Fabulous graffiti style sketchy flower paintings by Jack Spiller (Tag Fine Arts) that were some of my favourite work at the Affordable Art Fair in Battersea 10th March 2018.
Time: 20.27 pm
Mood: A little bit accomplished from a day at the studio
Listening To: Expanded Perspectives Podcast
A bit late in posting this but last weekend I visited the Affordable Art Fair in Battersea London, with my artist friend Pam from our studios. What a great day and experience, I loved it. I can honestly say if you are wanting to be more of a commercial artist and sell your work this was definitely the place to be. There was all kinds of art there too, from paintings to drawings, sculpture, paper-cut pieces, printmakers, as well as some installation pieces specifically for buildings, clubs or entertainment. There was also all types of people buying art – Young and old, and people bought their kids and their dogs! And a RANGE of things were being bought; some were buying large original canvases and some were walking away with one, two or sometimes a handful of prints. Overall it was a very friendly and informal place with a friendly atmosphere.
However I think what was the best for me about this experience was that the work wasn’t all what you would imagine ‘commercial’ to be. There were the usual Marilyn Monroes and pieces that were chunky and bright coloured and 100% commercial looking to me. However there were also many still life pieces, oil portraits, abstracts and paper cut pieces that certain artists had clearly taken hours in making..and were exploring something meaningful to them. Which is really where I myself would like to sit with my own work – a balance of both. Work that I enjoy and is meaningful to me and resonates with others – but also I’d like to make a living too.
Overall a brilliant experience – I felt I’d accomplished something by going, and it was a little step in the right direction.
Current Thoughts & Progress:
So last week I finished a new portrait in this new sketchy, almost doodle-like style I’m exploring – and I’m really pleased with it. It is titled ‘Sinead’ and again was referenced from one of many makeup artists and bloggers I follow on Instagram. It has become a habit of mine to save photos of people from social media that will then inspire a portrait.
With this new work I feel I’m partly exploring how women are portrayed on social media, and how they portray themselves. I feel I’m after mental health messages too; for instance I’ll often save a photo of someone with a t-shirt that has a message on it or a message in the background. I’m interested in how we feel about ourselves and how social media/world in general makes us feel about ourselves. Very often the people references that I save (women at the moment, but I’ve also sketched some men too) have a beautiful appearance, like this is how they look everyday, flawless. But then I sketch them quite messily – then paint them in my new messy way.. and they end up looking beautiful but in a different way. Like with ‘Sinead’ I feel it’s her kind expression and smile..but her facial features are quite off and the portrait is simple black outlines and a very limited colour palette.
I’ve started another portrait this week from my sketches, ‘Rose’ – this piece is around half way through. I’m still not sure about the style of painting; I’m worried they’re a bit ‘too commercial’ and I think my mentor more approves of my very quick, simple 2 minute sketches I do which are just quick lines and are even simpler than these paintings. I think he feels they say more – ‘less is more’ etc. However I prefer some level of detail in my paintings and I feel these have a great balance at the moment; areas that are so simple, and also messy, complex sketchy areas like their hair. ‘Sinead’ I think has a great balance of simple areas and detail.
A much shorter post than last time! However I plan to talk more about the progress of my new work along with a few images of pieces mentioned in the next post in a week or so! So stay tuned.
As always comments and feedback are welcome and thank you for taking the time to read my posts!
