Meet the Artist salon date set for 6th October

As part of my showing at ParkArt, there is going to be a "Meet the Artist" evening. The date has been set for Mon 6th October 2008 and it'll run from 4pm to 7pm.

Avoid the rush-hour and chase away those Monday blues - browse at your leisure and then have drinks and nibbles with me! I'd be really happy to chat with you about my work. There'll be various things happening during the event you might find interesting; those pencilled in so far are:

• Book signing
  Copies of my coffee-table books will be there for you to buy and bring to me for a personalised message.
  
• The first prize draw selection
  Everyone who leaves an email address will have their names put into a hat - the first one out receives the mounted paper print of Sutton Backlane on display there
• Continuously running slideshow of some of my other popular work

Hope to see you there :)

Cheers
Mark Highton Ridley

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Another hotel shot

I hummed and hawed about uploading this image, being worried about any possible copyright infringement of the hotel's logo. However, it's incidental to the shot and is partially obscured so I'm fairly comfortable about it.
I really like this shot - it took a lot of walking around the grounds of the hotel to find the pov that worked best and then for the sky conditions to be right. It's lucky I was staying there during the week for a few months!

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Sainsburys Sails - nine of eleven

The Sainsburys superstore on Marsh Mills Roundabout (where you exit the A38 for Plymouth) has a superstructure that makes for an interesting architectural feature, designed specifically with Plymouth in mind. There are 11 (or is it 10 ...or maybe 12?) structures that look like sails - very apt for Plymouth with its long naval heritage.

I remember seeing a couple of the sails being transported down the A38 one Friday on the way back from my contract with HMRC.

So, for a long time now I've been seeing these and I finally got round to going on a shoot there. I checked with customer services and they said it was ok to shoot the outside of the building.

These are the first two out of the digital darkroom, one showing nine of the sails - I couldn't fit them all in, no matter where I tried to shoot from (well, not with a pleasing comp anyway). The second shows a close up and explores the tonal qualities in more detail. The shapes of the various curves and the way they interact with each other was real nice. I managed to catch one in bright light, against the shade of the next sail.

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My ParkArt Exhibition pdf flyer

The final version of the flyer for my ParkArt showing, starting 9th September is here: parkart-a5-flyer.pdf

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Preparation for ParkArt Exhibition continues...

Well, the opening day approaches - now set for the 9th September - I still need to schedule the "Salon", the meet the Artist night.
2000 flyers are on their way, marketing / advertising budget set. Details of the exhibition will be displayed on buses, pepper-pot poster drums in Plymouth City Centre, and I'm planning a poster on Derriford roundabout, just down from Tamar Science Park where it's to be held. See a pdf flyer here

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The heart of a rose

Stripped down, but not simplified, this monochrome conversion of a red rose reveals soft textures and subtle highlights.

I'm looking forward to finding / making the time to explore roses in their various stages of bloom and in emotive settings where we have a relationship with the rose as a flower. You know, love, romance, sexiness; discarded, wilting on the altar of a ruined church; caught in a shaft of sunlight across an arrangement of embroidered satin pillows....

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My Lively Gallery

I've been creating a virtual gallery using Google's "Lively" - see it in development here:


Enjoy :)

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