Gaye’s Studio News

Distractions and decisions

17 January 2023

Distracted from my art pursuits by Christmas festivities and the arrival of summer at last. An extended spring with good rainfall created abundance in my garden which is now out of control. A bumper raspberry harvest was a positive.

Our rather tired timber outdoor dining setting now not needed, was given a facelift and sold to be replaced with a new wicker lounge setting. Looking forward to putting my feet up.

A boring but necessary task was to review my 2022 goals and plan. I achieved much more that I planned with the exception of my social media engagement. Same every year!! Maybe I should stop trying and just accept the reality of posting when I get the urge. My website is operating well and my Doctors Clinic exhibitions are streamlined. They are a lot of work even so, but it gives me great pleasure to see my work on display

Whether it’s the process or the distractions but I became bogged down with two new works. I had been moving towards more realism with my recent coastal and floral work and wanted to shift back to abstraction. I love to swing between the two.

My intention was to use multi layered oil and wax medium techniques and no oil sticks. I eventually finished these but they took 18 painting sessions compared to the average of about 8. The first is titled ‘In a heart beat’ and the second ‘Trust your rebel heart’

This method of working with many layers, alternating opaque and transparent, light or dark, or warm or cool colours, creating an interesting complex surface. These are two of the intermediate layers.

One of my goals for 2022 was to reduce the number of sessions per painting. Sometimes in the past I have had up to 30; a combination of indecisiveness, lack of technical skill or not knowing when to stop. Photographs at the end of each session provide a good record.

I have signed up to a raft of free short online courses in January. More distraction!! They may be free but usually an incentive for people to sign you up to longer and much more expensive courses. There are many. One that appeals to me costs over $5,000 so I will manage without! It is good to experiment and play with different techniques, however.

Another priority is mounting my two entries for the Waterways Art Exhibition in the Long Gallery, part of the Hobart bi-annual Wooden Boat Festival in early February.

So where to next? I am about to start four new 60 cm paintings; possibly two based on abstracted still life and two abstracted florals. Who knows what will happen; sure to be distracted again!

Decisions, decisions! I am contemplating a significant commission for a new business shop front in the CBD. I have managed to avoid commissions, being concerned that a client’s requirements might limit my joy in the painting process and effect the end product. There are a number of issues to consider that don’t arise when painting intuitively and without constraints and selling finished work. It will be a challenge if we go ahead, but perhaps that’s a natural part of my growth as an artist.