T H E O L D C H A P E L . C H A L F O R D
G L O U C E S T E R S H I R E
The Old Chapel is the home and studio of artists F. John and Fiona Owen. Each year, for two weeks of the summer, the two painters exhibit their paintings in their large studio - it is an annual Midsummer Celebration - a visual journal of their year recording their travels and their daily walks. Their hillside garden is spread over an acre of terraced cliff, with a Gothic tower, pond house and box hedged potager.
Gardens Illustrated: 'Folk memory and spiritual imagery often endow vantage points with an enigmatic eminence that is as intangible as inexplicable. How appropriate, that two talented artists Fiona and John Owen, whose paintings capture the rural scene, should choose to live in a converted chapel, perched high on a Gloucestershire hillside: and that they should also decide to create a magical and allegorical garden in such a spiritually charged setting'. Margaret Buntrock
Country Living: 'The glorious garden that has emerged from rubble is now a place of pilgrimage for horticulturalists and painters alike. You have to see their paintings to appreciate the skill and vision that make John's so strongly evocative of mood and light, Fiona's so perfectly observed, executed with all the richness and precision of illuminated manuscripts'. Miranda Innes
Telegraph Magazine: 'For the valley has an association with craftsmen and painters going back a century. Once a year, in June, easels and palettes are tidied away and the walls are hung with small and miniature canvases they both paint, intricate studies, featuring bright, jewel-like colours, long shadows and reflections'. Stephen Lacey
Also featured in:
Featured in 'Dream Gardens' by Andrew Lawson and Tania Compton, 2007 · ' Great Cotswold Gardens' by David Hicks .
The English Garden magazine, 2007 · Saturday Times · Telegraph Magazine · Gardens Illustrated · London Evening Standard · US & UK Country living · Homes & Gardens, etc.
O L D C H A P E L W A L L P A I N T I N G
In the studio, the west wall of the old Wesleyan Chapel has been painted to celebrate the opening of the Millennium exhibition. It was created over two years, and depicts friends and neighbours coming to celebrate the Midsummer fire festival of St. John, and the Summer Solstice. The figures descend to the Chapel, flanking each side of the garden, playing musical instruments and bearing colourful streamers bedecked in gold. the wall painting was inspired by Benozzo Gozzoli's fresco cycle at the Medici Ricardi chapel in Florence.
F I O N A O W E N
Fiona paints in oil on panel and gilds her work with 24ct. English gold leaf in the tradition of the Mediaeval manuscripts. Inspiration for her extraordinarily intricate, lyrical paintings is drawn from her native landscape - the flora and fauna and the changing seasons, and her Celtic inheritance. She endeavours to capture the elusive Wild Magic that is the genius loci - the spirit unique to each place.
Her paintings are a celebration of, and a homage to, Nature. She works in the tradition of the Mystic Visionaries, from William Blake, Samuel Palmer, Richard Jeffries, through to Cedric Morris, Kathleen Raine and Robin Tanner, and believes this pattern in painting and writing to be a thread through time,
existing metaphysically as a united body of
consciousness.
The tiny studio in Italy under a fig tree...
F . J O H N O W E N
Light and atmosphere infuse John's paintings. The
challenge is to create a sense of light, space and volume from paint, transforming an ordinary,
everyday image into an extraordinary moment of
vision. John paints in both oils and watercolours ,
making detailed sketches from life, wherever his
travels take him, then working up his paintings in
the studio. The impasto paint is often worked into
to make a textured finish and creating another dimension. Igniting light in a two dimensional painting by manipulating base pigment is an alchemy that has engaged artists through the centuries and is still an aim of painters whether figurative or abstract.
A couple of John's sketches from Italy ...
X X I s t S U M M E R C E L E B R A T I O N
at the
O L D C H A P E L
M A R L E H I L L
C H A L F O R D
G L O S
Exhibition & Garden
open daily 10am-5pm,
Sunday 5th June to Sunday 19th June
( IN AID OF THE COTSWOLD CARE HOSPICE )
F I O N A O W E N
.
M U N D U S I M A G I N A L I S
These paintings represent explorations into the territory of 'Mundus Imaginalis'-the alternative
reality of Dreamtime and Imagination. They developed as a consequence of a series of vivid dreams (experienced last summer) in which various bird and animal-headed beings appeared to me. Each dream evolved into a visionary journey through an unfolding magical landscape. The resulting paintings are a way of drawing this dreaming into existence. The dreamscapes conveyed to me the absolute connectedness of every living thing, each organism playing their essential part in Nature's 'Great Song of Being'.
F . J O H N O W E N
.
I M P R I N T S O N T H E E A R T H
This exhibition is a visual study of marks on the Earth by man, light, and Nature. From plough furrows to moon shadows, from surf webbing to tree silhouetting, I am constantly aware of the textures and patterns that cover our landscape. These elements of pattern-making are brought to the fore in this group of paintings; they are the subject matter. The paintings with their 'airy' often scratched surfaces echo the textures of our surroundings and sculpt the light into an evolving topography of seams, stripes and striations.
Below is a selection from last year's Summer Exhibition
Previous Exhibitions
Medici Society Gallery, London, UK ( from 1981 to 1991)
Sagert Gallery, Berlin, GER
Nailsworth Gallery, Berlin, GER
Nevill Gallery, Bath, UK
Lane Gallery, Key West, USA
Diva Gallery, Palm Beach, Florida, USA
Diva Gallery, Long Island, NY, USA
Southshore Art Center, Boston, USA
John exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition for ten years from 1984.
Contact
For enquiries about Paintings and Limited Edition Prints:
Telephone:
+44 1453 886587 (international)
(01453) 886587 (within the UK)
Email: johnandfionaowen@hotmail.com
The Old Chapel, Marle Hill, Chalford, Stroud, Gloucestershire GL6 8PN, United Kingdom
L I M I T E D E D I T I O N P R I N T S
by F I O N A O W E N
Lavender Honey - 34cm x 36cm - £85
Honeysuckle Hive - 23cm x 23.5cm - £65
Strawberry Thief - 14cm x 15cm - £40
May Day Celebration - 11cm x 16cm - £40
Goose Orchard - 16cm x 13cm - £35
Blue-bell Wood - 12cm x 17cm - £35
Pansy Pot-pourri - 11cm x 14cm - £35
Bird Prints - 10cm x 14cm -
available at £20 each
or £70 for all 4
Ducks
Doves
Owls.........
and below ....Kingfishers
Fiona Owen illuminated book of poetry by Kristina Niven
'POUR TOI'
A Limited edition, dedicated to her father David Niven.
Each book is signed by Fiona and Kristina - £20
It was published by the Medici Society, London in 1985
L I M I T E D E D I T I O N P R I N T S
by F. J O H N O W E N
Beach Paths, Crete - 28cm x 37cm - £75
Teasels, Slad - 21cm x 26cm - £55
To order prints, please phone 01453 886587
or email : johnandfionaowen@hotmail.com
Post & Packaging £4.95 ( U.K. )
How to get here
Marle Hill is in Chalford, on the A419 between Stroud and Cirencester.
Casa Della Colline Verdi
Casa delle Colline Verdi ('the House of the Green Hills'), set amongst the panoramic foothills of the Appenines, has become our retreat, and provides an endless source of fresh inspiration.
For those seeking a place of perfect peace, a retreat from the modern world, we are renting our Italian home. There is no television, pool or telephone. It is a place to paint, walk, read and contemplate in an exquisite and inspiring landscape.
For further details, visit our website.
All text and images copyright © John and Fiona Owen 2009
