Recently he has been working on a series of paintings based on trips he made earlier this year including his first visit to Sicily and a border to border trip across the south of France. On these trips he began to use watercolours in addition to sketching to make notes on the places he visited recording his memories and the ambience of each place.

2011 was a busy year for the artist and saw several commissions including a work for Ernest & Young measuring 2m x 1.5m for the foyer of its new offices as well as a series of drawings. Andrew has also exhibited widely at European Art Fairs this year including Edinburgh Art Fair and the Amsterdam Affordable Art Fair. Early 2012 will begin with exhibiting at Innocent Fine Art in Bristol which will feature his most recent paintings as well as new paintings of Bristol incorporating unusual viewpoints.

More information about Andrew, his work and upcoming shows can be found at http://www.andrewhoodgallery.com/index.html

Avon Gorge (Oil on Board)

Hagen Lansdem our regular photographer was there photographing the nights events pics can be found here http://www.hagenland.com/dev/JSA_xmas_2011/index.html so do have a look, you might be able to spot yourself in one!

All of our artists took their turn at managing the bar and taking sales and myself and Hannah McVicar gave an interview for BCFM so all in all it was a bit of a whirl wind really, and we ended up staying opening later than we planned!

Tonight will be the Private View from 6-9pm so if your wandering down Park Street, do pop in this is a great chance to come and meet us and enjoy a glass of wine at the same time!

Elsewhere back in the studio, others have been making the finishing touches to the work they will be showing and selling, so there has been a lot of heads down today and expressions of concentration. More to follow soon…

We’ve also just had the final meeting for The Art Box, to get all the last minute arrangements sorted, and find out what everyone has been up to; Christmas decorations have been made, sourcing of a tree has begun and the more intricate details such as getting everything to the venue, what painting needs to be done and when hanging will take place has been agreed up so watch this space!

Until now, Philip has focussed predominately on portraiture; however his most recent and arguably ambitious painting How Many is Too Many? meticulously depicts the tantalising window display of a women’s shoe shop.

Artist and friend of the studio, Richard Broomhall, describes the piece; “The play of light across the window’s surface distances one from this clean grid of female footwear, designed to seduce. The grids lines are corrupted by obsessive detail, a painter’s eye for the quality of the light, the natural form of a tree’s canopy and the brief silhouettes of the customers within. The title “How Many is too Many?” begins to slip its obvious relation to the shoes and relate to the amount of detail the painting contains. To the amount of surfaces which conflict and scream for one’s attention, this everyday moment of commercial seduction becomes a riot of surface, line and illusory depth”.

Amongst other recent works, How Many is Too Many? will be on display at the Albemarle Gallery in London from 2^nd December to 28^th January, as part of the gallery show What Kind of Real?, alongside internationally renowned artists such as Luciano Ventrone and Roberto Bernardi.

More information about the exhibition can be found at http://www.albemarlegallery.com/exhibitions.php

To read more about Richard Broomhills thoughts visit http://www.fracturedether.co.uk/collaborations/philip-munoz-how-many-is-too-many/