visualwunderlust

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I don't know what it is about this one, but I do like it. Whether it is the colours, composition or the texture each thin layer of paint creates, there is just something I like about this one.

Taken from a small sketch from in my sketchbook to a lager scale of 100cm x 80cm. Acrylic & watercolour on unprimed linen. The inspiration for the sketch was taken from an old photograph of me as a child in shallow water, emptying my 'catch of the day' from my bucket onto the jetty. The photo was taken from a height looking straight down. Maybe it is the composition that I find interesting.

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Let it flow!

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Even though this is another small sketch sample, I like how this turned out. This is a small A4 size canvas on a box frame. I completely saturated the canvas & applied the paint whilst it was still wet. I used a goathair brush, which can hold a lot of water, to apply the paint & then used a fine spray of water to help the paint move or bleed into the next colour. It is quite interesting to watch how it changes & fades each day until completely dry.

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Little miniatures. Looking at how the paint behaves on unprimed linen, stretched onto the support frame. These were tiny box canvases that were given to me. I don't like the texture of the 'ready made' primed canvas & always strip it off & replace it with my own choice. It is often a lot cheaper than making your own although the quality of the stretcher bars can be quite below par.

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Gallery visits. From the Whitworth to Manchester Art Gallery, Kirkby Gallery & Goose Green, Tullie Museum - Cumbria

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Gallery visits with my nieces. How they've grown!

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ART723

Studio discipline.

From sketchbook to studio practice.

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ART723 Week 4: Embodied Knowledge & Material Thinking & Design Thinking

This lecture had us looking at different approaches to problem solving by reverse thinking. The task was to get into small groups of five students & initially come up with a problem but instead of discussing ways to solve the problem do the opposite - make the problem worse = Reverse Thinking.

I absolutely loved this method of problem solving. I do enjoy group discussions with my peers & brainstorming ideas & I love mindmapping.

The problem: How to create more natural light in an artist studio

The task: Reverse Thinking. Mindmap all potential ways of eliminating all natural & any light in an artist studio

We went to extremes of removing all windows & any reflective surfaces to removing light bulbs, light switches & painting all surfaces in Anish Kapoor's controversial Vantablack paint.

Then we looked at small detail on our mind map and addressed each point with the opposite effect of creating more light. I thoroughly enjoyed this exercise and will definitely use this method in the future.

The only solution we didn't think of in this exercise was to completely get rid of the confines of the studio walls altogether & paint outside! The only reason I can think of as to why we didn't come up with this solution was that we live have been living with a perpetual winter for the past 9 months! How lucky I was when on my Easter break to finally have glorious sunshine.

Weather permitting, take the studio practice outside.

If I lived in Europe this would be the only way I would paint.

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ART723

Studio experience, experiment.

Sometimes there are not enough hours in the day or enough space in your studio. Applying paint onto different surfaces from rag paper, scrim fabric & thin calico to thick canvas & linen. I have abandoned the easel & now working directly on the floor. My preference is stretched unprimed linen or thick unprimed canvas. I have been repurposing old stretchers that I have lying around my studio & salvaging any canvas I can find. I have been given a few small canvases no bigger than A4 paper which have been ideal for smaller 'sketches'. When working on a bigger scale I have purchased really cheap ready made primed canvases & striped them & stretched my own chosen fabric onto them.

Buying online from Amazon (there are other online sites available) has been a godsend, saving a lot of time scouring shops & lugging equipment home. If you have Amazon Prime account for instance (there are other sites available with their own loyalty rewards) you are entitled to next day delivery & a lot of small businesses are signed up to Amazon Market Place. I have been able to afford 4 meters of raw linen fabric, much cheaper than well known art shops & fabric shops enabling me to experiment with different painting surfaces.

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ART723

New Beginnings?

Trying out some thicker canvas & waiting for it to dry before I decide to rework them. Again, not having 'control' over how the paint flowed, how it bled into each pigment & how it dried was liberating. Watching the pigment fade as it dried or evaporated gave a different effect as to what I had expected.

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ART 723

Just in the Nick of Time

This module I have suffered badly from 'creators block', imposter syndrome & feeling inadequate. The more research I did the worse it got until panic set in.

I was trying a different way of working, a different approach when I realised that not having the control over the pencil or the flow of paint I was working more intuitively. I was at work (day job, employment not studio creating) when I got hold of some basic school watercolours & thin Calico scraps. Again thinking about form & colour blocks of landscape I wet the material & applied the paint.

