Quiet Sunday

 

A quiet day in the studio after a leisurely start, coffee and a walk in the sunshine.   Played around with trying to transfer images using wundaweb and gave up after a frustrating couple of hours getting nowhere.  Will have to rethink that one.

The image here is one of a series using collaged material, acrylic paint and oil pastels - it's quite a long canvas and I have cropped the centre for the blog.  Enjoyable experimental stuff really.

Work in Progress for January

mixed media & collage on canvas

I am so sorry not to have posted for such a long time.  Christmas and the infections of the season got in the way.   But it's back to work now and on with a plan for 2011.  

In as much, as one can plan for anything, I intend to let printmaking take a back seat this year and concentrate on painting again.  I did a bit of a swap over last year and experimented quite a bit with gelatin print, digital and collographs but by late 2010 I was itching to get messy and started to dig out some failed works to paint over.  Less stressful than staring at a white canvas and wondering where to throw the first blob of paint!

I  decided it was time to rejoin the artistic community and signed up for the local Visual Artist Network.  They have a nice exhibition space and I felt it really was about time I put myself out there more. 

I've also joined a photography group in attempt to improve my grasp of this weighty subject.  I really feel pretty hopeless about the most basic information required to take a decent shot.

And then there's the Latin to think about...New Year Resolutions and all that:)

Dreamtime

Back from my travels and finding it hard to get back into the swing of things - not sure what I actually want to swing from.  Great time in Australia and wonderful to see art from a different perspective.  

I was particularly interested in the aboriginal concept of Dreamtime and quote from Wikipedia (Fred Alan Wolf from his book The Dreamtime):-

"Aboriginals believe in two forms of time; two parallel streams of activity. One is the daily objective activity, the other is an infinite spiritual cycle called the 'dreamtime', more real than reality itself. Whatever happens in the dreamtime establishes the values, symbols, and laws of Aboriginal society. It was believed that some people of unusual spiritual powers had contact with the dreamtime."'

That sounds better than any description that I could have come up with.  The little sketch here is something from my travel sketchbook.  My own Dreamtime - the whole experience has left me with so many ideas and an uncertainty of how to express them just now. 

This week has seen me at Westhope College playing with some glasswork, another area I have been wanting to try for quite a while.  Making a few sample pieces before I tackle any cathedral windows.

Pathways - Paintings from the Workshop

Workshops I and II



Diptych (Oil pastel and acrylic) - Jacqueline Owen

Got my wires crossed and nearly missed the Pathways workshop lunch at the end of the workshop exhibition. However, made it and it was good to see the work inspired by the Quiet Lane project and also to see the paintings generated by the second group who had approached their subject of a walk in a forest area in a completely different way.

The Pathways exhibition at Qube showing the work of the four lead artists involved has its Private View on Friday and I am looking forward to seeing their own response to the subject.

I've only had the camera six years...

I have mentioned several times on this blog that photography is safe from me but I wonder if I am safe from it. Here I was tootling along taking a few snaps of this and that when the fancy took me and then all of a sudden I hit the wall of realisation that there's a world of difference in the little old 4x6inch photo, what gets posted to the webpage or what I might like to have reproduced for a larger canvas. Yes, there has been a slight niggle in the back of my head somewhere that I ought to do some research on this matter but we arty types get busy with the creative bit.

Today, I wanted to take a look through the portfolio for this year and although I have been so much better at documenting work, for a lot of it I did not save the original image only images ready for the web. This is not a problem for work I still have around the studio but for work that has gone into the world, I am left with jpegs. Not the end of the world but it means a few days now of checking what formats the work is saved in and spending evenings in the company of the photographic manuals for some basic information on file saving for nitwits!

The small canvas above is one of the 'Fired Earth' landscapes in spray acrylic paint - hand manipulated to give it texture. This was the last of a series I started late last year and finished last month.

Gin & Tonic?

Having spent the last couple of days clearing the studio out; the spider breeding programme was going too well, I thought it would be a good idea to post a couple of photographs whilst the floor, table and sofa were not piled high with paper, journals and sundry other essentials.

It is amazing how much stuff you can hide under a table. It will look this pristine for the next couple of days and then revert to its usual chaos.

I snapped these this evening and when I uploaded the photos, was amused to see that I had left the gin & tonic on the paper cabinet. I am rather fond of the gin & tonic end of the studio and its where I do my thinking - and take the odd siesta.

One of the main reasons for the clear-out is the decision not to paint for a while and concentrate on printmaking - so here goes...

The Work

A mention here of past glories... I began using household paints when I moved into the Liverpool studio. As is often the case, there was a load of paint left behind from previous artists and it seemed a waste to chuck it away - lots of lovely colours and I really liked the fact that the paint had a bit of history. I enjoy the freedom of not being fussy with small tubes and paintbrushes drive me crazy. I usually work on the floor laying the canvas flat and pour paint, working into it with hands, screwdriver, bits of card and anything that comes to hand. I am happier working on the floor than on an easel for some reason. I am able to pick up any corner and manipulate the canvas. Cleaning up is a bit of a nightmare.

I also like the work to emerge from the poured paint and let it start a life of its own. The hardest thing is the beginning, after that it is a series of decisions based on what has been put down previously. These works were completed very fast - each in a single session and I do like them. I sold most of this series but I did not want to part with the first Poppies (160 x 120 cm) and it hangs in my studio. It has shown at The Institute of Directors in Manchester and Cheshire Fine Arts Gallery, Chester.

New work... is more moody and melancholy I think. I seem to be taking more time now with paintings and they now emerge over several months and layers. I suppose there is a natural evolution in work that won't be forced or rushed and this is where I am up to today. I still prefer working in household paints but also use spray paint more. I do like the speed of coverage over large areas with these often less manageable paints and find them exciting to work with.

And the prints - these are really still in the embryonic stage. I am experimenting with some fundamental techniques to start with and get a feel for this very different way of working. This is a medium that requires far more preparation and consideration for each way of working - relief, intaglio, screen etc. I do want to try and maintain the two disciplines together but this might be difficult - that will depend on the demands of the course. Printmaking is obviously something which has appealed to many artists in the past and I am really looking forward to finding out where I can take it in regard to my working practice.

The New Work showing here is a mixture of paint on canvas, monoprint in oil and water-based gelatine prints on paper.