<![CDATA[sally jefferies art

<![CDATA[sally jefferies art - Lockdown]]>Mon, 01 Dec 2025 06:03:52 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[Copper bowl]]>Fri, 29 May 2020 07:41:54 GMThttps://www.sallyjefferies.com/lockdown/copper-bowl

Copper bowl. Oil

Another go at painting in oils. I feel much less comfortable with oils than with acrylics. Everything in this composition is invented, I have no aptitude for painting an actual still life!

]]><![CDATA[silver leaves and a dark rainbow]]>Sun, 24 May 2020 10:44:53 GMThttps://www.sallyjefferies.com/lockdown/silver-leaves-and-a-dark-rainbowTwo paintings in black, red and shades of grey with collaged leaves in silver card. Dark Rainbow felt like a covid-19 painting.

Silver leaves (1) Acrylic and collage

Silver leaves (2) Acrylic and collage

Dark rainbow. Acrylic

Face masks
I've been making face masks for the Peggy Dodd Centre in Combe Down, a day centre for people with memory loss. The centre hopes to reopen with limited numbers in mid-June and needs face masks for the clients to wear. The pleated ones are likely to be the most appropriate ones. The round ones (as modelled by Shawn the Sheep) are for sale to raise funds for the centre which is obviously increasingly short of funds during the lockdown.

Pleated face masks

Round masks, £5 each

]]><![CDATA[End of 2019]]>Mon, 30 Dec 2019 19:18:23 GMThttps://www.sallyjefferies.com/lockdown/end-of-2019A busy year. Latest paintings are on my Recent Paintings page. This year I organised the Combe Down Art Trail which was a lovely weekend for everyone. I have exhibited and sold paintings in the RUH and at the Pound in Corsham. Also joined Instagram!]]><![CDATA[Widcombe Art Trail, 22-23 June]]>Fri, 14 Jun 2019 07:22:20 GMThttps://www.sallyjefferies.com/lockdown/widcombe-art-trail-22-23-juneI am taking part in the Widcombe Art Trail at venue E, 20a Horseshoe Walk. Here are some of the paintings I will have on show, also cards and some paintings on glass.

]]><![CDATA[Rembrandt]]>Mon, 06 May 2019 09:35:33 GMThttps://www.sallyjefferies.com/lockdown/rembrandtI went to see the Rembrandt film a while ago – the cinema was full and hot, hard to stay awake and several people dozed off. The film felt too long (but was only about 90 minutes). It didn’t stick to a timescale and jumped around Rembrandt’s life and paintings in a hard to follow theme. A lot of different talking heads. A philosopher linking Rembrandt to Descartes in a speculative may-have-met musing. The sliding, morphing style made for a slow film with many apparent endings before the end. It is always good to see the paintings but I didn’t enjoy the film much and felt that it missed the point though I am now not sure what the point was. I think the TV series is better but maybe at three hour-long episodes that too is too long. I think I am distinctly lacking in patience!

My paintings didn’t get shortlisted for the Bath Artists show but no surprise. Having had one accepted once I persevere in hope each year. E has one through to the next round which is very pleasing. I am in a can’t think of anything to paint phase.
]]><![CDATA[Sharmanka Travelling Circus]]>Tue, 09 Apr 2019 14:40:34 GMThttps://www.sallyjefferies.com/lockdown/sharmanka-travelling-circusI went to see the current exhibition at the Victoria Gallery today. Called Sharmanka Travelling Circus it combines mechanical bits and pieces of scrap metal, old looms, cogs, bells, together with carved figures made to bang and hammer and make things move - a bit like a Heath Robinson contraption. The changing colours of the lighting casts shadows that become another version of the animated elements. And the music reflects the different stories being told (these passed me by). The industrial scenes, with cranes and meccano-like skyscrapers, accompanied by a kind of 1920s jazz and big band music reminded me of some of the paintings at the exhibition of American art at the Ashmolean. It all felt industrial, the noise and clang of construction in 20th century America, and then I read the leaflet. Sharmanka is Russian for barrel organ; the concept was created in Russia in the 1970s; and though some of the sound and performance relate to industry, there were stories, fables and allegories that I, being literal, didn't pick up. I loved it for the sight and sound and the kind of artist craftsman who has the imagination and skill to invent it.

