Preview of forthcoming attractions

I am embarking on a new series of works. It began with the simple idea of combining horns and thorns, ie cattle with large horns and those wonderful large paired thorns you find on Acacia Karoo trees, which bear a striking resemblance to each other. It quickly morphed (as these things tend to do) into a series of ideas around the thought of protecting what one holds valuable, and the fact that those items are relative depending on who you are.

If you are a Dinka Tribesman, your cattle are literally your life, of the greatest possible value, and due to cattle fueds and raids, it is no longer enough to protect them in kraals of thorns. In Southern Sudan, Uganda and Kenya, cattle wars have led to the death of literally thousands, and herdsmen protect their cattle with AK 47s. By contrast, in 1st world countries, we see cattle as just another food commodity, and can take a more flippant approach to depicting them. Our valued possessions often revolve around our fixed property, and we protect it with razor wire and alarm systems.

In a society where respect for women and life is being constantly eroded, there is also a need to protect ourselves. So the range of images emerging is already quite wide, and I will be combining painting, drawing, photography, and ceramics. WATCH THIS SPACE! :)

cow in kraal, photography and charcoal drawing on canvas, 1600x1600mm

the ethics of source material and copying photos....

In my last post, I mentioned asking permission to paint a photograph, posted on facebook by a friend, and I thought I'd share my views on my approach, as an artist, to the copyright of others. Apart from the obvious "thou shalt not directly or exactly copy another person's image" copyright laws, and many artists seem to be abysmally ignorant of even these basics, there are no hard and fast rules, so it seems to be up to each artist to navigate their own conscience and come up with an approach they are comfortable with.

Having been involved in an art gallery for the last three years, which held many open exhibitions for artists ranging from beginners and Sunday painters, through serious part time painters to well known professionals, I was able to observe how this is applied in the local art scene. I had to laugh when, in one open exhibition, a flower painting which was an exact replica of a photo from an old National Geographic was submitted; the reason I knew it was that both myself and a friend had painted the same picture as an early training exercise. There is a certain old Standard Bank advert, featured widely in many magazines several years back, of an old wooden stairway seen through an arch... I have seen several copies of this submitted over the years, with no effort to change the smallest detail.

So it seems to me that the ethics of source material is a subject widely ignored or abused by many artists, and I especially blame many art teachers, who instruct their students to bring pictures from magazines to copy... without a thought for educating their students (or themselves) about the copyright issues of the photographers who took the original photos.

In the early stages of producing pieces that are nothing more than learning exercises with no expectation of selling them or showing them in public, this may be fine. But in my experience, this seems to be common practice even amongst those who have gone on to become competent painters concentrating on realism, and regularly exhibiting and selling their work. Anyone who is beyond the 'learning to copy' stage needs to give serious consideration to the ethical use of source material.

As a self taught artist, who then had some lessons with a couple of teachers along the way, I did my share of copying magazine photos before I even became aware of the copyright issues. (And, I might add, I was not informed by any of those early teachers about it.) However, in all good conscience, once I was aware, I felt it was important to establish a set of values to guide my approach to the gathering of source material.

It is evolving all the time, as access to both images and information on the internet grows, but this is what I have arrived at so far....

For me, if I intend to produce a reasonably faithful representation of an image, even if it has painterly touches or slight poetic licence, I either use photos I have taken myself, or ask permission from the photographer. If, however, I am making an entirely original image from a combination of sources, and just need a reference to get a shape accurate, I have no problem with refering to photo on a public source. I have also printed poor "fast draft" copies of photos from the internet, and incorporated cut out portions of them into a collage, but always in such a way that they no longer resemble the original image.

I also draw a line between using images which are more or less straightforward shots of a scene or object, which would have been accessable to anyone else standing there at the same time and place... and those which, in their own right, have been created as artworks by the photographer, using their own distict vision, style, distortion, setup. I feel that, to reproduce such a photo, would be plagiarism, while to use the former as a reference within an image, containing more than just the info on the photo, would be ok.

What many artists seem to assume is that publication of a photo in a magazine or online grants tacit copying rights. This is absolutely not the case, just because it is in the public domain, the original photographer does not relinquish their copyright on the image. I think any of us who regularly posts images on the internet does so with a desire to share and a realisation that the image might be used. I love it if people enjoy my images, and gladly agree when people ask me if they can paint one. It is a matter of courtesy.

For me, where it becomes abuse, is when it is copied, as is, and used in a way that implies it is the original work of the person using it, with no acknowledgement to the original person who saw and captured the image. The photographer in me finds this very annoying. I even recently 'unfriended' someone on facebook because he makes a habit of stealing other peoples images and presenting them as his own. (Lol, normally I wouldn't be intolerant enought to act on that alone, but this guy even gets out of his car in a friend's Game Reserve, gets his kids to photograph him with the wildlife behind him, and posts it in his facebook albums, bragging about his 'farm in Africa'. When he posted a famous image by one of the Bang Bang Club photographers taken before the democratic elections in 1994, of someone burning to death in a 'necklacing' incident, implying that he had taken it recently and putting himself in great danger photographing the violence which is "getting worse by the day" it was the last straw for me.)

