‘How’s it going? here’s an update’

 

  

Euphoria Borealis, Acrylic on canvas aprox 3ft x 4 ft

Time for a little update.  ‘Echostains’ itself is going well, many are reading but, not many are commenting – don’t be shy come forward and show yourselves!  ‘Bookstains’ my other blog is coming along alright, its early days yet, but I am enjoying doing it.  Although I keep saying it, I really do need to put a piece of art work on here from time to time.  So here you are – I give you ‘Euphoria Borealis’ (or Belly Laugh) which was the last painting for my graduation exhibition.  I had just completed a 10,000 word Dissertation, a 5000 word one about my personal project (‘Echostains’) which included 10 large paintings and 2 x 500 word essays as well as course work.  Wouldn’t you be laughing?  Of course I have much more recent work, it’s just a case of getting around to scanning some sketchbook stuff  or photographing the bigger pieces, but I am determined to do it! 

 

  

p5

As for my altered book which has disappeared yet again….one day I shall actually finish it!  I will have to revise the way I have documented this book.  I think the best way would be to make a gallery especially for it, so each page is linked with its own artist reference (because the project is an art project, underpinned with art history) and each pages should follow the other, like in a real book.  Lol!  I can see me making a blog just for my altered book!!!….not a bad idea 

 

The material for my  teapot articles are getting a bit tougher to find.  My favorite one lately is the making of the chocolate teapot.  I shall carry on though.  There’s no shortage of material for the weird and wacky design section either, so I will keep that going.  Some sections, like places are now a thing of the past, but this year we are hoping to go to new places nothing planned yet – except to see Iggy Pop in London in May, but do hope to fit a couple of exhibitions in whilst we’re there. 

 

Altered art book page 19 continued Beyond the Veil again

This is my 90th post!  Do I want a medal for it? YES!

Continuing with page 19 of my Altered art book:

I thought that this extract from my dissertation would go quite well with page 19 of my Altered art book:

-magician tarot card from the Rider Waite Smith pack

“The idea of the artist as magician is not a new one.  The act of creating out of nothing could be in itself, an act of conjuration.  In a sense, all art is an illusion.  The actual act reality of the feeling that the artist experiences when he paints – by the very act will go into the painting: making the painting a physical reality.  Hopefully, there will be a reciprocal exchange between viewer and painter.  Sometimes this will be a deliberation on the painters behalf: sometimes, accidental communication may be established.  Many ‘tricks’ may be employed by the artist/magician that he will have learned through his apprenticeship in the arts.  Where it is possible to depict sadness or pathos in a figurative narrative painting through the learning of the craft, what actually are we admiring when we look at these images?  surely this art is more about the ‘cleverness’ of the artist as a magician and, if that be so, then the subject matter then becomes secondary.  Through abstraction, it is possible to provoke emotional responses through colour and form in a non figurative way – reaching the viewer directly through the senses…..” 

 

 

 

 

veil-

“My large canvas ‘Veil’ incorporates drawing and painting.  Gestural marks made with soft pastel were stroked onto the canvas.  These sweeping marks were then smudged with a damp brush and when dry, worked into again.  This provided a framework, albeit a blurred definition of the drawing.  Subconsciously, a uniform rhythmical pattern began to emerge which I then began to work against with white acrylic paint in places.  The whiteness of these spaces began to detract from the work, so these were washed down again with watered down soft pastels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

veil-fragment

“A period of contemplation then ensued, enabling me to digest the information and empathise with the painting.  Working with ground pastel added to the powdered filler, a wash was made: the work taken outdoors and then the wash dispersed.  A battle between control and accident then ensued.  By physical manipulation, the wash was dispersed and alllowed to a certain exptent to meander where it would.  But additional coloured washes had to be more controlled, so as not to disturb too much the other washes (which were still more or less liquid).  Fine washes of acrylic were used to further emphasise part of the painting: blending the colours, transcending isolated areas.  A period of assimulation followed: a digestion of the information that has been put down and a sense of empathy for the feelings this painting invokes.  Selective areas were then brought to the foreground, the intention being  – to ‘float’ or transcend the background  with soft colour that glides in and out over the surface, whilst subtley emphasising or bringing to notice, a sense of depth.”

Lynda M Roberts BA Hons 2004

This is an extract from my  ‘Echostains’ Dissertation 2004

 

 

A Little Light relief: Euphoria Borealis

northern ights (Aurora Borealis) over the fjords

Having recently watched a programme about the Northern Lights, (it’s one of my ambitions to see this strange phenomena one day).  It put me in mind of a painting I did in my final year at Uni.  It was the last painting I completed for my degree.  I had done a massive Art History dissertation,  two 1.500 word essays and a 2,500 dissertation on my Personal Project (Echostains) as well as all my paintings.   It is no wonder the final painting came to be named ‘Euphoria Borealis’!  This summed up the feeling of pure relief  (a belly laugh) at having actually completed such a workload on time!

euphoria-borealis

 

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