Sneaky Self Portraits

The Ruth Borchard Self-portrait Prize happens every two years. You can tell because Instagram feeds fill up with self-portraits in the run up to the submission date.  People have been sharing the email they receive when they have been selected – it is a beautiful acceptance to the long-list letter.  I haven’t heard anything, so I guess it’s a ‘no’ but I love making (mostly sneaky) self-portraits and these are some of them.

My Macy’s Flower Show

I Used to be Cool ; Now I paint Flowers

Self Portrait as Cinderella

Pink Pussy Hat and Potus

The year of colour and Pattern, I guess

On Instagram, I took part in the ten day challenge.  That is an opportunity to post older work for ten consecutive days. I don't often look back, and the task of choosing was interesting.  One thing that I noticed was that, in general, my work (of late) is much bolder and brighter, not to mention more detailed than what I was doing before. People liked my older work, and so do I, but what I'm doing now makes me happy, now.

Today I finished a piece that reminds me of a hawaiian shirt. That is an after-thought, but if I were shopping, it would be the shirt I would choose.

Self Portrait in Eden, egg tempera on panel, 30 x 22 cm, March 2021

Last week was about romance and the cliche of red of pink (Bridgerton style). It turns out painting all that red is tough, though.

Me and My Duke, egg tempera on panel, 30 x 25 cm, Feb 2021

The week before was about colour and pattern and the hope of warm weather and would the pandemic be over enough for a trip to Maine.

A New Season, egg tempera on panel, 30 x 22 cm, Feb 2021

And before that I wanted to bring the sunshine inside and painted a tribute to some beautiful golden apples.

Golden Apple Days, egg tempera on panel, 26 x 26 cm, Feb 2021

Birds Eye View of Eleanor

Eleanor Top Down pastel on paper prepared with tinted pastel ground, 16.5 x 16.5 cm, 30 min pose

One of the things a skilled life drawing teacher with a capable technician CAN do with zoom is to provide attendees with angles they can’t normally get.  Last night at Insight Art’s life drawing, Mick Kirkbride treated us to some overhead views of Eleanor. 

Eleanor as a continent pastel on paper prepared with tinted pastel ground, 16.5 x 13 cm, 25 min pose

Earlier in the session Mick had zoomed in on Eleanor’s hands and showed us some strategies for drawing them.  While drawing the hands I had in my head the idea of touch, so when Mick offered up the overhead views, I was in an abstract, touch sensitive mood.

You can find out more about the zoom life drawing classes here: https://www.insight-art.co.uk/classes/life-drawing.php

Choosing a support

The difference between working with egg tempera on paper versus a panel is something I have been thinking about. My first painting of 2021 was an egg tempera on paper primed on both sides repeatedly with Sintopia then I used PVA to attach it to a piece of thick, acid free, mountboard. I pioneered this support (for me) last January and sort of enjoyed working on the surface.  I liked the otcome. One of my friends wondered why the pieces painted on paper were brighter than my panels. 

Foo Dog and Flowers, egg tempera on paper primed with Sintopia, laid on board 21 x 15 cm, Jan 2021

Weekend Garden, egg tempera on panel, 25 x 27 cm, Jan 2021

I’m not sure if it is the material or the way I work with it. Last year I found the sintopia was very absorbent and dried instantly.  This year I didn’t find it as dry. Painting on a panel is more satisfying.  The surface builds up evenly and it is a gorgeously smooth. The paper is more resistant. Also, the product feels more substantial. I’d be curious to hear what you think!

Looking back at 2020

One of the things I will remember 2020 for is the Portraits for NHS Heroes initiative, started by Tom Croft http://www.thomascroft.co.uk/portraits-for-nhs-heroes/ I painted nine portraits between the spring and the end of the year. 

Another thing that happened in 2020, which is related to painting from photos, is the way I felt more able to work from life and then ignore what was in front of me to blend in objects from photos to say exactly what I wanted to say. The thrill of creating a still life that doesn’t really exist anywhere but in my head and to make it believable, was a turning point. https://virtualdrawinggroup.blogspot.com/2020/06/when-real-people-popped-up-in-my-still.html

Juried Shows

I find that November is the season for applying to my favourite open calls, the thought of selection, rejection and what it would be like to be part of a society that chooses, occurred to me and that set in motion the idea for the title and next I had to imagine how to convey the sense of a juried show with my drawing.

JUried Show Two

When setting up a still life I sometimes use a piece of my old work to introduce a different shape or colour. At the moment I am trying to choose what to submit for the Pastel Society. My first drawing around the title was a sneaky way to include both my opened books and a more traditional pastel.

I read a book about Matisse’s practice a few years ago that addressed how he revisited paintings, making more than one of the same motifs. Pieces of the set up remain from Juried Show 1.

Some of what was in front of me was a different scale to what I represented.  I wanted the ‘judges’ to be more animated and that helped me to choose the figurines. The pomegranate juxtaposed with the abstract work says something to me about that tension between figurative and abstract.   

Juried Show One

I challenged myself with that light foreground pattern. There were lots of patterns and colours to contend with. And at lunch time I was  - this close -  to giving up. I removed some things, changed the scale on another and fought on. 

I shared an earlier version on Instagram that was taken when the light was fading.  Today I deepened some colours to look more like the badly lit version.  Art imitates itself imitating itself! Ha.

A Different Kind of Mark

Insight zoom classes happen three times per week, so by the third class (Thursdays), I know what to expect.  This week Mick showed us some of Henry Moore’s drawings and set two long poses (50 mins to 1 hr) to give us the opportunity to draw mass. The first two weeks I focussed on mark making and didn’t like my drawings, particularly. I am adding one to compare.

