Gerhard Richter & Winter Solstice cards

Last Thursday, I went to see the Tate Modern exhibition of Gerhard Richter's works.  I've been too distracted by other things to make my mind up fully about what I saw.  I can say right now that I wasn't aware he based a lot of early paintings on photographs.  I'm not sure about using photos.  I've said it before that it offers up a 2D representation of the subject and loses something when it's rendered as a painting or drawing - you fall foul of trying to be true to what the camera sees.  The result is flat, to my mind.  Then there's that phenomenon of depth of field, the way a camera can blur the background to focus on the subject more - which the eye isn't generally aware of, I think.

Today I bought a scrap of lino to produce my Winter Solstice card.  I also sat down for the first time and thought about what it might be.  I'm not exactly original in this respect and the first idea is a candle :D

I've already sketched and prepared the image for developing into a lino cut.

Let's see how that goes.

If you're not physically involved in producing your art - are you an artist or a foreman?

I saw a video today, of Jeff Koons in his studio (January 2009), via Tate website. I was surprised to hear him talk about working on pieces of art, but seeing a workforce doing the hands-on processes for him.  I know he's a very skilled artist, but when did he apparently withdraw from creating his artworks himself?  I agree with him describing the development, in an artist, of an unique vocabulary that controls expression, but have difficulty in expanding that idea to controlling others to create work to fit those creative parameters.

Maybe I'm wrong in considering it cheating.  Maybe art doesn't need to be so close to the creator of it.  Maybe visualisation is enough and leave the graft to someone else.  There have been schools of artists, painting in the style of someone in particular.  You see examples of that in old italian schools of art.  Perhaps those workers for Jeff Koons will be acknowledged in the same way.

I just need to get my head around that.

Everywhere you go, always take a sketchbook with you!

Sorry, Crowded House, for hijacking your lyric, but I am a convert to being prepared to sketch.  I pack my sketchbook, small pencil case & watercolour travel pack at all times, in case there's an idle moment or inspiration arrives :) Oh, and drawing wherever and whatever helps combat those nerves at drawing in other people's company too!

I was held up in the barber's this afternoon, so sketched my right foot.

23rd - 29th September 2011: Trip to Nice

I was invited over to the Cote D'Azur to stay with a couple of friends - lovely!  A year on from the last visit I was determined to draw more than I might photograph :)  The only periods of time that were long enough to do so happened to be breakfast & sat on the beach, which limited my subject matter :)

I left my watercolour pencils behind and took a travel-size watercolour pack instead, in the hope I could practise colour mixing.

My first attempt was a cactus on the balcony of the flat we occupied.

I had a go at capturing The Negresco hotel as we sat on the beach, the lovely beach - in between swimming in the impossibly azur-blue sea ♥

We visited The Maeght Foundation in St Paul de Vence.  The Labyrinth de Miró was the highlight for me.  I found the pitchfork sculpture fascinating against the undulating landscape of the countryside - does the piece have a proper name, anyone?

Nice offers plenty of interesting, meandering side streets and (again) when a coffee break allowed, I got my sketchbook out.

I popped in to see Christian Césari at his atelier/gallery Á Côté.  The gallery was being expanded with new ceiling lighting being fitted (extremely slowly by a grinning turkish toyboy).  Christian had not been able to paint for TEN DAYS and was distracted, to say the least.  I met Christian's partner and agent for the first time.  Christian was willing to take time out and discuss his latest works and to look at what I've been up to.  They both gave me more advice on direction and technique -  

I should try drawing from memory & stop being directly influenced by the subject matter.  

Christian thinks my artitecture-based sketches are my best work.

Christian says don't mix detail with impressionism in the same sketch.

I'll take these comments on board :)

I also showed Christian the work of my friend Juli-Anne Coward, who is constantly seeking representation in sympathetic sites.  Christian loved her work, but advised that getting an agent in Nice would be difficult in the current financial climate.  Already a shop nearby, that sells more than one artist's output, is going bankrupt and the artists are at risk from losing their work.  Á Côté only sells Christian's work, for this reason.

10th September 2011: Hotwell Road & Whiteladies Road

I decided that after so many times of passing in my car a really interesting old boat perched on a pontoon in the harbour, I would walk to Hotwell Road and draw it.  The boat's in a state of disrepair that is begging to be sketched.

I found a bench directly opposite its location in the harbour and nervously set up my pad and tin of pencils.  There were passersby and twice folk stopped to watch me, but that wasn't so uncomfortable to endure.

What I had in mind was a restful hour or so absorbed in sketching and colouring this boat.  What I got was an hour of disturbingly high traffic noise, dirt and exhaust fumes, rowdy & rude groups of youths shouting at me as they passed and the stomach-turning smell of stale poached eggs.  I gave up when my pulse-rate distracted me the most.  What I have drawn isn't worth sharing :(

I took a leisurely route home and remembered another view I have driven past many times and wanted to sketch - a narrow row of shops and a café in Whiteladies Road, shortly after the BBC buildings.

This venture was a lot more rewarding.  I found a low wall outside an estate agents that I could sit on, under the shade of a tree, which came in handy as spots of rain arrived towards the end of my sketching time.  I used the watercolour pencils to add colour and am happy with the result :)

Scanner - where art thou?

All of a sudden my Macbook and my 5 year-old HP all-in-one printer have had a disagreement.  Not sure who's to blame.  The Macbook no longer recognises the scanner capability of the printer and every time I remove & reload the software the HP disc doesn't offer the scanner function anymore.  The printer itself offers the option to scan, but the Macbook won't accept it.  To add insult to injury, the setup programme keeps relaunching and is incomplete...

After a lot of cussing and frustration, I've bypassed this trouble by using a camera SD card that the printer can scan to, then iPhoto picks up the new files and I edit them from that programme. :)

So, without further ado - art updates!