I decided to have my assessment in the shaun space, as I wanted to be able to put up all my work and show how it all linked to each other, unfortunately I don’t have any pictures because I had to rush to take them down. I think that as I was able to put up the majority of my work I found it easier to actually speak through my ideas behind the painting. I got 65 for my studio work and 57 for the written part. I was a bit disappointed with getting a 2:2 for the written part but because it was a joint module it meant I got 62 overall which I’m quite happy with. Now uni is over, I’m going to continue working and producing paintings over the summer and continue working with developing my ideas and my project further. I think that the next step for me is to continue painting and looking into what nature actually means to me and how to communicate my ideas about nature through my paintings.
Where does your work fit in with other artists?
I think that my work fits in with artists work such as Michael Porter, as he is an artist that is influenced by nature and influenced in nature being an escape. I think with Porter, I think that my work fits in well with his work because of what he is trying to get across to the audience. He wants to show them just how beautiful nature can be, he wants to make them experience nature for themselves and show people what they could be experiencing. Another thing that he wants to do is show people how detailed and interesting nature can even in the tiny things around us. I’m also influenced by the way the artist actually works as he works on his paintings within layers, and seals them in between layers. Porter actually described his paintings before as ‘having to look through them’ and I love this description because it makes me personally think about having to look through nature.
Michael Porter, ‘Beside the Path’, 2012
I think my work could also fit in with the work of Therese Oulton, as she is also an artist that is influenced by the feeling of sublime- but she tries to look at both side of this within her paintings. ‘Be awed by nature- so long as you recognise that today the awe arises less from nature’s magnificence than from the human capacity to destroy it.”
Therese Oulton, Untitled no.23, 2009
I think that within my work I need to continuously explore new and different artists and see how my work can fit in with theirs, and how their work impacts my own.
How has your work been influenced by other artists?
I think that within my work I have been influenced by quite a few different artists, in different ways. I’ve been influenced by Michael Porter with the reasons behind his work, and the technique he uses to communicate his ideas to the viewer. I’ve also been influenced by Andy Goldsworthy with the reasons behind his work, I’ve been researching quite a lot about the work he did with snowballs;
Andy Goldsworthy, ‘Oak Sticks’, 2000
I love these pieces of work the artists produced because of the reasons behind it, Goldsworthy wanted to show people nature and he did this by producing snowballs with natural objects and almost ‘forcing’ people to look at them. He wanted the natural object to be as much as a surprise as possible, so to do this he placed the snowballs in the city, already somewhere people wouldn’t be expecting to see piled of nature, and also placed them in the early morning so no one would see him place them, and placed them in June. He did this because he wanted to show people nature in such a way that they wouldn’t be able to ignore it and I think that he achieved this really well. From Goldsworthy I’m influenced by the message he communicates- that nature isn’t something that can be ignored and more people should be taking their time to look and explore nature and I’m influenced by the way the artist used a public context to get his message across. I think that using a public context has been successful for this artist because it was something that people weren’t expecting, and maybe even something that the audience wouldn’t actually perceive as a piece of work.
Within my work, particularly recently when I’ve been looking more at producing calming paintings, I’ve been looking at how they paint classrooms a certain colour to evoke a certain mood. I was really interested to find this out because I had no idea they did this, and I was surprised to find out that the colour of the walls could have such a big effect on someone’s mood in the classroom. This interested me quite a lot so I decided to research this a bit further and found that they paint classrooms blue to create a calming mood. I agree with this because I use the colour blue quite a lot in my work and I feel like it can have quite a calming effect, so I think I am definitely going to continue using blue a lot in my work.
I’ve also been influenced by a book called Sophie’s World because in the book there is a character that uses nature as an escape from the real world, an escape to be able to collect her thoughts and focus on what she wants. I’ve been influenced by this quite a lot because while reading the book I’ve been imagining a lot what the escape would look like after parts of the book describing it. I think it has affected my paintings because while I’m working I’m thinking about nature and the places I’ve visited but I’m also thinking about this place and what it would look like- and how it would be a nice calming place.
