Art by Derek Jones

Yesterday my cousin Amy and I drove up to Alnmouth to the Schoolroom Gallery to see an exhibition of prints by Derek Jones. I was blown away by his work. His use of Intaglio, my first exposure to this technique, was astonishing, and the addition of coloured tissue to the prints added areas of colour which enhanced his work. But what I really loved was his composition. The way he arranges a figure on a page, the way he positions a head on a face, and what he chooses to omit spoke of a feeling for composition which seemed more intuitive than contrived.

His work was displayed opposite another printmaker, but both my cousin and I preferred Derek's work of the two. Unfortunately I couldn't afford to buy any of Derek's pieces, but I did choose a print by another Northumberland Artist, Mike Bell, but more about that in a later post.

After coffee in the galley, the owner of which was a very friendly, helpful and chatty chap, we drove the Alnmouth beach and sketched in the sun and the wind. We took the coast road back down to Roker and had fun the whole while. My cousin Amy is such good company and, being a fellow artist, knows what I'm raving about, at least some of the time.