A NICE SURPRISE

G drove me back up the M6 yesterday to see the Waterside Open. It's a varied exhibition which includes photography, surprising to me as this is often excluded from Opens. The emphasis was on kitsch pop arty type work, of which there were several very nice examples. I particularly liked an endearingly garish kitsch piece by Lisa Ashcroft. Other pieces in the pop art vein included paintings by Nichola Brockelmann andGemma Parker . There was a strong emphasis on crafts with some striking ceramic and 3d pieces and plenty of mixed media work. My favourite piece was Emma Louise Lloyd's open book with its intricately carved surface that reminded me of a relief map of a mountain range. I like work in which one thing is transformed into another, altering books is a whole genre in itself. This artist's work is an excellent example, no surprise that it won the Best In Trafford Award.


Third prize at the exhibition went to Steven Proudfoot who has 2 paintings on show, both very nicely executed slices of life that reminded me of stills from a 1960's kitchen sink drama. First prize went to Deborah Newbold's sculpture, this artist's playful/thought provoking title (from memory it's something like 'Death is not an end but the begining of a journey') made me think of Damien Hirst's shark.


I was slightly disappointed that my drawing wasn't hung in the main Lauriston Gallery but in the less obviously glamorous Gallery Bar, the gallery to the right as you enter the main doors of the Waterside Arts Centre, opposite reception. Huge windows take up the entire wall of one side of this long room facing the wall where the majority of the exhibits hang. Placing glazed work opposite a window obviously causes problems. When I visited it was sunny and many of the glazed pieces were difficult to see because of reflections. In the Gallery Bar however there are many excellent pieces, including some colourful embroidery by Doreen Caldwell with beautiful and intricate textures, and two lovely colourful floral watercolours by Gillian French which were hidden away in the corner behind another exhibit.

I was very pleasantly surprised to see that my picture had been Highly Commended, and as only a handful of other pieces at the exhibition were Highly Commended I'm extremely pleased that the judges felt that my picture should share this honour.

All in all a very enjoyable visit to a lively and accessible art centre.


The wintry photographs on this page were taken at the National Trust owned Dunham Massey, just a few miles from Sale.

THIRD TIME LURGI

For the third time since November I'm down with a cold. Not too bad this time, just doing my best (now unseasonal) Rudolph impression and making Tyrozets my very very best friend.

It's been a weird week though. Ups and downs that include an extremely sick auntie, a lost (and thankfully found) flashdrive and a new part-time job offer. I already work part-time in an office and am extremely protective of my spare 'creative' time at the end of the week (I choose to work part-time in order to devote regular time to my writing or artwork), but stubborn debts that just won't go away despite years of me attempting to be conscientious call for drastic action. I'm just worried about losing my creative time, and energy, especially as at the moment my visual artwork seems to be developing at a pace. Plus, although it's been very much on the backburner, I've actually completed my novel at last. I suppose I'll just have to be more disciplined and frankly brutal with my time while I'm working full-time in non-creative paid employment. Creativity is so important to me (in whatever form I'm compelled to peruse it), but the millstone of debt has become such a negative force in my life. It has to be dealt with somehow.

I've finished my long mossy tree drawing. I'm quite pleased with parts of it and have ideas for new pieces to springboard to from this one, though I'm stumped for a title for it yet. I do have a destination in mind however, just have to keep my fingers crossed for that one and perservere.


Here's something very very old, it's actually from my Degree show (back in 1988!!!). I studied graphic design but specialised in illustration during my final year. This was my interpretation of the horoscope type Leo (which just happens to be my own).


And here's something very new, the beginings of a new drawing. It's one of my graffiti trees and will be called PW PW 2001.

Gosh, isn't it dingy today?

I found it hard to get going with my drawing this morning. Every week I set myself an aim, this week's was to finish my long mossy tree drawing. All was going well until this morning when I sat down and I guessed straight away that I'd struggle today. I have this creeping fear sometimes that makes it difficult to work. I've had this both with my drawing (not so often) and my writing (often), basically I get so indecisive that eventually I end up faffing about for hours and the precious day trickles away.

Luckily today music came to my aid. I've loved music all my life; classical, rock, indie, folk. When I was in my teens and twenties I was heavily into the music of my parents' generation - the 50's and 60's. Now I'm in my 40's I suppose you could say I'm into the music my kids would be into (if I had any). I've never believed in pigeon holing anyone. I hate to be categorized myself (when people try to do it, they invariably get it wrong) and I do my best not to do 'unto others' as I'd rather not be done to myself. It goes against my grain to see anything as simple. If I hear one other person say 'women can't read maps but they are naturally caring...' I'll scream...

I've continued preparing some paper for a drawing I want to make. It's another experiment, and a development of the drawings I made last week of my Poinsettia.

Here's the last drawing I made, before it began shedding leaves and curling up at the edges like a well read paperback.

And here is something very old.


In fact, I've no idea how old it is as in those days I don't seem to have either signed or dated my work. It's an old oil painting of my Mom, and judging by the settee (the one before the one we have now) it could have been done anytime pre 20 years or so ago. As you can see from the impasto I was heavily into Van Gogh at the time.




Van Gogh is still one of my creative heroes. His writing, like his art, is full of compassion, endeavour and honesty. Three things I value very highly indeed.

Seeing the Van Gogh letters exhibition at the Royal Academy is definitely on my 2010 to do wish list.

