Stones from the Sea,

 I have been looking at Stones from the Sea. Having found many Hag Stones while walking the beach I thought it would be interesting to use this in my work.

 The force of the sea is amazing, and the uses of different natural objects in painting  persuaded me to study the stones and create my own habitat for them, which I called 'Ecology'. Eco is the Greek for home and the Study of same.

 These are one of the first paintings made. I followed a series of experiments using individual pieces and the surface qualities that best suited.

 I also looked at layering many forms on top.

This created  my piece called 'Ecology'.

Subject Matter

I chose Backgrounds as my subject matter.  Richters Swiss Alps pictures resemble my photos on top left and this led me to explore Painting using a large window scrapper. The marks this allowed me to make became the main focus. Corrupting and inverting these images brought more possibilities. Exploring surface qualities to allow this process to evolve in a controlled fashion is equally as important now as the initial process. Josh Smiths palette prints and Arturo Herraro felt marks can lead this project further.

Life Painting

Life Painting

I think Eric Fischl and John Currin can rest easy for another few weeks. There is definitely an improvement.

The short quick poses have been very interesting as well as the method of longer poses.

Materiality

While looking at many artists for this project. I found inspiration in Tauba Auerbach's use of materials, folded, creased canvas. The mechanical qualities of paint and the 3D qualities it gave the surface. Kerstin Bratsch use of paint and patterning to create  artwork. Through working with Plaster, wax, PVA and texture I encountered William Daniels work. I love the tones he gets in his paintings of plaster models and impression of texture in his Tin foil paintings

Materiality

All set up in our Studio space. A Good panel of Comedians on either side to keep the spirits lifted. ( Essential maintenance for the days when inspiration gets left behind!)

Our first Project is on Materiality. To explore materials and how they would work in a painterly fashion. Whether to paint on or paint with. I really enjoyed this and it lead me into something I was ready to explore.

I really had fun looking at Alexis Harding's work and pushing the possibilities of Gloss paint and surface qualities. This lead me to using Cling Film both on top of paint and as a surface itself.

The use of Oil based paints with Water based compounds added in to explore the end results was very informative for me. Sometimes the Skin that formed was more interesting also how long it took to fully dry and the possibilities of reshaping while setting.

March 2012

Yippee. We had to Choose between our six disciplines and then compete for places. Delighted to get my 1st preference of Painting. Onwards and upwards from here!!

Happy St Patrick's Day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCbuRA_D3KU


You can't beat the Classics..