IMT - Best of 2007

From Inspire Me Thursday this week: The Best of 2007
"This week let us look back upon the past twelve months and reflect upon the best of 2007… perhaps a moment you were at your best. Choose something that stood out, something you will remember 2007 for."

I'd been having a rough time earlier in the year so I took a break to Stirling in Scotland. It was the best thing I did. Just to get away from everything and spend time in Scotland. I cannot imagine finding a more beautiful place on the planet.

There was one amazing life-affirming moment, which for me fits perfectly for the theme this week. Here is a photograph I took at that time and place. Everything just seemed okay and it was one of those glad to be alive moments. It is taken at the top of the Old Town Jail in Stirling. Its something I'll never forget and its also the moment I fell in love with Scotland. I keep this photograph in a frame in my bedroom to remind me of how I felt. It cheers me up to remember it if I'm feeling down. I've been back since and am hoping to travel there again in 2008.

For the artwork, I'm sharing 4 postcards I got when I was there. I know they are for children to colour in (!) but I really liked them and I've just finished painting the last one tonight so I can post them for this. They are the Scottish heroes William Wallace, Mary Queen of Scots, Robert The Bruce and Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Happy New Year to everyone. I hope 2008 brings more of these moments to us all.

Forgery or Tribute?

I've been thinking about the fine line between forgery and tribute. Attempting to master the style of another artist and absorb yourself in their work or a shameless rip off?

At school we always used to copy famous art works or the work of an artist we were studying. I read in "I was Vermeer" that Michelangelo used to borrow classic works of art in order to copy them, but he returned the copies, keeping the originals for himself.

So here are a few I faked earlier, while I was at school. The first is from Lisa Yuskavage's "Kathy on a Pedestal" and the second is my attempt at "Siamese Smile" by Chatchai Puipia.
I remember trying to decide what to paint for an exam piece and not being satisfied with any idea I came up with because it had been done before. Another artist had painted about those themes, or in that style, or about the same subject. When I explained my frustration to my art teacher I always remember him saying to me that its impossible to ever produce anything new in that sense. Everything has been done before.



So how do you produce an original artwork? I suppose it is by bringing yourself into the work. Putting a part of you - of your life - into the canvas. Anyway this is what I've been musing on this weekend and I painted this picture about it. I got the idea form one of those vintage type French posters. I have one on my bedroom wall which I bought ages ago from a second hand shop.

I Was Vermeer - Art & Forgery

I've just finished the book "I Was Vermeer" by Frank Wynne. It is a true story about artist Han van Meegeren, one of the most famous forgers of the twentieth century. His fake Vermeer "Supper at Emmaus" was a Dutch national treasure and the most visited painting in the Netherlands. In fact, when Han was arrested and confessed many still refused to believe this was a forgery as it was simply so good. In order to prove he had the skill to produce such a genuine-looking Vermeer, the courts had him paint "a new Vermeer" watched by guards.

It was interesting to read about the fascinating subject of art forgery. Firstly I hadn't realised how widespread forgery of the masters is. Over the years many paintings have been "improved upon" or doctored as fashions change. Bits are cut out (often Joseph from the Holy family to create a more saleable Madonna & child), or bits repainted.

Michelangelo's fresco on the Sistine Chapel alter "The Last Judgement", shown right, was painted with the figures naked. Pope Paul III's advisor was shocked by the "shameless display of flesh" and an artist was commissioned after Michelangelo's death to add bits of cloth to cover up the figures.

Secondly it takes an awful lot of skill and talent to forge Vermeer-type works of art. Firstly the forger must be intimately familiar and competent with the style of the artist they are attempting to copy. Many forgers are themselves failed or unrecognised artists. Van Meerger was himself a very skillful painter in the style of the old Dutch masters like Rembrandt. Unfortunately for him he was born about 300 years too late. He was painting just as modern art - Dali, Picasso, Mondrian - were transforming the art world. Nobody was interested in Han's old fashioned style.

In addition to artistic skill the forger must have an excellent practical knowledge of the canvas and paints which would have been used. Han bought genuine old canvases which he painted over. He couldn't use the new paints which were now available in tubes but had to mix them from the raw materials like lead or lapis lazuli, as Vermeer would have done. There is also the problem of giving the aged appearance. The craquelure is almost impossible to artificially produce. Simply baking a painting would produce cracks too uniform and would distort the paints and canvas. Han experimented with this for years and eventually built his own oven, using a complicated system of varnishing and baking the paintings.

More Sketches

Just another page of quick sketches, done without lifting the pencil, of my surroundings today. I coloured and paitned it in tonight.

