Isn't kids art great? My 4 year old grandson loves to paint and draw and gets stuck in with a frightening concentration which I wish I could match. And he doesn't take kindly to any direction or suggestions. His 'blue' immediately reminded me of Yves Klein's 'Blue monochrome', and Freddie's insistence that no other colour was needed added to the connection. It's just blue! The Klein is the one on the left The same with composition-it's purely instinctive and natural; no great debates, pre-sketches, trials or anguish about just 'where' a shape should go, bam, it's there, and it works. Would that we adults could keep this pure, un-manipulated intuition. The Roger Hilton painting I think has the same instinctive quality, but I would love to know how quickly he reached his final composition! Roger Hilton's in the one in the middle, the 'monster on the right, just because I like it.
I always find it stimulating to look at the work of other painters and artists, especially ones you've not heard of, or seen before. Doing a project on 'texture' at the moment has led me to look at Kurt Jackson, Brain Graham, Ian McKeever, Margo Maeckelberghe, (the latter, entirely due to listening to Woman's Hour!) and lots of others. It can be quite daunting to think of all these wonderful professional artists beavering away producing such interesting work; For me at the moment, it's not the end result that dominates my efforts, but the processes involved. I've been getting a bit sidetracked lately, and this next week, I've promised myself to get back to actually 'painting' and doing lots of sketch book work. On a recent skiing holiday, I sketched and took working photos based on snow an the marks skis make on the mountains. I remember doing the same thing about 20 years ago, so I obviously still find the same subject matter interesting! Snow study-mixed media on board
Born and bred in Leyland Lancashire; escaped to Manchester and Art College in 1965 and gained a Dip AD in Graphics. One year at Reading University gained me an Art Teaching Dilpoma (teaching was something my family could see the point of!). 3 years teaching art up to A level at a comprehensive in Woking developed my 'skills' for dealing with troublesome kids and oddballs who were often sent to the art room as a last resort, no-one else knowing quite what to do with them. Marriage and motherhood turned me to occasional water colours and odd scribblings, in a vain attempt to keep up the pretense that I was still some kind of an artist/draftsman. Help came with freelance design work for local museums and galleries after moving to Chichester in 1973. I later worked freelance for English Heritage and the National Trust and worked with author Elizabeth Newbery on various publications for heritage sites. When the children were older I took a job as graphic designer with West Sussex Library Service and stayed 19 years as Publicity & Promotions Manager. Voluntary Redundancy in 2007 has given me the opportunity of going back and starting again at the painting/drawing 'thing'.