Yesterday I cleaned up my monoprinting inks (Akua) so by 7:15, pm, when the class began, I was ready to make different kinds of marks. I roll ink on a zinc plate and remove and add ink using Qtips, a rag, the back of a brush and brushes.  I have many akua intaglio ink colours and mix them on a flexible cutting board with a palette knife. Sometimes I need a little blending oil to make them pliable.

Each of these has areas I would have revisited if I had been able to… that’s the thing about monoprinting life drawings. But I guess it’s about the marks.

I printed one of these with my little Gunning Press on damp off white Heritage 315 gm paper and the other (accidentally) on damp cartridge.

Daily Work

Autumn Jamboree, pastel on paper, 16.5 x 16.5 cm

I set myself objectives every day.  These are usually vague and open-ended.  That’s because the way I work is intuitive. Yesterday’s (and this morning’s) task was to set something up that used my flowers (they are dwindling), to draw an image that might be suitable for my annual holiday/Christmas card, and to make my best work that I might consider to submit for either Discerning Eye bursary or the Pastel Society open.  This is too pink for December, although I think the basket of berries fits the bill and the reds and yellow work. 

 It’s interesting to look back on my work from a few years ago.  It was much looser and I worked more quickly.  It seems that I have ‘learned’ that my ‘best work’ takes longer and is more descriptive.  Is that an outcome from my year as a New English Drawing Scholar?

What do you think about any of this?

Life drawing on Zoom in no longer a novelty

For me, Zoom life drawing classes are more than a novelty now.  On a good week I ‘attend’ three classes https://www.insight-art.co.uk .  Mick Kirkbride structures the classes so that we have a mix of short poses and longer poses and he always shows us the work of one or two artists to frame the way we might choose to look at the poses and respond to them.

The three classes are equivalent, same resources, but different models. Last night I think the model’s name was Eleanor. We began with two three minute poses followed by a five minute pose and two longer poses, I think they were 40 and 30 minutes. After the quick poses we looked at Bernard Dunstan, RA and NEAC https://chrisbeetles.com/artist/619

Who wouldn’t be inspired by Bernard Dunstan?

Painting People

Our portrait group began again, for how long no one knows, but it was brilliant to get back to painting from life (right there in the room). I have painted Dawn many times but my enthusiasm for what I was looking at was as if I had never seen her before.

Most of my portraits are from photos these days, though. Today, I completed my fifth NHS portrait for Heroes.  Laura sent me a few photos.  The colour is sort of true to life in the heightened way I see things. https://artsandculture.google.com/project/healthcare-heroes

Ashley Bryan is a hero in Maine.  A few summers ago, we visited him on the neighbouring island and he talked us through his collections and told us pieces of his life story. I had known him as a child, but listening to him in his home made a vivid impression on me. https://ashleybryancenter.org

Serendipity of Rain

I returned a few days ago from a painting holiday on Holy Island where I was with four other artists, under the sage and encouraging eye of Mick Kirkbride (NEAC).

I had never been to Holy Island and I hadn’t really strayed far from my home and the adjoining villages since lockdown, so my anticipation was high and nothing about the four days disappointed, even the daily rain. 

I did not paint, choosing to draw, instead, on sketchbooks and in my altered book sketchbooks, made specially for the visit. (More in a subsequent blog post). 

This drawing was looking out to sea with the rain coming at me. I only had pastels and they puddled on the page, but I got out a rag and moved the pigment around, trying to capture the milky light and the rough grass.  

Rain Near Priory

pastel on paper, 16 x 16 cm 2/9/2020

Time Flies

As I was choosing which pieces of work to share on my website, I was often surprised about the date that I had made the work. When I finish something, I must think of it as THE PAST because work that I did six months ago, or even a year ago feels like it was made such a long time ago. 

A year ago I was making monotypes for the Red Dot miniprint exhibition. The print of the gull was sold before the first exhibition was even hung. Lesley, from Red dot emailed and said she felt the early sale boded well… Little did we allknow that covid would arrive and life would change so completely.

When I make monotypes I work from drawings, my imagination, and sometimes use photos to solve a problem. The gull ‘arrived’ in the image.  I was not long back from Maine where on a walk I had watched the noisy creatures for some time. 

Sometimes I wish I could click my heels three times and arrive somewhere. On this rainy night I’d like to be on the back shore with the gulls.

Gull on Backshore

August 2019

Admin Tension

A few weeks ago, I met with some smart people at Parker Harris.  Their advice was to get my website and online presence in order. I am reasonably techy so I wasn’t filled with dread, but after a week, chained to my desk, I am aching to begin painting and drawing again.

This peculiar Covid year has had the effect of making me even more in tune with nature.  So, every time I have left my desk and passed my flowers I have been frustrated that I can’t pick a bouquet and begin something new. The flowers won’t last, but neither will my squarespace trial… I have three days left.  

It’s been annoyingly fun to trawl through my semi-organised files of images to use to build my new website. I see things differently and ideas have been sparked.  That’s been one of the little joys of this process. The decisions about how to order the big messy collection have been complicated. 

I watched a few videos.  One woman said her website was a ‘work in progress’ and that she always makes little tweaks.  I understand how it all works now, from lots of trial and error – I wrote this blog once and it disappeared so have had to begin again, for example, so it’s a relief to know from now on it will evolve. If you have any suggestions, get in touch.  I’d love to hear from you. 

I’m just off to do a little drawing on a book page as a reward for mostly being done for the day.  I’ll post it when it’s done!