Leo Duff

Art Window

We are living in strange times.

When people started working from home, all schools, colleges, universities, public and entertainment venues shut, I started ART WINDOW on 17th March. So, when neighbours out for their exercise around the neighbourhood they can walk up to the window and see different Art each day.

Around the same time #artistsupportpledge came into being and I linked up.

I ended the rolling exhibition after 111days on 14th July Thanks to all who purchased artwork, and who came to look. Get in touch anytime if you are interested in a studio visit or in buying a piece if art.

My daily change in ART WINDOW is also on Facebook and Instagram (@artist.leoduff) alongside a brief description.

All work is for sale using the principals of #artistsupportpledge, prices posted on FB ad Insta, or email me: leoduff@leoduff.com Nothing is more than 200£ plus postage.

About #artistsupportpledge

This was the concept of @matthewburrowsstudio and it is a simple one. You post images of your work to sell for no more than £200 each (not including shipping.) Anyone can then buy the work. Every time you reach £1000 of sales the artist pledges to buy another artist's work for £200. This has already over 100,000 posts and has generated over £20million of transactions helping keep artworks moving and artists busy.

111 Days of Art Window

ART WINDOW at my home reached 111days on Tuesday, and is now closed. So am starting today to post artwork that was too big to go in Art Window. And cannot be sold within the great #artistsupportpledge as the limit in that pledge is 200£. This PICKAXE is mixed media including chalk from one of the trenches at the Stonehenge Riverside Project dig on which I was an artist in residence, and co founder if the group art+archaeology. 120 x 50 cm.

Tuesday 14th July

#artistsupportpledge @200£ plus postage, screen print acrylics and ink drawing. 45 x 30cm. WHEELBARROW, PADDY FIELDS. My long term romance with wheelbarrows, trowels, spades, pick axes and shovels... As well as smaller universally used and unchanged through time tools lives on. The wheelbarrows on Stonehenge Riverside Project archaeology project exactly the same as the one the caretaker at Taipei Artist Village lent me. I know that because it just so happened I had measurements and shadow drawings, like this piece, made at both locations. The best drawing of a wheelbarrow I have ever seen was diagramatic and incredibly sensitive at the same time - by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The linear under drawing is an aerial drawing. I have quite a few sketch books of drawings from airplane windows and have used them in several different projects, as well as the concertina sketchbooks of aerial drawings being stand alone sketch books.

Monday 13th July

#artistsupportpledge @200£ plus postage, screen print acrylics and ink drawing. 45 x 30cm. WHEELBARROW, Muddy puddle. My long term romance with wheelbarrows, trowels, spades, pick axes and shovels... As well as smaller universally used and unchanged through time tools lives on. The wheelbarrows on Stonehenge Riverside Project archaeology project exactly the same as the one the caretaker at Taipei Artist Village lent me. I know that because it just so happened I had measurements and shadow drawings, like this piece, made at both locations. The best drawing of a wheelbarrow I have ever seen was diagramatic and incredibly sensitive at the same time - by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Saturday 11th July

Rerunning a couple of favourites for the last few days of ART WINDOW in the front window of our house Sticking to #artistsupportpledge, so all are on sale for 200£ plus postage. This is one from the series Cement Over China!

Saturday 4th July

Another piece of rock on pathways at foothill of Mt Sainte Victoire. Amazing geology and colours.

Tuesday 30th June

Three rocks collected and drawn (and left behind) on walk up Montagne Sainte Victoire, Provence. The geology is extraordinary. It looks like a mixture of millions of small chips of different stones somehow mashed into each other. The range of colours is incredible. When you see it you start to see why Cezanne painted it hundreds of times . The colours change constantly. It is never the same twice. I saw it on a residency marking the 100th yr since Cezanne died, 2006. See previous post. 200£ #artistsupportpledge A1. Gouache watercolour pencil.

Monday 29th June

Trapped Pine Needles. Montagne Sainte-Victoire. Provence Occitan. Near Aix en Provence. A1. watercolour and pencil, 425gm Bockingford paper. 200£ plus postage.

