Letting it all go!

During the pandemic I took a couple of years out just to play. I didn’t know what would happen to my work but it felt like a great thing to be doing – an antidote to what was happening elsewhere. One of the things I did was take a concertina sketchbook course*, which really changedContinue reading “Letting it all go!”

That awkward phase…

One thing I have learned over the last few years is that there is always an awkward phase in a painting. There comes a point where you stand back and think “Oh jeez, I ruined it” “It’s terrible” “What was I thinking???!” I used to give up at this point, throw the painting away, beContinue reading “That awkward phase…”

The problem with intuitive art…..

Over the years, my practice has looped back to working intuitively over and over and this is where I feel happiest. However, working in an intuitive, free, sub-conscious way is not without it’s issues. Working in this way means giving up any expectation of a result, no planning or hoping this will be the nextContinue reading “The problem with intuitive art…..”

Mindful drawing, doodling, adult colouring… is it art?!

A lot of my posts pose the question – is it art? And this week I have been thinking about my doodling and intuitive art practice. I have always doodled a lot, especially in long meetings and there is evidence that it helps you listen, so I have taken that to be a good thing!Continue reading “Mindful drawing, doodling, adult colouring… is it art?!”

AI… is it art? And if it is am I out of a job?!

This week I was intriged by an article in Hackaday about Midjourney – an AI bot which makes images out of textual prompts given to it by the user. It’s pretty geeky stuff, and I don’t claim to understand what it’s doing but I managed to sign up for the free version and get itContinue reading “AI… is it art? And if it is am I out of a job?!”

Listen to the silence…..

I have long had an interest in mindfulness and drawing but today was a first when I took part in an online Zoom meditation drawing session guided by artist Katie Solohub. Whilst I have a daily meditation practice, I have not ever tied my art and my meditation together before. However, it makes sense thatContinue reading “Listen to the silence…..”

Does a drawing have to look like somewhere?

This week I have been thinking about drawing – specifically the need to recreate a visual scene accurately or at least semi accurately. For the past few weeks I have been going to the same spot most days and drawing. But nothing I have drawn would be recognisable as the physical place. However for meContinue reading “Does a drawing have to look like somewhere?”