Procrastinations of a working man.

After talking to a friend about my artwork the conversation turned to problems within his private life.  Perhaps building from the mild philosophical base of art it lead me to start thinking about what my drawings mean to me and what vision I work with.

I had explained my drawings to my friend as trying to express – maybe even –  dare I say it illustrate or map the interactions, passages, experiences that we have as we all move through life.  I know this all sounds very cheesy and clichéd but, actually I really don’t think it is.  What more important, interesting subject could an artist possibly hope to investigate?  It is a subject that welcomes philosophical thought and it fascinates me to think about this and what it entails – and how to express it.  I suppose I see my drawings as working in two ways: firstly as a larger, whole mass that is seen as one and then the finer details that could be taken as an individual, autonomous microcosm of its own.

The winding, intertwining forms that slip onto the paper appear to me to have a natural – if not obvious appeal to this subject.  Push all this to one side for a second… if an artist doesn’t feel a sense of wonder with what he or she is investigating, producing – what the hell is the point of doing it?  Art is one of life’s self indulgent pursuits that is rare in the fact that it doesn’t damage its practitioners – in actuality it actively enhances whoever decides to explore its delights.

Needless to say even even at the modest level I operate at I couldn’t love what I do anymore.  As Chuck Close said “inspiration is for amateurs” work hard and reap your rewards, this could be materially or spiritually…whatever is your poison.

Thank you for reading my ramblings.

So, it has been almost a couple of months since my last post – a shocking lapse in blog related productivity.  However, it has not been because of my natural inclination to procrastinate about even making a cup of tea – it has been because I have been working furiously on drawings.  I will share a few of them with you in this post.

It has now been a good couple of months since I moved into the my studio and I now really feel like it is a second home, I have my processes in place and have established a history (albeit a very short one) with the place.  I love it.  I have also realised I am naturally slipping into a nice momentum with my drawing practice.

I have found that working only on one large drawing as I had been previously (and I use large in the loosest of terms) to be massively counterproductive, slogging away at one piece can lead to a very stale existence so I now have several on the go at all times, some are larger and some are smaller.  The smaller drawings provide the lubricant for the larger, more time consuming pieces, they keep things fresh and provide a buffer for specific drawing burnout.

This approach allows me to look at each piece with a fresh pair of eyes, a reinvigorated spirit and also allows all of the other pieces to subtly influence the others being developed around it.  Balance is key here.  Some of the drawings are fast and take no more than half an hour or so, some take months so breaking things up like this works very well for me.

Heres a a couple of weird and abstract motivational springboards I use sometimes:

• a line from a Beastie Boys song “…all you spazes and you freaks – go and do your thing because you’re unique…”

I sometimes think about that one line and it helps me to remember that doing what you do – no matter what anybody says about it is what you should do – and don’t care what anyone thinks.  Stellar advice and so true.

• A scene from from the film version of the incredible Phantom of the opera in which the singers and dancers are all busying themselves practicing lines, warmer voices up and rehearsing.  I find this very exciting as they are all trying to hone their respective crafts and that really resonates with me.  Romantic fool?  Yes.  Does it have relevance in a pressurised modern world – definitely.

Both of these things will no doubt make anyone charitable enough to be reading this blog entry cringe – but it really does help me out, and anything – in my experience at least that can help production/ motivation/ spirit/ enthusiasm is an invaluable tool in my book.

Thank you as always for reading and I promise to be back more regularly from now on.

Instagram: stu01621 or streetart01621

www.stuartbelton.com

Twitter: @stu01621

Email: [email protected]

I have written this over the last couple of days as i have been so busy and unble to post so the first part is from the other day and the last is from today.