From a residency in Provence arranged to mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Cezanne at the Gustav Olaf Art Foundation. Arranged by#juliamidgley including #adamdant #jeanettebarnes #anitaklein. The dry colours of the rocks and soil in the area were spectacular. We only had one week, and crammed in visits to key Cezanne sites including two of his favourite subjects, Mt St Victoire and Bibemus Quarry. There was so much and so little time, so I chose to look at small details. The foundation was a classic, authentic and totally gorgeous large Provencal farmhouse outside the town of Pourrieres. In Pourrieres we went to the celebration parade, service and tasting of vin nouveau. And at this event I discovered the town was twinned with Ballycastle Co Antrim. Talk about a small world. I was thrilled.

Sunday 28th June

STONEHENGE FINDS, a drawing made at Salisbury Museum collections archive. June, the month of summer solstice is nearly over. I passed the 100th day of my ART WINDOW on Thursday - whats a hundred days in the life of these prehistoric tools? Gouache pencil watercolour pearl powder on soft card 60x40cm. 200£ plus postage.

Friday 26th June

The Last Trench. Stonehenge Riverside Project 120x50cms acrylic chalk ink One of the final pieces from several residencies to do with Stonehenge UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Currently part of a global on line exhibition selected by Transcultural Exchange.

Thursday 25th June - 100 Days of Art Window!

100 DAYS OF ART WINDOW. I started ART WINDOW in the street facing bay window of my home 100 days ago. So people on their daily walk would have art to see. Shortly after that I joined #artistsupportpledge, thank you #matthewburrowsstudio for that incredible invention. I cannot fit 3D work into ART WINDOW, so here is one of the pieces from a residency at UCA Farnham, when I worked in ceramics to express ideas about Montenegrin history and environment.

Summer Solstice 20th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd June

STONEHENGE SUMMER SOLTICE. A few examples of finds made over centuries from the Stonehenge UNESCO world heritage site. Drawn in the archive collections at Salisbury Museum as part a Stonehenge Riverside Project artists residency. Each if these four drawings are45x70cm. Ink gouache pearl powder pencil, on soft card. See 3 sets of work related to this summer time project which I took part in over 3 periods joining dig locations and again twice at Salisbury Museum on my web site: www.leoduff.com. THE DIG AND THE MUSEUM. INSIDE THE CIRCLE. CHALK PLAQUES. What a wonderful experience. I learnt so much, not least an addiction to archaeology. Thank you to all the dozens and dozens of archaeologists on that incredible project.

ART WINDOW, These will be displayed from Sunday onwards.

As I am taking part in #artistsupportpledge these 4 drawings are 200£ each plus postage. #artistsupportpledge, keep it going, share, buy, enjoy.

Thursday 18th June

GOLDEN BOYS'S SHIRTS. Acrylic on Ingres paper.50X65 cm #artistsupportpledge. 200£ plus postage.

One of the sets of work I have made about Montenegro is based on enigmatic examples of textiles studied in various museums, market stalls and peoples homes. I found this boys shirt front in a drawer in Herceg Novi Museum. The shirt , with collar attached, would have been attached by a button onto trousers and worn under a jacket. The background motifs refer to the stunning collections of battle worn flags found in many museums around this small and so frequently fought over country.

Wednesday 17th June

KNITTED SOCKS. Acrylic on Ingres paper.50X65 cm #artistsupportpledge. 200£ plus postage.

One of the sets of work I have made about Montenegro is based on enigmatic examples of textiles studied in various museums, market stalls and peoples homes. Local markets often have hand spun wool handknitted socks. These were in the Museum in Herceg Novi, but exactly same as those in the market at weekends, made by the lady who sells them. The background motifs refer to the stunning collections of battle worn flags found in many museums around this small and so frequently fought over country.

Tuesday 16th June

HANDKERCHIEF. Acrylic on Ingres paper. 65X50 cm #artistsupportpledge. 200£ plus postage.

