Open Call List

artist

width 21 ht 9.5 depth 11 cms media: iron, driftwood (bog oak), cotton

This little piece is an assemblage of found objects (from the beach) whose natural weathered and rusted colours I have emphasized with a gold thread binding. The black and sea-treated pieces of wood often found on these shores are from ancient forests. (shown here on a bright blue twirler to compliment the colour)

As an artist whose main concerns are nature and the environment, my use of colour is subtle and gentle, often considered ‘muted’ or even non-colour - ‘natural’ perhaps? Sometimes I use a complimentary colour as in an installation of bespoke red tree guards in 4 acres of natural managed heathland:http://www.judithcampbellart.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/red-spiral-032_NC.jpg

Starfish Wishes

Linoprint 25cm x 25cm (plus frame + mount approx. 45cm x 45 cm). Limited edition of 4.

The rush of joy in the printmaking process for me comes at the inking stage. Here experiments and play can happen, after the more controlled designing and carving stages. Different lino blocks can be layered to create two tone colours and ink can be mixed into desired tones. Here I experiment with contrasting colours to create colour pops. Inspired by washed up starfish of the North Norfolk shores, each starfish is celebrated as an individual with its own pattern, personality and colour. The layering adds movement and each starfish can offer a wish, just like those found on the shoreline.

Colour is at the heart of my creativity. In particular, printmaking allows me to celebrate the joy of colour, using bright carefully selected palettes, shown off on white paper. My prints aim to bring joy to the viewer and my use of colour drives this.

Cycle

80cm square plus 2 inch frame acrylic on canvas

‘Cycle’ is about the momentum of life; Seen and unseen. And the colours in this work are integral to the piece- helping interpret my etheric vision of my imaginings, whilst also firmly grounding me in warm rootedness.

With a restricted palette, I intend to bring unity. Bright, light filled, yet warm. Each colour a relative or friend of its neighbour. Translating something otherworldly; Bright iridescent whites contrasting with warm golden hues. Nuanced change. Rich teals and turquoises, juxtaposed with warm reds, russets and ochres and an earthly grounding.

Imagined Seahenge in sunrise glow

h 76 x w 56 cm Chalk pastel on Khadi paper

Tuning in to the experience of being at the Seahenge when bathed in colour.

Known by some as the charcoal woman, I do actually love using colour, mainly the boldness of acrylic and shellac inks, also the immediacy of chalk pastels. From a love of medieval stained glass, to the experience of the wonder of how colour and light transform our senses, for example being bathed in the light from the pretty new windows by John McLean in Norwich cathedral - colour gives us a feel for life.

Nasturtium companion

21” x 25” Acrylic on canvas

A burst of colour , This Nasturtium was trailing between the cabbages at my allotment, punctuated the ground with flashes of orange, distracting the insects from my precious harvest, the intensity and contrast of colour shouting paint me paint me in my head.

Colour is the back bone of my painting. Spending time interpreting the many different sensations encounter through vision and atmosphere .Interpreting these feelings with colour draw me in. Understanding and manipulating relationships and effects, pigments have with each other, will be something I never tire off.

Old Hunstanton

50 x 70cm (framed) Pastel on paper

A pastel depiction of Old Hunstanton cliffs. The evening light and spectrum of colours it releases on the honey-coloured cliffs of Hunstanton is a beautiful sight to behold.

Colour, representative as much as realistic, is an important tool for an artist to express their feelings and emotions. All artworks are emotional pieces, and reveal a connection between the artist and the subject, be that a landscape, portrait or still-life.

Water Garden

40cm x 50cm

My abstract expressionistic work is full of colour inspired by those found in the natural world where no colour wheel rules apply unless humans are involved!

Colour holds an enormous sensory power. Bright colours lift the spirit, muted colours soothe and dark colours evince a myriad of emotions. Colour feeds the soul and my work would not exist without it.

Notes towards a lavender blue

17.5cm W x 23cm H x 7.5cm D Perspex, found objects, ink and crayon on paper

Here I am working with pink, orange and yellow, plus the colours of the natural materials, to intensify a sense of a ‘lavender blue’. The papers and pigments are suspended within a perspex box, and their appearance and shapes will change as external light throws shadows and reflections.

