Sign of summer - a new Mary Ann Rogers exhibition
Art in its natural habitat
The year has a rhythm, says artist Mary Ann Rogers, and she should know, being rooted in the Northumberland countryside at West Woodburn.
She could hardly be better placed to see the seasons change, with the National Park almost on the doorstep and views of the fells in every direction.
Every spring, she says, there will be a hare or two in the garden, unwitting models for the paintings and prints which have found their way into homes all over the country and further afield.
“I observe them a lot, often out of the bedroom window really early and then later in the day,” she says.
“There’s a lot of undergrowth around here.
“If I look out of the window, it’s just a riot of green so there’s any number of places a hare could be sitting.”
But it isn’t just the appearance of the hares, and the young leverets in particular, that signals the seasonal progress.
“It’s always so exciting after a long winter when out of the ground comes the yellow of the aconites and the white of the perfect little snowdrops, and then another thing and another.
“We have thousands of daffodils and also quite a wide range of varieties, including the natural ones that aren’t shouty but a lot more subtle. They go on for quite a long time.”
Mary Ann paints from life and from photographs – she raves about her new iPhone with its camera that can zoom in really close – and, she agrees, from memory, for there can’t be any visible part of a hare or a cockerel that she hasn’t studied minutely.
“Usually, from March onwards, there will be things in the garden or in jars of water about the place.
“There’s a rolling programme of things to paint.
“Dandelions are gorgeous to paint, as are bluebells and narcissi. And now we’ve got irises and peonies and big red poppies. I’d love to paint them but I’m wondering, is it all right when I’ve done so year after year?
“A lot of these things were here when I arrived, the lilies, irises and aquilegia, but I’ve planted stuff as well.”
The rhythm of Mary Ann’s year is marked out by her twin exhibitions, one before Christmas and the other coming up as spring turns to summer.
The latter, due very soon, has the title this year of Untamed.
On display in the gallery adjoining her house will be her latest selection of prints and watercolour paintings – always watercolour because, she explains: “I can’t understand why anybody would use anything else.
“It has been a lifelong love affair. It really is alchemy every single time. I get a sheet of paper out, along with paints and water, and wonder: what’s going to happen today?
“It’s like jazz…”
Mary Ann, whose work also sells in galleries in England and across Scotland, is known for her paintings of animals, wild and domesticated, as well as her flower studies and landscapes.
Her work also features on an extensive line of merchandise.
Her Untamed exhibition, showing her work in its natural habitat, opens with a special preview to which all are welcome over the weekend of June 27 and 28 between 3pm and 6pm.
It can then be seen until July 12 in the gallery which is open Tuesday, Thursday and Friday (10am to 4pm) and also Sunday (2-5pm).