Monday 22 February 2010


These paintings focus on wheels,cogs and machines. they are painted by Chap Isham. They are painted in watercolour on paper.


Herve Leger painting of structures La Ville.
Franck Sorbier clock skirt from his fall collection 2007 as well as the image below.

He also designed this robot costume of a breast plate made from real clock faces for the film Tales of Hoffman in June 2008 it was also part of the fall 2007.
Knitted Toolbelt by Theresa Honeywell. Who says tools need to be made from metal??
Check out her kitted motorbike too!! www.theresahoneywell.com

Dior again inspired by the clowns we see at the Circus.
Christian Dior inspired by the circus and the performers from cirque de soleil

Thursday 11 February 2010

Work Rest Play - Play Skating

Hendrick Avercamp A Winter Scene With Skaters Near A Castle 1608-09

website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hendrick_Avercamp

Work Rest Play - Work Ford Madox Brown

Ford Madox Brown Work 1863


Work Rest Play Rene Green Printed Textiles


Renée Green, In collaboration with The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Mise-en-Scène: Commemorative Toile, 1992 (detail), Hand silkscreen on cotton sateen, Width: 57 inches,




Work Rest Play Pieter De Hooch

Pieter De Hooch A Woman And Her Maid 1660-61
More paintings by Pieter De Hooch http://www.abcgallery.com/H/hooch/hooch.html


Jan Vermeer Mistress And Maid 1667

http://www.essentialvermeer.com/vermeer_painting_part_one.html

Work Rest Play - Eating And Drinking in A Cafe

Edouard Manet Corner of a Café-Concert 1878 - 1880

weblink http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89douard_Manet

Work Rest Play - Rest on the beach

Claude Monet The Beach at Trouville 1870

website http://giverny.org/monet/welcome.htm

Work Rest Play Gustave Courbet Resting


Gustave Courbet 1857 Young Ladies On The Bank of The Seine

Work Rest Play - Playing Games


Jan Steen Skittle Players outside an Inn 1660-63

Work Rest Play - Playing with a sailing boat


Francis Danby Boys Sailing A Little Boat 1822

Work Rest Play - Rest / Play Visiting Zoo


Pietro Longhi Exhibition of a Rhino At Venice 1751
Pietro Longhi wikipedia webpage http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Longhi

Wednesday 10 February 2010

Work Rest Play- Sculpture Duane Hanson

The Traveller Fibreglass 1988
The Tourists 1988

Queenie Bronze and accessories 1988

The Flea Market Vendor fibre glass sculpture 1990

Work Rest Play - Play Sony Play Station



Megan Davis Gran Turismo

Work Rest Play - Work LS Lowry




Here is the original of the Coming From The Mill Painting by LS Lowry

Lowry webpage http://www.pamalam.co.uk/L%20S%20LAWRY.htm






Here is an artist copy done by Rolf Harris




Work Rest Play: Work Maggi Hambling


Dorothy Mary Crowfoot painted by Maggi Hambling

Work Rest Play - Work : Tailors Shop

The Tailor's Workshop. 1661



Quiringh van Brekelenkam Interior of a Tailors Shop 1665


Monday 8 February 2010

Work Rest Play Factory Work


Laura Knight - Ruby Loftus screwing a breech ring 1943

Work Rest Play Paul Gaughin The Breton Shepherdess


Post Impressionist Painter - great use of colour http://www.paul-gauguin.net/

Work Rest Play - Experiments Joseph Wright Of Derby

Joseph Wright Of Derby An Iron Forge



A travelling scientist is shown demonstrating the formation of a vacuum by withdrawing air from a flask containing a white cockatoo, though common birds like sparrows would normally have been used. Air pumps were developed in the 17th century and were relatively familiar by Wright's day. The artist's subject is not scientific invention, but a human drama in a night-time setting.The bird will die if the demonstrator continues to deprive it of oxygen, and Wright leaves us in doubt as to whether or not the cockatoo will be reprieved. The painting reveals a wide range of individual reactions, from the frightened children, through the reflective philosopher, the excited interest of the youth on the left, to the indifferent young lovers concerned only with each other. The figures are dramatically lit by a single candle, while in the window the moon appears. On the table in front of the candle is a glass containing a skull.

