“A tree growing out of the ground is as wonderful today as it ever was. It does not need to adopt new and startling methods.”
Robert Henri
Please don't think this is a finished painting - and it is a terrible photo - but I thought if I'm going to write every day as I plan for the rest of the month it would help to re-introduce myself.
So yes, that is meant to be me!
Anyway, I am a contemporary figurative oil painter who lives in Glasgow. My overall aim is to reflect the life around me, filtered through oil paints (using both traditional and modern techniques as appropriate).
Each painting of mine should be loved - which means I am mainly interested in emotions. I believe that good figurative oil painting is a deeply felt response to the external world. An awareness of visual arts, both past and present, adds freedom and depth, while conscious adaptation of the appearance of the outside world can be used to get closer to felt truth.
Everything is affected by my experiences of being a woman in the 20th/21st century. This means that both my thought patterns and the world out there is different from that which almost all museum artists experienced so their techniques and answers can only ever act as guides.
(The greatest paintings, like all great things, transcend their purpose and their maker's intentions.)
Will that do as a manifesto and an explanation of my beliefs? If you argue with any of the above, please comment - I would love to hear other folks viewpoints.
Also, I'm hoping to get some kind of dialogue going over the month. There will be posts of work in progress, travel reports, gallery reviews, general art musings and maybe some interviews with other Glasgow Painters - all instead of a drawing a day! So, please join in!
Posts
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ReplyDeleteThat seems like a wonderful, and well phrased, manifesto, Jane. I like the painting very much too. Congratulations on this frankly lunatic blogging project, and I will very much look forward to further installments.
ReplyDelete[there was a typo previously, hence the embarrassingly archived delete notification]
Me too - looking forward to your paintings and insights.
ReplyDeleteThank you both!
ReplyDeleteDaniel, there are a couple of glaring things for me to fix in the painting - but I will have to wait for some daylight first. And isn't the blog world where you rare meant to go a bit lunatic? (technically, of course, I can't go lunatic for a whole month, surely.)
Hi, Bridget! Hopefully at some point I will wander about Glagow so there will be local stuff - however, the first week I'll be on holiday!