Anke: Royal Tunbridge Wells

Mrs Anke and I took a lovely spring walk through to Grosvenor and Hilbert Park today and bumped into Bridget who was carving graffiti into the new artworks. I should add that she was supposed to be there, she wasn't being naughty.

Bridget at work.

Bridget is a Sculptor, Lettercutter, and Memorial Artist who is spending twelve days carving as many of your suggestions into the soft stone as she can. She has already made good progress and the lovely weather is surely helping her along.

There are some really lovely suggestions of graffiti that have been carved into the stone so far, one particular example that both Mrs Anke and I liked, below, just happened to be the daughter of Polly who turned up to inspect the work so far.

Oliver, Polly and Jo talk Mrs Anke through the carvings.

Pop along and have a look for yourself and see if your doodle made it into the stone. If you can't do that then click the link below for a few photographs instead.

Click here to see more photographs from the carving.

The wonderful power of social media meant that I discovered another talented local artist recently. A Happy New Year tweet from Hunting in the Rain popped up on my timeline with the following image:

Poppy by Hunting in the Rain. Copyright Hunting in the Rain.

I excitedly dropped the artist, James, a message to find out more. It turns out that Hunting in the Rain is named after his and his wife Nina's children, Rain and Hunter. The idea came about after he began to look for artwork to decorate their bedrooms. James saw a gap in the market for artwork that wasn't necessarily cutesy but could still offer something playful, quirky and fun, and using the knowledge from his design studies from Central Saint Martins, set about creating a collection of amazing characters.

I went to the launch of the Hunting in the Rain exhibition at Javabean a couple of weeks ago and took the opportunity to grab James and persuade him to share his thoughts with us all. So, without further ado here is our interview:

Hello James.

Hello.

I was quite taken with your artwork the instant I first saw it. It has a wonderful ethereally-scary-twisted-fairytale quality and puts me in mind of Richard Scarry on acid. Where does this style come from?

Visceral and naturalistic artwork excites me. Spontaneity and emotive mark making is what I really appreciate and look to achieve in my own artwork. For me, it's about catching the moment. Although I can't attribute my style to a single influence I've always loved the artwork of Francis Bacon, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Gottfried Helnwein. My biggest influence however is the attitude that young children have towards drawing. They're fuelled by experimentation, exploration with no end result in mind; it's pure play. As a 'grown up' it's challenging to adopt this state of mind, as we're conditioned with the notion of what good art 'should' be. I try to break this down.

James, the artist behind Hunting in the Rain, next to some of his works.

What inspired you to take up painting these weird and wonderful characters in the first place?

They evolved naturally through doodling and experimentation in my spare time. I hit upon an attitude towards drawing and image making that I enjoyed because it allowed me to draw and narrate events in my life in an abstract and non-literal way. I started to draw creatures because I could relate and empathise with them, as I hope other people do. I try to build a connection between artwork and the viewer.

As the doodling got more frequent friends who saw them liked them so I decided to take them from my sketch pad to a larger format.

There's a great story about two of your characters introducing you to your future wife, care to enlighten everybody?

Yes there is. My wife will probably provide a better rendition of this story. I had an exhibition in Soho, London, a beautiful blond wondered in on her lunch break, she saw 'Rabbit Girl' and gave me a call. The rest is history. 'Rabbit Girl' is now in our children's bedroom. She has a lot to answer for... Thanks 'Rabbit Girl'!

Where do you get your inspiration for the characters from and how do you create them, are they strange representations of people and animals around you or are they pure fiction?

Inspiration comes from anywhere. Ideas can come from the smallest starting point. 'Poppy' was inspired by a single poppy growing in our back yard. A poppy grew in the same place year after year. I loved its resilience and reluctance to give up. It survived just about everything the weather threw at it, snow, hail, rain, wind until one day, it was gone. I liked the notion of this, so I drew 'Poppy'. I wanted to make her delicate and vulnerable but with a hidden strength, determination and presence.

Lemon was inspired when I heard a high pitched dog bark when I was on holiday in Spain a couple of years ago. The owner shouted at it, "Lemon!". I didn't see the dog or its owner but I liked the idea of a crazy, out of control dog called Lemon.

