Last year I had to move from my shed/studio, as I was flooded out, and with heating becoming an issue, moved out into an upstairs room in the house, which has turned out to be a great move. I am much warmer, and in much more salubrious environs, cats and coffee to hand. I am currently exploring new spaces and places to show my work, as well as using my home, which pretty much is a gallery anyway as a regular (possibly monthly) open studio.
New Work Space
Whilst the world seems to be in turmoil, I want to concentrate my efforts in a positive frame of mind. Sometimes with all the turmoil in our day to day existence, it can be hard to find that inner peace, however I think we need it more and more. So my wish for anyone reading this, is to look for those moments that inspire and bring happiness and make those your refuge in times of hardship.
Wishing you a happy new year and may the angels be with you.
New Angel Collection .
The new collection will have its debut at
Chelsea Untitled Artists Fair on 12-13-14 July @
Chelsea Town Hall Chelsea London.
My apologies that this post is largely technical detail.
This last 6 months has seen my experimenting with different substrates, e.g. board, canvas etc. I’ve rarely used canvas, because relief and high texture on large pieces require a stable base, using my historic oil based gesso materials, however, I can overcome these problems, by various strategies. I have tried a selection of pastes for texture, hard, medium, soft, with inclusions etc, and yes they all work, but are very expensive as opposed to my usual medium, and so not for my larger works. I have numerous pieces I have tried out in this way, along with new (to me) paints. You can view my experiments on my Instagram site jminteriorartist
After struggling with health issues for the last year, holidays came as a welcome respite, which also coincided with a turn around of a pesky chest infection. Holidays allow you to have a period of introspection, and reassessment, in other words a complete break and reset. I love my work, which is an honest passion for my. subject matter. As a child I grew up in the countryside, and the fields and hedgerows were my happy place, there is nothing sophisticated about that, but, the love of the countryside that surrounded me, has informed who I am, and my work is my homage to those early memories. The only cloud on my bucolic horizon is the world of tech!, it is not my natural environment, however, communication is key, and needs must. drive me to at least, acquaint myself with the monster, to the best of my ability.
Holiday Inspiration
I use oil based gesso to apply relief to a panel, artists such as Margaret McDonald used a similar type of relie. I use different types of application, trailing, and layeri, and, I can also add materials, for example sand, and I can also embed, it is such a brilliant medium.
As you can see from the image above, I have trailed on the gesso, which drys rock hard, and allows for another dimension to add to the panel. I make my own oil based gesso, base on an historic recipe.
The start of any panel begins with a thorough study of my subject, eg, in this case butterflies. I research by studying images of butterflies, noting wing shapes and colours, I then sketch and paint until I reach an understanding of how I want to translate the subject. The final study will bring out areas that I want to elevate and bring to the forefront by use of colour and technique.
All panels are unique, but on these 2 recent ones, I have added a background of meadow flowers . I was requested to include bees which have been highlighted in gold.
Outline of winged creatures have a raised gesso outline and body parts, painted in acrylic paints, lustres and inks.
Going back to my sketchbooks to work on new backgrounds for my nature panels. I don’t want them to standout, just be a suggestion. I want to imply rather than state the form, to suggest rather than dictate. In this endeavour I study real flora and then exaggerate, possibly embellish forms, thereby making them my own. I try to get to a point where I internalise the design and can without too much effort enlarge and resize according to the piece I am working on.
Launching a new site during a pandemic is a strange and lonely experience, I had envisaged so much more. In my minds eye I was going to launch during an art fair in Chelsea with all the paraphernalia and razzmatazz that goes with it, and then that sense of momentum is lost, instead you are in a bubble of disassociation, with seemingly no urgency, and for me, almost lost in time, working away in my studio(shed) with only my work, and paints. I loved it!
