New Work, Extended Ideas, New Adventures

'Over the Hills and Far Away,' (China series) acrylic and ink on canvas, 70 x 50 cm

For this post I am just going to add a few new paintings made in the last two weeks. January tends to be quite a busy month because of applying for new opportunities and getting new work ready. It is exciting and also requires much work to follow leads in the work and follow leads to new opportunities.

'Paint-Poem,' acrylic and ink on MDF, 80 x 63 cm

I am also re-posting a few paintings I posted last time which were not of good resolution. 

'When Will We Walk in the Land Again?' acrylic and ink on canvas, 30 x 22 cm

'Don't Worry, Spring Will Soon Be Here,' acrylic and ink on canvas, 30 x 22 cm

I am trying out some ideas about colour and space along with my interest in calligraphy and how places can be suggested with these elements layered and combined. 

'Walking Through Broken Structures,' ink and acrylic on canvas, 65 x 55 cm

I joined Instagram just over a week ago and I have found the instant viewing of artwork really quite helpful to my own practice and in particular the way that paintings can be saved in a private album. This has enabled me to collate work by some of my favourite artists and to have those works in one place. I always look at the work of other artists as a source of inspiration and a reminder that there are no rules, only your own!

'Going Home,' acrylic and ink on MDF, 80 x 65 cm

An Artist's idea of 'good' and 'bad.

'Going Home,' acrylic on MDF, 62 x 80 cm 

This last week I felt happier for getting my painting rhythm back after some weeks of interruptions. When I don't paint I feel that my ideas get blocked and then I become really frustrated! Today I am going to post some of my thoughts from this past week.

My doorway in to re-establishing that rhythm is always to start several paintings. In between painting I think a lot about what 'good' and 'bad' mean for me as an artist. Sometimes in this search and sifting through of elements- most of which appear intuitively and are not forced - I re-evaluate what elements mean the most to me and what is just 'filling in,' or not relevant to the piece I am working on. This may be different for each piece and I allow that difference to happen because without it the work may not step forward. Each piece is a separate entity yet part of the journey. 

'Flying into Amsterdam Airport,' acrylic and ink on canvas, 30 x 22 cm

If I say to myself before I begin painting, 'It has to be more simple in approach,' then that thought will get in the way and force decisions. So I like to work by putting down some paint and seeing where those strands of ideas can be expanded upon or developed in the next painting. I may start with a few colours and in the search for a coherence there may be the need to add more colours or work over colours that are not working well. I think that for each painter this 'well' will be something different and the main thing is to decide what it means for you. 

'The Seagull's Flight,' acrylic and ink on canvas, 30 x 22 cm

This past week I worked on two older paintings - still in progress - 6 smaller canvases, and 2 medium canvases. I also painted on a piece of MDF I had prepared with ideas of working into the textured gesso. (I am posting a few of the new ones.) My thoughts circled around calligraphic marks, colour, space, and my ongoing interest in suggesting landscape or a place without illustrating it. Sometimes paintings may remind me of a place or experience and I allow this to shape the painting. I also want the work to be about paint and to extend some ideas gained through my trips to China. Other than that, it is always and will always be a mystery! Some paintings succeed, some don't, and all the time my intuition about what works keeps evolving.

'Highlands,' acrylic and ink on canvas, 30 x 22 cm

I see the canvas as an arena of discovery and enjoy watching an image emerge. I really enjoy struggling with a canvas. That is when something new may appear. My work seems to alternate between quite complex and simpler paintings. It used to bother me but now I find that the one approach feeds the other approach. 

I believe that intuition becomes honed the more you paint and look at paintings. A few years ago a friend gave me a copy of an interview David Sylvester did with Francis Bacon and I keep in mind the phrase Bacon used about 'trapping' an image. It seems most appropriate for my way of working.

Potential

'Routes and Directions,' acrylic on canvas, 92 x 73 cm

I have always hated the first week of January! Somehow it is without shape, neither the festive end of the year or full of new, memorable events -  mostly a conglomerate of bad weather and dim light! But over the years I have learned to use that first week as a time to write lists of aims for the year and to start new work. I believe that the sluggishness I feel is due to lack of light because when I go to Cyprus at this time of year to visit my in-laws I always feel brighter. But with the beginning of January I have discovered that new directions seem to be triggered by that imaginary line between old and new.

A family illness has interrupted my regular posts and also my intention to write a review of the Beijing International Art Biennale. This will have to be delayed for the moment. For now, I am going to post a few paintings from last year. Straight after this post I am going back to work on the 3 new paintings begun this week. I am still exploring the way that paint can suggest places and at this point I feel that some figuration may find its way back in to the paintings.

'Feeling My Way Through the Land,' acrylic and ink on canvas, 30 x 22 cm

'Fiona's-World,' acrylic and oil on board, 60 x 33 cm

As a first step also into the New Year, I joined Instagram! I had put it off for quite a while, finding my Twitter and Facebook accounts enough, but some artist friends from the 2017 Beijing International Art Biennale convinced me to create a profile on there. As I have discovered, artists need platforms to profile themselves and their work. Things move so fast, you need to be seen regularly!