But sick loonies aside, with the proliferation of easily copied images on the internet, and easy 'share' buttons on facebook, I guess this is an issue to which we all need to give some consideration... do we acknowledge the original source or carelessly and sometimes unwittingly 'steal' images to share with our friends?

Working while being sociable: some drawings.

A slight drawback of being an artist who is married is that art is, essentially, a solitary occupation during which one retreats into an inner world of right brain activity, oblivious to time and the world around one. Mealtimes and appointments come and go unnoticed. This is fine on days when one's partner is at work, but unfortunately when the muse is dancing attendance, it does not always coincide with those times. So what does one do in order to remain relatively sociable, but still allow the creative flow?

For me a solution has been to mostly do my big oils in the studio during the week, and if I am still on a roll over the weekend, I work on small oils or charcoal drawings at the dining room table, so that Max and I can be companionable, but still get on with our various creative pursuits at the same time. (He will generally be found doing his photography or writing during these times, or recently, sorting through old slides to scan.) This Easter weekend has been a case in point, and so far, between movies, meals with the kids and an Easter egg hunt, I have managed to almost finish a few small paintings, as well as these 5 little charcoal drawings... the paintings will follow when complete.

a glimpse into an artist's studio

Many people are curious about how an artist's studio looks. I also enjoy visiting my friends' studios and seeing how differently we all work. Obviously so much depends on the personality of each artist and the available space. The ones I can never get over are the tiny immaculate ones, which are so foreign to my somewhat (OK, very) messy way of working. Strangely enough, although I am a complete dirtbag, who splashes paint around liberally, I always have to start each bout of painting with a relatively tidy workspace. This is the studio during this week's tidy up.

two small works in very different styles

Tree of Life: oil, conte and collage on canvas 250x300mm

The obsession with baobab trees and lost children continues :)

Rainy Day - Galata Bridge: oil on board 250x250mm

I am having a love affair ... don't worry my husband knows about it... I am crazy about the City of Istanbul!

I am reading everything I can find to feed the passion (look for Orhan Pamuk if you want to read some great Turkish literature that truly captures the essence of the place) and have been going through my photos converting some into moody black and white shots. These will be the basis for a new series of small works. This one was done with thin glazes on board as the technique allows for a monochrome look but with a buildup of subtle colours.

Generating Images

One of the great things about the Greg Kerr workshops I have been attending is the homework.... I know, homework is usually a drag, right? But he sets such great projects that it really is fun, at the same time as enlightening. I have already mentioned the little book of tiny charcoal drawings that featured in the previous "dark cloud" workshop. And I posted the two triptychs of large charcoal drawings. What I haven't done yet is tell you how the source material, on which the drawings were based, was arrived at.

We had to make a little theatre from a cardboard box and furnish it with some prescribed items and some flats made from photos. Then we had to play around with lighting the whole thing dramatically and take black and white photos of the result. This provided a bunch of suitable material to use as a basis for some drawings and paintings.
















It made for some great moody material to base the drawings on.

The latest workshop is called "the dinner party", and the whole program is based on the idea of hosting an imaginary dinner party at which there are 6 people (5 guests plus me as host). We began by researching  the guests and generating images that would express who they are (were if they are historic characters). My guests are Peter Clarke, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Kevin Carter, JWM Turner and Sam Nhlengethwa. I chose all because over the years I have admired their work, and it has been fab digging into their biographies and getting to know them better as people. In the case of Peter Clarke, I really did get to know him, as he very kindly invited me to tea the last time I was in Cape Town, and we spent a delightful afternoon together chatting like old friends, he is a really humble and inspiring man with a naughty twinkle in his eye and a great sense of humour.

Our first task was to make valentines cards for each guest and ourselves. Here they are:



Charles Rennie Mackintosh



JWM Turner



Kevin Carter



Sam Nhlengethwa



Sue Hoppe



Peter Clarke

From these we did a series of small paintings as tributes to each guest, which are not yet finished, as we'll be tackling them again later in the process, but this is how far they are for now:

Charles rennie mackintosh tribute

Kevin Carter tribute

Peter Clarke

Sam Nhlengethwa tribute

Sue Hoppe tribute

Turner tribute

Next we will do a large format painting of all the guests at the dinner table and as part of the process of generating images for the large painting, we again had some great homework. This time we have to make little clay figures and arrange them in different ways around a table, and again do a series of monochrome photos.

Here are some of the results:

Looks like we are in for a fun year!

"Finding my way"

I painted this towards the end of last year, at a time when my best friend was going through a very bad time after the loss of her husband. It is hard to say if the emotions around her situation influenced the mood of this painting, certainly not on a conscious level but I am often surprised at how much of what is going on in my life and the lives of those close to me is able to filter through subconsciously into my work. In any case, the minute she saw it she related to the lost and lonely figure battling against the storm, and bought it!

