BLOG NO 1

Isabel Ricketts, Artist | Australia

Keeping It Personal

I was thrilled when Australian artist and life long family friend, Isabel Ricketts agreed to work with me on the artwork of my new brand. Husband and wife Colin and Isabel, have been friends of my parents for over 50 years and both have been a great influence in my life.

During our last trip to Australia in 2017, my husband and I had the pleasure of being their guests at Coffs Harbour, on the east coast where we were also treated to a visit to Isabel’s studio.

From across the miles and usually during my, very late nights timed with Isabel’s mornings, we would chat via messenger about my hopes for Annabel Jayne and give it an identity.

As Isabel has known me all my life, she has also known that I, a tom boy brought up in a small, rural village just inside the North Pembrokeshire border have always tried to ditch my full name … Annabel. I always felt it better suited to a more feminine character, who regular attended gymkhana and excelled at extra curricular activities. Far too girly for an adventurer like myself … whose regular activities was exploring the rivers, fields and woods within a 5 mile radius, catching eels, building dens and generally feeling quite proud of any scratches, cuts and scars I won, along the way.

But here I am 40 years later, keeping it personal and asking Isabel to join me in embracing my ‘girly gymkhana name’ and giving it a life and identity.

Isabel Ricketts was born in Sydney and attended the National Art School, East Sydney Tech in 1965,  Swindon Technical College UK in 1966 and 67 and studied at the National Art School (part time) in 1973 and 74. Isabel's paintings are often abstracted landscapes using collage, acrylics, oils and so on. She regularly participates in life drawing groups, where she enjoys drawing the figure in charcoal and other mediums.

Isabel has participated in numerous Solo and Group Exhibitions including Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, selected entrant EMSLA 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, selected entrant in Manning Regional Gallery ‘Naked and Nude’; and in Western Australia.  Prizes include the mixed media prize Lillipilli Art Prize 2010; Members Prize Bellingen Art Prize 2009 and 2010, and the Regional Artist Award, EMSLA 2013, judged by John MacDonald.  Commissions include Pierro Winery Margaret River; Group Settlers Margaret River Community Resources Centre and Group Settlers Margaret River Silver Chain Day Centre.  She is represented in public, private and corporate collections in Australia, USA, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore. 

Of her work Isabel says, “I live and work near Coffs Harbour.  My  coastal paintings are developed from drawings, photographs or relying on memory.  Whilst the drawings and photographs are aids for memory, I rarely use them because I am trying to evoke a feeling of the place, the day, the sensory experience which comes flooding back to my mind as I paint.  Sometimes, I have no preconception of what the painting will be and I start off in a purely abstract way, adhering rice paper to the surface and then apply washes of acrylic colour.  At some point the painting starts to develop a life of its own and when that happens, it is quite magical and exciting"

Contact: hello@annabeljayne.com | 07473 146440 | Lets get social
Momento is a seasonal magazine, which is full of my favourite things, interesting photography reads and gifts

BLOG NO 2

Scotch Eggs & Pork Pies
with Leesa & Ashley @ London

[LEESA & ASHLEY RE-EDITED FILM WITH ANNABEL JAYNE CREDIT]

I was in Cornwall when the call came from Leesa & Ashley to say that they had got engaged and were looking for a photographer and film maker. Very soon, I was on my way to Greenwich, with my partner of choice Simon Burt, and to capture together as photographer and film maker, photos and a short film for our couple.

We all met for our first ‘hellos’ at The Plume of Feathers where we enjoyed a cheeky g&t together in the pub garden, before venturing across the road to Greenwich Park. It was a cold and still day and as is so typical of cold days, the air was crisp and the light was gentle. Therefore, the shadows were soft and reflections, would pop. En route, we took in some recognisable London street features, such as the small dark brown bricks so recognisable as one of London’s street features and a heavy old, black tarred door that was sunken in to the park wall.

On to wander and chat our way around the boating lake, through a tree lined avenue before arriving at The Old Royal Naval College at exactly the right time of day. The natural light was by now, dropping fast and it was time for us to ramp it up a gear. Perfect for what we had planned.

#GEEKALERT

Just ten minutes in to our engagement shoot, Leesa & Ashley had found their feet and had become comfortable in front of the lens and after playing with the light at the Old Naval College, we dropped down to the bank of the Thames just as the last beads of natural light was leaving us. A small amount of ambient light from the street light behind us, peeked in to our scene and the vast city scape of the North side of the river provided it’s own glow of light as our backdrop. This light, would last for just a few short moments and as the people of London town hurried by hunched, with hands curled up in their pockets and collars turned up we captured our final scene.

The boats on the river, as determined as it’s pedestrians and focused only on their destination, did not see it. It was a fine, low, grainy light that was so fitting to our afternoon together. A Brief Encounter moment you could say, for the romantics among us.

