An art lover’s house in Roundhay, Leeds. The owners requested a drawing in colour and I was happy to oblige. Painted last week on watermarked T & J H Kent paper from c.1950.
House Portrait #35
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Category Archives: painting
Spring!
Finally… it is Spring in Leeds.
Pet Redbeard
A local Viking who kindly agreed to sit. Pet has striking features which I am drawn to draw.
Galloway, part 3
Galloway – a good place to rest, no need to count sheep…
Galloway, part 2
The Rhins of Galloway, trying to think about nothing.
Galloway, part 1
The Rhins of Galloway, a good place to get away when the world’s gone mad. It’s very green and peaceful, and the sheep don’t bother you.
Horse Chestnut Tree, Potternewton Park
This tree in my local park is wider than it’s tall. Two weeks ago, the candles were at their best. I’ve painted horse chestnuts in blossom for a few years – it’s not easy and this is my favourite attempt so far. I’ll have another go next year…
And Did Those Feet
This is the View From Birkrigg Common. It’s hanging in a group show in Leeds called And Did Those Feet, an exhibition exploring William Blake’s poem, Jerusalem.
The inspiration for the picture came in March this year when I visited Birkrigg Common, Ulverston, Cumbria, and was struck by the panorama visible from the triangulation point.
Since then I have painted it several times, usually as a series of 4 interlocking images, that to me represent many of the elements of Blake’s Jerusalem:
1. England’s mountains green are there – the fells of the Lake District.
2. Ancient times have left traces such as the Bronze Age stone circle.
3. The pleasant pastures of Bardsea, with their sheep and lambs, look down on the purple sands of Morecambe Bay at low tide, and the island where monks built a holy chapel in the 14th Century.
4. Here can be seen more clouded hills, and at the far right of the painting, Heysham nuclear power station – our latest version of a satanic mill.
The exhibition runs until 24th May 2016 at St Edmund’s Church, Lidgett Park Road, Leeds LS8 1JN. I’ll be there on Sunday 22nd May, 11:30am – 1pm, if you’d like to say hello and see my longest painting yet – it’s 10 feet wide.
Mad March Sky
Sunset on Monday night – the sky and the trees go crazy – in a good way.
Pendle Hill
Recent journeys into Lancashire.
The Last House
Poplar tree blowin’ in the wind on stormy Monday.
Raging River Wharfe
The River Wharfe at Harewood Bridge a week or two ago, still roaring from all the rain it drank at Christmas.
No!
No sun – no moon!
No morn – no noon!
No dawn – no dusk – no proper time of day –
No sky – no earthly view –
No distance looking blue –
No road – no street – no “t’other side this way” –
No end to any Row –
No indications where the Crescents go –
No top to any steeple –
No recognitions of familiar people –
No courtesies for showing ’em –
No knowing ’em!
No traveling at all – no locomotion –
No inkling of the way – no notion –
“No go” by land or ocean –
No mail – no post –
No news from any foreign coast –
No Park, no Ring, no afternoon gentility –
No company – no nobility –
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member –
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds –
November!
Thomas Hood
(1799-1840)
Deconstructing Autumn I-III
Crossing the Mediterranean
The UN says that over half a million people have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe this year.
Chapel Allerton Arts Trail 2015
Chapel Allerton Arts Trail 2015 is underway! A good opportunity to see art work by local artists in your area!
I have 4 paintings at The Mustard Pot on Stainbeck Lane, LS7. You can also see work by James Bywood and Amanda Burton. The Mustard Pot is a friendly venue with a lovely garden, tea and coffee, real ale and award-winning food – not to mention the award winning artists…
The Arts Trail has been organised by Inkwell and is on until 12th September.
England Women
England women’s football team in the World Cup semi-final tonight…
25 Paintings – The Old Grammar School Gallery
Jo Dunn – 25 Paintings at The Old Grammar School Gallery, Otley LS21
This month I’m exhibiting my recent paintings at TOGS Gallery in the market town of Otley, West Yorkshire. The show runs until 29th May 2015 and the official opening is tomorrow night, Friday 15th May, 5-9pm. I’m looking forward to it… All welcome and refreshments will be provided.
The Old Grammar School Gallery, Manor Square, Otley, LS21 3AY – map here
Open Mon-Sat, 10am-5pm.
