painting and drawing beads and textiles

Oil on paper 7 x 7"

Not long ago I prepared some heavy paper by gessoing it a few times on the front and back.  some time later I put some leftover turquoise green oil paint onto it.  Today I retrieved that and cut an 7 x 7" piece to see what would happen if I painted instead of drew today in my current series. The colours and materials of my set up were not harmonious in the way they have been to date. What I mean is, there were was a wider range of colour and value.  Infact half of what I chose to work from was black. and if Ihave one object that confounds me, it is that little yellow ginger jar.  It has a way of distorting.  When I started I thought I'd just do some quick oil sketches but I got interested in the paint surface.

Below is another of the bead series in pastel. I admired my neighbour's pashmina and she lent it to me to inspire and complement the beads.  In addition there is a bit of my son's african trousers and a silk skirt I found in cahrity shop.

pastel on paper 6 X 6"

Colour to enliven a dreary day

Market Flowers and Silk

I had some errands in town and while there couldn't resist some flowers at the market.  The man who sells the plants and a few bouquets is such a sweetie, who could walk by without a purchase.  I was imagining the colours I'd pair with the flowers as I drove home on this grey windswept day. I was a bit frustrated that it was already getting dark when I got in from walking Lyra, but nothing like my boxes of pastels to chase away the December doldrums!

Daily drawing

When I have the most to do, on days with my longest lists, when I can't afford to be in the studio all day, I always put 'make a drawing' on my list.   It's hard to get through a long list, so before dinner I stop everything else and make my drawing. 

I'm reading a book of mindfulness exercises, hoping to find ideas for our exhibition at StowHealth and obviously I am practicing a bit of mindfulness as a result. (I wasn't sure what mindfulness was until I began reading the book). I like the book particularly because it uses paintings as a way into the exercises.  When I paint and draw I guess I am 'mindful', the world falls away and the space between me and what I see changes.  It is always difficult to tear myself away from something beautiful that I am looking at, it's easy to overwork a piece.

Another thing I am trying to do is to appreciate my flowers.  I walk through the garden, smell them, look at them but I also pick them and put them on the table.  Today I cut some flowers, pinned a two page spread of a map to the wall, grabbed some cloth, began to look and to find the space between me and my subject with my pastels.

Barn Red Boat Shed

We arrived on Cranberry Island yesterday and today was a hot sunny day.  One of the first things I unpack when I arrive is my box of pastels. It sits in the loft of the barn and is a series of little boxes organised by colour with lots of little pieces of pastels from unison to super hard sticks.  I also have some bigger sets which I borrow from. I brought some pads from England but for some reason when I created a few pastel/alcohol grounds before setting out, the paper buckled.  In the end I used a smooth water colour pad that I had earmarked for gouache collages instead.


It was afternoon when I had my first opportunity to do some drawing. What with the heat and the start of the mosquito season, I was not ready to step outside the confines of the garden fence. As I walked through the garden, I noticed that red barn on the shore is more visible than last year and thought it had plenty of complexity to help me switch off what Matt Khan calls, 'conscious intent or calculation'.  Today I limited myself to seven colours and then added a dark brown to get a darker value. It was slow going to begin with, in fact I was working pretty randomly at first, but once I had lots of colour down and started using my eraser I began to enjoy myself. It was that big pink woodchip path and those conifers that marked the turning point. the silver young silver birches helped me find the calligraphy.
I decided to ignore the fence. Elizabeth Mowry's advice, 'nature requires editing for the sake of clarity' is helpful to remember even when it's a fence not just a digitalis leaf. Last year the fence dominated. 

Always great to be back on Cranberry Island and to take my easel outdoors!

Pasteling Over

I arrived late at my drawing group today, caught behind a tractor.  The first pose had already begun. It was a ten minute pose and I didn't think it would be worth it to use a piece of my prepared paper so I found a pastel that wasn't working and began to transform it into a new person, a new pose, new light.  In the past I have wiped the old image away and have been left with a muddy background.  This time I simply began working on top. I did that all morning and these were the most successful products.   I like the feeling of time and the richness of the layering.

Afternoon light

While walking the dog today, I noticed a few local places that I want to draw.  I intended to pack my plein air easel, a pad and some drawing materials and return to one spot when I passed the newly opened silver birch that is just unfurling its leaves at the front of our house.

I find the Suffolk landscape too open.  I like to look through and to make sense of confusion.  Maine is perfect for that.  It turns out Suffolk can be too.  And today I didn't have to take my easel far. There is nothing better than chasing the afternoon light across the page… When I started the planes in the grass were stark and linear. Later they were more like zebra stripes and the shadow on the house repeated the triangle at the bottom.  Magic!

Bouquet and Spy Notebook (2 versions)

Oil on canvas 30 x 30 cm

pastel on paper 6 x 6 inches

Using a drawing as a starting place for a painting is fraught with pitfalls.  I've been reading about Degas and there was a comment about how it is commonly agreed that drawings are 'inferior' to paintings. The statement wasn't made as a value judgement, simply as reflection. The book went onto say that Degas, contrary to most artists, managed to make drawings that were accepted and appreciated as much as any painting.   

Although I call myself a painter, I draw more than I paint.  I love paint and to paint, but I find the immediacy of drawing helps me to get down the esssentials and quite often those essentials say it all. For me, with painting, there seem to be more things that need to come together and I can't pull it off as often. 

A painting takes on a life of its own, distinct from the drawing.  I could paint the painting exactly like the drawing, but it doesn't really work, the idea becomes lifeless.  It's like paint by number. Instead, I try to let go but also must admit to making the mistake of hanging onto well painted or exciting passages even when they are no longer relevant.  And then that conflict between making it real and making it correct is always a struggle, too. 

Summer drawings

Towards Gertmanian House

From Apple Tree

Maine was a fruitful time for drawing! I ordered a new plein air easel that is just like the one I have in England and that provedthe perfect tool for daily drawing.  We had few mosquitos this summer in our garden, so many of my drawings were made there.  In the first few drawings I thought about what Simon Carter does and used what was infront of me to create the mood of the place. And then I was liberated, I don't feel that I need to record what I see with accuracy… I am interested in capturing the feeling of a place, so after a few outings I began to move things around on the paper, to edit and to embellish in a what I hoped would make the place more itself.

Now that I am back, I am using some of the drawings as new starting points for paintings, prints and even other drawings but also am continuing to draw in pastel in the same format. Here in Suffolk I don't have a garden on my doorstep that inspires me the way the Maine garden does, but I do find flowers, interiors and stuff gets me excited, so my motifs are different, and of course I am back to experimenting with plastic!

All drawings are soft pastel on paper (6 x 6).  From Apple Tree was sold at the Artists of Cranberry Isles Exhibit.  You can see more of my garden drawings on pinterest.

http://www.pinterest.com/rebeccaguyver/garden-drawings/

Flowers Under Dogwood

Still `life From Clemetis

Election Result Bouquet

Considering an exhibition bouquet

In preparation for the Colour Of Life exhibition I bought a few bunches of flowers and enjoyed making three little table bouquets to put on round tables where we had drinks and dolma. Daniela, one of the guests who came to see the exhibit, brought me a bouquet she had picked from her wonderful garden.  

Before the flowers wilted I wanted to draw them.  So far I have only managed one bouquet, Daniela's.  Perhaps it says something about the promise of spring or my joy at sharing my work with enthusiastic visitors!

The exhibition will be up for at least another month.  Please visit, if you are in the area!