University Campus Suffolk

These works in the images are those of experiments I have been doing in rebellion to the pressure I feel to produce works of a large scale. With the pieces being about technique and the relationship between mediums I feel large scale loses the intimacy of the paint and paper. Whereas the smaller pieces highlight this beauty and keep the intricacy and detail of what I’m doing alive.

Industrial Mess (it’s current name) is the first of a series I want to make using earthy and industrial colours. I want to do this because they work well in watercolour form, with blending and highlighting the less obvious beautiful tones that watered down paint can make. Plus they are less physically aesthetic than the links and purples I have used previously which creates more of a challenge in creating a beautiful looking piece of art.

The way I do this is by covering the page in water first. Then I apply the base colour, normally that of a dark grey or a beige. Then it’s the messy part. Dripping thick paint, thin paint, glue, oils, all down the page to give depth and dimension. What I have been advised to do recently is to combine all the styles I have onto the same works. So in these smaller pieces I have used dripping, watercolours, scraping and chalks on top. This was the best advice I’ve ever had. It has opened up my eyes to what a combination of my work could be like. I feel more connected to my art as it is truly me now. All of me goes into it. Cliche but honestly true.

The smaller image, Industrial Mess II, is mainly made using watercolour paint and acrylics. Some chalk has been added but as it is quite thick to draw on only small areas can hold it. What I like most about working this way is that each piece is different and I cannot predict the end result. They are small and may be on paper but I believe they are the most powerful and interesting paintings I have made so far this year. These images are similar to those of artist Terri Burris, and this exert from her website emulates the same feelings I have;

“Terri paints from focused perspectives of the natural world, filtered and infused with memory and nostalgia. Her palettes emerge directly from her intimate observations of life’s minute details. She is inspired by nature, the character of the weather, faith, music and her family. Terri’s stunning use of color creates subtle layers of imagery, which is unique to each subject. The textured, moody and poetic pieces incorporate crystallized collage fragments to provoke each individuals own thoughts, feelings, memories and imagination.”

From looking at Terri’s work I am inspired to carry on with the deeper less female colours I have been using. Her work also has strong structure to it which I am lacking at this moment die to my focus on technique. Stressful much.

But I am happy with this outcome. The steel grey and mustard yellows are all colours I am passionate about using this term and the bright teal (being my happy colour) is a pleasant contrast to the eye. Overall a good week.

These photographs show the responses I have had to recent conversations about my work and some long days in the studio thinking about my work. I have always worked vertically leaving much of the outcome of my work to gravity, which has always been something I enjoy to watch. The thought of my art being almost a conversation between me and the medium in which I’m using excites me as there are endless possibilities.

Will my thoughts match those of the paints?

What effect will water have on the paint and paper/canvas?

– the water is a tool to creating a running paint, it works as a fuel so the paint, whether waterolour or acrylic can run and form a line. Normally I work vertically so gravity plays a big part in my work, hence my resistence in turning my work horizontily. But what water does is enables me to work on a flat surface where there is still fluid to make movement…

as you can see in some of these photographs, where I have experimented with the position of the paper and you can see how the water runs in different lines.

Are my emotional feelings linked to what I am making?

– I used to believe that I had strong emotional links to my work but now I think that with how process based my work has become it would be hard to say that I am largely emotionally linked to it. I love making my work and the exploration of material and how it works not just with me but against me.

These are a few questions I’ve been asking myself recently when sitting down with my paints. The problem with trying to always find personal links with your work is that you end up over thinking what you are doing. This leads me to stressing over my work and the result is an unhappy artist.

These small paintings I made on paper excite me. The colours melt into one another and close ups such as these shown highlight the beauty in the scale of smaller pieces. I feel there is an industrial sense to them which is a contrast to the somewhat ‘pretty’ colours I went with. Although purple is normally associated with young girls and floral patterns it can have cold tendencies and is known to stimulate brain activity. This could explain the hours spent working over these small pieces last week!