Links:
Jo Dunn at TOGS
‘Introducing… Jo Dunn’ (Recent interview from Stations of the Cross, St Edmund’s Church, LS8)
Stations of the Cross
Oakwood Parade, Good Friday
Stations of the Cross is an multi-media art exhibition which you can see for the next few weeks at St Edmund’s Church, Lidgett Park Road, Leeds LS8 1JN.
Curated by illustrator and artist Si Smith, fourteen Leeds-based artists were each given one of the 14 Stations of the Cross to interpret. I was commissioned to paint the Ninth Station – Jesus falls a third time.
Opening times, interviews with the artists and more can be found on the St Edmund’s Stations website.
Stations of the Cross, at St Edmund’s Church LS8
Sandy Beaches at Spurn
Escape to the North Sea! This is the edge of the land at Sandy Beaches Holiday Village, Kilnsea, East Riding of Yorkshire.
Static caravans at Sandy Beaches
Looking south to Spurn Point
The last big storm surge washed away the road and access to the Point is now by foot or truck only.
The No Tree
As I went out one morning… I spied graffiti on graffiti. Someone had written NO on a yellow spot that was spray-painted on a beech tree.
Unless you had an interest in yellow spots, you might not have noticed it.
The yellow spots appeared on about 120 trees a few months ago to mark them for felling.
Gledhow Valley Woods, Leeds 8.
Cars go by
Cars go by.
They cannot see
the yellow spots.
Only the walkers –
the dog walkers,
the lonely walkers,
the walkers in love –
Only the nature lovers,
the poets,
the artists looking for inspiration –
Only the commuters taking short cuts and
the school children
on their way home
can see
the yellow spots.
~
Felling of the beech wood Save Gledhow Valley Woods
FGVW minutes January 2015 (see Selective Tree Felling section)
Yellow Spot Painting – animation
Video
Animating myself painting – with a 10 year-old dv camcorder and stop motion pro software at Leeds Animation Workshop this weekend.
Rosie’s garden, 1991
Rosie’s garden, Bankside Street, Leeds 1991
A hot and sunny day last century, in a friend and neighbour’s garden.
I’m lucky – quite a few people over the years have said to me, “Come and paint in my garden!”. For a long time I lived in places where there were no gardens, only yards – some parts of Leeds 8 are just bricks, cracked concrete and tarmac.
And so it was a kind offer when Rosie said I could paint in her garden and I took it up. She also lent me her car about 500 times before I could afford my own.
This painting is from the summer of 1991 – I remember the oriental poppies that Sumi had planted a few years before, they kept re-seeding themselves. And it looks like broad beans in front of the trellis.
Thanks for the encouragement and all your generosity, Rosie Foster (1953-2015).
Niagara!
View from the helicopter. My friend’s daughter got married in mid-air. She likes adventure… Congratulations, Alice and Shane!
Spot the difference
Gledhow Valley Woods, Leeds
Also known as the combat tree. Because camouflage is the art of not being seen, practised by predators, prey, plants… and soldiers.
Saving the Beech Wood
Management proposals – Friends of GV Woods
Thirteen spots
Gledhow Valley Woods, Leeds
Beech trees in the local woods, marked with yellow dots in a proposed felling plan. I think the spots are giving the trees stronger identities…
Links:
Felling of the Beech Wood – Save Gledhow Valley Woods
Management Plan – Friends of Gledhow Valley Woods
The Lodge House
I was commissioned to make a portrait of this former lodge house, built in 1888 by Sir Charles Ryder, one of the original partners of Tetley’s Brewery. I drew the house a few times before I painted it. In the middle of one drawing about 300 or 400 geese flew overhead, very high up. They flew and honked their way west in a giant V-formation that changed shape as they went – but they didn’t make it into the painting.
Thorn Lodge, Roundhay
Yellow spots on trees
Gledhow Valley Woods, horse chestnut trees marked for the axe
More trees spray-painted with fluorescent yellow dots in Gledhow Valley Woods. These three horse chestnuts are included in the proposed felling plan.
Links:
Site analysis – Friends of Gledhow Valley Woods
Save Gledhow Valley Woods
Out, damned spot!
Gledhow Valley Woods, beech trees marked for the axe
Recently someone has been out spray-painting in the woods. The graffiti takes the form of yellow dots on about 100 trees. It is possible that these trees will be felled this year in a Leeds city council private finance initiative. Allegedly, the council will not benefit from the sale of the timber. The reasons for the axing seem unclear and there is some strong local debate.