One of the sets of work I have made about Montenegro is based on enigmatic examples of textiles studied in various museums, market stalls and peoples homes. This is a bridal handkerchief, a hand with wings is simply embroidered in a now dulled gold thread. The background refers to the stunning collections of battle worn flags found in many museums around this small and so frequently fought over country.

Sunday 7th June

The garden series continues....

DiY: Garden, Sweetpea. acrylic on paper. 38x28cm #artistsupportpledge. 200£ plus postage.

These posts are also in ART WINDOW, the bay window at front of our house, so neighbours have a mini exhibition to look at when out walking. During the recent heat waves I moved my studio out to the garden. The whole conversation on how good gardening, nature, growing things etc is at these times, brought me to simply make artwork about The Garden. A welcome form of DiY for people lucky enough to have a garden, no matter how small. When I was very small my father had a nursery. Over the years his work developed into pretty big landscape works. So I enjoyed an early start on the whole growing / garden thing. My granny had a long long row of sweet peas, gorgeous.

Tuesday 4th June

The garden series continues.... DiY: Garden, Allotment II. acrylic on paper. 27x37cm #artistsupportpledge. 200£ plus postage

Wednesday 3rd June

DiY: Garden, Allotment III. acrylic on paper. 28x38cm, £200 plus postage. DM or email leoduff@leoduff.com. for info.

Friday 29th May

DiY: Garden, Kitchen Window. acrylic on paper. 28 x 41 cm (this image slightly cropped) #artistsupportpledge. 200£ plus postage

Thursday 28th May

DiY: Garden, Flower Bed IV acrylic on paper. 29.5 x 32 cm. #artistsupportpledge. 200£ plus postage.

Wednesday 27th May

DiY: Garden, Flower Bed III. acrylic on paper. 33x29.5 cm. #artistsupportpledge. 200£ plus postage.

Tuesday 26th May

DiY: Garden, Border II. acrylic on paper 28.5 x 40 cm. #artistsupportpledge. 200£ plus postage.

ART WINDOW continues in the bay window at front of our house, so neighbours have a mini exhibition to look at when out walking. Having moved my studio out to the garden, as I like to do in suitable weather, the whole conversation on how good gardening, nature, growing things etc is at these times, brought me to simply make artwork about The Garden. A welcome form of DiY for people lucky enough to have a garden, no matter how small.

Monday 25th May

DiY: Garden, Boarder I. SOLD. acrylic on paper 28.5 x 40 cm. #artistsupportpledge

Sunday 24th May

DiY: Garden, Flower Bed II. For Limited time 200£ acrylic on paper 41 x 28.5 cm. plus postage.

Saturday 23rd May

DiY: Garden, Window Box 2. For Limited time 200£ acrylic on paper 36 x23 cm. plus postage.

Thursday 21st May

DiY: Garden, Window Box 1. For Limited time 200£ acrylic on paper plus postage.

Tuesday 19th May

For sale as part of #artistsupportpledge, 200£ plus postage. Acrylic. A1 approx.

Monday 18th May

For sale as part of #artistsupportpledge, 200£ plus postage. Acrylic. A2 approx. . Hand made and coloured Indian rag paper.

Friday 15th May

As part of #artistsupportpledge selling now at temporary price of £200 plus postage. Acrylic. 55cm x38cm.

Todays ART WINDOW, Blooms, was made when I was working in the garden last week. I have 2 old tables by the back gate and when the weather is good I just move my studio outside for a few days. This spring has seen so many plants bloom early and in abundance, gardens and being outdoors have provided a safe haven in these strange times.

Thursday 14th May

For sale as part of #artistsupportpledge, 200£ plus postage. Acrylic. A1.

Wednesday 13th May

For sale as part of #artistsupportpledge, 200£ plus postage. Acrylic. A1.

Tuesday 12th May

As part of #artistsupportpledge selling now at temporary price of 200£plus postage. DIY Cupboard Tidy. Approx A1, acrylics.

