My first Remembrance Sunday

Today is the first time I've really thought about all the services held at this time of year, and it's the first time I've ever bought a poppy.

I have always considered myself a pacifist. And I have never involved myself in Remembrance Sunday because I have never been able to reconcile my own personal feelings about war and violent conflict with the idea of celebrating the fact that men and women have died for mine and other's freedom.

But this year, earlier this week, it clicked for me. It was a simple poster I saw of the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal, and the words were along the lines of 'Remember those who lost their lives in conflict'. It didn't mention any specific war, battle, or period of time, or whether it were referring to soldiers or civilians, or to guerrilla action, terrorism, oppressive dictators.....

Anyway, as I've done no painting today, only spent time with my immediate family, I thought I should still post something, and this is what has been at the back of my mind today.

Lest we forget.

Change of plans...

Instead of my spending the afternoon painting, hubby offered to take care of the kids so that I could go to the Laing Gallery in Newcastle to see this year's BP Portrait Awards.

My favorite there I was a lively and engaging study by Perdita Sinclair called 'Aileen'. The two others I loved were 'The King of Spain' by Diarmuid Kelley, and 'Christa' by Jaime Valero Perandones. They're all on the National Portrait Gallery site, as I've just found.

Photo-realism was popular, but some left me cold. The winning portrait was a large painting of an elderly gentleman. Although this one could also be descibed as photo-realism, rather than just reproducing what was seen the artist also put a lot of atmosphere and feeling into the painting. It wouldn't have been my personal choice to win, but I don't disagree passionately with the decision.

It didn't make me want to seek out more of his works though, like the Perdita Sinclair one did.

Can you tell what it is yet?

I am very excited. VERY excited. In fact I'm driving my hubby mad because of it.

Today, as I drove into work after dropping the kids at the childminder's I had to turn off the radio because I found it distracting. There was something in my head, and I didn't know what, and I needed time to think. So I thought. And I looked. And I thought some more. You know, I really shouldn't do that whilst driving; it's just not safe.

And then it came to me, in an expansive and awe-inspiring and urgent way.

When I pulled up in the car park I started drawing, too tight to start off with, and then I got it, and I would have carried on all morning, only I had to get into work.

As I drove home, I was bitten by it again, and by the time I got home I was fit to burst and was jibbering excitedly to my husband after a brief peck hello.

So, here's one preliminary sketch and, in the words of Rolf Harris "can you tell what it is yet?".

Tomorrow I'm intending to put brush to canvas, and maybe charcoal to paper. But for now you'll just have to trust me. This is going to be big. In fact I can't think of a subject matter that's much bigger. Any ideas yet?

Simply drawing isn't enough

I'm not happy with just drawing what I see. I'm fed up with pretty pencil sketches of interested buildings and the like. I've gotten into a safe rut, and I want out.

Frustrated

While wandering round the Leopold Collection, I walked into a room and was drawn into a corner by a painting called 'Man with a fur cap (my brother the animal)' by Albert Birkle. The contract with light and dark, the strength of the painting just gripped me. Here's the drawing I did whilst stood looking at it. Unfortunately I can't find a reproduction of it, but the weaselly face, the depth of colour in the dark background, the strength of drawing beneath the painting, evident in the ears and eyes. I sound like a late night channel 4 arts programme, and I feel like I should be wearing a black polo neck under a grey jacket. But I mean all I say.
It's coming across paintings like these that make me want to visit every art gallery I can.
Oh, and if you read about a theft of a dozen or so works from the Leopold galley, it'll have been me. I should create my own fantasy art collection.

Creative Journal

Since October this year I've been keeping a journal of ideas, sketches, images, quotes, ideas etc. Also, the odd shopping list if that's all the paper I have on me. I keep it with me at all times. Well, most of the time. While waiting for my husband at the bank I drew a scene across the river, while waiting at Durham train station last night I sketched the grand entrance. I woke up in the middle of the night with an idea for a children's story, and instead of lying there, worrying that I'd forget the idea, I got up and wrote it in the journal.

