An artist on lockdown , what’s new there then ?
We nearly always work alone , we eat like students because the function of feasting is just not as nourishing as getting that tiny flash of titanium white just right and we learn quickly that touching your face at any point during your art practice is likely to leave unmistakeable evidence and so rarely do it, likewise we have hands that are so often in some form of cleaning fluid they may as well be webbed. So why then has it taken me weeks of procrastinating and thinking on our current situation to continue exactly as I was before ?
Flow is the answer , I was swimming in a river of ideas and then a virus came along , all the water dried up and there was I stood shivering in my cossey wondering what the heck just happened.
I am not the only one I know many of us will also have spent some time re-adjusting to the new regime , new timescales and prolonged deadlines but this week I was asked to write about my art work for postcards from the island and Boom ! I had a reason to go back into the studio , open some paint tubes and jump back into that river , and guess what I’m swimming again, albeit doggy paddle.
The mood of the murky weather reflected I dived in with the blues and greys and was soon heading for an abstract beach scene. I work mostly from memory, I try to recall sounds , smells , emotive stimulants that take me back to a place , maybe several places at once and I find my way from there adding colour and form until I feel I know the scene , that Is the ultimate goal for me when I make art, I want the viewer to feel a scene too , to recognise a moment for themselves.
Usually I start work outdoors using the weather and it’s many faces to help me begin claiming that stark blank space on the canvas but today I’m in my pyjamas and just want to feel cosy so it’s indoor experimentation for me.
I am trying desperately hard to find my colour palette for the islands. The contrast is vivid, striking and unique and so far I am struggling to capture it but then if I had all the answers already I would miss out on all this wonderful researching. Deepest darkest blue horizons , stacked , folded crevasses in blackest grey , pungent green/yellow cliff edges and cluttered rows of rusty brown seaweed .
My surroundings are a feast for the eyes and make for an enticing menu for a days creating so now I am going to continue where I left off , exploring , searching and feeling the beat of my new environment and hopefully by the end of this lock down I will be ready to greet the world again , share my efforts and continue to push my work forward in all the ways I had planned.
Until we meet again happy creating x