Changing Ideas:
Since having a tutorial with a visiting artist I feel like the ideas behind my work have changed after discussing something quite simple- because before I was looking at how the sea can sometimes be calming and peaceful but other times can be aggressive and uncontrollable. While I was talking to the visiting artist, James Metsoja, we were talking about how even when the sea is being aggressive with crashing waves- it can still create a calming effect. Because of this I think the ideas within my art work have changed slightly- as I started to look at the feeling of sublime when looking at nature and decided this was what I wanted to show within my work. I want to show how much of an impact nature can have on you if you let it, and how influential it can be. I’m still looking at the sea within my work and I think that within my work where I have been looking at crashing waves is still relevant because personally when I experience this it does make me think a lot about nature and the force of nature, and how incredible it can be. I want to use this in my work and try and communicate to the viewer how important nature can be people in different ways, and hopefully make them question what nature means to them, and if it could mean more to them and possibly even be an escape for them, like it is for me. I think that since my ideas behind my work has changed this affected my paintings as well, as I’ve found I’ve started using a different palette of colours and so far I think this has been quite successful as I think I’ve started using more calming colours.
I didn’t actually realize this but after having a tutorial with Virginia I realized that with my more recent paintings I haven’t been going to the edge of the painting. I thought about this and I realized I was doing this because I didn’t like how the edge was such a cut off, and I thought that not going right to the edge of the painting gave it a more calming effect. I’ve also started using some patterns within my work and for this I was originally influenced by the patterns the waves creates in the sea, but after visiting the beach quite a few times within this project I started to become interested in the patterns in the sand that the tide creates when it goes in and out.
After speaking to the visiting artist, James Metsoja, I also decided that I was going to work a lot more in my sketchbook as at this point I felt quite stuck with my work and couldn’t really decide which direction I wanted to go in. He really helped me with this because I spoke about how I’d started working in my sketchbook and instead of ripping the pages out like I usually do, I’d kept the pages in. This affected my work because it meant that when I worked on both pages it meant that my drawings had started to interact with each other, as when I leant on the page in meant they were being printed onto the opposite page. I really liked this affect and after speaking this through with James I decided I was going to carry on experimenting with this because I liked how my drawings of the sea were affecting my drawings of the patterns in the sand. As this was making me think more about the sea and sand interact with each other, and that’s also what my drawings were doing.
Even though these drawings are only quick sketches I’m really happy with them and I think they have actually turned out really well. As I’ve started to become more influenced by the relationship nature can have with nature, e.g. the sea with the sand, I liked how my drawings of the sea were affecting the drawings I was making of the patterns in the sand.
At the moment within my work I am currently working on paper rather than canvas and I think that this is working quite well, so I think I am going to continue working on paper until my ideas develop a little further. I think at the moment as I’m happy with the way my paintings are working and turning out, I’m going to wait a while before experimenting with canvas again because I think at the moment they’re more successful on paper.
I think ta the moment I’m happy with my work and how it is turning out, especially after getting stuck on my ideas for a week or so. Now I’ve sorted out my ideas and the reasons behind my work I feel like my work is actually working well and being successful. I’m really enjoying the subject that I’m working with and how it’s affecting my practice and I think I’m going to continue working on the same subject for my next project. I think that I would be able to continue working with this project for a while and continue experimenting with different things and pushing my ideas forward.
I think that since September my work has developed quite a lot and I think that now I am happy with my work and the ideas behind it. I think what has been successful with my more recent paintings was changing the palette of colours, and not painting right to the edge of the canvas. I think that both of these things have contributed to my work becoming more how I want it as I wanted to start creating paintings that were more calming- and had a more calming effect on the viewer. Another thing that I think has worked quite well is an influence I’ve taken from Michael Porter where he works in layers with his paintings, and I’ve found that I’ve started doing this as well. I think that it’s worked well because it means I can have a calming background and work over this with patterns where I’ve been influenced by the patterns of the waves and the patterns that the tide creates in the sand. Another thing that I’ve started to do recently is actually work with acrylic paint and oil paint, and I think that this is also working quite well, especially where I’ve used bees wax on the background, so when I’ve put a wash over this the wax has resisted the water and created an interesting effect on the paper.
