The artwork is inspired by the architecture of Alexander Thomson, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and William Leiper. Namely Holmwood House, Glasgow School of Art and the Templeton Building. I have recently discovered the potential and versatility of acrylic paint pens and have used them extensively in these artworks. It is possible with careful control to produce detail work with them.
In a black sketchbook and also applying acrylic paint with brushes, I created these kaleidoscopic pieces:
My work is often inspired by arguably the greatest and iconic Glasgow architect, Alexander Thomson.
January 2019 completed this piece of work with particular reference to the patterns and colours used in Holmwood House, Cathcart by Thomson during interior decorating and stencilling.
The art work is drawn and painted with watercolour on Indian Khadi rag paper, one of my favourite mediums to work on.
These cards are for sale in the Poolside Office with a donation from the sales going towards the Arlington Baths restoration fund. All photographs are copyright of Marion Gardyne.
I was fortunate to be able to take photographs of GSA both inside and out a few years ago. I used these as the starting point for creating several photographic collages of the building which I have since completed.
In this piece, features include the beautiful ceramic tiling from the east and west stairwells, wrought iron decoration from the building facade, the weathervane from the east side of the roof, the brass plates from the front swing doors at 167 Renfrew Street, the stunning ceiling beams in the atrium exhibition space where daylight flooded in, and the leaded glass panels inserted into so many of the internal doors of the building.
For the drawing I worked with mainly aquarelle pencils, blending where appropriate with a paintbrush.
I have a collection of fragments of Victorian pottery which I found when beachcombing on the stone and pebble shore at Inveraray, a town situated on Loch Fyne, a sea loch, in the west coast of Scotland. The pottery has been broken into small pieces, worn and smoothed by the action of the water, pebbles and sand. It had been in the sea for a very long time before eventually being washed ashore by the tide.
I have used the pottery pieces, to develop a series of small collages. Each fragment was glued onto handmade Indian cotton rag paper and then painted with various designs, inspired by the patterns on the pottery. The collages are layered and mounted onto a black painted canvas.
I worked with aquarelle pencils, fine line drawing pens, opaque watercolour pens, a glass painting medium and watercolour paints on each collage.
I have since displayed them in the David Mach studio in London, during a winter weekend event at Havelock Walk, a mews area where 30 artists live and work. I was invited to show some of this work and delighted to be taking part.
The series of collages included these two with green coloured pottery pieces. The second green collage below contains the newest piece of pottery which is from the 1950s or 1960s judging by the style of design.
Feeling very Glaswegian and Scottish today! This is a photograph of hand and machine embroidered fabric collage depicting a Glasgow tenement facade and a gable end. The tenement was modelled from a building in Mount Florida, a Southside district near Hampden Park and the gable end was what was remaining of another tenement in Battlefield Road, Glasgow. That building was demolished completely, but I was able to take a few photographs of it before it disappeared which I used in the designing of the collage.
A closer look at the panel will reveal, Glasgow Coat of Arms symbols of the Bird, the Tree, the Fish and the Bell and other well known city buildings including The Glasgow Mosque dome, Glasgow University tower, Glasgow Steeple, Sighthill multi storey flats, now gone and a murmuration of starlings, the predecessor to the Glasgow pigeon.
In recognition of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, there are some invented wrought iron railings in his style in the foreground.
The Victorian/Edwardian ceramic tile design familiar in so many Glasgow tenement closes, frames the collage .
The fabrics used are mainly natural materials: cottons and silk with cotton embroidery threads and cotton braiding.
©Marion Gardyne 2018
When on a screen printing course at Glasgow Print Studio, I produced several black line prints inspired by the architecture of Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson. Following on from this, I individually added colour to each design using watercolour paints and water soluble pencils. The four images were completed in different colourways.
These collages were completed for a submission for the Royal Academy Summer Show. The theme of the show is ‘Art Made Now.’ I made an anagram of this title resulting in ‘Woman Rated.’ This being the centenary of some women given the right to vote (1918), I created two collages on the suffrage theme and the role of women.
One collage features the images of high profile women who have made significant contributions to society…some are artists, some politicians and some in other areas of work.
The second collage features the images of females involved in the struggle to secure the vote for women.
Images copyright: ©MarionGardyne2017
Above is a small selection of the 150 photographs that I had taken when collecting visual information and references to begin the the design for the collage panels. The last image although blurred is an interesting combination of pattern, shape, colour with a textured effect.
Arlington Baths Club
61 Arlington Street Glasgow G3 6DT
http://www.arlingtonbaths.co.uk
Using the beautiful mosaic centre of the floor at the old water fountain in the Turkish Suite as inspiration, this unfinished ( I’m still working on it…) circular design depicts the colours of the tiny tiles which are a variation of greens and blues.
Lovely random shades of green with a hint of blue, this watercolour is almost completed. This is painted on Indian rag Khadi paper.
The rectangular collage in a repeating pattern is looking very organic. This impression comes from the ceramic tile daisy pattern and the detail of the sandstone carving seen on a pillar at the entrance to the Arlington Baths Club. In the collage are the reflections of daylight on the pool and a reflected and distorted pattern of the floor mosaic on the steel fountain basin. I’m delighted to say that this original collage now belongs to a club member.
