Mono Printing

Sometimes things are busy in a really good productive way. I have  a period like that over the last couple of weeks. I spent an afternoon in the studio of Knighton Hosking. Knighton was head of painting when I did my BA at Wolverhampton Uni. I really enjoyed talking about painting and paint. His studio was great and had that amazing smell of turps and damar varnish.

For a while I have known that the weakness in my work that I really need to address is my understanding and application of paint. I know that sounds like pretty much painting in general. What I mean to say is that I have spent a very long time thinking about ideas and images and less developing my painting language. I think its is a maturing process and my conversations with Knighton really hammered the importance of painting regularly. Every day if possible. Not only that but that it really ok to struggle and make some mistakes along the way. I really liked his new work and it was great to see some in progress. Inspiring!

There aren’t any good images of his latest stuff online but here a link about his show at Cambridge Uni which has a small pic. Interestingly the show was curated by another of my lecturers at the time Barry Phipps a talented guy in his own right.

I also spent some more time printmaking and getting back to some very basic monoprints. Attempting to get the energy of my drawing with the visual weight of the oil-based etching inks. It was fun and again some are ok and some not so but hey the blog is for sharing the journey so here you go! It is really great that so many of you comment by the way. Sorry I didn’t respond this time but I do really appreciate it.

The last one was the most interesting and only came as I cleaned the plate at the end of the session. I think there is definitely a way forward with this technique.

Lino Experiments

So after a pretty slow start to working in the print department at Wolverhampton Uni I have finally made some little linocut pieces. Just to get me back into it really. Trying some different markmaking and working from different sources to see what I get. So here they are!

Some have worked better than others and some suprising results. Some colour experiment next week I think.

A Real Gift.

I wanted to share with you a gift that was made/assembled for me by my friend, collaborator  and ever present on this blog Chantal Powell. I think one of the exceptional things about her is that she truly understands the worth of gifts. Something that I am starting to understand as I read The Gift by Lewis Hyde. Rachel and I opened this on Christmas morning and both moved to tears as we realised what we were looking at.

The album is entitled Paris, Versailles and Dieppe and has the name Florence Allen. Inside there is a date 17-2-27. Rachel and I looked and marvelled at the pictures. I have had a love affair with the very idea of Paris since understanding what the city has meant to painters and painting. Rachel and I finally visited October 08 and had a very romantic weekend. The city did not disappoint me one bit. I can think of nowhere better for a romantic wannabe bohemian like me.

It took a while to realise that interspersed with the old pictures were images from our trip. Chantal had taken them from a facebook album! Some of the images of Rachel are gorgeous and its hard to tell which are which at times. It is amazing to think of Florence taking this trip so long before us and being in the city while my heroes were still there.

A beautiful thoughtful gift and an interesting piece of art. One that continues to make me ponder the worth in our lives and the value of our memories and the things we experience. Not to mention our mortality. A real Gift.

Catalogue Lives

These are shots of a new piece. I have had the idea of making work form catalogue images on and off for the last ten years. I have talked about some of the reasons why in earlier posts but essentially it’s about those images that sell us our dreams. It would be easy to be critical of these idealistic fantasies that would have you belive that if you own these clothes or that car your life will look like this. There is much to be negative about including the exhaltaion of our materialistic and often soulless culture.

It is not that simple though and I have talked about honesty a lot in this blog. I cannot ignore my attraction to these images, yes I am a dreamer, and I am open to be seduced by glamour and glossy. I know I am not alone or these tactics would not be the mainstay of advertising in western culture. So I hope to explore in a very simple way, by changing the context of these images and presenting them side by side with images from other sources, just what these images really mean to us.

This image ironically looks very much like my daughter and the line between fantasy and reality blurs I even feel like its a painting of her now! still some work to do with this one but it came together over just a couple of hours so far!

comments please

New Drawings –

These drawings are an attempt to get back to developing a personal symbolism, a cast of characters and symbols that come and go in my work. They are also an attempt to develop a drawing style that i feel communicates my intentions and sits well with me. I hope to develop this type of drawing while making prints over the next few months. I see this kind of stuff sitting alongside and entwined with the more obviously appropriated images from popular culture. While making these I was excited to remember the influence on my work of artists like Max Beckman, Picasso, Matisse, Van Dongen etc.

New Look, New Year, New Me. – New You?

I love the feeling of a fresh start at New Year. A chance to assess progress and take a breathe and decide what the plan is this year. It is like the potential of a new sketchbook or a blank canvas. The only problem for me usually is that very potential normally brings a real pressure to perform.

But  things feel slightly but significantly different this time around. I feel that I have shed some of the anxiety that has inhibited me in the past and I am excited about challenging myself in some of the areas that I have always shied away from. We all have those tapes we play in our heads about what we can or cant or do and dont do!I am really interested in challenging those.

So a change in theme from dark to light is a little symbolic for a new anxiety free me. The good news is that the exciting good stuff that is in those dark, intense places is still there. I just dont have to live in that place anymore.

so to everyone that is making changes or trying to make progress in whatever you do. Good luck and let’s have a good one.

Dean
oh and as a Ps I finished the commission for my friends the day before Christmas eve and they saw it the next day. I was very nervous but I think they were really happy with it. good feeling.

