Valerie McLean

Those of us who live and work in Ledbury are fortunate to be able to walk into remarkably varied countryside to feed our creativity and raise our spirit. We can climb onto Dog Hill and then up onto Bradwell Knoll where John Masefield walked as a boy. We can walk along Marcle Ridge to the East, glimpsing a patchwork of fields or explore the paths to the South where the group known as the Dymock Poets, including Robert Frost and Edward Thomas walked and talked. The magnificent Malvern Hills are an ever present backdrop to our lives.

My concertina book and painted canvases are from a series of work about my walks. These paintings and book was my work submitted for the Bookarts exhibition for the Ledbury Poetry Festival 2018, at Weavers Gallery.

      

    

             

I was pleased to have a small canvas in an exhibition celebrating Alice in Wonderland at Blue Ginger Gallery, Cradley. My painting has been sold and taken by the customer, but the exhibition is still in place and continues until 3rd December.

 

 

I was pleased to hear that one of my small paintings from the series about Memory and Meetings has been hung in the Royal West of England Open Exhibition at Bristol. I look forward to the Varnishing Lunch on the 30th September. The exhibition open on the !st October.

 

My contribution to the 2017 h’Art exhibition of work from Ledbury BookArts group is a collection of tiny drawings made in a subjective manner relating to people I have met over past years  presented in a grid in a concertina format. The venue is ‘The Panelled Room’ in a remarkable, recently restored medieval building in the centre of Ledbury. The exhibition runs during h’Art week 2017 until Sunday September 17th.2017

My efforts  over the past couple of years have been on sketchbooks and BookArts generally.  Instead of opening my studio for Hereford Art Week I preferred to take part in an exhibition of work by Ledbury BookArts Group.

 

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwyoXNzB4ac

Our winters are becoming milder. This is a page from my May Hill book – with memories collected from May Hill people.

Many thanks to all many visitors to my studio during h’Art week. I met so many interesting people including lots of fellow artists. This painting made in my garden earlier in the summer was propped up in the walkway through along with the large crow painting from last years event.

For many months now I have been working in an A5 sketchbook recording feelings, thoughts and memories from the subconscious. The book will be part of the Ledbury BookArts15 exhibition at Weavers Gallery during the Ledbury Poetry Festival  3 – 12th July  

Random pages ………….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The previous May Hill Book is out of print….well I have one copy here if anyone places an order soon.

A new edition is now available, with several extra pages and in the same smaller format as the Edward Thomas book and the Kilpeck book, which means the price will be £19.95 rather than the previous price of £29.95 The books are available from bookshops, galleries and my website. Please order using Paypal from the May Hill Book page, or email to arrange payment by cheque.

The paintings and drawings of the Hill and surrounding countryside are complimented by memories from May Hill people.