I always start with pen and ink drawing on paper. I then scan the drawing in and colour and manipulate the image on the computer. I think a hand drawn starting point is a really important starting point. Scanning the image into the computer allows me to manipulate the image further and create a collage approach. I love the flexibility that digital offers. I remember the graphic designer Neville Brody saying back in the 90's that pixels never dry. I like the idea of this.

Lemon by Hunting in the Rain. Copyright Hunting in the Rain.

The characters in your pictures look quite scary and you decorate your children's bedrooms with them. Do they not give them nightmares?

No, well not that I know of. I think kids' imaginations are far more exotic than my artwork can ever begin to be. Dropping a dream-cam into a four and two year old's imagination would be a fascinating and enlightening spectacle I'm sure.

I think the characters would make a wonderful story book. Any plans to turn them into stories?

No immediate plans. I'm impatient when is comes to creating artwork. I like to make the work quickly. I can tell instantly if it's working or not. If it's not working, it goes in the bin and I try a different approach. The more I procrastinate, the higher the risk of the piece becoming contrived or overworked. To answer your question, developing the characters for a book would involve me working with them for too long, rather than just a snapshot into their world that they currently are.

The Madness of King George by Hunting in the Rain. Copyright Hunting in the Rain.

What kind of person usually buys your artwork?

People with ravishingly good taste and a keen eye for something a little different. People buy art for lots of different reasons, it's all about engaging someone at the right time, the right place and the right mood.

James, the artist behind Hunting in the Rain, amongst some more of his artworks.

Do you have a favourite Tunbridge Wells artist?

There is artistic talent everywhere you look. Artists in the public eye are the ones fortunate enough to be discovered and enjoyed by a wider audience.

...more spaces being set up for up-and-coming artists.

What do you think of the art scene in Tunbridge Wells? Any opinions on what you would like to see?

I'd like to see more spaces being set up for up-and-coming artists. The Javabean Cafe on the high street provides a great space to hang artwork. By partnering with outlets such as this, you are taking art to the people rather than relying on people coming to you. Why not plug into what people of doing already, drinking coffee and lunching?

Hunting in the Rain is exhibiting at Javabean Café until March with 5% of all sales going to the Tunbridge Wells based children's charity KCFN, so why not pop in for lunch and a browse. If you can't get to see them then take a look at their online store where you can purchase limited edition prints from as little as £25. Bargain!

What do you think, would these look great on your child's bedroom walls?

The first of the community art installations that I blogged about last year is beginning to near fruition and I was invited along to witness the selection of the source materials.

Discussing rocks with Oliver, Paul and David.

I was invited by Carolyn Gray from the Friends of Grosvenor Park, where this particular installation will be homed, to join the artist Oliver Goodhall in visiting a local quarry to choose the huge slabs of sandstone for the piece.

The piece in question is We Made That's Graffiti Steps. Now, you may remember that I wasn’t too kind about this particular piece. I'll go as far as to admit that I actually said I hated it and gave it zero out of ten. So when I met the artist, Oliver, I was fully prepared with my defensive artistic argument. But it just wasn't needed, he was perfectly polite, rather charming, and never mentioned it. Still, having seen the stones I can see this piece will look impressive but, a big but, I am still not convinced that covering it in graffiti will work.

The design concept. Copyright: We Made That 2011.

Anyway, back to the task in hand, I'm here now so I might as well have fun in finding some big rocks.

We are inside Lamb’s Quarry in the pretty village of West Hoathly. This small site mainly quarries sandstone, even some of our Tunbridge Wells sandstone at that, for use in construction and decorative applications. The site has provided sandstone for homes in Calverley Park amongst others around the area.

After the obligatory but mercifully brief Health and Safety lecture we donned our safety gear and set off into the giant muddy hole in the ground. Thankfully there was no mining happening that day so we could freely wander around hunting for suitable stones. Pretty much straight away one giant slab jumped out at David Scully, not literally of course, as the perfect piece to use as the seating stone (pictured below). David, being TWBC's Landscape and Biodiversity Officer, is well placed to be able to help the artist select the ideal hunk of stone for his artwork. The one David had discovered was covered in natural undulations that would be very tactile and quite comfortable on the posterior.