Ten minutes in the studio this morning and I come to a realisation on how I see my work. My fascination with water, dripping and colour and nature all stem from my fear of loss and the need to keep a memory. I was watching myself drip water onto a sea of green when I suddenly saw it truly as a drop of water running from fear. Because once the water droplet has soaked completely onto the paper it has lost; it is forever gone. The same with watercolours spreading into one another, it’s their path that they create; they’re impression on the world for that short time. My work seems to show the fight between techniques and their survival throughout my process.

Today Thomas, Rosie and myself took a walk in the nearby park. Although the weather was drizzly and there were high winds we found a lot of inspiration from being in the nature. The colours and visible textures from recent storms made for beautiful scenery including broken trees, wet mud and lots of running water; all areas I am looking at in my painting. What I took from this visit was that I am more fond of close up and specific parts of nature…the wood inside a tree, the curves of a leaf and the reflections found in a puddle whereas Rosie was more excited by the vast larger images creating a whole landscape. Quite amusing considering we’ve both been looking at the opposite areas to what we found today. This contrast and conversation just enforced the passion we had for nature and the outside and how we want to make our work show this. Sometimes it’s scary sharing your art with others, but personally nothing beats that feeling of finding someone who understands the love and worry you have over your work. Peer discussion, a scary sounding prospect but a life changing boundary to overcome.

After my crit review of my work Robin gave me a few new artists to study to help progress my own work. One of whom was Callum Innes.

Having never heard of him or seen his work before it was refreshing to finally find an artist who was making work that I would hope to make. His mixture of watercolours, oils and drawings makes for a strong gallery of art that ranges from figurative to informal abstraction.

What I find interesting about his work is the lack of subject yet the intensity of the emotion I get from it. My work mainly features dripping and mass texture…but always trying to show an image of a landscape. My trouble is finding a happy medium between landscape and abstract art. For me there has always been a need for a meaning behind the work, whether that be emotionally or as an apparent subject. This I feel is holding me back from making pure work that is for me. And not for others who are looking at it.

My technique is rather similar including the use of manipualting a medium and setting it free.

Everyone has their ways of working and for me it’s spontaneity that keeps me going. A moment causes a reaction which causes art. Realism is a skill. One I was not gifted with but then again one I find rather dull at times. Art for me is expression and response. A mirror or projection of ones feeling at that time, in a place or from an experience.

I think a lot of my work has become about a balance between cool and warm, and me and the paint, and sometimes it takes that imbalance to create something unique. For example previous works have included me scratching at the surface of wet paper to reveal texture, but this can lead to rips, which in my eyes is the paper fighting back, but leaving a trace, and I aim to frame these traces.

What Callum Innes has helped me realise is that technique and style alone can sometimes be enough. In my case this will help me relax into painting again as the past few weeks have been about quantity as opposed to quality. Someone once told me that quantity turns into quality over time and I think this to be true but one must first have that confidence to go forth and produce the work that is quality. This last month for me especially I have had no problem painting but it’s the connection with my own work that is lost. This is my time to find it once more.

The involvement of water within paint is my biggest passion. It gives paint life, the chance to move in its own and be free. This creates imagery we cannot. Pure spontaneity. Unpredictable.

This image shows a piece that I made after being in the park the previous week. It is from my memories of the wood, the grass and the surrounding feelings I felt. Mainly from the wind and rain but all important in my personal response. I believe that to be very important in making art. It is YOUR response, no one else’s, and each choice is important. Innes resembles these feelings in my work also. His art is about journey and movement captured in paint.

Innes has a very clear palette and style. This is apparent in all his works. Six Identified Forms is a piece that shows the contrast of light and dark. This is another element of my work I want to highlight as well as looking at the natural world and the weather, two elements I touched on in my project proposal presentation. This is a time when I can really home in on the focus of this work. Are these the subjects I really want to study?