I have made a short (and fairly wobbly) video about my favourite art technique for the last post of #21daysinmyartworld challenge. The video is available to watch on my new Youtube channel and will be added to my Instagram page. This video will show you how to quickly make simple backgrounds to use in your paintings and mixed media work. My favourite technique is scraping paint over paper in your sketchbook or scraps of paper, leaving some of the surface exposed and keeping some areas of paint thick for texture. The paint acts as a resist. When the paint has dried, I rub over the surface with charcoal or another colour of paint in a thin layer, if using charcoal fix it with hairspray.
Why is this my favourite technique?
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I'm coming towards the end of this art challenge this week and I have decided to roll two of the topics into one; smallest painting and largest painting. My smallest painting is one of several I made in my Krowji studio. I was experimenting with tiny ink landscapes. I framed them with cut out text from a book to give them a narrative. I wrote about them in my last blog post 'How I Name My Paintings'. This particular piece I never named or framed, it has been hanging around the studio for a few years now. The benefits of painting this small are:
My current largest pieces I made whilst under a mentorship program. All the art from this collection I collectively called Out West, the three largest are almost 60 inches wide. These mixed media works are rolled-up in my studio. I haven't looked into framing them as I don't have the wall space. I enjoyed making these pieces, two of them were partly-painted on location at Pendeen and in St Just. Although those places are close by, there is a difference in the colour palette. This is due to the mining of the area. I deliberately left some of the Pendeen lighthouse painting white, to bring more focus to other areas of the composition. The benefits of working large are:
I'm not sure if other artists do this but...I (mostly) only name my paintings if they're going into a show! Unfortunately naming my work comes last, its a bit of an afterthought with some. I have used song lyrics, a poem, a feeling, something from a film, inspiration from a gallery or other place I have visited as my chosen name. I don't keep lists, (I now think I should), but I have an envelope of text I have cut out of an old book. I started cutting out the text and using it with a finished painting to create the narrative and its name. I still have lots of the cut-outs as they seemed too good not to use one day. However, my work is process-led, I have never chosen a cut-out sentence and made a piece of work to fit. Often, 'my practice pieces' come out as the best ones. The approach to my work and the process means I can't replicate the marks exactly.
Copying my practice piece tends to lose its 'essence'; it becomes stiff and flat. These practice pieces are usually in my sketchbook and that's where they stay. It becomes a library of time and skill development. However, recently I have been sharing these on my Instagram account. I have been naming my sketchbook work after the place of inspiration. The painting 'December Morning, Tehidy' was painted from a photograph I took one morning of a vivid sunrise through the bare-branched trees. The piece, 'Over the Hedgerow' is a viewpoint I often stop at on my countryside walk, over the hedgerow I often see a rabbit in the field and lots of wildlife around the Cornish hedge where I stand. Both of these are still in my sketchbook. See more of my images with narrative on the Krowji Residency page For this prompt; Process Insight, I have decided to show a step by step demonstration from my sketchbook. I took some materials out with me into a field nearby, I made some quick sketches and worked from them in my studio. I used charcoal in my initial drawings, for the final sketch I used chalk, charcoal, paint and ink. I decided to sketch some trees at the top of a field. The field sloped upward. The field was framed by trees and hedges, apart from where I stood. I got down the basic composition, I didnt need every detail. Back in the studio I chose to work in my hardback sketchbook which had thicker paper; ideal for mixed media work. This is a Seawhite sketchbook which are really good value and have a lot of pages, they are available in different sizes. I had initially packed this sketchbook but it was too heavy. To start with I drew out a pencil border and applied masking tape strips for the ploughed field. I then roughly went over these with charcoal. At this point I was putting down the first layers which didnt need to be neat as they would be worked over again. I removed the tape and fixed the charcoal with spray, it didnt matter that some of the charcoal had got under the tape. Once dry, I covered the black stripes with more masking tape to scrape a layer of white paint over the surface. I left some of the paper untouched and when dry went over with charcoal again making this the third applied layer. I built up the layers with compressed charcoal, this goes on much darker, then I used an old teatowel to reveal some of the layers underneath. The white paint acts as a resist. I decided to have a defining edge to the top of my field. This was to break up the composition, a sharp edge amongst the chaos. I added more tape and blended more charcoal. The next step was to put tape on again to seperate the 'field' from the 'sky'. Then I applied more chalk and pastel without loosing the crisp line. So far I had only used scrapers, a teatowel and my hands to build the layers. The next step was to loosly add detail to the edges with charcoal and ink and start adding in the trees. The ink was applied using natural found materials on my walk to the field, I wanted a scratchy finish rather than perfect lines. However, when it came to the tree detail ( second image) this wasnt working right. I was able to wipe away the detail I had added in for the tree tops as it was ink and charcoal. I wasnt too precious about this, afterall this was only my sketchbook. I liked the marks left behind and I decided to leave this in to add some movement. A happy accident. It was only at this point I reached for a fine brush to create the trees.