The artist, Oliver, with the selected seating stone to his left.

The artwork is too large to be able to be quarried in one piece of stone, and also too large to lift into the site in one piece. So to get it into Grosvenor Park the plans for it have been sliced into seven two-tonne sections and each piece will be carefully joined together to make it look like one natural piece.

The plans.

We spent the best part of an hour climbing amongst the rocks, poking and prodding stones to see if we could find the perfectly-sized pieces required, and I'm pleased to say that it looks like we did. All that needs to happen now is that the stones are shaped, smoothed, and lifted into Grosvenor Park. Well, except that isn't the end of the story.

You may recall that the rocks still need to have their graffiti applied, and that's where you come in. A date will be released soon (stay tuned to our Twitter or Facebook Page) that will enable you to be able to go along and with the help of a master craftsman carve your name or slogan into the rocks. Time will tell if my initial opinion of the piece was justified.

Click here for more photographs of the quarry visit.

Thanks go to Carolyn Gray, David Scully from TWBC, Paul South, and Oliver Goodhall.

My postcard blog has proved very popular with readers recently, and if you enjoyed looking at them then this just might be right up your alley.

One of the postcards from my local collection.

I met this week with the lovely Agatha O'Neill, an artist, actress, and general creative extraordinaire, after discovering her latest artistic project.

The project, called "Echoes of the Past", is an interactive art piece for her second year of fine art at Kent College. It will show a collection of postcards that have been sent to Agatha with messages of what things people find valuable.

Agatha started the project after shopping for postcards and discovering a box of over 200 cards from the same family in a charity shop. She was so intrigued by the little stories between the family that she actually began writing a postcard diary to herself. Yep, that's right, she sent postcards to herself.

The pleasure of having a message on the back of a pretty picture landing on the doormat in the morning lead to the desire to want to receive postcards from other people, and the best way to do this, apart from sending your friends on lots of holidays, is to turn it into an art project.

The best bit...is that you and I can take part.

The best bit of all, because it's an interactive art piece, is that you and I can take part. All you have to do is send Agatha a postcard with some answers to the following questions:

(answer one, or answer them all)
1. What do you own that you would love to put in display in a museum?
2. If you could take anything from a museum home, what would it be?
3. What would you replace it with?
4. What wouldn’t you want to take home?
5. Which of your possessions most represent you?
6. What's the most valuable thing you would give?
7. What's the one thing you would never give away?
8. What do you want more than anything in the world?
9. What is your most precious memory?

These days, with the new communication technologies we have, we don't send postcards anymore, so let's change that. Let's send some postcards! Come on, pop down to the Tourist Information Centre, or do what I did and pop into King Charles the Martyr Church, for their excellent range and help Agatha out and be part of the artwork. Even if you don't live in Tunbridge Wells you can take part, I bet Agatha would love to receive cards from all over the world. Come on readers, get sending!

Send your postcards, by the 11th of February, to: Flat 5 Cambridge House, Camden Hill, Tunbridge Wells TN2 4TB.

One of Agatha's greetings cards, available throughout town. You could even buy one of these to send.

Her project will be on display at Maidstone Museum from the 16th of February until the 23rd of March, and I really hope that one of our fine exhibition spaces will be able to bring it to Tunbridge Wells so that everyone can see it. If you can't get to the display, or just want to see other cards Agatha has received so far, then you can keep up with Agatha's project on her Twitter and Facebook.

I've chosen my postcard, I wonder if yours will be as bizarre as mine. There's only one way to find out.

A chance meeting with a local artist in a local coffee shop this morning resulted in a bit of a light bulb moment regarding putting Water Back into the Wells.

Here, with help from Poul Webb, is what we think would be a rather terrific idea for a) getting water back into the wells, and b) giving tourists a reason to visit another part of our town that isn't The Pantiles or the shops.

I can just imagine kids, and adults alike, playing under the dripping tap in the Summer and people travelling from many miles just to see the famous Giant Tap and have a cup of tea in the Tap Café. It caused much merriment on our Facebook page, but what do you think?