Category Archives: Uncategorized
New materials
There is a constant tug at my heart strings to do more with my images than print them onto fine art papers. I’m now going to experiment. I have the images, I have the materials and some superb suppliers across the UK, and I have the wall space in mind… Here goes nothing.
If you want to see the incredible transformation from wooden panels to large format artwork, visit The Georgian House in Alderney for the May Bank Holiday when we’ll be unveiling this masterpiece! Well…fingers crossed. I will also be working with another supplier to print one of my aerial photographs onto sheet metal. Directly exposing it using large format flat bed printers, I hope that the scale of the image will work with the scale I’m producing it at.
The only drawback with all of this is the cost involved, and the logistics of shipping to the Channel Islands, but I think when the artwork arrives, the painful process of production will fade…
Featured – The National
Very proud to see this feature in the arts&life section of The National. We did have a wonderful adventure on the farm at Al Asayl, playing with ponies and photographing dawn til dusk. Kelly Eide was a magnificent workshop companion and I very much hope we’ll work together again. As someone who has designed my own career through instinct and passion, it is one of the many delights when you find someone with similar outlook with whom you can create something like this workshop.
We had Hugo and Ravi from The National down for the day, and we hope we showed these two unhorsed lads a good time.
TheNational arts&life feature “A horse’s perspective” – April 2013
Below are two of my (so far) favourite images I have created from the workshop. More will follow.
Visualisation
I am beginning to realise the importance of being able to visualise what my images will be like when they are finished pieces of work, on the wall. I have now produced a diverse range of fine art pieces with my equine images, including photogravure etchings, aluminescent prints on aluminium, box framed, float mounted…the list goes on. Finally I have started work on a new page on my site, to help visualise how these different works might appear in the home, and what sizes might just about fit – and where.
It is all very well and nice viewing digital images on your screen, but I think somewhat more impressive when you see them in situ.
Collecting images from clients, doing new shoots and generally just showing you how my work can look in the home/office/studio/gallery. http://www.astridharrisson.com/in-situ/
Book signing at Waterstones, Cirencester
It’s now official. We have two books launched in various countries and it’s all beginning to seem a little more real. Here we are, with various hounds making their debut appearances in Waterstones, Cirencester, to mark the long awaited launch of The Spirit of the Dog and The Majesty of the Horse. Included in the appearances were two incredibly rare Sloughis who showed up to say hello (Seren, the brindle, is in the book).
Apparently it was their best selling author event so far this year…
Both books are available at Amazon and Waterstones and other independent book sellers in the UK, as well as in the USA, Australia and Germany and France (German edition called “Pferde”, French edition called “Cheval” by Flammarion).
www.astridharrisson.com & www.tamsinpickeral.com.
Alderney’s Royal Visit
Arriving by helicopter after a short hop from Sark, Prince Charles and Camilla were all smiles as they were greeted by the Island and its residents and visitors alike. I was front line, although had lost my ‘Press Dog’ Remy somewhere in amongst the crowds.
The dynamic duo cruised up to the Island Hall in a shiny Bentley before being introduced to lots of eagerly awaiting fans. They planted a small tree, did a stitch in a tapestry and received a ‘risk’ of lobsters to take home as a souvenir…I wonder what they’ll be eating at Buckingham Palace for tea? Thermadore?
Here is some photographic evidence from the day’s unusual happenings here in Alderney.
The art of procrastination
I’m sitting here trying to work, but because my work is visual, I keep needing to dip into my archives. So in I dive, searching for an image. There it is! I find it, result. So the picture jerks a memory. The memory involves a person, place or thing that urges me to reach out and say ‘hi’ to a special person who I am reminded of when I remember the moment I took the picture. So I email them, reaching out and saying hello and sending love across the continents. Ping. Back it comes, in my inbox. And half an hour later I am glad I have made contact, glad to have shared a short moment, a memory, a time that only can be recalled and remembered between me and that person I was there with when I took that picture. But somehow I seem to be back where I started an hour ago and wondering what I was meant to be doing. The phone rings. The dog barks. Oh gosh look at the time. Squash o’clock.
Here is the image that I was distracted by today, taken on the island of Assateague on East Coast USA. I was staying with a wonderful friend Sue Sheridan with whom I have just reconnected. Sue gave me a warm welcome in Washington DC, my first port of call on a 5 week trail around the USA in search of many of the world’s most wonderful breeds of horse. The day I took this was miserable, as you can tell. A wash out. A murky and wet wash out. I was drenched, water cascading off the tip of my camera. I’d already changed clothes once in the car, and had by now resorted to rolled up soggy trousers and bare feet, plastic bag attempting to protect my poor old Nikon. So now I have digressed, written to Sue, been distracted by the desperate need to blog about the Art of Procrastination, I really must get back to the task in hand…or the tasks, should I say.
The Good Life
A friend just emailed me to ask “How are you?”. And I began to type….. here is a rendition. This morning I have risen from my slumber and fed the puppy before scaling the wall into the neighbouring plot complete with crocs, boxer shorts and strappy top – Lara Croft in the morning gone wrong. Chased escaped chucks around and now back juicing fresh beetroot, apple and carrot. Yummy. Last night had freshly caught mackerel by our wonderful house mate Dell. In between all this I am catching up on all my long overdue admin and other work in between all that surely is The Good Life. Working on book launches for Dog and Horse book and waiting for contracts for book numero 3….Cats. Yes, I did say CATS. Calling all weird and wonderful breeds.
Al Habtoor Cup Final at Windsor…Special Awards by Monty Roberts & The Queen
Well I can’t quite believe it. What a treat to be involved in such an occasion. Ok, so having to fly in was also part of the flair and gave the event even more emphasis in my calendar, but really, upon reflection, I’m realising that it was the most unique of opportunities to be involved in such a day.
There were beautiful horses and beautiful people, thundering hooves and chinking of glasses, and not to mention the presence of our very own Queen of England and her comrade Monty Roberts, and some of the most wonderful horsemen from all around the globe. My biggest regret is that my lens was not long enough to devour all those little moments that were happening in the Royal Box and in the sweaty, action-packed moments out on the field. Damn. More kit? Time to review? I think so…
Anyway, I was just honoured to be involved with Satish Seemar and his beautiful daughter Tara – Satish was one of the recipients of the awards – and to witness him in a true moment of glory.
The day has also left me itching to get back in the saddle and gallop. An itch that I must scratch.
Off radar
Speech is silver, yet silence is gold…. I hope that is the case! I have had no time to write, sporadic and access to the internet and a gazillion other priorities that have kept me from recording what is happening behind the scenes. I am a tipping-point (of sorts) – the final moments of a contract, a house move (overseas at that) – a lifestyle change; I am at arm’s length from the world wide web but I am not too far away.
Today I’m collating data and in doing so am flicking through the archives. One of those memory lane moments. I came across Leo the Afghan Hound and smile as I recall that day in February in New York City, running around Manhattan with an elegant hound who attracted much attention. Racing across the traffic lights, laying low and shooting up to the towering buildings, listening to city sounds and stomping on the sidewalks…what a wonderful year this has been! That is only one out of around 100 photoshoots, that each has its own tale to tell. In time…in time.
Art For Youth 2011, Royal College of Art, Kensington
Art For Youth London 2011.
