I’m embarrassed to say…..

…. that I’ve been working on this piece of work on and off since March 2019 and it’s probably at the worst state it’s been in for a while, so much so that I think I may white wash it and start areas again. I was so pleased with it around June but that’s sometimes the way a painting goes. You lose momentum, you try something new and in the course of one brushstroke you go from a piece of work that is working well to one that has lost all sense of the subject matter.

This started off as a challenge set by my Year 13 class. I was encouraging them to paint with much more freedom, more expressive marks, more concept than refinement…… and in return they challenged me to paint more realistically, and so the gauntlet was picked up, then set down, and picked up again, then set down! But now is the time to pick it up again and get this piece resolved once and for all. The Easter break and the ‘surreal’ness of the current situation could actually provide me with a chunk of time for the first time in 2 years.

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exploring the work of others

ylena i – acrylic and mixed media on paper

During the summer I was fortunate enough to catch the Vincent Van Gogh exhibition at The Tate Britain. I was initially a little disappointed as the first section was literally other artists’ work and van Gogh’s attempts at trying to copy or emulate them. I was struck by how similar his painting apprenticeship was to the A-Level course: looking and being influenced by other artists in such a way that it develops your own voice.

Now in full time teaching I am finding it incredibly difficult to find time to do my own art but the A-Level and GCSE classes are moments where I can use ‘mock ups’ or ‘examples’ to keep my creative expression alive. Creating a portfolio to enable the students to see the process, the structure and the type of work needed has been a real privilege and working alongside these amazing young artists has also been a real inspiration.

The piece above is based on the work of Joan Dumouchel, her paleness of face, the use of gold in the background, in the hair and on the lip, the soak staining of the background and placement of colour – all these elements contributed to the formation of my own work. My plan is to look at three or four other artists and see how I can glean skills and processes and ways of seeing from them, and then pull it altogether in a series of work. Looking forward to creating again.

starting early

My goodness, it’s not 10am yet and already a layer of colour is done. Today is hopefully going to be a good drying day and I’m aiming to get some definition with these pieces. My last soak stain layer should go on tonight and then we’ll see what occurs before the morning. I’ve no idea what happens to them overnight, they always seem to change from what I expect, and not always for the better 😦  But at least they’ll be dry layers to work on top of.  We’ll see how the day progresses.

Saying goodbye

One of the things that never ceases to amaze me is how hard it is to leave my art work in a gallery or in its new home, especially if the pieces represent a personal journey of sorts. I dropped off the five completed pieces at the Emporium, Lichfield on Thursday and it once again took me by surprise, to the point that I had to explain why I was just looking at them and not moving or talking. The five pieces that are currently at Emporium I’ve called ‘tolmàō’.

Greek: tolmáō (from tolma, “bold courage”) – properly, to show daring courage necessary for a valid risk (“putting it all on the line”); courageously venture forward by putting fear behind and embracing the fruit that lies ahead for taking a necessary risk.

I said this on Facebook – I love that there exists a Greek word that needs nineteen English words to explain it!! But it exactly sums up what’s I was trying to say. Have courage. Go for those dreams. Step out from that comfort zone. You are brave. You are enough.

 

Squirrels!

I’ve had this idea, picture, in my mind for such a long time and at last I think I might actually be making steps towards starting it. Today I’ve been trying to work out which type of paper to have as the printed base. I’ve kindly had several sheets printed with various photos of people, or in some cases squirrels, with their hands in the air, and I’ve mocked what I want to achieve on a much smaller scale. The final results made me smile as these squirrels stand there, drippings wet with paint! We’ll see how they dry.

Yet another layer of paint was poured onto the canvases today. The results of the last soak staining was quite disappointing and looked washed out. A think maybe a layer of brown afternoon this blue one has dried. Brilliantly warm day for it.

 

 

soak staining

I love this technique. I use it all the time and instead of allowing the paint to drip down the canvas I literally pour it onto the canvas and wait to see what happens. I felt the two sections were really separate and needed some sort of visual link to pull the piece together. I also love the way the paint clings to the edges of texture and emphasises it. The only problem now is that I can’t do anything until it is dry, and with the weird weather today, that could be a while. Lovely to have time to blog though 🙂