Quotes that have influenced your practice:
“Nature is not a place to visit, it is home” – Gary Snyder. I’ve been influenced by this quote within my work because I think that the author is trying to show the importance of nature and that no matter what we will always need nature, and also that nature cannot be ignored. This is also the message that I’ve been looking at within my own work, that nature shouldn’t be ignored and more people should be looking at the world around them.
“Given only the health of the soil, nothing that dies is dead for very long”- Wendall Berry, 1977, I’ve been influenced by this quote because I think that is showing how important actually is and also how everything revolves around nature. Everything that dies goes into the soil and then from this new things grow. This quote actually reminds me of the piece of work ‘Earth Room’ by Walter De Maria, 1977.
Walter De Maria, ‘New York Earth Room’, 1977
It reminds me of this because for the piece of work Earth room it’s a room full of soil, and the people who work at the gallery have been instructed to remove any weeds or plants that grow here. It reminds me of the piece of work because it’s almost as if De Maria is showing soil in a place that you wouldn’t expect it, and showing soil in a pure form, without anything at all growing from it. I think when viewing this piece of work it would make you feel uneasy, as if something should be growing from the soil. Daro Montag also responded to this piece of work in an interesting way- by getting permission to take a sample of the soil and the producing a piece of work with this. He then placed this soil on a piece of moist film and watched as things started to grow from the soil and found that within just two weeks the soil had thrived and there was lots of things growing from it. The artist then created a print from this piece of film and the piece of work was later exhibited just a few doors down from ‘New York Earth Room’. I really like how this artist responded to this piece of work, because it was almost as if Montag felt that the vast amount of soil was too unsettling and had to do something about it by proving the potential that the soil had- and by proving things could grow from the soil in just a matter of days.
Daro Montag, ‘Earth Room Earth’, 1996
I’ve also been influenced by the artist Giuseppe Penone, and with his book of writings. “I feel forest breathing/and hear the inexorable growth of the wood… / I match my breathing to that of the green world around me. I feel the flow of the tree around my hand/ placed against the trunk. The altered sense of time makes what is solid., liquid, and what is liquid, solid. The hand sinks into the tree trunk which, owing to its rapid growth and the plasticity of its matter is the ideal element for shaping.” I’ve been influenced by this quote within my work because from this you can an understanding of how connected the artist feels to nature when he is actually producing his work. I think that the artist has found a successful way of communicating to the audience just how important nature is to him, and how much it affects his work and actually how much he is influenced by nature. I’ve been influenced by this because this is what I want to do within my own work, communicate to the viewer just how important and influential nature is to me. I particularly like the section of this quote that’s; “I match my breathing to that of the green world around me”. I think that this is the section that has influenced me the most because I just love how connected the artist must have been to nature to write it, and it make me feel more connected to nature just reading it. I love how it instantly makes you think about nature and the beauty that can be found in nature.
Other artists work that has had an impact on your own:
I’ve also been influenced by the work of The Boyle Family, and particularly with their work with sand in The Tide Series;
The Boyle Family, ‘Sand Wind and Tide Series’, 1969
I’ve been influenced by this particular piece of work and these artists because I love what they’re trying to show within their work, that nature around is constantly changing. For these pieces of work they used the same area of sand every day and went back to the same place twice a day after each tide and showed the different patterns that the tide had created. Particularly with my later paintings these piece of work have had a major influence on my paintings because I’m really interested in the patterns that the tide creates in the sand and the relationship between the sea and sand. Particularly in my sketchbook, I’ve making lots of sketches to work from for my paintings and I’ve made a lot where I’ve been looking at the patterns in the sand and I think that a lot of them have been quite successful.
John Hilliard, ‘December Way’, 1976
I’ve also been influenced by this piece of work which I saw at Leeds Art Gallery, with this piece of work the artist has produced three black and white photographs, and the three images represent the same section of some snow melting. In these images in each one the artist has focused the camera on a different section of the picture. E.g. the first image is focusing on the foreground of the image that picks out the bubbling stream, the second image is focusing on the snow crystallizing and the last image is focusing on the background which shows the thick mist in the air. I really like this piece of work because it’s showing how different nature can be, and how in one picture there can be different aspects of nature that are based on the same thing. I’ve been influenced by this artist within my work because I love how in these photographs he’s used the same image to show the different things happening within nature.
