Abstract Paintings

Since my last paintings a few weeks ago I have continued to practice working in this abstract style, experimenting with brush strokes, use of pallet knives, colour combinations and the effect that canvas size can have on my work.

22 x 18" acrylic on canvas.

Although the shapes I created were mostly spontaneous, the majority of my colour choices were inspired by my visit to London Aquarium this summer.

30 x 20" acrylic on canvas.

Brushtrokes and Pallet Knives

Continuing with my experimental abstract-style painting, I decided that for my next few paintings I should focus on the different ways I can apply paint to canvas. In my next two paintings I experimented with rough, "choppy" brush strokes and pallet knives, which proved to be rather entertaining. 

Working in this way allowed me to have fun with the paint, applying it spontaneously to the canvas without fear of going too far, like trying to draw inside the lines of a colouring book as a child. Experimenting with different language within art has always been something I have enjoyed, however, I feel that working in an abstract style has changed my approach to painting and released any fears I had about the media previously.

22 x 18" acrylic on canvas.

This painting - shown above - I found harder to work with even though I felt I applied the same brush strokes and techniques involving the pallet knife. However, I managed to get around what I felt was a creative block by turning the canvas 90 degrees every time I began to find it difficult. In some respect, it also created a challenge as it cause me to look at the compositions I was creating from a different a angle, which ultimately enabled me to create lots of different dimensions within the piece.

Close up image.

Though I haven't deployed this tactic with my other recent paintings, on reflection it seems to be something I would like to explore further.

Finger Painting

After collecting lots of ideas over the summer for my upcoming projects, I thought a lot about the ways in which I'd like to execute them, but mostly considering the media I would use. In previous projects I have worked on a small scale; throughout my foundation degree I confined myself to working with collage and drawing in pencil, only allowing myself to incorporate other two-dimensional media occasionally. However, with the start of my BA fine art studies fast approaching, I decided it would be a good idea to break my previous habits and allow myself to create art more freely, without the need to think too much about what it is I am creating.

That was when I considered working in an abstract style - a risky move as I have never particularly practised working in such a way. (I'm assuming that a brief project at A-Level does not quite count.) But to my surprise I was able to completely throw myself into the piece. Without thinking too much about what I was painting, I was able to free my previously tightly controlled ways of working to play with the paint. I say play as I painted the entire piece with my fingers.

It was a complete experiment - I had no intention of liking what I had painted once it was finished, yet I did. But most of all I actually enjoyed the process, which hasn't always been the case when I've previously worked in acrylics. Furthermore, after I had finished this piece I had an urge to carry on, to experiment with different ways of applying paint (which ended up involving pallet knives and experimental brush strokes).

Above: the final outcome. Roughly A3 sized.

London Aquarium

It may not seem like much, but this is one of my favourite photos I took at London Aquarium this summer (pictured above). I’d wanted to visit the aquarium after I had explored the Sensational Butterflies tent a few weeks before and was fascinated with all the intricate patterns and intense colours on the butterflies’ wings. Moreover, I was fascinated by how a living creature could produce such vibrancy so effortlessly natural. Needless to say I was inspired - I have been thinking about exploring colour in my upcoming art projects and now I may have found a starting point.

I visited the aquarium with hope of being inspired by the natural forms, patterns of colour of tropical fish and other sea creatures much like I had with the butterflies. It was a success, and I was stunned. But I wasn't expecting to see such an incredible display of coral and underwater plants. Half of these species I had never seen before; there were the most bizarre and beautiful shapes and colours to be seen in plants. It reminded me of how fascinating the ocean is, but also how important these plants must be to restoring balance within the ocean and producing a healthy environment for the creatures that live there. I wonder how many visitors are so distracted by the turtles and the ‘fish that look like Nemo’ that they completely overlook how attractive the environment they live in is.

Pictured above: No frame/filter. My favourite photo from my London Aquarium collection. This is actually a photo of spherical tank full of pink and purple sea plants/coral. One of the prettiest things I have ever seen.

Sensational Butterflies

This summer the Sensational Butterflies tent outside the Natural History museum in South Kensington opened and I was fortunate enough to visit before it closed last month. 

I chose to visit purely out of my interest in nature, but recently found that the photographs I took of the butterflies could potentially influential to my artwork as I begin to focus on abstract forms involving shape, colour and texture.

Above and below are a selection of photographs I took inside the tent of butterflies I found particularly interesting. In the upcoming weeks I'm hoping to create some abstract paintings in response to what I saw on my visit.

Lacock Abbey

Last week I was fortunate enough to visit Lacock Abbey in Lacock, Wiltshire. It's set in the tiniest little village where there are almost no traffic signs or street lights as it is quite often used in filming, particularly for films and television programmes set in earlier centuries. As it turns out, parts of the Harry Potter series were filmed in both the abbey and the village, along with the BBC television series Pride & Prejudice.

Above: photographs from outside the abbey.

Below: from inside.

Unfortunately, I was unable to take many clear photographs inside the abbey due to the lack of natural light and rule against flash photography - which I assume was in place to preserve the paintings and old furniture on display in the rooms. However, I did succeed in capturing the corridors surrounding the courtyard, which some may recognise from the Harry Potter films. (It did feel a lot like Hogwarts on the inside!)

After exploring the abbey I had a wander around the gardens where - much to my amusement - I found these stunning electric blue thistles that were the size of my hand. (Pictured below.)

Lacock village itself has a lot of character: the cottages are old and sunken with wonky tiles and tiny little windows, draped in ivy and other green climbing plants. They all look as if they have been completely untouched since their build, which I believe is what makes them so attractive.

