Gina Hams  Fine Art

July 2023

Things are looking up after an horrendous year.  I no longer have Jane, she passed on earlier this month - she was17 years old.  I have volunteered at the local Frinton Community Association and what a blessing this has been.  The nicest people you could wish to meet and I have made some wonderful friends.  I have now moved my focus to Frinton and beginning to feel at home here.  My other blessing is that I have great neighbours.

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Hoping to start seriously painting again soon. But, while the weather is clement and the nights are light the garden beckons often.

 

 

 

June 2022

Covid is not running our lives anymore.  In September 2021 we moved to Frinton to enable us to live in place which was peaceful and quiet.  Unfortunately my husband Jim never had the benefit of that peaceful life and died in December 2021.  Life obviously was never going to be the same.  The house  is quiet and that energy we all bring to a home a lot was missing.  I am fortunate to have a Wire Haired Fox Terrier called Jane.  Jane as most people who know me know is a rescue dog that we adopted in France.  Jane is now 16 years old and very little trouble.  Easy to leave.  To be honest sometimes  I would not know she was there.

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Thanks to Jane I am never completely alone.  After 2 years of isolation with Covid the world is now a very different place for me.  I am struggling at times to pick up the brush or pencil but hope to put that right very soon. I have entries in an Exhibition in Frinton in July and some later in the year.  This helps to give me focus .  

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I would like to say here that most of my work is unframed as I think it important that clients have a frame made of their own choosing.

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October  2020

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Well Covid did not go away and I am now in a position to paint again.  Because I am doing a lot of work in the Studio again I am able to get the Oil Paints out again.  It was like putting on a very familiar glove and I am enjoying the work.  Time too to update the Website which I am in the midst of doing.   The walks in the woods are wonderful, tied to home somewhat apart from taking the dogs outs.  Will try more diverse subjects to paint, even going to paint Henry our new Minature Poodle.

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July  2020

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After a very busy year in 2019 and then dealing with Covid 19 and still dealing with Covic 19.  I am concentrating on my Artwork again.  I have come to the end of my term as Chair of Dedham Art Society.  Now to put more effort into Gina Hams Artist.

First new painting completed and will be shown at Colchester Art Society's Virtual Summer Show in August 2020.  Marilyn because of other commitments took a lot longer than anticipated.

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January 2019

 

Things have moved on.   I am the Chair of Dedham Art Society ,  a society that began in 1967 under the name of Dedham Arts Group.  It changed it's name to Dedham Art Society in Jan 2018.  I am honoured to be Chair of a Society which boasts of serving the community for the last 52 years.   We aim to be inclusive, amateurs and professionals side by side.  Big occasion this year.  The Dedham Art Society Summer Exhibition.   First exhibition of this kind was in 2017 to celebrate 50 years as Dedham Arts Group.  It was a huge undertaking and a huge success.  All thanks to a wonderful exhibition team that worked tirelessly to raise money for the Charity EACH and dedicated screens for the paintings of Dedham Primary School.  This year we will be raising money for Dedham Therapy Farm and again including the artworks of some of the pupils of Dedham Primary School

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October 2015

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I live now with my hubby in the north of Colchester, a place full of history, but it was the move to France, in 2003 that changed many things.  Suddenly, I was in the land of the painters that I so admired and I was painting again.  The Département of Lot in the South West of France is rural France at its best.  Rolling Hills, Winding Rivers, Beautiful Lakes, Ancient Cities and Bastides.  Tiny Hamlets and Vast Vineyards. 

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It truly is a place to gaze and wonder.  Our garden hosted the sounds of Wood Warblers, Nightingales, Blackbirds and tiny Wrens and Robins.  In the air the Buzzard and the Red Kite wound their way up and down the valley...  The Hoopoe was a common sight and when the Cuckoo Call stopped we would hear the plaintive cry of the Owls at night and oh yes I forgot to mention the Nightingales there is nothing else quite like it.

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In and around the Ancient Bastides the air is still with the heat of Summer, until the Autan wind suddenly appears with a fury and fastness to take even those expecting it by surprise.  I hope I can welcome you to that world.  All it's diversity and freshness, a Summer sweet with conviviality and evenings at the Chateaux and Jazz bands playing while on the air floats the smell of food cooking right where you are by local producers....  And it surely is the home of the Impressionist Painters and every corner suggests a Painting or a Poem or some Music flavoured with the chink of a glass of the local wine...  It does not get much better than this...

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And when the winter comes and it is not so hot we would paint indoors for those few short months...​

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Since March 2015, we are back in England. In Colchester, Essex very near to the border with Suffolk and Constable Country.  Very different from France but very beautiful in its own way.​

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I studied during the 60s at Bromley College of Art, Bromley, Kent.  It is now known as Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication and is based in the O2 in London.  Two years as a day student studying Fine Art and left with ‵A‵ Levels and a thirst for creating. ​

I carried on painting but then gradually not so often.  I went the way of many of my generation.  I stopped panting and had a family.  Fully occupied with a family I did not really start again until we moved to France.  In the place of painting I followed my other passions, horses and dogs and the theatre and very often they overlapped.  France gave me the opportunity to really get serious again with the painting and I exhibited and sold - much to my amazement.  France is a place of opportunity for those whose create, it would seem the French all love a painter. I created my own website, blog and a Facebook Page and they have served me well.  I have sold paintings in many European countries as well as in Australia and the Cayman Islands.

Every painting is a challenge and that for me is a great reason to do it.​

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The move to Colchester, right next to Highwoods Country Park, has brought my thirst for painting back to the forefront.  I am learning new techniques and enjoying the company of fellow artists .  So with a little help from my friends I shall be back to doing what I did in France for 12 glorious years. I now live on the edge of  Constable Country, just a 10 min car ride from the famous Flatford Mill ( see picture ) .  

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