"Look up at the stars not to your feet, be curious"
Stephen Hawkins I've been clearing out some areas of my studio, particularly old notes I'd made for the Colour book that I wrote last year and bad paintings that had gone wrong and can't ever be saved. I came across this quote and remember that I'd thought it would have been good in the Colour book as this book is about being creative with colour and expanding your colour horizons. When I'm busy things get parked all over the place and are rarely put away somewhere where they can be found again. I'm aiming to sort things out more clearly while we can't go out. The novelty of this project will probably wear off very quickly. Last night I had a great dream. John Mayer played a gig in our house - how great is that. I got everyone to stamp their feet so that he'd come on for an encore. I love all different styles of music but if I had to choose only one musician, hands down it would be John Mayer. I never become bored of his music. I've seen him play twice at the O2 in London. Last time he had pared down the show and concentrated on the music. It was absolutely fantastic. I also read an article protesting about some people who are posting their opinion that this is a great opportunity to learn a new skill - veering towards being highly critical that if you don't come out of lockdown having learnt Mandarin, Cordon Bleu cookery, reached grade 3 in piano, learnt how to service your own car or run a half marathon(or preferably a full marathon) then you ought to be ashamed of yourself. This is hardly motivational or understanding of how different everyone is from each other. I expect some people find it hard just to cook their lunch never mind go for a walk as well or learn even three words of Mandarin.
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The temperature of the wind today is a bitter northerly, quite a shock after all the warm weather we've had recently. This morning I spent a very unusual amount of time cleaning and washing. I decided to wash all the beautiful glass pieces that are on display in the kitchen, which includes hand blown coloured glasses and candlesticks made in Ireland. This is an extremely unusual activity for me but I felt marginally pleased at the sparkling results. As I did this I was reminded of my other Nana, Lilian Collins, whose house was far more than spotless. She cleaned her huge brass collection once a week and I likened her kitchen to a laboratory as here every surface was gleaming and there was never anything out on display. The kettle was simmering on the stove all day long just incase anyone called in.
After the mammoth cleaning spree I was able to settle to some painting and finished the picture shown here. I had been waiting for many weeks to resolve this piece. Other than that I struggled with several other paintings and had to leave them alone until another day. Later on I read a very interesting piece about the artist Helen Frankenthaler, who has been a big influence on my work. She was an important female American, Abstract Expressionist artist who pushed painting into new places. I have responded to her painting as it speaks to me in a way that I understand. She focused on the relationship between colour and space - something that has always interested me. I have read very little about her until today as I have preferred just to look at her paintings. The article is called "How to be an Artist" and her first piece of advice is to experiment. When I'm teaching, the main piece of advice I give to students is to experiment. She advocated trying different mediums and worked with printmaking, tapestry, set design and ceramics, but remained primarily a painter. Lastly she advises "Let mistakes lead to invention". She believed that the mistakes she made in a painting could usually be "redeemed" and that she could "retrieve" the painting. This way of working is very familiar to me where often I feel I have lost a painting only to work into it and give it a new lease of life. Easter Sunday
Happy Easter, it will have been an unusual Easter for most of us this year. On our daily walk the churches were deserted but we did see an elaborate Easter egg display in a garden along the road where we live. The eggs were hanging on each box tree in the front garden - fantastic. I feel as if I've succumbed to a very slow pace. Prior to the lockdown I was so so busy with work. The books on my shelf remind me of the huge amount of hard work I've done during the past year, particularly on the book "Colour Demystified". This is due to be published in January 2021 but I won't be surprised if the date changes now. I was lucky enough to go to Tunbridge Wells at the end of January this year for the photoshoot, where I painted several projects to be included in the book. I loved being part of a team and we worked so well together. My instinctive way of working had to be reigned in and presented in a more organised fashion. Whereas, my usual "studio" style ends up with palettes, mixes, pots, brushes and paintings covering every available surface - including the floor, until there's no space left or the brushes need to be cleaned so things have to be tidied up. White tree is the painting for today - to me she looks like she's making a wish and today that wish is that anyone who is reading this is ok and all the people that matter to you are ok too. Our current situation is a great leveller. I've decided to put on a "posh" blouse for dinner as not only is it Sunday but it's Easter Sunday and it's good to make an effort. Today I've walked 5 miles and done some Yoga and Pilates. I've noticed that I don't feel as good in myself if I don't go for a good walk each day. See you tomorrow. Today I started to think about the blog as a kind of portrait of myself and what's important to me. So I thought I'd include some watercolour sketches from my sketchbook where I've painted people from life - usually at the beach. And in doing this just realise that I can't paint figures at the beach for the foreseeable time.
