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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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. During lockdown, I saw many people turn to creativity to help pass the time using art as therapy at a time of great anxiety and a rise in people generating income through the artists' pledge whereby artists would sell work and use some of their income to purchase work from another artist. Now that the majority of us have returned to work that creative time may have been put on the back burner as we juggle our work commutes, school runs and other commitments. However, if you have decided to commit to a creative hobby or start up a creative business I can show you how it can be done with a small space and a small budget. A studio space doesn’t have to be a large space or a rented space in an artist hub, a small space at home such as a small nook, spare bedroom, corner of the lounge with a caddy for supplies can be just as great to get creative in, the option to move to something bigger will always be there if you need the space to grow. My own creative spaces have changed a lot over the years working from a spare bedroom in rented accommodation, on the kitchen table then moving to a tiny computer desk in the bedroom although I remember yearning for more space as my work started to grow. I won a residency in a studio for a year and then moved my materials back home to a larger table in the bedroom. I moved house 3 years ago where I now have my studio space in a conservatory. Working from home is much better for me right now than commuting to a studio around work and the school run. What about setting up the studio space though? I recently made a short video tour which I uploaded to my IGTV on Instagram of my current space; I say current as it’s always changing and I have been looking at moving house again and having a (well insulated) summerhouse as a studio…or small shed. As we head towards winter and it’s too cold to head into the studio I will often work at my coffee table which doubles as a storage chest which is an option if space is tight. Pinterest is my favourite site for finding inspiration when it comes to creativity and I have created 2 studio spaces boards if you need some help. One is called Small studio spaces which you can find HERE and Studio spaces inspiration which has some images of bigger spaces indoors and outdoors including those of textile workers and illustrators which you can find HERE Furniture Second-hand furniture is ideal for studios especially if you are working with messy materials. I bought a large Ikea trestle table from a friend which replaced the cheap computer table, it was great for a while but I sold it before moving house assuming I wouldn’t have space for it. I bought a sturdy easel to save on space and I was then given a table for free. I’ve had a couple of free chairs for the studio too, always a favourite for the cat. Have a look on websites and charity shops for suitable furniture. Storage Materials and work will eventually start to build up as you continue your practice so storage is important wherever you set up but it has to work for your space. I started off keeping my paints in my old baby box that I used for bath time until the top kept breaking so I bought a set of plastic drawers that fit perfectly under my table. I can separate my oils from acrylics and keep drawing materials separate from both and it only cost £12! I store my older work in plastic lidded storage boxes in the wardrobe and canvases and frames to be used are in old toy boxes that my children no longer use. My sketchbooks are kept on a cheap Argos bookshelf but my art books I keep in the lounge where they’re less likely to become sun damaged as my conservatory is a sun trap. Cork memo boards are great for keeping ideas, lists and images of inspiration nearby and they can be painted to match your décor. Supplies
Buying materials can be expensive when you look around some art shops but some high street shops sell materials ideal for beginners or students. Don’t purge on expensive materials before finding out what works for you. DIY store paint tester pots are my favourite for making backgrounds and they’re cheap. If you’re a mixed media artist wallpaper samples are great for adding texture. When I did a lot of textile work at university I used scraps of fabric to test out ideas and some of those test pieces turned out to be my favourite pieces. I used offcuts of old clothes to stitch on and cheap bedsheets for printmaking. I sold all my old broken jewellery and used the money to buy a sewing machine. Jam jars and old mugs are great for studios, ideal for washing brushes in and storing dry brushes and pens and other creative utensils. Shoe boxes are great for collecting ephemera, magazines, collage papers and small paper works. Organising whatever space you have will keep it tidy and find materials easier when inspiration strikes. Are you stuck with your creative work? Do you need to finish a piece or tie up loose ends and want to try something new? Try these tips with visual examples. Feel free to print this list and use them as prompts to help, I have also made this information into an infographic at the bottom of the page.