#GEEKALERTENDS

Contact: hello@annabeljayne.com | 07473 146440 | Lets get social
Momento is a seasonal magazine, which is full of my favourite things, interesting photography reads and gifts

BLOG NO 3

‘What’s that? … What would I like for my birthday? … Oh! .. A trip to the Design Museum please … in Copenhagen .. THANK YOU! [IMMEDIATELY packing]

How many times can the Danes redesign a chair?


About 100 times I’ve learnt and most of these chairs are on display at the The Design Museum, Copenhagen

With an emphasis on the golden age of Danish furniture design (1920-1970) the exhibit allows visitors to experience about 100 Danish, and a handful of international chairs shown as individual works of art – from wooden chairs to armchairs, folding chairs, lounge chairs, dining-room chairs and rocking chairs.

Founded in 1890, this Museum of Art & Design is a museum for Danish and international design and crafts. It features works of famous Danish designers like Architect Arne Jacobsen (also known for his chair design), Jacob Jensen and Kaare Klint who was one of the two architects who remodelled the former Frederiks Hospital into the museum in the 1920s.

When we visited in April 2019, the museum was also celebrating 100 years of Bauhaus (exhibition ended December ‘19). Bauhaus meaning ‘building house’ is of course, the influential German Design School in Berlin.

To find out about current exhibits, please visit the website (or, the museum!) www.designmuseum.dk

After a speedy hop from Bristol across the North Sea to Kastrup Airport, my talented interior photographer husband Simon Burt and I, arrived at this year’s inspirational field trip destination, Copenhagen.

The transfer from the airport was very short. Just a 15 minute metro ride directly from terminal 3 to Nørreport station.

Over the last couple of decades, Nørreport has risen to become one of the most popular districts in Copenhagen. The perfect way to travel around the City if you lived here, would be on a bike and it's not a coincidence there are bikes in almost every marketing literature picture.

If you are visiting Copenhagen to take pictures however, on foot is best as there are beautiful images everywhere you look and you can easily walk between zones 1-3.

The King's Garden (Kongens Have)

Fact: Denmark aims to have 50% of their energy supplied by renewables by 2020 and be carbon neutral by 2050.

As commercial photographers, who plan to sell some stock imagery, moving away from the very obvious is the brief (sorry Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid & Tivoli Gardens). Finding saleable images that have not yet been photographed to the max is key to selling stock photography.

Just along from Nørreport station, you will find a really great indoor food market, named Torvehallerne and as the 'Visit Copenhagen' link states ... 'It is not a supermarket – it is a super market’.

Packed with vendors and hungry shoppers at lunchtime, Torvehallerne is a superb place to shop for fresh produce, dine on exquisitely presented and freshly prepared food (fish mostly) and shoot stock images (of course).

Hallernes Smørrebrød, Torvehallerne, København

If you’re snapping and plan to use your pix commercially, it’s worth educating yourself on the rules and regulations of the do’s and dont’s of photographing adults and children in public spaces.
Useful link: https://www.the-aop.org/information/beyond-the-lens

True to Danish form, even the signage in the market space is considered, effective and stylish …

... as is this play area nearby, with it’s contemporary entrance.

Once you have made your individual meal selections, there is a communal dining area just outside the food market, where you can share a drink and a chat with strangers over a very, delicious lunch - popular with the locals who gather around the fire pits in to the evening.

As a photographer, by the time you sit to enjoy your last evening meal in the City, you will have produced a large amount of stock images, all prepared for upload and sales. Perfect.

Tip: For those of you wishing to sell stock images from your travels, register and check out the current requests published by stock libraries before you travel (such as Getty Images | Shutterstock | Dreamstime). That way, you know you are working to a current brief as demands are not always what you might expect. After all, there is only a certain amount of ways to photograph a static mermaid so your time may be better spent wandering the lesser known, and not as well photographed, highlights.

• TIPS:

• Getting around: The Metro to the City is at the airport in Terminal 3. We bought a multi day pass but as everywhere is within easy walking distance in the City, we did not use our passes on days 2 & 3 so we wouldn’t buy a x4 day pass again. Central Copenhagen is zone 1, whereas the airport is in zone 4. Read this useful info to find out which ticket you need: http://www.scandinaviastandard.com/copenhagen-public-transport-zones-maps/

• I did it my way: @EasyJet | @BristolAirport | @IbsensHotel | @DesignMuseum

• Footnote: The Staatliches Bauhaus commonly known as the Bauhaus, was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. The Bauhaus was founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar.
  
  Thank you for reading my article. I hope you have enjoyed it and that it proves useful if you are planning a trip to Copenhagen.

#itsalldesign #citybreak #onfoot #AnnabelJayne #inspirational #fieldtrip #denmarkdesignmuseum

Contact: hello@annabeljayne.com | 07473 146440 | Lets get social [links]
Momento is a seasonal magazine, which is full of my favourite things, interesting photography reads and gifts