On the easel

On the easel - as yet untitled

I am currently preparing for the 2015 Warwickshire Open Studios. I always like to show new work as I have many 'repeat' visitors who I feel obliged not to bore with previously shown work. This was no problem when the "Open Studios" held biannually but since it changed to an annual event it is a struggle to fill the space. I use this as both a "carrot and stick"to maintain my productivity. It is not that I need any incentive to continue making my artwork, just that in these recessionary times when (as many artists are finding) demand has slackened, I can easily 'stretch' both the thinking and making time. Another positive benefit of the time pressure is that I have begun drawing again (as I can complete a drawing in a week as opposed to a painting taking a month or more). It is not that I haven't been drawing - I always draw from life at least once a week. When drawing for exhibition I try to explore "ideas" in the way that I do when painting. Sometimes trying out new themes but often giving life to some of the ideas and preparation that I produce in the run up to a painting which didn't quite "make the cut" to the final image. I haven't photographed any of the new drawings yet so I can't show you one on this blog - it will perhaps encourage me to do another soon (without the long gap since last I wrote!).

I continue to try and interest people in 'life drawing' - to share the inestimable benefit and enjoyment that I find. Happily after several years when life drawing  was out of favour with art schools it seems to be making a comeback. I think the renewed interest is as a result of demand from students who, now they are paying inordinate amounts of money for their training, want some durable skills rather than the ephemeral attitudinising that many courses promote. It would have been easier to accept the dropping of life drawing in many art schools if they had replaced it with a better way of developing a students visual awareness and skill, but I don't see any evidence of this. I know some people will find my enthusiasm for drawing anachronistic but the life drawing and painting classes that I organise and teach outside the college system have never been fuller.