ARTISTS TALKING

# 9 [26 November 2008]

I'm feeling quite happy about the direction that my work is going in at the moment. I took a bold move earlier in the month and put some shapes onto the canvas, circles, squares and torn paper shapes - in florescent red paint. The idea behind this? Well, I wanted to spice the dynamics of the painting up, to add something almost alien to the piece, and kind of unexpected. It kind of acts as a visual boundary, and also as a distraction. When trying to concentrate on a small area of the painting, you are distracted by the bright colour, and that acts nicely as a boundary and I think, at the moment, that it works with my ideas. Using shapes work in contrast to the rest of the free mark making too, I like it at the moment, but I need to be careful not to go too far. I think that I can easily go in the wrong direction here. I've been looking at 'Bad Paintings' too, I think that's where the bright colours came from.

I've also been working behind the stretcher, with canvas basically stretched the wrong way around, and then with a layer of translucent fabric stretched correctly. I've been making holes to expose the layer underneath, which adds quite a bit of depth to my work. I think I like this. I'm working on a big version right now to see if it works on a large scale.

# 8 [12 November 2008]

It's been a whole month since my last post, longer than I had planned. I actually went through one of those phases that we all get, thinking that your work is going nowhere and that all your ideas have gone stale, feeling that I was repeating myself and struggling for motivation. That probably makes it sound worse than it was. I do believe that those phases are important though, and have told myself that alot over the last few weeks.

During the schools half term break, I stayed away from the studio, in the hope that I would return with fresh eyes. I also went to the Freize art fair, which was tiring but worthwile. I was sure that I'd overdosed on art that weekend and drained me over the next week, hence the struggling phase I guess. The last couple of weeks have been good though. I've continued to push my ideas forward and have been adding bright colours to my work as a kind of visual boundary/distraction. It kind of works and looks odd at the same time, I like it and don't like it at the same time. I've been using paper and making rubbings and cutting holes in the canvas too, exposing layers underneath. I think my work is looking exciting again which is good and a relief. I think some of the 'ripping up work' tasks that I've been doing in the class room is having a positive influence on my work too.

# 7 [11 October 2008]

I'm reasonably happy with how my work has progressed since the last post. I removed the extra frame piece from the canvas that I'm working on, and I'm quite satisfied with the raw unfinished quality that this work has. It's very empty and imperfect, and I like that. I'm just going to leave this canvas and live with it for a few weeks or months and see how I feel about it. At one point, I did put a translucent panel in front of it, and that did something for me, so that's another avenue to explore. The double canvas thing is also progressing, albeit at a slower pace. It needs another larger panel to be added behind it, maybe an off-square shape, and maybe a small panel in front, it will probably move on a lot over the next couple of weeks.

I built and began working on a 3 layer painting/drawings during this week. It’s an idea I’ve been wanting to act on for a little while so I headed into making this piece of work full of optimism. This idea would present a different way of working and thinking about things such as mark making and space as I would be working in layers and in a slightly more three dimensional way. So far it hasn’t really worked, I’ll need to think about using different materials, I still want to explore this way of working as it fits in so nicely with my ideas.

I also began working on a larger painting with a translucent surface this week. As I’ve mentioned earlier in this blog, I am interested in the stretcher/support and I believe that it can be as important as the paint on the surface. The cross bars and stretcher frames form a layer of a painting in itself, and can be seen as the skeleton of a painting. Anyway, for this piece I added extra pieces of frames (including that extra frame piece that was originally on the large canvas piece) and this both constructed and fragmented the pictorial space before the first charcoal mark or splash of ink was applied. The extra corner piece serves to extend the pictorial space and presence of the painting, and breaks the boundary of the rectangle. I limited myself to just using black on this painting, and I was happy with how it was progressing. I then turned the painting around, exposing its frame and structure and it came together really well, especially with the extra frame in the top corner. It’s more successful this way. Is this now the way forward? I then added a small translucent panel to the larger structure, adding yet another layer, and that was a good move, this is definitely the way to go. It’s interesting because I never thought that this piece would develop quite like this.

# 6 [10 October 2008]

I haven't made a post since the end of September, I think I was struggling with my work last week so I didn't want to make a post but now I feel pretty happy about my work as I head into the weekend after the 6th week of the residency. I seem to have written a lot so I will make a double post to stay within the word count. I spent week 6 getting new work off the ground which involved stretcher building and discovering whether or not my ideas were going to work.

