Arriving at the final destination so soon in a painting’s journey deprives it of a history and depth in character which only a more lengthy process will give. A painting that is cut short of this process has a ‘thinness’ or a flat feel about it. What you see on the surface is all there is. When a painting has texture it delivers so much more and can be irresistible when the viewer moves in close.
10 Tips for Painting BIG
Recently I have started 4 new paintings. These babies are BIG!! Well, they’re the biggest paintings I‘ve ever done. Initially I was a little nervous about starting them as this was foreign territory. I tried not to dwell on the volume of expensive paint I was going to consume, so to quell that nagging fear I ordered another bucket of gesso. That would get me started. I bought myself a couple of wider bigger brushes and I bought a squeegee so I could move the paint around the canvas quickly with one swoop. I was concerned with economy & efficiency you see.
Criticism and Creativity – Can they Co-exist?
When I was 11 it was my legs, in my teens it was my freckles, my boobs – or lack of, my teeth, certain aspects of my parents, our religion and the family car. In my 20’s still the boob thing, lack of career direction and my inability to hook a decent man. My 30’s saw the concern about the man intensify.. In my 40’s it was a general lack of organisation, uncontrol of my two young children – (yes, I managed to find myself a man.) My 50’s has been all about my internal thermometer control and sleep – both far too erratic. What has all this got to do with Abstract Painting?
Instagram for Art - Real or just another reel?
As an Artist, social media is like a Gallery in the sky– I can put up a post and show my work to thousands of people at the touch of a digit on a little blue tick. But that Gallery has a dark side which really gets on my goat – as it were. It’s like a voracious monster that has to be fed. The “social-queen” at school that everybody has to be on good terms with. It’s some sort of 21st Century measure of your popularity and ‘coolness’. I was always a fringe-dweller at school which is probably why the INSTA-Queen rankles me.
The 4 Stages of a Painting
Finding Your Style
You don’t have to know what your style is when you embark on your artists journey. When you are further down the path, you can look back and you will see the clues. Colours, marks, techniques you have favoured. Combinations of shapes and preferences for compositional arrangements that seem to keep popping up in your work.
Unfinished Paintings
This last week I’ve been creating content for my new course FIX & FINISH. In this course I will equip my students with a process so they can expect to finish all their paintings and be happy with them. They will start a painting knowing that they will be able to navigate to the end and solve any problem they encounter on the way. In the back of my mind I can hear the doubters saying “Wow, that’s a tall order. Every painting?” Yes, EVERY PAINTING!!
The Top Tool in my Paintbox
Gels & Mediums - What I Use
Painting is My Teacher
Some paintings have given me learning that has freed me up completely, adjusted my thinking and changed the narrative that plays in my head. One in particular I will always be grateful for as it gave me an anchor that ever since has kept me secure and absolutely embedded in the knowledge that whatever I do in a painting it will all be for the good.
Expert Mistakes
How to Mount Works on Paper onto a Cradled Panel
5 Top Tips to Making Better Art
Selling: the elusive WHITE WALLS
I will happily sell my work online to anyone who wants to buy, and I will happily ship my paintings off to galleries if they want to sell my work. I’ll even book another Art Fair next year. But I’m not going to do mental gymnastics trying to come up with new venues and ways of getting my work on other people’s walls in front of other people’s eyes. I don’t really care enough.
Just FRAME IT!!
On reflection, this process of decision making and being stuck and stalled in indecision has given me renewed insight. I see this in many artists who ask my advice about their paintings. They are stuck, they have a hunch on what they should do, but they need affirmation that this is the right course of action and they lack the courage to act in case they ruin the work.
Substrates.... & Finishing
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.
Are Your Knickers Showing?
You be THE JUDGE
Last night I had an epiphany. I have been mulling over what paintings to enter into a couple of upcoming award shows. This can be a valuable way of gaining credibility and recognition if you become a finalist and have your work exhibited in the show, and also if you should be lucky enough to win an award.
