Through the Looking Glass

Well since Christmas life has been busy, I have done stage props for a local dance school and had a crash of confidence and was seriously questioning what I am doing as an artist, and whether I should just give up completely.--Its not come to that.....yet! Although I genuinely believe you wouldn't become an artist without it being something you can't help! You paint away, people expect to pay a pittance for your work and then you get criticised....great career move!
So on a more positive note, I decided January 2009 that I would give it two years, then decide whether its easel or shopping trolleys...so I needed focus.
Here's where my new exhibition came in, it provides focus and dedication...and passion and excitement. So I booked it. The date WAS firm but now its not, as I would like to move it to the 4th of November as it just happens to be the date that Alice Through the Looking Glass begins...what a lovely drop of serendipity, that date falling on a Thursday is. I also began reading the book 3 nights ago before I decided my theme, and the first page has 'Dramatis Personae' on it...I like signs like that...so Through the looking Glass exhibition is born.
My initial thought on Through the Looking Glass' is to do all paintings on 8 x 8in canvases (small intense pieces playing on the chess board theme) I want to incorporate the looking glass too...I am fascinated by this idea of the mirror image, I have found symmetry artists and anamorphic artists, but want to produce artwork that you can view 'as is' but also that the true image is revealed when a mirror is held to it...(all my name plates and write ups next to the images will be mirrored too) and mirrors (and right way around catalogues) will be provided at the exhibition. I use the huge mirror at the top of my landing on EVERY piece to check it, right throughout the painting process as it gives you a new view to iron out mistakes.
So I am thinking along the lines of illustrating, to some degree Through the Looking Glass, but with my own twist on each piece, how I feel about life etc as its uncanny the things contained with in that book, time going backward, that everything is reversed...in the style of my surrealist stuff of the previous exhibition...possibly some printing. Do all of the sketching as I would do normally, but then on transfer to canvas I mirror them to paint...this is in the very early stages, so still thinking.
For now I am researching mirrors, theories, myths etc and reading the book. I will then re read the book and take notes of all the things that come to my mind as I read. The book offers so much scope and I love the idea of bringing a much loved book into the art arena where all the edges of literacy, film making and art get ever more blurred.
This project has me excited, I want to make the space I will be exhibiting in as much part of the experience as I am allowed, so its not just a space for displaying the work. I want to create an exhibition that's totally cohesive, and designed in its entirety from the beginning. I am also hoping that the paintings will create lovely cards, and also due to the size of each canvas they will be more affordable. This size also allows me to paint just about anywhere, not limiting me to just the studio...so come the long summer holidays I can continue working whilst taking care of my son and his inevitable entourage!
November seems a long way off, but I hope to produce more works than I need, to allow for choice and experimentation....a chance for me to grow throughout the project. It should also allow me time to continue with the pin ups, commissioned works, and continue selling my previous work.
So here's to the beginning of winter and exploring the altered reality, my reality, that is Through the Looking Glass. Wish me luck...a new exciting journey ahead....and never a better time to be reminded 'Don't Stop Believing!'

All change...is good!

'If...But...I miss you!' Acrylic on Bockingford 24cm x 30cm

Since the summer, much in my life has changed and after a long period of being unable to spend time in the studio, I finally got back in the saddle. After a review of the work I did leading up to the exhibition, it felt time to take a break from the deep and meaningful surrealist style for something a little more light hearted.

This step and decision to try something completely new and very different was a difficult one to take, as a 'proper' artist seems to retain a subject and style, and many stay committed only to that. Creatively it is a step that I need to take though and so the change has been necessary and hopefully successful!

My long standing fascination with 50s fashions, style, furnishings, lifestyle and books combined with my love of tattoos has lead me to try my hand at a contemporary twist on 50s pin up girls. I love the cheekiness without the crude, in your face sexual connotations. Typically work by artists like Gil Elgrin I love dearly, although Alberto Vargas' work is also stunning!

I am currently researching pin up artists and thoroughly enjoying the process. Current pin up artists like Ralph Burch and Olivia De Berardinis show very different styles, both of which I admire but do not wish to directly emulate.

The first pin up I have created 'If...But...I miss you!' took quite a while to design, to try and find something close to the style I want to achieve, and also to find the right medium and support. I am very pleased with the finished result but can see with more experience of this style, my confidence will improve and hopefully the paintings will grow with me.

I feel very at ease with this style, love every single pencil mark and brush stroke....the subject is so typically me, right to the core...and for now I want to explore this road, even if it does shatter some illusions of being a 'proper artist'.

The painting can be bought on Ebay, ending 8th November 2009...thankyou for looking!

Journey - Private View

Well the night finally arrived for the Private View of my first solo show 'Journey' at the Hive Gallery. I was very nervous, but in the end so busy chatting to folk that I didn't even get in to see my work until 8.40pm.

People travelled from far and wide, wonderful people that came to support me. Some took time off work, and for that I am truly humbled.

The night was more than I could have asked for, in excess of 80 people came along, the sun shone and I became new best friends with Gin and Tonic...unsure how I missed that one before, very nice drink. My former lecturers came, Jan and Denn, and as ever Denn gave me some ribbing. My son wowed people and organised as much as possible...he even wanted to sell my business cards, little monkey!

I got a great deal of positive feedback, all the worries about my head being out there on canvas, I need not have done...for some it wasn't their thing, but that's to be expected. People were generally very positive...even Denn...and *blush* Jan wanted my signature.

