The Art of Recycling

July saw me finishing off and framing a new batch of pieces and driving down to Geneva & Verbier to deliver my new work to Nanuq gallery, with a cheeky stopover to catch up with all the guys and gals I have missed so much in Geneva.  The trip was fab on so many levels. I was able to re-visit Verbier during the summertime, take some photographs at the top of Mont Fort, get another Vernissage under my belt, drive down and back - with some great company - through the beautiful French countryside, see all my friends whilst partying at the pre-fete and best of all I got to meet the two newest arrivals to Geneva, Poppy & Jake (Jake very kindly, after months of my urging and coercing, arrived two days before I was due to return to the UK, so I was able to meet the little man). It was, quite the July.  

So now the pieces are in the gallery, I wait for the sales to roll in. And wait....AND WAIT.. And I am still waiting. Unfortunately, this is the way the artist lives their life. No sales for ages, then a bunch at once. I am hoping they come before my death though, not wanting to go all Van Gough (although I have done the Absinthe thing, just not the ear thing, or the death thing yet...). Husband has had trouble adjusting to this way of getting income. We sink lots of money into high quality materials, framing, gallery, promo material etc and then there is nothing coming back at you, so it can, at times, be very frustrating. Although for a person with no patience whatsoever, I am showing great tolerance and even seeing flashes of a silver lining every now and again.

So I have run out of canvases. How can a painter work with nothing to paint on? Well, people paint on more than just canvas nowadays and technically I could paint on anything that oil paint sticks to, but canvases are easier and more portable which, I am sure, is why they have remained the surface of choice for artists all over the world since, god, I don't know, 1410? 

Looking around my studio, there are about 8 paintings that I have started but have either messed up to the point of no return, hate or both. they have languished in both studios, following me back to the UK whilst I decided what I could do with them and yesterday, I found the answer. I would re-cycle. I would strip the paint off the canvas and re-use it for something I wouldn't mess up or hate. 

My experiment yielded 2 results: Oil paint is much harder to get off a canvas than you could ever imagine and it is far easier and cheaper to buy new canvas.

Being a knife painter, I generally lay the paint on nice and thick (never thinking I would have to reverse the process at some later date). And then I add more. It means my paintings take ages (like, a year) to dry, but usually gives the finish I want. When stripping back, every layer is a nightmare. I used scalpel blades, stanley blades, sandpapers of various abrasiveness and turps. I soon re-evaluated my target to get all the paint off the canvas to, just get as much off as you can to give a smooth surface. It has taken me nearly 2 days and an almost broken shoulder to do 2 canvases. I also think the amount of money spent on turps, breathing mask, sandpaper and blades could easily have gone towards a new canvas. A nice, shiny, new, clean, flat canvas. Damn it. 

As I wrapped a new bit of sandpaper around the block, I blinked away the oil paint dust and took a look at my work and I saw a little bit of that silver lining I was telling you about. As I was sanding the paintings down, the effect, through the varying layers of colour and thickness, was great. Well, It wasn't AMAZING, but I saw a flash of what it could be. The idea that you are creating something by destroying it got me thinking about what destruction meant - was destruction only change labelled subjectively? The fact that everything is temporary makes it available to destruction, but why do we choose to categorise certain acts and occurrences as being 'destruction' and others as 'change'. How much does something have to change before you consider it destroyed?

I now have 2 canvases, one of which I am going to recycle and use as a surface for another painting. The other, I am not sure. It sort of stands on its own as a piece, an inspirational piece. So I plan to pursue this further, much to my own horror. I really don't know how my shoulder will cope with more sanding. I think this is why artists have assistants. Daniel San! Sand the floor! 

Bonnie Scotland

So this weekend, whilst Husband indulged his patriotic side and went to Scotland v Serbia world cup qualifier (see, I do listen!), I thought I might try and take some photographs of Loch Lomond and get some wild, craggy glens for a Scotland project later in the year. Very kindly, my in-laws had offered to drive me about while I snapped away.

I know a lot of artists wont admit to using photographs to work from but I see no reason why not. I make colour notes and scribbles while I am out and about and then bring everything back to the studio and work on it at a later date. You can do all sorts of things with the colours and cropping etc on the computer. Whilst we have this sort of technology, I say why not use it. There aren't many artists that grind up their own pigments or boil rabbits to make gesso anymore. Just because you use paint out of a tube, blended by experts, doesn't make you less of an artist. I feel the same way about photographs. Everyone has their own creative process and we shouldn't judge artists on how they come to their piece, just that the piece they have created speaks.

Anyway, I digress...and I do that a lot... I got some very nice pictures of Loch Lomond although every now and again when I thought I had the right composition, a certain Golden Retriever would dash into shot...

The weather was moody, but actually, the sky was quite flat and not as turbulent and dark as I wanted it. Nevertheless, we had to head back into Glasgow to collect a defeated but still very chipper-about-the-whole-thing Husband. 

The second day we went to Lead Hills - a beautiful spot where one can pan for gold if one so chooses or has a 5 year old to entertain. We stopped for tea in the little village of Wanlockhead - the highest village in Scotland no less - before heading back home. 

The Lead Hills are stunning and around this time of year, all the heather is out, making the hills look sort of stripy.  We managed to stop at a few of the local galleries to check out the competition. The competition is good, I will need to work hard. There are a lot of very talented locals who sell their varied and vibrant work through several galleries in the area. 

I am very excited about my Scotland project, but have a lot more work to do before I can start painting. The father in-law has threatened to come with me on a tour of Scotland, but I seriously think we will end up sitting in a bar drinking wine and putting the world to right far too often for anything productive to come out of my trip, although they say the best artists were always at their most creative whilst either sozzed or stoned. Hmm.. 

