressions of his band mates, bringing an element of realism to his figurative works. Yet alongside this realism, an aspect of fantasy is brought to the table through his use of vivid colours created by applying acrylics, then oils, and finally embellishing the canvas with oil pastels. For instance, in ‘The Famous Flames Suite’, the Stones are performing amidst waves of dramatic orange flames that theatrically echo the vibrancy, energy and rhythm of a live performance by The Rolling Stones.


    ‘Stones On Stage – Got Me Rockin’ limited edition
    Available on paper or as box canvas by Ronnie Wood

    This collection is simply a stunning celebration of The Rolling Stones’ musical legacy that can be adored and appreciated by music and art lovers alike.

    Thanks,

    Jess

    Useful Links:

    Ronnie Wood’s 2010 American Exhibition

  • Artist Paul James – Where Urban Meets Farmyard!!!

    Paul James was born and raised in Leicestershire, where he grew up with a natural talent for art. Encouraged by his parents, he progressed artistically & with the advice of his school teachers, went on to art college to study graphic design. Paul did not complete his course & instead began to sell paintings of vintage cars and neighbours pets…more on his artistic journey in a later post!


    ‘Up The Swanee’
    limited edition on paper & canvas by Paul James

    You may be surprised to hear that Paul James is also a self-taught artist, as he is so incredibly talented you may not necessarily link those two statements! Paul is known for his very realistic, almost photgraphic looking paintings of animals and landscapes. His artworks have gained him a big following in both the UK and overseas such as the USA & Ireland to name but two and it is not hard to see why. His uncanny ability to paint animals in fascinating detail and capture amusing poses & expressions has endeared him to the public.


    ‘Dave’
    limited edition on paper & canvas by Paul James

    Paul has had the amazing success and honour of being published by not one, but several different publishing houses during his career, which just goes to show his continuing popularity and the first class art he is producing. His art takes a great deal of time to paint & we can see this in his great attention to detail, the subtle colours in the animal’s coats & the way you can see each separate animal hair in places!


    ‘Kred Gordon’
    limited edition on paper & canvas by Paul James

    A little known fact about Paul is that he is also a very talented musician and composer, he has even released a CD of his music, as well as performing for live audiences. Now that is what I call multi-talented! Although, it would not be hard to guess that Paul is an artist of many talents due to the versatility of his art, the fact that he can paint a serious picture of a landscape on the one hand and then a humorous animal the next.

    Paul was previously published by Washington Green Fine Art publishers. New For Winter 2010 Paul is now being published/distributed by Demontfort Fine Art publishers…again we will have more on this in a future post!

    Thank you

    Jessica

    Links:

    Heres some tips on how to paint animals

    Click here to view animal painting demonstrations

  • Artists Jeff Rowland and Alexander Millar – dynamic duo paint together for charity!

    The pair have recently teamed up to paint a piece of art for the Birmingham (UK) Children’s Hospital. ‘Singin’ In the Rain’ was then produced as a limited edition print & has the classic aspects of both artists work, Millar’s ‘gadgie’ character and Rowland’s atmospheric rain & grey blue colours. Incidentally, both artists share a studio in Newcastle, so it must have been easy for them to take turns in painting the picture!


    ‘Singin’ In The Rain’ by Alexander Millar and Jeff Rowland
    (Available as a print or canvas limited edition)

    Millar and Rowland have pledged all of their royalties to Birmingham Children’s Hospital’s new state of the art renal unit, which is very generous, and on top of that, their publisher Washington Green has agreed to match the figure the artists make!!

    thanks

    Vicki

    Links:
    Birmingham Children’s Hospital: www.bch.org.uk

  • Elephants Parade London 2010 – Love Art, Love Elephants!

    Many of you may have ‘herd’ 🙂 about the Elephant parade that happened in London in June and July this year…


    Above: elephants painted by Peter Smith (left) and John Wilson (right)

    The Elephant Parade was the largest outdoor art exhibition ever staged in the UK, with 258 life sized baby elephant sculptures, set in locations all over London’s city centre. They were thought up and created for the leading wild elephant charity called ‘Elephant Family’ www.elephantfamily.org The interesting thing is that each elephant is a unique piece of art, hand painted by renowned artists and designers. The Parade ran for around two months; from May to July 2010. The elephants were placed in streets, parks and squares right across Central London at some of London’s leading landmarks.


    Above: elephants painted by Alexander Millar (left) and Jeff Rowland (right)

    With an estimated audience of 25 million (you cannot count every person in London who has viewed them can you?!), the campaign aimed to raise over £1 million for the endangered Asian elephant. It was a fresh and unique fundraising and awareness campaign that everyone could enjoy. Elephant Parade’s mission is to become the world’s largest financial support organisation for elephants, while attempting to save the Asian elephant from extinction in the wild.


    Above: elephants painted by Paul Kenton (left) and Louise Dear (right)

    Some of the UK’s finest artists and designers were sponsoring and painting an elephant including the previously blogged about: Alexander Millar, Jack Vettriano, Jeff Rowland John Wilson, Louise Dear, Paul Kenton & Peter Smith!…Many of these are artists licensed exclusively to Washington Green fine art publishers, so big thank you to them for allowing them to help out!

    After going on display in various locations all over London, a select number of elephants were then auctioned off by Sotheby’s, whilst the remainder were auctioned online.

    thank you

    Vicki

    Useful Links
    Elephant Parade Main site: www.elephantparadelondon.org
    Elephant Family Charity Main Site: www.elephantfamily.org
    Donate to Elephant Family: www.justgiving.com/elephantfamily/donate