This painting is of three beeches on the slope overlooking the lake.
Links:
Save Gledhow Valley Woods
Friends of Gledhow Valley Woods
Leeds Council reveals plans for 66,000 new homes
Plans for homes in Leeds woodland rejected
Star Cells – animation
Animation for Winter Solstice
It has just gone dark – the longest night
But even in the dark – there is some light!
Happy Solstice to all ye pagans!
The Low Sun
Poetry links:
November Night, Adelaide Crapsey
The Day grew small surrounded tight, Emily Dickinson
November, Thomas Hood
November, Ted Hughes
End of summer
View from Barnhills window
Swallows in Dumfries and Galloway – last seen heading south at the end of September.
October
A show at Bono Art Gallery
Today is the opening of a new exhibition of my paintings at Bono Art Gallery in Otley. This is my largest show to date – 60 paintings – and I urge everyone who is able to come and see it.
Bono Art Gallery, 7a Courthouse Street, Otley, LS21 3AN
13th-23rd September 2014
Preview Saturday 13th September 2014, 6-9pm
Location and map
Reviews:
Jo Dunn – Biography – by David Veron, 2014
Bono Art Gallery is closing these premises at the end of the month. A new location is hopefully just around the corner. You are invited to come to this last preview – and visit in the next week – to show your support and thanks to Roberto Bono for all the great art that has passed through Otley in the last two years.
The show goes on…
Arthington Viaduct
Arthington Viaduct by the River Wharfe, West Yorkshire
The viaduct was engineered by James Bray for the Leeds and Thirsk Railway, c.1850.
Chapel Allerton Art Trail 2014
The Three Hulats, Harrogate Road, LS7
Being local, I am honoured to have my paintings on show at The Three Hulats for the next two weeks as part of the Chapel Allerton Art Trail 2014, organised by Inkwell and Chapel Allerton Arts Festival. My pictures are in the darts room, so be careful. Lots of local artists are getting exposure during festival week. Download a map here.
The Official Opening of the event happens on Tuesday 26th August, 6-9pm. Follow the art trail along the 18 locations on Harrogate Road from Inkwell to Further North Bar (about half a mile). Everyone is welcome!
There’s an Art Trail Artists’ Talk on Thursday 28th August, 6-8pm at Inkwell. I’ll be taking part, along with fellow artists Nick Claiden, Helen Dryden and Fred Pepper.
The Wall
The wall is black. And full of colour.
Made of sunlight, tree branches and holes.
Ink paintings II
More Chinese ink, the first picture is painted on greaseproof paper made in 1988. The last two are on rice paper from this century.
Ink paintings I
Using a Chinese ink stick, the first painting is done with sable brushes. The second picture is drawn with home-made bamboo pens. The last image is painted with Big Cloud, a Chinese brush.
Black July Woods
Indian Ink, Chinese brushes, Czech paper – come together in an English wood.
Into Swaledale
Yorkshire Dales, coming down from Buttertubs Pass – headed towards the T-junction by Thwaite in Upper Swaledale. Tour de France 2014 Stage 1, Leeds to Harrogate.
Buttertubs Pass
Yorkshire Dales between Hawes and Muker – the bicycles will be coming this way soon. Buttertubs is the highest elevation in the Tour de France Stage 1 2014, Leeds to Harrogate.
View from the Chevin
View from the Chevin IV
View from the Chevin III
I painted the view a few times.
View from the Chevin, eyes shut
View from the Chevin I
Back o’ the houses
Trees and houses face each other. The leaves are out, the trees will win – if left to their own devices.
Summerhouse in Roundhay
Another commission – and I was keen to do it. I exhibited here recently in the Roundhay Arts Trail. One of my more formal paintings, not an easy subject and difficult to execute.
Seasnake
I’ve never met a sea snake but the urge to draw this shape makes me think my ancestors did. Either way, it’s about a life-force. The paintings were a commission I’m happy to say, and finished this week.
British Summer Time
Buds and shoots and green sun
British Summer Time has begun
Clock changing woods
I’m losing sleep tonight. The clocks go forward and in the lost hour it feels like time to stop painting the trees and look for a different horizon.
Here’s a drawing with my eyes shut. It still looks like trees:
Spring sun
Saturday late afternoon
Thursday afternoon
A watercolour and an oil painting. The sun is warming up the woods. In the daytime the sun looks green, like spring.
Jo Dunn 