After an enjoyable walk a few months ago I finally got chance to complete my a painting from the park. Loved the idea of the walkway through the trees and the contrast in colours between that and the trees.

​Whilst visiting the University, it was also interesting to see their exhibition next door at Salford Art Gallery.

This tells the story of the University's art collection so far. This collection started in 1969 and contains about 700 works of art. I was fortunate enough to have one of my paintings purchased to be part of this collection a few years ago.

Over 30 of these artists are featured in this show, unfortunately not mine! There are the older works by artists such as L S Lowry and Adolphe Valette featured but it seemed to me there was a greater emphasis on work purchased over the last 10-15  years.  Personally, I would have liked to have seen more of a spread over their selection of art work. 

Again a wide range of styles and subject matter and something should appeal to all visitors.
It will be interesting to see how this collection develops to become distinctive in years to come.

​Several years ago I exhibited in the Chapman Gallery that was part of Salford university, I remember it well. I had been busy painting studies of Salford and Manchester shopping centres and fancied a change. I decided to explore the concept of the modern foreign holiday and painted a series of works on this theme.

The exhibition was in December and when we arrived the heating wasn't working properly. We had decided to have a holiday theme to the opening and had a couple of ladies dressed up as waitresses,  wearing black and white uniforms and serving cream teas. It was freezing outside and not much warmer inside. A memorable day and quite a successful exhibition.

 At the time the gallery contained a studio and there was an artist in residence; Christine Healey. It was a pity that this facility was lost but now the new building also has a gallery on the ground floor.

It does seem a shame that this is not as big as the old gallery but I do wonder if more exhibition space will become available in other parts of this building. The gallery at the moment seemed a little sparce with only a few works on show.
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Hopefully with the universities commitment to the community this can become a hub of local art and an impressive show place.

I had been looking forward to having a look around the  Arts centre at Salford University based in the new Adelphi Building. I visited briefly a couple of weeks ago for the launch of the Salford Art Book and after an invite to the Degree show was keen to tour more of the building.
I went with my wife and was met by Ashlee Cox, whom we met after she organised the book mentioned previously.The exhibition was on two floors of this impressive building as well as in the entrance hall.

The first floor we visited housed the Graphic exhibition, which brought back memories of my teaching Graphic design. Some excellent models on display, showing a wide range of project briefs  that had been set and the students' final solutions to these. 

The next floor we visited housed the Visual arts section; the main focus of my visit. Here again the topics covered were interesting and diverse. The  students also showed their skills in a  wide range of techniques. It's good to see students experimenting and finding their own style. There was everything from traditional painting to conceptual art. Something for everyone to appreciate. I'm sure many of these students will continue to develop and produce new work. 

A  more formal review of this exhibition is found on the website  below.
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http://www.theskinny.co.uk/art/emerging-artists/salford-universitys-degree-show-review

,My art club in Salford was invited to represent the borough in a competition against other local boroughs. The theme was "Unnatural Borders" an installation at Salford quays of endangered species.
There were four sculptures that lit up at night.
The club met on a Sunday afternoon and i was able to do some studies. I also went back one evening, to see them lit up, and decided to use these images.
Working outside my comfort zone i decided to try a couple of different studies to interpret my ideas.
The first one (shown above) involved using tissue paper crumpled up and glued down to give a textured effect. Washes of acrylic paint were then applied.
I tried different backgrounds before settling on a plain one. To this I added the two star installations  representing The Great Bear constellation Ursa Major and The Little Bear constellation Ursa Minor, The Little Dipper.
For my second one (shown below) I wanted to show the colours reflected on the body of the bear. After a few trial runs i decided to paint the colours I wanted and then cut these into  shape. These were then glued in the appropriate positions. 

For my final attempt I decided to go to my normal style using thicker paint but with a brush and palette knife this time.
Because the painting had to be handed in shortly I had to use acrylic paint as oil paint would not be dry in time. This was again outside my comfort zone as it is about twenty years since I regularly used them for painting and even then in a different style. 
I'm reasonably pleased with the result but prefer my oil paints to get the effects I want.
You can see the work by the other artists on the following website. Some really talented artists in the group and a range of interpretations.
www.salfordartclub.com/blog-demonstrations-workshops-etc/members-paintings-for-salford-quays-unnatural-borders