Val Bright-Jones MA blog

Paintings getting more experimental after Brisons Veor in Cornwall

Had an interestingly tutorial today which led to thoughts about these two images. One is of one of the many observational drawings made during the recent residency at Brisons Veor in Cornwall. Impressed by the incredible geology and landscape ….I just didn’t know where to start and wanted to draw everything I saw. I began a painting from this sketch while I was still in Cornwall but on returning home decided that it was too figurative so began to alter the balance of shapes to form a better composition. My memory of the rich iron ore deposits leaching into the granite had to be present. I often use a blue/orange palette and this just felt right here. The top of the painting was too busy and needed a strong light blue element. I realised that sticking to the representational drawing wasn’t working. The drawing was a reasonable starting-point but it’s conversion into paint just didn’t look right. The balance was all wrong. Gradually the painting started to evolve into something else. I’m not sure it’s quite finished yet. The orange flash is now too dominant and needs to take a quieter space within the canvas.

I think it was necessary to make the observational sketch but not to slavishly follow it. The memories of sounds of the waves in the background almost push me to simplify the composition and to instill more light than was actually conveyed by the sketch. The drawing acts as a visual prompt but the painting needs other sensory memories to complete the image.

This image is from way back when I was preparing for my Degree Show. It didn’t get into the show eventually, but now seems appropriate to illustrate a point. I feel as though I am drowning in technology and intellectual soul-searching. Now on the MA course, which is a huge step up in critical thinking and analysing of concepts, I am trying to blog about all this. I seemed to have hit a brick wall on how to proceed and on asking one of my tutors for advice on the blogging angle, was told to refer back to my first blog on a-n. Good advice.

On re-reading my original blog, what struck me was the unconsciousness and freshness of my thoughts. Ideas can become so contorted and pretensious that they cease to have meaning or anything relevant to say. Back then I was completely new to blogging but now I’ve joined Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, WordPress and have a website. It’s all too much to keep up with.

With so many places to write about art there’s hardly enough time left to make art.

For most of my life I’ve tried to please other people in what I do…my parents, my teachers, friends and family. But this time, I’ve given up trying to please or fit in with expectations in my painting. I’m not trying to ‘go abstract’ remain ‘figurative’, or meet any criteria. These two paintings are just to please me, to express a thought, a memory which came to me out of the blue. One of the paintings is an older one which I’ve reworked. The other was sort of connected when I began it and then just morphed into itself. Maybe it’s finished or maybe not but it’ll do for now. Considering when a painting is finished is an interesting idea and worth following up.

facebook and Twitter can be such time wasters but occasionally it all seems worthwhile. I came across a great interview with Ian McKeever which someone had recommended     http://bcove.me/2059jrq6    Hope that’s a link – I don’t understand links??? Anyway the clip was very enlightening. Basically he is not interested in making pictorial or figurative works but takes inspiration from them all the time. The viewer should be engulfed by a painting and make his/her own interpretation of it. A painting should suck you in and then push you away. Think I understand. These two paintings are about the same thing but I wonder if the viewer can understand this? Does it matter? Which one is the most successful?