Summer Sun

As my first wedding anniversary approaches, I found that my latest painting evolved into a memory of my Paphos honeymoon.  We spent many hours walking along the coast, with the lighthouse visible from most of our pathways. It stands like some kind of beacon, and gives you a sense of direction. As I painted, scraped off paint, wiped paint, slashed paint on with my palette knife, gradually I felt the rocks under my feet, and the razor-sharp grasses, and the sparkle of the sea shimmered in front of my eyes. 
My painting became all the more intense as I am going off to Cyprus tomorrow, to celebrate my anniversary on August 5th at this exact place. This painting needs time to sit, as I'm unsure whether I will work on it further. I may come back from Paphos with fresh eyes and make changes, or even start another. That's the wonderful thing about painting - it's fluid, you can change your mind at any time and take a new direction, or not!
('Paphos Lighthouse DeConstructed,'  oil and acrylic on board, 61 x 91cm - in progress)

Saatchi Online surprise

I was very surprised and happy last week to find out that a painting I'd entered into the Saatchi Showdown competition has gone through to the next stage,  a recent painting entitled 'Swings, Roundabouts and Ceanothus.'  I've entered work before into their regular Showdown, where paintings are chosen by the public and 300 go through to another stage, but never had any success.  From almost 3000, I got into the next 300! Now it's the turn of the Saatchi judges, and I have to wait and see. From there, 30 are selected for the final round.  At that point, an artist will select two artists, and one will get the top prize. I'm doubtful I will make it to the next thirty, as I'm not sure my work will be seen by the judges as truly Surrealist (the category of the competition).  It is Surrealist in a way, as I've overlapped and embedded swings, roundabouts and the lovely blue Ceanothus bushes into the painting, and the underlying theme is the swings and roundabouts of life - with the blue Ceanothus of hope.  But it may merely be seen as a mix of impressionism and abstract expressionism.  But at the least, it is lovely to know that people voted for my work.
Life has emulated the theme of my painting this week as it's been a textured mix of good and bad. I was turned down for the Cork Street Open Exhibition. My husband said, 'I told you not to bother, they only want realistic work,' but I'd been tempted by seeing abstract-type paintings in previous exhibitions there. What was truly disgusting was that they didn't even email me the results. My understanding was that we would all be informed by email (this is what they had notified us), and in the end I had to go on the website to find that my name was not included in the chosen ones.  The fees were the highest of any (even higher than the Royal Academy submission), being £38 for two works. I'd submitted two of my best, and I was furious that they didn't respect artists enough to email the results. In no other area of purchase would you pay and get dropped entirely. It's a kind of theft, in my opinion. No one asks you to enter, and it's always a subjective (or biased) process, but any other open submission I've entered has always either emailed or sent the results by post. I am thinking to write an open letter to an art magazine on this theme of the way artists are being taken for a ride!
('Swings, Roundabouts and Ceanothus,' oil and acrylic on canvas, 40 x 80cm)
http://www.saatchionline.com/art/Painting-Acrylic-Swings-Roundabouts-and-Ceanothus/82603/1419085/view

Signposts

There are no signposts saying 'This is the right way.'  I have often wished there were, but that would take away from the broad, exciting sense of journey!
I worked on three new canvases this past week, and in the arid, unposted landscape I found some beacons of encouragement. Friends on Facebook left positive responses to some new work, and noticed glimmers of a new direction. I never wonder am I a good or bad artist? but as the oil paint congeals into a colourless, meaningless paste, support can help you to at least feel positive enough to scrape it off and start again. A Facebook friend, who used to be a dealer/gallery owner left me a comment saying not to be upset by selection committee's responses to my work, and added that he thinks I am 'a brilliant artist.' I will hold on to this when I finally get the courage to open the email from the Cork Street Open Exhibition selectors, saying whether I have been short-listed for the next stage! I received an email from them last week (a circular to all artists who submitted work), saying that we must remember that responses to art are always 'subjective.'  In other words, the £38 I spent was like a throw of the dice!
I am still waiting for the results of my submission to the Latvian residency.  I sent a large number of emails regarding the submission, as I do not have Powerpoint on my computer so couldn't send a Powerpoint presentation, and though I sent 10 images in an email, and a CD of images by post, I was told that this wasn't enough. So I spent hours finding out how to put together a rudimentary slideshow, and attached this to an email. They received it and praised my 'persistant efforts,' and within such a competitive arena I can feel that I did my best. A year ago I wouldn't even have considered applying for such a residency.
My application for funding from Artstap came back negative. No matter - there are plenty of other funding opportunities out there.
('Edges,' oil and acrylic on canvas, 50 x 70cm)

