I'm exploring a new Instagram account and thought you might like to see what I'm up to over there. You can pop by at helensuzanne_studio
News and thoughts from Helen Suzanne - Artist and Creator living in the Highlands of Scotland.
The Leap
As I worked my way up the glen. A fleeting glimpse. A movement in the undergrowth. A shadow and a flash of white.
I love following the deer trods. They lead to wild places. Small tunnels open out into little secret glades or guide you along a hillside with tiny narrow tracks.
This canvas is one of the largest I've tackled - a metre square, and the idea was just a fleeting image quickly receding into the dusty corners of my mind, so I had to work fast. Fast, so that my heart rate felt like I was running. My new broad brush made fast marks, bold and with full arm movement. It was exhilarating but exhausting, and after 18 hours of virtually non-stop mark-making I ground to a halt. I should have stopped sooner for my health but I couldn't. I tried it but my mind was racing, terrified of "losing the moment", of "thinking too much", and of going "blank".
It took a while to recover!
If...
... every day I could take time to stitch, spin or dye something, draw or paint something, and photograph something, then I'd get a heck of a lot of work done!
Well today I stopped procrastinating and got out some acrylics to sketch with. This view has been a strong visual in my mind for a while now. Something I care about with a passion... light and weather! Sunny days can be bland and drain colour out of a landscape but a good storm brewing... well that's a whole different kettle of tofu! I'm trying to stop the infinite detail and go instead for the mood... and the passion. Definitely a task in progress but I'm proud to have stopped after only 2 hours of frenetic activity and called it a day. "Not to be fiddled with". That should be a sign that I stick on everything I paint after 2 hours is up.
I also have finished an illustration project. It might become an alternative sort of christmas card, hmm, perhaps. I enjoyed making up how lady winter might look. The owl however needed a little photographic reference. I find that... something I don't know quite so well needs a little prompting. Skys, stone walls, and water are things I've studied well over the years. Not just looked at but actively drawn and I can pretty much breathe them into a painting now. Ask me to draw a horse or a dog for example and it will have a sort of resemblance but be rubbish really... and I own both those animals so see them daily. I guess it matters how you look then!
Well today I stopped procrastinating and got out some acrylics to sketch with. This view has been a strong visual in my mind for a while now. Something I care about with a passion... light and weather! Sunny days can be bland and drain colour out of a landscape but a good storm brewing... well that's a whole different kettle of tofu! I'm trying to stop the infinite detail and go instead for the mood... and the passion. Definitely a task in progress but I'm proud to have stopped after only 2 hours of frenetic activity and called it a day. "Not to be fiddled with". That should be a sign that I stick on everything I paint after 2 hours is up.
I also have finished an illustration project. It might become an alternative sort of christmas card, hmm, perhaps. I enjoyed making up how lady winter might look. The owl however needed a little photographic reference. I find that... something I don't know quite so well needs a little prompting. Skys, stone walls, and water are things I've studied well over the years. Not just looked at but actively drawn and I can pretty much breathe them into a painting now. Ask me to draw a horse or a dog for example and it will have a sort of resemblance but be rubbish really... and I own both those animals so see them daily. I guess it matters how you look then!
Rabbiting on
Rabbits are on my mind. Hares too. Searching for myths and legends I have much leaping and running going on in my head.
Illustrations swirl around, bounding with hints of ancients and I'm drawn to scour away the surface of modern reasoning trying to reveal something of a shared subconscious memory of the past. I hope my results will live up to my imaginings...
Trying to get a handle on drawing again. "Use it, don't loose it" is definitely the operative phrase here. The wet is spoiling the autumn leaves so I must make more definite time slots to capture the colour whilst it's still here.
We're meant to have a longer, more defined autumnal season compared to Canada and America, but it can easily slip by.
Illustrations swirl around, bounding with hints of ancients and I'm drawn to scour away the surface of modern reasoning trying to reveal something of a shared subconscious memory of the past. I hope my results will live up to my imaginings...
Trying to get a handle on drawing again. "Use it, don't loose it" is definitely the operative phrase here. The wet is spoiling the autumn leaves so I must make more definite time slots to capture the colour whilst it's still here.
Art & fear
It's done my soul good to re-read "Art & fear". I can't think specifically why but I'm less unsure after it. One of my favourite sentences is...
"And (apart from starting with and. I don't like that) while a hundred civilizations have prospered, sometimes for centuries, without computers or windmills or even the wheel, none have survived even a few generations without art."
That's a grand observation that is!
Here's the rest of that painting from the previous post.
"And (apart from starting with and. I don't like that) while a hundred civilizations have prospered, sometimes for centuries, without computers or windmills or even the wheel, none have survived even a few generations without art."
That's a grand observation that is!
Here's the rest of that painting from the previous post.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)