]]><![CDATA[William Scott art]]>Sat, 30 Mar 2019 14:30:51 GMThttps://www.sallyjefferies.com/lockdown/william-scott-art

I went to a talk at BRLSI last night on the 20th century artist William Scott who taught at Bath Academy of Art in the 1950s. He was friends with Rothko, Pollock, de Kooning and the poet Dylan Thomas. Scott’s paintings are very varied. I really liked some of his work, especially abstracts like this one, called Bottle and fish slice. He is rather known for domestic kitchen table scenes with pots and pans.

Meanwhile, in less rarified company, Roman Glass has sold one of my paintings called The blue door and the peach tree - it's been on their walls for several years. Proceeds from the sale (not a lot as the painting is quite small) go to Dorothy House or Macmillan.

Bottle and fish slice by William Scott

The blue door and the peach tree

]]><![CDATA[Matthew Smith art]]>Fri, 22 Mar 2019 17:06:22 GMThttps://www.sallyjefferies.com/lockdown/matthew-smith-art

We have been taking it in turns to steward the exhibition. Several people have commented on my bright paintings (the challenge is to find someone brave enough to buy one), comparing them to those by Matthew Smith, an artist painting in the first half of last century. I looked him up and loved his work so I feel a little less dispirited. This is one of his paintings. He did all kinds of subjects, maybe I will try a portrait in this style one day if someone will sit for me.

Fruit by Matthew Smith

.https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=matthew+smith+artist&prmd=inv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjn2aeKtJPhAhVeThUIHVaMDNsQ_AUoAXoECA4QAQ&biw=1024&bih=728

]]><![CDATA[CDEAG exhibition]]>Sat, 16 Mar 2019 21:42:50 GMThttps://www.sallyjefferies.com/lockdown/cdeag-exhibition

The exhibition was opened by the Director of the American Museum, Richard Wendorf. He chatted to each of us about our work and generally said nice things, not easy when his speciality is 18th century portraits. These six paintings are in my section of the show, also several glass paintings and original art cards.

]]><![CDATA[Sport]]>Sat, 09 Mar 2019 18:38:17 GMThttps://www.sallyjefferies.com/lockdown/sportI watched some of the rugby on TV this afternoon, in the spirit of trying to keep up with the men in my life, many of whom love and/or play the game. I can't get the hang of it, it looks like a large-scale wrestling match with complicated rules and a ball. At least I will know the score at a family meal tomorrow. I wish I liked sport but I don’t. Roll on autumn and Strictly.

I framed an old painting, might include it in the exhibition but we don’t have a lot of space. The flowers are anemones which were my mother’s favourite. I painted them and then scrubbed the paper in the sink to get this washed-out effect. It looks like the kind of painting people might like more than my others. Haven’t been able to start any new paintings, I just have to let go and wait for inspiration.

]]><![CDATA[In memoriam]]>Tue, 05 Mar 2019 17:07:31 GMThttps://www.sallyjefferies.com/lockdown/in-memoriamIt’s a time for feeling quiet. Maybe it’s just unsettling going to funerals and thinking of an “in memoriam” space for Costas’ paintings at the next exhibition. Everybody feeling sad and relieved it’s not them. This was a burial in over-bright sunshine, the cortege approaching down a very yellow path across very green grass under a too-blue sky as if we were all in a film. I remembered bits of a poem I wrote a long time ago. “Churchyards are such still places, / As if everyone buried in them / Had managed to book a peaceful death, / Brief and simple like each epitaph.” Ok, a bit sub-Plath. And it was a cemetery, not a churchyard. I like the silence in the house today, the solitude, the only song I listened to. Music today would be too loud.

