The Art Of The Matter

Just what kind of artist do I think I am huh?! Ah yes, that critical voice in my head has come to visit, this time querying what the hell I am doing exactly. As you can see from the website, I have a few different tastes in artistic style and method, but does art have to be under one strict theme per artist? I don't think so.

I am reading a book on Rene Magritte and whilst only early into the read, it is apparent he took a varied approach to his works. Some abstract, some surrealist, some plain and simple portraits and scenery.

I recently went to a small exhibit of artist Marion Bond's work and whilst the exhibit displayed mostly brightly coloured canvas paintings, further prints on show consisted of her adoption of photoshop/digital experimental work, incorporating her paintings and photography to show more graphic uses of colour.

Further to this, a visit to the Tate gallery and the Turner exhibit showed he too dabbled in sketches and watercolours, buried among the more well known painted depictions of ships on rough tides, scenes of Roman tales and sunsets on the beach.

I also viewed an exhibit of Henry Moore's sculpture work, unique and of it's own specific style, so I was surprised to find a simple sketch of sheep he'd done, included in a School Of Life book I was reading.

When I was younger I sketched a lot. You know the kind: pencil drawn and filled in with Crayola crayons, or felt tip pens. I tried my hand at painting, but was convinced every time I would just end up ruining a decent drawing. Now that I am back in the game, my first port of call was sketching, but it wasn't long until almost out of my control, my hand stretched outward towards the paintbrush! I was keen to get a portrait of my mum painted, perhaps pick up where I had left off years ago and brushed the cobwebs off an abandoned canvas. I don't know why, maybe it was the use of a different photo of her to paint, but I tried again and this time it seemed to work. Then my next venture would be The Exorcist monochrome painting, followed by experimenting with abstract and from then on it was a matter of both giving myself a challenge, whilst also finding my style.

However, it seemed the paintbrush alone was not strong enough with this one! Out of nowhere one day, I tried my hand at digital doodling. I like minimalism, being able to depict and represent something clear to the eye of what it is without too much detail. Taking up Procreate on the iPad for a tenner appeared a worthwhile investment and not only that, it allowed to pass some time during those quieter moments when you find yourself with nothing to do. One thing led to another and now I am the doodler, the digital artist and the badge maker (check out the new section on the Badge Bitch Club)!

Digital art has been another great venture, not needing to worry about mess, lack of space, prepping equipment, or wasting materials by having to start over because you messed up and simply cannot salvage the work with an eraser, or more paint upon paint. Not only that, it makes for easy delivery to anyone who wants to receive your art (ahem, i.e. have it forced upon them).

Certain art for certain moods I suppose is the takeaway. I have a very noisy head and it often spills into my work, which may produce an eclectic, almost scattered array of art, but I suppose there are no rules.