WEST MIDLANDS OPEN 2010

I've had some wonderful news today. I've had two pieces accepted for the 2010 West Midlands Open Exhibition to be held at Gas Hall, which is part of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. I'm really proud to have work accepted for this exhibition. I studied art and design at Birmingham Polytechnic and the museum and art gallery was a place I've visited again and again over the years, so for me this is a very high achievement.

I've been working hard these past few weeks at my long mossy tree drawing, which I based on a section of Wood From The Trees (using the original photograph for reference). I'm pleased with some aspects of it, mainly because it has opened up ideas of how my work might progress, though I find it difficult to wean myself away from what I find easy to do. Good art takes courage, and sometimes, especially the early part of the week when I'm tired out by my day job, all I want to do is listen to the radio and console myself with some comfy cross hatching. Most of the experiments I've started over the past year have ended up in my 'not sure what to do with these' pile (the largest pile, of course), but then again, in today's positive frame of mind, I'm thinking that maybe just because the experiments don't physically go anywhere maybe they do filter in through my thought processes somewhere and colour the way my work progresses.

Here's where I am with my long mossy tree anyway. Almost finished I think.



Too much thinking about work is never good for me, I need to put my thinking into action, so instead of just doodling and writing in my sketchbook, which doesn't always amount to much, as you can see...


…I've been going through my folders of photographs on the PC and making sketches with notes from the images on screen before printing a few photographs on my inkjet printer to make drawings from later.

CREASES AND DETAIL

I've just managed to do a little more work this evening on my 'long mossy tree' study from 'Wood From The Trees'. I'm struggling a little to bring the disparate parts of the foreground together, plus I realise that I've made a mistake about the width of the composition as a whole and the scale of the foreground tree, but I'll keep plugging on, for a while at least.

And here's a quick Poinsettia study I made last night. It was an experiment really, firstly I'd pre-prepared some textured paper by crumpling it first then coating it with gesso to fix the creases, I really wanted a weathered look to work on, plus I had been playing around with pre-preparing paper by creasing it in a variety of ways. More about that later.

I made this drawing with a mixture of lightfast fine markers and coloured pencil (from the sadly defunct Signature range).

I kind of half like the effect, but really I need to try another drawing or a couple to get the kind of effect I was looking for.

TO SALE AND BACK VIA HOBBYCRAFT WORLD

It was back up the motorway again today to collect my unselected work from the Waterside Arts Centre. While I was there I took time to visit the last day of an exhibition of paintings by Walter Kershaw, one of the selectors on the panel of the Waterside Open.

I really enjoyed this exhibition, which was my first visit to the spacious and well lit Lauriston Gallery. Walter Kershaw created the largest industrial mural in Europe for Trafford, and there are studies and photographs recording this on display here, as well as many large and small scale landscapes plus several paintings from his extensive travels. I was intrigued by one painting of a group of young women signed by a female name which appeared to be an anagram of Walter Kershaw. I could have asked the artist himself, as he stood nearby chatting with a small group of people. This added to the pleasant, laid back atmosphere in the gallery, which was very busy with interested folk of all ages.

My particular favourites were a tall painting of high rise apartments which was full of colour and skewed perspective, and a painting on hardboard of cooling towers, which had some really interesting shapes, almost abstract whilst being firmly rooted in the figurative. There were also some lovely snowscapes, which reminded me of how gorgeous everything looked this time last week when G and I drove up through the winter wonderland to deliver my drawings.
Nearly all of the snow was gone today. Just a few greying lumps lingered here and there, the remains of melted snowmen I assumed.

The canal outside the Waterside Art Centre was still frozen, but this time rather than being pristine and pure, the ice had just the opposite effect emphasising the grimmier aspects of everyday living; cigarette butts and drinks cans sat on the greyish crust, along with an array of yellow golf balls!



Last night I made another drawing of my Christmas Poinsettia. I'm quite pleased with this one, which inspired me to buy some more pens from Hobbycraft at Bridgmere, where G kindly took me on the way home. I'm suddenly filled with inspiration and new ideas for the spring. Won't jinx it though by typing it out loud as I seem to have done with so many ideas before, or like golf balls on the ice they might just sink slowly into oblivion!

Poinsettia

I've been making an effort to draw from life lately, as a means of supporting the work I do from my own photographs. Here's one rather stern self-portrait (looking down at ones' self in the mirror is never the most flattering angle).

The other is a drawing I made last night while watching a repeat of QI (definitely a comfort blanket), it's of the little Poinsettia I bought 4 weeks ago from Tesco. It’s kind of a Bonsai Poinsettia and I expected it to last barely through Christmas, but it's still going strong, despite a few singed leaf tips. I over watered it at first, but now I just keep the soil moist and it seems quite happy. I suppose the rising heat from the radiator mitigates the effect of the icy draft from the window frame, and the plant seems to like it.



I stayed up late last night resting my arm and hand to watch Revolutionary Road. I've wanted to see this film since it came out, but oh, it’s so grim! Enjoyable though. The period detail is immaculate, in the same way that Mad Men is. DiCaprio and Winslet are both so wonderful to watch, the camera loves them. But their emotional cut and thrust doesn't quite match the mesmerising quality of Burton and Taylor in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

I'm now going to lunch on some Christmas Chocolate and to hell with the consequences!