Fiona Long Art

llama man

Originally uploaded by fionalongart.

I’m very happily going to be taking part in Art For Youth again this year, exhibiting five paintings in aid of the wonderful charity UK Youth. Now entering its 21st year, this hugely popular exhibition has so far raised over £750,000 for UK Youth.
Over 1,000 pieces of art (valued from £100- £3,000) by new and established artists will be on display at Art for Youth London. Set in the prestigious Mall Galleries (next to the ICA, nearest tubes Charing Cross or Green Park), works include: oils, watercolours, sculpture ceramics, photographs & jewellery.
Wednesday 8th October: Drinks 6pm-9pm Auction 7.30pm £12 in advance £15 on the door
Thursday 9th October: Free entry 11am-3pm, Drinks and music 6pm-9pm, Raffle draw and Silent Auction concludes. £10 in advance £12 on the door.
All of the proceeds from tickets go to the charity (as the exhibition is kindly sponsored by Rothchilds Bank) and there is plenty of free wine going around at these thoroughly enjoyable evenings. It would be wonderful to see you there. A proportion of sales of artworks also goes to the charity.

rusty cannon

Originally uploaded by fionalongart.

I’m thrilled to announce that I’m taking part in a project by famous artist Matthew Roberts. I’ll be helping out with his Pagoda Project this summer at Orford Ness in Suffolk. Orford Ness is a fascinating place of incredible natural beauty possibly made all the more acute by the decaying, rusting debris left behind by the Ministry of Defence decades ago.

The Pagoda Project, is a time based artwork, installed in an ex-atomic bomb ballistic test building, mounted in collaboration with the National Trust.

Open day: Sunday 10 August 2008
10-00am - 2-30pm (last ferry 5pm)
Tuesday 12 August - Saturday 16 August
9.30am - 3-00pm (last ferry 5pm)

To visit on the open day, please book online (for the open day and the ferry to get there) here.

I went to Bob Cheevers’ gig at The Beehive in Swindon last night where he was promoting his Fiona’s World album. It was great to hear the songs being played in real life infront of an audience. It was a wonderful evening and all rather surreal!

You can read a great interview with him about his current (Fiona’s World) tour here.

Fiona’s World

Originally uploaded by fionalongart.

Here is the inside cover of Bob Cheevers‘ CD, Fiona’s World. As you can see, he’s used my self portrait, and tells the story of how we met and how the whole album came about.

He has just arrived in the UK and is about to start his UK tour. I may be joining in with the odd harmony at some of the gigs. It’s going to be alot of fun! To see the tour dates click here.

Table

Originally uploaded by fionalongart.

Rather excitingly, my great friend and fabulously talented artist Kim Rodeffer Funk, has published her interview with me on her wonderful blog Creating Space today. I really enjoyed the interview process. It really helped me to realise what brings all my work together, what has been inspiring me all along! Please take a look at what we had to say…..

Fiona’s World

Originally uploaded by fionalongart.

Here is the front cover of the beautiful CD Fiona’s World that the exceptionally talented singer-songwriter Bob Cheevers wrote, inspired by me! We met when I went to his gig at the Platform Tavern in Southampton. I did a sketch of his eminently drawable face which I showed to him during his break. He was rather taken aback and asked if he could have it. I gave him the sketch and he gave me a signed CD of his in return. We began a wonderful symbiotic artistic relationship by email where he would send me poems and we’d spark off each other. He would inspire paintings and the result is this wonderful CD: Fiona’s World! That’s the sketch I did of him in the moon on the front cover and that particular moment of meeting is described in track 4 Pictures of Strangers in bars where you can hear me singing! Bob Cheevers lives in Austin Texas but he’s coming over to Britain shortly to do a long tour and promote the CD. I might be joining in with a couple of the gigs. Fun!

Fiona’s World can be purchased here.

End of Year Show

Originally uploaded by fionalongart.

I have now completed my first year at Wimbledon College of Art. It’s been an amazing year. I’ve learned alot and made lots of great friends. I’ve been thinking in a whole new way, exploring psychoanalysis and it’s relation to how we experience our environments based on our childhood reactions to them. It’s been a bit of a voyage of self discovery as well as art discovery.

I’m pleased to have achieved a 1st this year. The tutors loved the originality of my work and my Facebook group Under Sink Cupboards which has become a part of the work really. It’s amused me no end and I love the fact that so many people have shared the joke with me.

Cinema

Originally uploaded by fionalongart.

I wanted to give this one a blue ground in order for it to recede and give the painting a feeling of space. There are also drips incorporated in order to give a feeling of wateriness to go with the pipe theme. I loved all the pipes under this sink. It really gave me something to sink my teeth into! It had started raining once I did this painting and I feel that it shows in the slightly more subdued palette but I kept alot of the colours from the other paintings going in order to tie the series together.

Circus

Originally uploaded by fionalongart.

Here’s the second of my main series of Under Sink Cupboard paintings. The sun was shining and the colours got even more crazy than the last one! I liked the idea of turning these under sink cupboards into magical worlds that embrace some of the childhood excitement at finding secret, hidden worlds around their environments.It’s a mixture of my friend Neil’s under sink cupboard with Degas’ Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando which uses a similar (although much more subdued) palette and had the same virtiginous feeling (I hope!)

Cabaret

Originally uploaded by fionalongart.

Here’s the first of my main series of under sink cupboard paintings. I wanted the curtains to reveal the secret, intimate world hidden behind them.