My reoccurring motif in my work is the tree. As a child, I always loved playing in the woods, as a teen I would hang around the woods with friends, now I enjoy having long walks and nature spotting with my family through the woods. It seems only natural that trees frequently appear in my landscape work. I tend to paint my trees in the distant and without foliage; silhouetted in the landscape, breaking up areas, adding to the composition. I should do more studies adding more detail and making them more of a feature of the work as part of progressing my creative skills. Here are some trees I have created: If you have looked at my Pinterest page, you will see I’m inspired by too much! Often inspiration comes from a place, a song, written work, a feeling, not always something visible which is why sometimes refer to the quote 'to make visual how the world touches us’ by Merleau-Ponty, 1993. I used this to inform my Ba (Hons) work. However, I will narrow down a few: Artists and galleries Here is where I can refer back to the 'favourite books' blog post. Majority of my art books are about landscape art and I also enjoy looking at work by abstract artists and textile artists, especially sketchbooks. I follow mostly artists on Instagram, I love to see their process and keep up with galleries. A local library is also a good place for artist books. However, I also explore art outside of my niche and this is where I love my trips to London. Cornwall is great, but it’s good to see something more than the coastal art and the tourist market. I don’t usually explore politics much in my artwork however, in the past; I have written for the Punky Moms Zine and made work referencing the environment and wellbeing. I also have books on feminist artists and body modification and pinups. Walking Living in Cornwall it’s not hard to find somewhere beautiful to walk, although I live in a town, I’m only a couple of miles from the beach and there is countryside just down the road. I often take photos to work from or sketch somewhere outside. Getting out in nature is proven to be good for wellbeing, I know I always feel better after a long walk (or run) and I love to go nature spotting with my family. Music and books
I love music. I listen to it when cleaning, getting ready in the morning, in the studio, commuting to work, writing blog posts etc. One of my projects at University was to produce work in response to a book; the book I had was about music. I chose a particular instrumental piece I loved; it was challenging to make something from an inspiration that wasn’t visible. In the past, I have also made small landscape pieces and added cut out text from books to create the narrative. Turquoise, shades of blue, black and white tend to be my go-to colours. Black and white have become a bit of a comfort zone within my painting. However, last year I was more experimental with some brighter colours; I introduced neon paint inspired by sunsets at home. My project Hireth was all about the sea and the tropical colours we have around the Cornish coast.
I stick to minimal colours and let texture, layers and mark-making have a voice in the composition. On my Pinterest, I have separate boards for art I like divided into colour sections. As with yesterday’s prompt; favourite book; I can’t pick just one that I prefer, however, tools do not have to cost a lot of money. I tend to work with different mediums; acrylic, oil, collage, ink, charcoal, pastel, pencil and previously I have done a lot of printmaking, sewing and textile design. I don’t tend to stick to just one material or one tool. I will hold my hands up and say I’m also the most indecisive person I know!
As an artist who enjoys working in the landscape, I often use found materials as my tools such as twigs and pine ‘leaves’. These give loose scratchy marks when working with ink; a more organic looking line if you want a less controlled finish to a piece.
