Several of my willow sculptures and paintings are on show at the Shine exhibition which opened during the first week of November, the exhibition has not gone online for the rest of the month. They are planning to reopen again in December as soon as it is safe to do so and will stay open until the 20th of December
Address- Stoke Road Gosport, Hants
Such a colossal effort from the museum to have so many contributions to an amazing project. I can’t wait to visit and see the exhibition in the flesh when they reopen.
I’m so looking forward to tomorrow , The Hampshire Open Arts Studios is happening over the next couple of weeks and weve now taken over the whole pub with all of artwork , 9 artist in one space do need a lot of room after all.
We are lucky at the Dancing Man Brewery that the public can view the artwork when the pub is open. However we wanted to be available so over the next two weekends we will be available from 12pm – 4pm
Here are some of the other artworks being shown for more details https://www.facebook.com/TheKeepersArtistCollective/
It so great to see how many Southampton cafes and pubs are supporting local artist in the area by displaying their work, as more local businesses including small local art gallerys are emerging and creatives are working together to put on events that are accessible to everyone. The fact that Southampton has a thriving arts community in its midst is starting to become more known.
The Art Cafe and the Metrics Cafe have both been happy to show my work previously and now I am happy to say that the Dancing Man Brewery which is know locally as the Wool House and the Old Titanic Museum is now showing some of my work .
Such a lovely building sympathetically converted the owner Mandy told me that the majority of the conversion has been designed so as to lift out almost like a stage set so as to course no damage to the structure to the building. http://www.dancingmanbrewery.co.uk/ Ive always been a fan of interesting spaces as well as historical spaces so I am thrilled to display my work there
I rarely sketch portraits but every now and again a subject engages me. Sometime ago I discovered some photographs of people living on the streets. The faces just had a story to tell and inspired me to start creating . Here is the first of what will probably be many.
Good news , I now have a new art studio in Southampton.
I have been creating my artwork in my spare bedroom for sometime now, the dilemma is that often I am unable to leave my work out as I am either preparing for a workshop or visitors are on their way.
Over the last few years I have been looking for a space where I can create work and also have space for other creative work linked to my workshop business. www.jaxsarts.co.uk and also be part of a creative group, so a pretty tall order.
Well back in April I finally found somewhere suitable which combined the two and also is contained within a space with other artists. I have been gradually moving in , obtaining furniture, getting to know the other creatives I have offered a space. I can highly recommend having a space where you go to create a space away from the everyday distractions of family, friends and other work.
If you are anywhere near Portsmouth Hampshire Hampshire that you might want to pop into the ASPEX Art Gallery current exhibition http://www.aspex.org.uk/events/here-there-guildhall/
where you will see “My Journey” series on display.
I just wanted to share that my Journey series original works are going to be exhibited at the Aspex -Guildhall Gallery in Portsmouth as part of the Here and There exhibition running from the 28th January to the 8th of March http://www.aspex.org.uk/events/here-there-guildhall/
As I rarely frame my works this is also an interesting experience for me as one of the requirements for displaying art work on walls is that they pieces need to be framed, so I am currently arranging for the canvases to be constrained within box frames an interesting experience .
Hi I just wanted to share my latest art work that I am in the the middle of . combining different styles and challenging myself to work with colors that I don’t normally work with it is has been a good experience allowing the work to take it its own identity as it emerges in its own time. I always find that it is good to take time out and to challenge myself in different ways.
http://blog.artweb.com/how-to/exhibiting-your-work-part-1-getting-started/
I am often stumbling across great tips on promoting your artwork so I thought that I share this one with you
It is often easy to become isolated during the creative process and if your not careful this can lead to the old creative block.This is very much the case when much of your income is derived from your creative work.
Well I don’t know about you but I have definitely gone this one at different times… so how to overcome this….. always a difficult one as we all create in different ways …. I am someone who always has a different project on the go be it creating my own work or facilitating creativity in others . It is so easy to spend so much energy on projects that you just simply exhaust your self self preservation kicks in and well.
Ive tried many different ways to get the creative brain cells working again from starting a creative diary to taking a rest then spending some time as a arts tourist , visiting gallerys , reading a good book going to see some live bands etc …. do something totally different from paint balling to rock climbing and testing your comfort threshold …….
On the upside once this has happened and you have come out the other side you realise that the best thing to do is to factor in some relaxation time when your head is next immersed in a project and allow yourself to do something totally different every now and again.
My solution is not to fight it just except that we all need down times the other thought is that you are totally reliant in your artistic endeavor to earn a wage
I am often asked about how I create my work so I thought that I would share some of my creative processes. The inspiration for this series started life with a photograph of the undergrowth in my garden.
Jungle dreams acrylics on canvas
For the initial image I drew inspiration from the shapes and colors wishing to develop and enhance these to create a work that inspired a imaginary magical world revealing hidden characters within.
Leaves design colored line work
For this second piece I was inspired to create a work inspiration. I started the process by placing a transparent paper on the top of the painting I then drew around the shapes that appealed to me, I then replicated the section as a mirror image joining the sections together to create a new starting point for my next design.
Wilderness imagined
For the final piece I was then inspired to use color to place further emphasis on different sections thus creating my leaves design.
It is often easy to become isolated during the creative process and if your not careful this can lead to the old creative block.This is very much the case when much of your income is derived from your creative work.
Well I don’t know about you but I have definitely gone this one at different times… so how to overcome this….. always a difficult one as we all create in different ways …. I am someone who always has a different project on the go be it creating my own work or facilitating creativity in others . It is so easy to spend so much energy on projects that you just simply exhaust your self self preservation kicks in and well.
Ive tried many different ways to get the creative brain cells working again from starting a creative diary to taking a rest then spending some time as a arts tourist , visiting gallerys , reading a good book going to see some live bands etc …. do something totally different from paint balling to rock climbing and testing your comfort threshold …….
On the upside once this has happened and you have come out the other side you realise that the best thing to do is to factor in some relaxation time when your head is next immersed in a project and allow yourself to do something totally different every now and again.
My solution is not to fight it just except that we all need down times the other thought is that you are totally reliant in your artistic endeavor to earn a wage
For this approach I have found that it is better to work on several pieces at a time with the theory that at least one will work out and that you can always creative new work from the ones that you are not so pleased with when you finish.
I decided to try out a similar method of working, using a different pallet of colors for each piece and keeping a very loose theme in mind .
I decided to use acrylic paints I was prepared to use up quite a lot of paint You could equally use this method with a much cheaper paint on board,or use colored sand and chalks and take a photograph, it really doesn’t matter
I also wanted to get away from being finicky and so chose to large brushes,and spoons, droppers and scrapers and a flat service – on this occasion I used the kitchen tops surface as it was near to running water but a covered floor would do just as well.
Being creative by nature I have always been involved in lots of creative projects, so when the old creative block kicks it is often easy to put of dealing with this by immersing yourself in other creative activities instead.
Now I am not saying that this is always a bad thing that is of course unless you need to earn a living totally from your art work, however one of the hardest things is to to get going again. So with that in mind I have decided to share some of the things that I have been doing to help me to get going again in the hope that it might help others who are facing the same problem .
Future posts Creating textural based art work
Abstract freestyle experimentation
For other blog entries linked to keeping diaries etc view
Freeing up your creativity diary s and on line courses
Freeing up your Creativity experimenting with abstract freestyle