Flux: A study of light and life by Isabelle Hogarth

On the opening night of Isabelle’s exhibition ‘Flux,’ the room was alive with people mulling around, spilling wine and perusing the nine paintings. But now the room is empty save for Isabelle and I and the space is completely transformed. The paintings are all untitled, adding to the continuity of Isabelle’s work. Each painting holds different shades of light and the idea of ‘flux’ indicates the process of flowing: light flows between the canvases. It’s hard not feeling consumed by the work, as the paintings speak to one another and an environment of light and space is created.

Isabelle is fascinated by the ever changing light of the sky; she spends a lot of her time going for long walks in pursuit of light. Her travels lead her to Marrakesh where she experienced the hot, warm light of the Middle East and this brought new perspective to her work.  She created the two paintings (right) after walking by the Avon canal, watching as the dying light of dusk settled on the bulrushes and turned the water a murky turquoise colour. 

By using subtractive colour theory, Isabelle takes a lot of care in preparing and mixing her paints until the colours complement each other.  Her palette is often muted as she seeks to capture subterranean and earthy colours as can be seen in the work below.  

Isabelle’s art is mimetic, her subconscious comes through in the paintings and they are undoubtedly, an extension of her inner self. She works quickly, making marks on the canvas, allowing the painting to lead her. She experiments with primers, tipping and layering paint and sometimes working at different angles. Viewers experienced the paintings in very different ways and Isabelle was interested to hear what they drew from her work; one girl told her that the painting (pictured right) reminded her of the path she took down to the sea whilst it made me think of the afterlife when Heaven and Earth shall meet. 

After a very successful first solo exhibition, Isabelle plans to continue capturing light and push forward with her paintings. She is now experimenting with artificial light and plans to travel to Japan later in the year to take a course in wood blocking printing.  She says that an artist must allow themselves to follow unexpected path and let life lead you where it will. 

To find out more about Isabelle, view her photography or purchase any of her paintings visit her website: www.isabellehogarth.co.uk

In Cornwall: Review of 'Diving Belles' by Lucy Wood.

I have been in Cornwall four days – walking in its country lanes, drinking locally brewed rhubarb cider, feasting on real Cornish pasties and having dollops of clotted cream with every dessert. The people are different here. They wave at me like I am an old friend and it feels like I’m back home in Ireland. The sun is hot in this part of England and the sea is so clear. I bought a pair of glass turquoise ear rings, the same colour of the sea. Standing in the garden mid-morning, with the dew still wet on the grass, I watch the sea mist slowly creep inland. I have never seen sea mist before. It looks like a beautiful lady walking slowly around the earth, her ghostly white skirt trailing behind her.

I like to read about the places I visit so I went to ‘Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights’ to find something delightfully Cornish. ‘Lucy Wood is as Cornish as you’ll get,’ Nick, the bookseller said as he handed me a lovely little book, with illustrations of mermaids and seashells on the front cover. Lucy Wood grew up in Cornwall and Diving Belles’ is her first collection of short stories; the stories are an entanglement of everyday experience, memories, otherworldliness and Cornish folk lore.

I was captivated by the two worlds which Wood has created in the collection: that of the constrained human world and the freedom of the magical realm. It is interesting to watch as these two worlds collide and merge. In ‘Lights in Other People’s Houses,’ I was caught between the mundane problems of Maddy and Russell and intrigued by the confused wrecker who longed for the sea. Pretty soon the wrecker begins to take over the house and the humans don’t really seem to mind that their hallway is full of sand or that shells drip from the taps. Likewise Iris gets vouchers to go underwater to see if she can find her husband whom she hasn't seen in years. When she does find him, he has become something other than human. This acceptance of there being another sort of existence painted a very alluring picture of the Cornish landscape where pixies and people live in harmony.  

All of the characters are so very unique which displays Wood’s great imagination. From the rather boring character of Rita who stands up on the cliffs and turns into stone to the grumpy old grandmother who combs the beach for treasures, all of the characters are surreal. However, it’s not all froth as some of the stories have a dark side. In ‘Magpies’ a man follows an injured bird into the wood to find that he has been there before; dreams, nightmares, and meetings with old friends are woven into the story. In ‘Of Mothers and Little People,’ the narrator keeps referring to ‘your mother’ and ‘the man’ and the familiarity of these characters haunted me.

The story which undoubtedly touched me the most was ‘Notes from the House spirits.’ It is written from the perspective of the spirits who guard the house and they record every little detail of what goes on. They notice every piece of dust that settles on the curtain rail and the butterballs left to rot under the sofa and all the people who come and go. They grow attached to the people. They remember things about them like the sound of their laugh or the way the showered. Perhaps it is the omnipresence of the narrator which paints such a potent and intricate portrait of human life.

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Tomorrow I will return to Bath; go back to my reading lists and my books and begin exam revision. Bath is small and claustrophobic and the people look straight through you. There is no sea. I will arrange my new collection of sea glass, pebbles and shells on my desk and when I need to escape I will lift a shell to my ear, close my eyes and imagine I am by the sea.  

Who was the girl with the pearl earring?

(This article is published by Pie Magazine)

Here is the face that has haunted art critics and viewers for the last two hundred years. Since this painting’s rediscovery in 1881 by Arnoldus Andries des Tombe at an auction at The Hague, it has continued to invite speculation and intrigue. Very little is known about Johannes Vermeer’s masterpiece, not even the year in which it was painted, although it is estimated to have been around 1665. The sheer mystery of the work only adds to our curiosity and is one of most unanswered questions in art: Who

‘The Girl with a Pearl Earring’ by Johannes Vermeer.
She hangs at the Maurithuis, Holland.

There is a lot of debate amongst scholars; many believe that it was Vermeer’s eldest daughter Maria who would have been around twelve when it was painted. One critic remarked that ‘only a father can paint such portraits’ – but despite being a face of innocence, there is something deeply sensual about the painting; notice how she looks over her shoulder with large enticing eyes, her lips slightly parted and wet. Others suspect that she was Catharina, the wife of Vermeer, who sat for many of his paintings, whilst others argue she was the daughter of Vermeer’s patron, Pieter Van Ruijven. In her novel, ‘The Girl with a Pearl Earring,’ Tracy Chevalier has cast her as Griet, the family servant who Vermeer was captivated by and entices to sit for a portrait.

The subject is open to our fictitious imaginings but it may well have been that the girl was a figment of Vermeer’s own imagination. The turban she is wearing, a fashionable prop in the fifteenth century, evokes the exotic life of the Middle-East and appears to be made of silk as it reflects the light. The earring is considered too big to be an actual pearl but the way it catches the light gives the illusion of a pearl. Pearls were often seen as symbols of virtue and fidelity in Dutch symbolist paintings so perhaps Vermeer has tried to create the ideal woman. Perhaps the girl never existed. Perhaps it is her illusion which haunts us.

The way in which she is painted, the techniques Vermeer uses, continues to baffle art critics and viewers as it has for centuries. It is almost impossible to follow Vermeer’s brush strokes or work out his technique and again this adds to the mystery of the painting. The dark background gives the flesh vibrancy and the three primary colours, yellow blue, and the hint of red on the lips, makes the subject stand out. Vermeer brilliance lies in the way in which he captures the light, draws our eye to certain spots on the painting: the moisture of the girl’s lip, the shine of her earring and the gleam in her eye. It is the tenderness in her gaze which suggests the connection between herself, the painter and the viewer. Her warm and welcoming eyes invite us to come and know her. Once she has looked at you, you cannot forget her.

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