Sharing my new work. It’s inspired by my two favourite things: Hong Kong and Notting Hill Carnival.

Much time spent in HK has resulted in a huge archive of photos – I never tire of wandering round the streets taking photos. It’s not just the startling skylines and juxtapositions of ancient against modern… I love the beauty of the everyday insignificant things we take for granted – cardboard boxes with red rafia ties piled outside open-fronted shops, metal trollies empty or stacked with bags of rubbish clattering loudly along every street, moving things all around HK. Beautiful baskets used everywhere for everything, piles of gleaming red plastic buckets and basins, mops, brushes, crates scrawled with fast red-pen characters that just make simple things become pieces of art.

I made careful collages of my photos of these insignificant beautiful things using my art programme “Corel Painter” balancing space and relationship between each item – I wanted the collages to stand alone as artworks, with or without paint being added.

I printed the image on to large canvas at Coloursonic using their mind blowing  Swiss Q printer. The canvas was  then stretched onto a frame to make large square canvas, ready for paint.

I then started the paint process, aiming to bring it to life with the colour and energy of HK… totally enjoyed doing it.

Photo collage                                                                                                Finished piece on canvas

The painting process in my studio

Finished canvas – pleased!

Next piece  – boxes and crates

Finished piece large canvas 175x175cm

Another on somerset archival paper with acrylic paint at 100x100cm

This one inspired by photos I took of an umbrella project I created 2003 with primary school children – we took it out on to the streets at Notting Hill Carnival where it delighted and astounded the audience!

Superimposed it on to a HK backdrop.

Umbrellas available in different colours and finishes, from one-off large canvas to prints on paper, dibond metal, geclee, etc.

currently opening Coloursonic’s new “Gallery of Works” 26-3208 Harrow Rod, W9.

Prints and some paintings available for sale – sales@fionahawthorne.com