When I did finally get into see my work, I was chatting to someone about the egg that is inside one of the assemblages, its meaning, how I achieved it etc. When I looked up a very crowded gallery were all listening and watching....a very scary moment!

Thank you to all the people that came, made this once in a lifetime show (I will never have another first show) a wonderful evening with fantastic memories to cherish forever.

After the show a fair few of us piled into the pub, and that was excellent too...many giggles, a chance to catch up a bit with friends I love but don't get to see too often. Then a very small group of us came to my house and chatted and laughed the night away till about 2.40am...I didn't want it to end!

Now I am working on getting the photographs and videos up that relate to the show. Had some technical problems, but its certainly getting there! Hoping to upload for all to see very soon.

My exhibition continues to run until the 16th August at the Hive Gallery, Elsecar. Opening times 12 - 4 Thursday to Sunday. If you are heading down there and fancy a natter, drop me a line and it would be nice to come down and meet you. My work from the show is for sale now too, if you require a price on a specific painting before I manage to get a shop working, please don't hesitate to get in touch. Commissioned work is also available.

Finally another huge thank you to everyone for attending, and to all my Twitter lovelies that supported me on my journey to actually get there! A special thank you too to my Husband Darren Morris for his support in so many ways, my beautiful unstoppable son Hayden for just being who he is, my best friend Mat for all his unwavering support in the hard bits...and last but by no means least to Tracey Johnson for her support and making the gallery a great place, oh and painting the floor with hours to go! A beautiful lady that I hope will be a good friend for many years to come.

Apothecary's Chest

Acrylic on box canvas, 50cm x 50cm x 4 piecesPLEASE NOTE: A better photograph will be provided of this painting shortly.

Apothecary's Chest was inspired by its title, which came along in a book around the time I took delivery of Stan the stage prop. I researched what an Apothecary was and found it was an old name for a healer.
An Apothecary's Chest was the chest of drawers he/she had someone else carry which contained a whole manner of items in order to heal the people. This inspired the idea of the 7 Sins, ancient yet modern ailments that cannot be healed, even by an Apothecary. Here is my interpretation, visually, of the 7 sins:
Cigar - GreedChocolates - GluttonyPoison Ivy - EnvyLipstick - LustPeacock feather - VanityBroken bottle - AngerBubbles - Sloth

Gnothi Seauton

Assemblage

24in x 12in x 43in

Polystyrene, acrylic paint, feathers, duck egg, stone.

Picture to be revealed 31 July 2009, after Private View of my first solo exhibition, Journey.

Exhibition from 31st July to 16th Aug 2009 at the Hive Gallery.

There will be a 360 degree video of the assemblage on my site, on this date.

Gnothi Seauton, latin for Know Thyself. This assemblage features part of the poem by Alexandra Pope 1688-1744

...Alike in ignorance, his reason such

Whether he thinks too little or too much:

Chaos of thought and passion, all confused;... on the front of the assemblage made from a polystyrene stage prop, affectionately known as Stan the Man. The concept behind this artwork is a further exploration of the inner fragility we all posses. The hollow inner of the prop is lined with luxuriously soft pure white feathers, representing how delicate and beautiful we all are on the inside. On a feather covered pedestal in this cavern is a duck egg which has carved into it the simple Mickey Mouse logo, to show how we don't always take ourselves seriously. Contained within the egg is a peacock feather, a symbol of the soul, held captive within such a fragile object. The clouds and blue sky painted onto the front exterior of the assemblage reminds us that the sky really is the limit, boundless dreams can come true if only we take ourselves seriously and listen to those inner feelings and thoughts, our driving innate spirit....

Diva - Dramatis Personae

Assemblage

8in x 8in x 13 in

Breeze block, glass, plastic, enamel, human hair.

Picture to be revealed 31 July 2009, after Private View of my first solo exhibition, Journey.

Exhibition from 31st July to 16th Aug 2009 at the Hive Gallery.

There will be a 360 degree video of the assemblage on my site, on this date.

Diva - Dramatis Peronae, affectionately known as Maud, is the first assemblage I have embarked upon. The concept behind this assemblage is the inner self always remaining young and true to the innate spirit we have within all of us. Whilst the outer shell plays the many different roles we perform throughout our lives, often a bigger over dramatised version of the inner self, stimulated by our surroundings and societies expectations fuelled by the media in its massively influential forms.

Diva also expresses the inner child, the feeling inside where we never grow old, even though we make our way through the various stages of life, that inner child remains young, free, but often trapped by others expectations of us.

The Control Theory Formula (Lyapunov) that is scribed onto the rear of the inner head, represents that the inner self, even if we are unaware, is often in control anyway, and to live authentically and be happy, giving full control to the childlike spirit within, brings the most fulfilment.

Invisble Dreamer

Acrylic on canvas paper 9 x 18.5in

Invisible Dreamer was unfortunately left out of my blog, but was completed some time ago, around February 2009. The image was one of the first surreal paintings I embarked on, but was fuelled by Modern Man and paintings in that similar series.
The puppeteers hand is still ultimately controlled by another source higher up the 'food' chain. Once the hooks are in its almost impossible to escape. The puppet is motionless, defeated, in the check mate that is life in the Western world. Caught in the trappings of work, finance and climbing invisible ladders, not really knowing if that ladder is indeed lent against the right wall.
The plum blossom represents a glimmer of hope, that all is never what it seems and from small buds of hope, you can blossom in to a world that you can make your very own.