Todays ART WINDOW is from a new series in my Museum of Plastics: DIY. Cupboard Tidy. The DIY series plays with an ongoing obsession with negative space, the golden section, and stencils.

Monday 11th May

As part of #artistsupportpledge selling now at temporary price of 200£ plus postage

Todays ART WINDOW is part of my long term Museum of Plastics project, the DIY series: DIY - Cupboard Contents, black and white. A1, acrylic.

Saturday 9th May

As part of #artistsupportpledge selling now at temporary price of 195£plus postage. Approx A1, acrylics. GREEN PLASTIC II.

Todays ART WINDOW is from a series in my Museum of Plastics, Beijing:The Shape of Things to Come. I was lucky to be invited as visiting professor to have a residency at China Women's University in Beijing. I did quite a bit of research, sketch books etc on a visit to China not long before the residency commenced. I was all set to make large Chinese ink paintings about the wrapping of buildings under construction, the scaffolding and effect on surroundings. My visiting professors apartment was full of stuff left by previous occupants and far from clean, so I started off with a big spring clean and put masses of bits and pieces of plastic items in bin liners and out for rubbish collection. I woke up jet lagged of course in the middle of the night.. And while contemplating the studio and what I was going to do. Had a sort of eureka moment, rushed out to the bins and retrieved all my bin bags of plastic items. The next day I laid out my Museum of Plastics and started work.

7th and 8th May

As part of #artistsupportpledge selling now at temporary price of 195£plus postage. Approx A1, acrylics.

In the current pandemic all outlets for showing, selling and in some cases making art are out of action/cancelled/closed. #artistsupportpledge was set up to help artists keep art moving. Everytime you reach 1000£ of sales you pledge to buy another artists work for £200 on #artistsupportpledge

An unusual thing for unusual times.

Tuesday 5th May

As part of #artistsupportpledge selling now at temporary price of £195 Plus postage.

Today's ART WINDOW is SCRABO TOWER. SPRING SHOWER. From series of artworks for publication with Appletree Press for various YEARBOOKS. Slightly bigger than A4. Watercolour, ink and gouache.

Monday 4th May

Today's ART WINDOW are more commission's for publications on Port and Portuguese wines. Note the cabbages, everyone grows these in their garden for the delicious national dish, Caldo Verde. Contemporary stills, the plains of Alentejo, precipitous vines. All A4, ink and gouache.

Sunday 3rd May

Saturday 2nd May

Four tonal ink illustrations from Portuguese wine and port commissions, old house in Tias, Cork trees, ZZZ is a very common road sign in the Douro Valley, and an old vine . For sale #artistsupportpledge scheme, 75£ each or 200£ for the group plus postage

Thursday 30th April

More Portuguese wine and port commissions. Convent Bussaco facade, Bairrada, Bucaco. Second image Atlantic Coast vineyards, Colares. For sale as part of #artistsupportpledge at £100 each

Wednesday 29th April

Two more small artworks for books about Port / Portuguese wines. The famous Mateus Rose Quinta and Casa De Sizem at Minhao. I only have a few left out of about 50. Halcyon days of Porto and the river Douro commissions, drawing trips, exhibitions more often than not working with #profmartinsalisbury. All works in ART WINDOW for sale as part of #artistsupportpledge. Slightly larger than A4. These b/w ink illustrations £100 each.

Tuesday 28th April

More from various commissions in Porto, The Douro and Portugal. Firstly, Junta Nacional do Vinho, then Ribatego, one of the many storks next in this region, atop this distillery chimney. Slightly larger than A4, ink. £100 each. For sale as part of #artistsupportpledge.

Monday 27th April

Three small artworks for books about Port / Portuguese wines. I only have a few left out of about 50. Halcyon days of Porto and the river Douro commissions, drawing trips, exhibitions more often than not working with #profmartinsalisbury.

Sunday 26th April

Over next few days some artwork from various Commissions about Port, Portuguese wine, Californian wine, from various publishers such as Faber&Faber, TheWine Society. Today are both Portugal.

