Group Crit. And Oil Paint Workshop: These helped me kind of understand why I paint!
Last
week I had my group crit with a few other fellow students and it went
ok. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to it and to start off the day
I stupidly sat at my desk in my space. Doesn’t sound so bad, does it?
Well, it meant I had to go first, in hindsight it was good to get it out
of the way, it meant I only had to listen to other people for the rest
of the day and occasionally ask a question.
During my session, in
between being asked questions I didn’t understand and trying to avoid
answering them, I was given several ideas about where I could take my
work and other ways to present it. There were suggestions from sculpture
all the way to a large scale projection. There was even the mention of
glitter from the tutor! Now, I will warn you, I am not to be held
responsible if anything happens with this medium. I’ve been looking to
buy some, I get so excited just thinking about using it, but I need to
wait until my money situation is a bit better.
The tutor kept
pushing the idea of screen printing and some sort of digitally created
symbol based on my work. Sigh. As soon as she mentioned them, I knew
that that’s not what I want to do with my work, I just couldn’t put my
finger on the reason why...
Still being obsessed with the thoughts
of glitter the next day came about and I found myself in an oil
painting workshop. Admittedly, that would never have happened if Michael
hadn’t have come and got me, because I had completely forgot about it. I
found listening to Michael talk about the way he works really
interesting. The way he talks about everything makes it sound better
than it really is. He also has a habit of wandering off to random
stories and you can't help but laugh.We ended up going through why he
wears a hat, violet flowers in woods, bees and red trousers... I know,
right? I can't really remember why to some of it, but it possibly made
sense at the time. The stages he goes through and little tips he had
were good, I just wish I could see some more of his work and what his
studio is like. He's a very difficult man to find anything about on the
internet! There are a couple of videos of him by students but that's
about it... Hmmm, I may have to bug him to see some work somehow.
Anyway,
watching Michaels process and listening to him talk about other
painters, made me realise why I paint and I don't really attempt much
else. It is because I like the hands on-ness about it. Adding splodges
of paint, layers and layers, colours, shapes... The process from an idea
to a finished piece, makes it all so enjoyable. That is why.
I hope all this makes sense, I haven't read throught it haha!