Tying a piece of charcoal to a long stick is an alternative way to sketch with less control. I knew I would enjoy this prompt when I saw it; I have many art books, exhibition catalogues, creative magazines, tattoo magazines, other informative books and novels. Photographing my bookcase made me realise the shelves are starting to bow, I’m not surprised. I love buying books. As a dyslexic person, I enjoy dipping in and out of art books or just reading a few pages in bed rather than sitting down and reading for a long time which I find hard to do in my noisy house anyway. For this prompt, it was too difficult to pick just one book. Some books I bought at university, some I bought for work research, some were left outside by my neighbours during lockdown; many of us made free boxes of books and puzzles, some books were gifts and some aren’t mine! I do know I need more storage. There is a bookshop by Tate Modern I highly recommend called Marcus Campbell Art Books stocking rare and second hand art books. My choice for this is Art and Artefact: The Museum as Medium
I bought this book to help with writing my dissertation; ‘An investigation into how museology has evolved, allowing artists to disrupt the narrative of the museum and the consequential engagement of the audience'. This book is full of artists who have used the museum to inform their work, site their work, history around the display, highly recommended. I work in a museum, however, the dream would be to work with collections in a big London museum. Kurt Jackson Place and Sketchbooks 2003 – 2004 I discovered Sketchbooks 2003 – 2004 at college and was at the starting point for my love of working with the landscape. I loved the way Kurt captured the Cornish landscape before I was a painter but the book was out of print. Eventually, I found a second-hand copy and ordered it. When the book arrived, I discovered the book had belonged to a local library, made its way to Scotland for a while and then back home to Cornwall to me. It is signed too! I bought Place after seeing the exhibition at the Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro. The idea behind the work resonated with how I used the landscape in my practice; painting landscapes where we have a connection, nostalgia and a sense of identity. Jeremy Gardiner I discovered Jeremy's work at University. This book contained art based around Cornwall as well as other places. I was creating landscapes on broken pieces of wood and layering media as part of the process. Although Jeremy worked with different materials on board, I was fascinated by the results of his abstract layered landscapes. Peter Lanyon At work, I spend many hours admiring the Lanyon paintings. They contain so much information and hidden messages and motifs in their compositions even though Lanyon’s style and approach changed over time. I have many Lanyon books; I bought this book, now out of print, whilst working on Out West. Catherine Hyde, The Hare and The Moon I’m not sure when I discovered Catherine’s work but I had this book bought for me a year ago, I knew I had to have it when I spotted it whilst Christmas shopping. The style of work is a little more illustrative than my usual inspirations. The connections to the seasons and how the land can change piques my interest, especially as I am fascinated with pagan traditions and ancient lands and nature which Catherine captures beautifully. Robert Macfarlane, Underland I have read Roberts books The Old ways and Landmarks so when I saw this as a new release, I immediately reserved it at my local library. However, I was borrower number 60+ in the queue to read it and as I’m not a fast reader I couldn’t get through it before it was someone else’s turn to enjoy it. I requested the book for Christmas so I can enjoy it at my own pace. For a long time, my interest has been what grows and lives near the surface. I have owned and borrowed books on archaeology and evolution (I love Time Team and history documentaries). Now I’m interested in exploring what is underneath and allowing that to take a new dimension within my work. Did you know the term 'shelfie' is a thing now? My rainbow Shelfies: I have to say that most of the work in my studio is a work in progress; I’m terrible for not finishing work and starting something new. I also have many notebooks and sketchbooks of ideas stretching back several years with pages dotted with mini post-it-notes here and there to say this would make a good blog post or piece of work. Occasionally I go through them, knowing I thought something was a great idea however, a lot of the time I don’t remember what inspired me; I have a terrible memory. I have a couple of large canvases I started at my Krowji studio that I will probably paint over. This particular painting of a blossom tree I shared on Instagram stories with a poll; should keep it or not? Most people said yes. I could fill out the tree blossom but I decided I don't want to keep it. It’s a big piece that I can no longer store. If I’m not feeling the love, then it’s time to move on.
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