Starting Over

And so it would appear that I am a terrible blogger. So terrible in fact, it's almost an art form. But after a year long hiatus I'm prepared to start documenting my work again, though this time I plan on sharing more of my ideas, personal likes and photographs in order to keep an open mind when I do come around to creating artwork.

I've been to quite a few exhibitions, museums and galleries recently, where I took a lot of photographs and managed to squeeze a few sketches in. (Posts to follow.)

Though places such as these with great collections of artwork can be inspirational to my own ideas as a fine art student, I've recently become quite interested in finding inspiration in other avenues, including books, film, wildlife, architecture, ceramics and many more. In addition to this, I've been experimenting with different kinds of crafts, such as sewing, which I hope will help me keep an open mind when drawing inspirations from different places. In doing this, I'm beginning to discover what it is that captures my attention in different art forms, which I'm thinking is something I would like to explore in my upcoming art projects when I start university in September. 

Portrait Practise

I draw this a couple of weeks ago - it's a portrait of a model I saw on my Tumblr dashboard that caught my eye. Her hair is originally a bit darker and her eyes were brown, however I wanted to play with a little more colour. I haven't really drawn anything as well as this before so I'm pretty happy with it!

It isn't part of any projects of mine, it was just a way of keeping me occupied this holiday and building up my personal portfolio.

Disney Sketches

This week I've been having fun drawing Disney characters (well, Peter Pan and Alice) as part of my art project. I'm aware that Alice in Wonderland is over abused so I probably wont use my entire collection of drawings of her in my project but some may be useful. It's been a good way to try out my new set of Faber-Castell pencils I was given especially!

Summer Update

Seeing as I apologise frequently about my lack of consistent updates, I feel no need to start this post with yet another one. (though I do feel slightly guilty for not posting!)

I've finally finished my first year of my foundation degree! It's been an awesome year studying my favourite subject and I'm actually rather excited to start my second. I've achieved satisfying results, though I know I could have worked harder and received higher grades. I guess that's motivation to work even harder when I return in September, especially since it will be the year that counts.

Since my last post I've been to Kurt Schwitters exhibition at the Tate Britain and Ellen Gallagher's at the Tate Modern - I'll have posts on those to follow.

I've also started my fine art project for my second and final year of my foundation degree (a little early, I know) as I wish to keep myself occupied this summer. I only have a few cartoon sketches at the moment but I shall post those also.

And if that's not enough, I have pictures to post of Jonny Craig at The Underworld from just over a month ago.

Easter Holidays

I guess this is a formal apology to anyone who follows my blog about my lack of posts in the past week or so. I've had a lot of written modules to complete and submit recently and so I've been concentrating more on those than any art work that I have planned.

Just as an update; I haven't made any additions to my Fine Art collages since my last post (which was towards the end of March, whoops) but once I have completed my WBL report I should get back to working towards an outcome with them. However, I am currently working on a painting for my SPT module involving symbols. Naturally my fascination with Oriental culture has taken over - I don't want to give too much away before I can post an image of the final piece, but it involves Chinese dragons.

I'll stop being a terrible Fine Artist soon and post some more of my work.

Horoscopes and Milestones

I'm going to start this post with a quote taken from my horoscope this month (courtesy of Elle magazine if you must know the source). "The New Moon on the 10th is a lucky time to start new projects, especially involving writing. On the 25th, the Full Moon in your career zone promises to reward the previous six months' hard work."

I'm not one to take my horoscope literally but in the past it has proven particularly accurate, much to my surprise. With this in mind, I spent today (the 25th February) pondering over what I could potentially be rewarded as I started both my degree and my current job six months ago.

I had prepared in advance for a presentation that I was to present this afternoon at college, which already had me jittery as I'm not the best of all speakers. However this was not an issue as I did not have to present to as many people as I initially thought and actually came out with some good feedback. I also received feedback from my tutors about my first semester, along with my dreaded module grades, which I was in no way excited to look at. But to my relief I had passed them all. I wasn't particularly impressed with the grades that I had received, though I know that I could have done better if I had made more effort.

I started to think that maybe I had been rewarded with the relief of passing my first semester after six months of balancing four varying modules all at once and struggling with the transition from A levels to FDA degree.

However, at work this evening (I currently work in an art and crafts store) I discovered that my temporary contract has ended and been replaced with a permanent one, something I have been anticipating for a good few months now. I need no longer stress myself with the thoughts of potentially losing the most fun job in retail - with a considerably good discount when you're an art student. The only downside (and it is quite a steep one) is that my hours have had to be dramatically cut in order for me to keep my job. They've been cut down to less than half to what I work now, which is is worrying, but still better than having no job at all. On a positive level, I will be given overtime when it's available, which is quite often so there is always a chance of earning a little extra money.

And so in many ways my past six months of hard work and energy have been rewarded - on different levels, but still rewarded. I feel this is a milestone that I have successfully reached, now all there is to do is keep going.

Christmas Lights

Now that I have my new camera (thanks to my rather generous parents) I have been able to take some great photos of all the things that my previous camera was never able to focus on. I haven't done much personal work this holiday - though I do have some ideas for my next piece - but here are a couple of photos I've taken that really show off the quality of my new camera.

Click the photos for a larger view.

Light Exposure

I will admit, this isn't a particularly artistic post. However, if you wish to interpret it as a collection displaying my - appalling - photographic skills then be my guest! It is in fact a collection of accidental photographs that I took at Waddesdon Manor with my pretty useless camera. I went to a Christmas carol and mulled wine evening held outside on the Manor grounds and there were a few baton and flame throwers there keeping everyone entertained. Anyway, I managed to get some pretty interesting photographs of the patterns their electric and flame batons made as they twirled them around.

Flame above, electric below. The electric ones came out the best. Also, I'm getting a new camera for Christmas so hopefully in future I'll be able to play around with the exposure more when taking photographs like these.