A letter from Mary Fedden

In May of 2005, my husband the photographer Andrew Sanderson and myself were invited to visit Mary Fedden in her studio. We arrived two months later and she kindly showed us around her place, provided us with tea and allowed us to photograph anywhere we liked. Later, Andrew made a book of the pictures which he gave to me as a present.

  
I discovered the letter from Mary yesterday whilst spring cleaning and though it might be of interest.

The letter reads;

Dear Andrew, I really love your photographs. I love the way you make beautiful + significant the most trivial – seeming things – your observation is perfect.
Thank you so much for your book. I’m touched that your wife thought my surroundings would interest you. When you come to London, I would be happy for you to come + take some photographs.
I certainly have plenty of insignificant objects for you to transform!
Do give me a ring when you plan to come, + we will fix a date.
With best wishes to you both
Mary Fedden
Your children are beautiful!

Before she died I managed to visit her on three occasions and she was always very welcoming and friendly.

If you are interested in seeing the photography that Mary was referring to, please visit; http://www.andrewsanderson.com

This was one of Andrew’s still life pictures that Mary asked for, we gave her a mounted 10×8 print.

 

Portrait of the artist.

I was recently asked by a gallery to supply a portrait of myself for their website. One of the images I considered was this one taken by my husband Andrew Sanderson. He used an old wooden 5×7 inch Kodak specialist camera, one of his favourite cameras for portraiture.

Emily Sutton and Mark Hearld.

Last weekend we visited the open studios of Mark Hearld and Emily Sutton in York. The opening was in their own house and we saw so many interesting and inspirational things. As artists, we have collected and hoarded all sorts of objects and curiosities over the years, and we immediately felt at home there. There were a lot of people looking around and almost everything had sold by lunchtime. We bought two paintings by Emily Sutton and they were quite happy for Andrew to take pictures around their house for this blog.

We are going over again on Sunday to collect the work and spend a bit more time in York, one of our favourite Cities.

Rabbits.

Over the last year I have been introducing more animal imagery into my work: Cats, dogs and birds etc, but recently I have been looking at Victorian illustrations of Rabbits. Coincidentally, my husband, the photographer Andrew Sanderson had photographed a toy rabbit belonging to a friend’s (Jo Aylward) daughter. With it being Easter Sunday, I thought I’d share them with you….

Robin Hood Staffordshire figure

My husband Andrew Sanderson recently photographed my Staffordshire figure of Robin Hood and it inspired me to include it in one of my larger paintings. My children have ridiculed my choice of ornament ever since I bought it from a local junk shop a few months back. I originally bought it for a bit of fun, but have grown rather fond of it.
This then led me to look at other pieces in this style. I found, and painted two Staffordshire cats and have done the drawings for lions and horses, but have not had time to paint these yet. I am sure there will be more curious finds to inspire soon.

New flowers in the garden.

This time last week the garden was covered in snow, but now the snow has melted and we already have some lovely flowers coming up. Here is a small posy I picked today:

Beautiful morning

We have had some spectacular early morning mist, frost and light. This morning the mist slowly moved up and down the valley creating amazing light effects. We are so lucky to live here.

Painting commission

Today I was painting on the kitchen table as it was too cold in the studio.

I have recently been commissioned to do a painting which combines various elements from previous paintings, this one is destined for a customer in Singapore.

Andrew, my husband made a short video of the progress of the painting:

Painting in progress from Debbie George on Vimeo.

Seascape painting, Jo Aylward

Every morning when we sit up in bed we see this painting by our friend Jo Aylward. It has a lovely sky which seems to look different every time I look at it. Every Year Jo and I go on holiday to Cornwall together, this seascape was painted at Church cove one of our favourite places.
I have known Jo for about 15 years and have collected her work from the first time I saw it at her degree show to only a few months back when I visited her home and studio in Kent.
Starting from December 1st, Jo has a show opening in a wonderful cafe/restaurant called the Black Douglas, which is in Deal, Kent. She will be exhibiting 20 new paintings all of which I wish I could own. http://www.joaylward.co.uk/

This Black and white portrait of Jo Aylward was taken a few years ago by my husband the  photographer Andrew Sanderson.http://www.andrewsanderson.com/