Hot Stuff/Golden Haze by Jenny Meehan jamartlondon.com
Hot Stuff! Golden Haze… Two names for this. It’s one of my “painting to print” series… Need a bit of warming up at the moment. My hot water bottle is a great friend! Sorry if the phrase “hot stuff” sounded a bit more exciting than it is! Lol!
I have had a cold for such a long time, and I have so much mucus never-endingly streaming from my nose, that I think I may be turning into a snail. If I were a snail I could move very fast indeed, for my amply supply of mucus would have me whizzing around for certain. At present I am unable to whizz around, so writing must do.
I’ve put this artwork on Redbubble.com, so you can buy it safely, quickly, conveniently!
I have one version of it signed by me, and this will be for sale at this years “Kingston Artists’ Open Studios”.
Kingston upon Thames in Surrey has a lovely hub of artists and each year we show our work, dotted around different venues in Kingston Upon Thames.
The Open Studio venues are organised into art trails in and around Kingston, featuring a wide range of 2D and 3D work – painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, glass, photography, digital art, textiles, paper art and mixed media.
2019 Open Studios in Kingston will be taking place on 8/9th and 15/16th June
from 11am to 5pm each day.
http://www.jamartlondon.com/contact/4569980742
I plan to display a selection of recent work, both original paintings and prints, and a couple of examples of mosaics I have been working on as well, (though they won’t be for sale). Working with mosaic is adding some interesting perspectives on my painting, which is much appreciated! The work I have on offer will mostly be available to buy I should think. The price range of my original work is £80 to £600. Most of my original fine art sells for around the £200/£300 mark, making it an affordable buy for any art collector. I also offer a selection of prints for purchase for under £100.
Visual Art and Poetry Linkage!
One of the aspects of my creative work I am enjoying at the moment is the linkage between my visual art work and my poetry and writing. The space between the two… between the visual art work and the words I write, is another space, and while it’s fun playing with space visually and also poetically when writing, there is yet another space created between a visual art work and something that the artist writes about it.
I’m pretty possessive about this space, and I guess I can be, at the point I am with my visual art working. I have contacted people in the past who have used my visual art without permission or payment on their own blogs, and written their own poems about it. I ask that they remove my artwork from their blog. Generally they simply just don’t realise that they need to seek permission. If my visual art practice was not so intimately connected with my own writing, I would maybe be flattered, but as an important part of my own practice, the painting-poetry combination and the integrity of it is something I feel protectively about. It’s part of what I offer to the world, and my painting and digital work is, with increasing frequency, presented for exhibition and display, very purposefully paired with my own writing. Indeed I would go as far to say as the visual work and the writing become one art work.
This happens over time. What tends to happen is I create the visual work… this is one strand. Then, it needs to wait, normally for some time. This is counter cultural, for in our culture waiting is not generally valued very much at all. We are all now now now or never. But I have an ongoing relationship with the paintings and digital imagery I produce, and it continues for several years after I deem the art work visually completed. Because the visual completion is only one part of the process. After this time, I need to dwell with the work for a while. And though I have had a strong sense that the work has achieved something, in terms of emotional expression and I have felt satisfied with it’s state of being, what it means for me is only discovered over time. And so I will revisit it, and reflect, it will remind me of certain things and I will relate to it over time. It is maybe like a kind of proving process? It’s symbolic and metaphorical nature, still always retaining a sense of the unknown, and subconscious resonance (which is very attractive I think, and shouldn’t ever need to be explicit!).
But like all things in life, there is also the application. And I do like my work to be useful, used, out there. (with permission!) It may be mine for a while, but believe me, I am always pleased to see it go elsewhere, and I don’t hold onto it. Part of the process is my thinking and critical evaluation of it. My thoughts, research, interests, and the decisions I make as to how I am going to use it. I’m delighted when it is used in book cover designs, because these are always very carefully thought about and the relationship between the content of the book and the image on the cover is very exciting, especially when I get to read the book! So there is a relationship between word and image there, and it’s a topic I find of great interest and have done for a while. But in relation to establishing a relationship between my own visual artwork and the words I choose to write, it is when I spot a subject of interest that there becomes an invitation to almost recreate the work. For it is a recreation and a new artwork, when married to words I write about it. This is the reason much of my work has two titles. The first title is generally the first one, when the work stood alone, and then in time, with thought, and often writing, the work develops into something else and has an additional title added to it. By writing and re-responding to the visual art work, in my view, I recreate the work.
So once my visual art work; be it digital or painting, or sculpture, whatever; once it has it’s poem/writing attached, It’s become something else… More focused, more specific, more applied. It’s met me in my life, come to be, and then I want it to have a life which has relevance not only for me in that personal way, but has taken on some useful role, which touches shared points of interest, not just emotionally (though this is my main interest, for sure) but which establishes relationships far beyond that which first brought it into being. It needs some action and reaction in the world, some relevance, some other people, things, ideas, missions, purposes to have a new kind of dynamic existence. This doesn’t mean it ever needed any justification…It is sufficient to just be, as indeed any person in the world is sufficient just to be. The value is there, just in existence. But to have application is always good.
I often describe myself as both a fine and applied artist. The main thing is, that at the moment, (most of the time), I create what I do with no set purpose in mind. It’s my working method. It’s the way that I have totally free reign. It allows me to work on several things at once, in a piecemeal fashion, and with no concern for the end outcome at all. This is why I like it. I do enjoy working to specific briefs and for particular purposes; these present their own challenges and that in itself is interesting and enjoyable; but so many of my ideas come from this kind of total free flow possible with a less structured approach. Being less structured doesn’t mean less disciplined. Far from it. The structure has to come from within, and this requires a certain stamina. I love life invested into the realm of creativity, but it certainly is hard work. However, it couldn’t be any other way. And there’s a great peace which comes from doing what you care about in life. It’s well worth the effort, whatever comes or doesn’t come of it. In a sense, my main concern is to maintain my own integrity, and develop, both personally and professionally.
Artistic activity needs to be flexible, and I enjoy the way my own weaves into my other activities and roles in life. I have been thinking recently I need to invest more time into writing, and I am looking into copy writing, proof reading and editing as activities I might develop more experience in. I have two ebooks of my own I would like to work on as well. I had a dreadful habit of trying to do everything at once, but I guess the good thing is that I can catch myself trying to do the impossible and pull myself back!
jenny meehan jamartlondon abstract paintings “Opening the Way”
Opening the Way – Lyrical Abstraction -Painting by Jenny Meehan
I described my painting style as primarily lyrical abstraction to someone recently at an artists’ networking event, as it’s the most appropriate description for my painting, at least, but “lyrical abstraction” is not a term a lot of people are familiar with! I have become quite content with the fact that my painting style might be viewed as a little dated and not current…though of course I do not agree with that perspective one little bit! I think there are many undercurrents in the visual arts, running along merrily, and what surfaces as being “current” at one time or another is a matter of trends and fashions, not a matter of what is really developing as significant. How can one discern the undercurrents which make a large wave? How can you see what happens until it culminates in a bigger movement? What determines the movement…is it due to something which happens above the surface, or underneath it? Who knows? The mystery is good. And here you see, I find myself slipping very comfortably into the category of a lyrical abstractionist (maybe not a word!) painter!
Some helpful pointers and considerations, features maybe, of what would place my painting in this category of lyrical abstraction. Lyrical abstraction is a term, and has it’s uses. (Well, it does if people know what it means!) So hopefully my thoughts shared here will help you in your understanding of what characteristics may be dominant features of paintings defined as being “lyrical abstract” paintings. One will need to detach some aspects and add others, because I do believe that terminology has limitations as well as benefits. Also, what something was in one part of history, is never quite the same as what it is in other parts of history… Our times determine so much, and any artists responses are conditioned by the times they live in. I do, as you maybe know, love looking back into the past, and I think it’s a good practice for any artist to ensure they look at those who have come before them and find out as much as they can, so that the can appreciate the work with the benefit of being able to look backwards… for from the past the future comes…
Anyway, I digress, as is of my habit…
The term “Lyrical Abstraction” is much debated. Which makes it very attractive I think! Larry Aldrich used the term lyrical abstraction in the late sixties to describe some of the artworks he had collected. The feature he felt was important was that they represented a return to personal expression following Minimalism.
An exhibition was held at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
May 25- July 6. 1971
“Statement of the Exhibition
Early last season, it became apparent that in painting there was a movement away from the
geometric, hard-edge, and minimal, toward more lyrical, sensuous, romantic abstractions
in colors which were softer and more vibrant. Painters were creating, in significant numbers,
works that were visually “beautiful” — up to then, in the art world of the sixties, a dirty word.
Though they were not going back to any previous style, these new young painters related
to men who have been doing painting of a painterly nature for twenty years or more — Mark
Rothko, Robert Motherwell and others. The artist’s touch is always visible in this type of
painting, even when the paintings are done with spray guns, sponges or other objects.
Surfaces are never anonymous as in minimal paintings; they are delicately nuanced and
often suggestive of cloudy voids. These paintings all represent a distinct shift to an ex-
pressive interest. As I researched this lyrical trend, I found many young artists whose paint-
ings appealed to me so much that I was impelled to acquire many of them. The majority
of the paintings in the Lyrical Abstraction exhibition were created in 1969, and all are a
part of my collection now.
Larry Aldrich
April 1970″
Take a look at the artists shown here:
https://archive.org/stream/lyabstracti00whit/lyabstracti00whit_djvu.txt
A slightly more recent example here: http://palmbeachartspaper.com/art-review-lyrical-abstraction-show-demonstrates-resilience-of-american-painting/
A variation of the term was used decades earlier in the late forties by the French art critic Jean José Marchand; Abstraction Lyrique. This was with reference to a European trend in painting a bit like Abstract Expressionism. Free, emotionally inspired and very personal compositions based not on external appearances but evolving rather from the subconscious, instinctive parts of the painters. The evolution and construction of the painting coming from within. I guess we could go even further back, too to Wassily Kandinsky in the first decade of the twentieth century! Rather than working with images from the external world and altering them in order to express abstract ideas, in the way that happened with Suprematist and Constructivist artists using recognizable forms in their art but in ambiguous, symbolic ways, another group of artists approached abstraction in a different way. Not knowing what meaning there might be in what they painted was just fine! Painting freely, with no preconceived notions and the expectation that things unknown could be expressed through their work. Some likened their paintings to musical compositions.(ie Kandinsky) The general emphasis was that of expression emotion in an abstract form. Paintings were imaginative, expressive and personal. Unashamedly subjective, and poetic. Soulful work…not so much leaning towards objective academic interpretations but learning more towards the mysterious, spiritual, and less tangible aspects of life. Painting as a source of seeking maybe…not attempting something which is defined and explained, but rather being all about personal connection with life and the universe.
Rather good! A search for what is essentially personal.
Harold Rosenberg wrote: “Today, each artist must undertake to invent himself…The meaning of art in our time flows from this function of self-creation.”
That was then, but surely this is also relevant for today? Maybe even more so…because the challenge of the self and the sufficiency of simply being, is with us, and maybe even greater with the influence of media, advertising, internet, etc?
Is “being” enough? This may be one of the most important questions we ask ourselves!
We have so much information and knowledge for the intellect to play with at our disposal now! It’s great, fun, interesting. Yes, all of this. But is knowing things with our heads sometimes a deceptive liberty? Does it prevent us from walking freely in mystery, unknowing, and that which we cannot hold onto in our heads, but which our hearts and souls might testify is good and life giving?
I do ask myself these questions.
I think my work could be said to ask them, but does it need an answer? And if it doesn’t ask for an answer, is it a question?
!!!
“Each artist must undertake to invent himself.” Is sticking with me in this digression…
But what with lyrical abstraction today? Movements move and change… tendencies run this way and that…Who knows? No one has the ultimate view. In the early twentieth Century artists like Kandinsky, Giacometti, Fautrier, Klee and Wols embodied lyrical tendencies in abstraction. Later Mathieu, Riopelle, Soulages and Mitchell moved them forward. When I was growing up in the 60’s and 70’s many artists continued and expanded the movement. There are many voices singing out lyrically in abstract paintings! There is an essential quest of lyrical abstraction, which is to express something personal, subjective and emotive, and to do this in a highly poetic, free and abstract manner.
I think this section of Ronnie Landfield’s “Autobiographical Statement, 1997-2010” speaks with a resonance which I am happy to echo, (in my own unique way, of course!)
“My inspiration has been my conviction that modern painting is fueled by the combination of tradition and the realities of modern life. Spirituality and feeling are the basic subjects of my work. They are depictions of intuitive expressions using color as language, and the landscape (God’s earth) as a metaphor for the arena of life. The revelation of a primal image that delivers an immediate response in the viewer is my goal. Hopefully my paintings convey a felt perception of life, an awareness of the history of art, and a clear expression of my passion and sense of spirituality. I sense a visual music that externalizes what I feel within me and in the air.”
What a fantastic statement…
The revelation of a primal image that delivers an immediate response in the viewer is my goal.
Well, all writing aside, this is most certainly enough, more than enough, and will ever be enough!
Paint on!
Words are words, and paint is paint!
See more of Ronnie Landfield here: http://ronnielandfield.com/
Some contemporary painters which you might like to view…
the Spanish artist Laurent Jiménez-Balaguer
Margaret Neil
Ellen Priest
‘Un’antenna sensibile’
Rather nice quote, for my notes!
Quote by Christopher Adams: Claudio Del Sole: ‘Un’antenna sensibile’
Christopher Adams
“Del Sole saw no contradiction between his predilection for abstraction and his observation of natural phenomena, finding inspiration in the swirling patterns of galaxies and nebulae. Nor did he recognise any distinctions between art and life, asserting: “The artist is not enclosed in a restricted or exclusive world of his own. He is like an antenna, sensitive to all that which happens around him. Therefore, he is attentive to social changes and the progress of science; that is, to the unfolding story of mankind.”
Yes! Like an antenna! I like this very much! And attentive! So true!
We take in all that surrounds us, ingest it… and then do what we do with it! There is some kind of narrative in every person, expressed through words and images. When I work with abstract forms visually, there is no disconnect from the outer world, even though I don’t work with pictures (ie recognisable objects). I approach the matter and materials in the same way that I approach nature, life and all I see in the natural world, even though I don’t seek to emulate it. I am not attempting to create something more distant or disconnected “more spiritual” or “set apart” from the world in any way. It’s rather an engagement, a translation maybe a good word, an interpretation of my being and living based on emotion and experience.
jenny meehan jamartlondon photography monochrome
I take less photographs now than I did, but sometimes you see something you cannot resist! Looking at the sky reminds me of why I don’t lean towards representational painting myself, though I do enjoy looking at others work. I find the work is always before me, far surpassing any emulation I might make of it. I do enjoy a bit of drawing… It’s always good to do from time to time… Mostly because of the mark making though.
jenny meehan jamartlondon photography monochrome
Broken branches in Oxshott Woods. Oxshott Woods has a special resonance for me because as a child we went for a walk there every Sunday. I like this image of mine because it conveys brokenness but also a real invitation to move forwards into the image. I remember the exposed roots of so many of the trees in Oxshott woods and how entrancing they were…
jenny meehan jamartlondon photography monochrome
Another Oxshott Woods/Oxshott Common image. This was taken on the edge of the big “sand pit” area. It’s fun to think I am walking the very same ground I did when we went for walks there when I was a child. It’s amazing how things change, and quite a relief to be honest. I’ve probably written it elsewhere, but I had a really difficult childhood, in so many ways, and I’m now enjoying life more than ever before; so much happier and so much more alive! It’s good I have come a long way, and though it’s easy to feel I wish things had been easier, in the end, the past makes us what we are, and we cannot live without it, but we can move on.
Things I have been reading recently:
Good read on trauma and how it affects ones sense of time:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4166378/
Lots in there to read and think over, so popping in my journal for now. I’ve skim read parts.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2167702613495199
Rear Access Roads and Alleyways
rear access road chessington drawing 2 jenny meehan
rear access roads chessington drawing jenny meehan
jenny meehan jamartlondon photography monochrome
I’ve popped these in because I have realised recently how important the “Alleyway” was to me as a child. We lived in Teddington, not Chessington, and the alleyway of my childhood was narrow, and quite different to the rear access roads I have drawn here. However, emotionally there is a strong connection I had previously overlooked. My brother and myself would play in the alley…exploring around the backs of peoples gardens…peeking through holes in fences and sometimes creeping into places we were not meant to be! It was all very exciting and interesting. The drawings of the rear access roads in Hook and Chessington were drawn by me in what I like to call my “wilderness” phase. It was before I really got into painting as my main focus, and yet grew highly aware that painting was the right direction for me to go into creatively, in a big way.
Emotionally it was a tough time, and I struggled psychologically also; I felt very lost indeed, in terms of having a sense of self. I find it interesting that, at this time, I found the rear access roads so comforting, and so safe, and all at the very time in my life when fear grew increasingly severe. It provided an area and space to feel I existed in. I think the lack of facades was helpful, also, for I was aware my own had slipped somewhat! It was a raw, bare, place, of exposure and of no longer being able to pretend I was “all right”. Somehow embracing the “shadow side” had to happen.
I was not familiar with the term “shadow side” at that point in my life, however I do remember being fascinated with the dark, square areas I came across, which I think you can see comes across in the drawings. For me, I saw these as being a void…a place which represented how I increasingly felt inside. Inner emptiness. At times (the worst) where I would rather be: in nothingness. A lot of the areas of interest for me in my frequent walks involved an appreciation of decay, decomposition, and neglect, with some attention to unexpected growth, and finding unexpected treasures. Even in the worst of life’s passages, if looking outwards, beauty can be found with some effort, and I did find it, even though I couldn’t see any inside myself at that point. Carl Jung stated “the shadow” to be the unknown dark side of the personality, which was instinctive and irrational. There was also a sense of this in what the dark, blank areas communicated to me. Like some kind of mirror, they reminded me of how instinctive and irrational I was at my core, and I was certainly more aware of that than I had ever been aware of before in my life!
“For Jung, the theory of the‘‘shadow’’ was a metaphorical means of conveying the prominent role played by the unconscious in both psychopathology and the perennial problem of evil. In developing his paradoxical conception of the shadow, Jung sought to provide a more highly differentiated, phenomenologically descriptive version of the unconscious and of the id than previously proffered by Freud. The shadow was originally Jung’s poetic term for the totality of the unconscious, a notion he took from philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. But foremost for Jung was the task of further illuminating the shadowy problem of human evil and the prodigious dangers of excessive unconsciousness.”
Quote from Stephen A. Diamond, Ph.D.,
My original artwork has two main strands: Lyrical Abstraction, painterly, fluid, with a lot of focus on light, how it bounces off the surface, textures and finishes, and Geometric Abstraction (created through digital imaging software) in which I focus on flat areas of smooth, solid, and translucent colour; ideally intended to be printed on even, matt or semi-mat surfaces.
While I’m experimenting with the overlap between the two, and make it my practice to regularly try out new mediums, in order to keep my artwork fresh and steadily evolving, identifying the strands in this way is helpful for clarity. I use writing and poetry in my art working and now prefer to use sol-silica paint over acrylics or oils, though I am still known to dabble in many different types of paint, due to their particular material and visual qualities!
If you would like to give money to help support my creative practice, I can accept it quickly and easily through the Paypal.me process. Simply put the following in your browser:
paypal.me/jennymeehan
and follow the prompts. Please consider supporting my work in this way if it strikes a chord with you and you are able to do so. I do need support in order to continue my artworking.
http://www.jamartlondon.com/contact/4569980742 direct link to contact page of website
Signing up as a follower on my WordPress blog ( https://jennymeehan.wordpress.com) also helps, as does sharing the posts when you receive them. Anything you can do to help me is much appreciated!
My artwork is particularly suitable for themes of: faith, religion, philosophy, Christian, church, all faith traditions, inter-faith, spirituality, the subconscious, psychoanalytic themes, mindfulness, contemplative practices, healing, health, both physical and mental, trauma recovery, metaphysical and psychological focused writings, the devotional life, and many other subjects.
All my images are licensable and this is arranged through the Designer and Artists’ Copyright Socitety (DACS). If you wish to use my artwork, please contact me in the first instance.
http://www.jamartlondon.com/contact/4569980742 direct link to contact page of website
Alongside my mainly lyrical abstract paintings, there is another important strand in my work which includes more of a narrative. Well, some kind of narrative. Through my writing, and my participation in ongoing psychotherapy, I draw on my subconscious. It’s this process of self reflection, examination, and other contemplative practices which are rooted in my own faith tradition as a Christian, alongside a good dose of yoga and West African drumming, which have created an exciting way ahead for my work with visual art. I think it’s the relationship between my writing and visual work, particularly through poetry, which helps determine the direction in my art practice.
I’m a member of Kingston Artists’ Open Studios: http://www.kingstonartistsopenstudios.co.uk/product-category/artists-m-to-z/
Great Start to a New Year! Praying the Way!