Photography Fan Two

Here is a photograph by Monica Ford which I love. I think she is an extremely talented lady and when I came across her work on the Internet at a random hour in the morning a few days ago I was just dumbstruck by the visual impact her images posses. You can read an interview with Monica Here.

At the moment I'm becoming more and more keen to, without wanting to sound pretentious (!), experiment with and explore what it means to be a woman. I'm starting to develop a real sense of inner strength and pride from being a woman and this is something I want to try and develop in my own paintings. The thing I like about Monica is that she creates these characters herself, and uses them, it seems to me, to delve into what is it to be a woman and the many roles we have. Whether we contrive and exploit them ourselves or if we are put in that position by others. Its an interesting area.

Aside from all that stuff I am just struck by the genius way Monica captures the beauty of women. The way she photographs the female body. Truly there is nothing like the female body for artistic perfection. Or is that just me? Maybe! I do tend to go through random phases of becoming obsessed with painting "the female nude" much to the embarrassment of my parents and art teacher who censored my end of year show! Maybe I'll paint a new one now just for you Mr Jones :)

Photography Fan One

I met photographer Andrew Helm at a craft fair in Saltaire this year. I loved his work and as I become more interested in and appreciative of photography myself I wanted to share it with you here.

I especially liked this photograph "Petals and Leaves # 1" because I find the random shapes and colours make such a natural and beautiful composition. Andrew does not stage the photographs but just captures things as they are, this one from the forest floor. I think because these are dying petals people wouldn't usually stop to notice the beauty in them but photographed in this way I find it mesmerising. I think Andrew has a great eye for spotting this understated and hidden beauty and that's why I'm a fan.

Sketching

I'm trying to start doing more simple, quick sketching. Just sitting down with my sketch book and a pencil with no big plans in mind and sketching objects around me or whatever comes to mind. I've been using the book "Art Escapes" by Dory Kanter as inspiration.

Here are a few examples I've been doing over Christmas. This first page was sketching without lifting the pencil of the page. From starting off drawing a teddy bear I filled the whole page and then added some colour with watercolour, adding more definition with a black ink pen. From nothing I like the way this gathered its own momentum and made a nice random page in my sketchbook.

This is a great exercise in "Art Escapes" when the prospect of just sitting down and starting sketching (anything!?) is a bit daunting. Draw lots of little two inch square boxes and fill them with quick two minute observations of your surroundings. Then you can go on to add colour, or develop some off the boxes into paintings or whatever.

Rose

This study of a rose, painted in acrylic, formed part of my 2003 A-level exam in art. My mum now has it on her bedroom wall. After 4 years I have just now felt like I could sign it. I'm a bit weird about signing paintings and can't often .. but I really regret not dating them. I'm going to start doing so now.

Monica

Painted this tonight in watercolour.

Cranberry Dancing Pearl Necklace

Here is a last, last minute commission for a festive red necklace.

I've made it mainly with cranberry coloured freshwater dancing pearls. There are also Swarovski crystals, lampwork glass beads, Goldstone beads and golden leaf charms.

IMT - Open Topic

Because its an open topic at Inspire Me Thursday this week I'm posting something totally different. Not something I've done but some Christmas cards my mum painted for my dad and me back in 1993! I've treasured them all this time.

The Mini one is for me. I don't know why but I used to always burst into fits of uncontrollable giggles whenever I saw a yellow Mini car. One of my teachers at school had one so I think that's where it started. Even now whenever I see one I have to have a sly smile. :)

The motorbike one was for my dad. Always a biker and a Harley was the dream bike, so here is Santa on one. I think he can totally carry off that look too!

Happy Christmas everyone!

Baubles

I'm not sure about them but my dad really likes these beaded Christmas baubles so I've stitched him this one as a gift this year. It is with a kit from Spellbound Bead Company.
Hopefully he'll be able to keep it and put it on the tree each year.

It took a long time to make but I'm happy with it now its finished. I've tried to send as many handmade gifts as I can. I'm glad its all now finished and I'm really looking forward to people opening the presents. Only 2 days to go .. yey!

Dusty Scrapbook

Here is another special Christmas gift for my mum which I have just finished. Its okay I can post it here because she doesn't read this.

She is a really big Dusty Springfield fan so I have made a Dusty scrapbook. I've used the K & Company Neapolitan Accordian Mini-Book set. This is a picture of it above plus some other ribbons and bits of pieces I started with.

It has 10 pages so I've devoted a page each to mum's 10 favourite Dusty songs. There are snippets of the lyrics and mum's favourite Dusty photographs too.

I've also made a compilation CD of the 10 songs (which fits really nicely in the round tin).

Here it is altogether. Hope she likes it...

