Life, Painting. Back to blogging!!! Stop the World!

How could I have forgotten to blog about my crazy week in Cyprus? Here’s a belated assortment of impressions of the residency at Cyprus School of Art in Lemba, Cyprus. Very, very basic accommodation but so what… the sun shone non-stop and the company was excellent. A group of MA friends and others.We swam, drank, ate, laughed and did a little painting in between.

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Well I think it worked out.

Went back to my default mode and made an observational drawing which enabled me to reconsider the scale and details of the flowers, among other things. Then when I went back to the painting the composition fell into place. I next let the paint lead and I followed. I also worked in a slightly more methodical way than usual – mixing the colour in the palette rather than stumbling it straight onto the canvas in my rush to get the image down as usual. Taking it more slowly and then letting layers dry before slapping on the next range of colour. I’m definitely growing up…it’s scary.

And here’s a detail showing acrylic with intense pencil lightly applied over.
Anyway, I’m actually quite pleased with the result as opposed to the first rather slap-dash version in my last blog.

Think I’m starting to panic about getting a body of work together for the exhibition in Norwich and the potential foray into other galleries in Aldeburgh and maybe the Sentinel in Wivenhoe….body of work !!! Help, that definitely sounds grown-up

This painting just didn’t work so am obliterating it and starting again.

Haven’t found much time to blog lately but have been doing a lot of thinking. Worrying about how little time is left to me and the vast amount of things I still want/need to do. What will happen to the detritus of my life when I’m not here to control it, tidy it, order it? What will happen to my paintings, my life’s work, my acres of sketchbooks, recorded thoughts,events, images, drawings. Stop. does it matter? It’ll be out of my control. I won’t be there to worry any more. I can’t get my head round the fact of death…. of non-existence….it’s just too weird….

In a strange way, I’ve never felt so alive. When I finished my BA in 2013 I had this odd sense that I hadn’t actually finished learning…so I did the MA which turned out to be much more taxing on the brain. I really had to think hard most days but now, not quite even one year later, I do feel I’ve finished.It feels complete. I know the way forward. Learning goes on, but finished with formal education. I seem to learn something new almost every day now, but it seems easier without the formal structure of leaping through educational hoops and meeting endless criteria. I now have the tools to learn and can set my own agenda which I must admit is extremely loose. I follow my nose, chase red herrings and come across the most extraordinary facts completely at random and it’s so exciting to learn in that way.

I’ve slipped back into teaching and find that, I learn through teaching, which sounds a bit mad. But teaching forces me to analyse my thoughts, to break things down into tiny ideas and the myriad of decisions which are needed to perform every task in life and particularly in painting. I’m even discovering that most of the things I think I do instinctively are actually rooted in perceived knowledge which I find written in intellectual dogmas about painting, art or whatever. Could it be that my life experiences are coming home to roost and at last I have started to grow up?

My next or maybe final challenge is to apply this knowledge to my own art practice. And that’s the hard bit. It’s far easier to see how others can improve a painting but not nearly so obvious to see what’s needed in your own efforts. You are too involved, have invested too much to dare to change elements. The only solution is to take a deep breath, stand back and be brutally honest.

That’s what I’ve just done with this painting. My next post might show if it’s worked out.

One thing after another! Just back from Florence; Delivered my first Art workshop; made a mad dash to Bury st. Edmunds to deliver 3 paintings for the Suffolk Open Studios exhibition; Welsh Residency; first week of term for my Thursday class then a quick repack for the residency in Cyprus. In between I tried to do some work in response to the residency in Maelor Studio, Corris, Wales.

Did this painting very quickly while still in Wales. It seemed to work better than a subsequent effort back home. See below

I always overwork things!!! Much better to stop while you’re ahead. Drifting back into my figurative comfort zone! So hard to realise when you are ahead.

Well having just about drawn breath, I now need to relax, go to Cyprus (tomorrow morning) and reflect on my next move. Was disappointed with the low turnout to my first workshop.
Although it seemed to be well-received by those who came and I did enjoy doing it, I know it takes time to build up a following. I have learnt quite a lot about the best format and general business planning side of things, but there’s a lot to organise and it does distract from my own artwork.

Do I capitalise and go forward with more workshops/classes or do I concentrate on my own art practice??? It’s a complicated balancing act and as ever… am aware that time is not on my side. Got to get it right.

Then of course, there’s the matter of taking my little picture down to the RA for the final judging for the Summer Exhibition.

Will try stop over-thinking it all.Just relax and enjoy the sunshine in Cyprus, keep painting and try to recognise when to stop painting!!!!

My life is on fast forward again. Well is it ever anything else? So hard to say no to any opportunity and so very conscious of time running out. ‘We only have one life so use every moment’… such a cliche but the older you get the more it resonates.

So…it was Florence with Alec last week. Somewhere I’d always wanted to visit. The birthplace of art in the Renaissance sense. Terrible admission, but actually Renaissance Art is not my thing. But it underpins everything else doesn’t it, so I had to see it? And the architecture was stunning and totally overwhelming.The little Leonardo museum was an eye-opener. It seems he invented just about everything from fork-lift trucks to modern surgery. The museum consisted of beautiful wooden models constructed from his copious sketchbook drawings…more ammunition for my workshop.

Siena was, if anything, even more stunning. Maddeningly, I FORGOT TO TAKE MY PHONE to Italy… so NO CAMERA! Can you imagine anything more frustrating than being in a country with so much visual eye-candy without a camera? But observing the selfie-taking hordes I soon became quite smug as I rapidly sketched and painted my memories which hold my impressions in a much more individual way, although less visually accurate.Began to wonder about the millions of images on my computer which I rarely look at twice. What’s the point???

So next week I go to Wales. A small residency where I hope to share time with two other artists as yet unknown. More painting and drawing I hope and maybe I will sneak in a camera too. Before that I’m delivering a Workshop on The Magic of Sketchbooks. An exciting new venture.

Then on April 22nd off to Cyprus Art School for a weeks residency with a small group of MA friends. It’s very, very basic but we had a great time last time we went and so looking forward to the sun. Oh, and more painting too.

In May I take my painting to the RA second round. Probably that will be the end of the story but still quite exciting to have got this far. So lots to blog about soon!

Life just keeps getting busier and more wonderful all the time.