Distant Horizons

My mind is full of thoughts of travelling, both in my work and physically, so I am adding a painting which encapsulates my sense of urgency to move forwards.
Travel and change dominated my week. I have just applied for a residency abroad, which sounds incredibly exciting, and would allow a big development in my work, and also open up new horizons. It is at the Mark Rothko residencies, in Daugavpils, Latvia. It involves making two paintings there, for an exhibition, and includes the use of a studio (great!). Materials and accommodation are provided. Of course, with these international residencies, competition is huge, but I feel in a stronger, more confident position to apply - so we will see what happens!
I have also applied for an art award, with the intention to make a series of large canvases to exhibit in London. My streams of drawings and compositional ideas are crying out to be explored on a larger arena, and while I believe I put forward a good statement, there again competition is stiff! I am currently very restricted by lack of funds.
The exhibition at the Llewellyn Alexander gallery is now open (and my watercolour is on their website), and the Kings Hill Project is also open. So I am working on three new paintings, and finishing two that feel unresolved.
You just have to self-promote, and I have put my work on two new websites, and put work for sale on the saatchi online website (as prints and originals) With my net cast wide, I hope new opportunites are netted.
('Nicosia Evening,' oil on board, 122 x  61cm)
http://www.saatchionline.com/profiles/portfolio/id/82603

Jubilee Celebrations and Dreams

Half-term week coincided with the Jubilee celebrations, which meant painting was squeezed right out of my day. Though I didn't take part in any street parties, I was still finishing off party food from my birthday on 31st May (a party prepared by my husband). The past few days passed in a haze of juggling housework with looking after my niece, interspersed with colourful images of the Jubilee events on the tv. Wistfully, I wondered what it must be like to have the world at your feet, and to have the potential to go anywhere and do anything you dream of.
I liken my flat to a station platform, as my sister and her daughter drift in and out at all times of the day, my husband prepares our food early in the afternoon to avoid the first meal sitting (my mother, sister and niece), and then my other sister joins in the noisy dance in a cramped space. My tiny,temporary painting space disappeared.
Thankfully, my painting materials arrived on my birthday, so I stretched another canvas and began a new painting yesterday - an 80cm by 40cm paintscape. My husband remarked how much happier I always seem when I am able to paint - and then on our walks (in torrential rain this week), we scheme and plan for the money we must find for our many creative projects, and of course a studio! In darker moments I wonder if we will make it, as the news is full of gloom and doom, and our dreams seem far away. But you have to keep on dreaming.
('Taking Flight,' oil and acrylic on canvas, 81cm by 45cm, 2012)

Disruptions

This past week has been so fragmented, with the builders requiring that we move all the potted plants into the centre of our patio area, so they could re-paint window frames and whitewash the walls, and I have not been able to continue my large canvas or finish several that need more work. Added to that was a diagnosis of Tennis Elbow, which has slowed me further! But on Saturday I went out into the land and painted. My husband kept saying, 'Go carefully, you are only making two paintings,' as he was worried I'd over-exert my arm, but it was a delight to work in situ and on such a glorious sunny day. My watercolours are always a bit different in character to my studio work, but I see them as a gathering of visual elements, which then get digested and absorbed into my inner world. Then when I start one of my 'Paintscapes,' these elements re-emerge, though not always with a direct connection.  At that point of departure, the colours and forms become a re-invention, and I find myself surfing on meanings.

(Top: 'Summer Colour,' watercolour and gouache, 16ins by 12ins. Bottom, 'Shadows,' watercolour and gouache, 16ins by 12ins)

Magnetism

In the same way that matter has an attraction to matter, there seems to be a similar magnetic force to events, dates and situations. Why is it that dates so often collide, or form sticky groups within an otherwise unworried filofax? An artist friend suddenly found two Private Views of exhibitions his work is in have popped up on the same day in different parts of the country, necessitating a choice of which to attend. Random groupings seem to have their own underlying energies and life. (It's something I like to think informs my artwork too.)
For the first time ever, I've found myself preparing paintings for delivery to two separate exhibitions in the same week. The dates for delivery to the Not The Royal Academy Exhibition (London), are 21st, 22nd and 23rd May. Today my 10 paintings are being collected for the Kings Hill Project, and on Wednesday I have to fit delivery of my watercolour in between other obligations in a busy week. I'm hoping the attraction of these growing numbers will increase, and pull more opportunities my way!
As I will have more room space, I began a larger canvas (120cm by 80cm), hoping to expand my approach and challenge myself as an artist. I love working on the smaller canvases, but the large ones demand a lot of consideration and 'holes' show up more. In the past I have painted very large canvases, but space restrictions prevented this for a few years. I hung the new, untitled canvas in the bedroom, to surprise my husband on his return from Cyprus.
Top photo: My new in-progress canvas, on the right, with a Blue Baths painting. Below, a close-up. The colours are deeper - but I'm looking forward to tackling it further this week.