painting

15th November 2024

in

It’s been a month since my last post. Kept meaning to pick it up again but got caught up in a cycle of procrastination and mental health issues, plus other stuff going on in the background, it’s been difficult to get into my art head space. No new artworks for a while apart from one thing I may yet abandon. I doubt I’ll really do much this side of Christmas now, maybe start fresh in the new year. Last month I managed to see the Expressionist exhibition at Tate Modern, which I really enjoyed. I feel as though I’ve been living in a artistic void this last year or so, not really getting out there to see exhibitions and grab some inspiration, so the Sunday afternoon visit to see Kandinsky, Munter and the Blue Rider group was like a breath of fresh air. Seeing Kandinsky’s works again reminded me of how much I loved his paintings way back when I first started out on my artistic journey. I even wrote my essay about him for my A-Level. I still have it as well.

Anyway, here’s a selection of photos from the exhibition that stood out for me. (Please excuse the photography!)

Vassily Kandinsky, Cossacks 1910-11

August Macke, Portrait with Apples (Elizabeth With Apples), 1909.

Marianne Werefkin, The Red Tree 1910.

Lyonel Feininger, Gelmeroda III 1913

Vassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc, Der Blaue Reiter, R. Piper & Co, Munich 1914

17th October 2024

in

Going way back now to my A--Level in art and design at Rosetta Studio Workshops (Rosetta Arts). I remember painting the banana skin all day one Thursday, sitting at the back of the studio, no central heating (just one or two electric heaters placed at an inconvenient distance from where I was working), damp from the rain and cold from the soaking I got on the way to the studio that morning, but persevering to get something i was actually quite proud of at the time. I still have this tucked away somewhere, an occasional reminder of how far I came over the intervening years. Also how happy I was then, painting something so ordinary in conditions that were less than ideal and loving every second.

22nd September 2024

in

Apologies for the poor photography. I remember this painting from one of my favourite artists, Edvard Munch, hanging in a show at The British Museum in 2019. The exhibition was called ‘Edvard Munch: Love and Angst’ and the painting ‘The Sick Child’ (1907). It was dark and unsettling, yet beautiful and inspiring at the same time. An experience I’ve never forgot.

27th August 2024

in

2012. My first solo exhibition. This was the culmination of my time in the Rosetta Windows Gallery as a resident artist, making and eventually showing a series of mixed media relief paintings I had produced in my studio space on site. It was a terrific experience and one I always treasure. There was something else going on that year as well…the London Olympics? Something like that. I’m not sure….

24th August 2024

in

Three watercolour sketches from 2007 I did investigating the theme of movement for a City and Guilds Oil painting course I was studying at the time. It ended up forming the basis of a large oil painting composition using basketball players from the subject matter. The painting no longer exists sadly, and I can’t recall right now if I still have an image of it, but to be honest, I have a feeling over the years that I preferred the loose and spontaneous splashes of colour in the rough and ready sketches. They were the keepers.