Jeni on Drawing 19 The Practice of Drawing
The impulse to make marks is as natural to humans as the impulse to talk. As babies,we spend our first year or so making strange sounds, imitating what we hear....
Jeni on Drawing 18. Drawing with Help
For many years, it was traditional to study under a ‘master’ artist to learn techniques and basic knowledge. An apprentice would study for years, helping to mix paint and...
Jeni on Drawing 17. Drawing from a Different Place
I wonder if perhaps because mark-making is such a primal human urge we expect drawing to be ‘easy’ somehow; that it should not demand practice or hard work....
Jeni on Drawing 16. The Practice of Drawing
The impulse to make marks is as natural to humans as the impulse to talk. As babies,we spend our first year or so making strange sounds, imitating what we hear....
Jeni on Drawing 15 Drawing the Line
I believe that art, or at least mark-making, is an innate form of human communication. We have been doing it before we even started to speak. I mean that...
Welsh Witterings: The Romance of a Gypsy Caravan Holiday
When it comes to a Gypsy Caravan there is no doubt that they are incredibly romantic, they contour up images of escapism, life on the open road and a...
Karl’s Chronicles Article 52 Le Jardin Majorelle – A Painters Triumph
The fashionable came to see and be seen, almost as worthy as the official pieces of art that lay bold but simultaneously unassuming around them. Chic supercilious women strolling...
Drawing on Reality
No matter what training they may have had, all artists are ‘self taught’ to a certain extent. Progress is only made through constant study and practice. There are arguments...
Paris, the French capital, is situated on the river Seine in the northern part of the country.
One of the world’s wonderful avenues in one of its great cities By Ann Mealor One of the world’s most stunning cities, it welcomes over 17 million foreign visitors...
Nefertari’s tomb, a tribute to love – World Meanderings (n°109)
By Annick Dournes & Frédéric de Poligny Queen Nefertari died 3,275 years ago and after all these years she still is a model of feminine beauty. Her...
Jeni on Drawing 13 Drawing After
Creativity is best learned by inspiration. By copying drawings we admire, working in the style of someone else, we learn how it feels to move our hands and make...
Jeni On Drawing 12- Drawing Flat Out
I am a Flat-Earther when it comes to drawing. We have to draw on two dimensional surfaces so how can anything really be three dimensional in our drawings? Drawing...
Trondelag, Mid-Norway
The Norwegians have a saying, There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing! Trondelag is in Central Norway, stretching up to the Swedish border. It’s known as...
Jeni On Drawing 11- Drawing on Imagination
A question that I am often asked is “how do you get ideas for your paintings? You must have a really good imagination!”. The answer is that yes, I...
Mumbai Memoir 139- Welcoming 2021 with Art!
On New Year eve Mumbai city was silent as never before. A curfew time was set by the Police and the ‘hotspots’ of Mumbai city like Marine Drive, beaches...
Malta Diary A lengthy Jewish legacy going back 3,500 years
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: There is a Maltese language expression that states “Rabti u Zebbugi jaghmlu Lhudi” which means “if you cross a...
Rob’s Favourite Article of 2020. A Rather Unusual Telephone Box
Photos by Rob Tysall, Tysall’s Photography It sounds bizarre but Ann Evans went along to Stratford-upon-Avon to see the unveiling of a telephone box! The work of...
Jeni on Drawing 10 – Drawing Forward
Before I settled in Malta I had spent a good six years of my life at art colleges, but really hadn’t much clue about how to make a living...
Frederic & Annick’s Favourite Article of the Year. Athens looks towards modern art – World Meanderings (n°96)
By Annick Dournes & Frédéric de Poligny Athens is not all about Antiquity. The proof is in the recent opening of the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation,...
Malta Diary A pictorial panorama of the Maltese Islands over the last 200 years
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: My four grandparents died 50, 40 and 30 years ago. I often muse that if they were resurrected today...
THE MAD MUSEUM. Ann’s Favourite Article of 2020.
