Ink Paintings and How I Break Painting 'Blocks.'

'Waterfall,' ink and acrylic on rice paper, 98 x 78 cm

Though most artists constantly evaluate their work and direction, there are times when you feel such a pressing need to try new things and to extend your current work approach, and almost to start from the beginning. This - my Birthday week - has been such a week! I usually go back to ink on rice paper because the unexpected movement of the ink, which can only be controlled to a certain point, always suggests new shapes, rhythms and marks. 

I was fortunate to start to explore rice paper after my first trip to China (for the 6th Beijing International Art Biennale, 2015), when I bought rice paper in Beijing. It really suited my way of using spontaneous brush strokes and mark making, and during my China painting residency (2016) I was able to buy a much larger supply of rice paper and worked on it at the same time as working on canvas, so the language filtered from one medium to another. 

Two works in process, yesterday. Both from my Tundra series.

Whenever I feel a 'block' in my creative process, I go back to working in ink or watercolour because it allows quick experiments and it is especially helpful to work across 3 or more paintings. It is like setting a trap for paint ideas and you have to be totally open to what appears - any criticising of the painting comes during coffee breaks. Yesterday I worked on 3 pictures on rice paper and then ran out of rice paper! (Today, for my Birthday gift, I ordered a tube of rice paper.) Some of these paintings may come together quite quickly, some may need layering and deepening of certain areas or colours, but they always stimulate ideas for new work on canvas.

Two became three! Left painting is posted below.

I like to work on the paper on the floor so I can view it from all sides. While these become spontaneous paint-landscapes or paintscapes, my focus is to let the brush strokes and colours become the essence of the imagery and at the same time allow it to be suggestive of a place or scene. I want that fusion of the magic of paint and the qualities of the medium to shine through. Rice paper is unforgiving so you have to feel the marks as they appear and respond to them - wasted papers can become collages!

'They were Stranded on the Mountain at Night,' ink and acrylic on rice paper. 98 x 68 cm

I think that the passion that pulls me forwards is the need to combine this evolving paint language with my earlier interests in shapes and colour. For this reason I may also try some collage and work on raw, unstretched canvas, as I did in China. I want to try some completely new things over the next few weeks, keeping certain elements, rearranging them, using new materials, new combinations, just to see what might happen.

At the moment I am waiting to hear the results of some exhibition applications but the need to make new work is always an antidote to wondering about acceptance! 

The main thing with 'blocks,' which happen to everyone no matter how much experience they have, is not to let them stop you working. They are a great opportunity to try something different, a new medium or approach, and certainly you need to just carry on painting because sooner or later unexpected ideas come forth. I see blocks as hills to go over and beyond them is a wider vista.

Instagram is an Incredible Tool for Artists

'Mountain-Tracks,' ink, acrylic and oil on canvas, 55 x 45 cm

I began using Facebook in 2009 and I have found it a very useful tool for connecting with artists around the world and discussing artwork and also exchanging tips and information. Then I joined Instagram a few months ago after an artist friend persuaded me to open an account, and now I am finding that I am spending more time on there than on Facebook! This may be to do with it being so 'instant,' because I can visit it on my iPad anytime and a few touches take me into other artist's work and any 'likes' of my posts pop up both on my iPad home screen and while I am browsing Instagram. I soon reached 1,200 followers and I feel I can access other artists faster than I can on Facebook. 

Another useful feature is that it also makes suggestions of artists and galleries based on my previous search history and this is very helpful because I don't need to spend so much time searching for information, and I have connected with galleries and curators very easily. Some then chose to follow my work.

'Ink Journey,' ink and acrylic on rice paper, 98 x 78 cm

The aspect I like about Social Media is that it allows me to see art from around the world and this really challenges my own work. I can also get feedback and connect with like-minded people. On Instagram the continual popping-up of imagery helps me to constantly evaluate my own artistic focus. This is not in order to 'copy' other artists' work but just to tighten up my technique, appraise my approach or to extend my directions. I believe that artists are always evaluating their work but this visual plethora of imagery really keeps you critically aware! Facebook is very good for long discussions about issues, or asking for tips on materials, but Instagram is better for seeing imagery fast and making those connections quickly. In a few minutes you can browse a great variety of painting techniques, subject matter, approaches and visual and written ideas.

On a different subject, I mentioned in an earlier post that I had been interviewed for a magazine. This interview has just been published in Art Reveal magazine, issue 39. It can be read online or bought as a printed copy.

Below this post is a link to the magazine cover and my interview can be found on pages 78 to 83.

Time for the new issue!

Time for the new issue!

Different but Painted with the Same Hand

'February Poem,' oil on canvas, 60 x 45 cm

I used to worry a lot about consistency of approach in my work but in the last few years this worry has simply become irrelevant. I don't censor myself because everything feeds into my core approach and both figuration and abstraction overlap in my work. Ideas spin off in to other ideas and I want to keep it all flowing. 

Before art school I was initially tutored by a traditional landscape artist and the first painting I am posting reflects this. It is being entered for a landscape event and it was inspired by a group of trees I pass several times a week. I love the colours of winter (even though most of my work is brightly coloured), and while much of my work is process driven, this ended up being an intense exploration of those subtle winter colours and the movement of branches. Sometimes I like to return to this more figurative mode of working because it helps me 'tighten up' my abstract based work and pushes me to think about edges and drawing, which are as important components in abstraction or spontaneous ways of working as they are in figurative paintings.

'Integration,' oil and acrylic on canvas, 100 x 140cm

This second painting is a work that is still in progress - a previous version was posted quite recently - and I am still thinking about it. I wanted a lot of empty space in this painting and the theme is integration and I wanted the figures to integrate with the 'bricks' of colour and to become brick-like in places, and for various shapes to emerge from the landscape to symbolise evolving ideas and connections. This is largish, 100 x 140 cm.

'Eventually the Light came back,' acrylic and ink on canvas, 60 x 45 cm

I am also getting back to working from my ink paintings and taking ideas from them on to canvas. I enjoy the life of brush strokes. The above posted painting may still be in progress. Once I have finished the more figurative based paintings I will be painting a series of ink works on rice paper and taking them on to very large canvases to explore the liquid qualities of paint, mark making and drawing with colour.

My main point is, do what you need to do. Let it make sense later when connections may be revealed. This way new ideas slowly filter through and there is no right or wrong way.

PS. I was pleased to find that my painting 'Land Spirits' arrrived in Macedonia safely (posted in the previous post).