Work Rest Play David Teniers The Four Seasons








great set of seasonal paintings in the National Gallery



Monday 25 January 2010

Early in 1940, during the London Blitz, the artist Henry Moore noticed long lines forming outside the Underground stations. One evening, instead of driving to his home in North London (which was destroyed a few months later by a bomb), he took the Underground.
As the train beaded north, Moore saw people lying in the stations and mothers undressing their babies on the platform. For Moore, this subterranean scene of civilians seeking shelter from the bombing was a revelation. "Even the holes out of which the trains were coming seemed to me to be like the holes in my sculpture,' he later wrote. "...There was tension in the air. [People] were a bit like the chorus in a Greek drama telling us about the violence we don't actually witness."
When Kenneth Clark, director of the National Gallery, saw the first of Moore's Underground drawings, he urged his friend to document the shelters for the War Artists'Advisory Committee. Moore, who had been gassed at Cambrai during the First World War, reluctantly agreed. Clark described Moore's figures "lying helpless deep in the earth, as if wrapped in winding sheets rather than blankets." Francis Bacon commented that the drawings looked like knitting with the needles pulled out.




Moore never drew in the shelters. "It would have been like making sketches in the hold of a slave ship,"he said. To jog his memory, he jotted down notes. "Remember figures seen last Wednesday night (Piccadilly Tube)." 'Two sleeping figures (seen from above) sharing cream-coloured thin blankets (drapery closely stuck to form). Hands and arms. Try positions oneself."
Moore often spent the entire night below ground. At dawn he returned to his studio where he committed to paper what he had seen. He drew on cheap notebooks with pen and ink, crayon and watercolor. Of the shelter drawings, Clark wrote that they"will, I am certain, always be considered the greatest works of art inspired by the war."
More (or should that be Moore) of his Air Raid Shelter sketches - http://www.henry-moore-fdn.co.uk/matrix_engine/content.php?page_id=3145
Henry Moore Foundation website - http://www.henry-moore-fdn.co.uk

Sunday 24 January 2010

textiles inspired by Natural homes.

This flamingo is made by txtile artist Abigail Brown. She has also created beautiful textile pieces inspired by bird nests and houses. All of her work is very 3D. www.alison-brown.co.uk
These brightly coloured nests are made by recycle inspired artist Alison Harper. These pieces were made with everyday objects and materials. She created them with students when she went out into schools and colleges to run workshops. www.alisonharper.net

textiles inspired by Natural Homes


This piece is created by a batik and print artist called Robin Paris. All of her work is inspired by nature. www.robinparis.co.uk

Textiles inspired by Natural homes.


These are a series of nests created by a textile artist/ quilter from Canada called Kirsten Chursinoff. She has also created lots of pieces inspired by birds and other wildlife. www.chursinoff.com

These nests have been painted by Susan Hostetler. She has painted lots of birds as well as their nests. She is an eco artisit who works in mixed media. You can see lots of detial in the way the nests have been "woven" together by the birds. www.susanhostetler.com

Tetiles inspired by Natural Homes


these delicate nests are made from metal wires by artist Fiona Heron. www.fionaheron.com

textiles inspired by Natural Homes

Lovely 3D textiles by Tamar Mogendorff include birds and sealife such as this Clam. to look at more of the work go to www.tmogy.com

textiles inspired by natural homes


Birds nest inspired hat by Pierre Cardin in Spring 2008

Textiles inspired by Natural homes

Gaint Clam like head piece by Stephen Jones for designer Giles Deacon in Spring 2009. (very Rainbow!)