RSPCA Christmas Present for Mum

This is a Christmas gift for my mum. I usually get mum a cat or kitten calendar for Christmas. However when I was shopping for one I saw this RSPCA Photo Memories calendar where you use your own pictures each month.

So I have made mum a special cat calendar for 2008 with pictures of our own beautiful cats! What a great idea.

This is a picture of our cat Mora posing for January :-)

Men

I have today finished the male version of my art sketches - I did one of women a while ago. The idea was to take famous examples of men and women in art and put them all together as simple sketches on a page like this.

The male one is based on paintings and sculptures by Picasso, Bacon, Da Vinci, Raeburn, Munch, Michelangelo, Reni, Rubens, van Gogh, Masaccio, Warhol, Rembrant & Toulouse-Latrec.

I have stuck the two pictures together to make an A3 sized finished piece. I really like how this one has worked out. Its a good addition to a series of works I've been doing about the artists and paintings that have inspired me. I might even put this up on my wall!

Summer

This is a follow up piece to the collage I posted for the theme of "Ice" last week at IMT. Thank you to everyone who posted such nice comments, you inspired me to do this new collage.

Here they both are together. Bellow is a photograph of a painted window in my art classroom. I wanted to show it here because it inspired me to do the first winter-scape collage. I think its really pretty.

Strawberries & Nettles

This is about school. Definitely not a happy time for me.

IMT - Giving

For "Giving" at Inspire Me Thursday this week I am sharing some work from my final art therapy class where the theme was also giving. We all made a picture for each other member of the group. On it we painted two gifts we wanted to give them. One was an actual gift we could physically give and the second was an abstract gift idea. Then we actually gave the paintings to that person to keep.

The picture at the top here is a page in my sketch book where I have glued in the gifts from Michael and Eddie. From Michael the gifts were the path towards the sun and happiness and the gift of a degree and career in the area of art. From Eddie the gifts were the path towards happiness (:-)the same! ) - the yellow brick road and for my family to be together on my birthday - which was the next day.

Here are the gifts I painted.

Gifts For Carol

A good venue and lots of people to come to our next art course (hopefully there will be one!). Secondly a kind of mirror with which to see through our eyes the huge benefit and joy Carol has brought us with this art therapy class.

Gifts For Michael

A train ticket to go and visit family who live further north and in Ireland. Also the gift of connecting with a sense of roots when he plans to go back to where his family came from originally. Secondly a sense of feeling "home" and heritage in the landscape of Ireland.

Gifts For Eddie

A sketch book. Plus the gift of artistic creativity and inspiration. This is because after doing the course Eddie has really found a passion for art and wishes to develop it further as a hobby.

I just want to say happy Christmas to everyone at IMT and anyone else who reads this. Thank you all for your kind comments and inspiration. Best wishes for the holidays and I hope you all enjoy sending and receiving lovely gifts.

Studying Mammals

I just got my exam result back this week for my Open University course "Understanding Mammals" and I passed! :-)

Just for the "aww" factor here is a picture of one of my favourite mammals - the red panda.

I'm very happy because I enjoyed the course which is a companion to the BBC series "The Life of Mammals". Hugely interesting and very challenging - much harder and more in depth than I thought it would be. It was very rewarding though - totally worth it. I wish David Attenborough was my Grandad a little bit now!

I'm very interested in learning about animals and how to care for them. It is something I'm hoping to learn more about in the future. I'd like to get more hands on experience doing this.

Speaking of which, here is a picture of my hands (honest!) holding William the cat. It was taken when I did some volunteer work with the RSPCA in Halifax.

As you can see he was very poorly and lost his eye after being knocked down by a car. His jaw was also wired shut but he was back on the mend when this photograph was taken - just having his stitches out with the vet. William made a full recovery and was adopted into a caring home by a member of the public who fell in love with him in the cattery.

Lovely happy ending!

Silence

These pictures are from my art therapy class. The subject was "silence". In the first one I'm trying to show an idea of keeping an inner sense of calm and silence amid all the hustle bustle of those around us. It helps to block the rest of the world out when needs be but things can still get through and you can chose to become aware once again.

This quick sketch was a picture of the exact moment in my class. I am the yellow and white circle in the centre. Its like peripheral vision I suppose with sounds. Each of the interjecting colours and lines were sounds or people around me at the time. People talking, music playing and a digger outside too. I enjoyed doing this one a lot because it was so current. Every time I heard another sound I wanted to add more to the picture.

I think next week is going to be the last session due to small class size. I'm really down about it because this group has really been a terrific life line for me. I've been feeling so creative these last few months. I usually take the class on Tuesday as a jumping off point and build on the themes myself during the week. I've been painting so much recently- more so than I have ever probably done. I've also had confidence to try new things - photography, collage.

