sea blue sky abstracts

' Tulips' an original drypoint print completed with watercolour and ink has been submitted to The Help Japan Challenge  posted by painter Keiko Tanabe .  The challenge - to raise funds to help the stricken people of Japan overcome disastrous after effects of the recent earthquake and tsunami - features an ongoing online auction of artworks with proceeds going to charity.  Money raised through the sale of 'Tulips' will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross Society (send money via Google) .  Take a look at Katherine Tyrrell's Making a Mark blog  which is where I first found out about Help Japan.  Have a good week. x

Come along to the Exchange Gallery on Saturday night if you are in the area for the Art Auction in aid of St Julia's Hospice - admission £3.00 includes a glass of bubbly and there's music too! Not able to attend but would like a chance to bid, click here  to view the options available. Thanks also to Katherine Tyrrell who has posted about the above event on her comprehensive art blog 'Making a Mark'.

'Above Gulval' below, which will be auctioned alongside works by many other artists to raise  funds for St Julia's Hospice , at the Exchange Gallery , Penzance on Saturday 26 March, 2011. This large painting, measuring approx 91 x 61 cm, shows two hawthorns - bent over by prevailing winds - growing in a hedge on the B3311 St Ives to Penzance road, high above the village of Gulval.  In fact, the central tree is no longer there, having blown/fallen over a couple of winters ago.  Rendered in acrylic and oil on canvas in a lime waxed wooden frame. The painting has a modest estimate of £150/£200 with  50% of the selling price being donated to St Julia's.  Click to enlarge. To download a copy of the catalogue and view some of the stunning artworks available by a host of talented artists and makers, please click here Hope that you will be able to come along on the night - there will definitely be something affordable to suit every taste and all in a very good cause

The paintings below will be framed up soon and put on sale at Art Space Gallery , with the exception of the last and smallest 'Wintry Day at the Beach' which will be mounted and eventually placed on sale at St Ives Society of Artists. 'Dark and Wild' oil on primed board, 12.5 x 12.5 cm. SOLD 'Last of the Sun' oil on board, 12.5 x 12.5 cm. SOLD 'Storm Tide ' oil on primed board, 12.5 x 12.5 cm. SOLD 'Sun Shower' oil on primed board, 12.5 x 12.5 cm. SOLD 'Wind Driven Seas ' oil on primed board, 12.5 x 12.5 cm. SOLD ' Winter Sunset' oil on board, 12.5 x 12.5 cm. SOLD 'Wintry Day at the Beach' oil on primed board, 10 x 13 cm SOLD Click to enlarge.  Copyright Lesley Ninnes.

Painting = fun, play, trepidation, release, balm, struggle, challenge, excitement, frustration, enlightenment, learning, compulsion, happiness.............. 'Rive the Wave' 2004 oil on board 'Lie of the Land 2007' watercolour/gouache on paper 'Northerly Gale' 2010 oil on board Painting is never dull or boring. Click to enlarge.  Copyright Lesley Ninnes.

This most recent seascape is the result of reworking an abstract artwork.  The rich reds and oranges of the original have provided a vibrant underpainting and influenced my choice of warm shades for the sand and even the rocks.  The red/orange base can be seen where the wave breaks on shore.  Thick impasto was applied in main by knife. 'Rising Tide' image size 34 x 37 cm. Detail Detail Plus, the original frame was to hand - see various views below.  Framed dimensions:  51 x 54 cm. For sale soon, in Art Space Gallery probably.

Paintings in acrylic and oil on deep edge canvas, unframed.  Below is 'Low Tide & Headland' 46 x 61 cm. Detail Detail Detail 'Reef' 75 x 61 cm. Detail Detail Detail 'Lie of the Land 2011' diptych 92 x 61 cm. Detail Detail Detail Detail I've had fun producing these artworks, keeping everything clean and uncluttered while luxuriating in the use of colour and creating texture and alternating between opacity and transparency.  Click all images to enlarge.

Hi everyone, please read an excerpt below from a message sent by the Save Our Forests campaign which arrived today: This Wednesday there is a crunch vote in Parliament. MPs will vote on a motion demanding a rethink of plans to sell our national forests. The fact this vote is happening shows that MPs have noticed our campaign. Right now, the petition is nearly 330,000 strong, and every name counts. So we’re setting a bold new target of half a million people by 5pm on Tuesday in time for Wednesday’s hugely important vote. http://www.38degrees.org.uk/save-our-forests So many of us have joined this campaign because we all understand something the government doesn’t seem to get yet: that our woodlands and forests are priceless, and once they’re gone they’re gone forever. We know that places like the Forest of Dean, the New Forest, Grizedale, Thetford, and Alice Holt are national treasures. We know that they belong to all of us, and we will do whatever we can to keep them in pub

Yesterday, we completely cleared Art Space Gallery, ready to start cleaning and painting so that the premises are spic and span for the forthcoming season.  Prints, cards, paintings on the wall and paintings in the storeroom all had to be removed.  I have paintings 'stashed' at my Mum's and pieces of art lining the hallway of my house - many of which need good homes so that I can continue to paint more, for the ideas that keep on coming!  Some are quite large and, as a result, don't get exhibited that often - they just don't get seen.  Others have been admired but are still here and some are destined to be 'reworked', which is always fun, though galling when someone enquires about an artwork after the process, when the original original no longer exists, if you get my drift? The first in need of a home is 'Light Kissed Red' pictured above, top left.  Painted in acrylic and oil on deep edge canvas, dimensions are 90 x 90 cm. The next is 'Light Can

This first artwork is entitled 'Porthmeor Sunset 2010' a reworked abstract which only suggested sunset - and was a little too subtle - it's a much better painting now!  Acrylic & oil on deep edge canvas, framed, 35.5 x 35.5 cm.  Click to enlarge.  SOLD 'Distant Surf 2010' acrylic & oil on primed board, mounted, 61 x 52 cm.   SOLD 'Gwithian Dark Cloud' acrylic & oil on primed board, unmounted/unframed (so far) 46 x 37 cm.   SOLD The picture below was taken at around 8.15 am today and shows the moon about to drop below the horizon in the West. By the time we ventured onto the coast road from Portreath at around 3.30 pm, clouds had begun to pile up and the welcome sunshine of the past three days started to disappear. Headland and beach at Portreath.  The large rock is part of a formation known as the Cow & Calf, the smaller being hidden from this angle. The sea wall.  F urther along the coast and t