The latest information and news posted below:
| 10.01.08 : NEW SHOW AT THE BOUNDARY GALLERY, LONDON After finishing a successful residency at Wymondham Abbey towards the end of September, I had to stop all work to deal with a family crisis which thankfully was resolved in the New Year but is still a bit precarious. In December I was offered a show at the Boundary Gallery, London to be staged end of February so I have a lot of work to do!! I will have the chance to show some recent paintings that I started over the summer and there will be the drawings too, which have changed a bit in the approach to technique. I like to experiment with technique -how can one not when looking for new ways of challenging ideas and selecting what one observes in the world. |
| 16.07.07 : TAYLOR GALLERY DUBLIN, SUMMER SHOW Last week I sent some work to Dublin as they are having a mixed summer show beginning of August. I packed five pieces, all on paper, and set about finding the best courir- on the internet! The local post office doesn't take packages over a certain size -90 cms total circumference! Eventually after making my way through loads of boxes and not being allowed to continue for various reasons that in the end were not an obstacle after all I found the Fedex were brilliant - the package was picked up the next day and was at the gallery the following day. It cost me a fair bit bu tthat was mainly the insurance cover. Over the last week or so I have been working on ideas for the residency I am doing at Wymondham Abbey in September. After having walked by the Tiffey that circumnavigates the building for many years it is fitting that I try to explore the effect that it has on me. I am interested in buildings as sculptural forms naturally and in the way light changes them. But also I am trying to explore its relationship within the landscape too. Cities make their own landscape but a structure as large a landmark as the Abbey has to be considered alongside grass, trees etc. I have not dealt with this aspect before. For me the 'story' of the the structure must come through the drawings, paintings and prints. The way I work is very important to me. The process by which I arrive at an image is one of discovery ( I don't like to plan too much on paper) and there is a lot of experimentation with the way I use materials. |
| 03.05.07 : MY FATHER -100 YEARS OLD TODAY!! I have managed to gather together a few photographs of my Dad, William Samuel Upchurch to put on my website to wish him a Happy Birthday! I began to think about the lack of photographs at certain points in his life and the photographs that are lost. I will add more .... Dad at his Birthday Party.... |
| 16.03.07 : PRIZE- (NOT THE TURNER) On the spur of the moment and rushing to meet the deadline I entered two recent drawings into the Eastern Open (King's Lynn) and was informed that one of the drawings had been awarded a prize. The two drawings will be on show in the exhibition which runs until May 5th at the Arts Centre in King's Lynn. There are several prize categories in the competition, the highest being 'Best in Show'; mine was several notches down the scale but very welcome all the same. This is the fourth competition prize for me -all for my drawings. |
| 28.02.07 : WYMONDHAM ABBEY - ARTIST IN RESIDENCE This year, 2007 is the 900th anniversary of the founding of Wymondham Abbey. Just two weeks ago I was asked if I would like to be one of three \'artist in residence\' in the abbey. I, of course agreed as the abbey has been a continued source of enjoyment for me and one of my walks ( I would like to say daily as it sounds very healthy) follows the river Tiffey which circumnavigates the abbey grounds and there one can see marvellous views of the imposing double towered building. The first artist in residence starts in April, then another in July followed by me in September. So I have time to plan prepare!! |
| 11.01.07 : INDIA JOURNEY Over the next few weeks I am going to add more images from our trip to India. We started in Delhi and then took an overnight train south to Mumbai (Bombay). Some of the images are from the train window in the morning, by which time we were about two hours from Mumbai. The light was gorgeous. Passing through towns on our approach to the environs of Mumbai we saw crowds of commuters jostling for space on the platforms. |
| 02.12.06 : TEACHING AGAIN! I haven\'t mentioned the fact that I am back teaching again this academic year as it isn\'t strictly to do with my own work but it does have an impact on it. I am teaching etching one day a week at Norwich School, where I had taught for ten years before leaving two years ago to concentrate on my own work. Having taught in schools and higher education for twenty-two years altogether, I had thought it was time to see if I could manage a freelance existence but as already written about, a shoulder injury has seriously impeded my output. So I am grateful to be employed again and to teach etching is a joy not to mention hard work. It has made me think again about the usefulness of this medium for generating ideas and allowing thought processes to develop. Etching can also be very expressive in the wide range of techniques available to the artist ie. soft ground, aquatint, sugar lift, dry point etc. There are many painter/printmakers that I admire; Rembrandt, Goya, Whistler, Hopper (though his etching output was not large), Picasso, Hockney, Jim Dine to mention a few. |