I just hope I can keep it up if the class is going to finish. Its so much easier when you are in a group with people and have a tutor to encourage you. It can be so easy to sometimes slip back into old habits and not be bothered to get up and do something. So I'm feeling quite worried today.

I don't want to lose what I've been working at.

Stretch Gemstone Bracelets

Here are some new bracelets I have made. They are strung on elastic so they can come on and off without fussing with clasps. They are quite a flexible fit for people too.
Here I have used tiger eye, jade, rose quartz and onyx.

Inspirations

This is a painting I've just finished. The idea came to me because we were asked to bring in something to art therapy class which makes us feel inspired. I thought of the painting "Wheat field With Crows" by van Gogh. My favourite painting ever.

But I didn't want to stop there - there are so many paintings, sculptures and artists that have fascinated me at one time or another. So I've made a collage here of some of the key works of art and artists to inspire me and make me want to learn more about art.

I've cropped little pictures so I can identify them individually here. They actually look better like this I think!

Sarah Lucas "Black & White Bunny"

Lucian Freud "Portrait of Francis Bacon"

Vincent van Gogh "Wheat field With Crows"

Tracey Emin, still from video "Why I Never Became A Dancer"

David Hockney "Nude 1984"

Martin Creed "Lights Going On & Off"

Edouard Manet "A Bar At The Folies-Bergere"

Jenny Holzer from "Inflammatory Essays"

Arnulf Rainer "Wine Crucifix"

Armand Fernandez "Condition Of A Woman"

Rineke Dijkstra "Julie"

Marlene Dumas "The Banality Of Evil"

Here are photographs of the collage as I made it. The first stage was to glue down the pictures and apply a layer of Gesso. I then painted onto the page. Filling in the gaps between the pictures and doing a little bit of painting on the pictures too to tie it all in. The final stage was to add some words, which you might be able to see on the finished picture at the top of the post.

IMT - Ice

I decided to give myself a bit of a challenge with "Ice" this week. So I tried a collage - which is something I don't usually have the confidence to try.
Here I've tried to show winter - a snowy, icy and bitter landscape but with that sense of excitement that comes with snowy weather and Christmastime.

Leaf Bracelet

I've just finished work on a special commission order for Christmas. It was for a version of my Autumn Flowers Bracelet but in shades of green. So I changed it from flowers to leaves.


This is the original bracelet.

Spider Mask

Looking Back To Go Forward?

I've been thinking a lot this last week or so about going to university. I did get a place to study at art college after I finished school at 18 but at the last minute I didn't go and got a proper job instead. A job which made me miserable as it happens. Did I do the wrong thing? Probably.

Now I'm older and hopefully wiser, I've been thinking about doing a fine art degree at university, giving it another go. I've got some soul searching to do in the next few months.

So I've had my old school sketch books out just to look back at the last time I studied art. Is this what I want to do again?

So I'm sharing a few pictures here from back in the day. 1998-2003

By the way, I'm not saying Liverpool is rubbish. Just that they have bright purple wheelie bins which I thought was cool! I've got a thing about how wheelie bins change colour in different parts of the country (my weird thing). They have red and brown ones in Stirling you know :)

Racing Sue

Bored, Bored

Sarah

Self Portrait

Othello

Women

With Chapman Bros, Amedo Madigliani, Marlene Dumas, Andre Derain, Zoe Leonard, Vanessa Beecroft, Sandro Botticelli, Tracey Emin, Georges Broque, Gary Hume, Lucian Freud, Leonardo da Vinci, Rineke Dijkstra, Paul McCarthy, Pablo Picasso, Sarah Lucas, Paul Cezanne.

I just love this! I really enjoyed doing it too - looking through all my art books, pouring over all the fantastic paintings and being inspired by artists I love. I'm now working on a male version.

And if I can think of any other themes I may do more.

Explore Yourself Through Art - Reviewed

I've been working through the book "Explore Yourself Through Art (Creative Projects To Promote Personal Insight, Growth and Problem Solving)" by Vicky Barber. I thought I would now share the work I have made doing the projects and write a short review of the book. Hopefully someone might find it interesting or useful - if you have thought about trying the book.

Creativity

Colour Exercise - Depicting a sentiment through the choice of colour. I chose "Creativity" which I painted as yellow. This often reoccurs in my paintings when I want to depict this emotion or feeling. The use of strong yellow and white is consistent and it is also significant to me when I leave out or block these colours. I suppose its my own kind of short hand when I'm communicating mood and themes. Its just how I picture these moods in my head.