Colour complementarity is a current interest of mine. ‘Lavender’ indicates purple, but the only real purple here is the dark colour on the lavender stem in the foreground, where it was dipped into blue ink for mark-making on the papers. The word ‘violet’ (in yellow) will appear in certain lights.

Razzle Dazzle

23” x 19” Acrylics

I have been exploring bolder colour in my work as an expression of how I feel inside despite outwardly being shy.

Colour makes me happy and gives me a voice to express my feelings. I love experimenting with bold colour combinations which make me smile.

Questioning the Soul

90x90 oil on canvas

Colours have emotions and for me they play a pivotal role in my abstract work. The combination of the colours in my art generates a captivating visual dialogue. The interplay between blues, pinks, whites and greens fosters a harmonious yet complex athmosphere, engaging the viewer’s emotions and perceptions. Each colour contributes to the overall narrative of the artwork inviting interpretation and personal resonance. My artwork embodies a deep understanding of colour and vividly illustrates the profound role of colours in the realm of visual expression that becomes a symphony of emotions and perceptions.

My art is a journey through the kaleidoscope of human emotions, a visual exploration of the profound and the subtle, the chaotic and the serene. Through my work, I strive to encapsulate the essence of existence, transcending the boundaries of time and place. Colour is my primary medium, and I wield it with purpose. Each hue on my canvas has a voice, a story to tell. These colours dance together, weaving narratives that invite viewers to embark on their own emotional odyssey. My abstract compositions are intentionally open-ended, a deliberate marriage of spontaneity and structure where forms play an important role in guiding the viewer through the abstract terrain. I belive that art is a collaborative journey between the creator and the observer, and it is in this partnership that true magic of interpretation and connection unfolds. It is my hope that each stroke of colour and every brush of texture in my work resonates with those who encounter it, that it becomes a mirror in which they can find their own reflections and stories.

Twilight Rock Pools

50cm x 50cm Acrylic and Ink on canvas

This piece uses the transfer technique of decalcomania, where paint is pressed between two surfaces. This technique allows me to focus on using colour as the central element through forgoing reference imagery and allowing chance to create forms and textures. This helps me to focus on the joy and experience of making and blending colours. This piece was made with a pastel range of colours reflecting a calm day of creating in my new house, however the odd blob of a bold colour reflecting the slight uncertainty of a new adventure.

My current approach to using colour involves the use of chance in the creation of my imagery, allowing me to focus on mixing, matching and blending colours. To focus on the excitement in finding new colour combinations and palettes that reflect my mood or landscapes in my imagination.

The winter of a tree

47cm x 37cm

The tree gradually discards its leaves of vivid autumn colour back to the earth, the energy within the tree is subdued and we observe the physical evidence of this process of nature, viewing the tree in its naked state, its earth bound roots, its trunk and twisting angular branches. Frost fills the air and coats the landscape with its particular patterns and cool tones. All is decked with cool and subtle light which sets the atmosphere for a limited and subdued palette. The tree leaning over the water is void of life, it has passed, energy will no longer fill its branches with the fresh colours of spring or the warm colours of autumn. The lifeless branches are disguised in the bareness of its surroundings. The subdued icy air that dampens the colour of sunlight effects vision and the perception of what has life and what has passed, is hidden, disguised. The limited colour challenges one to find the beauty in this landscape, the lost life of the tree and the particular way light transmits through the frost filled atmosphere to imbue the tree with the fractured reflection of light and shade and express the beauty of the twisting shapes that remain for one to enjoy despite its demise. Its presence still able to point towards natures continuing beauty. There is challenge and joy in discovering through the subtlety of colour and delicate tonality of a limited palette to interpret this experience. There is also present the reminder of new life and a coming season of new growth through the white flowers tinged with fresh green of the snowdrops and their leaves nestled between the frosted white grass on the ground. Nature reminds us of our the ever changing flow of our own existence in the world and the changing colours and tones that we may associate with each passing stage of that existence.

I work with a subtlety of colour and tone, the result of this could suggests a somewhat dulled approach to the world. My limited palette, a layered organic progression of subtle colour and tones are intended to reflect a spiritual visual approach to the subtleties, complexities of the world through my practice, particularly my colour preferences.

