Studio Notes no. 215
Painting a garden and more
Hello Everyone
A recent sketch/sculpture - card, paper, linen, glue, gesso.
I hope you are well. I seem to have a so much green going on at the moment. The rain comes, the hail passes through, a rainbow appears - and all is green.
Somethings and Tiny Book
Above you can see one of several small sculpture pieces I have been making. I call these my ‘somethings’. They are very modest bits of sculpture, sketches to be held in the hand. The starting process involves gluing together of bits and bobs.
Alongside the sculpted sketches or somethings I am also working in books. Yes, sketchbooks and tiny artist books will always be my primary places to figure things but adding in the somethings just adds more playfulness. And that happens to be a good thing, for me.
So here are a few of the pieces I have made recently and as you can tell the green is dominating. But I do not expect these to all be green-themed. It’s just at this moment I look out of my attic window and see the brilliant greens of the horse chestnut tree and all the other trees surrounding, and I walk across the road to the churchyard (my adopted back garden) and see all the green there, the cow parsley and yes even the nettles….
The ‘somethings’ are fixed, meaning they do not fold and I will have to store them in a box or better still, perhaps, on the wall. They take time and paint, paint and time to create but I think are worth my attention. They allow me to explore ideas in a more three-dimensional way and I have always wished to do this, either through making vessels, dolls, embroidery or these - these somethings. I would love to explore sculpture over time, more deeply. Although I do not crave the making of large sculptural things and will not be putting on my Barbara Hepworth hat any time soon, I do admire sculpture in all its various guises. And let me be honest, I just love figuring out bits of this and that.
Story of a Painting
I thought I would take you along with me as I paint a larger landscape in gouache paint on watercolour paper.
I shared a painting a couple of weeks ago and this is a similar start - earth and sky. Though this time I am sure the sky will change, as it so often does. The earth is a grounding and I will be planting things. My only main idea at this stage is a need to paint a rich cottage garden, a mix of wild and deliberate.
At this stage I find it’s good to play and not worry over detail - it’s far too soon for me to do that. Unlike watercolour, gouache paint allows for layering in a richer way.
So I find a figure and I know the woman will not be visible for long - she will indeed become an old tree. What a lovely thing to happen. But I know and now you know she is always there beneath the plants and shapes and green. This happens quite often in my work. I know the gardener is there.
Yes, its time to find shapes and tones that will be visible.
And then a lot happens and I do not photograph every stage - this is not in anyway a tutorial. But you can see here how I have laid down areas of plant life and green shades and other garden colours. I want the house to be there but not the main part of the story. It will be kept simple yet obviously an integral part of life in this landscape. it has a timelessness and I am happy with that.
The finally complete painting:
Here is ‘a cottage garden between spring and summer’.
The plants I have found to place in this garden are from memory - some may be recognisably marigolds or daisies of some kind. But when I am looking at gardens I am often more interested in leaves than flowers, and I wanted this painting to reflect my interest in leaf colour, shape and the ‘jungly’ look of some gardens as they suddenly brim with life.
This is a larger painting at 29.5cm x 29cm - and I enjoyed the space I had to really get engrossed. So I will definitely be making more paintings on this scale - though I will also be making smaller (and tiny). I am particularly pleased with the colours in this patch - not just green, but so much more. With special thanks to my tubes of paint. I get through so much paint these days! My local art shop knows now that I use yellow paint most of all. I love mixing my own greens.
Shop News
I will be updating my shop this coming Wednesday at 7pm UK time - with preview from 4pm. I hope to offer a mix of new artwork, including the painting above.
Thank you so much for all recent orders. I am grateful for all your interest and support. Free postage continues for UK. There is a link to my shop at the end of these notes.
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New Writing
I had hoped to be sharing with you my new poetry zine - but it needs a little more time. The zine is called ‘Something & Something Else’ - and features a sequence of poems that often relate to painting and creativity. Due to printing issues I need a few more weeks and then it will be available.
I mentioned the zine to my paid subscribers last Thursday - and shared a poem from it. Here is another, which I feel relates very much to the sort of painting I have shared with you today (see above).
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Picture Book
I want the house to have
a picture book quality
and price tag
(ten shillings a year, shall we say?)
and if it gets lost in all the green
so be it, albeit
a muddle of flowers in
the afternoon of this place
is enough, just.
Through hushed light and birdsong
I might claim my one true home.
The lines of this and that hasten.
But there is no door yet and the
roof needs a mend. A different
shade of hair-earth-sky.
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I had to take a photograph of the rainbow view a few evenings ago. This is in my sitting room. It is a quiet space filled with collections of ceramics, books and paintings, and textiles and knitted things - much I have made myself but not all. Now I want to paint a landscape with a rainbow, and will do that soon…
Thank you for reading here and please do say hello, leave a comment if you enjoyed reading. I do appreciate hearing from you.
I send my midweek notes to paid subscribers most Thursdays.
You are fearless, Cathy Cullis. Which is exactly as a creative person needs to be. I suspect your mind is always thinking, "What can I do next?" and then you do it. Those sculptures are intriguing and belong on a wall, not in a box. Unless, of course, the box becomes part of the sculpture.
My heart feels so glad after I’ve read your studio notes. When the woman became a tree — oh! Thank you for taking the time to share your poems and artwork so often. You bring much needed joy and thoughtfulness.