Getting Back to Blogging...

Spring... a time of renewal.

It seems that cycles of writing regular blog posts interspersed with weeks/months of being incommunicado affect many bloggers, and unfortunately I am no exception. Apologies. It is not due to being inactive on the art front... in fact the pause often happens initially because of a very active phase and not having the time and energy. Then it becomes harder to get going again. So a very quick update and then I will move on and re-commit to this blog as I do love the way it can act as an online diary and record of a life in art, while at the same time inspiring others, hopefully.

If you pop onto my page for Art Events & Teaching you will notice that I am running regular classes and workshops throughout this year at Norfolk Creative Arts, an exciting new venue in Grimston, West Norfolk. There are a wide variety of tutors, subjects and media so if you wish to investigate visit www.norfolkcreativearts.co.uk and there is sure to be something to tempt you!

Spring Term Wednesday Weekly Mixed Media Classes
at Norfolk Creative Arts are now in full swing! 

Aside from all the planning for these classes I am also busy with personal artwork as a joint exhibition with another artist is looming on the horizon in May. More details will follow in the next few weeks but we are both creating mostly new work for it and the beautiful village hall in Thornham is quite spacious, so the pressure is beginning to mount.

Some images of work that may be included in the upcoming exhibition...

Woodland (North Wootton) in compressed charcoal & white pastel © Tod Evans

Barn Owl, using limited watercolour palette and charcoal pencil
- a quick animation here to show you how it built up...

Close crop of Teasels in pencil, white gesso and acrylic 

© Tod Evans

Views of seascape in watercolour, gouache & Inktense pencil
as it built up © Tod Evans

Roydon painted in acrylic with palette knife
© Tod Evans

The beach at Old Hunstanton in acrylic © Tod Evans

So a little sneak peak at some of the contenders to be included, there are works still in progress (not shown) and I am excited about work yet to be created! Will keep you posted on new developments but if you are in Norfolk over the weekend of 14th and 15th May, 2016 we would love to see you at our exhibition Into the Woods & Beyond to be held in Thornham Village Hall, PE36 6LX.

Sketchbook work continues as well, and possibly may be included for perusal...

Sketchbook work continues...

Finally, a recent exhibition visited by myself and family was Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse at the Royal Academy in London. There was (and is) a close connection between many artists and their gardens and it's natural that they wished to explore ways of depicting the colours, shapes and features, often working in them as outdoor studios. Monet is the key artist in this fine exhibition but there are examples by Caillebotte, Pissaro, renoir, matisse, Van Gogh, Klimt, Bonard etc. Also some artists I had not encountered before, Joaquin Sorolla being one and I plan to research more about him. It is Monet, however, who resonates the most and the work inspired by his lily pond is sublime. Despite over exposure on packaging and household items over the years, to see the paintings in real life is to fall in love with them all over again. The fusions of colour, the abstraction of motifs and the free brushwork is totally absorbing. The finale, the triptych, in the last room is breathtaking - the sheer scale - so that as a viewer you are compelled to move up close and study the fragmented textures and colours before stepping back right back to appreciate the whole again. Like a little dance forwards and backwards we go repeatedly, drinking in the artwork with the senses. I really did not want to leave that painting and having visited Monet's garden in Giverny it is as relevant today as it has ever been.

Superb exhibition, well worth a visit.

The exhibition runs until April 20th so I encourage you to go and see it if possible!

Photo Essay - Catching Up News...

Aaagghhh... busy, busy, and trip to France is imminent, but I want to quickly catch up with the news of recent activities! So, here is an edited photo essay...

Tried some more nature printing. This one shows the ferns laid on acrylic inks,
which should have resulted in a lovely print. You can also see the rock salt particles
sprinkled on, intended to leave interesting textures when dry and brushed off.
However, the ferns just stuck fast in the acrylic and broke as I tried to prize away from the
dried inks - although a failure I learnt something at least!  

At the same time I was repeating the exercise with ferns and rock salt with watercolour.
This approach worked much better. The feather at the top was created with black printing ink
and the work felt very unbalanced as this dominated the image. After the addition of some black
coloured pencil in select areas around the ferns it seemed to come together.  

I also cut up some heavyweight cartridge paper to print on and made them into cards.

Social Sketchbook event in June at Castle Rising. Well attended and finally some
reasonable weather. An area worth visiting again as there is much inspiration. 

This double page spread is pure watercolour, no pencil drawing first, and was
also completed at Castle Rising. It took about 40 minutes, is very sketchy but a memory of
looking across to Babbingley.  

Selected sketchbooks by the group at castle rising. We all completed several
sketches each so going with the intention of drawing is certainly productive.

My five paintings at Welborne Arts Festival with other members of
West Norfolk Artists Association. A well organised and supported festival but weather
was sunshine and showers. Lots of families, interested in our artwork but not looking to
buy art on a fun day out... Difficult to see the work in this photo due to reflections
on the glass, apologies.