So many things that I've taken for granted aren't available now. We bought the Saturday Times today and I went through the weekend section eager to read the Bird watch column and see the bird illustration, it's not there and I felt sad. My friend, Peter Brown, a wonderful wood engraver, normally illustrates this column with a fabulous bird each week. But then there's the garden. Thank goodness for the garden. I must say this at least ten times a day. I feel very lucky as I love the garden here. It's the best garden I've ever had - what perfect timing is that. There were many good plants already here when we moved in almost three years ago. Plants that I had dreamt of having in my garden - two large wisterias, three peonies, lupins, old fashioned lavender, roses, pulsatilla, ferns galore, passionflower, a large acanthus, apple trees, three well established acers and many varieties of cranesbill. Some of these plants I have had to leave in previous gardens when I've moved and felt a pang of loss but they've all returned to me, almost threefold! And I've added stipa gigantia, giant cardoons, various astrantia, more lupins, anemones, hellebores, climbing roses, five clematis, yews in pots, agapanthus, various euphorbias and many other plants that I don't remember now. It's such a blessing to have all of this to look after and enjoy. Each day every plant is inspected and cared for more than they ever were before. Happy Easter and enjoy the sunshine. Good Friday
Today it's a double entry as I spent all day relaxing in the garden yesterday as it was my birthday and didn't get round to writing the blog. I'd planned to talk about Archibald Knox, a well known artist from the Isle of Man who designed for Liberty's in London in his unique British Art Nouveau style. He is regarded as being a prominent influence in the Arts and Crafts movement. His Celtic designs and calligraphy are world famous and iconic in the Isle of Man. Knox was born on the 9th April 1864 in Cronkbourne Village very near to where I lived as a child. I wanted to mention him because we share the same birthday but also because he has been a great influence on my work as an artist. When I was a young girl I would regularly visit the Manx Museum and look at his watercolour paintings. The abstract quality of his work fascinated me and I relate to the strong Celtic feel of the work. My Great Aunt, Emily Bregazzi was taught art by Knox during the early 20th century. Great Aunt Emily also taught me some oil painting when I was about nine and I still have the Manx landscapes that I painted then. Around this age, most Saturdays I was taken out into the Manx countryside with my Nana, and two Great Aunts Edith and Emily. We would park the car and look at the view for quite a long time. All of these early experiences have stayed with me to this day. I just love to sit and look at the view and a lot of the time I love to paint. I've noticed that the colours I've been using since lockdown are much brighter and colourful than most of my previous palettes. I don't know what to put this down to but I'm feeling very happy to be drawn to a more colourful palette. When some of them are finished and ready to go, I'll post them on the Blog.
Today the painting I'm showing is "Great Toller, Summer", which has a message about friendship in it. This piece is currently in a virtual Exhibition at the Hatch Gallery in Christchurch, Dorset. Great Toller is in rural Dorset and is such a beautiful and inspiring landscape and is near a place that the Bournemouth Arts Club had an Exhibition I was in during the summer of 2018. It's the centenary of the Bournemouth Arts Club this year and we were all set to have an Exhibition at the wonderful Russell Cotes Gallery in Bournemouth, which, like so many things has had to be postponed until next year due to the current circumstances. However, it's very good to have things like this to look forward to rather than being cancelled altogether. ISOLATION ARTIST BLOG - DAY 12 As it's the Pink Moon tonight I thought I'd post this painting "Wildflower Dreamers". Last year a card company in Paris contacted me to ask if they could pay to use this image for one of their cards. Just before lockdown they sent me my royalties and royalty statement and I was delighted that they had sold a lots of cards, including 15,000 e cards. It's brilliant that so many people will have received the image. I think this picture is quite poignant for this time, as right now we don't know what our futures hold and everything we are used to has stopped for the moment.
