Nicola's dog show (From Stroud News and Journal)

Nicola's dog show

NATIONALLY recognised France Lynch-based artist Nicola Grellier opens her latest exhibition, Boondoggle, this weekend in Sieff, Tetbury.

Nicola, who studied at Wimbledon and Chelsea Schools of Art, has lived and worked in Gloucestershire since 1989.

She exhibits widely and has unertaken several large commissions, both private and corporate.

The exhibition at Sieff is of new work made during the last year. The main feature is a variety of highly decorative dogs.

"They 'bark' back to several earlier painting episodes," said Nicola, "wherelurchers lay around on chairs, often being upholstered in the soft furnishings themselves and occasionally taking afternoon tea."

The paintings at Sieff are of various new breeds ("earth dog, sheepdog, labradog, deputy dawg") and form a series of eight standing profiles, all painted with different fabrics that Nicola has collected over time.

These very painted works are complemented by some more simple line drawings in pastel of sleeping lurchers and other dogs, a large and pwerful but startled deer and also a wall of small dark portraits which appear to have been made in an investigation of lips.

Boondoggle runs at Sieff from Saturday, September 17 until Friday, October 7.

The exhibition is open between 10am and 5pm Monday to Saturday, but closes for lunch between 1pm and 2pm. Nicola's next exhibition will be Cave Drawings at the Stone Theatre, Waterloo, London in October.