As part of a recent exhibition application form artists without a formal art qualification were asked to provide “a well documented presentation describing the development of their artistic practice”.
If you’d asked me before this, I might have described myself as a ‘self taught’ artist but that is not correct … I have had the most amazing teachers! So I sat down and documented the art classes I have undertaken and discovered some interesting insights …..
Since 2016 I have participated in two ongoing art programs:-
A weekly drawing class with Australian artist Linda Dening. This class has taught me and continues to teach me, the full range of drawing skills including elements and principles of design, observation skills, perspective and composition, working with a range of dry media - graphite, charcoal, pastel, pencil as well as ink and gouache and collage.
A series of workshops with US Artist and coach Lisa Call (now based in NZ) These workshops are designed to develop an comprehensive art practice and include ‘Design Elements’, ‘Working in a Series’, ‘Greenhouse’, ‘Masterclass’, and Incubator and Mastermind’ programs. These workshops enabled me to establish a strong foundation from both an artistic and art business perspective.
These two ongoing programs are the foundations for my art learning and art practice and have been vital to the development of my art practice and for helping to guide additional learning opportunities.
In 2016 I started working with textiles as my medium, and over the next three years learned about dyes and colour mixing, printing, using transparency and layering and applique(collage) through short workshops, experimentation and experience.
With the arrival of COVID19 and increasing access to online learning opportunities with both international and Australian artists, I decided to push the boundaries of my work and move into mixed media art mediums and techniques. This led to a series of workshops designed to build and refine my artistic process.
These workshops included:—
Art2Life Creative Visionary Program - 12 Week intensive acrylic workshop with Nick Wilton USA
Intuitive Composition - Pauline Jans (Canada)
Abstract Landscapes and Collage - Lewis Noble (UK)
En Plein Air and Monoprinting - Ash Frost ( Australia)
Mixed Media ‘Poetry and Place’ - Eva Kalien (Germany)
On reflection, my art path has followed quite a structured program of learning through the last 8 years. If you asked me if this was pre-planned … it wasn’t, but it was intentional. My aim has always been to develop my art and build an artistic practice and the initial foundations have guided that learning path.
This isn’t to say there haven’t been lots of side tracks and diversions as I experimented with different techniques and ideas but I always come back to the foundations and continue to do the work of making art even if it never sees the light of day!
I though it might be interesting to look back at the development of some of the actual artwork. The natural environment/garden theme is one that I have kept returning to over the period since 2016. It began with the early textile works in the Leafline and Interlaced series through to the most recent mixed media Secret Garden Series. I have put together a small selection of these works in the following slide show -
I hope you enjoy …..
