London on Canvas

I first met artist Nicholas Borden back in February on a cold and grey winter day in London. He had set up his easel on a traffic island in the middle of the road and he was totally focused on the canvas and the scene he was painting, defying the weather and the gloomy day, not to mention the busy traffic.

Since our meeting in February he has been out on the streets nearly every day capturing the everyday life of London on canvas. His work is vibrant and colourful with the spontaneity and energy of life spilling out on to the canvas. The skies he paints are often gloomy grey english skies which he admits he rather likes and which serve to really highlight the warm and bright colours on the canvas. I think he's fine with grey skies as he's an outdoor type who enjoys fishing and you would never get out if you waited for a blue skied day, especially in winter.

Nicholas is currently preparing for his forthcoming exhibition at the Millinery Works which kicks off on 20 October and runs until 15 November. It will be well worth a visit, and it will be warm inside the Gallery.

Bohemian London

Cobbled streets, veteran cars and a house where an artist from the Bloomsbury group once lived.  (identified by the blue plaque.) Where is this I hear you ask?  The interesting thing about London is that there are a number of areas that this could be.  It's what makes this city so appealing, turn around a corner and suddenly you have stepped back in time.  This street is in East London not far from Spitalfield's Market, a now trendy place for emerging artists to sell their works.

The Abseiler

Not just swinging from ropes, he's also wielding a paintbrush!

The Artist and the Ballerinas

I met Katya Gridneva quite by accident, and we got chatting. She invited me to take a look around her studio.  She works with oils, pastels and charcoal creating beautiful figurative images, especially ballerinas.

As a child Katya trained as a gymnast at one of Russia's top schools, until she fell from a bar and sustained an injury that brought her career to an abrupt end. She then studied at the world renowned Academy of Fine Arts in St Petersburg, and many of her dance models are from the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, where she has privileged backstage access to study the dancers.


Katya's new exhibition will be at the John Noott Gallery 13 October 2012 to 28 October 2012

Views

How we both saw Hyde Park