Trying out blosgy

As I trundle through life I find myself tackling things I thought I never would, such as blogging and now even using blogsy or as my IPad likes to call it blowsy...so this is an experimental post to help me get the apple to drop in the great IT orchard of my life.

Last week I was at the Towner with Ed and Wilf, we had a good look at the exhibition which is really interesting including a city of 10,000 till rolls and a tower made entirely of sugar cubes, the boys LOVED it!

We did stuff like this ( I hope there is an image here...!)

Then we had a fab hour or two in the (photo box?) room upstairs next to the cafe, there we cut and stuck and made busbys soldier hats and the boys marched around the towner in hilarious fashion.

I definitely need to be less serious about my work at the moment but as always there is a direct correlation to how much time I have and how constrained my approach becomes, so a bit of fun with the boys making stuff is brilliant and later jago insisted on painting alongside me on Saturday and he did some lovely Mark making with some watercolours

And my latest working of the boat sketches I did is this so far...

Talking it up

Thinking big, believing in myself and just following a natural progression of drawing and developing ideas leads to a really positive growth. Something I can sustain and also something that others begin to believe too. It or I become more convinced and therefore perhaps more convincing. 

Drawing the boats at the sailing club is interesting because I have used the camera whilst walking around to 'see' and frame subjects. I particularly like the shapes and movement that directional lines of the masts makes. It lends itself to abstract work as do the rows of boats using just colour to block them in. 

What I should do next is to look at some other artists to help determine how to build these lovely little drawings into bigger work. 

I have moved the bedroom around to continue putting my work in the dominant. In theory its a great idea but it's a pain to do it. Now I have space but so little time to work in it....still I am always impatient.

Artists: Prophets of the here and now.

Cuckmere Haven segments series represent for me
break through in style
freedom from others
a culmination of location work
journeying through image and memory, association and representation
experimentation with materials and refining technique
tension between the concrete and the abstract
interpretation of the above

segments 1 is the first finished piece from a number of sketches.

It references the chalk cliffs, the encroaching tidal water, the man made structures imposed to preserve the valley as it is seen now. the bold reflections of light on water and subtlety of chalk, the actual shadows and metaphorical shadows in peoples minds, the question of whether the valley's defences should be preserved as it has been  or left to natures gradual erosion and evolution of habitat. It is fluid and yet suggests a permanent stronghold.
Do we successfully control nature or are we controlled by nature?

What are our motives and how do we communicate them?

Do we like an image because it is pretty or recognisable or because of what it represents ie: its meaning?

Are we safer repeating the tried and tested traditions or should we pioneer forwards and be prophets of the here and now illuminating the future trend?

Segments series is about the colours, forms, space, movement, solidity, edges, shadows, reflections of the surrounding Cuckmere haven habitat. I have endeavoured to capture the wider impression of the spaces I encountered. throught the knowledge of the components that make the whole. fields, river, cliffs, light, sky, even cows.

In segments 2 there is a flow of fields, shadows stretching and dancing across just below the high horizon. From deep within the valley the ochre door inviting the viewer to step into or through to another place.

I have collated blocks, lines, patches, edited,  and rebuilt a new haven of my own. In doing so I have discovered a new palate and a new maturity and integrity in the process of finding the right fit. The paintings themselves have their own independent identity and their surfaces are yet another real dimension or layer of visual thought pattern.

segments 4:  bending water, broken flashes and blocks of light. Stopped only from pouring out by the white cliff end which in turn becomes the reflection and synonymous with the water.

Open Studios

Planning open studios for Coastal Currents Arts Festival 27th Aug to 30th Sept. http://www.coastalcurrents.org.uk/, we are using Kerry's in Bexhill. Need to look at calendar and work out how much space there is for work shared between Victoria and myself. How we can hang it without destroying Paul's walls and how many prints/postcards to get made also how to take payment she says optimistically!

So I have got organised and made a list.. whilst simultaneously realising that all this needs to be done across school holidays....ha ha some negotiating to be done with the conceptual artist known as Jim.

So we are planning an art trail around Bexhill, we will link in to anything that seems in line with what our work is like and of course we will have an opening night party way hey...

I will be looking for sponsors for our own publicity postcard - gonna ask Priceless, In perspective and of course Kerry's in the hope that one will say yes.

I am in two minds whether to show all new work for CC open studios... while I am deciding here's the latest drawings from the http://www.facebook.com/pages/Felicity-Truscott-Art studio

I am quite excited about these drawings as they are showing (in my humble opinion a leap forward in maturity and confidence) I will be developing these and others into larger works throughout the summer.