{"id":619,"date":"2021-01-15T11:23:19","date_gmt":"2021-01-15T11:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland\/?p=619"},"modified":"2021-01-15T11:23:28","modified_gmt":"2021-01-15T11:23:28","slug":"nature-in-the-frame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/highlights\/nature-in-the-frame\/01-2021","title":{"rendered":"Nature in the Frame"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Kay Johns, home is where the heart is\u2026 or rather, where the art is. From her studio in the village of Threekingham near Bourne, Kay and husband David delight in taking their work on the road, even if 2020 was a little bit different\u2026<\/h3>\n
\"Kay
Kay Johns produces artwork which takes the local countryside as its inspiration.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really obsessed,\u201d says Kay Johns. \u201cHonestly, I\u2019d go crazy if I didn\u2019t paint every day.\u201d We\u2019re in her studio on the first floor of her farmhouse, as she works on another canvas.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a misty old morning, but that lovely flat diffused light is ideal for painting\u2026 which is why husband David and I have to drag Kay, kicking and screaming, from her easel to have a chat!<\/p>\n

Prior to my untimely interruption Kay was face-to-face with a mouse\u2026 not in the house, thankfully, but on the canvas. Kay\u2019s work almost entirely consists of the kind of British wildlife we know and love; hares, foxes, pheasants, mice\u2026 though the odd jungle animal has wandered past Threekingham in recent years, affording Kay the chance to paint elephants and giraffes as they graze the Serengeti-like landscape of Sempringham fen.<\/p>\n

Her work is utterly magical, absolutely full of character and an unequivocal joy to look at. I\u2019m no expert and I\u2019m certainly no artist but I have spent a good deal of time puzzling over what makes Kay\u2019s work so instantly likeable.<\/p>\n

All I can conclude is that quite beyond the technical quality of her work, Kay has an uncanny knack of understanding the subject anatomically and appreciating each animal\u2019s character.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny artist that tells you they don\u2019t research an animal\u2019s physiology online is probably a fibber,\u201d says Kay. \u201cBut the best source material for an artist is observing an animal for yourself in its natural habitat. We go on lots of country walks, and I find myself just watching each creature\u2019s mannerism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t work from a photograph, I take a creature and imagine it in a setting, giving each one an expression that\u2019s commensurate with its character. If something about an animal\u2019s position or expression isn\u2019t right, you\u2019ll know it. You might not necessarily see what\u2019s wrong, but you\u2019ll know that something isn\u2019t quite right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEven subjects like dogs are so different from breed to breed that it\u2019s important to observe and understand their character. A Spaniel might look explosive; a Labrador might look faithful; a Dachshund might look highly strung.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t capture that, you haven\u2019t done your subject justice,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

Ordinarily you\u2019ll find both Kay and David pretty elusive, since their specialism is taking Kay\u2019s art on the road. Happily they\u2019ve been a little more available this year to those in the county, and have been able to enjoy raising Kay\u2019s profile right here in Lincolnshire instead of doing so outside the county at the 40-odd shows they attend each year.<\/p>\n

Ordinarily Kay reveals a new collection every January, and has recently created a range of greeting cards including Valentine and Mothers Day cards. This year though, she\u2019s planning to release new artwork throughout the year, creating a compelling reason for regularly checking her website.<\/p>\n

David left the RAF in 2005 to take over his parent\u2019s business, selling artwork at country shows and craft fairs. Kay meanwhile had always enjoyed painting but instead threw her creativity behind upcycling furniture. Their eyes met across a crowded showground where both were exhibiting \u2013 separately \u2013 and the rest is history.<\/p>\n

The two worked together selling artwork from other artists but when Kay\u2019s work started to make an appearance in the marquees they set up, she soon became the flagship \u2018artist patron.\u2019<\/p>\n

Today, the two exhibit at Agricultural Shows and Game Fairs throughout the UK for eight months of the year and now have two units; a Mercedes Actros and a Mercedes Atego lorry \u2013 the former an 18 tonne unit purpose-built for the couple by Mercedes \u2013 with the couple\u2019s 40ft windproof marquee, and about 500 examples of Kay\u2019s artwork on board. The couple set up a complete mobile art gallery wherever they go, with LED lighting, carpeting and enough room for the very many fans that Kay has.<\/p>\n

