LARA Drawings/Summer in the City update

Wow, the drawings that these people are doing, it has to be seen to be believed. I have seen amazing and beautiful drawings before, mostly in books and museums but to see them live and fresh (not c1600) and with a contemporary sensibility is incredible. To be taught by and with those same people, the artists who made those drawings, is truly a privilege.

I was worried about not having the discipline for traditional methods but having tried a little it seems not so much a case of discipline, as involvement; allowing myself the luxury to keep working on my drawing. At this stage it is mostly the tutors gently pointing out my errors which become glaring even as they explain new ways to see and new ideas to think with.

My first cast drawing!

It seems essential to put aside my usual, comparatively frenetic, drawing approach in favour of learning new ways to see and think, the power of which I barely comprehend.

Cast drawing 2

Art in Action

Art in Action was amazing - a completely unique event.

From a demonstrating perspective it was brilliant, very well organised with every detail taken care of (usually in advance). The venue was beautiful, the support fantastic and the atmosphere so positive.

My only regret is that I didn't have time to see all of the other demonstrators!

I learnt a huge amount about how to demonstrate and present a stand from the demonstrators and assistants in our tent. I was so pleased to be there as part of a group - I was a student demonstrator for the Bristol Drawing School who were very supportive. I would like to say a huge Thank-you to them for inviting me and showing me the ropes.

One important lesson I learned: don't make the table into a barrier; I later moved mine off to one side and angled it outwards so that people could approach my work directly.

Many people enjoyed my sketchbooks and I was pleased to show something that people could interact with. Lots of people asked what the paper was, in case you didn't write it down the sketchbooks were: Earthbound from Daler Rowney's Cachet range.

We (as Bristol Drawing School) did collective demonstrations twice each day drawing from models, as well as demonstrating on our own stands. Below is one of my favourite drawings. The blue paper was kindly provided as a sample by the Two Rivers Paper Company who were also at Art in Action in the materials tent.

LARA - Summer in the City

I'm off to do a summer school in traditional drawing and painting techniques with the London Atelier of Representational Art (LARA). I've told a few people and have had some surprising reactions. It's been a good prompt to examine my thoughts, ideas and motivations prior to what will, I am sure, be an interesting and significant summer.

Those of you that know me or my work will know that I have a strong interest in draughtsmanship, which I am keen to develop. But I do confess to wondering if I really have the self-discipline required for traditional methods. I may be forced to acquire some/more, I'm pretty sure that will be a good thing.

I think that technical skill in art, like most other things, must be developed. Skill provides the tools of expression but it is not an end in itself. I believe that expression has the greatest scope when skills are sufficiently developed and assimilated to the point that they are mostly applied unconsciously, giving the freedom to focus on feeling, expression or whatever is the motivating force behind your work. (Actually doing it is harder!)

It can be argued that technique imposes constraints. I agree, but from my experience of design I know that constraints promote rather than stifle creativity, i.e. the more constraints imposed on a problem the more creative you have to be to solve it. Pretty much everything that can be repeated is a technique, after your very first attempt at something there is an element of technique, though not necessarily a good one. In the absence of zen-like 'beginner mind' it seems better to me to develop technique, to pick it up, put it down or manipulate it, in the service of expression.

I think that understanding the nature of constraint aides the search for freedom. As always I am struck by how the lessons of art apply to life: Are they different?

I plan to post my progress/photos/drawings/observations as I go, and maybe show some of the work I produce when I return. Let me know what you think, any questions or what you'd like to see.

Art in Action

Photo from Art in Action 2009

Preparations for Art in Action are now well under way. I have been submitting various bits of information to the (very well organised) organisers over the past few weeks and now I'm getting down to my own lists of what to take, how to hang it and what tools I will need.

I'm nervous, mostly in an excitable way, about the drawing demonstrations we'll be doing. It's going to be strange with lots of people watching me draw. I've had one or two people watching me draw before and it has tended to make me feel very self conscious. I think the demonstration set up will be a huge help, as a structure to work within; a way of formalising the watcher/watched relationship.

I heard somewhere that drawing and talking are controlled by different hemispheres of the brain, so a drawing demo could be quite a tricky thing! Maybe it's better to stop periodically and discuss what ever stage the drawing is at, or answer people's questions. I want to make sure that I talk with the people visiting, and not mumble into my drawings.

The current plan is that we will be drawing from a model for at least two sessions per day, and hour in the morning and another in the afternoon. Other artists will be drawing in between. I'm really looking forward to seeing other artists draw as I always find watching others hugely instructive.

Technically I think the diffuse lighting in the tent, whilst flattering to the model, could be quite a challenge for drawing, I think softly graduated tones will predominate if it is an overcast day.

I'm very glad to be demonstrating alongside much more experienced artists and instructors from the Bristol Drawing School: Carol Peace, Fran Richardson, Ros Ford and Ruth Wallace. I'm also looking forward to seeing some familiar visitors from my open studio.

We will be demonstrating in the Drawing and Printmaking tent at Art in Action at Waterperry House near Oxford from 15th-18th July. It is a fabulous event at a great location so do come down and say hello, we'd love to see you!

Open Studio success

Well, that was my first open studio. It was great!

To my surprise I really enjoyed talking about my work; I suddenly have a way to engage with people, and the world at large that feels real, sincere. Seeing my work all together gave me an overview and began a dialogue between the emotional landscapes of different works.

I was lucky to have had such great visitors, about 60 of them, almost all enthusiastic and very complimentary. My location is peripheral to the main focus of the Open Studios event so many people were making a special trip to see my work, which I feel quite honoured by. There were a few intrepid explorers on bikes and even a couple from Bristol. A huge Thank-you if you visited my studio.