“praying the way” by terry hinks book published by Bible Reading Fellowship with “leap of faith” image by jenny meehan
What a delight to see this amazing book cover design for the also very amazing and inspiration book of “raw and authentic prayers” by Terry Hinks. Terry Hinks is a United Reformed Church minister and the author of a number of books on prayer.
The cover design and inside pages are the work of designer Alison Beek, Designer, for the Bible Reading Fellowship, who licensed my image “Leap of Faith” through DACS for the cover design of the book.
It is the best thing in the world to see my artwork used for such purposes as this, as close to my heart and faith!
I now have my copy, and am already being blessed! It’s a super book, deep and insightful, challenging and touching. I love the idea of starting this year “Praying the Way”. It is through all the small leaps of faith we make that we move forwards, and it seems to me that the path appears the moment we make a brave jump into the air! Many things change as we mature in our faith; previous beliefs however dear are challenged, and life seems to be a matter of constantly realising how little we know, and how much we need to hand ourselves over to the one who created us and loves us so dearly. While certainties fall away, still the potential to trust ourselves into the hands of the Creator exists, and the path of committing ourselves to Christ (if that’s our faith tradition) and continual desire for repentance, enlightenment, and growth in compassion, can move with strength forwards into the years to come. Well, that’s my prayer for this year I think.
leap of faith jenny meehan (jennifer meehan) geometrical abstract design artwork fine art print to buy
“Leap of Faith” is one of my personal favourites, it’s true.
If you like it, I do have it up on Redbubble.com, which is a print on demand site.
My original artwork has two main strands: Lyrical Abstraction, painterly, fluid, with a lot of focus on light, how it bounces off the surface, textures and finishes, and Geometric Abstraction (created through digital imaging software) in which I focus on flat areas of smooth, solid, and translucent colour; ideally intended to be printed on even, matt or semi-mat surfaces. While I’m experimenting with the overlap between the two, and make it my practice to regularly try out new mediums, in order to keep my artwork fresh and steadily evolving, identifying the strands in this way is helpful for clarity. I use writing and poetry in my art working and now prefer to use sol-silica paint over acrylics or oils, though I am still known to dabble in many different types of paint, due to their particular material and visual qualities!
Do you need exciting, engaging, images for a book cover design?
My artwork is particularly suitable for themes of: faith, religion, philosophy, Christian, church, all faith traditions, inter-faith, spirituality, the subconscious, psychoanalytic themes, mindfulness, contemplative practices, healing, health, both physical and mental, trauma recovery, metaphysical and psychological focused writings, the devotional life, and many other subjects.
Indeed, pretty much any subject matter or theme which benefits from a more abstract graphic image; one which also conveys basic feelings and ideas in an open and experimental manner; would benefit from it’s clarity of communication being enhanced by one of my art images.
If you are looking for something particular, do contact me, because I only display a small amount on the internet and may even be able to create something specific to your needs, or be able to locate something from my extensive archives which meets your need.
To find out more about how you can arrange to use my imagery, see here:
https://www.dacs.org.uk/licensing-works/frequently-asked-questions#FAQ122
January and February 2019
Well, it’s one post every two months from now on. My art working has a certain amount of momentum to it at the moment, and I am keen to keep the focus on ongoing art working… however, I do love writing this journal… It’s very useful to me and serves as a small amount of space for contemplation. Reflection, and anticipation. It’s very interesting as a tool. I enjoy looking backwards at earlier posts and hearing my voice at that time often proves helpful in informing the present.
It frequently amuses me how some people, on understanding the contemplative nature of my work, assume I have hours to spare. The funny thing is, for all of us, is that it is very easy to imagine that other people have more time than us. We all do it. I do too. I often remind myself of my own judgements of others, and find some comfort in the fact that our assumptions about others, when properly examined, often can reveal interesting feelings and beliefs we ourselves hold.
The reality is that it is a constant battle to push my art working forwards. It’s a bit easier than it was when the children were younger, but I still have a house of people which needs management, and those who manage a household know that this is something of an invisible role. Things just happen by magic, I believe. It’s unpaid and unappreciated work. But where would we all be without it? If the house is a bit of a mess now, (which it pretty much always is!) then without my labour invested into it, things would be unworkable.
While I don’t mind my work being based in the household (and this has advantages in terms of productivity generally), it is yet another factor which might suggest to some folk that I do not work. I completely get the reality that art working is not a job, in the usually understood sense. It’s a role, but being an artist is not a job. Not if jobs are defined by their capacity to generate income, anyway.
It’s a funny old thing, because there are huge numbers of artists involved in art working, and the vast majority of us earn less than a few thousand pounds a year from our creative activities. Most people don’t realise this at all. Income for artists comes from other people, other activities and roles, and we really need the support of people investing in us and our work. I really need the support of people investing in my work…buying it, sharing it, valuing it. It is my contribution to the world, pure and simple. Not the only one, but the one I care about with a passion and the one I believe I am meant to be pursuing.
Which is why I do it.
Yet cultural richness… The richness of contemplative experiences, dwelling in the moment, inner examination, reflection…individual and shared.
Cultural richness… The world of the imagination, the spirit, the journey we all make through life, which can be enhanced, enlightened, and inspired by the arts of all varieties…
Cultural richness… Of a worth which is often not appreciated as much as it might be…We take it for granted a lot of the time.
So many ways of life shared by so many people. And artistic expression of experience is fundamentally important in communication and understanding. Cultural richness is something which includes diversity in anything that has to do with how people live: music, art, recreation, religion or beliefs, languages, dress, traditions and stories. It also encompasses things like how we organise ourselves and how we interact with the environment, and even the attitudes we hold towards others.
So if you like my art working, and think it brings something valuable to the world in it’s relatively small way, then do consider supporting me. You can do this buy buying my work (very pleasing, as it releases more room for more work!) licensing my art images through DACS, the Design and Artists Copyright Society, buying merchandise with my designs and art on it, which you can do through Redbubble.com (I get a small percentage of the price you pay…Every little helps. You can follow, share and help promote as you are able, if so inclined.
Contact page on my website: http://www.jamartlondon.com/contact/4569980742
I have a lot more art work than I am able to show on the internet. The reason being that my time for marketing and promoting, and putting things onto the internet is very restricted… I cannot keep up with my own creativity. I keep my own archives and that is something in itself! So if you are looking for something specific, then it’s always worth contacting me, which you can do through the contact page of my website. I can produce artworks in a large variety of scales and formats, on different materials and through different techniques. It’s often quite interesting for me to have a focused project to meet precise specifications.
If you just simply wish to support me financially, that’s really helpful too. How? Just here!
https://www.paypal.me/jennymeehan
Safe, quick and easy!
There isn’t a way of me thanking you through this method though, so if you do choose to support me through this system, please send me and email and let me know it was you, so I can express my gratitude. I don’t like asking for financial support, but I have realised I cannot afford not to, and I don’t mind losing a little bit of pride…I have too much anyway!
A lot of people don’t realise that artists, more often than not, have to pay to show their work in exhibitions, and that putting on your own exhibitions costs a great deal of money and time. I am frequently surprised how the general public don’t realise about artists paying to enter their work in exhibitions, in addition to paying commission. However, I don’t think I should be surprised, because it is not something shouted about. It’s one of those mainly hidden matters, which makes it harder for artists to share their work. And sharing our work is something we love to do. However, paying to share it is probably one of the biggest hindrances to a much richer artistic experience for all.
I am always totally grateful that I can even invest my time into doing what I love. I could not do this for many years, due to social and economic reasons, but now I can, I never take it for granted. I am fortunate to do what I love. What is my calling in life. Amazing. It’s less fortunate I don’t get more money for doing it, but it’s well worth the sacrifices made. This investment of time does cost though…It costs me and those around me in many respects, for I certainly could choose to invest myself and my time into more profitable activities. Sometimes good things come my way, and its’ a great boost. To have some finance to enable me to continue what I do is my main objective. Circumstances may change… It’s workable now, thankfully. I would like to show more, do more, submit more work, and push outwards far more than I am equipped to do at the present time.
It’s HARD work, this artist matter. I wonder why I do it from time to time, but the truth is, I cannot not be who I am, and this, it seems, along with being a mother, is my role. I am also a qualified teacher, which is handy, especially for mentoring and art tuition, and a qualified dental nurse (earlier career!) which is also handy, because we all have teeth, and it’s useful to know a fair bit about them. (I still find it interesting!) My interest in health, both physical and psychological, and spirituality, have proved perfect partners for my art practice which is informed by my own experiences, never ending research (I love research!) and the beauty of nature. I have to laugh sometimes: mothering and caring, the unpaid domestic work carried out, AND being an artist! It’s kind of counter-cultural, in terms of value, at the moment!
Recent Work
Well, in these darker Winter days, I have finally gotten around to more computer based work, and this includes posting up some of my recent paintings on my website jamartlondon.com.
This new series has quite a light, refreshing feel to it.
jenny meehan jamartlondon abstract paintings©jenny meehan title breath one
jenny meehan jamartlondon abstract paintings title painting breath two
jenny meehan jamartlondon abstract paintings title Light Touch
jenny meehan jamartlondon abstract paintings
jenny meehan jamartlondon abstract paintings “Opening the Way”
“Release” painting jenny meehan jamartlondon abstract paintings
Gallery Visits
This time of year… Right from October and into the New Year, is a good time to be out and about looking at Exhibitions. I have visited several, but only highlight one here…Telfer Stokes, at the Redfern Gallery.
I really enjoyed the Telfer Stokes exhibition at the Redfern Gallery… Reminiscence: New York Paintings and Metal Objects… It ran from 21st November to 4th December. The Redfern Gallery is one of my favourite galleries to visit…They seem to show work which I find particularly interesting. I did prefer the metal objects to the paintings.
If you follow this link you get to the relevant page on The Redfern Gallery website. There is an online publication you can access there also.
My favourites: Flare, 2017,Welded steel
76 x 79 x 15 cm
https://www.redfern-gallery.com/exhibitions/43/works/image_standalone631/
Also, very keen on…
Linch Pin, 2014, Welded steel
55 x 107 x 3 cm
https://www.redfern-gallery.com/exhibitions/43/works/image_standalone634/
and last but certainly not least…
Crux, 2014, Welded steel
65 x 60 x 60 cm
https://www.redfern-gallery.com/exhibitions/43/works/image_standalone638/
A little bit of reflecting…
Seeing Matisse’s “Snail” aged 9, I said that I wanted to be an artist so “I could do that”. The desire never left, symbolised in my keeping an easel despite countless moves, which I still own now. Since 2005, when I flung myself back into the early impulse to visually create, the desire developed, and I’ve done things artistically in my current situation which weren’t possible earlier in life, due to adverse life circumstances. I love all aspects of my work, and value it deeply, not only that of my current profession as an artist, mentor and teacher, (and mother/household manager!) but past roles as a primary school teacher, dental nurse, and various administrative and caring roles. All these roles and experiences make me who I am, and inform the directions I put my effort into, and my interests and topics of research.
Sometimes past roles can be unexpectedly useful…I was rather amused to find my past skills as a dental nurse useful when seeking to extend my knowledge of materials and techniques by experimenting with mosaic, which is something I did recently through two excellent courses led by Vanessa Benson, both at West Dean College and the City Lit, in London. Some little pieces of glass mosaic are amazingly like little teeth, and having a knowledge of various dental tools and equipment available is also proving useful, as I continue to tinker with the medium! (I’m using syringes a lot at the moment!!!)
My interest in materials, their composition, and uses, from a more scientific angle, was something nurtured through this past career choice, and I discovered, far more recently, how interested I am in the scientific and technical aspects of materials when I started to research the use of silicate and sol-silicate paint. I’ve always been interested in materials to a certain degree, but when I starting using the sol-silicate paint, and experimented with various other similar more ecologically friendly paints, the interest grew. Before I carried out the mineral paint mural at Trafalgar Junior School a few years back, I needed to do a lot of technical research which I found completely absorbing and interesting.
So it’s amazing how little bits of your past seep into the present, so unconsciously and without deliberation, very often. Knowing your materials well means you know their limitations, and you know which technical considerations are relevant to the particular purpose you employ them for. This means that if you decide to stretch materials beyond their capacity, you can exploit what happens in an intentional and knowledgeable way. It also means that if you have particular specifications to meet, ie, in terms of longevity, or resilience to certain factors, you can ensure your art work meets those, and be reasonably confident that they will.
How I choose and use materials in the creation of artworks has to have a solid technical understanding behind it, and I think it’s an aspect of art creation today which in some quarters doesn’t the the amount of emphasis it needs. I spend a huge amount of time researching all aspects of the mediums I work with so that the choices I make when working with them are informed ones. If I want something to last, then I make sure it has all the chances it can to last. If I want something to be temporary and transient, then I can choose to ignore certain things which I know will happen over time to the work.
Indeed, is some artworks, the changes which occur over time and a fascinating dimension of the work and completely integral to its purpose. But if what the artist intends then fails due to a technical aspect being ignored, then this is just poor workmanship. I have seen some horrible examples of artists ideas being badly executed because of ignorance about the materials they are using, and it always makes me feel slightly embarrassed to call myself an artist when I see it happen! There are some situations when crafts-person is a far more attractive word to use!!!!
But whatever words can be used, expressive colour and mark making; the structure of composition; the illusive space possible across the face of the a substrate; these motivate me to play with visual poetry and this I believe can work on the human soul in an essential and valuable way, enriching our experience of life. It realises for me both an outer and an inner vision. This is a liberty which I don’t take for granted, and I didn’t expect to be able to work with something I love so much. I’m also aware of the restrictions I face in terms of space and money right now. However, thankfully, though I may not be able to work on the scale I would like to, I AM able to do a lot with what I have. Generally in life, though it is important to have aspirations and always look just that little bit further than where you are, this needs to be balanced with acceptance and contentment.
Experimental painting carried out in 2008 by Jenny Meehan based on a sketch by Constable.
Above is a very early painting of mine, which I am very fond of. This was one of my experiments with oil paint. It has just the feeling I like to have, gentle, breezy, light, but not wishy washy, some motion and stillness, with a light touch. This light touch, and feeling of air and space, is something I have continued to explore in completely non pictorial, fully abstracted paintings, as you can see if you visit my website jamartlondon.com and look at my paintings for 2019. I post new work at the beginning of the year. This is because I have had enough time over Winter reviewing progress and identifying new directions.
http://www.jamartlondon.com/paintings-2019/4594054042
“Blue Boat” Oil Painting by jenny meehan (after Ivon Hitchens)
“Blue Boat” is another early painting, same year I think as the one above (off the top of my head) inspired by Ivon Hitchens who is one of my most favourite artists. Bit bolder with the colour here. I still have this one and don’t mind letting it go. If you want to buy it contact me via the contact form on my personal website jamartlondon.com and I will give you more details. It was awarded “highly commended” in the Needhams Competition…quite a few years back now. See my list of exhibitons at jamartlondon.com
Sharp Gallery, Brixton
I am very pleased to be part of the exhibition at the Sharp Gallery in Brixton. The value of creativity and the arts in healthcare of all sorts is widely recognised and projects like this are worth their weight in gold. Here’s the work I am showing, with the partner poems and other text displayed below:
flower dream print by jenny meehan
laid to rest print by jenny meehan jamartlondon.com
Dreams and Dreaming
Framed digital prints and their partner poems – Jenny Meehan jamartlondon.com
Flower Dream
Deep within the pot of me…
Not cracked, like Mummy.
Not hung on the wall,
slipping downwards…
A glassy look
that never met my tears.
I am sad and angry…
I won’t deny it.
For too long it was inconvenient
for me to exist in reality.
As I was saying;
Deep within the pot of me
I hoped for sunlight.
I dreamt of a day
when someone mysterious
would knock at the door, and come,
laden with flowers…
flowers upon flowers…
Come laden with flowers,
and colours, and petals,
and leaves, and stalks…
To give.
To give something
to me.
Not bleeding, or painful; like daffodils when you cut them.
(My sister was horrified).
As I was saying…
I hoped for sunlight
deep within the pot
of me.
But I could not reach out for it,
though I heard it was there…
in the garden.
In the garden of flowers,
which naked, Mummy ran through,
when all was solved
and the world was
entirely
her own.
The birds told me…
Deep in the garden…
In the shed…
I do exist.
This is why
I cry for the flowers.
They took my sister away, because she was too angry.
But keep me here, because I am no trouble.
And who needs flowers, anyway?
As long as your pot is not broken.
As I was saying…
Not cracked, like Mummy.
But empty,
non the less.
And the flowers are so beautiful;
A beautiful dream
for me.
Jenny Meehan 2017
This poem accompanies the Digital C type print “Flower Dream”.
“Flower Dream” is a numbered edition print (NE#1), signed by the artist-poet Jenny Meehan. It’s printed with Epson ink on 300gsm paper. Framed print: £50
See jamartlondon.com, under “Digital Imagery” for information on what a numbered edition print is.
Laid to Rest
Sleep peaceful, daughter, sleep
Dream the pathways through your mind…
leave the troubled day behind.
Sleep peaceful, daughter, sleep
Dream many dances through the sky…
Starlight night, then stepping bright;
A morning bird’s hopeful cry
To see you deeply, freely, sleepy
dropping safely, easy, warm,
into resting places
waiting
ready for the dawn.
Ready for the dawn.
Blessings; blessings; blessings
dreamy…
Dreamy child, of mine.
Blessings; blessings; blessings
dreamy.
Dream-child
of peaceful
mind.
Jenny Meehan 2018
This poem accompanies the Digital C type print “Laid to Rest”.
“Laid to Rest” is a numbered edition print (NE#1), signed by the artist-poet Jenny Meehan. It’s printed with Canon ink on 220gsm paper. Framed print: £50
See jamartlondon.com, under “Digital Imagery” for information on what a numbered edition print is.
About Jenny Meehan
Jenny Meehan is a Kingston Upon Thames based artist working painting, poetry and digital imagery. Following her studies at Kingston University,(BA Hons Literature) a Post Graduate Certificate in Education at Roehampton University led to a career in teaching. From 2010 Jenny focused on the Visual Arts, training at both West Dean College and local adult education provision. Selected by a wide range of judges, her work has been displayed across many galleries and museums in the UK. These include the Dulwich Picture Gallery, Pallant House Gallery, and Kingston Museum.
“I’m very pleased to be part of this exhibition. I have a keen interest in mental health and recovery, partly due to the traumas experienced in my formative years, and the realisation in 2010 that I couldn’t deny the reality of their effect on me any longer. My engagement in psychotherapy has a rich and interesting relationship with my creative output which I exploit with interest.
The subject of dreams is something close to my heart. Finding dreams and allowing them to exist is probably one of many people’s greatest achievements. As is using the darker dimension of our experiences, and seeing light permeate through even the deepest fear.
I hope you enjoy the poetic space I create in presenting both word and image together.”
Alongside my mainly lyrical abstract paintings, there is another important strand in my work which includes more of a narrative. Well, some kind of narrative. Through my writing, and my participation in ongoing psychotherapy, I draw on my subconscious. It’s this process of self reflection, examination, and other contemplative practices which are rooted in my own faith tradition as a Christian, alongside a good dose of yoga and West African drumming, which have created an exciting way ahead for my work with visual art. I think it’s the relationship between my writing and visual work, particularly through poetry, which helps determine the direction in my art practice.
I think it probably does this by helping me to identify how past experiences contribute to the present interests I hold. I think developing a clear voice is very useful when you are involved in the visual arts. There is so much wonderful art out there, but in the end, we need to find the motivation and drive within ourselves to persist with the vocation of artist. It isn’t easy, in our current materialistic and capitalistic focused culture. But it is worth it.
Kader Attia’s first UK Survey Exhibition
I like the look of this exhibition very much. This time of year is good for visiting exhibitions, and while I cannot afford to visit as many as I would ideally like, because of the costs involved, to be honest, living in this part of the country, there is so much on offer to see, big and small, that I have more than my fill of gallery going!
Loving Research – The Philosophical, Psychological and Metaphysical Kind! Mostly…
I love researching. It’s something I regularly fall into, and enjoy very much. I don’t consciously draw lines between my researching activities and my artistic production, in the way that maybe a Scientist would with their work… There’s normally no need. But my visual art certainly has a flickering background of thought behind it, which generally only comes into focus if I need to write an artist’s statement, or similar, about a specific piece of visual art work. I prefer to let my research happen organically, tracing it’s pathways through the thoughts, physical artistic output, and my general experiences of everyday life. I remind myself that I am not working for a gallery, and needing to put signs up against every piece of work I produce, so that it might be articulated with the language of words. With so much emphasis on the conceptual today, it’s tempting, maybe, to feel the need to legitimise artistic practice with words, for some. Maybe all? And sometimes. And while bending your intellect, this way and that, is fun…(I love it)…I don’t think it can make a piece of significant art happen, however much someone might try. Because what is significant wells up within for a person. Maybe where the research comes into play is that it can be helpful for an artist in developing a reflective artistic practice. In being able to identify what one is trying to express/do/communicate and what it means to oneself personally, and also to relate it to many other thoughts, theories, approaches, and beliefs.
