Friday 29 July 2016

Trying to install a blog app!

I am hoping I can get this blog app installed before I travel or I will not be able to post while in China! 
 
It worked! 
The above photo is of me with my recently painted large trees panel.

Countdown!

'Chinese Journey,' acrylic on canvas, 70 x 50 cm
In 48 hours, all being well, I should be waiting in Paris for my connecting flight to Beijing! I am at this moment not sure if the current airline strike will affect my travel plans but I am optimistically doing my last minute packing, watering my many plants, and finishing some housework and emails, etc. Why is it that there always seems to be so much unexpected stuff to do before you go away?

I am hoping to be able to post each day on this blog, and to have enough quiet to reflect on my work and to take it to places that time recently has not allowed it to explore. We will see!

Next post should be from China!

Thursday 21 July 2016

Before China - 9 days to go!

ink on rice paper
I bought most of my materials in Brighton last Saturday (incredible sale in Cass art!) and have also stocked up on watercolour paper and drawing paper so that when I arrive, and until I can go in to Beijing to buy other materials, I will have something to make a brush mark on! Mostly I am taking acrylics and some ink but in Beijing I will buy huge canvases, calligraphic brushes, copious supplies of ink, large sheets of rice paper, and anything else that may be interesting to combine. I'm also thinking how I will display my work when I make my exhibition at the end (clips, etc) so there has been a lot of planning and list making!
ink on rice paper
Last year, when I was Beijing for the 6th Beijing International Art Biennale (as one of five artists representing the UK in a 96 country exhibition), I had the chance to buy rice paper and wonderful calligraphic brushes. These paintings are some of the works I made from memory of the visit to the Great Wall of China (as part of our tour, as invited artists), and I am really happy to get the chance to go back to that area to do a painting residency! This has come at exactly the right moment as I want a period of quiet to work all day on some ideas, and to explore further the life force of brush strokes.
acrylic on board
I feel that this month in China will really have a huge impact on my work. For some years I had prayed for a month's residency as the need for quiet and solitude became more and more pressing, and I applied for two in a remote area of Scotland but did not get them (they went, surprisingly, to photographers!) But then China came up. It relates very well to my ideas on many levels because as a child I used to copy Chinese paintings of animals and landscapes. I found a library book that was full of very simple ink paintings and I loved the way that a few brush strokes could hold the essence of a place or animal. But as well as wanting to catch this life spirit, I also want to explore the life inherent in brush strokes and see where this will lead. 
ink on rice paper
All of these paintings are poems about my trip into the mountains to see the Great Wall of China. Please follow my blog while I am in China! (August 1st to August 30th)

Monday 18 July 2016

Beach inspirations

 
Though I am going to China soon and I am thinking how I will respond to the landscape there, I am also thinking how inspiring the sea at Brighton is and I may make a few more paintings to explore this theme. Especially I like the sea in stormy weather and I am posting a few photos of the sea on different days. 

I may explore this theme further on my return from China. I think the things that interest me the most are the wide spaces animated in places by boats and people and also the variety of colours in the water and the way the colours change according to the sky and winds.

Tuesday 12 July 2016

Half-way Through

Over two weeks have passed since the TWIAF and they have been filled with mostly jobs other than painting! I have only managed to work on small canvases and feel that my work is in the middle of a re-evaluation and change. My trip to China will give me time to focus on where I want to go from this point.
'A Landscape of Choices,' oil and acrylic on board, 91 x 61 cm

The last two weeks have taken me into the joys of summer, with a trip to Brighton and a wonderful barbecue with artist friends. I was indoors for much of June and couldn't enjoy the abundant beauty and colour of that month!
'Edges,' acrylic on canvas, 70 x 50 cm

I don't want the summer to pass as fast as it is doing - once you are mid-way into July you start to feel that you are half way through. The days have also disappeared into a vortex of activity relating to trivial everyday stuff and preparing for my trip to China at the end of the month. Meanwhile my lovely patio garden passes almost unseen some days.

'Waiting,' oil and acrylic on canvas 40 x 30 cm

For this post I am including some paintings from a few years ago.