Friday 24th April

Friday 24th April was spent sending off artworks purchased in the scheme #artistsupportpledge by a variety of people all over the UK. For every 1000£ of art work sold, artists in #artistsupportpledge pledge to buy another artists work off the scheme. Thus keeping artworks moving.. Take a look...

Thursday 23rd April

Diptych from period of fascination with henges and archaeology of the 'Stoneage'.approx A4, mixed media.

21st and 22nd April

Old Soho, Dennys in Dean Street and Cromac Square Belfast. For sale via #artistsupportpledge, 150£ plus postage each. Mixed media, A3. Artistsupportpledge is to keep artists selling work through current turbulent times. When the artist sells £1000 worth of art, they then buy a piece from another artist in the pledge.

Monday 20th April

One drawing from Salisbury Museum residency, stunning blades for Stone age tools. Second image from residency close to Mt St Victoire, on 100th anniversary of Cezanne's death (2006). 3 pieces of stone on the foothills of this multi coloured mountain @ St Victoire

Sunday 19th April

Two studies of Stone age axe and arrow heads from the stored collections at The Salisbury Museum. One week residency (with Sian Bowen) as part of the Art and Archaeology group projects established by archaeogist Helen Wickstead and myself.

Saturday 18th April

Continuing from yesterday, more experiments from residency at China Women's University, Beijing. The Museum of Plastics........ A1. acrylics.

Friday 17th April

Two early experiments from residency at China Women's University Beijing, the start of my Museum of Plastics project. I had done a fair bit of research in preparation for the residency on two previous trips to China. However I completely changed my mind and created a Museum of Plastics in my studio with the enormous amount of plastic objects previous occupants had left behind in the guest professors apartment... Starting from scratch...

Thursday 16th April

Art work commissioned by @pedrosilmon for I think Sunday Times magazine, about planting wild flowers in your garden.

Wednesday 15th April

Detail from wrap around book jacket, Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark. Set in Kensington at the end of WW2

Tuesday 14th April

1 of 2 - Commission for Sainsburys, I made label artwork for about 9 wines. I kept one, Muscadet.

2 of 2 - From Dublin Year Book. Appletree Press Belfast. Have posted a few from this book, and other work commissioned by Appletree Press. Wonderful interesting work, travelling around finding the best buildings to include and working with interesting writers, in this case Vincent Capriani. This is The Busaras, a fabulous exuberant building, one of my real favourites, the main Dublin bus station, Dublin's first major postwar building and skyscraper.

Monday 13th April

Today, Easter Monday 13th April showing a piece from 2003 Artist Residency at Cill Rialaig Artist Retreat, Co Kerry. Bolus Head, mixed media, mostly graphite. Imagining the location of the artist village from above and the grey blocks represent breeze blocks and the construction of numberless holiday homes in the rural and coastal areas of Ireland. The second picture was made at the start of when my interest in stone became an obsession.

Saturday 11th April

From POLLEN COUNTS series. Looking at miniscule details of core samples, specifically pollen and insects. In one 3 meter core sample we can identify up to 3000 years history of the evolution of the area. One reason I started this work was to help me explore colour, loved it. Also because of Hay fever/pollen allergies....I spent 5 days on a botanical illustration course and visited the archives at Kew Gardens as part of my research along with teaching slides at the Department of Archaeology and Palaeoecology at Queens University Belfast.

Friday 10th April

Two more pieces from exhibition and residency in Taipei. Photos from catalogue as too much reflection off glass for my phone to cope with. Titles of the works are from ancient Chinese poetry. Project was about combining, contrasting and experimenting with the fundamentals of Chinese ink painting and western drawing.

Thursday 9th April

The Precipitous Edge. Body of work resulting from residency at Taipei Artist Village. Definately one of the top highlights of my life so far. Funded by British Council and Taipei Culture office. Catalogue from exhibition used for these two images ( Black image not for sale). Experimentation with ink painting both in practice and studying the principles and 'rules' of East Asian ink painting and integrating with Western drawing is the rich seam I explored over this fantastic experience in Taiwan.

