STUDIO MOVE-IO Part twooo

This week my mother came from the countryside to help me hike frames, paints, D-grips and canvas, up to the third floor of a Community Center where I will be newly situated for the next few months. This means I actually have to do some work!! I have a portrait commission of two young brothers to kick things off, so I'm out to stretch and prep the canvas, ready to begin the painting as soon as poss.  

My first project with the Community Center involved planning and teaching a 4 week Beginner's Art Course, which was hugely successful (for the 6 loyal participants) and I'm looking forward to seeing/releasing some of the potential creativity held within the community. It will be interesting to see how this story unfolds.  

Studio Move-io

There is a provisional plan to make my work from a new studio space in South London (up the road from my snazzy apartment in Peckham). So yesterday consisted of building frames for painting on in the near future, and packing up my paints, brushes, solvents and easel in Sussex, ready for relocation! 

I am heart broken that my shiny new-to-me football/foosball table can't be a part of my life here.. at least until I fix wheels to each leg and borrow some kind of large mammal to haul it from the country. Or otherwise hire a van. I've often thought about harnessing a herd of the 15 cats which live outside of our house as an alternative mode of transport, mainly for my materials, or general personal movement from A to B. But I don't yet have a sleigh suitable for felines.
Sorry about the disgusting colour I'm typing with. I can't help but enjoy imposing it's ugliness on you... 
that's all for now though. Check back soon!  
 

10 Step Spot the Difference

 

Here are several stages of the recent painting Poor Man's Supper, for those of you who like to see what happens behind the scenes (wink). I learned a lot during the making of this piece, in working to a brief and attempting to fit 13 figures on one canvas. I recommend biting off more than you think you can chew, if you'll excuse the pun. 

                            

                  

ooh, this has a little shine to it. It was at this point that I moved the
entire painting into my house to work in the warm. Maybe I am a wuss. So what. 

I couldn't resist.. this gives you an idea of scale.

Poor Man's Supper

Hello beautiful people. Since the last post I hope I've kept you waiting for something worthwhile... A large painting Poor Man's Supper (6' x 4.5') has finally been revealed to the patron and hangs in a family dining room near Dorset, UK, after a successful launch party at the end of January. Here is a rough image of the painting in its final stage, with pictures of progression from the beginning, to follow... 


During the completion of Poor Man's Supper the family decided to re-paint their dining room, from a safe cream to mustardy yellow. Having had free range over the colour scheme with little specificity from the family, it was a relief to see how perfectly the painting matched the walls and raw sienna-type tiles and table. It couldn't fit better. 

Picture portrait

This kid was too cute to do justice to in paint. In the studio, overwhelming orange from a large painting next to this piece seeped in and resulted in quite intense skin tones. I do want the children's paintings to be vibrant to reflect youth, and this is nicely balanced with blues here. If anything, his eyes could be bluer as well. It's always easier to be objective once it's been a while.. and your client already has the painting.

Castle Commission

This is a commission of my boss' wife (no pressure, right?!).  Working from an average sized/small photograph when trying to resemble an individual's face, having never met the subject or knowing their personality, proved challenging. The colours might look a little washed out on your screen, but all in all the painting was well received. 

Shoreditch!

My new favourite place, as far as an afternoon wandering around can tell.

Since we last talked, I have been selling a few portraits (oil on canvas), soon to be posted, and working on a large painting for my uncle, also soon to be posted. BIG NEWS-->

This Wednesday I am up and moving from the southern sticks into the big city, the capital herself. A few days ago curiosity culminated into a little exploration of the East side, where I went to hunt out galleries and artists and generally people who might wish to befriend me. Shoreditch sounds like the place I would least want to visit in most of the world, but, ignoring the name and going on other superficial things, like what people look like and what type of over-priced creative outlets there are, how many tacky shoes you can buy, how many galleries are around and the fact that a couple stores cater for artists, I'd say it's the first place in London that I'd wish to be.. based on one visit.. based on being an outsider who knows nothing.  Based on the fact that I'm not actually going to be there. I felt very comfortable walking around and making conversation. People seemed nice and not like they were out to attack me with guns and knives. I like this.

I checked out White Cube, a gallery in Hoxton Square (ok, so not Shoreditch), and had the pleasure of seeing the first exhibition in the UK by Mark Bradford, an artist from LA. I was struck by the construction of the large artworks, though I left wanting some bigger movement across the canvas (boards) to be felt (in a compositional sense). A piece that drew me in consisted of 44 blocks organised in a grid, each one plastered with built up layers of newspaper sheets and graphite ink, then sanded back to expose monochromatic tones and physical depth. Though the materials are reused and man made, the overall effect for me eluded to something organic, like the layers of bark on a tree. I sincerely enjoyed the experience of looking and trying to figure out what this work was saying, if anything, and if looking was just enough.

To top it all off, I happened to find Bar Kick, recommended to me by a friend, for any football table/fooseball enthusiast who considers it illegal to spin the handles when playing a serious game of football (that is, every game).

ps) If you look up any Mark Bradford work online, like a Rothko, it's better seen close up. Maybe make the rest up in your head..