ARTISTS TALKING

# 1 [26 January 2010]

 Something about me and what I am doing. The venue for the exhibition is booked with a 'get in' date 15th June 2010. I'm feeling comfortable about the amount of time I have to produce the work as I am able to focus all my studio time towards the show. My painting is developing out of an passion for observing and recording urban spaces, both the formal qualities and the experiential. I am trying to express this on the canvas with transparent layers of paint over initial drawings. Creating illusionistic space behind the picture plane is where I'm at. I am totally hooked on Italian paintings 1250c-1500c and love to visually hang out in the architectural spaces in the paintings in rooms 51-55, and 60 of the National Gallery, more on this another time. Tomorrow level 5 students will be giving presentations for our Professional Practice, and I shall publicly commit myself to blog this project!    

# 2 [1 February 2010]

I was reading an article in the Brooklyn Rail today that contains some word pairings that connect to my thoughts regarding my show. In 'Letter from Berlin', David Rhodes, reviewing the recent exhibition of Frank Badour in Berlin, writes,

'In his drawings and prints, the line is often both lyrical and austere, his deployment of colour is intense and unexpected', sometimes suggesting partial views of unspecific objects. It is very much the case in  northern Europe- especially in Germany, Switzerland and Scandinavia- that a tradition continues of meditative minimalism installed in architectural settings. This coexistence of work and site emphasizes an awareness of being and spatial experience.'

Studio activity this week is to continue working on three canvases in preparation for my formative assessment on Thursday, photos of that on Friday. 

http//www.brooklynrail.org

# 3 [6 February 2010]

My formative assessment was helpful and challenging, I'm now awaiting feedback.I am reflecting on the many questions asked and the points made by my tutors.

I love the cycle of; research, thought, painting, evaluating, both in a micro and macro way, daily, weekly, monthly. Giving consideration to my aims and outcomes at each stage is a valuable process to me.

The current paintings started well and I shall continue them next week, as they are monochromatic they are tricky to photograph in the studio, so here is a photograph on one of my favourite surfaces. 

# 4 [18 February 2010]

The last 10 days have been saturated with input. Last week artist Neil Tait was the speaker at our Thomas Lawrence Lectures. Neil spoke about, 'how his work comes about', and how his many influences flow into his painting. He played singles from his collection, and described how he works towards and puts together paintings for an exhibition. At his recent show at White Cube, Hoxton Square, I was compelled by the positioning of the drawing wall, placed across the opening of the ground floor gallery, facing the viewer with the importance to him of the ideas, and slowing us down to engage with the rhythm of the work. I had a tutorial with Neil during the afternoon and enjoyed our conversation, his suggestion to me to have work progressing at different paces was very helpful, as mostly I work fast. He also said how in our work there are stages when we are working in, 'advance of our understanding'. This made a lot of sense to me and may explain why we feel we don't know what we are doing some of the time. All very inspirational as I start to focus my studio time towards the exhibition in June.

This evening was the second lecture of the four planned for this academic year, artist Perry Roberts, based in Antwerp, showed how his work has developed since his M.A. at Goldsmiths and revealed the reoccurring themes and threads. I am always so motivated by investigating and hearing about an artist's practice, just talking about making work gets me moving.  

http://www.whitecube.com/artists/tait/  

http://www.perryroberts.org/

# 5 [25 February 2010]

Paint, pigment, canvas, aluminum, resin. I'm presently consumed with having to think about the technicalities of how to actually make what I paint and paint on. I have just started to paint with oils following comments in my recent assessment and tutorials. I am layering thin glazes of colour and have been using acrylic and although I have been using good quality paints and mediums, the resulting surface of the paintings aren't quite luscious enough.

This week Fine Art students and our tutors Danny Rolph and Stella Whalley visited London galleries. Zhang Enli at Hauser and Wirth, Franz Ackerman at White Cube, Bernard Frize at Simon Lee, Arshile Gorky at Gagosian, and Matthew Barney at Sadie Coles and Chris Ofili at Tate Brit. These trips are great, we move swiftly around the work and soak up impressions of the installations, the effect, the diversity of the art, and the the scent of business. I like to compare and evaluate not only the work in each show but also the connections and contrasts between artists and galleries. I shall be going back to spend time at Franz Ackermann to look in depth at the layering of drawing and painting and his use of different media and surfaces. I am pleased to have seen the Gorky drawings, before seeing the Tate exhibition, they were intriguing and intimate.  