Knit House

Oil with acrylic and oil canvas fragments mounted on board

Intuitive use of colour with texture, going with approach that relate to the afore -mentioned Masters, through recycling of old canvas scraps from undergraduate days. I have a respect for what can be achieved with colour; in this lock-down painting I focused on close and tight relationships of tone (red similar scale) through the making and layering of the composition.

Approach is often schematic in use of colour but not always. In my practice making abstract paintings from collage studies it is often in harness with the other elements of Art.

Untitled

66 x 38 x 19 cm branches, recycled materials including copper wire and leather

The piece is painted black to transform the branches into objects not instantly recognised. The natural flow and shape of the forms have something shamanistic/ritualistic about them. I used copper wire and leather painted a dark red to intensify this aspect.

My work in recent years has been basically black or white. Sometimes both. I choose spot, minimal and specific colours to create a mood or feeling.

Flowers in vase 3

A3. Acrylic

I use colour instinctively in my art. I become lost in it. The oranges in this piece suggest to me warmth and optimsitism yet the introduction of blue provides a reminder of reality. I use negative space to carve out the subject matter.

Colours evoke a feeling, an emotion. Can the use of colour really be a science or psychology? I often paint the same subject matter many times using a different pallet. Depending on a mood, warm colours can soothe, cool colours can refresh and neutral colours cans allow room to breathe.

Distant Dash. Ageing

100x70 CNS

This painting focuses on a limited palette of colours suited to the observations and feelings in focus during its completion. The colours in the works I produce vary considerably, this depending on many factors. I hope this painting captures the essence of the moment in which it was created. If more than one painting was allowed to be submitted this contrast from each piece would certainly be obvious. A simple change in colour can have such a great impact on our emotions and responses.

Colour is vital in the way I currently work. It is the life and soul to a composition taken directly from observations, with feeling. This colour provides the life and depth to light, shadow and movement, chosen first consciously and then more exposed and abstracted through the subconscious.

Palimpsest ptg 3 (Blue)

Oil on linen canvas. 80cm x 80cm. Artists Collection.

My painting practice is concerned with the use of colour as a source of aesthetic energy and change. I am interested in the phenomenological impact of colour and the space it occupies. Colour is used to create a sense of depth and 'feeling' - often concerning memory (fragments and layers). Feeling is of primary importance : a painting should resonate and evoke questions.

Most recently, my practice has further developed a concept of painting as 'palimpsest' (as a barely perceptible relief). The under-painted colour fields are revealed as edges left over by the over-painted colour relationships. The colour relations and surface qualities are everything - the structure is the colour. My focus is how colour and surface can be methodically altered, layered, measured, and perceived anew.https://www.richardbellart.co.uk/

Rainbow net root and branch

Approx 1 metre square , off wall (3d but wall mounted)

A 3d network of rainbow vowen honeysuckle fronds, which both graduate colour through the rainbow, and intertwine to meet contrasts and complements. Wall based but 3d. This image is onto white, but would be remounted on neutral grey when delivered in situ.

I have used colour more frequently in recent years, drawn by the intensity of it in the nature up close: insects, fungi, even grasses. often using textile to evoke this layering, I prefer 3d as a way of giving space for colour to intertact and re-enchant us

Shards

420x420 digital print framed

I am meeting the brief in this application by focussing on the creation of traditional black and white photograms, exploring ghostly dream like compositions, combined with, contemporary shards of digital colour. These add a playful layer bringing the dreams to life. This juxta position allows the viewer to be drawn into the dream questioning the colour and what realities it might be suggesting.

The colour used in my current work explores the balance between traditional and contemporary processes and palettes. The black and white dark room work fascinates me but the colour added is the vibrancy I crave. It simply makes the work sing.

Return

Oil on Canvas,

the background colour (napthol red) dominates this image and has as emotional load suggesting danger or trauma. The three figures on the right are merely suggested so are possibly part of this trauma.The white figure on the left also has symbolic overtones of innocence.

Colour for me is partly symbolic and partly emotional.. My visual language has developed to portray narratives that exist within a fictional landscape Colourscapes are very much part of this. Colour is about relationships, colour exists for me as characters do gathering in a room, they are all relative to each other.