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ORIGINAL
GRAPHITE DRAWING
GRAPHITE DRAWING
About
"Artist" Frames
All Paintings & Prints
can be supplied in
"ready to hang"
handmade and
hand-embellished
All Paintings & Prints
can be supplied in
"ready to hang"
handmade and
hand-embellished
"Artist
Frames"
Working "En Plein Air" can have motivations and inspiration in simple roots. "I
sometimes ponder if I am moved to paint rural things, things that
wander around in a field, things that conjure visions of other lives
(farming) and things that have unbounded movement (birds and
aeroplanes) because my early life felt very restricted. In the very
early part of my childhood I
lived in one room with my parents, with no hot or cold running water,
and an outside toilet shared with two other families in the terraced
house I lived in. Water was brought up from my Grandfather's rooms
below (by me) in enameled jugs before I went off to school. I was fed
up a lot of the time with the greyness of my surroundings, so I took to
looking out the big window of the room, at the garden, which was awful
because nobody bothered with it (except me in the school holidays) and
at the
end of the garden was a boring brick wall with a galvanised metal roof,
of a car repair shop, in the next street. Hardly an inspiring view
(though perhaps this is at the root of my fascination with walls as
imagery?) But
. . . . . when it snowed, that was different, it all looked so
beautiful and I wanted to capture it, pin the Art on my wall, remember
it when it was thawed and gone. It was a way of "keeping the world
pretty"."I
realised instinctively that locations didn't, indeed couldn't then (I
spent a lot of time painting that view when I was off school with
colds, and in London in the 50's the weather was always damp, and with
smog, and Mumps got a lot of kids, including me, I was often ill and
stuck in bed, but I liked it because I could paint!) be planned in
advance and in the better summer weather I could spontaneously get out
into the garden, in the park, and on holiday, and just "paint what
presents"."As
a child I painted in poster colours, on the kitchen table, in the local
working mens club where my parents went on the weekends to socialise,
on the beach in Scotland near RAF Leuchars Air base (my mother is a
Scott) where I was forever scribbling representations of the fighter
aircraft that came in low over the Firth of Forth, and I painted on
trains (but not on buses) and I even once painted sitting in a public
toilet because it was more fun drawing Fred Flintstone in my sketchbook
than going back to the dinner table to eat my auntie Effie's stone cold
Tappiocca pudding that I dreaded (just as well because my Dad fed it to
my Aunt's cat and it went outside and was ill) so when internet Art
blogs etc., talk about "the ideal spot to set up in" as being 'in the
shade, out of the wind" I smile, let alone "If you use an umbrella for
shade, be sure that it doesn't cast any color on your canvas" because
it really rather depends on "age, stage, and awareness" as to whether
any of that matters."I
have rather come full circle with it now. A child has no idea what "En
Plein Air" remotely means and merely does it "because he does" (for
whatever reason) and an Art Student does it because "it's part of my
degree course" and a professional "commercial" Artist does it because
"it's the job". But, as I am now "self-published" and decide for myself
what I paint, it has become the case that such matters of comfort,
practicality, efficiency, and the ability to carry out the work in hand
effectively without difficulty, that proper and adequate preparation
are
vital if one is to have a satisfying creative experience and produce
something anyone might consider "good".DEALING WITH "SPECTATORS"
"Unless
you are some ego-tripping painter who loves to pose, there's
something consistently irritating about having one's working time
interrupted if only because people consistently do so. I realise it may
be interesting seeing Artists at work but think how you'd feel if
someone kept doing so while you were working? It's disruptive and in no
way helpful whatsoever. At my stage I don't want it or need it and for
a young Artist it can be destructive to confidence if they are having difficulty with
a painting that is not going so well or a deadline to meet or even, if
they are amature painters, trying to relax into hobby time after a
hard week's work at something else. Experience has taught me to avoid
these situations and select places where I will be unseen or, if I
really cannot avoid being "in the public eye" give off an air of "best not to disturb
me" though even that will not deter the ignorant and insistent. At that
point I have no option but to tough it out and I like that as much as I
did back in the 70's, which is not at all."It
can get quite pressurised. Back when I was drawing Paddington Station
at Art School several of us (Art Students) were sitting within a few
yards of each other, for feelings of security, and a guy came up to a
fellow student and did the whole "walk around the Artist" thing and "let
me give you some completely unasked for advice" comments. It was too
much. Just one time too many. My friend had a penknife he'd been using
to sharpen his pencil and he suddenly leapt up and yelled at the
stranger who had asked "'ere, mister, you an Artist?" to which the
reply was "what do you think I am, a traffic warden, now "___-off or
I'll __ __ ____ off" which may be a trifle confrontational
but it worked very well. So don't automatically assume, if you
approach an Artist who is working "En Plein Air" that he wears a
beret, a striped T shirt, doesn't wash and will be ever so nice to you
. . . . . . it ain't always the case!HOW TO DEAL WITH CHANGING LIGHT CONDITIONS
"If this is going to be an issue for you then it will always be an
issue, so it is best to formulate a policy and method of working as soon
as possible. I'm not in favour of umbrellas, tents, sitting in the car
or such methods but they and others are certainly ways of approaching
the issue. Personally, I prefer to work quickly if in a really exposed
area (the Linda Kitson influence) such as a farmer's field and do my homework before I go on a trip
as to what the weather may be like. If I am in an urban area that's not
a problem, I just find a suitable spot, a cafe for example, and paint
looking out of the window, though that's when the issue of "dealing
with the public" starts to occur. You just have to accept that as part
of the job. Like it, or lump it, basically.IT CAN GET STICKY
"Art
magazines and web sites will argue all sorts of ways you can deal with
this issue. I have several. An A4 deep plastic box with everything I
need in it is one way, with a thin sheet of perspex with a raised edge
(like a tray basically) and a bit of sticky tape keeps a wet painting
from touching the box when closed. Another way is to use a plastic photo
case that Pharmacies use to provide non-digital photos in because they
often have a couple of clips attached inside the lid that will hold your
picture. Large pencil boxes are good too, they close up tight and
a wad of tightly rolled tissue at picture corners will buffer the surface against the lid.
You really don't need all that Art supply shop kit and, ultimately, if
working locally, you can just walk home holding the picture by
the edge - it's not rocket science. COMPLETION EN PLEIN AIR OR IN-STUDIO?
"Art magazines and web sites also debate this
because their readership depends on that. My view is that the purist
view, that En Plein Air must be completed in the open and not back at
the studio is dependent on why you are doing the work in the first place. If it were a job for a
client you have to do whatever you need to do to complete the assignment, the client's needs, and
deliver it. If you are a Sunday painter and feel the urge to be a
purist then you'll want to complete the work en-situ maybe. If, however, you
are a painter who likes to paint in terms of the mood of the day, which
may be shifting repeatedly, there would be little merit in remaining
in a spot where what you are painting, perhaps a fleeting chink of
light, was already gone, but perhaps you can still complete your
recollection of it back at the studio? It's different strokes for different folks and I
believe an Artist, unless the job specifically requires a hard and fast
view should do whatever will produce the end result they are looking for,
and opinions and conventions of others are not the point.
Its your work, your ideas, your Art, after all . . . . .(This is a 2-part article about "En Plein Air" painting and the 1st part can be read here)