Today I worked in the studio and I think I completed a painting called "Pink Moon", it will be revisited tomorrow with a fresh eye. Today I noticed that most of my paintings have a horizon giving the viewer the opportunity to look beyond. When I'm out walking and see the real horizon each day I find it very grounding and it brings things down to size. And now I'm looking forward to seeing the real pink Moon tonight. The painting here today reminds me of my walk on the cliff top this morning. It's considerably warmer today and I walked at the edge of the steep cliff, where the land is sliding into the sea. I found it necessary to pretend that I was in Cornwall to feel like I'd had a "real" change of scene. The cows in the field and the seagulls helped immensely.
The first part of the walk is looking down at the beach huts (not part of the Cornwall fantasy) but this sparked off an idea to paint a series of work inspired by the cheery beach huts. The colours and shapes give plenty of scope for an interesting composition. As I was formulating a plan for this series, some people who collect my paintings passed me, being out for their daily exercise. Thank you to everyone who collects my work as this makes such a difference to an artist's life. It's a huge complement and always helps inspire you to carry on. Quite a few artists, writers and musicians now have the opportunity to create more as we have a vast empty space to fill. Although this can feel extremely uncomfortable we need this space to access great ideas. This is something I struggle with during "normal" life, when we're not in lockdown. Being a creative means you need to be in your space most of the time and this leaves much less time for other things. This is something I have felt the need to justify and would like to get my head round. Plenty of time is needed to access the gems which means sitting with yourself a lot of the time. Enjoy the sunshine - I'm going back to the studio to carry on with the beach huts now. I've just realised that it's Palm Sunday and remember that this was a very important day when I was a child. As I went to a Convent school we would make lovely crosses from Palms and go to Mass to celebrate the Sunday before Easter.
I've waited until the end of the day to write the blog, hoping that something interesting would spring to mind. But I can't find the words today. So this painting will have to speak for me. Today I'm finding it very. difficult to differentiate between a weekday and the weekend. I'm sure most people feel the same as each day merges more and more into another. This weekend my friends, Jan and Mark were supposed to be coming to stay for the weekend. Jan and I have been great friends since we were born in 1962 and grew up together on the Isle of Man where we spent a great deal of time at the beach, in the sea or on the sea. I've posted the boat picture as I was reminiscing (to myself) how when we had both finished our O' levels our treat was to sail from the IOM to Plymouth, to deliver the trimaran, Three Legs of Mann, ready for Jan's Dad, Uncle Nick to sail single handed across the Atlantic Ocean. We had a great time, despite me feeling very sick most of the journey and as the wind was 25 knots we sailed at great speed. When you were on watch all you could see was miles and miles of endless sea and a distant horizon. To me it felt like we'd never see land again. I'll never forget the Isles of Scilly appearing in the distance or sailing around the Lizard and Lands End.
It will be a very special occasion when we can see each other again. Freedom of movement was one of the many things we used to take for granted. I'm not making art work today so that I can give myself some brain space for new ideas. The catalogue from Picasso and Paper has just arrived - by way of compensation for not seeing the exhibition again this week. I had seen it once but it's such a vast show I couldn't take it all in and looked forward to at least one more viewing. This book is fantastic and highly recommended if it's up your street. I have managed to severely prune some shrubs that were choking four beautiful ferns but this garden work hasn't grounded me today. Time to get changed out of the grotty gardening clothes I think. Enjoy the sunshine. |
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