A sketchbook recently filled – vibrant markets and fishing villages in Southern Portugal.. a tiny film.
My big love is being outside in the landscape and drawing and painting. I have just returned from a lovely ‘milestone’ birthday trip to Portugal where I got to do plenty of that and, unusually for me, worked in just one sketchbook and filled it up. Would you like to see? I enjoyed the sights and smells of market days particularly and depicting these bustling, loud and mouthwatering days was my inspiration this time.
This is also my first time filming my sketchbook – so, fingers crossed!!
I spent some of the holiday drawing and painting with my good friend Mary Price and we hoked up for some of our time with another woman, Julie Sajous, a new friend found loitering with sketchbook and pens.
This common ground of drawing (followed by eating and drinking) is such a uniting factor you know! In times which seem to polarise people we need to find our tribes, connect and lift each other up!
Painting alone and painting with friends – such a great way to connect with place and people. Here are me, Mary Price and Julie Sajous.
That’s me on the left looking like I might fall over backwards into a cactus!
I would love to hear how you record your travels if you do.
Do you draw or photograph and do you think there’s a big difference? Or maybe you keep a written journal? Let me know in the comments ….
Sketchbook colour trials and a pastel da nata (very lifelike!!)
How I use my sketchbook to find the content of my thoughts
Sketchbook as a portal. This is how my mind gets going sometimes…I’m not sure how much control I have over it, but it’s a way of using a sketchbook to find stuff going on in this head ….
These are the images for this particular stream of consciousness sketchbook. They are copies of a long series of paintings I made on the sea wall in blustery North Wales through which I embody the storm. This is a section in my PhD research which I have really enjoyed documenting. I find that I don’t really have too much control over what I am writing – I leave it to come through me in a way akin to the notion of ‘enchantment’ spoken about by activist and leader Nina Simons. She advocates taking a solitary walk and seeing what comes through you as a form of contemplative practice. Here I paste images made by myself and then open myself up to what writing is there…it’s an experience I enjoy, it’s immersive. It’s part of sadhana a practice in jñāna yoga.
Here are some pages:
This I call the questioning of abstract ideas through the vehicle of images. I am questioning here the nature of reality. Have you ever thought about that?
I like these two quotes by Margaret Davidson on contemporary drawing:
When you look more closely you see beyond the images and into the variations of those internal ideas.
Davidson 2011: 174
and
Consciousness in drawing is one of those states of mind that, once you reach it, you can’t imagine the time before reaching it. Once you know it, you can’t return to not knowing it. When you become conscious and intentional, you cross over from some realm of ignorance to true awareness.
Davidson 2011:178
Ref: Davidson, Margaret (2011), Contemporary drawing: key concepts and techniques, New York: Random House.
She’s spot on as far as I’m concerned.
This week in the studio I am working particularly on this painting – by next week’s newsletter it will be done. It’s one of three that have occupied me during January and February – they are towards a solo exhibition in August in Much Wenlock, Shropshire UK. Which reminds me I must get cracking on that work…speed up a bit!
83 x 59cm – work in progress but nearly there!
That’s all for this week!
but …
I’d love to know if :
you write much in your sketchbooks if you have them?
you do free writing or a stream of consciousness
you have worked with Julia Cameron’s morning pages concept
At last it is truly here! The British Summer. Time to throw the studio windows open and get out and about in the garden and plein air sketching.
I have just had an enjoyable time in Wales discovering the area between Cwmtydu and Cardigan. Unspoilt and rugged, the cliffs inspired some sketching and the beaches and hedgerows inspired some walking. Waterfalls on beaches and quiet roads have made this place a new favourite for me.
This year has mostly been taken up with a consolidation of two visits to Japan. I cannot begin to describe how this country appeals to me so much. The people, the countryside, the efficiency and ethos captivate and of course the temples are an utter sanctuary. In these tranquil places every angle seems to be a perfectly framed view.
I kept several travel sketchbooks whilst there and have been invited to make an exhibition on the theme this summer. Here is a glimpse but there are about twenty works in total. The date is to be confirmed but it will be at Cafe 86’d in Ironbridge, Shropshire for a couple of months. This is one of my very favourite eating establishments in the UK – my go to for lunch when in the vicinity.
These pieces feature many, many layers of collected papers, stitch, pencil and ink. Others are painted but layered in the same way. It has been a definite labour of total love.