| 12.11.06 : LAUNCH OF \'BUDAPEST\' IN LONDON Budapest meets London - on Tuesday 14 November ' Budapest : Image, Poem, Film, my pictures and poem plus text by George Szirtes, published by Corvina in Budapest, gets its London launch, 7pm at the Hungarian Cultural Centre, 10 Maiden Lane, Covent Garden. The event is also the opening of a small show of my paintings, drawings and monotypes , some of which appear in the book . The show lasts until 11 December . There is also a jazz set (curtesy of our son Tom) to round off the evening. |
| 24.08.06 : NEW WORK APPEARING.... My website has been fixed and I have started to put some new work under -guess- \'New Work 2006\' ! I will be adding some paintings in due course. Please note that the new drawings include some that are smaller in size than the usual 77 x 55 cms. The later work is almost exclusively based on the labyrinth of small side streets in the \'city\' of London. They remind me of certain areas of Budapest. |
| 06.08.06 : SUMMER 2006 I joined the Norfolk 'Open Studios' scheme during the month of May for the first time in the twelve years we have lived here. I decided to open my studio to the public for three weekends only, which I felt was enough disruption to my work. It was an interesting and rewarding experience. I have launched into a period of painting mainly small scale as I am still experiencing inflammation in my left shoulder, or a correct medical description being ' bursitis and rotator cuff tendonitis'. Work has been slow I'm afraid because I have to avoid overstraining the muscules and when it flares up I have to stop work. During the painting I am experimenting with being ambidextrous in an attempt to train up my right hand and I am beginning to 'think' more with that hand but it is very slow and frustrating. |
| 21.04.06 : NEW BOOK! 'Budapest: Image, Poem, Film' (Corvina Kiado). This is a book containing my images and the poem , 'Reel' from George Szirtes' last collection; a poem he wrote in response to my work, plus an essay that was first published in Modern Painters. The book designer at Corvina ( Hungarian Publishers) has done a marvellous job of presenting the images and text and the result is beautiful. I am indebted to George for it was his idea to do the book in the first place, to Corvina for taking it on and to the British Council in Hungary for their support. There was a launch in Budapest on 13th April so we hope the book will be well received. It is an intensely personal view of the city, touching on its history, moods and dramas. |
| 19.08.05 : THREE DRAWINGS AND THE START OF A RETROSPECTIVE! I am working again after a long period of resting my damaged shoulder. Also I have been sorting through a lot of earlier material in preparation for a book due out end of this year (hopefully) and it occured to me that I could put some of it on my website. A few examples of earlier work can also be seen on www.literatimagazine.com website. I will add more to the Retrospective over the the next few weeks. |
| 19.04.05 : COMPETITIONS While I have been resting my shoulder I felt I had to do something to get my work out and seen and so I entered two competitions in the Anglian region. I haven't done this for a while. The first one was the Anglian Art Open, a new competition at the Castle museum in Norwich to celebrate the bicentienary of the collaboration between the Norwich School of Painters and the Royal Academy. This show opens on the 30th April -5 June. I am pleased to say I had one piece accepted. The other competition is the Eastern Open at Kings Lynn and I heard this morning that two pieces have been selected. The opening for this one is 8 May I think. |
| 19.03.05 : WYMONDHAM ABBEY 2005 While I have been resting my drawing arm which is suffering from pain caused by inflammation of the shoulder joint, I have taken up photography. During the last couple of months I gone out regularly on a circular walk through the Tiffey Valley, a conservation area where the views of the Abbey are stunning. I have tried to go out in different weathers and at different times of the day ( almost like Claude Monet's Rouen Cathedral) These six views are just a small selection. |
| 19.03.05 : NORWICH CASTLE OPEN ART SHOW 30 APRIL - 5 JUNE 2005 Landscape 200 -celebrating the Bicentenary of the Norwich School of Artists, includes the Open Art Show selection. I have one piece in this, a drawing called Night Tram. There are about 100 pieces in the exhibition chosen from artists living in Norfolk. |
| 08.07.04 : NEW*** TAYLOR GALLERY, 16 KILDARE ST., DUBLIN Work arrived safely by Parcel Force and is in the process of being framed. If you want a preview of what will be on show in a few weeks time go to the gallery to Film and monotypes (or monoprints) Break, Stealth, Angel, Firewall, and Force in the Film section and 6 monotypes of which 5 are shown are the Appointment with a Shade series. |
| 27.06.04 : ROYALE ACADEMY SUMMER SHOW AT THE SHED July 4 -24 2004 The Shed, 2a, Cardiff Road, Norwich For further information, contact Sally-Anne Lomas on 01603 760508 or email sal.lomas@virgin.net |
| 14.03.04 : ARTATTHEPARK Exhibiting at the Art at the Park, Croxton Hall, Thetford on the 15/16 May 2004, 11am -4pm. An exclusive exhibition of pictures, stone lettering and garden sculpture. In aid of Breakthrough Breast Cancer. www.artatthepark.co.uk |
| 18.01.04 : BOUNDARY GALLERY - USA TRIP Current work at the Boundary Gallery. A round trip to the USA coming up 21 March - 7 April. |