Finding my Way oil on canvas 600x800mm (SOLD)

the many faces of Basil.

This portrait reminds me of some of the fascinating books and movies dealing with multiple personality that I have seen over the years! A flick of colour here, a highlight or shadow there, and he undergoes a complete character change....

(To see the background, see the post before last....)

It still looks more like a long lost relative than Basil himself, but as a general painting of a guy relaxing it seems to work!

Meanwhile, whilst having all these facelifts on canvas, the real Basil is having a fab holiday in Thailand... hope you are enjoying it!

On art and friends............

It seems obvious that art culture varies considerably from place to place, just as art itself does. In many cities, it is the norm for artists to gather, debate, paint together, toss around ideas and generally take part in a wonderful "creative soup mix", out of which each is enriched and empowered to find their own unique expression. One just has to think of the camaraderie and fierce debates etc that took place between the impressionists, out of which was birthed a pivotal new direction in 20th Century art.

Many artists from overseas have commented on the lack of this in Port Elizabeth. In fact I have heard of leading artists who had intended to settle here, and left for that very reason. Obviously there are small pockets of exceptions, but as a general rule we seem to be a pretty individualistic and self contained bunch!

In time to come, I hope to turn that around by providing the venue and opportunities at our local community gallery for artists to hang out, work, explore etc together. Obviously it is going to be up to the individual artists to decide whether they want to change their lone-ranger approaches and get into the habit of meeting and interacting in this way.

However, I saw just how well it works at first hand this week, when my friend Esme Goosen, an artist whose work I admire enormously, invited me to paint with her in her studio, as she saw I was struggling to make time with all my other commitments, endless phone calls etc. and was battling to get motivated to paint. (thanks Esme, I owe you one!!)

photo by Basil Brady.

I am eternally grateful, it has been a great experience, and not just one sided. We had another friend, Debbie, joining in on some of the sessions, she has never painted before. It was not about formal lessons, just friends doing their thing at their own level, chatting about all sorts of stuff, swapping opinions and advice, bringing a fresh perspective to each other's work, and just the inspiration provided by being in a creatively charged environment.

photo by Basil Brady

No starving ascetics suffering for their art here, the process was accompanied by copious quantities of coffee, carrot cake and other delightful goodies, with the odd salad roll thrown in to create the illusion that we were taking things a bit seriously!

On Friday, Esme invited our friend Basil Brady along to model for us. Again, getting a sitter would probably be harder to arrange on an individual basis, but where a group of artists shares a model's time, it makes it more practical. In this case, Basil is a friend and art lover, who generously agreed to sit, and we had a delightful day tossing ideas and opinions around, while feverishly trying to capture his likeness, (or, in my case, not, more about that just now!)

I thought it might interest you to get a behind the scenes glimpse at the process of life painting from a model, and how differently it can be approached by different artists. Some of these photos are mine, and some were taken by Basil, who, apart from being a seasoned art connoisseur, also happens to be an accomplished photographer.

While all skills can be learned to some degree, and can definitely be honed by practice and good teaching, I really believe that certain people are 'naturals'. Capturing a likeness is a case in point, and Esme is a natural. In fact I was fascinated watching her paint my portrait some time ago, because at times throughout the process, the likeness comes and goes. (Often a subtle flick of the brush or shift in colour or tone is all that is needed to lose or recapture it.) She would call me back to sit, and I would see what had been done in my absence. Her visual memory is so good that often, the likeness captured during work done in my absence was stronger than when she had me in front of her!

here is a side by side view of Basil and her first portrait of the day...

I am one of the more pedestrian types who needs a visual reference to work from, and even then, I struggle to capture a good likeness. I will always keep challenging myself to work on this, but at the same time, I think one needs to make peace with one's limitations... rather than trying to produce a series of poor portraits that look nothing like the subject, I now make a conscious effort to think of each painting as a piece that is anonymous, but expresses a more universal mood or atmosphere.

As you can see, the head and hands are WAY too big, but the picture is taking on a sort of moodiness that will later result in another piece in a series I am busy with called "pensive people." However, i was getting frustrated with this one, and eventually the paint gets to the point where further work will get muddier and muddier, so after another coffee break, I started on number two....

and Basil sat with the other one for a quick photo, so I could have a comparative reference to continue working on it at home.

By the end of the day, Esme was well on her way with a wonderful and sensitive profile view...

photo by Basil Brady

And I had made some progress on a head and shoulders.

Since I got home, I have worked on it further to add more character. It is still not "Basil" but as an anonymous painting, it seems to have a contented expression and some visual interest.
(the one on the left was taken at the end of the day by Basil at Esme's studio, while I took the one on the right at home with different light, so they are not really as different as this... the truth is somewhere in the middle!)

This one needs a lot more work, as you can see all I have done for now is block out the extra large head and hands, from there, once the paint is dry, I will decide where to go with it... watch this space!