This may be part of why I have chosen to write this artist’s journal…At least this is a way I can track some of my preoccupations, for the problem I have with note books, of which I have many…is they dance around the house constantly, picked up, then left, lost and then found. It seems right to let this happen. And it’s so interesting when old ones turn up. But with this artist’s journal…There is the constant screen in front of me, and the only thing which changes is what I am writing. I think it may be of passing interest to someone now and again, and I think about the fact it is maybe read occasionally. However, it’s not the same as writing for some other person, because while that maybe one aspect, I allow myself repetition, deviation, and other flaws in the writing, which wouldn’t be acceptable in another form to the same extent. The pleasure in writing this artist’s journal is possibly much greater than the pleasure in reading it, but never mind. It is what it is! It’s somewhere to attach bits of interesting things I have found, and enables me to pick them up when I need to, and rediscover them when I don’t expect to find them again, but with the significant added benefit, that when I feel like a bit of writing, I know where to go!
My reading notes;
Something I am looking at now: John Macquarrie on Language, Being, and God
Author(s): Eugene Thomas Long
Source: The Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 30, No. 2 (Dec., 1976), pp. 255-279
Published by: Philosophy Education Society Inc.
Need to think on this for a while… Very interested in reading more John Macquarrie.
I think I am between a realist and idealist. Objectivity and subjectivity seem to both hold equal sway in reality! I think paradox and tension between things vital and helpful in life. I’m interested in dipping into considering different perspectives, but all my own thinking seems clearly rooted in a firm belief of an external (as well as internal) Creator God who does exist, whatever I might think. And I am so much a lover of the material world, (nature) which I don’t see as apart from the spiritual, but also expressing the wondrous qualities of God. What I do get from reading (admittedly in a somewhat cursory and skimming type matter) is lots of interesting relationships between elements I don’t normally bother to think about!)
Some other reading:
https://www.thoughtco.com/working-with-worry-449711
https://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/does-beauty-still-matter-art
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-daily-princetonian/prosumerism_b_1463166.html
I’ve been thinking about other faith traditions and Christ, and how the tendency to shuffle into thinking one’s own faith tradition is better than someone else’s is so unpleasant and not Christ-like. What we know of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ through the New Testament communicates that Jesus honoured and respected people of other faith traditions without doubt.
In his book “Discover the Power Within You” Eric Butterworth wrote:
“I have often speculated on what Jesus would have done if he had been seated around a table with a Buddhist, a Hindu, a Muslim and a Shintoist—discussing ultimate Truth. I just can’t believe that Jesus would have said, ‘You must all forsake your beliefs and come and follow me.’ I think he might have pointed out that the differences were chiefly a matter of semantics, and that there is an underlying principle similar to the Christ idea in every religion. I think he would have stressed the basic unity within the diversity of religions, pointing out that the greatest need of all persons is to find that indwelling unity with God, which is found in the principle of divine Sonship, that we call the Christ.”
Well, that’s some of my reading for the time being.
Publishing this Post NOW!
I’m going to publish this blog post early rather than late. I’ts got longer than I expected it to!
Now I’ve decided only to post once every two months, in order to reduce time spent on writing it, and hopefully enhance the focus of it, I’ll get it out there and forget any more blog writing for a nice big chunk of time!
November and December!
December 11, 2018
jenny meehan prints ©jenny meehan
November and December are when I tend to turn my attention to updating my website and various other computer based tasks. A good time for more socialising too! While I love and need much time in solitude, I am an extrovert by nature and there are so many fun things to do at this time of year! I have packed my studio tent away for this year. It’s too cold now, and the days are shorter anyway.
Above you see, along with my feet, some prints which were printed for me as part of a prize awarded! It was the 2nd Prize in Digital Art Category of Chester Art Centre Open Exhibition 2017. One hundred pounds worth of digital printing! What a useful prize! I have put them in frames and prepared them ready for next years Kingston Artists’ Open Studios. They are archival quality prints, and look fantastic. I am very pleased with them. Though I won’t label them limited edition, because I feel that is somewhat irrelevant in today’s digital age, (with so many printing options available), because I don’t print and sign much work nowadays, they should probably be labelled 1/1…. for it is very unlikely I will produce anymore. But I don’t know what I may want to do in the future with them. For this reason, I tend to just sign and number my prints without specifying how many I will or won’t make. As said, the reality is that I don’t spend much time on printing my work now or getting it printed. Too busy creating, innovating, and experimenting!
I have made several visits to the British Museum in the later part of this year. Glad of it. Great place to wander through and appreciate the wealth of historical artefacts; all in one place. I love looking at historical artefacts and discovering more about the past. I admire craftsmanship and find religious beliefs and learning about different cultures very helpful. Kind of liberating. The focus of so much creation is bound up in religious belief. I find this helpful to bear in mind.
Ritual. Remembrance. Death. Eternity.
These were the words I left with.
And a focus on the art working I do, which is purely focused on what I am doing. Yes, it’s hard…Because there is a need to share, promote, and put things on the internet. But as the years go by, I am learning to focus more, and in a more refined manner, on the work itself. What it means. What it says. Why it matters.
Helpful.
We have so much. It can get confusing!
Looking Back
Looking back, though not very far, here are a couple of images of my paintings from this year’s Kingston Artists’ Open Studios event. If you like visiting Artists, seeing their work, and getting a chance to ask the questions you want, as well as maybe having the opportunity to buy an original piece of fine art much cheaper than you would probably be able to get it at a gallery, then an Open Studios event is just the thing for you.
Contact me via my website jamartlondon.com and ask to be placed on my mailing list and I will send you information on the Kingston Artist’s Open Studios event in 2019. Surrey artists open their studios each year, and Kingston has a wealth of artistic talent just waiting to be explored.
http://www.jamartlondon.com/contact/4569980742
KAOS open studios jenny meehan paintings
On the left “Joy and Pain” and on the right (face on view) “Father, Son and Holy Spirit/Trinity”.
The latter painting has been licensed for use on one of the Bible Reading Fellowship’s publications, on the cover of a book by Nigel G. Wright titled “How to be a Church Minister”. I am always very pleased when images of my paintings are licensed for use. It’s great when they can be of practical use, and particularly, as a bit of a writer myself, I am pleased when they are employed in the service of writings relating to faith and spirituality. It’s wonderful to see my paintings used in design…As long as a licence has been issued! Being a member of DACS (Design and Artists Copyright Society) has been one of the best moves I have made.
If you want to use any of my paintings, and are looking for something specific, do contact me, because the vast majority of my work is not shown on the internet. I really do work hard, and produce quite an array. It’s quick and easy to purchase a licence through DACS. My paintings have graced many book covers.
waterloo clock ©jenny meehan
Love this clock!
In 2010 the specialist clock maker Smith of Derby removed the hands and many of the internal workings of the clock so they could be re-engineered to work with the latest technology. The clock’s historic exterior was also cleaned and decorated as part of the project. The clock has been a central feature of Waterloo Station since the early part of the 20th century. The clock was made by Gents of Leicester and is believed to date back to the 1920s. My photography now is pretty much limited to the occasional snap here and there, such as this one. I have a huge archive of the years I spent focused primarily on photography but I tend to use it for reference mostly.
under pressure ©jenny meehan
Yes, well, we all feel like this sometimes. An example of some early experiments with Photoshop. The image was based on a cut out and stencil mono type I made at West Dean one year. We live in a society and culture which exerts an awful lot of pressure on us, in a relentless manner. What a challenge it is to even just BE. How do we define ourselves from the inside out, in a strong and certain manner, in the face of all the media? What masks do we adopt and what happens when they fail and we fall? What happens when our vulnerability and fragility need to be faced, our self encountered, and avoidance and repression, distraction and entertainment, fail to keep us afloat?
Jenny Meehan on Redbubble.com
Redbubble is a great “print on demand” website and I have some of my images there. The world is full of fabulous artists and Redbubble is a good place for buying merchandise which is original, exciting and contemporary. The artists on Redbubble get a royalty payment from any items that you purchase there, so it is one way to support the creative community and help artists gain a little bit of income from their work. Do take a look!
https://www.redbubble.com/people/jennyjimjams?asc=u
I only get a small royalty percentage, but it’s lovely to know someone has chosen something with my design/artwork on it. It’s one of those welcome emails…And a small, but vital encouragement to me! I don’t print very much of my own artwork anymore, as I prefer to focus on painting and poetry, but using a company like Redbubble.com does mean if people want to buy something printed they can quickly and easily, and it doesn’t take my time up in order to produce the item.
Follow the link above to see one of my patterns. Using the “Spring Will Come” image. Now the patterns I make tend to be with pieces of stone and glass, as my new venture into mosaic continues. But however they are made, there is something very satisfying about making patterns.
jenny meehan jamartlondon photography monochrome ©jenny meehan west dean college time enjoying the garden
An early photograph of mine taken at West Dean Gardens. I am posting up rather random images, because I have spent time looking through my archives. Pathways of various kinds have always held my interest. Way forward. Need to move forward. Sense of direction.
jenny meehan jamartlondon photography monochrome ©jenny meehan west dean college time enjoying the garden
This little decking area is no more in West Dean Gardens. They have removed it. The pond area has changed a lot. This is such an elegant bench. I have so many photos and drawings of seats, benches, chairs…resting places. The need to stop. Dwell. Cease moving. Contemplate.
jenny meehan jamartlondon photography monochrome ©jenny meehan west dean college time enjoying the garden
And so many photographs of plants, trees, vegetation, and all growing things! Growth, natural form, being essentials for the eye, in appreciation of variety, vast variety, endless variety, of God’s amazing ongoing creative power and endless inspiration to be found by looking at it!
I continue my professional development in the visual arts through the short course programme at West Dean College when I can. It works very well for me, and I find it has been far more useful to me than a fine art degree. My degree is in Literature, and I also studied a substantial number of modules in History as part of my degree at Kingston University.
jenny meehan jamartlondon photography monochrome ©jenny meehan west dean college time enjoying the garden
Another sweet West Dean moment! And yet another of numerous images of water. Water. Sea. Rivers. All things watery. I love water and rocks, and all the images I have taken, while I don’t tend to refer to them directly, feed into my consciousness and inform my paintings. I think the years I spent taking pictures were a good training in terms of composition particularly. I also reached the point where I had so many pictures they did not interest me so much, and this may be one of the reasons I jumped into abstraction!
jenny meehan jamartlondon photography monochrome ©jenny meehan west dean college time enjoying the garden
Lovely light.
jenny meehan jamartlondon photography monochrome ©jenny meehan west dean college time enjoying the garden
On my most recent course at West Dean College, the box needed a tidy up, but in this image the rounded shapes are very neat and tidy!
jenny meehan jamartlondon photography landscapes in uk ©jenny meehan west dean college time enjoying the garden
Another West Dean Gardens delight.
It’s a bit of a brief journal entry, I know. But I am so much absorbed in my work at the moment. There’s some great relief for me at the present time in not writing so much. Just being totally immersed in experimenting doesn’t seem to need any kind of documentary. I am almost tempted to stop writing this journal. I won’t do that, but it may be shorter and sharper.
Many years ago I used to enjoy the Abstract Critical website.
There were some interesting discussions… It helped me put my brain into action, and introduced me to thinking about abstraction at a time when I was still battling internally with if I should really let myself go down the abyss!
Reading what Alan Gouk had to say was exceptionally helpful to me.
Happy Christmas!
Now I must go. As said, I think it likely that I will now continue just to post once every two months.
Angel print for All Saints church of england CofE Kingston parish church kingston upon thames angel campaign submission by jenny meehan
You can purchase a print of the above art work by me on Redbubble!
grave yard glimmers mosaic and accompanying poem jenny meehan ©jenny meehan
The Grave Yard Glimmers
Under grey ground
my shattered self, recovered
crept gentle, back to the moment
when
a younger me-child
within
Summer holiday sunshine
discovered
picking, glass, stones, off graves
was an open treasure chest.
Even while the body laid low…
sighing with relief…
anticipating release…
for each passing moment.
Simple time steps.
One strand of self to
reflect
back to me.
Porous ceramic spreads moisture
Yet only a shadow
touches
meeting edges
I am sorry that I left, and still sometimes leave
these parts of me behind.
Much later, my rape was a vacation of another kind.
I hover, momentarily, over my body
unable to take in, even in consciousness
the un-do- able
which was done.
It takes years to cry.
And bodies lie under the floor
even in houses.
Light still
makes glimmers
Glimmers in eyes
meeting.
Glimmers in finding
pieces
all broken
but beautiful.
l hold hope, for you
my friend, and myself
on dream-like, flattened
slates… to write all over
a past story, a new one…
We wash the silver ore, and smelt it
in the smiles of those we love.
Jenny Meehan
August 2018
Looking forward to working with mosaic in November, tutored by Vanessa Benson, whose inspirational course at West Dean College this year has kicked me off in this direction!
Realising my poetry and all the visual work I do are inseparable. Well, I knew this already, but now I know it more. Also, I will always be a materials orientated artist. One who handles my own materials.
The most annoying saying “Everyone is an artist”. Is everyone a plumber too? The role of an artist has a broad skill set attached.
Everyone is innately creative, yes, but everyone is not an artist. I hate walking past Cass Art and seeing the motto… it’s something like “Let’s fill this town with artists”. Sounds like a nightmare to me. Do you want a town filled with artists? Would be quite a poor town, for a start! But it would, of course, be ideal for the local art shop!!! At least they are honest!
I was reading recently that a survey found most artists earn between £1,000 and £5,000 a year. That sounds about right. I kind of felt relieved on reading it. It is hard when you live in a world where finance reflects value. I know I am doing what I should be doing in life, and feel extremely grateful, that finally, after years of waiting, I am able to work at the work which feels most natural to me. It’s not to be taken for granted. But it isn’t a “job” in the proper sense. And all the other work I have done in the past is very relevant, and has been valuable in many different respects. It’s made me who I am. I wasn’t unhappy in the work I previously did. Just not quite so fulfilled. But there are many aspect to being fulfilled in life, and there were parts of me which probably developed, in a good way, which I might have avoided, if I was art working then. Discipline is important. For an artist, if you have not got it, you cannot be productive, I don’t think. Getting up each morning to do what you must, is part of every occupation, and we don’t always feel like it!
And now, I cannot rely on a “job” to define who I am. It’s sometimes challenging. Like being a mother, I guess. The key thing is, I think, not to confuse status or money with value. It’s always a challenge! What I do does pay for itself. Sometimes I feel discouraged, but it’s only passing. Thankfully enough good things happen to keep me motivated!
Thelma Narrative Series
My Thelma sculpture project was in 2014 and it is now 2018! In truth, the project is not finished, because I got a mould made of the essential base of Thelma and intend to make some plaster versions in order to experiment further. Indeed, I will. Yet for now, here are the images with text, which does seem to have a degree of being a complete work. The actual wax sculpture is in a box in my cupboard, and now and again I pick bits off it and add bits on! It is one figure, which I moved through a series of transformations without thinking about concepts in a conscious way.
ONEthelma psychodynamic jenny meehan personal development psychotherapy and art relationship investigation psychoanalytic visual experimentation THELMA ONE
thelma psychodynamic jenny meehan personal development psychotherapy and art relationship investigation psychoanalytic visual experimentation THELMA TWO
thelma psychodynamic jenny meehan personal development psychotherapy and art relationship investigation psychoanalytic visual experimentation THELMA THREE
thelma psychodynamic jenny meehan personal development psychotherapy and art relationship investigation psychoanalytic visual experimentation THELMA FOUR
thelma psychodynamic jenny meehan personal development psychotherapy and art relationship investigation psychoanalytic visual experimentation THELMA FIVE
thelma psychodynamic jenny meehan personal development psychotherapy and art relationship investigation psychoanalytic visual experimentation THELMA SIX
This is probably my favourite in the series…It’s the one I associate with the ongoing process of participating in psychotherapy! Hard work, at times, yes, but something which can be a tool in bringing freedom from the negative consequences of violence, abuse, and trauma. This time I spend in therapy is an investment I choose because I value self reflection so much. Participation in Psychotherapy can be viewed two ways. One, is that of being a practice of WELLNESS…Which for me, it now is, thankfully. (Mostly) It’s like going to the gym to keep fit. (Mostly, not always! Sometimes it’s painful and hard! Still challenging, still uncomfortable. Always will be! )
I find it very harmonious with being an artist, and working in the way that I do with other people with mentoring/spiritual direction/teaching art. The other way that psychotherapy can be viewed might be summed up with “Gosh, they must be very screwed up to need therapy” maybe? It is the idea that someone would only participate in psychotherapy if they really had to, because it wasn’t possible to carry on without it. Because why would they want to do take part in something like that otherwise? Well, I do understand that perspective.
Personally, I did start my psychoanalytic journey in a very distressing place, and I knew it was what I needed, and things were often very alarming and extremely difficult. So it wasn’t optional in any sense in 2011. Yet my journey, and the experience gained from working with a very good therapist, has been so valuable and positive, it seems needless not to carry on with it, as long as it bears fruit, which it does. I do review it from time to time, but so far, I reach the same conclusion, which is why stop for the sake of stopping? It might be different if I was not an artist, but it’s become part of the process of my artistic creating, and it’s so useful, even for that, even apart from the other benefits.
It feels like pulling a net through my own depths, pulling it along the sea bed. It’s an effort, but somehow drawing deep in myself in this way produces a lot of goodness. Life is vastly improved, and I feel so much more alive than I ever used to be. So the effort is definitely worth it for me.
Thoughts on the sculpture…
Difficulty of wading forwards… Trolling is a method of fishing…. There is a huge sense of continuity and flow, in this one, with metal outside of the figure clearly relating to the which goes through it’s core. Through the waters of my mind, in the psychoanalytic work I am doing. Found this, it’s helpful..
“Bodies of Water and the Unconscious
Often in dreams, large bodies of water (oceans, lakes, pools) symbolize the unconscious. As with bodies of water, we often see the surface, but cannot easily see into the depths.
Also, the vastness of the ocean symbolizes the vastness of the unconscious mind. Jung observed long ago that the unconscious mind was much vaster than the conscious portion. His insight has been confirmed by fascinating developments in neuroscience, where new technologies, such as particularly sophisticated MRIs have enabled brain scientists to see that the unconscious processes in the brain dwarf the conscious mind in magnitude.
In those regions of the brain/mind lies the meaning of dreams. Jungian therapy is always aware that, for each of us, much goes on in the depths of those oceanic waters…” quoted from https://www.briancollinson.ca/index.php/2012/11/jungian-therapy-the-meaning-of-dreams-5-water.html
WOW! The unconscious mind….
Oceanic Waters!
thelma psychodynamic jenny meehan personal development psychotherapy and art relationship investigation psychoanalytic visual experimentation THELMA SEVEN
Must be the faith aspect coming through in this one!
thelma psychodynamic jenny meehan personal development psychotherapy and art relationship investigation psychoanalytic visual experimentation THELMA EIGHT
No doubt some theme of healing… And in this one, a mould was made, and the body cast in plaster.
Interesting looking back at these. Rather funny that I depicted my right thigh with what looks like a strip of metal along it. This was before my knee replacement and before I was having problems with my walking! Plaster for me is evocative of healing and holding, and showing this liquid flow over the now plaster form, is something I like a lot. The flow may be static in that the plaster is set, but it is suggestive of flow and continuity by it’s very shape, and the meeting point between those forms of underlying form and dripped plaster brings some awareness of touch and being touched to my mind. As the final figure is the model cast, it’s a new creation but still intimately related to the former figure in brown wax. I will continue working with this, and post up soon.
So this is September…OOOps… Late again, October!
jenny meehan jamartlondon art work uk licensable images
Painting “Upper Room” by Jenny Meehan 70 x 50cm This is available, contact me if interested. Use contact form on my personal website jamartlondon.com http://www.jamartlondon.com/
Direct link to contact page; http://www.jamartlondon.com/contact/4569980742
Bit about my painting…
About Jenny Meehan’s Paintings
My process led painting…romantic, expressionistic, abstract and lyrical, is simply the result of my own contemplative practice, which I work through in many ways. Let by instinct and intuition, inspired by my own life experiences, and several much loved artists, including Klee, Hitchens, Claude Venard, Matisse and Kandinsky, it provides the ground for the viewer’s own interpretations and responses, and will be whatever you want it to be. My own titles reflect my own interpretation/,sense of meaning, but the beauty and openness of non objective painting allows you a place in the process exclusively yours!