20th September

Frustration and other collected thoughts

Since settling down in my studio I have felt a vast expanse of fertile ground open around me metaphorically speaking and this has injected new life and vigour into what I have been doing – this is great. The influx of new ideas and directional changes have been amazing and quite unexpected. What is not is the ideas that come flowing and translate poorly onto paper, especially those that were previously thought by myself as almost a sure thing. A very naive thought I know but everyone must surely fall into this trap once in a while? Perhaps the idea is there for the taking but is in fact a slow burner in need of time, reflection and some patience and not the instant result I thought it could and should be – who knows? Perhaps this kind of idea requires a more painterly approach, or indeed a painters approach? All questions that I’d like answers to immediately please.

I shall persevere.

In other news I have sold three more drawings this week which I am ecstatically happy about, even more so as I know that each and every piece has gone to a good home. Thank you all if you are reading this.

On the subject of selling work I have come to learn that it can be a good gauge of how I feel about what I have been up to when faced with a potential sale, sometimes I feel good, sometimes not so much in the fact that I think I wish I could of done this or that…whatever the intuition is it seems to be an accurate gauge. Sometimes I wish it was other work leaving my possession – especially when I have a particular emotional attachment to whatever it is I am selling, it could be that I am particularly fond of a drawing, or have had it for a long time or one that I am very proud and then with the sale feel almost to not only lose ownership but part of myself.

Anyway moving along now onto framing, much the same as photographing drawings in poor light or out of focus a bad frame can inflict terrible damage to the desirability and online life of a drawing, and lets face it artwork nowadays needs an online presence in order to promote and sell it, perhaps more accurately like a person in a suit: if a suit is badly fitting and baggy, the wrong colour, cheap looking it can take away incredibly from whoever is wearing it and ironically make the wearer look scruffy – or at very least not their best. If however a suit is sharp, well tailored and considered it can do wonders for the person wearing it. This long winded explanation is exactly how frames work, recently I had a drawing framed and whilst it looked smart because it had been neatly sanitised in a white, glazed rectangle my immediate thought was “I wish the frame was different”. Not good. Though it was another lesson learnt in not leaving the frame as an afterthought and considering what would look best: colour, style, depth…you get my point. Something I will definitely be more aware of in the future.
Thursday 22nd September

So afterall these little drawings have grown on me a bit – still at the very early stages of experimentation but nonetheless I can see a future in them and some potential pieces. the next big project is a skateboard deck for a friend of mine on which i shall make a drawing, quite an exciting prospect. Running along side this I will begin to make some very large drawings, maybe A2 or larger, i shall see how things develop.

Thank you as always for reading.

Good morning lovely people, I had completely forgotten to mention that I have built a website, if you have a spare few minutes please take a look at what I do.

www.stuartbelton.com

A few developments since my last post, mostly on a positive note.

Firstly the drawing I submitted to the ING Discerning Eye was rejected – bummer. I had to do the walk of shame and collect it on Tuesday. Whilst being disappointed it revealed questions and tested the faith I have in what I do. I can confirm my skin is extremely thick and after some very minor doubts my resolve saw off these thoughts.

I know this is a very small bump in the road – and for most a par of course occurrence but it was the first time I’d put myself out there so in my mind it was magnified somewhat, having said that the whole experience has been a great learning exercise and it has shown what I can do if I put my mind to it (in terms of meeting a deadline) and ironically given me bags of confidence, I feel although I have grown in some way as a direct result of the whole submission process. The moral of the story:

Get your work out there as much as humanly possible.

I am now the very proud inhabitant of some proper studio space. BIG WIN. It is a heated, secure, very well lit space – and I already love it. I spent a while last night moving in and tonight i have adorned the walls with a multitude of sketches, drawings and ideas that have otherwise been out of sight and therefore out of the minds eye.

After splashing my drawings all over the walls I decided I needed to “bed” into the space by starting to actually work, I made a pencil drawing over the space of about four hours (no pictures sorry). I couldn’t believe just how much I had missed working in an area in which I could see my other ideas and drawings, it definitely helps in terms of resolving ideas, pushing work to new standards and solidifying patterns of sketches and drawings that haven’t made it off of the mark. I am going to push as hard as I can now and try to accelerate my output.

Exciting times ahead.