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Liz Diamond
Liz Diamond lives in Teignmouth, having made the exodus from the Home Counties twenty two years ago.
“I had a vision of living near the sea and came to Teignmouth, stood on the back beach, and knew this was the place I was destined to live in.”
Liz has worked as a cleaner, Home Help, shop assistant, factory assembler, typist, silver service waitress, social work assistant and Special Needs and Primary school teacher. She is also eclectic in her artistic interests, having been an award-winning poet, a Picador published novelist, a published short story writer, and once had a play she had written performed by professional actors at St Albans Art Centre.
As well as writing, Liz has also had a long-standing interest in art, having worked in pastel, oils and clay. Her main direction nowadays is to explore the wide versatility of acrylics and its capacity for being used with other materials to produce works with significant textural qualities. Liz will often prime the canvas with materials such as wood filler, papier mache, or strips of tissue set in gel, that she will then put gesso on and paint over, producing the richly textured paintings, such as her mackerel and seascapes, that she is getting known for.
Liz took part in the Devon Open Studios this year. Her fish paintings received much positive feedback. “Good enough to eat,” somebody commented.
Ranulf Rayner
Ranulf was trained by Wilfred Blunt, brother of Anthony Blunt the spy, who went on from teaching at college to being in charge of the Queen’s collection. Many years later in 1977 he started writing books, which he found other artists to illustrate including his wife, Annette, who also paints dogs and horses, although he completed many of the line drawings. HeI painted most of the artist’s work in watercolour first.
Since that time a busy life has limited his production although he has found time to finish several large marine paintings in oils on canvass, which have sold mainly at auction, with two currently in a London gallery. More recently Ranulf has been painting in resins on aluminium, a method he has developed which gives great depth and luminosity. The paintings are indestructible and also appropriate for damp situations such as bathrooms.
Apart from his marine paintings he also specialise in less expensive underwater scenes, and sea birds. Having been born in nearby Bishopsteignton, Ranulf has had a life long passion for the sea.
Jeremy Holloway
Unknown Artist creates intricate Woodblocks – but who is he or she?
(and there’s a link to the original “Flower Fairy” illustrations....)
Approximately 30 years ago Jeremy Holloway, then living in West Dorset, was given a box of approximately 50 wood blocks by his (now deceased) mother. She had been given them by an elderly lady who lived in the same village as she did, namely Winterborne Zelston, near Blandford in Dorset.
The woodblocks had apparently belonged to the lady’s sister, who had a connection with the original Flower Fairy illustrations. It is possible that the same engraver was responsible for the illustrations that have adorned not just the flower fairy books but a plethora of associated memorabilia to go with them. What the actual link is however is unknown.
For almost 10 years the woodblocks were stored at, and on a permanent loan to, the TAAG gallery and arts centre in Teignmouth. It was not until Jeremy was introduced to Jenny Pery, art historian and artist (also a wood engraver) living in Bovey Tracey, that he considered an exhibition of the engravings. Jenny has printed all the blocks and only now can their true beauty be seen. Whilst Jeremy can legitimately offer the prints for sale, he is very keen to find out who is responsible for the blocks. Jenny believes they were all produced by the same person, probably a female, in the 1930s or 1940s, as book illustrations. Apart from that neither Jeremy nor Jenny have any idea when the engravings were originally created or who did them.
It would be wonderful to solve the mystery. As they were most likely designed as illustrations for books of the period, it would be lovely to hear if anyone recognises them, or could offer any information about them. And of course we could then give the wood engraver the credit he or she deserves.
These beautiful, if mysterious, woodblock engravings are being exhibited at the TAAG Gallery and Arts Centre in Teignmouth Devon from Saturday 3rdNovember to Friday 9thNovember.
Patricia Wares
Patricia was born and raised in Brighton Sussex where she married and eventually had two sons. Initially she trained and became a qualified hairdresser but changed her occupation, after the birth of her sons, to nursing. After time working on the wards of the NHS hospitals she joined the Nuffield Group to train and qualify as a Operation Department Practitioner (ODP)
Her Husbands work bought them to Devon in 2001 at which time she decided to retire.
During the school years she always enjoyed the art lessons although she did not develop any of the skills beyond that of the classroom, from leaving school she did not paint or draw again.
Having retired and completed all the work involved with the upheaval of moving home she needed something to occupy my mind. Remembering her interest in art at school Patricia looked for and found a tutor to teach her the art of painting and drawing. She was fortunate to find someone able to cope with her inabilities and encourage her to join a local art group in Kingsteignton.
She quickly learned which media mixes she could use and now has a diverse range of artwork.
Recently Patricia was asked to produce a step by step article on the uses of Pebeo acrylic paints which featured in The Paint Magazine.
She is currently a committee member of the Kingsteignton Friday Art Group, a member of the Kingskerswell Art Group, the Devon Art Society and Torbay Guild of Artists.
She have exhibited paintings, some of which have won awards, at various venues.
