Found this on Youtube - pretty amazing!
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Still going strong with my subdued colours - or am I..... I still miss my bright colours, but I'm not giving up just yet :) Here's a couple of paintings I'm working on at the moment - still very much in progress - and I still don't like showing them at this stage - but... it's good for me to do this. It's good for me to acknowledge that this is what I'm doing and that it'll turn out OK once they're finished... I'm learning to be brave :) I've worked a bit more on my latest painting - and this is what I've got so far. Everybody says it's finished - but I'm just so used to so much going on in my paintings that I find it really hard to believe this painting is finished... is it really? But I guess this is where I've to be 'strong' - to NOT add anything more :)  We had our biannual MFA seminar today - and what an amazing seminar! We've tried the last two or three times to decide on a group exhibition and how to do this, but somehow we haven't been able to get anything done - but this time, WE DID IT :) So we now know what we're going to work towards - we've set up deadlines, as most of us work best with deadlines... and we've got a long to-do list of things to happen. So an amazingly productive - and yet fun - day. How lovely - and lucky - to have people like this to work with :) I'm liking my new challenge! At the moment I'm trying to do subdued colours compared to my usual paintings ( which are very, very bold and bright in colours :) Here's the beginning of a bigger one - 1200 x 2000 mm. And remember - it's just the beginning - but maybe that's my problem - I keep working on them and more and more colours sneak their way into the painting... so let's see what happens next :)  But... I've found an unfinished painting that doesn't really fit in when it comes to this new challenge... and I'm so much in doubt as to whether I paint it over or try and finish it... I should really paint it over, but there are so many areas in this painting that I really like - so it's a very hard decision...  Not good - but I have to admit that I've been too busy to update my blog... which is not good, as the blog is there to remind me what I've done.... so I kind of have to remember to write my blog otherwise it's not working... I've given myself a new challenge - and I do love challenges :) I'm going to try and paint 'for the market' for the next year - which is not something an artist would normally admit to, as some say it's 'prostituting' yourself. But I'm doing it because I want to find out whether I can actually 'read' the market. Read the people who wants a painting over their sofa. A painting that fits the curtains - or a painting that fits a certain wall/size. I'm just curios to find out what it is that drives people to buy paintings? Do they buy the painting because they love it and just 'fell for it' - or do they buy it because it 'fits'.... (and then there are the investors of course but that's something totally different :) So now I just have to find out what it is the market wants :D First I'll try to tone down my very strong colours - as that is probably going to be the hardest one for me..... and once I've (hopefully) managed that, I'll take the next step - adding something recognizable in my work... And I'm going to allow myself a very broad definition of 'recognizable' :) So I've only just started - and as you know, this is the difficult part, where I'm showing how 'bad' my work looks when I first start out.... not proud to show it, but it's important for me to document what I'm actually doing - otherwise I might forget... :) Found a new fascinating artist; Giuseppe Penone. I love his materials - so textured and tactile, so me :)  “Eyelid” [Palpebra], 1989-1991. Charcoal on unwoven fiber and plaster, 13¼ x 65¾ ft. (variable). Courtesy of the De Pont Foundation for Contemporary Art, the Netherlands. We've just had one of our MFA seminars (or In-FlUhKs seminars) - as we call ourselves In-FlUhKs :) We'd invited a couple of guests this time, to give us some feedback on our work. One of the guests was Tim Melville - the owner of Tim Melville Gallery in Auckland. And he gave his honest - and much appreciated - feedback on our work. So I had a lot of good feedback on my hessian pieces - but somehow I'm just not happy with these pieces - even though they would be soo easy to ship around the world.. which was part of the idea from the beginning. Haven't done anything in the studio since my last blog post - in November.... Had a couple of surgeries for Melanoma, but I'm now back - and the Melanoma is GONE, GONE !! And we have another Masters Seminar coming up - 16 April - where I need to create 2 new pieces of work... so I'm kind of in a hurry ;) Was in studio for the first time this week - and the idea I've got is to continue my work with hessian - as I love working with the rough surface. I'll then incorporate some more of my 'domesticated' materials like; fabric, buttons, wool, etc. Here's my first test. First I had to iron the hessian - which is not an easy job... and then I had to test how much binder to use. And then - I had to let it dry - which is the difficult part, as I haven't got the patience for that! So now I'm really excited to see what it looks like when I get it off the floor !! More to follow!
Been way too busy in the office lately - and that'll have to change as I miss painting! So went to the studio yesterday and did a little bit of work on some smaller paintings that I need to finish... |
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March 2018
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