My Art Lately

On Instagram there's a yearly tradition called Art vs Artist. People make up a 3x3 collage photo with a picture of themselves in the middle, and their artworks all around them. I always love looking at them. Some of the artists draw characters that look very much like themselves, some have art that's very stylistically consistent, and some are all over the shop -- like me! Here's my version for 2019. Although some of the paintings are from last year as that's all I could find on my phone.

Since then, I've been doing some new and different things, mainly with watercolour. I found a wooden board in my stash, so I've been using it as a base to stretch the paper (it prevents warping when the paper is wet). I can fit two pieces of paper on the board (A5 size) so I've been doing the paintings in pairs. Also it's more reassuring because if I ruin one, I always have another.

Here is a scene I had a dream about years ago. I made a sketch at the time, meaning to paint it properly one day. For some reason I don't have any photos of the finished paintings; I'll dig them out again and show you next time.

On the left here is a painting that was heavily inspired by a lithograph by Odilon Redon, a 19th century French artist. Click here to see the original (Sorry, I probably shouldn't post it here, it's copyrighted.)
The painting on the right is still in progress.

This is another painting that was inspired by a dream I had. I've done about 4 in this series, with different hair colours, face shapes, etc. The yellow band is supposed to be very bright, but I got some smudges on it. I tried to remedy it by adding some white paint. I think it looks OK. Art isn't supposed to be perfect anyway, is it?

This is a teeny tiny painting. Again, inspired by a dream in which I did two paintings as tall as myself of these figures with vine-like veins running along their bodies. One was in blues and greens, and one in reds/pink and orange as you see here. It's not quite as I pictured it in my dream, not quite as dynamic, but I can always keep trying until there's a version that's more pleasing. The background paint is one I was using for the first time, and I thought it would be more skin/pink shaded, so I'm not entirely pleased with that either. But I do love the way watercolour looks -- the varying shades and edges. I guess you might call this an experimental sketch for a full-size work.

A few months ago I joined an art collective called Lucy Goosey Women's Art Collective. It's very much in its infant stages, there are only 8 members and we've only had 3 meetings. Still, we've already applied for a space, and already been rejected, even though I turned my not-inconsiderable writing skills liberally to the task. The proposed exhibition was to be called Invisibility. I had a concept for what I wanted my part of it to look like, so in preparation I started making a series of delicate watercolours with painful messages, two of which you can see here. I jokingly call it my 'Mopey Series'. Once the rejection for the exhibition came through, I no longer had the motivation to make more, though I might be able to make the concept a reality one day.

Finally, here is a painting I made for NOIR Darkroom's annual Kris Kringle exhibition. I was matched with a fellow artist and made this painting especially for them. The text came to me while I was in the shower. It's about communication and connection, and how hard that can be sometimes.

I made a typo!! But it kind of fits in with the theme of the painting, so I'm not too embarrassed about it.