Artists Working in Isolation: A Personal Experience

'Coastal Flooding,' oil on canvas, 30 x 23 cm

As lockdown eases a bit here in the UK, my anxiety has also eased a little though strangely my output of painting has not been affected. If anything, the 3 months of restrictions caused an even greater concentration on my painting and my 2020 album on my website is packed with new work made since March 23rd. The painting above was completed this week and reflects the gradually changing conditions in that I've picked up the threads on a past theme of climate change. Up till this moment I was focused on a series of collage and mixed media works which was largely directed by wanting to escape to new places or were reflections on the new territory we find ourselves in. Now these themes are alternating with painting on canvas again.

Most artists work in isolation much of the time but the main difference has been that we couldn't meet up or visit each other's studios and exhibitions. There have been many online events, discussions, and online exhibitions and we've had to find new ways to connect with our audience.

Materials take much longer to arrive at the moment so while making collage works on card I've been re-working unresolved paintings, some from a few years ago. For this post I'm showing a few of these plus a new painting made for a show in China later this year (which may end up being postponed).

'Garden of Light,' oil on canvas, 40 x 30 cm

I've also gone back to working with oil paint again after having spent these 3 months working with ink, acrylic, papers and gesso on card. 

'Paintscape,' oil on board, 37 x 47 cm

Finally, this medium sized painting was painted entirely in acrylic. Last August as a particpant at the 8th Beijing International Art Biennale I was one of 30 artists selected to go out sketching in the landscape near the mountains. It was a 90 minute journey and I worked with ink on paper. This painting is a composite of memories of my month's painting Fellowship at the Great Wall in 2016, 4 trips to China, and reflections on my visits which evolved into waterfalls of colour. The painting was also influenced by the many mixed media works I was creating. I could have chosen any of the viewpoints I sketched though none were close up views of mountains, but as I love mountains, and they symbolise journeys and I remember the long journey to the mountains at the Great Wall, this image grew from those layers of thought.

'Waterfalls of Colour,' acrylic on canvas, 93 x 78 cm

Fiona Stanbury's Interview Featured in Art Habens Magazine, April 2020

'Night Gathering,' (3) acrylic on canvas, 20 x 25 cm

Recently I completed an interview for the international online art magazine, Art Habens. The questions they sent me were really insightful and interesting to answer and caused me much reflection. I ended up with 35 pages of text and images, one of the longest interviews published! I'm planning to print it up as a small catalogue.

This is the Link:

https://issuu.com/arthabens/docs/biennial.ed.xvii/190

And an image from the opening page of the magazine....

In the last few weeks I've been more busy than ever. Firstly, finishing 2 paintings for an exhibition in China later this year which I was invited to submit work to as a participant of the 8th Beijing International Art Biennale in August 2019. At that time 30 artists were taken into the landscape around Beijing and we made sketches which have been the inspiration for the artwork.

This is one of the paintings I made.

'Waterfalls of Colour,' acrylic on canvas, 85 x 65 cm

Since I last wrote I've been continuing with my Lockdown series which began during the 30 Works 30 Days global art project in April, mentioned previously. This forced me to use new materials as due to the pandemic my delivery of materials was delayed and has generated an ongoing series of mixed media works along with works on canvas. One of the new themes is based on night gatherings or what I have viewed sadly as a lack of night gatherings. The only time I feel a sense of community on the street where I live is when we all go out at 8pm on a Thursday evening to clap the NHS and carers and keyworkers. So the painting I'm posting today is one of my series remembering the life I used to see on the streets at night and the buzz of social interactions. This is one of an ongoing series.

30 Works 30 Days: End of an Artist Project Followed During Lockdown

'Where My Thoughts Wander,' acrylic, ink, pen, papers and gesso on card, 30 x 20 cm

This global project which had over 1000 artists from 42 countries ended on April 30th. You had to submit an artwork each day during April, and 5 or 6 artists were selected each day to have their works shown on the 12ocollective Instagram pages. The 12ocollective website ended up with over 18,000 artworks and I believe everyone completed this challenge for lockdown.

I had the following painting, made on DAY 21, displayed on the 12ocollective Instagram post for that day. I was really pleased to be chosen in amongst so many entries each day! This little painting was painted as a longing for street gatherings at night. My neighbourhood seems so quiet these days and the only time I become aware of any kind of community is when everyone comes out on a Thursday evening at 8pm to clap for the NHS, carers and keyworkers.

'Night Gathering,' acrylic and ink on card, 30 x 20 cm

As I mentioned in a previous post, my art materials were delayed in arriving and I was forced to use cardboard and card to make my paintings and collages. It turned out to be a positive restriction because it opened up a different way of working and seeing painting elements. I made a very large series of collages, in fact the mixed media works took over towards the end of the challenge. For this short post I'm including a few of the collages. I found working with mixed materials beneficial because limitations always force you to find new ways to assemble an image, and in particular I was thinking about edges, transitions between colours, brush strokes and patterns. This will now feed back into the large paintings on canvas.

'Mountain Route,' (3) acrylic, ink, gesso, papers on card, 30 x 20 cm

'Entering a New Land,' acrylic, rice paper, ink and gesso on card, 30 x 20 cm

''Wishing to Travel Far,' acrylic, rice paper, ink and gesso on card, 30 x 20 cm

More works will follow later this week or they can be seen on my artist website, the link is at the top right side of the blog page.