The image doesn’t show the extent to which texture, and various surface finishes are used in the painting, for example, I use tiny glass beads for their effects on light hitting the surface of the painting. Maybe they could be seen as a dance of light and colour? Certainly, as the light in the day changes, the appearance of the painting changes considerably, with different parts being emphasised and other parts sinking into the background. This painting is one which responds, and I hope you get pleasure from viewing it! See more at http://www.jamartlondon.com
jenny meehan jamartlondon art work uk licensable images©jenny meehan
Boat House, Monotype. ©jenny meehan
Sometimes the simplest of things can give pleasure. I am looking at this one at the moment, particularly as I think about how I will approach working with mosaic in November. I think to start with some kind of simple forms, rectangular, square, maybe a good start. I don’t see myself going into the pictorial. I suspect I will need to seriously spend time considering the materials I use. They will suggest a way forwards, I am sure. And I want to make more effort with this linkage between my poetry and visual expression. I think that’s key for me.
jenny meehan jamartlondon art work uk licensable images©jenny meehan
Icy Landscape ©jenny meehan
A major theme of my work is recovery from trauma. The subject of an internal landscape dominates my creative practice. Tiny glass beads are used in the above painting and they catch the light, transforming the appearance of the work at different times of the day.
“Eternal” Painting by Jenny Meehan
jenny meehan jamartlondon art work uk licensable images©jenny meehan
Eternal by Jenny Meehan ©jenny meehan
This is one of my paintings which has been licensed for use as a book cover. The cover designer was Alison Beek. I really like my paintings being used in this way, and it is a small source of income which helps sustain my artistic practice, so it’s very much valued.
“Finding God in all things, hearing God’s voice for ourselves and others…the Quiet Spaces Prayer Journal will help you to develop and maintain a life of creative prayer. With space to write, quotations drawn from Christian tradition and BRF’s Quiet Spaces publication to aid reflection, this is ideal to buy for yourself or as a gift for anyone wanting to deepen their prayer life. It features quotations to inspire, allowing plenty of space to write.
Quiet Spaces Prayer Journal Spiral bound edition by Mrs Olivia Warburton”
Edited by Mrs Olivia Warburton ISBN-139780857465245Format Spiral bound, Publisher BRF (The Bible Reading Fellowship) Publication date23 Sep 2016Pages192Product dimensions 150 x 210 x 14mm E Weight338g
“Quiet Spaces is BRF’s prayer and spirituality journal. Published three times a year, each edition journeys through up to nine themes drawn from the Bible, spiritual writers, the natural world, the lives of Christians from across the centuries or from Christian spiritual traditions. Each theme is explored in twelve prayerful ways using creative activities, your personal faith experience, poetry, liturgy, reflection, imagining and meditation, helping you into a heart encounter with God. Ideal both for those who have discovered the benefits of reflection, meditation and contemplation and are looking for a resource to guide their periods of quiet and for people coming to reflection and meditation for the first time.”
I use my own copy!
This months post is September and October combined! It’s my aim to write a bit less on my journal each month and work more on my poetry. As I mentioned at the beginning, a brilliant course on mosaic at West Dean college tutored by Vanessa Benson has provided some interesting routes in using mosaic, and along with my other ongoing experiments with silica sol mineral paint I want to immerse myself more in silence and music and poetry than longer blog entries. And drumming too. I am loving my djembe, and enjoying learning some traditional West African patterns.
I think I may have exhausted my writing capacity a little bit when writing “The Very Patient Knee Replacement Story by Jenny Meehan” last year! By the way, the knee is working wonderfully. It’s an “Attune” knee. I am no longer disabled and able to live a full life. I am so grateful for the South West London Elective Orthopaedic Centre, and the NHS. My life would be quite different without such a positive experience.
west dean college short course jenny meehan flora and foliage images© Jenny Meehan
Really enjoying these…
http://openchurch.network/chalketalk
That’s me for now!
Do take a look at my website. http://www.jamartlondon.com/
I will be updating it over December. I have a lot more work than I can show on the internet.
This is not the right time of year for writing blogs…
The sun is so hot, and so good at drying paint! (More on that later!)
I have a lot of work in progress… As always!
There are masses of flies in the studio tent, but thankfully they do leave when I come in and work in there.
Not much sign of snails in there even, except in a few damp crevices!
And I have now realised that I do get sun burnt even when inside the tent… translucent tarpaulin is not great at keeping UV rays off the skin!
(Update..And now in August…The rain has come! Much easier to work now!)
I am going to keep this months journal entry short, but have to say…
Congratulations NHS! On your 70th year! When posting this journal, finally….It’s a long way back.
Thursday 5 July 2018…
And without the NHS I wouldn’t be able to walk or stand as I need to…
It’s freed me to paint and work, and I am grateful every day I wake up with a working knee!
I can carry things, move work around, paint big paintings, and have big dreams. Before my knee replacement my whole life was starting to run into a funnel, with a very narrow spout!
I’m not going to post lots of images of paintings in progress… I really have far too many and it would become quite pointless.
Because I work in such a piecemeal way, I have to work more on relinquishing the work when it is in progress, rather than tracking it.
I find this more helpful to my self.
It’s an odd way of working. But I think its about picking up pieces. And I have so many pieces. Picked up and put down. Not normally advised as a good way to work. For for the abstract painting process it works very well for me. This also applies to my many notebooks, reading and research. It’s a constant process of losing and finding things. And unexpected relationships occurring. With a lot of contemplation in between.
I have toyed with the idea of revealing what I am up to with my work, as it happens, but I need the energy brewing inside with the pressure which comes when something hasn’t been released into the world. It feels like the minute something is published, it’s partly let go, somehow. I don’t mind putting the occasional piece of work on here from time to time, but that’s enough. It feels much better to publish images which I know have stood the test of time. They have proven themselves able to stand on their own two feet. Paintings with feet. Now, that’s a thought…
VOC’s and painting large abstract paintings in the VERY hot sun
I am very much loving the sol-silicate paint I use from Keim Paints.
It’s AMAZING… and as I am working outside in the very hot sun, it is also very healthy!
I do wear gloves if I know I am going to be handling a lot of paint, because it is very alkaline.
It’s drying quick…I use Soldalit.
Very fine brushes are best, I find, but rollers can be useful.
The light bounces off the matt surface beautifully.
It’s a JOY!
keim soldalit sol silicate paint hand mixing up colours for use in fine art abstract paintings by jenny meehan
It takes hours to make many pots of paint ready for a painting session. Well worth it though! I love this paint. It’s heaven!
I first started using Keim mineral paints a few years back.
I do use acrylic paints too, but I wouldn’t use large amounts in the sun anymore.
I did do this a couple of years back…
I could smell the fumes coming off the surface of the paint in the hot weather, and thought to myself, “NO, no NO!” This isn’t good for me.
As I have to paint large scale out of doors, and very hot days ARE quite handy when drying paint matters, having paint to use where I don’t need to worry about what I am inhaling is just GREAT!
I don’t paint if the temperature is more than 30ºC, as per instructions… and find painting in the morning and evening essential at the moment because it is so very hot.
“Important Note – Materials must not be
applied at temperatures below 5ºC nor those
in excess of 30ºC, nor if it is raining, or if there
is an immediate likelihood of rain”
There certainly are no worries about an “immediate likelihood of rain” at the moment. (PS written before the rain came! In the end, there were a good few days above 30% too!)
I do remember having to be very careful when painting my exterior mural all those years back, and needed to hang bubble wrap over the entire surface to protect it from rain!
I am painting on grey board…it is absorbent, and I thought I would need to use some fixative for the first layer, but I forgot to get some. It is indicated, but as the area is so small (compared to what it would be if painting a large wall) I am managing without it. I wish I had got some in order to make the paint layers a bit thinner, but with a fine brush and quick spreading I am getting away without it.
The grey board varies in thickness. It is a little bit flexible, so not quite the rigid surface required but I don’t mind experimenting…It will most likely crack if bent, but I am not planning on bending it. And I am currently experimenting on some flexible surfaces with the intention of cracking the paint layer. So in some pieces I play things safer, using what I know of the materials I work with in order to produce a more predictable result. And in other pieces I am jumping out, breaking the rules of the usual application of the Keim mineral paint, and enjoying the fact that, as I am not using the materials with the requirements of a building application to be met.
I spent a great deal of time mixing up the colours with the selection of Keim mineral paints I have available. And now I need to move forwards at quite a rapid pace, because they won’t last forever…Their shelf life is stated as being 12 months. I have found this varies a lot (and for my purposes, can be several more years, as long as stored carefully) but once I have mixed up the colours, I guess maybe because of air and some evaporation, I need to commit to some steady application!
I love these paints so much…
Yes, all types of paint have their qualities, but it’s so nice to use paint which is healthy and environmentally sound. VISUALLY it is pure as pure can be. None of the plastic quality of acrylic paint.
Yes, acrylics can do many things well…I have not thrown mine out. But I won’t be using mine in the hot sun again for certain.
But working with the Keim Mineral Paints is fantastic.
When I come to wash out the brushes or whatever, I tip the painty water on the garden. Don’t need to put anything into the water system. I am not sure if this is good for the garden but the plants seem happy enough… No complaints as yet!
If there are thicker paint layers in containers, it’s just a matter of letting it set and chipping it out. That goes on the garden too.
I am also experimenting with the Keim Mineral paint in many other ways, which will no doubt seep out as time progresses!
keim soldalit sol silicate paint initial layer of painting fine art abstract paintings by jenny meehan
Above an example of the early stages of one of my paintings. I am seriously into circles and squares at the moment. Rests and motion, drums, drum beats, sound, filling space, boundaries, edges, meetings, ….That’s the poem.
Volatile organic compounds and why it’s worth being aware of them
For those not familiar with the term VOC, paints used in the home contain potentially harmful chemicals such as solvents and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and when paint dries, these chemicals evaporate into the air where the hapless artist or decorator inhales their toxic fumes. This is true for both water based (acrylic emulsions) and solvent or oil based paints. Inhaling paint fumes can exacerbate asthma and sinusitis, and because the solvents are absorbed into the lungs, then the blood stream, they can lead to headaches and dizziness.
I have experienced this myself when working with oil paints indoors on a hot day. I keep my use of oil paints for cooler days, in a well ventilated area, and not on a very large format, where possible. Though I do confess to liking the smell of turps, I also realise that the fresher the air the healthier is my breathing! It’s worth being aware that when VOCs are inhaled, they can cause eye, nose and throat irritation. In large quantities, animal studies have linked these chemicals to birth defects, cancers and damage to the central nervous system.
Oh er…
So best to breath fresh air!
According to the World Health Organisation, professional painters are most at risk, for they have a 20 per cent increased risk of a range of cancers, particularly lung cancer.
That’s a big percentage increase.
So anyone using larger amounts of paint, regularly, on bigger surface areas, needs to consider VOCs and the effect on their health.
There is even a neurological condition brought on by long-term exposure to paint solvents — ‘painter’s dementia’, which I guess isn’t that surprising. The World Health Organisation has also concerns about the long-term health effects of ‘off gassing’. Off gassing is the release of vapours over the life of the paint. (ie when it is on your walls).
If you do use a large quantities of paint as an artist, then it’s worth using it as safely as possible. AND disposing of your paint responsibly.
Keim Mineral paints have given me the freedom I need as an artist to experiment with paint in large quantities, but free from any concerns of impacting the environment, or myself or other people, in a negative way.
If you are using large amounts of oil or acrylic paint, on a regular basis, then consider using a respirator mask if you want to be keeping your air as fresh as you can, and work in a well ventilated area, taking regular breaks.
Healthy is important.
Now I can walk well with my new knee, I am pleased to say that I incorporated walking into my efforts for a healthy lifestyle.
Still eating a bit too much sugar!
Looking backwards in order to move forwards
the river within jenny meehan ©jenny meehan
I spend a fair amount of time looking backwards at previous art work. I find it essential. As well as looking forwards, into all the ideas I have. But the ideas of the future have no roots, and the past is well rooted. So I need both to work for me well. Constantly I find myself filled with ideas which could happen in the future. But I also find myself finding some ground to stand on in work I have done in the past. I normally don’t realise where I am going at all with my painting unless I regularly look back, and then I see, like an old friend, a painting waving at me and saying… “See… this mattered to you then and now it matters to you again!”
So when I found this one, (above) “The River Within” (quite early…around 2010, I think) I realised another strand…
KAOS open studios jenny meehan paintings
This river business, with arc, is quite clearly something which is going to stay with me. It’s popping up all over the place. For myself, the significance of water is life. This feeds into my faith and belief as a Christian and follower of Christ, and should most accurately be read as an expression of that in most of my work. If someone wants to “read” the “meaning” of my painting in that way. Hopefully little things I write and say don’t detract from the poetry of the work which is my deepest motivation in creating it. Water as spiritual life, flowing from the Creator of all, and manifest through the sacramental incarnation of Christ in the world. Quite a mouthful!
However, for those of you from different faith and spiritual traditions or none, I also, as I play with various concepts in my thinking and enjoy researching many dimensions of things I encounter in life, explore many other angles on the symbolic elements I experiment in my work and all of them add something very great to the whole process, and open many interesting avenues, all resonating in a meaningful way. All faith traditions have many areas of overlap and unity, and it’s vital to appreciate these, share them, and respect differences, accepting the other/s, in the way we would wish to be accepted ourselves. Love is the most important thing in life. Love God and love others as yourself. And communicating viewpoints with respect and peace.
Other Christian people may enjoy the way my faith is centred and rooted, and resonates with their own faith experience, and maybe recognise some themes in my painting practice which stem from my belief system. But I don’t tend to describe myself as a “Christian Artist”. This is mainly because I am not attempting to convey a scriptural narrative or assert my work as specifically Christian, ie for Christians or for a Christian context. Who I am as a person is intimately connected with my work, but the complexity of a human individual goes far beyond their religious tradition and identity within that. All kinds of things have shaped my life. And while how my faith religious beliefs shape it is of interest to many, there are many other people who don’t find this dimension of my work of any interest to them. I paint for myself and, for all who are interested in my work, for whatever reason. For the purposes of search engines, then it’s common sense to use keywords which include Christian, because many Christians do seek out artwork created by others who share the same faith. But it is my hope that this doesn’t ever prove a barrier to accessing or appreciating what I do. I am sure many other artists from different faith traditions and belief systems feel the same way. Art is always there with the aim of opening eyes to new ways of seeing and experiencing the world. New perspectives tend to enrich life, widening and extending the borders of what we had previously embraced.
Ooops, meandering and slightly digressing again! Water, and many other concepts and ideas around it, have a long term thread through my visual art practice. My contemplative practice and the research I do all feed into my painting and help steer the direction of it.
How to pray when we don’t want to pray
I found this very useful…See below, the writing in italics. This was published in Formed by the Spirit, The Newsletter of the Southwark
Diocesan Spiritual Formation Group; Opportunities, events, resources and articles on prayer and spirituality Issue 27: February 2016. It is written by Chris Chapman.
How to pray when we don’t want to pray
There are times when we don’t want to pray. We find that we are too busy to stop – but somewhere recognise that our activity is a way of avoiding the pain of silence where we might meet our own raw emotions or unresolved history.
Underneath all, we might not be sure we can trust this God with what matters to us most. We don’t want an answer that isn’t our answer
Or perhaps we are fed up with sitting there in the place of prayer and not getting anywhere. For all our efforts we remain distracted and restless, so far from the place of peace and understanding we desire.
How to begin to pray when we don’t want to pray? Here are some suggestions:
1] Begin from where you are and how you are: So, perhaps your prayer starts ‘I am sitting here unwillingly’ or…’I am not able to trust you’ or …’I am angry with you’…or ’I wonder whether you really care about me’…or ’I am afraid of what you want from me’.
2] Acknowledge that part of you that doesn’t want to pray…look without judgement at this side of your being. Now seek out that part of you that does feel drawn to pray: a sense of invitation that arises somewhere from within, an impulse that comes not as an ‘ought’ but as a longing that perhaps you are not used to listening to. Listen to that desire now.
3] When are you most relaxed: walking, cooking, gardening, knitting, or losing yourself in a book? Imagine yourself sharing this time with God. You are not so much looking at each other face to face as being side by side, comfortably sharing the experience. Perhaps some words flow one way or another, but being alongside might be enough of a beginning.
4] Let go of trying too hard. So, rather than summoning up your concentration, fighting distractions that come, or trying to squeeze wisdom from bible verse that mean little to you…relax. Prayer does begin with intention, and with choosing to place ourselves in a listening, attentive place, but the rest belongs to God. Leave what comes or does not come from your time of prayer with God. Everything is gift.
5] Use you body to help you to pray. Hold you hands closed to make fists. What is held inside there…feelings, experiences, repetitive worries or thoughts? Now open your hands and turn them palm upwards. All those things are still with you but now there is air around them…now you are open to God who cares about you and about what you carry. Keeping your palms open, turn them so they face down. Now you allow what you carry inside to fall away.
6] Be present: When we step into the present moment we also step into the ‘always’ of God. Look up from your work desk and watch the moving clouds. Open your window in the early morning and listen to birdsong. As the sun gathers strength enjoy its warmth on your back. Give thanks for what you receive in that moment.”
All very helpful!
In the garden
I am spending a lot of time in the garden right now. It is the largest area I have for painting in and so when the weather is good painting weather it is a priority for me to be there.
I enjoy gardening too.
Here are a couple of poems I wrote inspired by the beauty of creation.
January
to merge – climb – burst forth
written forms vibrate each shoot
trees majestic stand
(Jenny Meehan copyright 2009)
Blossom and Bamboo
curved tips arching low
in stillness dips light-flecked wish
white blossom pleads pink
(Jenny Meehan copyright 2009)
Blossom, Bamboo, and Branches all feature in my visual art quite regularly. Here are a few examples:
oriental blossom by Jenny Meehan © Jenny Meehan.
and a more recent monotype. I used cut paper, ink and rollers to create the art work below:
bamboo blowing monotype jenny meehan
© Jenny Meehan.
jenny meehan drawing painting uk ©jenny meehan
“Crouched and Facing Bamboo in Light and Shadow” is an experiment with the shadow of the bamboo in my garden and a drawing of a crouched figure. It’s still in progress as I am not 100% happy with it, but it has potential. It’s expressive of struggle, pain, pressing forwards.
Bamboo is VERY useful!
I have a lot in my garden. It makes very good paint mixing sticks. It makes useful paintbrush holders. And it is great for hanging things on. I love looking at it blowing in the wind. It’s so strong, and yet bends. It is spreading year by year. So I think I need to think up some other uses for it. I did make some bamboo pens, which worked quite well.
I have a tree in the garden with blossom. The blossom is beautiful, but delicate, and it does not last very long. It’s fragile and white. The wind takes it and scatters it like snow. It looks just like snow when its falling.
The London Plane Tree at the front of the house is another source of interest and inspiration . I’ve moved computers recently and cannot locate the full image digital file, but the purple picture on the top right is “Notation” which is based on an image of the London Plane Tree. And the blue image on the left is the base image I think. I took many, so not sure exactly but it looks like it. I do have extensive archives on hard drives and could locate the image quite quickly but I am so behind on so much I cannot be bothered to do this right now.
Take a look on redbubble.com at the fabric design I created from one of my images of the London Plane outside my house:
And the Fatsia in the front garden…
I also have many photographs of blossom, which I focused on one Spring;
jenny meehan jamartlondon.com photography ©jenny meehan
jenny meehan jamartlondon.com photography ©jenny meehan
jenny meehan jamartlondon.com photography ©jenny meehan
I tend to use ice, glass, frost, snowflakes as metaphors for trauma, and the way that blossom, though soft and beautiful, looks like snow when it is falling, fascinates me. Falling snow melts, and snowflakes are beautiful, things can viewed as one thing soft, and alive, or conversely hard, sharp, painful. Falling implies surrender, even death. Healing from trauma when it happens is trans formative. It changes the way things are seen and experienced.
Just a few here shown. But blossom and bamboo continue to inspire me!
Some information from Wikipedia;
“In Japan, cherry blossoms symbolize clouds due to their nature of blooming en masse, besides being an enduring metaphor for the ephemeral nature of life, an aspect of Japanese cultural tradition that is often associated with Buddhist influence, and which is embodied in the concept of mono no aware. The association of the cherry blossom with mono no aware dates back to 18th-century scholar Motoori Norinaga.[11] The transience of the blossoms, the extreme beauty and quick death, has often been associated with mortality; for this reason, cherry blossoms are richly symbolic, and have been utilized often in Japanese art, manga, anime, and film, as well as at musical performances for ambient effect”
and
“Mono no aware (もののあはれ?), literally “the pathos of things”, and also translated as “an empathy toward things”, or “a sensitivity to ephemera”, is a Japanese term for the awareness of impermanence (無常 mujō?), or transience of things, and both a transient gentle sadness (or wistfulness) at their passing as well as a longer, deeper gentle sadness about this state being the reality of life.”
Mono no aware… How beautiful…
Redbubble.com
I really need to put some more of my artwork on Redbubble, but never seem to get around to it.
I get a small royalty when someone buys merchandise on the site with my design on it.
new era rainbow coloured abstract design by jenny meehan ©jenny meehan
Please note, all my images are copyrighted and should not be used without permission under any circumstances.
If you wish to obtain a license to use a work of art by Jenny Meehan, please contact Jenny Meehan in the first instance to clarify your requirements.
This is quick and easy for both parties and is organised either directly with the artist or through a collective management organisation; DACS, depending on nature of use.