First Etching

First Etching-Soft Ground.

I finally managed to spend a full day in the Print department at Wolverhampton Uni. My AA2A progress has been really slow so far what with commissions and working, but it did feel really good to finally go through the process of making an etching. This experimental piece is a soft ground etching and I wanted to see what kind of marks I could make. I am working alongside Annette Pugh who has been there consistently and already made some real progress. We are very different in that she is making abstract images and is very sure of what she wants them to do where as I am making figurative images and am more interested in capturing something expressive and instinctive. I am certainly learning more than I would be if I were alone.

This image is from the few shots taken on my phone from glossy magazines. This one is from an old playboy image. I am thinking about the glamour and ideal that they offer. I am seduced by glamorous images but I am mindful of the false ideals that they provide us with. I revel in escapism and melodrama and am aware of the negative issues. My thinking is that by instinctively and honestly  selecting(snapping with my phone!) and then taking through processes I re-cast the image for my own use.  I am interesting in the photographic on the original effects  like blur and in this case soft focus and also the effects of my stealing of the image like unusual cropping flash glare and even the crease of the magazine and curve of the page.

I hope that the resulting image is far enough removed from the original but still retaining its essence. The title of Paloma Faith’s album is called “Do you want the truth or something beautiful?” I think that my love for these images has something to do with that sentiment.

Difficult at times

It is obviously easy to talk and blog about things when they are going well and one is having success. I never intended this blog to be just about advertising what or marketing myself though. It was meant to tackle some of the difficult aspects of trying to achieve in this field that I have chosen.( or has chosen me!)

I feel in an odd place this last couple of weeks. It strikes me as i type this that how things are going with this career are so  obviously affected by mood or state of mind. An obvious statement but one that I think is hard to really grasp for those not involved in a practice where the product is solely generated inside themselves. This is I guess what sets being creative and working primarily alone apart from other jobs.

I have had a busy time just lately and my routine has been disrupted. That in itself can will be very beneficial. But while not painting and looking at my work from a distance I find myself assessing it more subjectively and being disappointed. I do feel that I am getting to grips with the issues and themes that drive my work and ideas. They are starting to sit well with me. But that is not reflected in the product yet. It is at times like this that i wish that I could paint every day. What actually happens though is that the pressure becomes to much and I find that I will do any amount of procrastination rather than face it and make a start.

I made an application to axis art this last week and didnt get accepted. (MRS P did!well done hon) . At first I just thought oh well one of those things but then that familiar analysis starts and before I know it I am comparing myself to my peers and feeling like it is a real statement that I am not good enough. You know how the rejection feels. I do realise that it is only what I make of it and I am fine again now.

I wanted to talk about it here because it makes it real and this is what we go through. I always think that for every exciting thing on a persons CV there must be lots of hurt and rejection!

I do feel very inspired at the moment though just finding hard to make a start. I keep trying to take action though. Action makes things happen. For example I called my old painting tutor because I know he feels a similar way about painting to me and I know that an understanding of paint is where my paintings fall down right now. I hope that a conversation can move me forward.

I have also started to move forward with some business plans. I am suprising myself with how with a change of attitude possibilities just open up. Oh and meeting went well at Compton Verney!  And the commission is going very well! More pictures soon!

Progress and stuff – 10p Mix up

So I finally have finished the first colour on Wild Camp View for my friends.

Its taken a while what with working a couple of weekends but it’s getting there. As usual this is just a phone shot. I am looking forward to getting started on the greens next!

I had another mind expanding weekend assisting on Metapod Fastforward. I think I have made some exciting progress (only in my head as yet!). It is always good to challenge the tapes we play in our head about ourselves. I realised that I have put my own limitations on what I think I am capable of. It is time to challenge those. I do like hotels though. I dont usually spend time in that business type hotel and I managed as usual to turn it in my mind into something more exciting than it was. It became a bit of a movie in my head. Complete with girls in christmas dresses looking like quality street chocolates.

Earlier in the week I attended some training at the RNIB in Birmingham. It was about Audio Describing artwork for blind or partially sighted visitors to galleries. It was really fascinating and gave me a brief insight into a world that I know nothing about. I am excited to be in discussion with them about placing my large tactile gloss piece in their HQ. It would be great to see how it works as a purely tactile piece and see if there is any mileage in developing more work for that purpose.

Afterwards I hung around in town at the Frankfurt Market and watched the carousel. It is so beautiful and slightly sinister.

Well thats it for now I think I well take a bit more time to process my thoughts on metapod and post separately later in the week. But I would like to say thank you to all the participants who were encouraging and supportive. special mention to my party crashing partner. you know who  you are!

Note to self(multiple) 1

When you find an image that excites you respond to it. Have Faith.

Dont think about it to much you will kill the idea.Think of FB.

A series of linocuts would probably be really interesting. Just start one!

Remember the times when you think anything is possible.

Open a contemporary art gallery. no really. it is a good idea.

Dont devalue skills because they come naturally.

Dont give away the gold package.

There is no rush with print stuff. things will be less busy after chrismas.

Think a bit more stratigically. A bit.

Dont panic.

You could be better rewarded for the things that you are good at. Figure out how!