It's good to get things out of my head and down onto paper, and it's good to have them all in one place, where I know they are, instead of on scraps of paper all round the house. Keeping a journal has also helped cement the idea that my thoughts and ideas, sketches, observations, hopes, regrets, and all part of an ongoing creative process for me.

Schiele landscapes

At The Leopold Museum, Vienna, I also saw 'House With A Shingle Roof', an oil painting of a house in his mother's home town. I had no idea that Schiele had painted such strong landscapes. The tiles on the roof were a multitude of colours, but were unified by the graphic black outlines. Again, I stood there for an age peering at it. Then I started drawing it, working from the left hand side, and I started to realise what a complex composition it was.

The museum shop had a very good postcard, which I bought, but I've been unable to find a good picture on-line to put on the blog, so instead I've posted my study, partly done from the original painting, then using the postcard.

Egon Schiele - negative spaces

I went to Vienna a few weeks ago, and it was the most amazing trip of my life. I'm sure to refer back to it a lot in future, but for the time being I want to talk about my Schiele experience.

The day we were setting off, a book on Viennese Art arrived, so I dove into it, reading about the Succession in relation to the politics of the time. The last artist covered in the book was Schiele. What I knew of him was from postcards I'd seen as a student of line drawings of women with red hair and legs akimbo.

So, while in Vienna, I visited the Leopold Museum, and got my socks knocked off. Nearly a whole floor is dedicated to Schiele, and it holds, amongst other treasures, his 'Seated Male Nude - a self portrait'. It's about 2 metres square, and it grabbed me from the first.

I'm not sure how long I stood in front of it, about 20 minutes or so? I kept discovering different things as walked closer to it, then stood back again over and over; the graphic outlines round the body, the over-painted chalky background, the hairs on the legs like twisted wires, the curious spaces formed by the area between the upraised arm and the head, the belly shape, the three red circles formed by the nipples and the single eye, the way he 'amputated' the limbs...... take a breath! ......the hair, the hip bones, the way he's broken it into composite shapes, and yet still manages to create a solid form, which made me think of Picasso's cubist figures.

I bought a print of it which is now on my living room wall. In fact, when I emerged from the museum and met up with my husband again, I showed him the dozen or so postcards I'd picked up, and asked him if he could guess which one I'd also bought a print of. Amongst them were landscapes, portraits, abstracts, and interiors. He picked the seated male nude straight off, he knows me so well.

A Portrait of a Friend

Actually, he's a friend of my dad, from Eire. But when I first met him, apart from his gentlemanly demeanour, I immediately thought he was a lovely specimen. To paint.

Well, he kindly obliged to be photographed by my dad, and here are some preparatory sketches I've done so far. I also did an ink drawing, but I'd mailed it to my dad before it occurred to me to photograph it for this blog. Because I'm a nincompoop!

It struck me to do some lino prints from the studies. None of the photos have inspired me to do an oil painting. Maybe when I next visit Eire I'll ask him if he'd pose for me in his work van, or in dad's woodwork shop. He strikes me as a great 'Poseidon' maybe.

still here, still making art

My apologies guys.

I'm know in trouble for not updating my blog for yonks.

What have I been doing all this time? Reading about art in Vienna, because I'm visiting there soon. Staring a journal, because of a great book I recently read called 'The Creative Licence, giving yourself permission to be the artist you really are', which is quite a light read, but has extended my concept of what a sketchbook is, what's it's there for. It's also widened what I 'allow' myself to put in mine.

There will be pictures to follow soon, but I just wanted to update my blog today. I'm working in bursts, but I'd like the blog to be a more regular thing I do. So I'm going to extend slightly what I include in it. Instead of just my drawings and paintings, I'm going to include a whole range of creative experiences I have - from books that inspire me, or exhibitions I visit, to ideas I have and what I'd like to do in the future creatively.