Birthday Gifts

It was my birthday a few weeks ago, and I got a very thoughtful gift from my "sister" two art books The Shock of the New by Robert Hughes and The Paintings that revolutionised art. I was particularly pleased with getting The Shock of the New as I remember the TV series it was based on, as being a window to explaining contemporary art to those, like myself at the time who thought art was the old masters! So lots of reading ahead, I really need to learn to speed read!!!

Back in my art world, during the May holiday I restarted my "Mondrian" painting using multiple canvases. This has been in-progress since 2019, I really need to finish it this year. Although each time I go back to it, it changes, I suppose this is the natural evolution of a painting.

I think that copying the style of an artist is a useful exercise in, understanding the artist and their techniques, but also learning about yourself and what kind of artist I want to become.

While doing evening classes I produced a copy of The Scream by Edvard Munch, done in oil pastel and pencil. This was for a friend as she saw one of the originals in Oslo and has always been fascinated by the image. Interestingly The most difficult part to get right was the main figure, which I did not quite achieve. Blending the oil pastel was quite difficult, in the end I used solvent and a cotton bud to blend the colours.