Pilgrimage

Well, I am all sorted ! I think. I'm liking the way the collection looks, so hope it translates well into Jardine's on Monday. I'm also very excited about seeing Stefanie and Janette's work too. Although we have been swapping ideas and have seen snippets of work, it will be lovely to see them all hanging together.
I just have some words and thoughts to hang from the paintings. A sort of diary and an insight into my musings as I walked these paths.

So don't forget on come along on Monday 2nd April, all details on the blog post below, look forward to seeeing you all.

A week to go !

Pilgrimage Exhibition

A Pilgrimage is a journey of risk and renewal. A journey without challenge has no meaning. One without purpose has no soul and by definition it is life changing.

This travelling exhibition is on it's own pilgrimage and will be shown in a series of galleries during 2012.

First showing at 

Jardine Bistro 140 High Street Wivenhoe CO7 9AF

2nd-29th April

PRIVATE VIEW:

Monday 2nd April 7pm - 9pm
All welcome

Three artists, who work in very different media, have come together in a collaboration of similar ideas.

The outcomes have grown from  discussion and debate surrounding the joint theme of Pilgrimage.

Janette Lazell is a 3D artist who has created metal sculptures inspired by nature and a life long journey, arriving full circle.

http://www.janettelazell.co.uk/

Stefanie Moss is a Textile Artist who has created large hangings which incorporate the theme of journeys, architecture and maps.

http://www.stefaniemoss.com/

Sarah Baird is a painter who creates mixed media works. Recording her experiences in a diary of layered calligraphic markings, these palimpsestic codes flow onto backdrops of maps and collaged pages torn from books.

Live music at the PV from 12thNote

Changing Tack, that's a technical term.

“If I was asked to get rid of the Zen aesthetic and just keep one quality necessary to create art, I would say it’s trust. When you learn to trust yourself implicitly, you no longer need to prove something through your art. You simply allow it to come out, to be as it is. This is when creating art becomes effortless. It happens just as you grow your hair. It grows.”  -John Daido Loori from “The Zen of Creativity”

I have been reading 'The Zen of Creativity' for a while, it's hugely inspiring and guaranteed to push through that block. Although I have really enjoyed the work I have been doing recently, it hasn't been quite what I expected! So, in stead of continuing I have completely changed tack. Just letting the paint express it's self ! trying not to over think the outcome.

I find Tumblr a big source of inspiration, not only with art, but also inspirational quotes and some wonderful photography. I use it as an on line scrapbook of all the things I love. It's remarkable how strong my theme is. Unwittingly I chose the same colour ways and styles of painting. Have a look, you can check out my Tumblr scrapbook HERE

Another beautiful day in Brightlingsea. This year, to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, there will be lots going on down there, not least a Summer Exhibition of art at the Waterside gallery. I'll keep you posted.
Don't forget the Pilgrimage Exhibition opens at Jardine's in Wivenhoe on 3rd April (Private View on 2nd, please email me if you would like to go). You can check out Stefanie and Janette's work, click on their names.

Bottoms up

I would just like to share with you, on this exceptionally warm and sunny February day, some ships bottoms. What inspiration for abstract paintings ! Anti fowling paint is such a wonderful colour.

Walking into the light

It is no small thing to follow your path. To have the courage to be your true self, rather than the person others would like you to be.

My Pilgrimage Diaries allude to the truth beyond speech. Communication that is felt but not spoken, intuition is the silence between the words, the unspeakable.

Every atom in our bodies came from a dying star, a Super Nova explosion. Probably the atoms in our left hand came from a different star than the ones in our right hand. It’s a phenomenal thought. Nothing happens in isolation, even the seemingly innocent. As we walk, insects, birds and animals hurry, scurry through the grass, a ripple effect as the unspoken message is passed on, not through words but by intuition, intelligent talk.

A chance meeting or event may change the path we walk. We may take a fork in the road, not previously considered, because of a seemingly random occurrence. With hindsight we look back over our life and recognise that every step we intuitively took was the perfect stepping stone to this moment. There is no need to see the bigger picture, we just need to have the courage to take the next step.

Notice the perfection of the moment, stop and sense how everything about you is perfect, a snapshot, a capturing of an instant in time. This is what I have captured in my diaries, a moment.

Art is not about the form it takes, it’s about where that form takes you. What the piece evokes in the viewer, good or bad. It’s not about me, it’s about you.


First Exhibition starts on 3rd April @ Jardine's in Wivenhoe

Work in progress-ish

This weather is hampering progress. I have one small radiator in the studio, on day and night. In these icy conditions it has little effect. Progress is slow as I can only manage to do about half an hour's work before my fingers go completely numb ! I need a wood burner.
I have taken apart an old lattice work Indian mirror. Wanting to create the impression of a grill or doorway, through which one might view a scene. The mirror was very damaged when I picked it up for little money at a local sale room. I haven't trashed a priceless antique ! Some metallic and white spray paint will cover the brown wood and tie it in with the picture. I have some larger segments of the mirror that I will be able to hinge on another work and use them like a door. The viewer will be able to open the door to see the image behind.

Roll on Spring.