Good Quote:
“Shortcomings, both real and imagined, when deeply seen and accepted, are an important part of the transformative process of learning to let go. If we do not let go of the need to be perfect, our need to be perfect will get in our way. Likewise, if we do not let go of our fear of failing, our fear of failing will get in the way. But as we learn to let go of the need to be perfect and the fear of failure, the intimate, earthy stuff of being a vulnerable, loving human being begins to shine through. In an ongoing process of learning to let go we bear witness to the great truth that the master limps. The mastery of life is intermingled with the ongoing weaknesses and limitions that gives life its rich and many layered texture and meaning.”
Copyright © 2013 Dr. James Finleyhttp://contemplativeway.org/newsletter/contemplativeliving.cfm
Langstone Harbour – The Tide Comes In
This painting is one from the past, but still available to buy if anyone would like it. It is a rarity in my work, as it was painted outside, as you can see from this image.
langstone harbour painting by jenny meehan
Langstone Harbour lies between Portsmouth Harbour to the west, and Chichester Harbour to the east. It is a tranquil and beautiful place, the heart of a dynamic urban area, and a vital part of an extensive biological system.
The harbour is home for charter fishing boats and commercial fishermen, and hosts two commercial aggregate wharves. Many recreational activities including yachting, canoeing and windsurfing are also well established in its sheltered waters.
Langstone Harbour is recognised internationally for its importance for nature conservation, and is a haven for aquatic wildlife and a myriad of bird species.
The Langstone Harbour Board works to ensure the harbour remains a safe place for work and leisure, as well as an area rich in plant and animal life. Quoted from the http://www.langstoneharbour.org.uk/
I love water and water appears time after time in my work. As said before! This painting was a very immersive experience, and as the tide came in, my feet did get wet! The canvas blew off a couple of times too! It started off with a very blue sky and then the weather changed for the worse, but I kept some blue in there!
Jenny Meehan, of the mud flats at Langstone Harbour 2009
Well, better late than never, this post, originally for July, will have to suffice for August as well!
I sell my paintings when no longer needed for study and exhibition purposes. At between £200 and £500 only, they are very good value indeed. For a high quality original abstract painting, you may need to look quite a long way for something in this price bracket. I sell my original paintings to enable me to continue to invest my time and effort into the painting endeavour. Developing my work, materials, research and study all involve time and money. It’s a matter of passion in the end. Any support is welcome and appreciated. Please contact me via my contact page on my website jamartlondon.com if my painting practice interests you and you are looking for high quality contemporary abstract painting by British female artists. I also have extensive archives of my paintings and photography which can be licensed quickly and easily through DACS.
small world futures chapbook
I enjoyed taking part in the Small World Futures project earlier on this year.
And look here….. The delightful chap book!
HUGE thanks to Collect Connect for all their hard work!
Title: Small World Futures – A CollectConnect Production at the #unsettledgallery
It’s published by Sampson Low Ltd, 2018
Chapbook 24
LB088
ISBN 978-1-910578-80-3
All rights reserved.
Text quoted from the sampson low website:
“The tradition of chapbook publishing in England is a long established one and here at Sampson Low Ltd we think it’s the perfect format for our most exciting authors and artists. Although small (A6) and relatively brief (16 printed pages) our punchy publications share their ideas with you in one delicious sitting.” and see here:
https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/chapbooks
This wonderful chapbook is the remaining evidence for the exhibition which took place in public spaces around London Bridge.
“Info: Small World Futures is a collection of 38 miniature sculptures depicting what life could look like in years to come. Each of these small artworks will be placed in public spaces (#unsettledgallery) around London Bridge. A writer will also use the worlds as inspiration.
Venue
#unsettledgallery
Starts
Thursday, February 1, 2018
Ends
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Address
London Bridge, London
Location
London
Organiser
CollectConnect”
I love this kind of thing… I sometimes moan a bit about not showing my work as much as I would like because of costs involved. Something like this gets the work out there on the street. OK, you have to be prepared to loose it. But that’s not a bad thing now and again. I liked very much the writing on my work…I am pretty sure I published it here on this Journal a few posts back.
How good to now have this chapbook as a record! Do go and buy one for yourself.
https://sampsonlow.co/chapbooks/
vibe drome by jenny meehan
Kingston Artists’ Open Studios (OS18)
Kingston Artists’ Open Studios (OS18) took place on 9/10th and 16/17th June 2018 from 11am to 5pm each day.
It was a really good year, and very enjoyable.
Here are some images of my paintings in situ…
KAOS open studios jenny meehan paintings
KAOS open studios jenny meehan paintings
KAOS open studios jenny meehan paintings
KAOS open studios jenny meehan paintings
Kingston Artists’ Open Studios is a voluntary group, and we need and appreciate all the support we can get. If you think you could help us in anyway, do contact us via the link below. Visual art is important to the health of society, bringing pleasure, connection, and space for contemplation. The value is not easy to measure maybe, but it is always worth investment.
Hope to see you at this even next year, maybe? !Jenny Meehan
http://www.kingstonartistsopenstudios.co.uk/
kingston artists open studios jenny meehan image from 2017
Image shows paintings of Jenny Meehan and ceramics by Cressida Borrett http://www.cressidaborrett.co.uk/
Contact me via my contact page at jamartlondon if you would like more information!
http://www.jamartlondon.com/contact/4569980742
Looking backwards and moving forwards…
Or moving forwards and looking backwards? !!!
This old post from 2012…
This painting… I liked it, and it was exhibited at The Ark Conference Centre in Basingstoke. Titled “Sorrow for Myself”.
The narrative: The weight is heavy. The sun sets. Broken fragments are carried away. Down stream. This is sorrow. Sorrow for myself. Blood is shed, but it is the blood of Christ which covers. God is compassionate.
The reference: “Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!”
We think about being sorry for ourselves as a bad thing. But it’s not what I meant with using the term “Sorrow for myself”. I have allowed myself to feel sorrow for myself, and to feel the sadness which I previously did not allow very much room for in my life. It seems to be for me a process of allowing myself to feel compassionate towards myself. I picked up this painting last year and decided to continue to work on it. I have now titled it “Kaleidoscope” …
Not a great image of it… Main archive image is still in the camera, but this will do for now.
Also I am increasingly deciding to put watermarks over my images. It’s a boring job to contact websites and get them to remove images they have no permission and/or license to use. Very boring.
kaleidoscope painting jenny meehan ©jenny meehan
The story behind this title is as follows; I had a vision while at an Ignatian Retreat Day at the Mount Street Jesuit Centre a while back where I could see I was holding a kaleidoscope in my hands and lamenting the broken pieces in it. Then Jesus, or rather, Yeshua the Messiah… (Digression! So many people just use the words “Jesus Christ” meaninglessly, I am seriously wondering if I might be best to use Yeshua, as it’s more in the historical context and I don’t hear people using it carelessly!) Anyway, back to the point. He placed his hand on mine and told me to lift the kaleidoscope to my eyes and point it at him. He guided my hand to turn it and as I did so beautiful light and patterns flowed through it, and the patterns went on forever and ever and they were always changing and all completely different. Both looking at the brokenness, which was a sorrowful process, and looking through the kaleidoscope, which was wonderful, are important. It was hard to allow Yeshua to touch my hand. Maybe I felt like a leper, as we had been meditating on Yeshua healing the leper? Maybe? I wonder if the turning motion was the process of repentance? It would seem so based on my current reflections and thoughts. A continual process. Allowing our Creator God to turn us around? Writing words about it seems shoddy and clumsy. But I continue to think about it. And to title the painting with its continued work “Kaleidoscope” is just right.
Here it is now. I showed it at this years Kingston Artists’ Open Studios.
I sell my paintings when they have been exhibited and/or I no longer need them for study and reflection. I don’t sell more than a handful each year. It’s great when they find someone to own them. Makes more room in my house for the new ones too! I am increasingly not using frames as they take up a lot of room. I am now starting to work on card and other substrates rather than stretched canvas.
Tiny Bones Poem by Jenny Meehan
Tiny Bones
I trod on fragments of bone;
Homosexual, Jew and gypsy.
Unknowingly desecrating
precious loved ones,
with my soles.
A heartless, human realisation –
I did not know, until the man told me.
When he spoke,
my world changed.
Brokenness took a new meaning.
Even the tiniest
prejudice
is a terrible thing.
I took one of the splinters –
pressed it
into my skin
and wept.
Jenny Meehan
lasting stones of memory painting by jenny meehan for holocaust memorial day kingston
“Surface Work” Exhibition across Victoria Miro’s London galleries VERY GOOD INDEED!
This was good… VERY GOOD. When I found out about it it was straight into the diary. Essential viewing for any female abstract artist. And other folk too, of course! I wrote about this a little bit in my last post. But here is more information…
Some text from the website:
“An international, cross-generational exhibition of women artists who have shaped and transformed, and continue to influence and expand, the language of abstract painting.
Information
Private View 6-8pm, Wednesday 11 April 2018
14 St George Street, London W1S 1FE
Tuesday-Saturday 10am-6pm
Taking place across Victoria Miro’s London galleries, this international, cross-generational exhibition is a celebration of women artists who have shaped and transformed, and continue to influence and expand, the language and definition of abstract painting.”
It included the following female artists:
“The exhibition includes: Rita Ackermann, Etel Adnan, Gillian Ayres, Sara Barker, Lynda Benglis, Suzanne Blank Redstone,
Betty Blayton, Sandra Blow, Sarah Cain, Varda Caivano, Lygia Clark, Prunella Clough, Angela de la Cruz, Jay DeFeo,
Svenja Deininger, Lucy Dodd, Louise Fishman, Helen Frankenthaler, Mary Heilmann, Ilse D’Hollander, Loie Hollowell,
Tess Jaray, Martha Jungwirth, Bharti Kher, Lee Krasner, Yayoi Kusama, Agnes Martin, Joan Mitchell, Katy Moran, Annie
Morris, Rebecca Morris, Victoria Morton, Elizabeth Murray, Dala Nasser, Elizabeth Neel, Tomie Ohtake, Betty Parsons,
Howardena Pindell, Liubov Popova, Fiona Rae, Mary Ramsden, Dorothea Rockburne, Jackie Saccoccio, Mira Schendel,
Yuko Shiraishi, Raphaela Simon, Pat Steir, Hedda Sterne, Alma Thomas, Mildred Thompson, Adriana Varejão, Paule
Vézelay, Jessica Warboys and Mary Weatherford”
List of works:
Quote from press release:
“Surface Work takes its title from a quote by the Abstract Expressionist painter Joan Mitchell, who said: ‘Abstract is not a style. I simply want to
make a surface work.’ The exhibition reflects the ways in which women have been at the heart of abstract art’s development over the past
century, from those who propelled the language of abstraction forward, often with little recognition, to those who have built upon the legacy of
earlier generations, using abstraction to open new paths to optical, emotional, cultural, and even political expression. Historical and
contemporary works shown in dialogue will create a series of conversations across the decades, touching on themes such as the monochrome,
process, geometric abstraction, seriality and gesture.”
News coverage example:
Guide to the exhibition:
http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/8554a0b8#/8554a0b8/1
I posted some images last month.
victoria miro surface works visit 2018
The painting above, WELL…That’s paint! It’s inspiring!
Adriana Varejão
Azulejão (Moon), 2018
Oil and plaster on canvas
180 x 180 cm
70 7/8 x 70 7/8 in
On the way home I sat at Waterloo station and enjoyed the view!
Romantic Abstract Expressionistic Lyrical Paintings by Jenny Meehan British female painter
When I get to archiving my current work by processing the images and information I promise I will post them up on this journal. But this time of year is the important and vital painting season for me. I need to paint now because I use my studio tent and it is most usable at this time of year. Kitchen and garden are also handy, but as my paints and tools are all out, sorted and ready to roll, painting has to come first. This is the least piecemeal part of the year… from March to September and this is because I focus and drive ahead in all respects. Practically it works best. Image taking, admin, and all the rest are confined to the darker weeks and days, the colder and the wetter times. Yes, times like that still occur, this is the UK, of course, and I let the weather determine my course of action and artistic activities. So my website remains a little need in an update, and digital tasks pile up. Housework piles up. All piles up, but the most necessary. It’s actually much easier to structure things this way than try and equalise the process. I do write this artist’s journal, but that is because I love to write! However, this explains the lack of new images of more recent paintings. So repetition of paintings displayed on this artist’s blog is the necessary result. Never mind. Cannot do everything!
catastrophe becoming painting by jenny meehan submitted to 100days100women.wordpress.com british collectable abstract paintings ©jenny meehan
This is one of my personal favourites. It’s got a great surface…I am pleased with what I have achieved. This is one of my best achievements.
seaside details ©jenny meehan DACS
This is a detail from “Sea Side”. How annoying… The full painting image is on one of my hard drives and not on this newer computer. I have extracts but no full view available right now to post. Never mind!
seaside details
seaside details ©jenny meehan DACS
seaside details
seaside details
seaside details
seaside details
seaside details
seaside details
seaside details
seaside details
summer seaside details romantic expressionist lyrical abstract painting by jenny meehan jennifer meehan
seaside details
seaside details
seaside details
seaside details
seaside details
seaside details
seaside details
seaside details
©jenny meehan DACS
romantic abstract lyrical painting british female contemporary artistseaside details
All this dancing and prancing around with painting… lyrical and brushmarks, experimentation and exploration. I am pushing ahead.
This is another sound painting. As it is the seaside time of year here in the UK…As much as possible, this is a good one to show now. The side side is one of my favourite places. Both positive memories from the past and current pleasure inform the feeling. As my childhood was more sad than not, I hold onto the happy parts most keenly because they were gifts and I am glad I received them.
british collectable abstract paintings ©jenny meehan DACS
romantic abstract lyrical painting british female contemporary artist
Ah thank goodness for that “Drop in the Ocean” painting is at least to be found in completeness!
These two go very well together. Not surprising really! I am selling these, so contact me if interested, via my website; jamartlondon.com
I sell my paintings when no longer needed for study and exhibition purposes. At between £200 and £500 only, they are very good value indeed. For a high quality original abstract painting, you may need to look quite a long way for something in this price bracket. I sell my original paintings to enable me to continue to invest my time and effort into the painting endeavour. Developing my work, materials, research and study all involve time and money. It’s a matter of passion in the end. Any support is welcome and appreciated.
It’s bye bye for now.
Cannot believe it took until the 18th of the month to get this done.
Never mind.
Victoria Miro Trip – Surface Work Exhibition
A quick shimmy around some of the paintings on show!
victoria miro surface works visit 2018
victoria miro surface works visit 2018
victoria miro surface works visit 2018
victoria miro surface works visit 2018
victoria miro surface works visit 2018
A bit of self indulgent selfies and digital alterations!
victoria miro surface works visit 2018
victoria miro surface works visit 2018
victoria miro surface works visit 2018
victoria miro surface works visit 2018
victoria miro surface works visit 2018
https://www.victoria-miro.com/exhibitions/521/
You see, I may not be hanging in a gallery like Victoria Miro’s, but I can still hang around in one, and be inspired. Many muses sit on the shoulders of those who carry a paint brush (or any other paint applicator!)
It was great just to be there…Great encouragement among some of the remains of work done by other women. The older I get the more wildly I feel I love painting and the more it matters. Yet I was also thinking very much, and reflecting on the words:
“Business! Mankind was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The deals of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!” is a quotation from A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
“Business! Mankind was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence,
were, all, my business. The deals of my trade were but a drop of water in the
comprehensive ocean of my business!”
Reflections on Artists and what their “Business” is!
With all the ambitions in the world, all the hopes of being remembered, and of having one’s painting remaining, after you die, (and hopefully in more than a charity shop), in all of the random thoughts about the significance of the work you do, and whether it would ever have a high value placed on it in the realm of financial exchanges or not…Many of us artists entertain such fancies, even though we might not admit to them. It seems that in this current time, artists are treated as entrepreneurs, who operate primarily in order to make money. Yet the vast majority of us, in my opinion, do what we do in order that we might continue to be able to do it. This is a non-profit making endeavour. The motivation is not financial. It is much, much greater than that. It’s about humanity, culture, depth of experience, connection with others and with oneself. It is creating a vessel for inner life. The inner life of us as individuals, yes, this is an essential part, and even doing this can be quite a challenge, but this also applies to a much larger expanse… Our relationships with the world around us and the inner life of not just our own body but humanity in it’s most inter-relational dimension and expressions. Art is essential, not a side line matter, or something to hold status just because of monetary value, or not. Any trade is always going to be a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business. And I am very glad I have sorted this out in my own head!
Thoughts of success in the business sense of the word are most probably an illusion. For me, personally, I think this is the case, and I have happily dispensed with the ambition, (for it has popped its head in the door on a few occasions). It’s taken time to sort out WHY I do what I do, and WHY it matters. Art making is NOT business for me and it won’t hold that place in my life either. It’s been perfectly acceptable for artists in the past to have day jobs and also be an artist, and there hasn’t been any shame in that. For me, my “day job” is a mother and homemaker, and undervalued in our society as this job is (not even claiming the merit of being a “job” because it is not paid work), it’s an important and worthwhile occupation. I have to confess to being grateful that as my offspring get older, I have more and more time released for my artistic endeavours! There is always a (mostly) healthy tension between the two. Both affect each other and it’s an interesting relationship. Less frustrating now than it used to be when the children were younger.
For some artists, for their art working to be a business, may be what they want and aim for…It may matter a great deal, and/or it may need to matter. It may just happen; a fortunate combination of the right factors and knowing the right people, having the funds to get where they want to go, or other advantages which pave the way forward. Or it may be a huge struggle of the most difficult and challenging type with very little advantage or fortune, yet they manage to do it anyway. Or a bit of both, from time to time. This is all very admirable, and I think it’s great. It’s not my path though, and I will always be content as long as I am able to work with materials in the way that I do. For me it is ALL about working with materials, enjoying writing, and loving relationships. That is loving…and relationships, and loving relationships!
I think that even if an artist’s work does enter the business arena, this does NOT actually make it more valuable in any but material currency. The value of your work is the value of your work. It is part of your life story, and it’s significance lies mainly in that. It is the expression of your very self and that is why it matters immensely. I read recently somewhere…I cannot remember where it was… that art is “a vessel for the interior life” and I just love this. Love it to bits. Involvement and commitment to the arts is a humanistic endeavour; it’s about relationships and interactions with other people and our environment. Ideas, thoughts, new perspectives, spirituality, insights, human development. Emotional, spiritual and mental engagement, reflection, and creative regeneration. Now, more than ever, the interior life is in danger of being depressed. The time to dwell, reflect, and just be… The time of gazing, experiencing, allowing space and light to exist with no other reason to need to be than that they are. I guess that is my painting popping into my head now.
Artists bring the artistic imagination into everyday life.
Creative expression is a fundamental human right.
Let’s not forget that.
We all, naturally, are pleased when people appreciate our work as artists and show they value what we do. We are especially pleased when collectors decide to buy our work and pay money for it, because money is very useful indeed and can open lots of creative doors in terms of enabling us to try out new ideas, develop professionally, and increase our skills. Unfortunately, this cannot be counted upon. It isn’t sufficient to keep us to the task we are engaged with. A lot of strength and determination need to come from within. If thoughts of public appreciation and recognition are realistic or not, (and it’s always nice when work is appreciated) ultimately, it doesn’t really matter one bit, because indeed, it’s just “a drop of water” anyway, this money matter. The business of life, in truth, is much greater. I find it helpful to remind myself regularly of this though, because I get so caught up in what I am doing it’s easy to loose all perspective! Such is the problem of any passion, I suppose. This is most probably why I am taking the time to write what I am now. I write to myself, as much as to anyone else!
So I am content with my selfies in this gallery, with esteemed work behind me, even though not my own! Great inspirational visit, much appreciated.
Kingston Artists’ Open Studio!
http://www.kingstonartistsopenstudios.co.uk/
Kingston Artists’ Open Studios (OS18) will be taking place on 9/10th and 16/17th June 2018 from 11am to 5pm each day. I will be enjoying the kind hospitality of one of my KAOS artist companions just a short walk from Kingston Town centre, not far from the Kingston Gate of Richmond Park. I will be part of the KAOS 9 studios which is based at 14 Liverpool Rd KT2 7SZ Parking available (metered Sat)
It would make a lovely day out to follow a few of the trails in and out of artist’s homes and studio spaces, so do come along!
For more details, please contact me via the contact page on jamartlondon.com. I will put you on my mailing list and send further information as soon as available!
http://www.jamartlondon.com/contact/4569980742
Hope to see you! Jenny Meehan
I need and appreciate greatly your support! I don’t take part in any other event, so the Annual Kingston Artist’s Open Studios in Kingston Upon Thames Surrey is the only time I get out there and invest time in this type of activity. Most of my collectors come across me in other ways. But it’s a good way to meet me and other very talented creatives!
