Chapel 7

This is a difficult and trying time for us all, so here is a little breath of Cote d’Azur to cheer you up.

After all the cancellations of my trips during the spring and summer, I decided to take the bull by the horns and try to make it to France in August to see my daughter. Not sure if I was brave or foolhardy, but the journey to Luton and onwards to Nice was extremely challenging, but so worth it. Continue reading →

To give you a little background – I only started painting in 2014 after I closed my business and retired. I ran a successful greetings card publishing business for over 23 years designing, selling and publishing greeting cards in many different languages all over the world. During my career I met artists, illustrators, graphic designers and photographers and this fuelled my interest in art.

I was brought up in an academic household where art was frowned upon and considered the easy option! I now know differently! Any early aspirations I had regarding art were soon drummed out of me.

So, in 2014 I started on my journey into art initially joining a local art club headed up by one of our members, Terence Rogers. I am still very much at the early stages, but I am very keen to develop and improve and have joined many on-line courses – some good, some bad. I haven’t yet found my ‘Artistic Voice’ but I am still looking!

The following is one of the very good and free on-line courses available which I would thoroughly recommend if it becomes available again.

‘FIND YOUR JOY’ Free On-Line Course by Louise Fletcher – June 2020
www.louisefletcherart.com

Lesley’s article ‘Creative Lockdown’ in the August edition of Update gave you an insight on how this course helped her break her creative block.

I signed up for a free newsletter from Louise Fletcher some time ago and every Sunday one pops into my inbox. I found many of her topics resonated with me so when she advertised that she was running this free on-line course I was probably one of the first to sign up.

Louise is a professional abstract artist who is inspired by the beauty of where she lives in the Yorkshire Dales. She is a straight-talking Yorkshire lady who I have found both inspirational and motivating.

This course ran for 8 days but it was very manageable and everything was recorded so you could catch up later if you got behind. Each day probably only comprised one hour of video/exercises and in addition, if you wish, you could spend more time on extra assignments.

Louise asks you some soul-searching questions e.g. What brings you true joy:

In life?
In other people’s art? (What art moves you/touches your soul? Why does it move you?)
In the feelings you get when you are working?

She also advises you to:-

set aside part of every painting session for experimentation and to get really comfortable with failure.

look at past work – good and bad, liked and disliked and to make notes/paste images into a scrap book.

She tells you to ‘Follow the Joy’ and ask what makes you happiest when painting, for example: –

certain colours, certain subjects, realistic details with a tiny brush, bold, big strokes with lots of sloppy paint, straight lines and geometric shapes, organic forms, country scenes, urban nightscapes, seascapes, florals, animals.
Also pay attention to whatever gives you joy AND DO MORE OF IT!
All of the videos and the exercises aim to make you feel more relaxed and happy with failure (it’s all part of the learning process) – in fact one of the exercises, is to make a really ugly painting which is actually great fun!
She also asks you to consider setting limitations for yourself (as too many choices can cause us to freeze) e.g. a limited palette- 3 colours plus black and white; to paint with a limited number of marks or a limited number of tools; to narrow down the idea behind paintings to something very specific.

I think we all have creative blocks and her answer is to show up every day and do something – maybe try mixing different colours and noting how you achieved them, or tidying your studio/workspace but most of all experimenting and practising. One of the analogies I have heard is that you don’t expect to become a concert pianist without practising your scales every day and the same applies to art if you wish to improve – keep practising!
The aim of ‘Find your Joy’ is to give you a glimpse of what is possible, to be relaxed and easy if paintings go wrong and to understand that this is all part of the learning process. To trust your instincts and stop comparing yourself to others. To be curious ‘I wonder what would happen if…’
Louise tells you that the things holding you back are in your own head and that putting soul and personality into your work is vital.
I really enjoyed this course and if Louise runs it again would wholeheartedly recommend it. She runs this free course as a precursor to a much more comprehensive and fee paying 10-week course but don’t be put off as there is no obligation for you to join the latter.

Esther Marshall

The Art Nouveau exhibition at the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts in Norwich is a small but beautiful exhibition on the mezzanine floor. I visited in August. With plenty of space between exhibits, it’s easy to keep your distance from other visitors.

The exhibition traces Art Nouveau from its emergence in the 1890s showing that by 1900 it was a dominant force in new design. Its exponents were interested in symbolism and psychology combining them with imagery from nature.
They also sought to revive good workmanship, raise the status of craft, and produce genuinely modern design reflecting the utility of the items they were creating.

The curators have taken a broad view with examples of paintings, sculpture, architecture and household design from across Europe. Anything could be of the style, from a tiny brooch to a building.

Whilst it could be said to have its roots in English art and design it never really came to fruition in England. However, in Scotland the Glasgow School of Art developed its own approach.
The exhibition traces how it blossomed in Belgium and France. In Spain, the Catalan artists took it up with Antoni Gaudi being its most famous proponent.

By 1912 the movement was already fading leaving behind some of the most intensely ornamental buildings, furnishings accessories, jewelry and decoration in the history of art, so recognizable today.

It has an enduring appeal. For example, the posters, as shown in the exhibition, by Alfons Mucha, initially made famous by his depiction of Sara Bernhardt, are still sold. Some of the exhibits such as ceramic tableware and wall tiles still wouldn’t look out of place in the home today. The first world war ensured no revival and after the war the Art Deco movement gained prominence.

Coincidentally the Sainsbury centre has also extended the larger Art Deco exhibition which makes for a great follow on. (Chandra wrote about it for Update earlier this year. )

Art Nouveau is extended until 3rd January 2021 and Art Deco until 23rd September 2020.
So, you can have an interesting day out immersed in two art movements which had such a great influence across European art and design.

The cafe is open or,  if the weather is good, there are huge grounds sloping down to the water where you can picnic.

Michele Summers

We have all had such different experiences during lockdown. It would be interesting to compare how this has affected our creativity. I don’t know about you, but initially it seemed to suppress my freedom of expression and motivation and I had a real ‘block’. All that extra time and freedom to concentrate on painting and I couldn’t produce anything! Almost in desperation I joined a free online course suggested in Update – Louise Fletcher, ‘Find your Joy’ – and the very simple exercises she suggested bounced me right back to the way I love to work. (More about this course in the next issue of Update.)

I would say my way of working is based on feelings, memories and emotions conjured up by my experiences and surroundings. If you’ve seen my paintings you will know that more often than not they are heavily influenced by my garden or by our wonderful Norfolk coastline. I focus on the process. This can lead me towards unexpected results, which I don’t always expect to like!

So, even more than usual I have found myself considering and doing all of the following:

Using all those materials I’ve been storing away since I did this or that course a few years ago. Don’t hoard it, but be generous and expansive and splash it about!

Limiting the palette (which I always tend to do), but using colours I wouldn’t normally choose. Again, often left over from sets of paint given as a gift or as part of a course. I’m sure we’ve all got lots of unused colours.

I’ve run out of canvases, so have been using anything to hand – old bits of board in the shed, printer paper etc. It’s been good to work on a different scale and not worrying about what it all costs is very liberating. I’ve rediscovered old half empty sketchbooks and enjoyed filling the pages with experiments and notes, using different tools and media.

As I used to say to students when I was teaching, ‘you can’t get it wrong’, even if you don’t always like the results. Be prepared to fail, as this means you are taking risks and are more likely to be open to new ideas. But most of all enjoy yourself!

Lesley Williams