Open your eyes

I'm in danger of tweeing everything up. The pilgrimage exhibitions are an opportunity to escape the drudgery of doing the freekin' fish, of  making a really special effort not to do the expected. At the same time I am very aware that not only would I like to sell some work, but the gallery owners need to make a living too. I'm always having to think 'would I hang this on my wall?' I suppose I should look at it from a different angle.....If I am really happy with a piece then I'm sure others will be !

Live your adventure

I'm working on 4 0r 5 different pieces at the same time. Different sizes but basically the same theme. None finished. If I tweek one, I tweek the all !

The crow above was on an old discarded canvas lurking behind a collection of abandoned boards. I found it  again today, reapplied some paint using the same colours as the new pieces I am working on, and now I'm really happy with it !

The pilgrimage works are a little more abstract than normal and I really like working like this. I prepared a statement the other day, putting into words what the word pilgrimage means to me and to formulate my ideas about these new works,. It has given me both direction and inspiration. Concentrated my mind on exactly what I wanted to produce. So I will share it with you !

A Pilgrimage is a journey of risk and renewal. For a journey without challenge has no meaning. One without purpose has no soul, by definition it is life changing. A pilgrimage is to lose yourself or to find yourself.

My pilgrimage to the sea is both renewing and balancing. I am constantly drawn to the scent of the sea; the pungent smell of seaweed, the scrunch of shells and pebbles beneath my feet, the clanking of halliards in the wind, or a rock balancing  meditation.

Pilgrimage diaries

The works serve as a collection of textually chronicled memories. Where I record my experiences in an illegible, secret diary of layered calligraphic and palimpsestic markings. These personal journals are a process of meditation, memories flowing onto backdrops of maps or collaged pages torn from books. The voyeur struggles to make sense of my thought process, hoping to catch a glimpse of the special places and people I encounter. 

Trusting the process

I have been experimenting quite a lot recently. Trying to find a path. Trying new colour ways, new styles, new everything. But I always come back to the same place. I have a distinct colour pallette I like to use. Paynes Grey, Raw Sienna, Raw Umber, Dark Gold Hue, Silver Hue and lashings of Titanium White. Very occassionally a touch of red or cyan creep in just to lift certain areas. But basically that is it. Paynes Grey is the most wonderful bluey almost black, that gives depth without being heavy. The Raw Sienna and Raw Umber are sooooo earthy, and the gold and silver are there because I live in Essex.

Layer upon layer.

 This all takes time !

Still working on lining paper at this point. I have a yachtsman's all weather chart of the river Colne lying on the table. The shape of the river meandering past Brightlingsea and Mersea Island up towards Wivenhoe is lovely.

Not sure where to go with this, I start to write 'Namu dai bosa' over and over again on the land. It took an entire afternoon, but wonderfully emptied the mind.

 Next was the sea: 'My heart is a thousand years old, I am not like other people'...in white ink. This is fast turning into my version of a mandala.
Snippets from an old book were cut out and I started to lay them along the footpaths I had walked. It became confused and messy. So that idea was abadoned and I discarded the piece of paper.
Time to start on a proper canvass.

 Live your adventure, is the working title for this next piece. Funnily enough I have had encountered a few instances this week where I have been forced to 'trust the process'. An encounter (albeit virtually) with someone I haven't seen in years, highlighted just this. She and husband have been transported from uncertainty in London to an exciting new venture in the Far East, all they had to do was to trust the process and opportunities opened up. I guess we also have to learn to do that with the not so good things that spring up from time to time too.

Same theme, as on the paper, this time on a largish 70x100cm canvass. Much in the way of musings. Thoughts meander their way accross the land and sea.

Not finished !



New Beginnings

A New Year's day walk blew the cobwebs away. The biting wind was a refreshing change from the lethargy induced by a wood burner heated house, over Christmas. Both body and mind need a shake up. Much thought. Sea air is such a tonic.

A  spring clean in the studio was called for today.....out with the old in with the new and all that. A clean sheet on the painting table, the paints and brushes all tidied up...ready to start. I want to start with some 'mindful' painting. A meditation. Taking time to prepare the surface and mix the paints, focusing totally on the job. I am deliberately using cheap materials, poster paint and lining paper, so that I don't become bogged down with doing a proper painting. I want to allow the brush to do the work.

Gesso on the paper, gives a good surface on which to work.

Choosing a Chinese calligraphy brush means I have little control over neat lines !

I didn't want to have a subject either. Like the work we do in the expressive painting workshops, I wanted to not think about the end result. I chose the Zen Enso as a shape to repeat. It's hard to get a good enso.....flowing, circular and paint consistent. But I found the more I let it flow, the more consistent they became.

 I carried mindfully on and on until I had used up all the paint.

 Mixed up some white and repeated.

 Not sure what I wanted to do beyond that, I just sat with it while as the wind and rain lashed against the studio window. Without thinking , picked up a pen and wrote what was in my head today. Thinking about 'how interconnected everything is and how people and events in my life are reflections of my state of conciousness'.  Something happened then, that kinda proved that.

 A tipex pen is very useful for drawing white lines.

Tomorrow is another day.