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A sketch I started this morning with very very cold hands. Inspired by the french artist Bernard Buffet.

Abstinence (a poem I wrote about a year ago)

Last night when we sat and talked
Something watched us with a mischievous plan.

It sat waiting in the corners of your smile,
Camped out deep in the crevice of collar bone,
Covered in a delicate sheet of your skin.

It slipped into the darkness of our conversation,
Crawled through the tunnels between momentary glances,
Shrouded in a mist of unspoken feeling.

Even though you didn’t sense it I did,
It began tying up my family of thoughts into knots
Before plying them with this inebriated idea
Of mulled skin against skin.

And with the trajectory of your heart mapped out
I became unsteady
With its toxicity

I nearly gave in.

Last night I drank too much of it
And my tongue is still red with warm thoughts.
But hanging over me now
Is the abstinence from being held close.

A dull ache I can’t bear feeling this morning.

Revisiting an old friend

 

This has been a project of mine since August and Ive 'finished' it a million times. I decided to finish it once and for all. Antonio didnt want me to touch it because he liked it before but i think theres nothing more frustrating than seeing so many flaws that noone else can really see. I like it now, kinda like a medieval city on LSD..lol
p.s sorry for the wonky pic. I was not trying to be arty!

Finished Portraits

 

 

Harlequim seated in a cafe

An early self portrait by Pablo Picasso. When we spend so much time wearing all sorts of social masks, its a relief to sit down and have only your thoughts to keep you company. Despite never quite knowing how to leave those masks behind.

Charcoal Studies

 

Its my first time sketching nudes so be nice!. I bought a collection of nude photographs by Taschen. Its a fascinating insight on what was considered artistic or offensive from the mid nineteenth century to the late thirties. I used the photographs as a guiding tool for my sketches (plus it doesnt get the neighbours gossiping) Charcoal is so versatile and easy to use despite all the dust. I always avoided it because I didnt think it worked well for adding details and clean lines. But there are so many charcoal pencils to choose from and a variety of simple techniques, that you can create much more than simply a big dusty black mess.
I did these sketches within about 45 minutes. They arent perfect by all means, but I wanted to post them to declare my newfound friendship for the humble charcoal :)

 

 

 

My desk/mess

 

Fdlm Priority Box project

 

i recieved a package containing peace yesterday :) Its an interesting idea created by the artist Franck De las Mercedes. He creates the boxes himself painting them and filling them with a variety of things such as peace, love and hope. All you need to do is go to his website www.fdlmstudio.com where you can find out about this great project as well as his great artwork.
p.s I have no clue on all this linking business and clicking on names for another page blah blah blah... will get round to figuring it out oneday...
In the meantime..Peace to all you people out there reading my blog. (even though its only about 12 not including my boyfriend..lol)

Amrita Sher Gil

I wish I had seen the exhibition at the Tate of the Indian artist Amrita Sher Gil. Her work is simply beautiful and as a British born South Asian, Im drawn to her rich cultural identity and its effect on her work. Take a look at past exhibitions on the Tate Modern website for a chance to see some of her paintings.

 

The Electric Artist

Self Portrait

I enjoyed getting my hands dirty for this one. Inspired by Willem De Kooning

Portrait studies

Going to start two small portraits in oil paint. Lets see how it goes.

Palms

A little poem I wrote almost a year ago. I've always had poetic tendencies since forever. I was the girl with the thick glasses and braids, going to the library to borrow The Oxford Collection of Poems and limericks. Not suprisingly, I was always the last to be chosen for the school sports team.
I wrote this after noticing how transparent my hands were when I held them up against a strong ray of sunlight. It got me thinking about connections people make between light as revelation and hands as a sign of salvation, forgiveness, generosity. So this is what I managed to come up with. I've since chucked out those old glasses, but I haven't changed one bit. There's just something so intangible yet irresistable about libraries and staring at my hands for an hour... lol



When the light is strongest,
You can see capillaries of blood.
Movements you never imagined to see so clearly,
Light pushing between your fingers.
You have only a matter of seconds to touch it;
To feed on what revelation it may offer you.
The most delicate part of your wrist
Turns itself to catch the sun's descent.

Spirit of The Beehive

One of my favourite films.
I'm going to visit the Berardo Museum before work, so I won't be drawing much today.

Paula Rego

This is my own interpretation of a sketch by Paula Rego. It was a study for one of her paintings. She did it in pencil and I decided to do it in a finepoint sepia pen. I enjoy looking at artists sketches and studies. I think it gives a wonderful insight into the ways in which an artist plans things out. Each artist does it so differently.

Self Portrait

Elephant

Tabla

Too dark at the bottom and bad photo. Otherwise not too bad if I say so myself :)

Apple on a china plate

I told you I would go back to basics didnt I? :)

Back to Basics

I've been thinking alot over the weekend about my mild painting obsession and Ive decided to go back to the basics: learn how to 'see' which I guess means staring at things for a very very long time. I think I need to teach my eyes to see in a way that the average person may not be aware of having the capability to do so.
There was a point when I would have frequent daydreams about being Frida Kahlos or Mattises' art assistant: stretching canvases, organising their beautifully chaotic studios, making tea for Henri, and posing for Frida....... but wait-imagine how awful it would be if everything I ever painted started to look like Fridas or Henris? Some might say rather resoundingly But that would be an artists dream! And im sure it would, that is, if I happen to have been, by some strange freak of nature, possessed by their creative genes . The point I'm making, and its a point I made to myself over the weekend, is, why in the world would I want to paint like others when the most original and exciting thing in the world would be to paint like the enigmatic (though far from Great) moi? I see too many paintings that art shouting to be accepted as 'art' particularly online. So I think its time I am more sincere and honest with myself to avoid participating in all that 'noise' and general rush to be accepted. Its all about focusing on what you like, what you know, and accepting what you dont know too.
My habit up until now has been to doodle, look at endless amount of art, both from the past and the present, sketch here and there and then give in to that strange afterwork impulse to just 'paint something'. I'm certainly happy to have excavated a huge array of potential ideas from my tiny brain. All of this painting palaver actually got going this summer, when a little sketch for my boyfriends 3 year old neice, served as a key to a box crammed with ideas. (not all of quality of course, I have a mental sieve at work, doing its best to seperate the interesting from the downright strange...and i have allllooot of them..) I notice that when i look at a particular painting, I find that i mimick them subconsciously or otherwise, thus rendering everything i do afterwards tainted in someway by what I saw.
So I guess Ive decided to go back to nature and do as all students do: learn.

Town City Village

Another one of my morning doodlings....

Grubby Indian Girl

Shes looking abit grubby in places so in true artist style, Im not going to touch it for a couple of days, let it dry and then start cleaning her up abit. Doing this portrait has definately taken alot of the mystery out of skin tones and colourschemes .I still have alot to do though...

morning doodle

A sketch I made this morning over a cup of coffee and a croissant :p a little bit on the creepy side but its an idea that may be worth developing. I'm alot more appreciative to the subtleties of doodling. I think its one of the best ways of tapping into a vast array of potential ideas. Even though it may look completely crap in the beginning.