Basically I work on a non-profit making basis, as any money I get from my creative activities gets fed straight back into my creative project. Materials, professional development, research activities and writing, plus all the associated tasks which are part of my practice all take time and money. I am fortunate that I can work in the way I do, and I never take it for granted.
Like many artists, I don’t have profit making aspirations, for me it is simply a matter of wanting to continue to be able to do what I do in life. To be true to myself. And share what I have with others, if it helps and enhances their life in any way possible. I sell my paintings when I have spent sufficient time learning from them and when they have been exhibited.
I sell my original paintings for between £200 and £400, which is amazingly affordable. I do this deliberately because I would rather my paintings be affordable and bring pleasure to others in an accessible way. If something strikes a chord with you about my work, then follow your instinct and buy one if you can. If your are not able to, then thanks to the wonders of the internet, I am glad you can at least see them that way.
There is such a wide variety of artists and their work. All so different and wonderfully unique.
So come along and support your local creative community. Kingston Artists’ Open Studios is a voluntary organisation which supports creativity!
joy pain painting by jenny meehan © Jenny Meehan DACS All Rights Reserved lyrical abstract expressionist colourful textural art painting spirituality christian religious faith licensable image book covers etc see jamartlondon.com
Joy/Pain Painting by Jenny Meehan . One of the works which will be displayed as part of this years super Surrey arts event: “Kingston Artists’ Open Studios”. VERY busy at the moment getting work ready for this.
“My Muybridge” Exhibition at Kingston Museum
At the same time as the Kingston Artists’ Open Studios is the “My Muybridge” Exhibition, flyer below.
My piece is rather dark and delves into the subconscious mind of Eadweard Muybridge as I imagine it might have been. Work is a funny thing. We can do fantastic and amazing things, but in the end it is our being which makes the most significant mark of our existence. What we do matters, of course, but nothing can take the place of happiness, contentment, relationships, love. It’s very important for artists to remember this, because we get so caught up in our work. This is lovely, and yet our work is only one little aspect of us in the end. I guess I felt I wanted to go beyond his work, as this has had its impact, and it’s out there, well known, appreciated, clearly seen. And it will always be seen and noted. But I tend to be interested in the things which are not so obvious, and while speculative, and imaginative, it gave me a lot of pleasure to make this painted collage. I did this after doing a great deal of research on reports and perspectives, both factual and imaginative, on Eadweard_Muybridges personal life, as much as we know.
If you are not familiar with Eadweard Muybridge you can do your own little bit of research here…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadweard_Muybridge
Here is an extract from my statement about the work. Unfortunately the artist’s statements are not shown in the exhibition. This is a bit of a shame I think, as often new perspectives on a subject are made much clearer when the artist’s thinking and approach; their rationale, is at least glimpsed at.
“My creative practice includes poetry and painting and the relationships between the two. My interest in the subconscious provided the foundation for this work which touches on both lack of affect and the murder of a man.
The Mind’s Eye
What thoughts and memories
unsettled
might dwell in the unconscious mind of the artist
as he works?
Projected onto models…
Figures of his own past
laughing
moving
strangers
touching new pain in the mind’s eye?
Shot images…
they infiltrate the heart
yet, even the most animated
leave it
still
so solitary.
Jenny Meehan 2017”
Quite a nice change for me to produce something with a particular subject in mind from the outset. Immense amount of research went into the work.
minds eye muybridge artwork jenny
Kingston Arts at Kingston Museum My Muybridge exhibition surrey cultural event 2018
Things which make me happy: Art Collectors who kindly let me know how they feel about my work!
This lovely quote, written by one of my collectors! It is always a great happiness to sell and painting, and this is not a simple matter of money, though we all need that, it is far, far more!
“I thought your picture was the finest thing in that exhibition — I am very pleased to be acquiring it. I have lots of things in my collection — Terry Frost, Clifford Fishwick, Sandra Blow, Barbara Hepworth, John Hoyland, Keith Vaughan … Also a fin de siecle artist called Charles Conder.”
I keep the buyer confidential as I am not in the habit of listing other people’s personal possessions, but it’s bringing a smile to my face, of course! It’s a few years back now.
Kaleidoscope: Colour and Sequence in 1960s British Art
Looks very good!
Text copied and pasted from the website:
“An Arts Council Collection Touring Exhibition
British art of the 1960s is noted for its bold, artificial colour, alluring surfaces and capricious shapes and forms, yet these exuberant qualities are often underpinned by a strong sense of order, founded on repetition, sequence and symmetry. Bringing together outstanding examples of painting and sculpture from the Arts Council Collection and other major UK collections, Kaleidoscope examines 1960s visual art through a fresh and surprising lens, bringing into view the relationship between colour and form, rationality and irrationality, order and waywardness.
As the first Arts Council Collection survey of 1960s British art in over twenty years, Kaleidoscope assumes a wide angle, looking across media and movements to find fresh correspondences. From this perspective, the mind-bending surfaces of Op Art, the flattened repetition of Pop, the mathematical order of Constructivism, and the sequential placement of brightly-coloured abstract units found in New Generation sculpture find a common language shaped by sequence and symmetry.
Kaleidoscope represents the work of over twenty artists including: David Annesley, Anthony Caro, Robyn Denny, Tess Jaray, Phillip King, Kim Lim, Mary Martin, Eduardo Paolozzi, Bridget Riley, Tim Scott, Richard Smith, William Tucker and William Turnbull.”
I am not going to get there to see it in person, but thankfully so many resources online, I can have a very good research session!!!
“Christ Under the Tree/Contemplation/Garden of Gethsemane”
It is always a great pleasure to sell a painting. I find it interesting and exciting to meet those who decide they like my painting so much they want an ongoing relationship with it!!! Some of my painting I hold onto, (often for quite a while!) maybe because I am still learning something from it, or I am wanting to hold it for an exhibition or event, or I would like to do some writing around it. I am always happy to let it go… I see this as part of the process in fact, and I have no wish to die under a pile of my own work! But I do not paint in order to produce. Bit of a paradox there! I have realised I need to keep the creation process completely separate from any other journey the work might make. The painting has a second life, apart from me, and it has the life which has been happening during its creation. The two are not connected. The reason for the paintings existence cannot be equated in any way with what will happen to it. It must speak only for itself. And that must be completely enough reason for its existence.
I have painted only a couple of works as commissions over the last ten years. I don’t doubt there’s a place for this, but it is not my usual way of working at the present time. The very good thing about painting something for an external reason or purpose, is it can introduce very specific challenges which are great to get stuck into. The “Mind’s Eye” painted collage was like this. And I enjoyed it, for the challenge. It involved a lot of research which takes time. But it is interesting intellectually. In creating something for a particular purpose things often get more conceptual at a stage when I wouldn’t normally think in clear thoughts. Usually the thinking and reflection comes long after I have painted something. So getting all conceptual can be an interesting dimension to a work. Or sometimes the challenge can be practical, as it was when I created a painting for the company “All Glass” So I am always open to external reasons for a painting to be. However focused I am on what I am doing, I think I always need to be open to change, development, challenge, debate, discussion. But above all, nothing should interfere with the process of creation, and the relationship I have with my painting needs to be focused. This seems to be the main challenge in painting, for me I find. It’s an act of contemplation which takes time and discipline. It’s great!
The painting below “Christ Under the Tree/Contemplation/Garden of Gethsemane (yes, THREE titles!)
holy week art church of england hook jenny meehan
I am pleased that this has now a new home. Also such a lovely comment and feedback on it. As recent I am not going to quote, but as always, thank you.
Another Exhibition at Kingston Museum
me in front of anagrams kingston museum banner
Gracious! This was me in 2016… I have lost quite a bit of weight thankfully! Kingston Museum chose to use part of my painting on their banner which was good, and here I am standing in front of it! That was before my knee replacement when I couldn’t walk very far or well at all! Apologies, this is a bit of repetition. I write in a piecemeal fashion. Happens sometimes. Cutting down time by leaving as it is!
You can see some very interesting pieces of art, including my own offering, at the My Muybridge exhibiton! Details: Kingston Art 2018: My Muybridge’ exhibition at Kingston Museum 4 May – 7 July 2018 Wheatfield Way, Kingston upon Thames KT1 2PS
Kingston Arts at Kingston Museum My Muybridge exhibition surrey cultural event 2018
Ooops! Bit random, already wrote about that. Must remember not to write my blog in the same way I paint my paintings! Piecemeal!
Wrote that earlier too! Ha Ha! More of the same!
Studio Tent… In the Spring and Summer it’s a wonderful place!
There’s a lot of work going on in my studio tent at the moment. This time of year in the run up to the Kingston Artists’ Open Studios is always full on! Love it! Yet I don’t tend to share my work at this stage in the making…It feels better to keep it to myself. There is a lot of colour mixing going on. A fair amount of finishing off too. A lot of preparation for the Kingston Artists’ Open Studios.
So what I can show you now is a few past photos from the archives. Though I don’t tend to paint from direct observation very much at all anymore, I still get my inspiration from creation around me. Everything goes in through the eyes. I love looking and look hard as much as possible. Taking in all the wonder and beauty around me. Endless beauty and design, beautifully expressed. So much. So immense. So inspiring.
©jenny meehan
Creation and nature is so wonderful, I love it! Cannot bear to copy something like this flower above, because it is so perfect anyway! Do enjoy taking photos though! It’s all colour, light and composition which are such a joy.
A small selection of memory images
I’ve posted these because I don’t tend to show my photography anymore…it’s all paintings I exhibit. But my archives are full of photographs and my photographs are memories which still beckon in visual directions and serve some kind of purpose for me in reminding me of things which have made an impression on me and which I thought worthy to remember. Though my photographic output is not what it was, due to the need to focus on painting, I like to share past digital imagery.
jenny meehan jamartlondon photography monochrome
jenny meehan jamartlondon photography monochrome
jenny meehan jamartlondon photography monochrome
jenny meehan jamartlondon photography monochrome
jenny meehan jamartlondon photography monochrome
jenny meehan jamartlondon.com photography
As you can see, water is a repeated theme. In various forms, from ice to unfrozen! Vast amounts and small amounts. I spend a lot of time looking at water! Water is an element which repeatedly inspires! It’s immensely relaxing, interesting, and amazing!
Digging Up Old Posts…Fragment from 2012 Jenny Meehan WordPress Artist’s Journal
I always enjoy a reminisce, and here is one:
“If you are in London this Summer, take a look at the “Not The Royal Academy” exhibition of original artwork at Llewellyn Alexander (Fine Paintings) Ltd situated very close to Waterloo Station. There is a varied selection of paintings on show, and seeing them makes me think I really ought to try to enter something into the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition next year. It helps to think that if you don’t get something in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition itself, you could have a chance of getting something on show at Llewellyn Alexander’s “Not The Royal Academy” exhibition instead.
http://www.nottheroyalacademy.com/#salon
The exhibition of paintings at Llewellyn Alexander is changed around every three weeks, so I think I need to go and take another look soon. The paintings are representational and taking a quick look at the website it looks like the prices are around the £400 mark in the main. It is a very pleasant gallery, they are always very welcoming and though the space is quite compact, they always seem to use it well ensuring that the do have quality, fine painting on show, rather than paint squeezed out a tube, with a long explanation of what it means!
Thinking about the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition , and possibly entering a painting in it, it is a lot of hassle for a very small chance of success, but on the other hand, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained” comes to mind. You never know. It’s all a bit random I am sure, pot luck really, but it is exposure and I have realised that I can save some money by reducing the pages on my website next time it comes up for renewal, so I might just re allocate the money saved to enter the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition next year. If I paint a representational painting, it might get into the Llewellyn Alexander show, so I might just do that.”
I was up in London near Waterloo Station recently and noticed that Llewellyn Alexander was, by all appearances, at the end of its’s life. And I find it is all done and dusted!
“After 31 Happy years of trading,
the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery
closed its doors on February 24, 2018.
Best wishes to the many customers
and artists who enjoyed our exhibitions.”
Well, all things do come to an end. But I will miss the gallery immensely. It was a lovely place to visit…I particularly liked their miniatures and the “Not the Royal Academy” exhibitions. The year after I wrote the text above I did submit to the Royal Academy and then, rejected in due course, trundled over to Llewellyn Alexander with my painting “Upper Room”. Interestingly, though it is an abstract painting, they received it and exhibited it, and this is something I am very grateful for. I felt it somewhat of a compliment, bearing in mind the work is so abstract. It’s a great relief when people can see quality in an abstract painting. For indeed, though bold, abstract and bright, the painting did involve a sensitivity and discernment which is not always spotted by all who cast their eyes on it.
lyrical abstract painting selected for “Not the Royal Academy” exhibition at Llewellyn Alexander Fine Paintings Waterloo in 2013. For sale.
I do still have this original painting, so contact me if interested. I am normally happy to part with paintings if they have been shown in a public exhibition at least once. And if I have dwelt and learnt from them long enough, which is the case with this one. I am happy for it to go to another life now. It’s a signature painting…What do I mean by that? I think it marks a decisive point in my creative evolution. It was awareness of presence and the importance of this in a painting which became a clearer goal. And those glass beads, of course, and pure pigment. Which continue to feature in much of my painting. I sell my original paintings, when ready to roll away with the waves and embark on their new life with another person between around £130 – £500. I would rather have them appreciated by other people than just hanging around here, so keep the price on the low side… Gotta be realistic. There’s a lot of wonderful art work in the world. A lot of choice. My prayer is simply that the paintings find a friend they can live with, are appreciated, and that the person that buys them LOVES the painting, and continues to get a lot of solace and enjoyment from gazing at it. Then it has done its job and I have done mine. And as long as I can continue to do the work I do I am happy. Here’s some old text about the “Upper Room” or “The Upper Room”.
Here’s some information on my painting “The Upper Room” which is to be included in the “Not the Royal Academy” exhibition at Llewellyn Alexander (Fine Paintings) LTD. (I just love to include the “fine paintings” part! I know I could miss it out quite easily!)
“The Upper Room” is a painting in which I started with no idea of the direction it might take me in, instead responding to each mark and colour as the painting progressed in a process based approach. Using both my instincts and formal considerations, I ended up with this. Emotionally, it made me think of the New Testament account of Jesus taking the Last Supper with his disciples, I think because of the sense of presence and warmth it communicated to me emotionally, (The Holy Spirit, the comforter, “I will be with you”) even though it contains a large area of black. Also, because of the way it is held together with a building type structure; upper and a lower areas, and suggestions of both entrance and exit. Pentecost also happened in an “Upper Room” though not the same one, I don’t think.
Well, that is more than enough for this month! I have a habit of continually popping different pieces into place!
PS…
If you would like to give money to help support my creative practice I can accept it quickly and easily through the Paypal.me process. Simply put the following in your browser:
paypal.me/jennymeehan and follow the prompts. Please consider supporting my work in this way if it strikes a chord with you and you are able to do so. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a way via this system for me to send a “Thank you” to you, so you will need to just simply know that I appreciate it very much indeed! Putting work into exhibitions does unfortunately cost money, and yet I like to get it out there. Submission fees are the bane of my life, and I will spare you the moan. Because I have moaned before on this blog and there is no need to moan again! (The Kingston Museum Exhibition was fine, by the way, and no gripe with that, very very good arrangements, and very fair, but so many exhibitions require considerable chunks of cash JUST to submit…) That’s even before you get your work shown, (or not).
My ego doesn’t matter, it’s not about that. It is NICE to have work selected, yes, it’s a nice affirmation, but only a bonus. An artist makes their work for themselves primarily. The have to hang it in the gallery of their soul and be completely happy for its presence to inhibit them forever! But when it gets hung elsewhere, it’s great too, because it is shared, and who wants to keep something all for themselves when it can be shared? But It’s the way things are this paying to show your work to others. A right pain. Sometimes just a small amount. Not a problem. Just a bit of a shame when money is made out of artists wish to exhibit their work, sometimes so ruthlessly. As an artist, you just want your work to be seen, because as music is made to be heard, art is made to be seen. Simple as that.
Jenny Meehan on Redbubble.com
Redbubble is a great “print on demand” website and I have some of my images there. The world is full of fabulous artists and Redbubble is a good place for buying merchandise which is original, exciting and contemporary. The artists on Redbubble get a royalty payment from any items that you purchase there, so it is one way to support the creative community and help artists gain a little bit of income from their work. Do take a look!
https://www.redbubble.com/people/jennyjimjams?asc=u
I get around 30% of the price you pay for the merchandise you buy. Every little helps!
Little Robin Friend
robin my supervisor!
Well, my little robin friend is serving as supervisor in the garden right now! I go out there just for a look or for a rumble around the studio tent and I hear his chirp, see something flitting through the foliage, and there he is! Before I know what has happened, I find myself digging around in the earth… weeding, moving pots, filling pots with earth… I tell myself I am doing this because it needs to be done, but the truth is that while this is true, the most immediate reason is this little robin is telling me he wants me to work in the garden so he can have some insects, worms, and whatever else I reveal!
I am now to be found rustling around myself, not in the foliage but in the studio tent. This year I am keen on rollers it seems and have an assortment. I started using them last year in experiments and now I have gathered quite a few. It’s good to have new tools to experiment with. So there’s some action happening. There is a lot of tidying up to be done, and I am grateful for the studio tent. OK, it has its limitations, but I know of many artists whose studio space isn’t much different, even when “indoors”. The only difference with mine is that it gets rather damp and wet. I have extended it now. It consists of two tarpaulin covered market stalls and has now ventured into the side passage and outhouse. That’s the wet and damp part, because there is a crack in the ceiling. It’s reinforced concrete. The good news about having a large crack in your ceiling is that the water does drip down through it. I’m serious. It’s better for the water to have somewhere to go than to build up above and then damage the concrete further. Well, that’s how I have chosen to think about it!
In this new darkened area of my studio tent, or now my studio tent with outhouse extension, is that I can experiment with larger substrates and also light projection. I have been wanting to do this for ages, so at last a new door is opened. I have purchased some folding tables too, so I have more table space. It’s great to have more space. I cannot quite use it fully yet because of the weather, but it’s not as if I am waiting around to do things. There is always plenty, and more, to do.
Generally in life I am feeling less frustrated by the demands of the domestic using up time when I could be painting. It’s always a huge conflict, but acceptance helps a lot. I am beginning to appreciate the benefits of having my focus fragmented into so many pieces, as it forces a kind of relinquishment which I think probably helps in the long run, even is somewhat frustrating short term. I have always had workaholic tendencies, and often found myself doing the work of two people (unfortunately not for double pay!) in past jobs, so I am aware of constantly overreaching and over stretching myself. This is not a problem as long as one is aware of it. It needs to be managed, addressed, and disciplined! And life… Needs to be enjoyed!
I remain secretive, as is appropriate, about current work in progress. For my eyes only! But always willing to look backwards!
Signs of the Times Series
© Jenny Meehan DACS All Rights ReservedQuick Dip print by Jenny Meehan. One of the Signs of the Times series
There’s a great feeling of rest looking at the smooth flat colours of the signs of the times laminated prints…I’d never bother trying to create that surface in paint which is why I continue to appreciate this series. And the compositions are still teaching me a lot.
© Jenny Meehan DACS All Rights Reserved Rush Hour – Jenny Meehan Signs of the Times Series
Rush Hour is one of my favourites. You can buy a version of it here, on Redbubble.com.
I get a small royalty from any sale on Redbubble.com. Every litttle helps!
Enclosed Garden (Hortus conclusus) Digital Print from Jenny Meehan’s “Signs of the Times” print series. See more at jamartlondon.com
“Signs of the Times” hung at the Cornerhouse Community Arts Centre, Surbiton Surrey
That was a long time ago! The good thing about the laminated “Signs of the Times” is they can be hung in bathrooms and kitchens. I have one which has been hanging in our bathroom for years, and it looks just fine. No mould or any deterioration. If you would like to buy one of my own signed versions contact me via my website as I have one or two still around. I am not planning to print any more, as Redbubble do such a great job of producing good quality prints.
No Cares/Take Courage/Leap of Faith print from Signs of the Times series by Jenny Meehan
This is another favourite of mine…Again, available from Redbubble.com
The night time version of Calm Moment, maybe calm moment in the dark, partner of calm moment in the light!
Here’s an artist’s statement which was submitted with some of the series “Signs of the Times”
Artist Statement – Jenny Meehan
My current body of work, some of which you can see on the enclosed images, is basically a series of experiments with shape and colour. After having worked throughout last year on a series of very lyrical and process led paintings, I realised that I felt the need for more structure in my work. Fuelled by an interest in conveying emotion and thought through elements of abstraction, while at the same time seeking that sense of formal balance which I consider essential to my work, the series of digitally produced laminated prints which I have called “Signs of the Times” relate to my own life and experiences.
The current series will also form the foundation of further paintings in the future, and bring to my painting practice an element of planning. I think that, far from being rigid and inflexible, this will introduce an initial underlying structure which I will be able to use in a very exciting way as I experiment with the relationship between solidity and fluidity in future paintings. Each step in the process of developing my work opens up numerous possibilities, and I cannot be sure exactly of what will happen, which is rather exciting. I do not take a scientific approach to my art, but view it as a process which defies logic, by necessity, and embraces the irrational and spiritual within me.
