A New Year and some new ideas

My first blog of the year. I am going to really try to blog on a regular basis and, with this in mind I would included blogs about my work at the weekly painting class that I attend.
I have probably mentioned this before, but I go to a class run by a brilliant local artist, Penny Wilton. She encourages us to try different things and is not at all proscriptive about how we approach our subjects. At the beginning of each term we are given a list of the subjects we will be tackling. Most take up 2 weeks. The class is mixed media so what we use is up to us.....watercolour, acrylic, collage, pencil, ink, the choice is ours.
This week and next the subject is mountains. Normally I spend most of the first week on a subject planning, sketching, trying different media and so on. This week I decided to "go for it" and work "instinctively". I should add at this point, that I went to Tate Modern last Sunday to see the Rothko Exhibition and whilst there also saw an exhibition of conceptual art by an artist whose name escapes me! I am not really sure what conceptual art is but I think working "instinctively" must come into it somewhere.....hence my notion for the current project at class.


So, this is the result of 2 hours work (about three quarters of an hour in reality as the rest of the time was taken up with a demonstration of techniques by Penny and catching up with class mates about "what we did in the holidays." Oh, and a coffee break and cake eating with nourishment provided by Penny and Doreen whose birthday it was. I used a photo of Mount Everest as my source material and basically stuck bits of tissue paper on a piece of mount board. There are about 6 or 7 layers in all. Whilst the glue and water was still wet I dropped watercolour into the tissue paper. I am not sure where I will go next with this but I think I will cover the whole area including the uncovered mount board with a single sheet of either tissue paper or rice paper and see where I go from there.




Incidentally, if you get a chance, go and see the Rothkos. They were mind blowing and you really need to see them in person, rather then look at printed versions, to get the full effect of how stunning they are. And the longer you look at them the more amazing they are.