Happily, Kay and David are really democratic when it comes to art, and believe that Kay\u2019s work should be enjoyed by as many people as possible.<\/p>\n

The couple have prints, some limited edition work and exclusive original pieces too, with sizes ranging from unframed prints of 15cm square to framed pieces well over a metre in width. Accordingly, you can enjoy a gicl\u00e9e print for less than \u00a340 or invest in a hand-finished original piece, framed, for anything up to \u00a35,000.<\/p>\n

Kay produces both white work (slightly quirky style) and also a classic grown-up scenes with the subject set against a black background, which really creates a dramatic look.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single piece begins with a walk around the Lincolnshire countryside,\u201d says Kay. \u201cLiving here you can be just 10ft away from a fox cub, like a voyeur who enjoys the privilege of watching nature right before your eyes. There\u2019s nothing like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI sketch all the time and the sketching process can often take as long as the painting itself. I work in fine black pen once I\u2019ve a few ideas in mind and sometimes I overlay different versions to perfect a composition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I\u2019m happy I complete a final trace and then photocopy it onto acetate, then use a projector to overlay an image of it onto my canvas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI work on mount board because it has a lovely flecked texture and I usually work larger than the intended prints are to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI always start with the eyes as they\u2019re the most important detail, and they\u2019re really crucial to capturing an animal\u2019s expression.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI then work around the eyeline and outwards, darkest tones first. It takes anything up to six or seven layers of painted fur to achieve the depth and realism I love, and I often take a step back to look at a piece not close-up as an artist, but from slightly further back, as the viewer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGouache has a wonderful depth of pigment, enabling white to paint over black unlike standard watercolour. I guess the whole painting process can take anywhere from 2 to 50 hours depending on the size and complexity of the piece. I tend to work on two or three pieces so I can allow one piece to dry whilst working on another.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom that we scan and digitise the artwork then decide which sizes we\u2019ll produce or whether we\u2019ll keep it as an exclusive original. I\u2019m pretty prolific but I can sometimes sit on a proof for days before deciding. If and when we do produce prints, we\u2019ve a state of the art nine-colour large format digital printer which can output colour corrected gicl\u00e9e prints on lovely 315gsm artist soft textured art paper. I often finish work with gold acrylic flecking which is a great way to emphasise movement and to add an intrinsic, hand-finished individually unique value to a piece.\u201d<\/p>\n

David, in addition to being a first-class logistics man, is also an expert framer. Ordinarily his entire year\u2019s work consists of providing reprographic services to the business \u2013 printing and scanning \u2013 as well as framing work either to order, or as stock to take to shows.<\/p>\n

One side effect of a slightly reduced number of orders from shows this year is that David has been able to accept framing commissions for customers\u2019 artwork and memorabilia. Ordinarily the team are too busy and have to politely decline such work, but with thousands of combinations of mounts and frames, if you\u2019ve a piece that needs displaying, or a piece of artwork that could benefit from modernising, David is certainly the guy you should have \u2018in the frame.\u2019 As it were.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Kay returns to her easel and puts the finishing touches to a painting of a fieldmouse \u2013 a creature proving popular with customers right now \u2013 its cheeky expression makes it seem so real I could almost hand it a chunk of cheese. It\u2019s alive with character\u2026 like the Lincolnshire countryside itself, and just like Kay\u2019s artwork!<\/p>\n

Kay Johns is the Lincolnshire artist based at The Event Gallery in Threekingham, which offers viewing by appointment. For more information and to view Kay\u2019s work, see www.theeventgallery.co.uk or call 01529 240529.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Kay Johns, home is where the heart is\u2026 or rather, where the art is. From her studio in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[174,178,177,171],"class_list":["post-619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlights","tag-artist","tag-kay-johns","tag-nature","tag-painting"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":624,"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619\/revisions\/624"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}