Living life backwards,as I do, seems to suit me. Or rather life flows backwards and forwards and each time it gets better. I don’t fear it’s end just hope it continues as long as possible and am always in a hurry to do so many things before I go. Must have retired at least 4 times but now back teaching again to a lively Art Group every Wednesday who thirst for knowledge and stretch my knowledge, enthusiasm and inventiveness – lovely!
Alongside this the MA course is exciting and taxing my brain to the limits. I learn something new every week.
I’m looking at how I use drawing. The painting of a swimmer was ‘drawn out’ from memory of the experience of swimming and not from referring to an actual drawing. This is a method I’m exploring and the second painting is from the sensory experience of watching a ballet class. I’m hoping these two evoke far more than the visual image of what they seek to represent ???
Of my recent three visits to London where I saw Peter Lanyon, Ai Weiwei, Rothko, Leotard and several old favourites at The Courtauld and The Tates; the favourite was the Auerbach exhibition. Taxing on the brain but ultimately so rewarding. Curating is paramount and this was no exception. Lambert’s contribution was excellent especially in the last room where she had left the fireworks till last. Colour popping off every canvas. Auerbach endlessly scrapes back and reworks the paint leaving a tangible presence of the artist. His quiet, domestic subject matter – view of the studio, view of Primrose Hill through a doorway; become visions of high drama and such unexpected beauty with his vigorous deft movements of brush and paint.
I captured one image very badly, on my phone. I abhor the new permission to allow photography. No photograph can come close to standing within touching distance of a painting where you can breathe in every brushstroke and nuance, but I succumbed to temptation just so that I could remind myself of the moment of being there.
I sometimes wonder if I’m little bit schizophrenic. My moods, reactions can zoom up and down with alarming speed. Over the years I have learnt to take a deep breath and wait before acting too soon and setting life-changing actions in motion, having been fortunate enough to have had wise sensible people on hand to steady and restrain. This was the case with the MA.
What a difference a week can make. After this weeks seminar I came home floating on a cloud of euphoria. Even managed to deliver a half-decent verbal presentation to the group. Now revelling in the intellectual discussions and new insights into Art – conceptual mapping, critical evaluation, the unknowing,phenomenology.
A visit to Tate Modern has also contributed to my inspiration this week. The Pop exhibition wasn’t really my cup of tea but a chance wander into the next gallery where a new exhibition called, Traces, more than made up for this. There I discovered several artists new to me who I intend to research further. Christopher Wool, George Condo, Rebecca Horn and several more. www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/display/trace Well worth a second visit. Shall go again next week and hope the euphoria continues!
We’ve been urged to keep a Reflective Journal. After only two weeks my emotions have soared violently up and down.
Last week I felt totally overwhelmed by the intellectual challenge and unable to compete with my fellow-students who appeared to have such a wealth and diversity of experience.
A tutorial with Jane convinced me otherwise. Her faith in my ability was reassuring and on reflection I began to see that I was, perhaps, the equal of some of my colleagues. With age comes experience and a stock of knowledge gleaned over time. Sometimes, much to my surprise,I know about things others don’t, simply because I lived through events which are just history to younger fellow-students. Rather funny and a great boost to my ego at times!
So having regained my confidence, I promptly lost it again the following week. This time I felt I just didn’t want to carry on even though I now felt it was possible.
The seminar was about Conceptual Mapping. As a starting point we watched a short video clip of Alison Knowles ‘Making a Salad’. The piece so annoyed me that I let the content completely overshadow the methodology being demonstrated. Big Mistake! Later when I had calmed down enough to reflect critically on the afternoon, I rapidly understood the value of the seminar. After experimenting with the technique using Van Gogh as a starting-point to which I could more easily relate, I began to see the value of the concept.
So – back on track – until the next wobble !
I’ve been trying to paint a good image of the Orwell Bridge for ages to give to my son. Chris became a civil engineer after being inspired by the building of the bridge in the 70’s. It’s a deceptively simple structure. I failed to capture the exacting technical shape with it’s very subtle double curves which are also asymmetric. It also sneakily curves across the river rather than spanning in a straight line like most bridges. Chris instantly spotted the mistakes in the engineering construction so I’ve been experimenting with a more abstract approach. This latest version – I’ve done at least 20 trial runs – is a simplified bridge with one of the pillars superimposed in a vague ghostly style. I think it works. But will have to wait for Chris’s approval before I’m sure. He didn’t like it…so back to the drawing-board.