I was treated to a marvellous day out at Mundesley on the North Norfolk coast
by two friends and we sketched on the beach. This is watersoluble pencil over a
pre-prepared gesso base tinted with acrylic. Lovely company, great scenery and
fantastic food - once again "thank you" Kay and Sue!

Social Sketchbook event in Old Hunstanton earlier this month.
Hottest day of the year so far! 

Pen and wash sketch looking towards the famous Hunstanton cliffs.

Looking out to sea. Watercolour washes then dip pen and walnut ink to capture some
of the figures.  

An amazing hollyhock that has grown outside my studio this year. It must have
been a amongst the wildflower seeds I sprinkle each year (usually in vain).

Charcoal drawing from the hollyhock.

Loose variegated sweeps of neocolour crayon and
charcoal pencil line drawing on top. Yes, the hollyhock again. 

I'm feeling happier now, we are all up to date. Note to self: try posting shorter entries but more often!

Please feel free to comment on anything in this blog, I would love to know your views or if you have any questions. In the meantime, France awaits so - Au Revoir!

  

Nature Print Experiments

Earlier this week I spent a very happy and productive few hours in the studio trying my hand at some nature prints. This year our little paddock is almost shoulder height in places with cow parsley and I had a fancy to try some experiments and see what I could do with some specimens of this and some grasses using black water-based printing ink. After gathering some plant material I headed back to the studio and spied a pigeon feather on the ground by the step, another possible inspiration.

Preparing a surface with acrylic paint and roller prior to printing.

I decided to prepare a coloured surface which could be set aside to dry, and that I would have a practise with the printing technique on cheaper cartridge paper before using it. I opted for a piece of Fabriano 5, a hot pressed watercolour paper, as I felt the smooth surface would help keep any definition crisp and cleaner looking. I didn't want the paint to become too dense or complicated so I opted for just two colours of acrylic paint and applied it lightly using a rubber roller, allowing plenty of white paper to remain visible. This was then set aside to dry.   

First attempt - printing from the feather
onto white cartridge paper.

I felt the potential of the feather could be more successful than the finer plant material so opted to try using this first.  I utilised an A4 sheet of laminated plastic to lay the feather on and a roller to transfer the black water-based printing ink across the feather itself. This was then gently placed on some plain white cartridge paper and a piece of cheap photocopy paper on top of this, a bit like a sandwich. I used my hand to carefully apply pressure and rub across all the areas of the feather in the hope of a good ink transfer... As you can see in the photo above I hadn't quite got enough ink across the barbs of the feather so the print is very linear. I tried a few more and then felt ready to have a go printing on the prepared coloured paper.  

This feather print was placed at the bottom of the prepared page
and I was delighted with the amount of detail.

Here is the same print but shown alongside the feather itself
plus the ink transferred onto the photocopy paper
- the ink has naturally worked itself through the barbs
leaving an additional mirror image!

A few more feather prints were made on the
Fabriano 5 prepared surface. 

After a practise on cartridge paper I finally had
a go at printing from the cow parsley.

I felt encouraged by the results of the nature printing so far. The process itself seems very straight forward with quite basic skills involved, but I can see that the design element is more difficult and necessary to make a piece of artwork that goes beyond this rudimentary level. Most important of all though - I was certainly having fun experimenting!

It was at this point, when I was taking a few more photos, that I glanced at the now messy plastic inking 'plate' and was intrigued by the impression the feather had left in the wet surface.

The imprint left by the feather in the built up
inking surface on the plastic (it looks brown here
but must just be the light catching as the ink is black in reality).

One of the grasses I had plucked in the paddock had fantastic spidery roots so I prepared another painted surface to print onto using heavyweight cartridge paper this time. I also printed some textural effects from an offcut of bubblewrap. Unfortunately the resulting print didn't really work, possibly as the root was quite fleshy and round so not much could make contact with the paper, and also the spindly bits were a bit too thin and fragile maybe?

The grass roots and the (unfortunately poor) printed result...

However undeterred I moved on to try another tactic...

Two types of grasses printed onto Bockingford 'Not' watercolour paper.

I added watercolour washes and some spatter to the print,
and found the effect quite pleasing.

By this time I was beginning to feel my energy getting low and decided it was time for a break and that I wanted to reflect on the experiment so far. Once again, as I took a few more photos, the inking 'plate' revealed an interesting array of marks and textures.

A section of the plastic inking 'plate'
showing interesting textures - an abstract image in itself.

I really enjoyed this experiment in nature printing and if you get the opportunity have a try yourself. Even if you don't have printing ink and a roller, why not see what effects are possible using acrylic, gouache or watercolour applied to your subject matter with a brush?

When Nothing is Working... Try Something New!

A new approach...

