Saturday 29 January 2011

The Cardinal Bird

Hello Everyone

I thought I'd tell you a lovely story connected to this stunning painting, currently being exhibited in our Small and Perfectly Crafted exhibition:

















'Homecoming' by Fiona Jappy
I am a real fan of Fiona's paintings: they are always so beautifully concieved and painted.  And I love the fact that her paintings always have an interesting story attached to them, and a slightly 'other worldliness' feel to them.

After graduating from Edinburgh College of Art, Fiona moved to the US to complete her Masters at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.  I'll let her take up the story:

"When I moved to America and arrived in Carbondale it was night so I couldn't really see much of me new 'home'.  The next day, when I got up one of the first things I did was go outside to see where I had come to.  I discovered that the house I was living in had a beautiful garden, and as it was such a beautiful sunny day I sat out on the porch and observed everything that was going on around me.  I was busy watching the birds when my landlady came out to see how I was getting on.  I asked her what type of bird I was looking at as it was so pretty, and she told me it was a Cardinal, which happened to be the state bird of Illinois.
Forward on many years, back in Elgin, and one Saturday I went down to the local mart to have a look at the stalls they have there.  There's always one stall that I go to that collects for charity, and when I was looking I couldn't believe what I came across.  It was a beautiful little suncatcher....shaped like a stylised Cardinal Bird.  So through different spaces and time, two of my 'homes' were connecting themselves."

And so, there is a stunning little Cardinal Bird in a cage in the foreground of this painting.  It's tiny, so if you want a proper look you will need to come into the gallery before Feb 14th.

And here is an image of a real Cardinal Bird:
 











Beautiful, isn't it?

And leaving you with this:













Artist Christine Clark popped in while we were hanging the exhibition, and here she is having a good look at her friend and fellow artist Imogen Alabaster's new work.

Have a good weekend everyone.....  

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