‘It all works out in the end, you just got to deal with the rejection every now and again’ This is something I have had to tell myself several times. Nobody likes rejection but you have to put yourself out there otherwise you will think about the ‘what if…’ With such easy access to what people are doing now through social media it’s easy to look through someone’s Instagram or Facebook page and think that other people are doing better but you have to remember it’s only the highlight reel; not everybody talks about the not so great stuff. I’m guilty of that too because if something goes well for me I want to shout about it because I feel good and there’s nothing wrong with that. There has been several times when I’ve said to myself or my friends: ‘I’m a rubbish artist’ ‘Nobody would want to buy this’ ‘Why am I wasting my time?’ ‘Maybe I should focus on having a ‘proper’ job’ I haven’t discussed these feelings on my creative social media account or about any of the rejections I have had as creative practioner. There have been a few I have experienced but not many people generally talk about it. I submitted photos and an artist statement to apply for an exhibition where a group of people rejected the whole proposal, no explanation of why and it hit me hard. I know several people on that judging panel and felt embarrassed. I had worked towards this for nearly a whole year and without the reason of why it wasn’t good enough I felt I couldn’t improve or progress, I wasn’t sure what to do other than cycle through those negative thoughts and feel stupid for putting all my eggs in one basket.. However later on I submitted two of the paintings for shows at Tate Modern London and Tate St Ives and they were successful! I had some amazing feedback, one sold at the private view and the other one sold the week it was on display. If I had let those negative feelings consume my thoughts I probably wouldn’t have tried to get in the Tate Gallery as that is a big step up from a small town independant venue. Only a couple of months after that I submitted a painting for an exhibition which wasn’t accepted. I felt a bit low but I did better to reason with myself; I had submitted one large painting rather than a couple of smaller ones where the gallery may have been able to squeeze one out of the two in, I took a risk which was better than not trying at all and wondering whether it would have been accepted. I sat at the bus stop with my large painting wrapped in a bin liner (not very professional but the reality is that I don’t have the funds for archival wrapping and a courier to take it for me). As I walked through the door feeling thankful that it had stopped raining long enough for me to get the painting home, my phone picked up the Wi-Fi and I received a message; a commission request! I went through quite a roller-coaster of emotions that day! I found a book at work in our Wellbeing box (so grateful for this) which really helped me and I recommend reading if you can get hold of it. The book is called Ways of Being by James Cahill, Advice for Artists by Artists and covers the early days being a student, getting their first shows, becoming successful, inspiration and lots more through short artist quotes. I do recall a few quotes that helped me and reminded me to just keep going with my art no matter what is going on in life and how busy I am, just do something creative every day. For me that can be just a quick sketch, discovering a new artist and making a note to look up more about them, supporting another artist by buying a print or book, visiting an exhibition, discovering images on Pinterest that sparks a new project…anything to just keep going. It helps to remember that:
If you need some more positivity, inspiration and reasons to keep on with your creative practice visit my Creative Help & Inspiration Pinterest board, save them to your phone, laptop, tablet or pin them to your own boards! Chasing numbers and social media burnout had been on my mind for a few days and it’s not the first time either. Years ago I had a creative blog for 3 years which I stopped writing. Originally it was called ‘Not Just a Mummy’ when I first started college and changed it to ‘Canvas and Thread’ when I started to establish myself as an artist. Then someone decided to use that as their website name without clearly doing any research. I didn’t have the time or energy for it anymore when I was in my last year at university and I felt it had run its course. I was so caught up in tracking the views and promoting and then my dissertation zapped all my time. I’ve have had so many different art accounts to promote my work I struggled to keep track of where I was and which I had updated. It was always about the numbers game, it wasn’t all that enjoyable when it started to become about the numbers and less about the engagement so I just cut my losses and deleted the blog which I do not regret doing. Although I am obviously blogging again now sometimes posts will be read when the subject matter is relevant to the right person at the right time and therefore I don’t beat myself up about the numbers at the end of the month. I now mostly use Instagram; it’s a brilliant way to share visual snapshots of my work and studio. I also like to be able to see what other artists are up to and what galleries are showing. Why the Burnout? I was following nearly 1500 people on Instagram but seeing the same 10 -15 accounts all the time. The algorithms were only showing the same few accounts based on my usual clicks, likes or views whether that was in my feed or the stories across the top so it was a bit like a vicious circle; I am only seeing the people who I interact with the most but who has time to view every single account so you don’t miss anything? I became fed up, it was the same on my personal account too and I stopped using it so much. This week I have cleaned up my Instagram social media and it is now working much better for me and I do not feel guilty for what I have done! Where had I gone wrong?
The benefit
What about other social media? I use Pinterest A LOT! As a visual person it just works for me, I have my boards of inspiration all sorted according to categories I want and I have my own work on there too. Anything not art related I keep private. I don’t see it as a social thing so much as I don’t look at the follower feed often or chat with anyone. However what I did find helpful was to follow individual boards over whole accounts unless you like every topic someone has created a board for, I found myself spending a lot of time unfollowing every board I that wasn’t my niche. Many people follow the odd 1 or 2 boards of mine rather than all of them and that is absolutley fine and Pinterest now promote ‘boards like yours’ which is helpful. Again it comes down to organising what you want to see. On Facebook I have an art page that has just over 500 fans, I share my blog posts there and a few images and promoting of exhibitions I’m in. I don’t rate Facebook very well as the statistics tell me that my reach can vary from 0 to less than 100 and they continuously try and get me to pay to reach more people. I can only assume they are purposefully not showing my posts so I pay which I refuse to do. Another artist I know did this and they found the unpaid reach was getting worse and got into a habit of having to pay every time when sharing. I am debating whether its worth keeping this account. I used to have a Twitter account with the first blog, I followed everything creative that was local to me but the feed moved so fast I missed a lot and my posts were missed by others. Different accounts work for different people and there may be platforms out there that are great and I haven’t discovered yet, maybe what works now won’t work in the future. Regularly reviewing what we want from them seems to be the way to go before we burn out trying to keep up with them all. Using a solution focused approach is a way of using different perspectives to resolve a specific situation or problem. College brief, university assignment, creative proposal… this list of prompts and questions may help you to resolve that project that you have become stuck with.
· What if we try……? · Are there any other ways at looking at this? · We could also……. · Brainstorm ideas · Put the work up on the wall, take a step back, have a tea break, look with fresh eyes · Let’s look at the options, what’s the best possible option I am likely to achieve? · Have I missed anything · Can I make this work? Is it realistic? · What could I adapt? · Who else would know about this? Do I know anyone who has experience with this? · Define the problem: what is the real issue? · Desired outcome: what do I want? · If I follow through with this option how will I feel? · What is my final decision? · Steps: what must I do? When? Where? With whom? · Obstacles: what might get in the way and how will I deal with these? · Evaluation: did it work? What would I do differently next time? Printing this out and keeping it in your sketchbook or paperwork might be useful for future projects. |
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