So these works, though they stand in themselves and I consider them finished, like everything one does are neither an end nor a beginning, but part of an evolving and organic process which I feel pulls me along with it, to some extent. I feel very fortunate to be able to work with visual language and consider it a great privilege to do so. “Signs of the Times” is an interesting experiment in relating thoughts and emotion to visual language in a very direct way.
Jenny Meehan is a Fine and Applied Artist based in South West London/East Surrey, United Kingdom. She works mainly with painting, drawing and digital photography and also writes poetry and an artist’s blog. Jenny also teaches small groups and individual in her studio space. More examples of her practice can be found at http://www.jamartlondon.com .
There are still some “Signs of the Times” in progress, as I work in a piecemeal fashion over periods of several years. It’s a very enjoyable way of working with shapes and colours!
Easter Art Installation at St Paul’s Church of England, Hook
I was very pleased to be able to create this installation in service to the Church and in order to help the prayers and reflections of any who ventured into the building during Holy Week. I will post some additional images soon when I have worked on them, but this gives you an idea. Other members of the church also created some beautiful places to reflect. It was well worth the effort.
holy week art church of england hook jenny meehan
holy week art church of england hook jenny meehan
holy week art church of england hook jenny meehan
holy week art church of england hook jenny meehan
holy week art church of england hook jenny meehan
holy week art church of england hook jenny meehan
holy week art church of england hook jenny meehan
holy week art church of england hook jenny meehan
holy week art church of england hook jenny meehan
holy week art church of england hook jenny meehan
holy week art church of england hook jenny meehan
holy week art church of england hook jenny meehan
holy week art church of england hook jenny meehan
holy week art church of england hook jenny meehan
holy week art church of england hook jenny meehan
holy week art church of england hook jenny meehan
holy week art church of england hook jenny meehan
holy week art church of england hook jenny meehan
holy week art church of england hook jenny meehan
holy week art church of england hook jenny meehan
Lots of images!
It all seems rather a long time ago now!
Was a bit last posting up the April blog entry! Open Studios is rapidly approaching and this is a very busy time of year for me!
Not quite done with the contemplative theme though…
The Soldier And The Cross
This is an old poem I wrote a few years back. I didn’t display it as part of the installation in the church but I have re read it, and edited it slightly.
The Soldier And The Cross
For a moment
I thought you a bit of a wimp…
To turn,
And say to me
“What have I done to you?”
I saw…
In your innocence…
A victim mentality
related to my response to suffering…
A powerless moment
of weakness
and subjection.
And ALL in me,
ALL that grasps onto power…
Felt repulsed
and
disgusted by you.
By the sight of you.
Because…
It was true…You had done nothing,
Yet, I hated you,
and your holiness
frightened me.
I,
I am the accuser.
I have raged against you
And despised the look of love on your face.
In paranoid fear
I have threatened you with my wrath
And struck the blow
which tears across your face.
I have hardened my heart
against your love
and pushed you
hard, straight down
against the ground.
In acts of violence
I have hated, and hated more.
I have hated you
More than I dare say.
So how do I stand?
Do I have a place to stand against you?
And can I stop your
Love
from breaking me?
If I believe,
just for one
moment
that you might choose to forgive?
©jenny meehan
Drop In Drawing and Painting
I have finished the sessions until September. I am a trained teacher and I like to use my teaching skills to help people with the development of their own visual expression.
I will be running some more sessions from September. I shouldn’t call them “Drop in” really, as I do need to know in advance if people can come. So if you are interested in these do contact me, and I can send you more details. They are suitable for all levels, as the input is very much individual. The advantage of them is that it is possible for people to just come for a “one off” session, rather than needing to sign up for a whole course. This gives more experienced artists a chance for some input as they feel the need, and in pace with their own work flow. It gives beginners a chance to experiment creatively with support and a level of input normally only possible with individual tuition. I don’t plan a structured session, but the structure is determined by the individual needs of the students attending. I do normally throw a few ideas about for possible areas to explore and experimentation, which all those attending are invited to spend some time on if they wish, though normally people come with existing work, or work in progress, or an idea of what they would like to do, or are trying to achieve. Contact me via my website if you are interested. There is sometimes a bit of a waiting list, as I don’t hold many. http://www.jamartlondon.com/
Time Passes Painting by Jenny Meehan
I have this painting on the wall at the moment and am getting a lot out of it. It’s an early abstract painting but I am still learning from it. I might well take it along to the Kingston Artists’ Open Studios event this year.
jenny meehan jamartlondon art work uk licensable images
I have started removing some of my canvas paintings from their frames and will sell them unframed now. It means I can sell them for a bit less, (£180) and I have found that often people either like to select frames themselves or like to display them unframed. It takes a lot of time for me to make frames, which I have been doing up until now, and it is also very expensive. As the pace of my painting has increased, I am less inclined to spend time with framing.
Kingston Artists’ Open Studios (OS18) will be taking place on 9/10th and 16/17th June 2018 from 11am to 5pm each day. I will be enjoying the kind hospitality of one of my KAOS artist companions just a short walk from Kingston Town centre, not far from the Kingston Gate of Richmond Park.
It would make a lovely day out to follow a few of the trails in and out of artist’s homes and studio spaces, so do come along!
For more details, please contact me via the contact page on jamartlondon.com. I will put you on my mailing list and send further information as soon as available!
Hope to see you! Jenny Meehan
If you would like to give money to help support my creative practice I can accept it quickly and easily through the Paypal.me process. Simply put the following in your browser:
paypal.me/jennymeehan and follow the prompts. Please consider supporting my work in this way if it strikes a chord with you and you are able to do so. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a way via this system for me to send a “Thank you” to you, so you will need to just simply know that I appreciate it very much indeed!
Upper Room Painting by Jenny Meehan
This one isn’t on the wall, but it’s the one I use for the background of my website jamartlondon.com.
jenny meehan jamartlondon art work uk licensable images
It’s available for purchase if you are interested.
Good News
minds eye edward muybridge kingston musuem exhibition jenny meehan
I have had my painting “Mind’s Eye”, image above (sorry, not tarted up image yet!) selected for the exhibition at Kingston Museum this year, details are:
Kingston Art 2018: My Muybridge’ exhibition at Kingston Museum 4 May – 7 July 2018 Wheatfield Way, Kingston upon Thames KT1 2PS
Bit of a departure for me in this one, using images. Like collage..
TO FOLLOW THIS ARTIST’S BLOG SIMPLY GO TO THE RIGHT HAND COLUMN, LOCATE THE “FOLLOW” BOX AND POP IN YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS. YOU WILL THEN RECEIVE MONTHLY UPDATES.
Jenny Meehan (Jennifer Meehan) is a painter-poet, artist-author and Christian contemplative based in East Surrey/South West London. Her interest in Christ-centred spirituality and creativity are the main focus of this artist’s journal, which rambles and meanders on, maybe acting as a personal (yet open to view) note book as much as anything else.
Her website is www.jamartlondon.com. (www.jamartlondon.com replaces the older now deceased website http://www.jennymeehan.co.uk)
Contact Jenny via her website:
http://www.jamartlondon.com/#/contact/4569980742
If you would like to give money to help support my creative practice I can accept it quickly and easily through the Paypal.me process. Simply put the following in your browser:
paypal.me/jennymeehan
and follow the prompts. Please consider supporting my work in this way if it strikes a chord with you and you are able to do so. Unfortunately there isn’t a system in this facility for me to send a thank you. But if you do use it, then understand that I am grateful!
Another way you could support my participation in the visual arts could be by praying for me, if that’s part of your daily life. As mentioned above, I also put some of my visual art work on the “print on demand” website redbubble.com. People buying merchandise with my designs on through redbubble.com results in my gaining a royalty for the use of the image concerned.
Signing up as a follower on this WordPress blog also helps, as does sharing the posts when you receive them. Anything you can do to help me is much appreciated! Time and money is limited for me, and it’s a challenge being a mother-artist in terms of promotion and increasing awareness of what I do. I put my energy into producing my artwork. For the rest, I need any help I can get!
Jenny Meehan (Jennifer Meehan) BA Hons (Lit.) PGCE offers art tuition. Please contact Jenny through the contact form at www.jamartlondon.com for further details. Availability depends on other commitments.
Jenny works mainly with either oils or acrylics creating both abstract/non-objective paintings and also semi-abstract work. She also produces some representational/figurative artwork, mostly using digital photography/image manipulation software, painting and drawing. Both original fine paintings, other artwork forms, and affordable photo-mechanically produced prints are available to purchase.
This artist’s blog is of interest to artists, art collectors, art lovers and anyone interested in fine art. Those interested in British 21st century female contemporary artists, women and art, religious art, spirituality and art, and psychoanalysis and art, will probably enjoy dipping into this Jenny Meehan Contemporary Artist’s Journal.
Art collectors are often interested in the processes, techniques, interests and influences of the artists whose work they collect, and sharing my thoughts and perspectives through a blog is an important dimension of my creative practice.
My main focus is directed towards process led abstract painting, and you can view some examples of this on my website jamartlondon.com. I encapsulate my painting as being romantic,expressionistic, abstract and lyrical. Art collectors interested in lyrical abstraction, abstract expressionist, and essentially romantic art, are likely to find my paintings an interesting and exciting addition to their art collection. Art collectors can view a list of exhibitions I have taken part in on my websites exhibitions page; http://www.jamartlondon.com/#/exhibitions/4570944550
Art collectors can see selected examples of my original paintings organised by year on jamartlondon which gives you a brief overview of the development of my painting over the years:
http://www.jamartlondon.com/#/paintings/4570156802
I am a self-representing artist, whose aim is to ensure I continue to develop my painting practice in an innovative and pioneering way, rather than attempt some kind of commercial success, and whose aim is also that my work is historically relevant, rather then celebrated in that so called and illusive “art world”. I hope to add to the number of people who value, collect, and develop an interest in my paintings and to thereby sustain and develop my practice over many years.
After having left my February post on the late side, I am getting the March post in early! The piecemeal nature of this journal continues its meandering way, as I do mine, making my way through the vast expanse called life!
Desiderata written in 1927 by Max Ehrmann
Someone pointed me in the direction of this lovely piece of writing, which I share with you.
Desiderata
Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others,
even to the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
This has been quoted from the following website: https://www.poemhunter.com/max-ehrmann-2/
Desiderata was written in 1927 by Max Ehrmann, a poet and lawyer from Terre Haute, Indiana. The word desiderata means “things that are desired.” Ehrmann said he wrote it for himself, “because it counsels those virtues I felt most in need of.”
There are also many audio versions of Desiderata by Max Ehrmann, for example the following:
This journal; this “meandering discourse”, serves to educate you on what happens alongside my painting and visual artwork. Though I don’t often make direct references to all that inspires me, confronts me, meets me, greets me and generally impacts my life, and therefore my work, (which is just as well to be honest, because the important meaning in your relationship with my painting is based upon your own life and experience, not mine), however, my painting is one facet of the whole, not the whole, and folk often like to know about the creator behind the art. Sharing what inspires me, may add a dimension to someones experience of my work, and this is something which can add some depth. Many artists are also writers, and/or musicians. It’s good to have different forms to hand. I think writing for me has relieved me of some pressures, and given me a place to explore concepts through a medium I find best suited to it. With painting I am relieved of any need to say or sound anything other than the materials I work with, the rhythms of painting are poetic and resonate emotionally, free of any need to be or say anything other than they are. And that feels good and liberating to me. So I write regularly and this is helpful. It is a very useful tool to have, among the paintbrushes, rollers, and collection of materials. And now I have started to learn hand drumming, which is probably the best new activity I have started for years. This links in with my painting; the connection being rhythms and resonance, and presence and space and all those things which words don’t quite manage to express!
I learnt one of the rhythms from Sinte last night!
Kingston Artists’ Open Studios 2018
Getting ready for this year’s Kingston, Surrey Artist’s Open Studios.
Kingston Artists’ Open Studios (OS18) will be taking place on 9/10th and 16/17th June 2018 from 11am to 5pm each day. I will be enjoying the kind hospitality of one of my KAOS artist companions just a short walk from Kingston Town centre, not far from the Kingston Gate of Richmond Park.
It would make a lovely day out to follow a few of the trails in and out of artist’s homes and studio spaces, so do come along!
For more details, please contact me via the contact page on jamartlondon.com. I will put you on my mailing list and send further information as soon as available!
Hope to see you! Jenny Meehan
Bits and Bobs
I post past work up from time and time. I find it helpful to look back fairly often and ask new questions about what I was doing and why. It also reminds me of what matters to me, and how certain strands have developed over the years. It’s essential in order to come up with new directions, because in looking back you actually see things anew and recognise the elements of your work which you still like and which interest you. Like old friends, who know you well, they often offer important insights! Here is some past work:
“Round and Round Inside My Head” Monoprint by Jenny Meehan
Oil based ink, graphite, and oil pastel on paper.
jenny meehan jamartlondon art work uk licensable images
I don’t use linear elements in my work so much now, or when I do they are hidden lines formed not from direct application of a media but from edges and the meetings of other forms. I have recently started using tearings and collage a bit more and this is bringing line into my vocabulary once more. I have been once again inspired by Francis Davidson, whose work I saw again at the end of last year, and this exhibition was helpful to me. I likes the strips very much and this has given me a few thoughts about future direction which are very timely. I don’t tend to talk about my thoughts for the future in any detail as they need incubation time, and it is easy to diffuse things before they have properly had a chance to grow.
I think of Henry Moore saying ” It is a mistake for a sculptor or a painter to speak or write very often about his job. It releases tension needed for his work. (Henry Moore). I heard or read that quote years ago and it has stuck with me. I completely “get” this. I love writing and have decided to keep the sharing of my work to this Journal, rather than use Instagram. I did start using Instagram, but felt this “dissolve” immediately. As far as I understand it is thought best for artists to share their work in progress. Because this is interesting. People are interested in how artists make their work. However this feels like a violation to me. This is probably due to the way I personally work, because I work in such a piecemeal, gradual, and extended process, with work coming out and being put away, over a period of years. Privacy is part of the process. It’s not that I don’t share work in progress at all, because I do. But I don’t want the pressure of feeling I need to supply a stream of my work to other people before it has found itself and feels some degree of its own resolution.
If my work was different, I don’t think this would be an issue. For example, if I was sketching and making work which went from start to finish in one fell swoop, I don’t think I would feel the same way about using Instagram. Slightly conversely, this journal gives me a chance to share about my work but in a way which is limited, quiet, and doesn’t have the effect of diluting any of the energy. I don’t talk about my work very much at all to other people, only quite rarely. I find it interesting being a visual artist in this current age, where so much is public that would not have been public in years gone by. It gives me some pleasure that my writing is here for people to read if they are interested, but I see this Journal as being as much a tool for my own development as it may be for “the public” eye. It is the only organised writing I have, because the rest floats around all over the place, in small notebooks and pieces of paper! The organisation of it, in the liquid “stream of consciousness form, may be it’s prime virtue! Kind of not chaos and not order, but between the two!
Below is “Baptism/Into the Ocean” Painting by jenny meehan
jenny meehan jamartlondon art work uk licensable images
It looks equally good rotated to the left and displayed as portrait… This is available for sale so contact me via my website contact page at jamartlondon.com if interested. http://www.jamartlondon.com/
It’s got a lot of energy!
“Pillar and Moon” below is also available. http://www.jamartlondon.com/
jenny meehan jamartlondon art work uk licensable images
This digital photographic work below evolved from a photograph taken in Oxshott Woods, one of my favourite places. I went there each Sunday as a child and continue to make regular walks through the woods!
jenny meehan jamartlondon art work uk licensable images
Henry Moore Quotes
I quoted Henry Moore earlier and found several quotes from him I would like to take note of:
The important thing is somehow to begin. (Henry Moore)
If an artist tries consciously to do something to others, it is to stretch their eyes, their thoughts, to something they would not see or feel if the artist had not done it. To do this, he has to stretch his own first. (Henry Moore)
To be an artist is to believe in life. (Henry Moore)
Art is a continuous activity with no separation between past and present. (Henry Moore)
Jenny Meehan on Redbubble.com
Redbubble is a great “print on demand” website and I have some of my images there. The world is full of fabulous artists and Redbubble is a good place for buying merchandise which is original, exciting and contemporary. The artists on Redbubble get a royalty payment from any items that you purchase there, so it is one way to support the creative community and help artists gain a little bit of income from their work. Do take a look!
https://www.redbubble.com/people/jennyjimjams?asc=u
I haven’t put much up new, but did add this a few months ago:
It’s called “Dyno Blue”. Quick burst of activity on the computer, and there it is! The wonders of technology!
dyno blue tapestry design jenny meehan © Jenny Meehan. All Rights Reserved, DACS
Gum Arabic Preparation
I was recently looking over some experimental paintings I had made with home made watercolour paints. The paints still look great in their pots. I made mine to keep in liquid form and put more clove oil in them. They are keeping very well. I really enjoyed making them and it much easier to be lavish and generous when using materials which are more affordable. All the pigments used were mineral, earth, iron oxides or mixes, and and NO FILLER at all! It is great to have better control possible through being the master or mistress of your own fillers!!!!
I didn’t use honey, (I don’t think, or I may have just put a bit in, cannot remember!!!) but as said, I wasn’t trying to make blocks, and kept it liquid! Here is the recipe I used but I used my slow cooker.
Gum Arabic Preparation
Ingredients
• 300 grams (10.5 oz) Gum Arabic powder
• 3 drops Clove Oil (optional)
• 1 liter (2.1 pints) of boiled water
The ratio is 1 part gum to 2 parts water. Boil water and pour over the powdered gum, stirring to make sure there are no lumps. Allow the mixture to soak 24-48 hours for full absorption.
Add drops of Clove Oil to extend shelflife. Prepared Gum Arabic must be stored in the refrigerator to deter mold growth. It may be advisable to make small batches so the solution will be fresh rather than storing larger quantities for an extended period of time.
Watercolor Preperation
• Prepared Gum solution (Arabic or Tragacanth)
• Honey (Acacia is preferable) in a 10% proportion to the weight of Gum solution used
• Pigments
Mix all the ingredients and crush them on a glass plate using a spatula to obtain a paste with a thick, creamy consistency. It is recommended that you finish the mixture by crushing it with a glass muller (available at art supply stores). Transfer your paints to saucers for painting. When creating your initial gum, you may wish to addGlycerin as a plasticizer to prevent cracking and brittleness. The ratio would be 1 part Glycerin or less by volume to 5 parts of your prepared gum solution. Add the Glycerin after gum has been completely dissolved but while still warm.
I still have my gum arabic solution in the fridge, over a year later, and it still looks fine. I use it in my hair at the moment, because I have made myself a single braid, and need to dip the end of it into the solution to make it easier to thread a bead through it!!! I didn’t bother with grinding pigments…. I like using them a bit coarser, I prefer the way the light bounces off them. If I was painting miniatures or tiny detailed paintings I guess I would want them finer but why use them finer unless you need to?
Studio Tent
jenny meehan jamartlondon lyrical abstract expressionistic paintings in progress
The image above was taken in the Summer. It’s still too cold in the studio tent at the moment, but I have started pottering around in there!
Below a few images of work. These two “Yoga Inhale” and Yoga Exhale” paintings both sold. I take lots of photographic images of my work, cropping and at different angles and orientations, as it is a helpful way of looking at what I have done. Details also get forgotten. Particularly if I don’t have the painting any more. I use previous paintings for reference points all the time.
jenny meehan jamartlondon lyrical abstract expressionistic paintings in progress
jenny meehan jamartlondon lyrical abstract expressionistic paintings in progress
jenny meehan jamartlondon lyrical abstract expressionistic paintings in progress
jenny meehan jamartlondon lyrical abstract expressionistic paintings in progress
jenny meehan jamartlondon lyrical abstract expressionistic paintings in progress
jenny meehan jamartlondon lyrical abstract expressionistic paintings in progress
jenny meehan jamartlondon lyrical abstract expressionistic paintings in progress
jenny meehan jamartlondon lyrical abstract expressionistic paintings in progress
jenny meehan jamartlondon lyrical abstract expressionistic paintings in progress
jenny meehan jamartlondon lyrical abstract expressionistic paintings in progress
jenny meehan jamartlondon lyrical abstract expressionistic paintings in progress
jenny meehan jamartlondon lyrical abstract expressionistic paintings in progress
jenny meehan jamartlondon lyrical abstract expressionistic paintings in progress
jenny meehan jamartlondon lyrical abstract expressionistic paintings in progress
jenny meehan jamartlondon lyrical abstract expressionistic paintings in progress
jenny meehan jamartlondon lyrical abstract expressionistic paintings in progress
jenny meehan jamartlondon lyrical abstract expressionistic paintings in progress
New Knee Anniversary!
