Studio Notes no. 208
Braque, new book page works & writing
Hello Everyone,
A new work on paper - here I have combined book pages with brown paper to create a collage surface to work upon using gouache paint. I have titled this work ‘Hearts and Diamonds’. It is one of several works I am making/have made recently.
And hello spring - it is a foggy start here but we have been enjoying fine, sunny weather. I hope you are well and finding small things - flowers appearing, or leaves changing colour - anything to occupy your mind in positive ways as we live through uncertain times…
Here’s a new work in progress - one in my ‘garden dish’ series…. I always start with the dish, but the birds don’t always appear at this stage. Some times they appear quite late on in the painting process….
I have been looking again at Braque’s work. Braque is one of several painters I look at, via books I have, to help me steer my own approach. If I feel I am tending toward detail too much, getting too descriptive and needing a little more abstraction - it’s good to look at Braque. His work was made some time ago, during a period of great innovation and change. Our worlds are very different. But I can look at Braque’s paintings and printmaking and find ways to consider my own use of colour, essential composition and pattern.
I like Braque’s birds - their shapes and movement. Yes, they make me think of Matisse, another artist I look at. Here are pages from a vintage book I have featuring Braque’s work. There are many black and white photos which are still helpful when looking at examples of his compositions and motifs. I also like reading Braque’s notebooks/diaries.
As Braque said in his notebook/diaries: ‘I do not do as I wish; I do as I can’.
photo: another work where I have combined book page paper with brown paper - I love working on both types of paper, so why not combine them! I like working on non-conventional papers and materials, so that I get away from being too precious about the work, I want to be playful, direct and joyful in how things can be transformed.
This work is on brown paper - I love how the yellow sings on brown paper
And this smaller work is also on brown paper - made quite quickly, allowing the paint to flow and inspired by the directness of the moment.
**
Shop News
I am working on a variety of new pieces and will be updating my shop this coming Wednesday, March 25th at 7pm UK time - with a preview from 4pm - expect to see a mix of things including the above works and more.
Please note: I will not be updating my shop the following week - Easter week. This is traditionally my time ‘off’ (though I never really take time away from creating things).
There is a link to my shop at the end of these notes. There are a couple of artworks currently available. Thanks always for looking and for your kind support.
photo: Wool embroidery - shows a few abstract brooches and a larger piece in progress - I am slowly but surely making time to explore my french knot designs…
New Writing
Here is a small sequence of recent poems. I hope you enjoy reading. Thank you for your kind encouragement and comments. Yes, I do hope to have another poetry zine coming soon - and yes also I will be sharing a poetry workshop later this spring. More details soon…
Dead Nettle in the Churchyard
Round queens sail over gravestones
where the dead nettle is flowering
for this waking spell, for the bees.
And bones below rattle silently
for joy, for knowing.
Bees forage.
And the fox who slept
on snowdrops has left her shape
to return next year.
** How to Begin a Picture
All you need is a line that is not
really a line but a dance of sorts
that runs ahead of you without
losing sight of the paper.
The line that is not a line,
a dog that smells the park
in one ecstatic sniff.
**
A Spring Equinox Walk
Look at the pawprints, my son says
as we walk the path uphill.
We are following on the tail of
a morning rush of dog walkers.
Look at the catkins, I whisper,
catching my breath.
Those are not catkins,
they are something else
my son says. Nevertheless
I memorise their colour. I swallow
it deep, as I catch my breath,
as I skip over boggy green.
As a glimmer of spring
becomes our route uphill.
**
Prolific
Can’t stop, won’t stop.
Pass me another bit of paper,
cut me anything, any size.
Fresh jar of water.
A flower inside a flower.
How to paint the dark beyond
is my task this afternoon.
The ducks are flying over the river
but my eyes are keeping watch here
with brushes saturated yellow and green.
Eyes heavy on wet almost black
to find the dark beyond
the prettiness.
Later, I can go to the river
as my reward for using so much paper.
Yes, I will find the swans
happy to be white glowing swans.
**
Swans
Come to the river and see.
We have never seen them here before.
They just appeared, like swans can.
Two swans, a pair,
survey the shallow glitter of river.
Boys stand on the steps and stare.
The swans stare at the boys.
One swan opens his wings
to show how all the snowdrops have become
his wings now. So white, of course.
What colour is the swan? A mother
asks her tiny child. Goose, the child says.
**
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I love to hear how you are always creating, developing, investigating, Cathy. It is very inspiring. A life well led. It should be like that, shouldn’t it? Constant inflow, constant outflow of beauty, like breathing xx🌹❤️
Thank you, Cathy, for bringing me back to earth and wonder on another Sunday morning. I am so appreciative.