After my last post, I did a one day project with 6 pupils from different year groups. I wanted it to be a drawing day, and for it to be something quite straightforward. I decided that we would be drawing pears, and hands holding pears, and I was very happy with the results. Initially the group did some quick ink sketches using sticks which they enjoyed, and idea was to spend the first few hours making lots of quick work, and then the afternoon would be devoted to making a large final piece. I was impressed with how talented the kids were, and they really took to drawing with sticks and painting without brushes. I was guiding them a lot throughout the day and was constantly on the move, but it was really enjoyable. One pupil thought she was struggling and found it hard to like her work, but eventually I think she came round, and I think she probably got the most out of the day and has been back to look at her work. All the work produced was on display during the schools open evening, and there were lots of good comments about the work from current staff and pupils. Some of the kids from the one day project even brought their parents in to show them what they'd done.

After the collaborative canvases from arts week, I've been thinking about control and how you can create a piece of work both randomly and in a controlled way. For an hour long session with some members of staff I designed a game using these ideas. Each person had a large piece of paper that was divided into 30 squares. You then had to pick 2 cards, the first had an instruction such as 'drip blue paint', 'make a rubbing of a wall' or 'draw your hand using charcoal' and the second card told you which square or squares to use for that particular instruction. It's another way to generate a starting point for a piece of work, and in that respect, it works. There were some interesting pieces of work. It's an idea that I've had for a while so it was nice to try it out on a group of people. These pieces of work will be used to initiate a more substantial piece of work next time. 

# 5 [29 September 2008]

The fourth week of my residency was quite a different experience from the first 3. It was arts week at the school and I agreed to set up 3 canvases in the studio and do a week long collaborative project. The idea was, every break time and lunch time, pupils and students and staff would come to the studio and make a mark on one of the 3 canvases.

Monday was crazy, it seemed to be really popular and I believe that there was a que to get in to the studio at one point. It was more of a free for all in terms of mark making, something that I changed for the rest of the week! The canvases did look a little sorry at the end of the first day, and I was a little worried. For Tuesday a 3 second rule was applied (you had 3 seconds to make a mark) and the materials were limited, the canvases now began to take shape, it was still really busy, but I had help for some sixth form students which was great. The 3 second rule worked very well so that remained on Wednesday and Thursday, but with further material limitations and rules such as 'draw a line', and 'draw a square or a circle', although one pupil continually insisted on drawing a chicken, so there may be a hint of poultry on each canvas. Friday was probably the most difficult day, trying to finish the canvases and guide the pupils into completing them, but they turned out pretty good, and interesting pieces of work. Strangely, adding rules to the mark making definately allowed for more creativety.

Another notable moment from the week was when a group of pupils came to see me with drawings of my work in their books, along with a list of questions and comments. That was great, I've never seen anyone make drawings of my work before.

My work has also continued throughout the week, I've been working on large pieces of paper and also on a new canvas as well as the double frame thing that I started last week. I've added an extra mini frame onto the corner of one canvas to extend the presence of the space. It seemed to work until I started to draw on the canvas. It now just looks odd, so I've got some serious re-thinking to do, I think the idea still has mileage, but the drawing works only on it's own, not with the extra frame. I'm sure things will move along this week though. I feel the need to start more work so I can work across several pieces at once.

Working with the pupils has already had a positive impact on my work. I've even been copying elements from their drawings and incorporating them into my work, I'm doing a one day project tomorrow with another group, so I'm interested to see what happens there.

# 4 [21 September 2008]

Once again, a bit a gap between posts. I went into week three with my four finished pieces of work. They were still a little wet, but finished enough to be displayed on a rather nice wall in the science block at the school. They actually look quite good considering they were produced so quickly. The translucent ones worked really nicely, but one of the canvas peices was still a little too painty, the kind of think I wanted to get away from, but nonetheless a good starting point for the rest of the term.

The rest of the week was spent talking to groups of sixth formers and planning next weeks after school clubs. I did some very bad drawings and generally found it a bit of a struggle to get into my work, but I had expected that. 

Thursday was a slight breakthrough. I spent the day playing around with frame making and trying to get an interesting start for my next piece. I went through lots of different layouts that I had sketched in my notebook, but ended up with a free standing double panel 3d object thing which looks really cool. I've yet to paint or draw or do anything like that to it, but it's a start. I kind of want to spend the first part of next week building some more of these structures before I get stuck in with the marks. I'm sure that this is the way forward, as it is extending the pictorial space in the way I need it to. The best thing was, I left the studio on Friday evening with a smile on my face :)

I went to Cambridge yesterday to see the Roger Hilton exhibition at Kettles Yard. It was well worth the trip, really great stuff. Probably the best painting exhibition I've seen in quite some time. I really liked the openess in his work and the way that it looked so easy. I think I will continue to work in a traditional square/rectangle format as well as my new way of working.