I’ve also been influenced by a room they had at Coventry Art Gallery and Museum as they had a whole room dedicated to the beach and things found on the beach. I loved this room because it was relaxing and calming to be surrounded by all of the things found on a beach. In this room there was even television screen playing videos of the sea;
Especially since I was in Coventry and nowhere near a beach I found this room to be really calming and this has influenced me because within my paintings I am aiming to create a calming effect on the audience like this room does. Within this room they were also playing the sounds of the beach which I think adding to the overall affect really well, as this made it an even more calming environment to be in, and made me want to actually be in nature.
Outside The gallery in Leeds they also had a display of nature photographs and I was really influenced by these;
I’ve been influenced by this because I liked how they’ve displayed them in a public context, almost as if they’re forcing people to stop and look at nature. I like this because I think that people won’t be expecting to see this, so when they are faced with this they are going to be surprised about it, so it may have more of an impact on them. I really liked how the photos where all of completely different areas of nature as well, and how there was around 30 photos. I liked this because it was like a mini exhibition outside of the gallery forcing people to actually look at nature for a while and if it caught there eye they might actually stop and take the time to look round, and experience nature more. Hopefully making them realize that nature is something that they should be looking at and creating time for. I think that also seeing these photos of nature so unexpectedly will make you stop and actually think about nature and make you realize that even if you are rushing to get to your job or something; you should still try and find the time to look at nature and the world around you.
What affect do you want your work to have on people?
I think within my work and my paintings I have an idea about what I want to actually get across to the audience and that is about nature, and how nature can mean different things to people. For me, nature is an escape. Within my work I am interested in the feeling of sublime- the feeling of awe when you’re looking at nature. Within my work I want to make people want to look at nature more and experience this feeling. Within my practice I am trying to show people what nature is to me- which is an escape and a calming place and to also show them what nature could be to them if they took the time to look more at the world around them. As I am a subtract painter I am trying to do this with different colours and patterns to try and get the message across that I want. I think that I would be able to class my work as being ‘successful’ if it made the viewer question their own personal thoughts about nature and what it meant to them.
History of abstract art:
As I am an abstract painter I decided to look at the history of abstract art. The abstract art movement began in the states and the abstract expressionist movement began in the 1940’s after the Second World War, in New York. Two major types of abstract art; Colour field painters- works with simple blocks of colour, lines and shapes e.g. Mark Rothko.
Mark Rothko, ‘Orange, Red, Yellow’, 1961
Gestural painters- also known as ‘Action Paintings’ this is a type of painting where paint is randomly splodged, dribbled or flicked onto the working surface.
Jackson Pollock, ‘No.5’, 1948
With the abstract art and the abstract expressionist work it started to make art critics and the audience question what art is, and if their paintings were actually art work. While abstract art didn’t have a recognisable subject, the artists were often trying to get their thoughts or emotions across through their paintings.
How has this influenced your work?
This has influenced my own work and my own practice because I am an abstract painter, I want to get my ideas, thoughts and emotions across about the theme of my work but there’s no recognisable object in my work. Within my work I am personally reacting to what I feel when I am in nature, and when I’m surrounded by nature so I am reacting to something personal in an abstract way and then communicating this to the viewer.
Where does your work sit in with other abstract work?
I think that my work does fit in with other abstract painters, such as Jackson Pollock because I love his work, and I am influenced by this artist. I think that my work could fit in with Pollock’s because I am also trying to communicate my ideas through my abstract work and reacting to something and then communicating this through my work.
Jackson Pollock, ‘Free Form’, 1946
What are you thinking about you produce your work?