As they were very basic, crude watercolours the type used in primary schools they dried with a chromatographic effect of which I had no control. And I quite liked it.

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ART 723

Week 1-8 has flown by.

This module has been the most stressful with the amount of work & deadlines we have to hand in. On a good point though I am working a lot more in the studio, the downside being that I had hit a creative block. My work was not progressing until very recently.

Trying a different method of sketching, this time purposely holding the pencil as if holding a paintbrush at arms length to free up the movement. Following the lines of forms & colour blocks in the landscapes. All images are my own taken on my phone camera (Motorola, not iPhone!). Some images from a trip to the Isle of Mull & Iona and some from a recent road trip to Carlisle to see the Sheila Fell exhibition. The others are from my local area

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ART717: Engagement Immersion and Practice

Looking Closer

After our task of 'rolling the dice' we were allocated our studio spaces. I explored the immediately around my new studio space.

Working with form and colour.

Getting back to the basics of the importance of sketchbook work as a good method of studio practice.

Week 3: Entrepreneaurship

Our third week on this module we had a lecture from a visiting professor José Cirillo from Brazil. Introducing us to collaborations with public art & looking at entrepreneurship within public art. José Cirillo highlighted public access to the public art & public engagement & knowledge of it. The public statues were photographed & were 3D printed for mass production. A very clever way of engaging art with the general public, collaborating with technology expertise & local educational establishment. The only downside was the use of plastic in the model reproduction.

Sustainability

The use of plastic in 3D printing made me question my own use of materials in the studio. Artists paint whether it be watercolor, oil or acrylic are now available with bio-based pigments as opposed to synthetic.

I prefer thinners such as linseed oil for my oil paints & have recently purchased water based oils. When buying watercolour pans I am now looking for non synthetic colours. The Blockx range give you a choice of synthetic pigmented watercolour blocks or natural. Unfortunately the natural pigments are always the most expensive!

I have also purchased some water mixable oil paints but they too are probably using synthetic pigments. It will be interesting to see how these compare to standard oil paints.

Not a bad range of studio colours for the price!

Primary colour of the Blockx giant pans of watercolour

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ART717 Engagement, Immersion and Practice

Getting To Know You

Our first lecture included a task. We were each given a dice. Our instructions were to write "directions" on the dice, roll it around our lecture room & see where it takes us. Whilst doing this we had to document/respond to our environment. I chose to draw simple arrows on all sides of the dice & armed with my camera app on my phone I set off. I later printed out the images & used them in my sketch book.

Keeping my eyes on the ground, looking at patterns & textures.

Perceptions of perspectives

Finding horizons & mountain ranges, using different materials: Lazer print onto handmade paper, air-dry clay on Hessian with wire, string & rope, acrylic on canvas.

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Starting from the very beginning of module1: ART717

Engagement, Immersion and Practice

Module launch. Meeting my peers & lectures for the first time.

Looking at studio spaces (& choosing one)

Our first lecture & first task

A walk to Ty Pawb Gallery

Exhibition at Ty Pawb, Wrexham Nau, Nau, DOH, Chaar

Artist: Liaqat Rasul.

On our first visit as a group of students we made the short walk to the centre of Wrexham to view our first exhibition together. We were asked not to read the artist statement but to view the work first & respond to it. The eastern style of the clothes resembled Indian traditional dress, the extensive use of mixed media linked to the textile trade. The installation of what appeared to be the outdoor market stall with garments hanging, the linea faces suspended & the garments with text seemed to question identity & "fitting in" to a new culture. It reminded me of my own father who came to England from India in the mid 60s as a teenager. He opened a market stall & went onto owning shops but struggled with his Anglo-Indian identity. Liaqat Rasul's resonated with me, cultural ties woven into each work, faces staring back questioning our own identity as fashion & tradition entwined in the fast past fashion trade of the market stalls.

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Presentation.pptx

I've still not got the drive to blog regularly but as part of my Masters degree it's a must. I'm lacking the self discipline to do this or rather the time. In between a full-time teaching, studying, studio work & family commitments I feel that blogging is way down on the list of my priorities. I also understand that blogging is an integral part of my Master's so I really do need to find a balance & prioritise it more. Hopefully I will be back tomorrow with a more enthusiastic focus to blogging.