Archive for May 2009
No Formula continued
“No Formula”, oil on canvas, Marianne Potterton 2009
I finished this painting last night. It was really fun building up some glazes over the first coat of paint. I hope it has not lost any of its strength because of it, it certainly feels allot nicer up close. I really love paint! I really liked using text in a very painterly way, this is a bit different to any work that I have made before; it is more spontaneous and bold!
No Formula
“Angel” Work in progress, oil on canvas Marianne Potterton 2009
These are the two paintings that I am working on at the moment in thee studio. The one above I think is finished or very nearly, but you never know, I might do something more to it. I had an urge to put it up in the Secret Gallery yesterday, but I think I will wait till it dries!
Work in progress, “No Formula”, oil on canvas Marianne Potterton 2009
Thank goodness for spell check! I must go and spell it right in the painting now! This is a bit bolder than my usual paintings, I think. It is a sort of attempt to paint in the moment, a sort of meditation, as Alan Watts once said about meditation “Digging the present, grooving with the eternal now!”
Much art seems to be latching on to the past, artists repeating what they know they are good at, but they are not in it any longer. When I go to an exhibition and all of the work looks the same I wonder has the artist just found a formula ? Of course there are exceptions to this, where the art can look very similar but the artist was still open and aware while making it. Such as Mark Rothko, I just could not do it though; do the same sort of thing for years. I even find it hard to finish a painting without wanting to paint it differently the next time I go back to it ! This unknown territory can feel a bit uncomfortable because we have never been there before, it can be a bit hit and miss, but what can come out of these adventures have more life in them than art we make on the journeys that we have repeated with only slight deviations!
Every Child is an Artist
“It looks prettier with blue in it” Oil paint and natural pigment on a paper bag by our Daughter aged nearly 4
Every child is an artist, children can also see art more than adults, often. I recon that if art was” taught” in a more encouraging way in schools and by parents, and adults nurtured children’s creativity that the next generation would be a lot more confident about making art and looking at other people’s art.
Some Words on Drawing Crash Course Part One
Draw on
Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and imagine that you are really good at drawing! Now sharpen your pencils( HB,2B,3B,4B,5B,6B)! Make sure your rubber is clean and you have some paper taped down so it does not move about while you are trying to draw on it! If you are drawing from life it is much easier to draw if the paper is on a tilted board, easel or wall rather than flat on a table. If you are working on a wall it feels nicer if you put a couple of layers of paper on top of each other, unless you are going for the look you get when you draw over a hard or slightly rough surface.
Draw outwardly
Hands are one of the hardest things to draw, I think, so why not practice by drawing your other hand. Years ago Kathy Prendergast did an amazing hand drawing that was like a map, it was huge, and blue. I love the way our hands look like maps. Feet can be good to draw too. When I was in collage in Crawford in Cork I did a series of drawings of my face drawing by touch. Some of them I built up layers of card, paper, material and netting they all had a map like quality and felt like landscapes almost. So no excuses we always have something we can draw! We are surrounded by things we can draw. After a while you may find it boring just to draw for the sake of drawing and need to draw whatever you are really interested in, confused by, obsessed by! It could be folds of material or it could be space travel ! It might be very illusive but every so often you get a glimpse of it’s tail and it leads you somewhere interesting and you want to keep following it!
Draw inwardly
It can also be really interesting to start to draw but not allow ourselves to draw anything recognisable, just to kind of doodle and keep going with it to see how it develops. Make marks and experiment with what you can do, and have fun!( I remember we all did this for weeks maybe months in college, and our own personal work developed out of it; over time our real interests were revealed.) Draw with your eyes closed, draw with the hand you don’t usually draw with, draw really quickly, draw really slowly, see how inventive you can be. Tune into how you feel and see how your line and instinctive marks change as your moods do. I like to draw as if the pencil or whatever I am drawing or painting with is an extension of me. Bold as I am bold, subtle as I am subtle. Sometimes I let the pencil lead the way as if it has a complete mind of it’s own; I guess this is when my subconscious mind taking over!
A word of advice, don’t throw away anything. It is great to look back over drawings, they often look different after a little hibernation! Not everything is meant to be a ‘finished’ piece some pieces are just stepping stones, but just as worth while as the ‘finished’ ones. One day they might look even better! Soon I will be giving some free drawing and art classes at the Secret Gallery. So if you are in the Doolin area you are welcome to join the Art Classes.
Nobody Cares About Art!
“Tree Horse”, oil on canvas 2009 Marianne Potterton
I finished this painting today. It was so good to be painting again. I kind of switched my brain off and let my hands do the thinking. Sometimes it is nice to let a painting sit for a while and not rush into finishing it too quickly. Then just trust in your own ability to finish it.
As you can see from the sign above and the title of this post, I am feeling a bit disheartened about peoples lack of interest in art. If you are reading this you are an exception ! Thank you!
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