When I’m painting and producing my work I think about a variety of things, the first is what I actually want to achieve with the painting and what message I want to get across to the audience. E.g. If I’m wanting to produce a calming painting to show that nature can be a calming place I’ll be thinking about what colours and patterns I could use to create a calming effect. I’m also thinking about the artists that have influenced my practice and had an impact on my work. E.g. I’m influenced by a piece of work I saw in Birmingham Museum, which unfortunately didn’t have a name, but it was a painting that had swirly patterned marks.
I really liked this image because I felt that it was quite calming, and did make me think about nature, so I’m influenced quite a lot by this particular painting and I do think about when I’m producing my own paintings. I’m also thinking about other influences that have had an impact on me when I’m producing my work, such as quotes that have inspired me. For this project I have also started to be influenced by a book that I am currently reading called ‘Sophie’s World’ and I’ve been influenced by this because in the book, the main character uses nature as a place to escape too and a place to collect her thoughts in. I’ve been influenced by this because that is how I see nature, a place that I am able to escape to, and this is what I actually want to communicate to the viewer through my art work.
How does this affect your practice?
I think that what I’m thinking about when I paint and produce my work does affect the outcome of the work quite a lot. I’m mainly thinking about nature and the work I want to produce. I think that it’s important for me to be thinking about nature when I’m producing my work because that is what my works about- it’s what I want to get across to the viewer nature and what it means to me. So when I’m focussing on paintings I’m thinking about what nature is to me and this affects my work because what I’m thinking about is going in to my work.
What are the artists you’re looking at influenced by?
For this project I’ve been looking at quite a few different artists, and some of them have been influenced by different things. One of the artists I’ve been looking at, Keith Tyson, for his Nature Paintings in particular one called ‘Nested’;
Keith Tyson, ‘Nested’, 2008
For this piece of work Tyson was actually influenced by Science and Nature to create the painting. This was because he used a mathematical grid to determine where he was actually going to pour the paint. I really like this piece of work because I really like the process behind it as it’s not something you would expect to be influenced by. The mathematical system he used to create this piece of work was called Ulan Spiral which is a way of visualizing the prime numbers; this is what the grid looks like;
Tyson is also influenced by nature with his book of ‘Nature Paintings’ but influenced by nature in a slightly different way. He’s more interested in the nature of the paint; ‘Nature is better at painting than I am.’ (Tyson) For his work He usually mixes the paint with chemicals and then pours this onto the surface he uses, and then lets the nature of the paint decide how it’s going to fall and dry. I really like how with each painting they aren’t planned and each one is a different reaction to the chemicals and paint.
I’ve also been looking at the group of artists called The Boyle Family, and they are influenced by nature, and how it can change over a short period of time, particularly with their work ‘Sand, Wind and Tide series’ they are trying to show that nature can change so quick and can produce many different outcomes. They did a study of the patterns the sea created in the tide and produce 14 pieces of work, all of which were completely different. I love this piece of work because it just makes me think of how many tides there are each one is creating completely different patterns in the sand each time and how different each one could actually be.
I’ve been looking at quite a lot of artists for this project and a lot of them are influenced entirely by nature and the world that surrounds them. Michael Porter has been a huge influence to me this project and he is influenced completely by nature and the area where he grew up. Porter often went on walks where he could be surrounded by nature and often collected things and brought them back to the studio so he could be influenced by them and work from them. I also found that I often did this when I went to the beach, brought back things from the beach to the studio so I could use them as an influence and work from them.
I’ve also been looking at the work of Andy Goldsworthy, mainly his snowball work. But this is an artist who is completely influenced by nature and the beauty of nature. Within his work he also only uses natural object that he has found within nature as he thinks that all he needs is nature to create a beautiful piece of work. All he needs is nature to create a piece of art work that shows off the beauty of nature.
Another artist I’ve been looking at is Dr. Daro Montag who is an ecologist artist who is hugely influenced by nature and works a lot with soil. He’s influenced by soil and nature because of the qualities and the organisms within the soil and how it holds growth and life.
I’ve also been looking at J. M. W. Turner, who is also influenced by nature and the world around him, and was fascinated about the powers that nature had. Turner loved nature and used his passion for it to create his paintings.
How are you going to present your work- in what context?
