Influences 2008
I used to use these colours in big pastels but a recent trip to France and the ochre mines got me back into thinking about colour. The intensity of colour in the land around Roussilon and the shop selling pigments, pots and pots of beautiful colour all lined up, delicious. I returned home and forgot about my trip and then was tidying up and found my old pastels; the intensity of the colour was there again. I love muted tones and mostly work in monochrome but it is exciting using these vibrant colours again, now they are not pastels but oil and at some point I hope they will appear in my sculpture also.
I am pleased and rather intrigued about the strange things that seem to be going on in my studio. I have for some time wanted to make a pot. I like vessels and am always attracted to still life drawing and paintings that contain volumes. I think these paintings by Volkert Olij are some of the most exquisite things I have ever seen, I can only describe the feeling in front of them rather crudely as lust! They are the type of paintings that for me are just very difficult to walk away from.
I keep going back to his catalogue to look, I am not sure exactly how they are inspiring just the feel of them, the light and space and the forms, he is a true professional in his approach to painting and perfectionist and I guess it must be this that I find inspiring.
Withstanding was the first piece where I started looking at the shape of the skirt as a form in itself and more and more my sculptures have been getting clothes. I recently went to a lecture on drawing and started drawing this dress. It was so ingrained in me and so particular I worried I had seen the image before and have copied it from a famous image somewhere, but have not found the source so far. One of the artists was using the shape of a skirt in her paintings and it seemed to trigger something in me, I drew and drew the dress, it seemed odd to me but at the same time so very right.
I have written about the use of the dress and my new work which I shall add shortly but below are a couple of student questions I have been asked to finish of with for the moment.
What has been your proudest working moment so far?
It is usually about sculptures I have made rather than the achievements of those sculptures to get to certain places. My ambition is within the greatness of the achievement within the peice rather than the position it has gained in the ‘art world’ or the position it has raised the artist to.
A good feeling is to make a painting or sculpture and then after, when all the worry, indecision's and insecurities have gone, when you become slightly detached from it through time you wonder how you did it and worry terribly that you could never do it again. But usually I am very critical of past work and therefore satisfaction is limited.
What is the most important thing you like to express with your art?
The most important thing with my art is honesty, sometimes I can be too cheesey or potentially naff, I worry I don’t hide my personal feelings enough and can be a bit blatant but I always use the excuse that I am being true to how I feel, its just me. It is what it is.
If you are not honest there is absolutely no point.