So, having invested in new paint, medium and brushes and even though I'm only experimenting on small canvases, I can see and feel the difference already. Squeezing out some Michael Harding yellow, with difficulty, it shot out of the wrong end of the tube, into my hair and over my shirt. My first concern was to salvage as much of the paint as possible (£) and then to quickly clean my hair with turps and Fairy liquid. My friend kindly bought me a sachet of of conditioner 'for coloured and damaged hair'. Instantly applied, no harm done.

Afternoon activity, stretcher making and charcoal drawing

http://www.whitecube.com/exhibitions/ackermann

http://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/2010-02-10_ars...

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# 6 [28 February 2010]

As I plan for the exhibition the unexpected switch to oils has slowed my painting down. With acrylics I was able to put several layers on a painting in one day. With oil it is looking like one layer a week, or perhaps two if I go into the studio more often than my two days (being part time). I am experimenting with mediums and working out drying times. I am converted already to the sensuous feel of the oil and the richness of the colour. Neil Tait spoke to me about having work of different paces on the go at the same time. I have set up a small area in the studio to make charcoal drawings and this double activity keeps me working at the rhythm I find most productive. 

# 7 [6 March 2010]

I can identify with Carolyn Shepherd, I too am overloaded with reference material and in need of a personal technician. 

My Professional Practice exhibition is sitting on the nearing horizon. I have been spending my time building stretchers and exploring the vagaries of rabbit skin glue and  experimenting with oil paint and glazing recipes. My tutors are absolutely right, the oil moves and settles on the surface in a way that I couldn't get the acrylic to do, and with the heavily pigmented brands of paint, the glazes glow.

Despite my longing for custom made stretchers, there is something deeply important to me about the making of support and surface. The measuring, cutting, stretching, smoothing, sizing, priming. The bringing of this particular plane into being, the setting of its dimensions in space. A kind of mapping of the uncharted territory with the priming brush. Perhaps this is part of a painting student's development or maybe it's just integral to my own practice? These domestic studio chores do allow for a pause in art making which gives my ideas time to work away under the surface of my conscious thinking. A recharging in readiness for the next stage, well let's hope so. 

# 8 [14 March 2010]

On Wednesday artist Simon Periton gave the last in this years Thomas Lawrence lectures, organised by the Fine Art department. I appreciated hearing him talk about his influences and his repetitive use of imagery. His intuitive approach to exploring his ideas and his reflections on his outcomes was refreshing. His confidence about his subject matter and practice encouraged me to step out from under the weight of my research material and keep focussed on one small element of my current imagery, for this project.

I have made 6 stretchers 1.50cms x 57 cms, almost ready to paint on, sized and oil primed. I have been using a 'panoramic' format for a while, this seems to be linked to how I like to look at things; from a viewpoint, a slice, a window onto a stage.

 Things to do this coming week include; preparation for mid-semester tutorial on Wednesday, a decision on a title for the show, and pre-dissertation proposal reading.

http://www.sadiecoles.com/simon_periton/index.html

# 9 [20 March 2010]

The larger canvases are prepped and I have started to paint, such a relief, emotionally and physically. 

An interesting thing occurred this week and reminded me that this has happened before. I was looking at a sequential sketch book I made this time last year.  At the time I considered it to be fairly unsuccessful. I had been producing collage books and decided to make one using paint. A couple of months ago I painted over the whole thing in translucent Naphol red. This improved it for me it and unified the images. As I was looking through the book this week I realised how relevant it seems to me now. This is what and how I want to be painting just at this moment. So often I rescue work from the bin. There are elements in the work done unconsciously that are initially impossible to read and recognise. Only now are they coming into focus.

# 10 [26 March 2010]

Underpainting is underway.

I suppose it will all be underpainting.

All under the surface.

"I get the impression your attitude to colour is much more complex than it seems!"

"People talk about colour, but what matters in a canvas is the light and space to which it gives rise and from which it it should not be separated."

 Pierre Soulages in conversation with Bernard Ceysson 1980