]]><![CDATA[Cellos and guinea pigs]]>Sun, 03 Mar 2019 08:38:35 GMThttps://www.sallyjefferies.com/lockdown/cellosI am completely enamoured of the cello. I love particularly the 2cellos (even when they perform with an exotic pin-thin pianist called LoLa with glossy hair down to her waist and impossibly high stiletto heels). I love the oldest beardie best of all. But a cellist called Norman Angell is nearly as good – nothing about him on Google which is overwhelmed by someone of the same name, a long-dead knighted recipient of the Nobel peace prize. I listened to some tracks on YouTube played through the speaker Tom bought for me – I Will Wait and Love Story better than Highway to Hell! No accompanying videos. I think I am still a groupie of the 2cellos who play from inside the music and get to the heart.

Meanwhile, being in a lull and out of oomph to do any painting, I knitted a jumper for Tabby’s new furless guinea pig. Hugo is very cute but I am not enthusiastic. I think you can tell from his face that he didn’t much like wearing the jumper.

]]><![CDATA[Autumn mist]]>Wed, 20 Feb 2019 08:09:28 GMThttps://www.sallyjefferies.com/lockdown/autumn-mistI like autumn, am less keen on spring which is unsettling even though it is lovely to see the sunshine. All seasons are interesting and colourful but autumn is my favourite. This is Autumn Mist, one of those barely there pictures. Maybe it will be more to the taste of those who are less keen on my usual very bright colours! Not sure that I like it much – it may yet be overpainted as something else. And a photo of the rabbits who have chewed all the bark off an apple branch.

]]><![CDATA[Blue distance again]]>Mon, 11 Feb 2019 16:51:06 GMThttps://www.sallyjefferies.com/lockdown/blue-distance-again

This is my latest painting. I want to call all of them Blue Distance. Maybe I could add a version number after the title, Blue Distance (x). This painting may be included in the March exhibition so I should really think of another title with the word blue in it, given that's my self-imposed theme. Am driven to keep painting as I have agreed to exhibit in two art trails this year as well as the show in March.

I’ve photographed the recent paintings using a camera instead of my ipad but the images are not much better (see Recent Paintings).

]]><![CDATA[Exploring art]]>Mon, 11 Feb 2019 10:10:08 GMThttps://www.sallyjefferies.com/lockdown/exploring-art

Our annual exhibition is at the Museum of Bath Stone. The Combe Down Exploring Art Group encourages us all to do some kind of experimental work so you should see something different! The exhibition is on for a week from Saturday 16th March to Sunday 24th March, 10am-4pm.

]]><![CDATA[Rabbits!]]>Wed, 30 Jan 2019 16:59:28 GMThttps://www.sallyjefferies.com/lockdown/rabbits

Trying to stop rabbits from freezing tonight - blanket on roof, polystyrene padding, bubble wrap. Not very beautiful but hope will be good enough. Lots of hay, newspaper and cardboard in their bedroom, and they can keep each other warm.

]]><![CDATA[RUH exhibition]]>Sat, 26 Jan 2019 16:08:46 GMThttps://www.sallyjefferies.com/lockdown/ruh-exhibition6218370Two of my paintings and one of Ele’s sold at the RUH exhibition which is a nice surprise and has the feel-good factor of knowing that the commission goes into the Art at the Heart hospital fund. We collected the rest of the Combe Down artists’ paintings yesterday. The hospital was very hot, very busy and slightly manically full of artists from all five groups trying to find and pack their paintings. But at least none of ours went astray! It is a lovely exhibition and it is really good that patients, visitors and staff stop to look at the paintings and even buy them. These are the two paintings; I am almost sorry to see them go. Maybe it's time to stop painting blobs and go back to fruit and imagined corners of Tuscany.

]]><![CDATA[Blue fall]]>Fri, 18 Jan 2019 16:05:59 GMThttps://www.sallyjefferies.com/lockdown/blue-fall

I’ve varnished six paintings, ordered some frames. Not sure which paintings, if any, to exhibit in our show in March. They seem alright when I’m painting them and then suddenly they don’t look good enough. Hopefully just a January gloom.