Uninspired

Line Exercise - Using line to capture a mood or state of mind. The feelings I drew were boredom and being uninspired - the opposite of what I did with my first task on creativity. I used lots of rigid, strong dark straight lines which crossed over one another creating a cage or net shape.

Looking To The Future

Shape Exercise - Choosing one shape which sums up the way you are feeling at present. I am thinking optimistically about the future. Onwards and upwards - and I've attempted to convey that with dynamic triangles, striving upwards and in bright vivid colours.

The Scribble

The Scribble Exercise - Probably my favourite Exercise of the book. See my prior post Fun & Games for instructions on how to try this - its great!

"Laura"

Name Exercise - The activity here is about understanding personal identity. I thought about my name and drew images I felt were relevant to who I am at this moment. The things that go in to making up me - The thoughts and feelings I have. I've also put in some elements of the past which I think affect who I am now.

Mandala One - Me

Mandala and You Exercise - This is the first time I've made a mandala. I've seen them before but didn't really know about them. This activity in the book introduced me to the concept. In the first mandala the aim was to think about specific aspects in my life at the moment. Choosing colours and shapes to represent these things, thinking about their size and the way they affect one another in the circle. Again this is a positive mandala for me all about creativity, optimism and resilience.

Mandala Two - Problems

Mandala and Problem Solving - Here I've used the mandala to look at areas in my life that I feel need attention. I chose to concentrate on one particular aspect of my life in which I feel unsatisfied at the moment. Wanting to move out of my current house and set up my own home. There is also the desire to forge my positive yellow path through all the doubt and confusion, one which will hopefully lead me into a happier place.

Nightmare

Dream Exercise - I chose to draw a nightmare I had the night before. I'm often troubled by nightmares and I hate them. I hate the awful feeling of unease and distress that hangs around me all day when I get up. I feel like I can't shake off the feelings I had in the dream. So twice now I've painted dreams and I've so far found it to be quite helpful in getting rid of that feeling. I feel that by putting the images down on paper I can get them out of my brain and forget it. I'm going to keep trying this.

My review

I hope you found the exercises I've written about interesting and maybe you might feel like having a go at some of them. I also think it is a great introduction to the topic of art therapy. If it is something you are interested in, you can't go wrong with this book.

The exercises are interesting and not too daunting to experiment with. The activities gently ease you from your comfort zone and before you know it you've made some really insightful, personal and meaningful art. The book is really successful in doing what it claims - promoting personal insight, growth and problem-solving. Its a great way to take stock, do something refreshing and positive. Great too if you're having a creative block.

The exercises are easy to follow and there are examples in the book of other student's work with analysis. This really helps you to look at your own work in an insightful way, picking out feelings and thoughts which concern you at the moment.

The only criticism I would make is that I feel it is unlikely people will do some of the exercises - like the full body mask, carnival costume or making a medicine wheel.

Overall though I would highly recommend the book. I think it is well worth purchasing. I've got so much out of it - even in just the exercises I've shown here. I also think its a book I will keep coming back to, if I feel the need to loosen up or do a bit of mandala problem solving!

Brilliant!

IMT - Paradox

This is my effort for the theme "Paradox" at inspire Me Thursday this week.

It is my response to the sculpture “Iraq War Memorial” by Daniel Edwards which depicts Prince Harry dead and in his military uniform. The artist is apparently "honouring those willing but unable to serve in Iraq".

Here is the BBC news coverage of the story : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7030133.stm
(What do you think of it?)

This sculpture has been troubling me for a while. I think it is good art but I really don't like it. So from this paradox I took inspiration and created my own tribute to Prince Harry and his service in the British Army.


It is based on this official photograph of Harry.

Also thanks to my friend Michael who encouraged me to embrace my love for Harry when he said "You dig the Prince?"

So the answer is yes. Yes I do.

Wine Glass Charms

A new thought this year for Christmas - wine glass charms. They fit round the stem of the glass and I've made them to go with the Christmas meal table setting.

I have made four different sets. I wasn't sure if people would like them but they have been popular at the craft fairs and people seem to like the idea.

I don't think its possible to over glitz Christmas!

Jewellery Catalogue

My jewellery catalogue is now finished - just in time for Christmas. I shall be sending copies out in the next week. Here is the charm bracelet page. It hasn't scanned very well but you get the idea. It has taken a lot of work so its a relief to finish. It is very exciting too to have my own catalogue. I'm looking forward to being busy with the orders.

Butterscotch Pony

If anyone has a spare £300 and is wondering what to get me for my birthday ..

... I love this!

The Butterscotch Pony

"A life size Shetland pony you can keep in your room".

Just Genius.