Events in the Studio
As ever there are plenty of things going on in my lovely studio at Newhampton Arts Centre, Wolverhampton. Tonight there is a Women’s Circle which will also happen on July 2nd, the next New Moon. Only £5 – a chance to connect in peace. Let me know if you would like to come. Info here although the second date is wrong – it should read Tuesday 2nd July https://www.facebook.com/events/673197123130651/
Otherwise there are more events on the Workshops page
Boundary Way
Boundary Way Allotments Project has had a new round of funding and this year some of the focus is on the role of fungi in nature. We had a superb visit from Rich Wright of Kew Gardens. He is a Mycologist and told us so many interesting facts about mushrooms and the amazing mycelium layer below the ground connecting plants and trees that we were all really inspired.
Hannah Boyd and myself had a lovely afternoon sketching fungi and making folding books from abstracted mushroom related art with a group of Bpoundary Way artists. More events are to come for the public in the Summer. One is here but I think it is sold out – watch this space for more.
Wolverhampton Society of Artists
I have recently joined this Society which is 100 years old this year. There has recently been an exhibition for new members to exhibit in. I was pleased to have sold these two pieces and look forward to spending more time with the society.
Holcome Pink Foot – oil on canvas 12″x12″
In The Womb Of The Earth – Hare – oil on canvas 20″ x 12″
There is one other available in the series:
In The Womb Of The Earth – Foxes- oil on canvas 20″ x 12″
and a sketch for a badgers piece is waiting!
I am sure there is a lot more to say – but it is time to go and enjoy the sunshine! See you soon.
Anyone who knows me will not be surprised when I say how much I like birds. They appear in many of my paintings.
One of my favourite, apart from the dove, is the hoopoe. He is sometimes to be seen in southern areas of the UK but they proliferate here in Saudi Arabia. Very shy, they run between the trees scuttling from view if they sense you.
However if you have patience and sit still they come quite close.
Today’s collage is mostly water colour with just a little decorative collage because I had plenty of time. Is he sitting on a giant patterned egg? I wonder what bird of paradise would hatch from this?
Meanwhile I’m enjoying the shade of palm trees and the air con in the 43 degree heat.
If you would like to join in please tag #collageaday2018 on Instagram or Facebook. I can’t comment (on Insta from here) but I can see your posts. I can comment on Facebook. Restrictions!
At last the weather is warming, the buds are unfurling and the blossom is about to burst. We are starting to think about going outside in our gardens and sampling some country air. For me I am excited to be out in nature walking in the woods and having a bit of a commune with some trees!!
I’ve done a lot of walking and sketching this long cold winter …. why?
My first solo exhibition
I am incredibly happy to announce that I have been asked by The Museum of Cannock Chase to produce a large amount of work for an exhibition in their lovely gallery.
I have been busy walking Hednesford Hills, Brocton Coppice and other areas of The Chase and exploring the animals, scenery and plant life, painting and sketching in the landscape. It’s been a long and cold winter and sometimes the paint froze on palette and paper. Sometimes I used my iPad to sketch in a David Hockney fashion to alleviate the problem. It has all resulted in a growing fondness for the area and a body of work that I have really enjoyed. I have worked in oil, acrylic, mixed media and textiles and have relished the focus that it has brought to my practice.
I’d love you to come
The exhibition runs from Saturday 28th April until 17th June and the museum is open from 11am until 5pm 7 days a week (last entry 4.30pm).
There is a nice little coffee shop and other exhibits to look at plus some gorgeous walks right on the doorstep. There’s plenty of parking and the gallery is accessible to all. Here is a link to the website so you can find out more
Workshops for You
A new list of exciting creative workshops in this lovely light and spacious Victorian Studio at Newhampton Arts Centre over on my website – click HERE.
They range from oil painting, encaustic wax art, a day of pastel tuition, meditative sound baths to creative textile work and feltmaking as well as batik and an art club every month.
Some of these days are run by me and some by a lovely group of tutors who are experts in their fields.
Newhampton Arts Centrre is a hive of activity in Wolverhampton and it’s website is here – please see what else there is for you.
Please get in touch if there’s something else you’d like to see happening or if you would like to run a workshop yourself.
Do keep revisiting the website because more is always being added!
You will always be made most welcome so why not explore your creative side and try something new?
Meanwhile enjoy the warmer weather and stay well, happy and creative
Clare Wassermann Art 