Last weekend was earmarked for Art with a capital A. With the West Norfolk Artists Association Summer Exhibition fast approaching, and the deadline to get entry forms in almost here, I was running out of time to produce some new work. If I had high expectations, they soon came crashing down. Nothing was working out, I felt rather uninspired and it showed. Frustration and disappointment set deep by Sunday evening. My long suffering husband had to put up with 'woe is me' and lots of sighing. "I don't know what my personal artwork is about..." and "It's all got a bit lightweight and flimsy" were some of the words muttered.

My mind must have been in overdrive while I slept, however. Monday morning I woke up, and a little mental pep talk whilst in the shower gave me whole different mindset for the day. Deep down I do know what I want my work to be about - contrasts of media, translucent versus opaque, detail versus abstract passages (for a start). I would try something different. I would experiment. Take the pressure off. I already have one pastel being framed so at least I have one work to enter. If nothing else I will at least have some fun!

Taking my theme of 'Artist in an Acre' I selected two photos as inspiration. I planned to create an abstract underpainting, then bring some semblance of order out of the chaos by working on the top but allowing passages of the initial layer to show too... These step by step photos demonstrate the stages one of the paintings went through. I started by laying the support on a waterproof sheet, on the floor, for the initial work - I planned on getting messy!

Diluted acrylic washes painted on to a canvas board - not pretty.

 

Thicker paint sponged on in selected areas.
Once dry, liquid acrylic ink is squirted and diluted on the surface,
drips encouraged.

Oooh, now things are getting interesting... dribbles of white diluted gesso.
The yellow acrylic ink wasn't as dry as I thought and mingles - I like it! 

Once the previous layer dried more acrylic ink is added...

Assessment time... 

Taking charge, now referring to reference photo more -
need to keep things loose though

Ah, now there is some context.

Keep the work loose. Spatter and droplets of brighter colour
for suggested leaves...

 

Tinted gesso for skyholes, needed some more 'pop' generally
 and more emphasis on sunlit grass. Out come the Conte crayons and
 finally 'Ta Dah' - finished!
Stream of Light, 35.5cms x 46cms, acrylic & Conte on canvas board.

I have also completed another artwork, a diluted acrylic underpainting on gessoed mountboard then worked up with soft pastel. Unusual for me, I did no blending of the pastel layers. So, when nothing is working... try something new. A different approach could work wonders. I am delighted with the results of the past two days, fingers crossed the selectors like my work!

Late Light, Spring 59cms x 54cms, acrylic & pastel on gessoed mountboard.

  

Sketching Frenzy in the Frost

Frosty morning. Pollarded willow branches piled high.
Sketchbook page.

From Artist in an Acre journal entry (this morning):

Bimbling around the bedroom - shower, drying hair, daydreaming. Throw back the curtains - sparkling frost! Already the weak pale light/warmth of the morning sun threatens to melt it quickly away. Thick jacket on and out I go.

In the studio I swish on a darkish background in black gesso with burnt umber, bronze yellow and a touch of white added. Opaque line work should work over the top to describe all the branches piled high on the bonfire.

Quick application of paint for dark background on pages.

Let out Somme, who snatches up his squashed basketball and heads off up the paddock at a rate of knots. I follow with sketchbook, collapsible stool and tin of Inktense sticks. Start straight into drawing with coloured linework mimicking the growth of branches and twigs. Can only use approximate colours and modify or try for 'frost' by utilizing the white. Dash in a few dark marks to hint at the depths of the pile. Side of green stick to suggest distant hedge, trees, then work heavily with white into this and over blue for sky - attempting to silhouette some branches against the sky. Using lighter colour try and cut in around base and edges of pile.

Close up detail of drawing.

Quickly assess - few more darks, think I can't say any more with this one.

Somme moves before I can note what's happening with hind legs...

Opposite page - already dark base painted on. Frost rapidly melting. Somme is stretched in the grass nearby - in white Inktense stick I attempt to describe his shape - block in negative space around. He moves. Settles again, new position. Flip over page. Dark stick on white of paper. Few lines - fairly high viewpoint as look across and down to him. He moves.

Bit better...

Suddenly acutely aware of cold. Silly, forgot to put gloves on! Pack away quickly. Somme energised by my movements - he snuffles at the sketchbook and tin on the seat of the stool. Thin tin flips off - lid flys off and - of course - tin lands open, upside down! Most sticks remain snuggled in the foam 'holder' of tin, a few fall out. Scrabble in frosted grass, now thawing, getting damp. Find all but one quarter of pale ochre. Fingers painful with cold by now. Calling the dog I pop to studio, leave equipment just inside the door. Somme put away in his run, snaffles the treats offered greedily. Up to the house to the warmth of the kitchen and ready for a cup of tea.

11 a.m. - all the frost has gone.

Somme, stool, sketchbook, Inktense sticks.
Frost almost melted... time to go in and warm up!