Photos by Rob Tysall, Tysall’s Photography Ann Evans introduces us to a museum that runs like clockwork – Stratford upon Avon’s MAD Museum. If you or...
Jeni on Drawing 9 – Drawing is…. Mindless!
After all the left and right brain theory about the opposing effects of logic and creativity (see my last blog post) has gone over your head :), here is...
Malta Diary Searching for the soul – “the ultimate layer underneath the skin” Ray Piscopo’s paintings of haunting qualities
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: Professor Oliver Friggieri, a Maltese poet, novelist, literary critic and philosopher who relentlessly promoted the Maltese Language, sadly passed away recently on...
Discover the Best kept Secrets of the UK countryside
If anyone should know about country walks, it’s Clarkes Shoes who have been researching the secret gems of our countryside and coastal paths. Ann Evans has the details. ...
Jeni on Drawing 8 – Drawing with your Right Brain. Part 2
As I said last week, the idea of there being ‘right’ and ‘left’ sides of the brain first became popular in the 70’s and was used to explain the...
Jeni on Drawing 7 – Drawing with your Right Brain. Part 1
A very important theory which became popular in the 70’s was that the brain worked in two quite separate ways – the left side dealt with logics and learning,...
Mumbai Memoir- Mumbai’s Cultural Jewel-The Royal Opera House.
With the pandemic conditions still around, one needs immense motivation to sail through these trying times. One way to keep up the spirit is to focus on positive memories...
London Mural Festival now open for all to enjoy
Artists have been brightening the streets of London, Ann Evans has the details. Londoners and visitors to the Capital can brighten up their journeys by keeping an eye...
Jeni on Drawing 6 – Drawing on Outside Influences
Art is a creative rather than a logical activity. Children learn to draw and paint by imitation, in much the same way as they learn language, or skills such...
“Bid for the Louvre”, an online auction to help the Parisian museum – Meanderings through France n° 224
By Annick Dournes & Frédéric de Poligny From 1st to 15th December the Louvre and Christie’s in collaboration with the French auction house Drouot organise an exceptional auction....
The Ailing Tradition of Christmas Cards- Blessing or Loss
It’s not really news that the art of sending Christmas cards is an ailing one. I still like to send Christmas cards, indeed to me it is part of...
Jeni on Drawing 5 – Drawing and Sketching
The differences between ‘drawing’ and ‘painting’ are not always easy to define. Drawings are generally personal, intimate things, often made quickly to capture a fleeting moment in time. Paintings...
Jeni on Drawing 4 – Drawing Around
When you think about it, drawing lines around things is really trying to capture an illusion. There are no lines around anything we see, only edges where one ‘thing’...
Jeni on Drawing 3 Drawing on Past Experience
More years ago than I care to count, when I was doing an art foundation course at Hull Art College, I fell in love with life drawing....
Malta Diary Touches of sanity in today’s eyesore concrete jungle -archaeological sites and buildings now Scheduled and cannot be destroyed or altered in any way
ALBERT FENECH e/mail – Facebook: I have written it before and repeat, if my great grandparents and grandparents were to be resurrected today and placed anywhere in...
Jeni On Drawing – 2. More on Drawing
All of us are born with an urge to make marks, to sing, dance and generally express ourselves individually. If you ask any small child if they can draw...
Karl’s Chronicles. Article 50 Marrakesh – The Maze of Shadows
Pummelled and bruised like a failed fighter, the glum wasp-yellow taxi coughed its way down Rue Mohamed V. The broad artery named after the first King at Independence from...
Jeni on Drawing – 1
I can’t remember not drawing. Over the years I have put a lot of thought into the whys and wherefores of this delicious activity, especially when I started...
Mumbai Memoir 137- Fiction time during lockdown!
Recently Mumbai has opened up on various fronts. Though Mumbai’s railway service is still not operational, people are moving around in buses & private vehicles for their work and...
Art In The Savill Garden
Colour, shape, form and composition, ever-changing, ever growing. Nature is art. It surprises us every hour, every day. A flower opening its petals, droplets of water balancing on leafy...