# 3 [9 September 2008]

Sorry for the delay since my last post. I have started my residency, and have been busy making new work for the last couple of weeks. It all seems to be going well.

Before I started at the school, I decided I would pop over to the Tate Modern to see the Cy Twombly retrospective and pick up some inspiration, it was something that I had been meaning to do all Summer, so it was good to finally go and see some big paintings. I'm a fan of his work, and I think I really enjoyed the show, but it also really stressed me out for some reason. Whenever I go to see work of this calibur I always seem to worry about my own work and panic that I'm not as good/will never be as good and I always feel inadequate, which I know is a really silly way to feel, but there you go. It was good to see the show and I'm glad I went.

But yes, it's been a good 9 days, and everyday seems to be a little better than the last which is nice. I've agreed to put some work around the school next week, so I've been rushing together 4 new paintings for that. It's nice to have a bit of pressure to paint to, I have to make decisions quicker and act on my instincts with the materials. It really makes a difference spending everyday in the studio as opposed to the scattered working pattern that I had before. The new work that I'm doing now is my 'adjustment phase' work, it's all a bit random and is kind of a mix of what I was doing earlier earlier this year, but using mainly drawing techniques as I mentioned in my last post. Two of these pieces have translucent surfaces, which are working well with charcoal and oil sticks, it's a really 'fast' surface.

I asked myself a question in my last post, along the lines of 'Why am I trying to add a 3d element to my work?' I'll add that I plan to start this mini project next week, and that it will still be wall based, so quite 2d, but with an object feel to it. It looks great in my head. The work is all about boundaries and passing through layers which I intend to convey by the use of mark making, fragmentation and constructed pictorial spaces. So that's my idea for a starting point.

# 2 [27 August 2008]

It's been a week since my last post, and although I still have a few days until the residency begins, I thought it was about time for another update.

I updated my website the other day, and I mentioned on there what my initial plans regarding my work would be. I mentioned that over the last few months, I've become increasingly interested in extending the pictorial space of his paintings. This includes the support and what is behind the 'canvas' as well as extending the work out into the space as a 3D object. I plan to use this idea as the starting point next week, but why do I want to go in this direction? Before I try to answer that question for myself, there is something else that has been bugging me about my work this summer.

I've often referred to my work as drawing with paint, or even just drawing with charoal and pencils on the canvas, I rarely ever used a brush, so my work had a great drawn quality to it with layers of charcoal. Something changed in my work earlier this year whilst I was making a new body of work for an exhibition in Bristol, everything got a little to 'painty'. At the time I didn't really notice it, maybe due to deadlines and the fact that for me it was my 'new exciting work with colour'. It wasn't until much later, at an open studios weekend, that I saw a selection of my new work and my old work next to each other. It was clear to me that my new work was lacking in that certain something that my older, more drawing like work had, and that moment was definately a bit of an eye opener for me. Some of my fellow artists from the studio also pointed out how interesting my previous work was. So that was it, I knew I needed to get back that raw quality that previously existed. I guess it's one of those things that happens from time to time, you just get too involved with a way of working and forget to step back and properly evaluate what you are doing. It is my hope that this blog will help me to do that. At college of course, you'd have your tutors there to advise you, but outside of that environment, you have to keep your wits about you. I think it is an important process to go through as an artist.

So as well as the idea of extending the pictorial space of paintings, I will also try to recapture the excitement of my work from a couple of years ago. As for that question that I asked myself at the beginning of this post, I'll come back to that in my next post.

# 1 [20 August 2008]

I have about 12 days until I start my residency. I've successfully relocated from Bristol to Stevenage and moved out of my studio in Bath. It feels kind of strange being inbetween studios, as I work on mostly a large scale, a studio is essential to allow me to make work, so I'm having to make do with note making, jotting down ideas in my sketch books and researching stuff on the internet.

Since I began my journey into the world of art back in 2002 when I started my foundation studies, I've only had a 5 month gap where I've been without a studio. This was immediately after finishing my BA and being stuck in the big world without any idea of what to do. I was really fortunate to get a studio so soon after graduating, as many of my friends were never so lucky, and it allowed me to continue and develop my work. Now I'm without a studio, albeit very temporarily, and I actually feel as if there is a massive void in my life. I really cannot wait until I have my nice new space to realise all my new ideas in.

Writing a blog is something I've been meaning to do for some time now. I've got no idea if anyone will read it, but I think for me it will be an extension of my notebooks and a space for me to gather my thoughts and document my ideas.