I know some people had a hard time finding my studio - I'm sorry about that, I added more signs for the second weekend. So if you missed me but would still like to see my work please email me or call me on 07916 574 124 and we can arrange something.

Open Studio - Welcome, please come in.

Welcome to my open studio:

My studio is now open, this weekend and next. Tea/coffee and home-made cake are being served. There are also some toilets for those of you attempting an open studio route.

I've had some lovely visitors so far, including a slightly disorientated swift which thankfully declined to comment! Many visitors so far have been life drawing enthusiasts themselves and I've been surprised just how much I have enjoyed talking to people about my work and what inspires it.

Do pop-in if your in the area, my studio is on the Bond's Mills Estate, near Stonehouse, (just off junction 13 of the M5), here is a map link to the estate. Park in the blue zone and follow the open studio signs to my studio. I hope to see you there!

Sketchbook relationships

I've had an on again, off again kind of relationship with my sketchbooks over the years. I've always loved drawing but my sketchbooks were at best sporadic, even in college when a sketchbook was required.

I always enjoy looking at the sketchbooks of other artists but for me it always came back to 'should', eventually I came to wonder why? I want to keep sketchbooks. What's stopping me? And what am I going to do about it?

First, I made a list of all my usual excuses, then tallied each with a mitigating strategy:

• I never have my sketchbook when I need it - this one is easy; I'll keep it in my car/bag along with a tin of pencils.
• I draw big (typically 600 x 800mm) - I'd like to explore different scales, a sketchbook would be a great place to start.
• What if I make a mistake, it will ruin the whole sketchbook - not everything is, or can be perfect. Learning is more important to me. If it's that terrible I'll gesso over it and draw on top.
• But everything ends up in the wrong place and all mixed up - well, sometimes that's a good thing and where this really upsets my innate sense of order (if you've seen my desk don't laugh), I can just keep a separate sketchbook.
• I don't like drawing on white paper - so, get coloured paper sketchbooks.

I also wanted a place where I could pursue specific things, like tonal control and simplifying my drawings, and keep track of my progress.

So far it is working. I'm drawing more, enjoying it more and learning more. Every time I have made a significant change in my drawing approach or process I have learnt something new and my latest sketchbook approach is no exception.

Open Studio Preparations

The details:
Open studio at ‘The Gallery’, Bond’s Mill Estate, Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, GL10 3RF.
google map link
10am - 6pm Saturday 5th/Sunday 6th June and Friday 11th- Sunday 13th June (other days by arrangement)

I am trying to resist the urge to get totally carried away with just about everything; it's my first open studio and I am really excited to see how people will react to my work.

Art in Action

I am totally over excited.... I have been invited by Bristol Drawing School to be a student demonstrator at this year's Art in Action.

I will be drawing alongside artists and instructors from the drawing school: Carol Peace, Fran Richardson, Ros Ford and Ruth Wallace. We will be in the drawing tent and we'd love to see you down there!

I've visited to Art in Action before; it's a great day out at a fabulous site, well worth a visit.

Open Studios - great news

Great news - I will be opening my studio as part of Stroud open studios in the SITE 10 festival. This is my first time doing an open studio event so I am hoping will get at least one visitor! I am planning on bribing potential visitors with the promise of tea/coffee and home made cakes. So if you are reading this, what kind of cake do you like?

Displaying my work is going to be a challenge; how much to frame or mount? How to hang it? Should I fill the space? What about sketches and sketchbooks? (I always find it fascinating to see other people's sketchbooks.)

And (how) do I tell people about my work? This is my biggest worry. I'm terrible at 'sales' and I don't think that approach makes sense anyway. I always seem to be holding back, it's difficult to talk to people about my work with passion because the passion is in the drawing and my relationship to it.

In some ways people need to find their own relationship to the drawing because mine can't make sense to them; it relies too much on my own feelings, ideas and experiences. How do I connect to their feelings and experiences?

Thinking more positively; the people that do visit will have seen my catalogue listing and are likely to be interested in seeing and hearing about my work. I admit to being very curious - Who are these people? I am excited at the prospect of meeting them!

But for now it is back to planning. Does anyone have any experiences of open studios, or tips they would like to share?

Circus Drawing

I went to a great workshop; time circus drawing at Circomedia with the Bristol Drawing School. I came back with loads of drawings, here are a couple:

Most of them don't make much sense out of context but I am planning to develop several into sketches/paintings.

I've got two strands of ideas at the moment, the first is a developed version of the sequential movement drawings I did. The second is based on a couple of character portrait sketches that seemed to have more depth to them, quite poignant somehow.

I think it will be difficult to develop these further whilst retaining feeling of the sketches. There is always so much of the moment in quick drawings. I am sure that this is precisely what makes sketches both so appealing and so hard to develop. Can you resurrect that feeling? Should you? Is that somehow less authentic? Why? What does that mean?

In with the New

Happy New Year!

New Year is a great time for planning, so I thought I would share some of my plans and goals for this year:

• To have my work accepted for a juried exhibition.
• To take my work to an art fair.
• To show my work in a gallery.

Acheiving the above requires that I:

• Submit my work! 
• Apply for art fairs.
• Approach galleries.

D'uuuh! I know, but it's harder than it sounds when there is that "but it's too [insert adjective], they won't like it, I'm not ready....." etc soundtrack running in my head.)
I have also decided that this year will be a year of ACTION. I do enough thinking, enough analysis. I have more ideas that anyone in their right mind would know what to do with, so (and you can join in here), now - it has to be right now. Take one step towards doing something you are excited about. It need not be big. Take another tomorrow, and the next day. As small as you like. I've noticed that big exciting things happen when people persistently do small things!

I would love to hear if anyone else has any artistic/creative resolutions.