Big Horizons

I’m in Frankonia, (Bavaria, Germany), for a few days, but unfortunately with no access to a scanner or any way of uploading any artwork so, today its only words.

The landscape here is linear, structured and ordered, made up of clean lines, horizontal and vertical. The sky seems always at a distance and the light though not today, is even and bright. By contrast the landscape I grew up in, in North Yorkshire is rugged and uneven. It is busy with dry stone walls and hedges, small river valleys, sunk beneath high moorland. The colours seem altogether more rich and varied. It is a windy spontaneous landscape, where the sky and everything under it appear to be in continuous flux. It is often heavy with dark clouds under which the light gets trapped, saturating everything. The contrast to Bavaria couldn’t be more different and when I first began visiting here years ago I found it un-stimulatimg and sterile by comparison.  It isn´t the same but it does have its own ordered, linear beauty.

(Actually it was the photographer Thomas Struth in his book Dandelion Rooms that helped me appreciate it more. The landscape photos taken in that book are actually taken around the area of Winterthur, where we live. But the topography and landscape in both areas are very similar).

Its not a patchwork of history like England’s landscapes, but a green and gold landscape where fields and woods are neatly divided. The ploughed furrows are perfectly straight and you find few abandoned farmhouses or dilapidated orchards to disturb the uniformity.  I joke that even the trees here stand to attention. It also got me thinking how landscape so much reflects the history and character of its people. But it could be just as well, that we are formed by our natural environment? By the consistency of the weather and open or obstructed horizons?

Where does Creativity come from?

Where does creativity come from? Are people born naturally creative? I don’t believe so. I think creativity, like many things is more nurture than nature.Why? I guess my own creativity started as an escape in childhood and from reality of actual living. I guess I’m not the first person in the world to find life difficult sometimes and drawing the world and its people was my way, though not consciously, of studying the world objectively and with some detachment. I then found that this, was a whole world in itself, one of which I was in charge and that was almost completely limitless. And the creative process is like that, you start off at the beginning without necessarily knowing what is at the end.

Being creative allows you to see the world in a different way, it teaches you to be observant and intuitive and make connections between things where others would not.

Some others have said it better.

You can’t wait for inspiration.  You have to go after it with a club.  ~Jack London

To think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted.  ~George Kneller

You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.  ~Mark Twain

Artist Statement Generator

I didn’t find much time for creating any lovely artwork this last week or so but I did find this, thanks to luannudell. A fun way to generate the only Artist statement you will ever need, which originated and can be found on Artists Nick Fortunato and Erin Seymour’s Art website 10Gallon.com. My first attempt came out like this.

Through my work I attempt to examine the phenomenon of Cartman as a methaphorical interpretation of both Cy Twombly and feeling.

What began as a personal journey of shitism has translated into images of mangos and girls bums that resonate with medittaranean people to question their own deep yellowness.

My mixed media integrity embody an idiosyncratic view of Charles Darwin, yet the familiar imagery allows for a connection between Steve Mcqueen, woods and potatoes.

My work is in the private collection of don’t remember who said ‘amazing!, that’s some real really Art.’

I am a recipient of a grant from Folsom Prison where I served time for stealing mugs and tie clips from the gift shop of The Technorama. I have exhibited in group shows at no fast food chains and the Tate Modern, though not at the same time. I currently spend my time between my living room and Berlin.

When is Art, Art?

 

When is Art, Art? Is Art still Art when nobody else sees it? What does it take to make a piece of Art? Can it be a single piece or does it need to be part of a body of work? The culmination of an idea, developed over a length of time with other work to support it? Is it possible for someone to pick up a canvas and paint and produce a piece of Art, with no formal training or any kind of build up in terms of developmental studies?  If Van Gogh had only ever created ‘Sunflowers‘ and nothing else would it still be considered great Art or is it better Art when taken into the context of his life and lifes work? When does something become Art? Could an illustration be considered Art? Or a sketch? Is it the scale, the context, the technique? Is it Art, if only one person considers it Art, or does it need the approval of many?  Is it still Art if only the Artist sees it…..?? Any piece of Art that works for me is something that helps me see things differently or  just from a new perspective, be that painting, drawing, film, dance…..

Don’t draw what you see

I’ve been playing recently with less observational drawing and painting and more with my own kind of free association technique, (although surrealism is not what I’m aiming for). I just want to create a piece without any preconceived idea of the final outcome or composition. I work mainly in pencil, watercolour and felt tip, because these are fast and easy materials and that way everything moves quickly. Also I deliberately don’t get too caught up with how it might look at the end. Additionally, I like the idea of pulling from different source materials and seeing what new associations these bring up when brought together. Working on waxed paper also keeps the randomness to a maximum. Have a look at this link, alcottArt which has a lot of nice children’s drawings. I love the freedom with which children draw and create. They have far fewer preconceptions about how things should be drawn than us adults.

What to do

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Evolution

evolution of a blog

Just looking at some other blogs this morning What I saw today and The Satorialist being two very good examples, makes me a just little jealous at how very clear and focused they are and I wonder if they started out with a very clear idea of what they wanted at the beginning (probably), rather than having a fairly good idea (like me). Not that I want mine to be SO singular, only that it finds its own niche, (suggestions welcome). There are just too many different and inspiring things out there to ignore. Some people must have telescopic eyes, mine I think, are more like flies, like a hundred, looking in different directions at once. Although I did make one conscious decision and that was to limit the fashion content to a minimum, as this is my daily work and also because there are a lot of other people out there already doing great (and not so great) fashion blogs.

a simple reduction?

Some of my favourite artists produce some of the simplest work….this is my copy of Oskar Kollers Windgeneigter Baum 1994

Sometimes in order to loosen up, when painting or drawing I reduce the colours I work with, go back to just working in pencil or draw without looking or taking my pen from the paper. I do this in order to clear my mind of the distraction of trying too hard, otherwise I can get too involved in trying to get things right and it never looks right. I guess I’m trying to get my brain to work directly with my hand without my intellect getting in the way. As part of this I then tried to understand what makes a painting likeable by analyzing the colours used in some works I liked and then recreating the colours as a simple palette. I love the reduction in the later work of Henry Matisse and the watercolourist, Oskar Koller. That after many years of traveling their respective creative journeys, their work is reduced to the most simple composition, beautiful colours and an almost childlike enjoyment of their medium. Yet though I don’t doubt the strength of their work or its impact, I still ask myself why is it Art? If I was able to do the same would it also be Art? Is it the scale of the work that makes it Art or all that led to it and the context in which it was created? Also, why do I find it so appealing? Maybe it appeals because these days life seems so complex, we have too many choices and that reduction to the the most simple of things is so refreshing.

evolution

Forgive me while I fiddle with the format of this blog…just trying to get it, (near) perfect…so that might take a while!

I’m actually quite curious myself as to how this is going to turn out….I see it as an evolutionary process (but with an audience)

However I have decided that…

1. It should be topical
2. It will have pictures painted or drawn by my good self.
3. It will have some bearing on my own life and observations of…
4. It will be humorous, entertaining and interesting….you can be the judge of this one.
5. ….it might take a little while.