I’ve been thinking a lot about the ways I would present my work, my work is definitely in a nature context, that is the subject of my work and what I am influenced by. In my Shaun Crit I displayed my big piece of work that was just on a piece of canvas;
People commented on how it reminded them of a wall hanging or a tapestry. I really liked this about my work because it made me start to think about my work in a different context. After hearing this about my work I started to think about my work, and particularly this painting in a home context. I think that if this was in a home context in would slightly change how the painting was seen. I think this because in a home context if it was displayed in someone’s house people would constantly see the piece of work, which would mean they would hopefully be reminded about nature every time they saw the piece of work. Whereas in a gallery context, people would only see the piece of work, but I think this could also work because if it had an impact on them and made them think about nature, hopefully it would make them think about it later even after leaving the gallery.
I think my work also has quite a personal context, as I’ve been thinking a lot about my work, about how when I lived in Birmingham my work was still entirely about nature. Now I’ve moved to Sunderland my work is still entirely about nature but I’ve also started to become influenced by the sea a lot, which I couldn’t really be influenced by this in Birmingham because of how far I was and how difficult it was to visit a beach to get influences.
I’ve thought a lot about the whole context in which I could display my work and I think at the moment my work is definitely in a nature context, and I think to display my work I would display it in a gallery context. I think that this would benefit my work because it would mean people would have to make a decision to actually view my work. So they would actually be choosing to come and see my work and experience the nature within my work. I think that this would be successful because it will hopefully make the audience realize that if they have the time to choose to come and see my work, they have the time to actually view and experience nature. I am hoping that when I display my work people will realize what they are trying to do, get them to think about nature and hopefully make them realise that they should be able to make the time to see nature and experience it because it is a calming and realizing experience.
Context Research:
After this project being about context and being unsure what context my work fitted into, I made some notes about the different types of context within art. The first one I looked at was a gallery context and how if work was in a gallery in might be seen differently to if it was displayed somewhere else because of it being in a gallery.
Another context I’ve been exploring is work in a public context, and particularly with the work of Goldsworthy, I’ve found that this an interesting context to work because it means someone hasn’t gone of their way to see it. They may just happen to walk past it rather than making a decision to go and view it somewhere, such as a gallery. I think this would affect how people view it because they might not necessarily view it as a piece of art work, because of it not being displayed in a gallery.
‘The gallery frames the art work; the context defining the object, the context affects the meaning”
Another context is a historical context, such as does the work have any influence on things that have happened in the past or it commenting on an event that has happened in the past?
Relationship Aesthetics: This is a context where the audience can become involved in the piece of art work.
Félix González-Torres, ‘(Untitled) Portrait of Ross’, 1991
This is an example of relationship aesthetics within art, and for this piece of work the artist, Torres, placed a pile of sweets in a gallery context and invited the audience to each take a sweet. This means that every person who took a sweet affected the piece of art work, meaning they were a part of it.
Political: this is when the piece of work has been influenced by political issues and they are showing or responding to these through their art work. This could mean that the artist is either trying to get their views across about the issue and what they personally think about it, or they are trying to make people aware of the issue and educate people about it so that they know what’s going on.
Physical context: This means the location of the object and how this would change how something is perceived. For example, a photo in a photo album will have a different affect to a photo framed in a gallery space. This is because of the location of the image it means that people will view in differently and it will have a different impact on them. For example if a photo is in a gallery and is framed, people are going to pay more attention to it and study it more, and especially if it’s in a gallery actually look for the meaning behind the work. Whereas, if it was just in a photo album, people will just quickly glance at the photo without a second thought, so the physical context and the location of the work is extremely important.
The feeling of sublime
Within my art work I’ve found that more recently my ideas behind my work are changing and is becoming more about nature, and how nature can mean different things to different people. To me, nature is an escape and a calming place, for other people it can mean something completely different. For ecological artists they see nature as something different, and use art to educate us about the environmental problems. A lot of people don’t even think about nature and the world that’s around them. In my own personal practice I create work to show what nature is to me, which is an escape- which hopefully makes people think about what nature is to them. Although I am very much focused on the escapism side of nature and how beautiful and intense it can be I am influenced by artists who have a more scientific approach to their work, such as Daro Montag who focuses on the environment and the soil because I love the work he creates and how his work is still entirely influenced by nature. For my current project I am going to continue by researching more about artists who look at escaping into nature within their art work- and researching more about environmental artists and how they deal with their practice in different ways.