Indian woodblock experiment

Last September, during a tour of Rajasthan, we had the opportunity to see how traditional woodblocks were carved and used for printing fabrics.  It involved building up the lines and colours through a series of wood blocks. First, the master block was used to give the outline, followed by three different wood cuts, for three different colours. Line up the woodblock with the lines left by the master block and give the block a hard smack. All lined up nicely, they create a very nice picture or pattern. Repeat as necessary. 

Never one to shy away from a new experience, especially one that involves slamming things down, I promptly demanded a go and set about making a colourful print of an Elephant.

Indeed there is more to this print making than I have suggested. Aside from the art of actually carving the wooden blocks (a pattern can contain up to 7 colours and therefore 7 different blocks), it takes years of practice to get it right, a multitude of chemical and vegetable dyes and a concoction of very nasty chemicals to set the dyes and rinse the fabric. Whist I was very pleased with my colourful Elephant print, I contributed very little to it's actual existence. 

Despite this, I would not be swayed, we were going to take home at least 10 of these fantastic antique blocks and nothing would stop me! Except, perhaps for a husband unwilling to pay more than £1 per block. We found a shop that stocked these blocks - after several heated phonecalls on our behalf by our guide. Beautiful patterns, large and small, new and old were shown to us. I selected 5 and was given a price, which even by western standards was too high and then it started. The inevitable 'haggle'. Locked into bartering hell whereby neither party would shift, we left the shop with nothing, although Husband was very proud of his ability to maintain his position and not back down. I was less impressed at this 'skill' as I had no wood blocks to play with.

Eventually another shop with some small blocks was found and a good price negotiated for two, along with a very fetching green horse that I am very fond of. They have been sitting atop a bookshelf for the last year whilst I pondered what, if anything, I was to do with them. It seemed right, now I was undertaking an India project, to use them. Let them fulfil their earthly purpose, even for a short time (and probably in the wrong way).

And so, today I thought, would be the day. As these blocks are normally used with dyes rather than oil paint, I knew the effect would be different, but hell, thats what I was trying to find out so it didn't matter. I had a few goes. Painting onto the block and stamping it onto the canvas. It became clear very quickly that the negative space behind the canvas was a problem and so I needed to press my hand to the back so it would stamp properly. Didn't look too bad. 

I wanted to  to print the blocks onto a coloured background, which I would first need to paint and then wait for that to dry (the joy of oil paints). So I set about doing that. Ta da! Not what I would call a 'full' day at work piece, but everything needs a start. So far a Blue background a la Klein 1959. There are 3 different blues in this and up close you can see them all swirling and blurring into each other. Still, I feel I may have built it all up a bit to much at the start. I think I am going to put another layer of translucent purple of some kind over the top (think Peacock colours) and then start printing with the blocks.

Disappointed not to be able to use the blocks and at having to finish up after painting only a blue square, I figured I'd have a go at a tiny canvas . Thick thick red and orange paint, straight from the tube onto the canvas. Two colours I love to see together (and saw a lot while in India), plastered together with a square tip knife and topped off with a woodblock pressed into the paint. A negative of what a usual print is about. As the paint is so highly textured, you could almost miss the tiny delicate flower print, but its there, tucked away in hot reds and oranges, amidst frantic knife strokes, highlighted in tiny gold flecks. I really like the symbolism of this tiny and spontaneous piece.

I really feel like I achieved something today and that the India project has a third dimension evolving, keeping it contemporary. I am loving my print blocks, thinking of heading to Etsy to get a few more as they are so much fun. How can someone get so much satisfaction from a crisp, woodblock print?

First Post

Hi guys! Welcome to my new Blog. 

I have promised myself that I will be very disciplined toward Blog. I will nurture it and pet it and keep it updated with all my news, thoughts, inspirations and ideas; as well as the odd things that amble into my life from time to time and the chaotic troublesome bits too. 

I have been feeling a bit left behind with the social media - I don't want to use the word Phenomenon as I think it was that back in 2003 - maybe, surge? My mum is on facebook now and pretty much everyone is internet shopping or tweeting so I figured I need to make this work to my advantage. Get my artistic thoughts and processes out to the people (or at least, to those who feign an interest). I am sure it will only be a few people at the start (hi Mum!.....) but I hope that the light hearted content combined with thoughts on my artistic process and the odd useful tip about painting will reach a wider audience and encourage those who believe they have only a creative freckle, to pick up a brush, camera, other artistic tool - far too many to list here - and have a go at creating something.

So that, along with the cabin fever I am getting being trapped in a tiny village with sporadic use of a car, is why I am blogging. 

The dust has finally settled on our move back from Switzerland, the studio is up and running and the reality of living back in the UK is raining down outside as I type this. But, as I am now a UK contemporary artist, I fully plan to embrace this new environment and reflect it in some new projects. A Welsh project, A Scottish project, some projects in the Lake District, some in the South Downs. I actually prefer the dark, moody and rainy skies. Its a much more accurate depiction of our little island. I am happy to leave the dramatic storms and bright sunny skies for my travels - there will be travel projects too. The current project is India, using photos and experiences of our trip last September. And of course, I will not be turning my back on the Mountain Landscapes of the Alps that got me here in the first place. So much to be getting on with really, I just wish I had more time in the day.

So now for a swift lunch before today's experiment with some Indian woodblocks I picked up on our visit last year. I have an idea in my head what I want the pictures to look like however, I am pretty certain it will not be as straight forward as it should be. I will let you know later how I got on with the attempt to capture the "vibrancy of colour and the detail of pattern on Indian fabrics" on a canvas. But I think the properties of the oil paint will dictate how this ends up. Its Playtime.