]]><![CDATA[Good and Bad]]>Wed, 16 Jan 2019 17:05:24 GMThttps://www.sallyjefferies.com/lockdown/good-and-badJust been with Ele to see the Gainsborough theatre paintings at the Holburne. Lots of people there but no-one I knew. Portraits of 18th century actors, managers, playwrights, dancers, who performed at theatres in Bath and London. Interesting to see how loosely the garments and backgrounds are painted compared to the faces - which are all recognisably Gainsborough faces. Also on display was Hockney's "Mr & Mrs Clark and Percy" which was much bigger than I'd thought, about 3x2 metres. Striking and very posed, somehow more artificial in reality than when reproduced as a small image in books. How amazing it would be to be painted by Hockney!

Yesterday I saw the film The Favourite which I hated. The acting was tremendous but I thought it was one of the worst films, a sort of cross between a Restoration tragi-comedy (wigs, white powdered faces, etc - mostly the men), farce, gratuitous sex (ok to have a couple of scenes in case we missed the lesbian theme), overloud intrusive music including some meaningless bonging, mangled history, shallow, overlong and just deeply unpleasant (that polite word). Not to mention the rabbits (they did at least steal the scenes where they hopped around the Queen's bedroom). It's sure to win lots of Oscars.

]]><![CDATA[Something tamed, something wild]]>Thu, 10 Jan 2019 18:31:36 GMThttps://www.sallyjefferies.com/lockdown/something-tamed-something-wild

Or “The curious incident of the cat in the night-time”.

]]><![CDATA[Last year, this year]]>Tue, 01 Jan 2019 10:47:12 GMThttps://www.sallyjefferies.com/lockdown/last-year-this-year

Happy New Year if you are reading this.
Wishful nostalgia, hand on my back.
I will find a way to paint the songs.
A photo from family festivities at Christmas.

]]><![CDATA[Blue trees]]>Thu, 27 Dec 2018 16:03:37 GMThttps://www.sallyjefferies.com/lockdown/blue-trees

The recent paintings all look a bit dark stuck on my wall. I made myself not paint the sky looking dark and heavy in this one. Another one to think about and maybe rework and retitle. It's all just playing really, there is no meaning other than whatever the paint says it is. Maybe they turn out like this because I listen to the same music.

]]><![CDATA[Blue roofs, blue hair]]>Mon, 17 Dec 2018 15:23:20 GMThttps://www.sallyjefferies.com/lockdown/blue-roofs-blue-hair

I like the trees in the Blue Roofs painting, not sure about the rest of the picture. Will think about it for a while.

The last life painting class had the male model in the same pose but I painted it from the other side of the room so a little different. My first attempt was so bad I washed it off in the sink (which resulted in a rather distressed faded-fresco image) then carried on painting – the tutor liked it looking a bit scrubbed and this painting sort of now looks alright. His hair is blue to carry on my obsession with blue!

The college has security people in the foyer making sure everyone has an electronic badge. There are three posters in the ladies’ toilets: Advice on what to do in the event of an armed or weapon attack (Run, Hide, Tell); Warning that child porn is illegal (Don’t do it); Awareness of female genital mutilation (Let’s talk about FGM). In town there are more anti-terrorist bollards. Feel momentarily very perturbed and alert.

]]><![CDATA[Blue moon]]>Wed, 12 Dec 2018 14:34:01 GMThttps://www.sallyjefferies.com/lockdown/blue-moon

I listen to the music and this is what I paint - the things we are made of turned into something blue, this time a blue moon. The songs inspire the feeling of being somewhere else. Maybe the somewhere else is in the middle distance. Maybe I just like blue.

]]><![CDATA[Blue distance]]>Sat, 08 Dec 2018 16:14:22 GMThttps://www.sallyjefferies.com/lockdown/blue-distance

Another “blue” painting in oils, painted while listening to music on a loop. Again, not sure if this works. It’s as if I want these paintings to be a bit awkward, a bit abstract, not too literal. Probably means no-one will like them! At the moment that doesn't matter but it might mean I won't put them in the March exhibition.

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