Style

Building Layers with Mixed Media

Building Layers with Mixed Media

How do you integrate drawing and painting techniques in your artwork? Watch how I vary wet and dry media with differences in types of paint application. Working in this way holds my interest in the process and delivers variety to work with going forward.

Questions to ask...

New Beginnings...

New Beginnings...

I also really enjoyed letting loose with drawing and using dry media a lot more in my paintings when I was working on the large sized paintings. This added a playful looseness which I really liked and prevented me working in a straight-line towards finishing when after each painting session I would draw and scribble over the painting. Coming back into it the next day I would cover a lot of the drawing over but the little remnants that peeped through were really fun suggesting a naivety which I liked.

Finishing a Painting II

Finishing a Painting II

Follow the final moves as I bring this mixedmedia painting to it’s finished state. This painting integrates photocopied images with paint and collage.

Is there ‘Precious’ in your Studio?

Is there ‘Precious’ in your Studio?

Finally, the insistent call of the outside world drags us away and we close the studio door on that tangled grid-locked mess of paint, hope, and self-belief. As we square up to the dishwasher and the dusting that secret smile is now a nagging sense of dread. Am I good enough? Why can’t I figure this out? I’ve killed my precious ….

Finishing a Painting

Finishing a Painting

Watch the finishing stage of this mixed media painting with photo collage. In this video I demonstrate how I finished the painting, analysed what it needed and made final changes.

Learning to make Art without Fear

Learning to make Art without Fear

So how do we get the confidence in the beginning when we don’t know that much? We have success. How do we have success when we’re beginning? We need bite-size chunks, roadmaps, guides – frameworks that keep us on track, keep us safe while allowing us to make decisions and learn.

Be Battle-Ready with your Painting Process

Be Battle-Ready with your Painting Process

Another confession: when I stepped into the studio yesterday on our return and looked at my 4 large paintings leaning against the wall, I felt slightly anxious. How can I move them forward? how can I find some clarity? Can I actually do this?

Is Your Art "GOOD ART"?

Is Your Art "GOOD ART"?

Recently a student in my stARTs course reached out to me for some feedback regarding her work. She wanted to know if it was ‘good’. BIG QUESTION. I remember so clearly being at the stage she is at now. Working tirelessly on improving my work and finding my ‘style’. I liked parts of it but was dissatisfied with so much of it and was struggling to find a process that gave me the results that I loved.

How to make my paintings more like ME

How to make my paintings more like ME

IN the past this question was my starting point. And also my finishing. I had no idea what sort of art I wanted to do. I had some sort of notion that I should be expressing something earth shattering or at least an original take on some serious notion that most probably has been tackled before. It stifled me from the get go. What did I have to say that hadn’t been said before and probably better. I had no idea, but I made art anyway. The problem was I was a harsh critic, and I saw right through my flimsy endeavours. There were some paintings I liked, and some that others liked and bought, but all the time I knew that really I was faking it. I had no idea what to produce next, and no driving urge to unleash my soul on the canvas like the ‘real’ artists.