University Campus Suffolk

These are images of my working space in the studio as it is this moment. Recently I have felt more comfortable experimenting with my painting technique as my confidence has been up. After a very successful blog review with Sarah I feel energised and ready to make more work. These are some images of the piece I started in response to feedback.

Beginning on a darker background is new for me and opened a new door to bringing light to the front of the work. Blue and orange are complimentary colours and are the focus on these two new pieces. In a book called colour by Feisner, there is an analysis of orange and blue and the balance of warm and cool dominance. This is where the power of the colours changes. This is something I could think about.

This image of my pallette shows the type of colours I have been using lately, and the power that contrasting colours have on one another…

This can lead on from many aspects of my dissertation, where I examined the emotional links we have to colour and how we subconsciously use them in art. My process is very fresh and exciting and comes from my need to control, and by letting go, by letting paint fall and dry without my knowing, is a huge change in my art. And its been great for me phsycologically as well as creatively, its almost about trust as much as anything else.

The Untitled image started off as a pretty blue field which I actually created over a year ago. I never went back and used it so this term I thought I would make use of it. I have tried to reign in on my drips and focus on minimalism and simplicity. This is more like Innes in Three Identified Forms. It was more about the intimacy between the paint rather than the skill or subject. It’s about a relationship.

The second image of mine titled The Single Form, and is a step further in my progress. I have used sand texture in this piece to make it more three dimensional and earthy. What I really like about this piece is the simple line and dripping from just the one place. It opens up the canvas and makes the work more sophisticated, in my eyes anyway. The small white chalk line is very eye catching which a has become a signature of mine in my work recently. Also the sprinkling of the chalk over the wetter areas draws your eyes nearer with almost a glittery feel; combining industrial and ethereal.

The sprinkling of chalk dust is a major new turn for me and highights my aim to show control and freedom within mediums. It also shows layers of technique and a mixture of ways of application, something I have been reccommended to do.

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.