Paintings
I think that recently my paintings have started to change slightly, and this is because the idea behind my work have also started to change. Before within my art work I was focusing on how nature could be calm and peaceful, but could also be aggressive. I feel that now my work has changed because now I’m focusing more on nature, what nature is to me. To me nature is a calming and peaceful and this is what I want to communicate to the viewer, and also to get them thinking more about nature and what nature actually means to them. For my work I am very much influenced by nature but in particular I’ve been looking at the patterns the sea creates in the sand when the tide goes in and out. I’ve also been influenced by a book that I am currently reading called Sophie’s World, and I have been influenced by this book because throughout the story the character has a secret escape int he back garden, that’s surrounded by nature and it’s here where she feels the calmest and where she goes to concentrate and collect her thoughts. I’ve been influenced by this because this is what nature is for me, a peaceful calming place to escape too.
Herbert Art Gallery- Coventry
Tree at Montigny, About 1902, Roderic O’Conor, Oil on Board:
Summer in the Downs, Before 1946 (possibly 1920’s) Christopher Nevinson, Oil on Canvas:
Brimley Hill, Devon, 1915, Robert Bevan, Oil on Canvas:
Evening, Cornwall, Towards St Ives, 1947, David Bomberg, Oil on Canvas
Jodie Wingham. Watching, 2014, Screen print on Steel, mirror material:
Amanda Pearce, Probability 75, 2014, postcards, letters, and receipts:
Wedge, George Wall, 1972, oil on canvas:
Untitled ( the first in the Korabra series), Gavin Jantjes, 1986, Acrylic, sand and pigment on canvas: 
Beauty is always with you, 2013, Dale Marshall, Mixed Media:
I chose to photograph these pieces of art work because I really liked them and they caught my eye. The first image, Tree at Montigny, i liked because of the quick sketchy way the artist has painted the piece of work and I’m influenced by this within my own practice because I like the brushstrokes and marks the artist has used and created. Another piece of work which I really liked was Untitled ( the first in the Korabra series), and I really like this painting because I love the texture the artist has created within the painting, and also the colours he has used. I think the painting I enjoyed the most at the gallery thought was the last image, Beauty is always with you by Dale Marshall, and I really like this painting because I love the piece of work, I love the colours in the painting and the texture the artist has created.
Coventry muesum
While I was home for the holidays I decided to visit a couple of galleries, the first one I visited was The Herbert Gallery in Coventry and they actually had a little museum area which happened to have a section about the beach and the different shells that could be found there, and even had a video of the sea playing. I really enjoyed looking around this area because even though I wasn’t actually at the beach and quite far away from one it was interesting how they’d set this room up, and I felt it quite peaceful, especially with the wave sounds playing in the background. I liked how they’d created a peaceful calming place using nature, and using items from the beach and even included a video of the sea. I think that this shows that quite a few people can find nature calming and relaxing.
drawings
Recently I think that the idea behind my work has changed slightly, I think that my work is still very much to do with nature and how I interrupt nature in my own way. Before I was focusing more on showing how the sea could be aggressive and peaceful at different times, but after talking my idea through with someone I realized that even when the sea is crashing waves, the sound can still be peaceful and calming. Because of this, I think within my work I am now showing my own view of nature, how i see it, and how it can be peaceful to me. I am also looking at the way nature interacts with each other, for example, the sea interacting with the sand when the tide goes in and out as this leaves patterns in the sand. This is one of the reasons I’ve started to look more at patterns within my own work, and because of the patterns the waves create. As my ideas within my work are changing slightly I’ve decided I’ve going to work more in my sketchbook for a while to come up with more sketches and ideas before moving back onto painting.
