Category: Uncategorized

It’s been a week for taking it easy. I had the flu a week or three back and I’m still in slow mode! And in the last couple of days I have been completely engrossed in following Hurricane Irene‘s path. Why? My sister Ailsa and her husband Jim are in New York City at the moment, near Jamaica Bay – right in the surge path. Apparently it is back down to a Category 1 now, so only a bit stronger than a Tropical Storm, but still dangerous. Stay safe guys…

So what have I been doing, art-wise, this week? I’ve been watching Acrylics the watercolor way: Stephen Quiller paints a landscape, published by North Light. The way in which Stephen paints, and what he paints, is very, very different to what I do. But that doesn’t matter to me. What he does with color, and the way he explains it, is endlessly fascinating to me. Each time I watch this video a little more of his color theory settles deep in my brain, becoming part of the knowledge that I can call on without even knowing I am doing it. Ingrained, is how I think of it.

Watching Stephen use violet, orange and white is utter magic. Got an hour to spare and could use some inspiration? I thoroughly recommend popping this into the computer and enjoying the show.

This last week has had some issues – but we won’t go there – except to say that letting loose and having some fun with paint seemed like a great idea. With that in mind, I have done more of the wee 4×6″ (approx) abstracts in black, white and red. It feels so good to be making stronger marks and letting my hand show in the final pieces. I just know there are more to come yet…

Over at the GPP Street Team site Michelle asked us to play some mind games this month. First come up with some words, then make colors to suit them. The news here in New Zealand is dominated by the weather at the moment. Last year late winter / early spring storms killed 3 million lambs; the downturn in numbers for the meat processing plants has seen 100s lose their job, with more redundancies expected in the coming weeks. Last month a huge storm hit – we had snow here, at sea level, for the first time in over 30 years. An even bigger, colder storm is on the way today, just as newborn lambs fill the paddocks. So how could I not choose related words to come up with colors for?

My words for the challenge are Lambing, Night sky, Spring Growth and Storm Approaching. Lambing turned out a cold grey because the piles of dead lambs always look a horrible dirty gray color. Sorry, I know that is not very cheery, but it is the reality of a farming area. The Night Sky, on the other hand, is often a glorious pinky lavender color as a storm heads our way. Despite the weather, I know Spring Growth will arrive, bringing with it renewal. Storm Approaching turned out a pretty blue because so far, despite the predictions, our day has had some decent patches of clear blue sky. Mind you, apparently it’s already -1 C (30F ) just south of our southernmost island and heading our way fast!

Those of you who visit my blog from time to time will have read that I’m exploring mark making once again, and working on getting back to the confident colors and marks I was producing while studying at TLC. I’ve been concentrating on black, white and red in a variety of media. It feels good to limit my color choices, but expand the tools I have in my hands – oil pastels, water-soluble crayons, acrylics, watercolor, charcoal…

I’ve made some fairly big works and have been playing round with them in Photoshop, seeing what they’d look like cropped down, as thin slivers, as squares etc. What happens when I get right down to the small details so the overall image is lost and only the mark remains? These and many other possibilities! Apart from the learning that comes from that kind of exploration, which is useful in itself, I’m also keeping an eye out for ideas that can translate into greeting cards etc as there are one or two new outlets that have expressed interest in my work.

I’ve also been wandering round the Internet looking at some of my favorite artist’s work, and exploring some new ones too. I always come back to Pollock, Rauschenberg, Rothko, de Kooning and Twombly. I suspect my interest in their work partly stems from the fact that we studied them at TLC so that I got very familiar with their work and feel ‘comfortable’ with it. But it’s more than that too – it’s a deep sense of connection with the way they made marks and with the way in which the hand of the maker could, or couldn’t, be seen in their work. Contemporary artists whose work I follow include Tina Mammoser, Vivien Blackburn, Martha Marshall, and Rebecca Crowell. Although all quite different, I think it is their interest in mark making that keeps me going back to their blogs or websites year after year after year. I have a small collection of small works by Tina Mammoser and Martha Marshall and adore them, and add to the collection when I can. Sure, I love the images they produce, the colors they use, or the way they tell their stories- but underpinning all that is a backbone of mark making.

So, here’s a taste of this week’s art: I hope you enjoy.