Wednesday 8th April

From 1983, wotking out approx A4 for final much larger finished versions. Ink and watercolour Royal Albert Hall and Westminster Abbey.

Tuesday 7th April

2 more from Dublin Year book. APPLETREE press commission. One illustration pr week us end papers. Heavenly job, followed by exhibition.

First picture highlighting the reckless determination of developers to wreck buildings on the Liffey quayside in order to then get permission to build larger new blocks. Second is door to Kilmainham Gaol. I used to take drawing trip students there, by special arrangement, long before visitor centre built and it was opened for tourism. That was very special.

Monday 6th April

2 more, same series as yesterday, year books for Appletree Press Belfast, 1 week =1 illustration. These two speak for themselves, one of the last small private garages in Dublin and unbelievably a shop that sells only... potatoes!

Sunday 5th April

Two pictures from the Dublin Year book, year after the Ulster Year book both commission Ed by the wonderful Appletree Press Belfast. What a fantastic job, seek and choose over 50 aces, one for each week of the year plus end papers. Exhibitions of artwork followed publication. THANK YOU Appletree.

3rd and 4th April

Porto and the Douro. Poets Garden. And Quinta Senhora da Ribiera.

Thursday 2nd April

Two pieces from CEMENT OVER CHINA! a series of work about construction in China. Underlying drawings from airplane flights, over printed with acrylic, using stencils and screen print. This turned into a big project and of course the tools moved from Stonehenge work into this too. Same tools used world wide for construction and also deconstruction... Wheelbarrows, trowels, pick axes, spades and so forth.

Wednesday 1st April

Clerys O'Connell St, Dublin Castle.detail of clerys. Dublin Yearbook 1992. Appletree press

Monday 30th March

On left drawing of axe heads, Salisbury Museum artist residency, also part of Stonehenge Riverside Project. As is the piece on the right. There were several opportunities to go right into the stones with the archaeology students and their lecturers very early in the morning before tourists arrived. So for the final time we could do this, I took a pad of preprepared backgrounds to work on interpretive drawings whilst listening to the information about the actual stones.

Sunday 29th March

Two Montenegro art works The textile objects project. Fabrics ' left behind', a boys shirt front, worn with a collar and jacket. More crowns lions and emblems taken from war damaged flas in the National Museum, Cetinje.

Saturday 28th March

Two drawings from Stone Upon Broken Stone projects ( there were several projects around reuse of stone). Underlying drawings were made looking out of airplane windows, I have many sketch books of those flight drawings. Then layers drawn on top. The smudgy dark bronze is pewter polish, the fluorescent lemon is screen printed on top.

Friday 27th March

Two pieces from final artists residency at The Stonehenge Riverside Project, a huge archaeology project taking place over several summers, with which I worked on-site during 3 summers. It was fantastic. Acrylic, spray paint, Chinese ink, chalk out of the archaeology trenches.

Thursday 26th March

Two pieces from Cement Over China! series.

Wednesday 25th March

Two pieces from start of Montenegro projects. Based on textiles in museums in Herceg Novi and Cetinje. An embroidered wedding gift handkerchief and a reference to various images frequent on flags over several centuries. Screen print then painting drawing meaning each artwork different.

Tuesday 24th March

Acrylic, screen print, mono print and drawing. 2 pieces from Pollen Counts series. Looking at archaeologists 3 metre core sample and the myriad of information about flora and fauna that have been in the location for several thousand years. These represent evidence of Pine trees.

22nd and 23rd March

1st residency at Cill Railig Art Village, Kerry.

21st and 22nd March

Covent Garden . Limited edition litho, printed at RCA. O'Kanes Bar Ballycastle. limited edition screen print, Arts Council Northern Ireland.

Thursday 19th March

Bolhao market Porto. Illustration for magazine, Tapas

Friday 18th March

Porto, Fonseca cellars. Pont Dom Luis ( designed by Gustav Eiffel)