Sketchbook
After having a tutorial with a visiting artist I decided I was going to focus working more on smaller drawings and in my sketchbook. I really like these drawings and I feel that some of them have worked really well. Particularity in the first image, I like how one drawing has transferred onto the next drawing and I like this because one is quite a relaistic drawing, whereas the other is a quick patterned drawing where I was thinking about the patterns in the sand, and the repetitiveness of the waves. This was an accident with the drawing being transferred but once I saw that it had happened I actually quite liked it and felt that it worked quite well. After seeing this I decided to work more in my sketchbook and create more drawings and then experiment further with drawings being transferred onto each other. I really like the way this has worked and I think I am going to continue experimenting with different ways to work in the sketchbook and creating different ways to make the drawings interact with each other. This is what I like about the drawing connecting with each other, that they’re interacting and I particularly like this on the drawings where one is a realistic sea scape and then opposite is a patterned drawing that has been inflected by the patterns in the sand, that the sea creates or the repetitiveness of the waves.
![FullSizeRender[1]](https://karanormansart.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/fullsizerender1.jpg)
Daro Montag
Daro Montag is an artist I’ve actually been influenced by for a while, and his work is very much focused on soil and nature and the world around us, and he’s interested in soil being important in old work, and how the earliest paintings were produced using soil. Interested in how not earth is starting to become used for sculptures rather than being used as a living substance and how artists who use soil for sculptures are ignoring and denying that fact that the soil is a living substance. In his Book, ‘This Earth’ Montag talks about how the artist Walter De Maria filled a New York gallery with 250 cubic yards of soil; ‘New York Earth Room’. For this piece of work if any weeds or plants started to grow there was instruction for these to be removed immediately. Montag talked about the emptiness of this and how there was so much potential in the soil and the absence of visible life and how he couldn’t help but imagine if the fire sprinklers were turned on- how different would this look. Feels that this piece of work is more about sculpture than ecology. When Montage visited this piece of work he actually took a sample of the soil from the gallery, with permission, and placed this on a piece of moist film. Within just a few days plants and fungi has started to grow from this and within just two weeks it had thrived. Montag then created a print made from this piece of film and this was later exhibited just a few doors down from ‘New York Earth Room’.
Visting Artists
Last week two artists visited from the Royal College of London and I managed to get a tutorial with both artists;
The first tutorial I has was with James Metsoja and these are the notes I made:
Keep drawing and working in sketchbooks cute things out, stick into photographs etc, keep collecting stones and item from the beach, think about the relationship between the beach and the stuff you have collected, keep doing quick sketches outside to inform my work. Think about the sounds at the beach- when the waves are rough this can still be calming. This actually made me think quite a lot about my project because originally it was about sometimes the sea and the waves sometimes being calming and peaceful and other times being rough and aggressive but actually when the waves are rough and crashing against things it does create a calming sound. I thought that this was quite interesting because it made me think that ever when nature is being aggressive and rough it can still provide a peaceful environment. We also spoke about the stones I brought back from the beach were the same colour as the sea in the photos, quite a dark greyish colour.
This tutorial I had actually helped my work quite a lot, and after thinking about how the roughness of the sea can actually provide a peaceful place I’m gonna think about the idea of my paintings more, and what I’m trying to get across within my paintings and why. I think with my more recent paintings I’m trying to show that nature can be so detailed and complex, but nature can always be peaceful and an escape. I also think my paintings are starting to become about my personal relationship with nature, and how it’s an escape for me and showing people how it can be a peaceful escape.
The next tutorial I has was with Elizabeth and we mainly spoke about my larger painting and how I didn’t feel it was successful and about not having to work at a large scale all the time.
After thinking about my project in the past week I have decided to focus on working in a sketchbook for a while and to keep producing drawings and smaller paintings before deciding to work at a larger scale again.
Both artists also gave a talk about their work, And I found James’ work really interesting as he was interested in how he had mould on his bedroom wall, and how even after he moves out and moves on the mould will still be there. And how that’s always going to affect that wall. He also spoke about working from The Thames a lot and he would always produce quick sketches there and collect items- and how a lot of the time there was horrible items there, especially when there was a low tide.
Kara's art 