One year today, I had my knee replacement! Now I have hit the one year mark I am stopping my piece of writing, which inhibits another page on this blog. https://jennymeehan.wordpress.com/the-very-patient-knee-replacement-story-by-jenny-meehan/
Not going to write much here about the knee, more than mention it. The project is over! My life goes on, and it’s a lot better than it was just over a year ago!
Great Quote from Frank Auerbach
I enjoyed reading this interesting article:
My favourite part:
“He says the obligation to take account of the art that has gone before carries two demands: “first that you attempt to do something of a comparable scale and standard, which is impossible; second that you try and do something that has never been done before, that is also impossible. So in the face of this you can either just chuck it in, or you can spend all your energy and time and hopes in trying to cope with it. You will fail. But as Beckett very kindly said for all of us, ‘try again, fail better’, and painting just took me over.”
That’s it for this month!
PS
If you would like to donate money to help support my creative practice I can accept donations quickly and easily through the Paypal.me process. Simply put the following in your browser:
paypal.me/jennymeehan and follow the prompts. Please consider supporting my work in this way if it strikes a chord with you and you are able to do so. If you do this, there isn’t a system for me to contact you and thank you, so you will need to believe you have my heart felt thanks!
Another way you could support my participation in the visual arts could be by praying for me, if that’s part of your daily life. I also put some of my visual art work on the “print on demand” website redbubble.com. People buying merchandise with my designs on through redbubble.com results in my gaining a royalty for the use of the image concerned.
Signing up as a follower on this WordPress blog also helps, as does sharing the posts when you receive them. Anything you can do to help me is much appreciated! Time and money is limited for me, and it’s a challenge being a mother-artist in terms of promotion and increasing awareness of what I do. I put my energy into producing my artwork. For the rest, I need any help I can get!
Well, another month, another post!
Quite late to post February post on the 19th!
The older you get the quicker time flies! Indeed, I am mid month, and only just posting this entry! For time may have wings, but I don’t. Though it’s great to be able to walk now! (March 8th, last year…Total Knee Replacement!!!) This journal serves as a tool for my creative practice. It’s a reason to write with a deadline, of sorts, and keeps me writing, reviewing, thinking, and having a space to think and reflect, as well as enabling me to share snippets of what I am up to with my visual art practice. I throw in a poem here and there, and chew over random thoughts from time to time. I share paintings, drawings and photographs, both past and present. Sometimes those in progress and those which seem finished.
Though I keep my website jamartlondon.com reasonably tidy and succinct, on this Jenny Meehan Contemporary Artist’s Journey, I take my meandering discourse wherever it will go. Great fun. Not a perfected piece of writing but a narrative, partly to myself and partly to you. A note book of a kind. A discipline. A record. A way of me looking back from time to time to reflect on what I have been thinking and doing, how things have changed, how they are the same, and simply just wondering.
I have always enjoyed the stream of consciousness writing form, so while I do edit this journal a little bit, the overarching idea is I just write whatever I fancy at the time and don’t worry very much at all about structuring it. It’s a bit of a collage I think. I hope it serves as some kind of insight into my visual art activities and it provides some release for me in terms of enjoying very much the process of writing, researching and reflecting. It’s not a solid and it’s not a gas.. It’s a liquid. Not order. Not chaos. Somewhere in between!
Unfortunately this cannot be said for my studio tent, which does need some attention. It’s nice for the flowers to have somewhere to grow though!
studio tent jenny meehan
Time to tidy up, before March, when it gets (hopefully) warmer!
“Vibe Drome”: One Small Piece of the Small World Futures project!
Image of the Small World Futures contribution from myself!
Image credit: ©Alban Low
The “Vibe Drome” (My nick name for this world!) is taking part in the “Small World Futures” exhibition at the Unsettled Gallery, London Bridge. Look out for it, and if you find it, be careful…It may pick you up!
Many other interesting pieces to be found! Hopefully, if they stay there for long. Let’s hope they do!
Here is some text quoted from the CollectConnect website:
“Here at ColllectConnect we’re starting 2018 with a fascinating little exhibition. Small World Futures is a collection of 38 miniature sculptures depicting what life could look like in years to come. Each of these small artworks will be placed in public spaces (#unsettledgallery) around London Bridge. Every day throughout February we will be featuring one of these worlds here on the website. A writer will also use the world as an inspiration to create something new and fresh, their words describing the shape of a new world.
In the autumn of 2017 Dean Reddick and Alban Low began cultivating a series of public exhibition spaces around London Bridge called the #unsettledgallery. These include flowerbeds, railings and gates, as well as spaces between bricks, in gullies and beside drainpipes – basically anywhere an artwork can rest and be seen by the public. Although these spaces change and evolve on a daily basis, several housed artworks for a longer period of time. The Small World Futures will find their homes in these public spaces. They may stay there for an hour or a week. Perhaps they will plant a seed of an idea in the people who see them.”
I did write my own text for the Vibe Drome, but I have kept that under covers so that my own ideas don’t influence anyone else’s. Take a look at the blog to see more on the project and lots of fabulous future worlds with the writing which they have helped to inspire!
http://collectconnect.blogspot.co.uk/
And here is the delightful poem to accompany it, by Natalie Low:
Today we discover the Small World Future of…. Jenny Meehan
The year is 5,000,000,000 AD
Twinkle twinkle dying star
No escape from what you are
Hanging limply in the sky
Watching us all wave bye-bye
Twinkle twinkle dying star
Au revoir our ex-solar.
Now your light and fire are gone
Earth’s too cold to live upon
You can’t blame the human race
Off to try another place
Twinkle twinkle dying star
Au revoir our ex-solar.
© Natalie Low
(Included on here with permission from Natalie Low)
I will be going to visit it in person very soon. Hopefully it will still be there! It looks like it is worth something due to the shiny parts. My earnest wish is that a magpie in need of some bling might locate it and take part of it away for its nest. I think anyone picking it up in search of worldly wealth is going to be very disappointed. Damien Hirst may well have been able to use real diamonds on his skull, but my sculpture is, quite literally, a world apart. Some information from Wiki on Damien Hirst’s skull:
“For the Love of God is a sculpture by artist Damien Hirst produced in 2007. It consists of a platinum cast of an 18th-century human skull encrusted with 8,601 flawless diamonds, including a pear-shaped pink diamond located in the forehead that is known as the Skull Star Diamond. The skull’s teeth are original, and were purchased by Hirst in London. The artwork is a Memento mori, or reminder of the mortality of the viewer. Costing £14 million to produce, the work was placed on its inaugural display at the White Cube gallery in London in an exhibition Beyond belief with an asking price of £50 million. This would have been the highest price ever paid for a single work by a living artist.[2]”
Rather than inhibit an interior space, I am hoping that my piece dies a natural death, remains in its place, and looses its worthless jewels in the beak of a magpie. I have to say, I have never seen a magpie around the London Bridge area, but you never know, there may be a small chance!
Do take a look at Alban Low’s website too. He’s doing great work in a variety of ways!
He’s busy sketching on the radio at A World In London at Resonance FM nearly every week, as well as plenty of gigs around London. Have a look at http://artofjazz.blogspot.co.uk/
I love his drawing!
Why Abstract Painting Isn’t Music
https://philosophynow.org/issues/50/Why_Abstract_Painting_Isnt_Music
Patricia Railing on the point of abstract art, and on how it works. I am reading through and reflecting on this. It’s one of the best pieces of writing on painting I have come across in a long time!
NOTE: I have emboldened some areas for my own notes, this is not in original text.
“A recent exhibition in Paris at the Musée d’Orsay, entitled At the Origins of Abstraction (Aux Origines de l’abstraction), explained the advent and practice of abstract painting at the beginning of the 20th century as the ‘translation of music’. Thus continues into our new century the widespread misunderstanding of the early abstraction of ‘pure painting’ and of the relationship between painting and music.
Certainly there were composers who wrote scores accompanied by colour-light shows (e.g., Scriabin and Rimsky-Korsakov) and painters like Ciurlionis who wrote scores as sound compositions of their paintings. This correspondence between the arts issued largely from Symbolism and had been inspired by scientific studies of colours and tones as sensations. The ‘pure’ painters – Vasily Kandinsky, Frank Kupka, Piet Mondrian and Kazimir Malevich – who followed after 1910, however, always declared that their paintings were not music, nor that they were painting music. Rather, they claimed that painting’s colours have an effect on the human being just as music’s tones do: the relationship between music and painting is a parallel one, colour and tone affecting and enlivening human feelings.
Painting and Music Play on the Instrument of the Feelings
It is the feelings, then, that are the ‘instrument’ on which colours and tones play their tunes. The media are different but both set the feelings in motion, giving them a particular kind and quality. In his 1912, Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Kandinsky wrote: “Generally speaking, colour is a power which directly influences the soul (i.e., the feelings). Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammers, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand which plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.” (Dover Publications, p.25). It was Schopenhauer who had inspired this image of the feelings, writing: “We ourselves are now the vibrating string that is stretched and plucked” by pleasure and pain, by harmony and dissonance. (The World as Will and Representation, Vol. II, p.451.)
References to music abound in Kandinsky’s book, and he gave musical titles to three groups of work between 1909 and 1914: Improvisations, Impressions, and Compositions. Frank Kupka also titled a few of his works with the musical terms of Nocturne and Fugue. So critics at the time, standing before works the likes of which they had never seen in their lives, latched on to the musical theme and explained this abstract painting in terms of music. This was so frequent that Kandinsky was compelled to state in a 1913 catalogue and a 1914 lecture: “I do not want to paint music. I do not want to paint states of mind.” Rather, it had to be understood that the “laws of harmonics in painting and music are the same”, to borrow the title of Henri Rovel’s article of 1908 in Les Tendances nouvelles.
This parallelism of the arts of painting and music was based, on the one hand, on their inner creative laws and, on the other hand, on their effects in the human realm of feeling (called the soul). This is neatly illustrated by Kandinsky and by Franz Marc in letters of January 1911 after they had attended a concert of the music of Arnold Schoenberg. Remarking particularly on the composer’s 1909 Three Piano Pieces, Kandinsky wrote to Schoenberg: “The independent progress through their own destinies, the independent life of the individual voices in your compositions, is exactly what I am trying to find in my paintings.” What Kandinsky meant is made clearer by Franz Marc, writing to Auguste Macke: “Can you imagine a music in which tonality (i.e., the adherence to any key) is completely suspended? I was constantly reminded of Kandinsky’s Composition [see Illustration], which also permits no trace of tonality, and also of Kandinsky’s ‘jumping spots’, in hearing this music, which allows each tone sounded to stand on its own (a kind of white canvas between the spots of color!)”. (In Schoenberg, Kandinsky, and the Blue Rider, Scala, 2003, p.25 and p.21.) Applied to his painting, Kandinsky’s ‘jumping spots’ of colour allow each colour to stand on its own, independent of colour tonality. To feel the content of each tone or each colour, to feel their ‘independent voices’, is one of the essential creative aims of the abstract arts of music and of painting around 1910.
Composition
Why should artists want to tap the feelings in this way? This is a broad issue and part of the Zeitgeist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Two aspects of this are particularly relevant. First of all, artists wanted to see behind appearance, or rather, they wanted to see the realities that create appearance, at a time when publications on the new physics were providing a new understanding of creation itself. Secondly, the artists were among the first to explore another reality: that of colour itself and tone itself, together with their effects on the human being. This was based on the many 19th century publications by experimental scientists like Helmholtz, Wilhelm Wundt, Freud, Mach and others. The premise of this work was that the nerve-sense system is a dynamic system in constant movement, receiving and responding to stimulae, called sensations, which are found to directly affect the feelings and hence states of mind. This field of exploration, called psycho-physiology, informed Kandinsky’s Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Kupka’s Creation in the Plastic Arts, Malevich’s writings, and traces are also found in Mondrian’s writings. The metaphor that the feelings are like a musical instrument playing the songs of life allowed artists to take a new look at their media. Scientists were asserting that colours and tones have direct and verifiable effects on every individual, so artists set about exploring the vast artistic realm of sensation and feeling through colour and tone, and this resulted in a new form of artistic expression. Artists could play on the harp of the soul, plucking now one string, now another, now sounding them together. This inner music, “in which tonality is completely suspended,” in which “jumping spots allow each tone sounded [or painted] to stand on its own,” was the touching of the soul (the feelings) directly. The created work was thus pure music or pure painting, having no intermediary and no intrusion from the world of thought in the form of any kind of imitation (mythology, religious philosophy, history or genre). It was the pure music or the pure painting of pure feeling in the artist’s use of colours and tones, stimulating pure feeling in the spectator.
All is Energy
But what were the ‘laws of harmonics’ that stood behind the creation of pure painting and pure music and that were common to both? Essential to them is that they were based on yet another component of the early 20th century Zeitgeist: the world-view that all is energy, dynamism, movement. This was asserted by the new physics of Einstein (1905 and 1916), Maxwell’s treatises on electromagnetism (1870s), Max Planck’s paper on quantum theory in 1900, Poincaré’s works, and so many others. Thus, the laws of harmonics – by which is meant the laws of constructing music and painting – are to be found in the laws of movement, dynamism and the expression of energy. The laws of construction are the forming processes of music and of painting, and they are parallel to the forming processes found in all reality. As music is the art of movement itself, and painting had always been thought of as a static art, it was to the language of music that painters turned for want of a traditional vocabulary of movement.
The Constructive Laws of Rhythm
‘Rhythm’ is music’s most basic component. Tone moves according to rhythm, but colours in a painting are also arranged according to rhythm. The same is true for poetry. In How Verses Are Made (1926) the Russian poet, Vladimir Mayakovsky, wrote: “I went along, swinging my arms and mumbling almost incoherently, now slowing down so as not to disturb my mumbling, now mumbling quicker in order to keep time with my feet. That is the way to shape and plane rhythm, the basis of all poetry, which runs through it in the form of a subdued roar. Gradually, you begin to extract individual words from the roar.” And in the same year the German painter/poet/composer/builder, Kurt Schwitters, noted:
“What art is you know as well as I do: it is nothing more than rhythm. And if that’s true, I … can modestly and simply give you rhythm, in any material whatsoever: bus tickets, oil paints, building blocks, that’s right, you heard me, building blocks, or words in poetry, or sounds in music, or you just name it. That’s why you mustn’t look too hard at the material; because that isn’t what it’s all about…. [Just] try, in spite of the unusual materials, to catch the rhythm of the forms and the colours…. Every artwork throughout history has had to fulfill this primary requirement: to be rhythm, or else it isn’t art.” (In poems performance pieces proses plays poetics, Cambridge, MA., Exact Change, 2002, p.229.)
In nature, rhythm is the manifestation of energy in its forming process, and it functions according to one of two fundamental laws: that of progression, and that of the contrast of forces; usually they are found together. Progression is always numerical and/or geometrical, as in the Fibonacci series, while the contrast of forces is the law of polarity, those forces of the centrifugal/centripetal, push/pull, the attraction/repulsion of electromagnetism. In art, rhythm is also the manifestation of energy in the forming, creative process. The law of numerical progression had been the fundamental creative means of classical Western music; in painting it is found in perspective – geometrical – and proportion – numerical. When artists like Schoenberg and Kandinsky began to use the law of the contrast of forces rather than that of progression, music and painting became subject to entirely different rules of rhythm and, hence, to entirely different rules of harmony, made up of consonance, the means according to which the law functions, and dissonance, the necessary opposite of consonance.
In the creative law of numerical and geometrical progression, consonance is determined by adherence to the particular order or structure of progression; dissonance is introduced when that order or structure is violated. When an artist creates using the energy of polarities, the law of contrasts – of tones or of colours push-pulling, attracting and repelling – consonance is that state of balance between the two forces while dissonance is that state of imbalance between the two forces when one or the other increases or decreases its energy. Movement or dynamism then take the place of a state of rest, allowing change to occur. Because of the innate dynamism of polarities, the term ‘dissonance’ became an alternative word for ‘creativity’ for many artists. Thus would Kandinsky write to Schoenberg in his letter of January 1911:
“I am certain that our own modern harmony is not to be found in the ‘geometric’ way, but rather in the anti-geometric, anti-logical way. And this way is that of ‘dissonances in art’, in painting, therefore, just as much as in music. And ‘today’s’ dissonance in painting and music is merely the consonance of ‘tomorrow’.”
It is interesting to note here Schoenberg’s interpretation of the term ‘anti-logical’ in his reply to Kandinsky, writing that it is what “I call the elimination of the conscious will in art.” Around 1910, art was rejecting cultural anecdotes of whatever subject matter, no longer constructing according to linear, intellectual progression, and becoming instead a means of revealing the very nature of the human being, a being that is dynamic, continuously ignited by contrast in the feelings, in thinking and in life itself. Art gave expression to, and extended, the potential of this vast creative realm, the realm from which the human being extends into the world and creates it.
Rhythm is innate to the human being, to the breath and to the heartbeat. It is innate to the very existence of nature and the universe. Rhythm, for so many early 20th century artists, was the heartbeat of all reality and it was the very substance of Frank Kupka’s art. Drawing on Henri Bergson’s Creative Evolution, and on many scientific publications, Kupka made visible the invisible forces of growth in nature, the universe and in the physical human body. These forces – taking the shape of the spiral, the triangle, the vertical and the horizontal – are both the scaffolding of everything that exists and the means of its creative laws. They are so, they are both particle/form and wave/energy, because they are determined by rhythm. Catching the rhythm meant catching the chord which holds together the human body, nature and the universe, meant catching the energy that creates.
Rhythm is not a thing: it can only act through things. For the painting-composer these things are colours and forms, for the music-composer they are tones. We shall consider painting only.
To begin with colour. In their writings, Kandinsky, Kupka and Mondrian all describe how colours function both optically and in the realm of feelings and, therefore, how they can be used to set up many, many kinds of rhythms. As Kupka wrote in Creation in the Plastic Arts, “The radiation of vital energy in nature, and of the same energy which dwells inside us, always manifests itself through the relationships between different vibrations and, therefore, between different colours.” (Liverpool University Press, p.87.) Scientists had shown how long exposure to certain reds made the subject anxious or angry, for example. In Concerning the Spiritual in Art Kandinsky writes that the intensification of a certain yellow “increases the painful shrillness of its note” (p.68). And Kupka says in Creation in the Plastic Arts that violet is “a mixture of passion and reason, is the colour of thought and of bishops” (p.86). Playing the strings of the feelings meant playing the effects of the colours on the feelings. And suddenly, the painting becomes active and activated, the spectator experiencing the light vibrancy or heavy thud of ‘jumping spots’ and, in the case of Kupka, say, a swirling of blues where inner movement is harmonious and pleasant.
Forms, too, affect the feelings. Kandinsky did studies on the effects of shape, concluding that the pointed triangle made a different impression on the subject than the curved circle, and he published his findings in 1926 in Point and Line to Plane whilst at the Bauhaus. Colouring the pointed triangle yellow or red produced yet another effect on the observer, one being harmonious and satisfying, the other like a conflict between two forces and thus producing another feeling. It is precisely in the law of forces, whether they are consonant or dissonant, that the laws of harmonies are found. Rhythm is an expression of these forces.
Painting, then, has a ‘grammar’ of colours and of forms, to use Kandinsky’s word. Simple and straightforward as the grammar itself might be, it allows great complexity of expression, just as the written and spoken grammar of words does. We have only to compare the painting of Kandinsky and Mondrian: Kandinsky’s Composition II (1910, destroyed) was full of colour energies in animated, painterly movement, while Mondrian’s compositions with the primary colours of red, yellow and blue (1920s and 1930s) were made of few colours in flat planes held within a few horizontal or vertical bands. The former work is visually dynamic, the latter are visually static. The former has many loud or breezy rhythms rushing about, the latter have quiet, even silent, rhythms, especially noticeable in the white and black paintings such as Composition II with Black Lines, 1930 (Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven). All these rhythms we feel, played as they are on the instrument of our soul, our feelings. These paintings do not come from music, they are not the translated tones of Schoenberg’s Three Piano Pieces or any other musical composition. But like anything that makes the soul sing – or weep or jump or dance – they can be called ‘musical’, if that is understood as only a metaphor for organised movement and dynamism.
Pure Painting, Pure Aesthetics
Consonance and dissonance of rhythm in pure painting, the play between contrasting forces and their coherence or unity, was for Vasily Kandinsky the basis of the new ‘harmony’, as he concluded in Concerning the Spiritual in Art. Kazimir Malevich called consonance and dissonance and their unity in the work of art the ‘new aesthetic’, in the opening paragraph of his 1919, On New Systems in Art / Statics & Speed. Malevich writes that this new aesthetic, this new means of affecting the feelings directly through artistic means, is seen in nature by the artist as “painterly masses in motion and at rest, … the unity of diverse painterly forms; … the symmetry and harmony of contrasting elements”, the painter rejoicing in nature’s “flow of forces and their harmony”. Similarly, sitting before his canvas, the painter:
“regulates the flowing forces of colour and painterly energy in a multiplicity of forms, lines, planes; he also creates forms and the different elements of their signs and achieves a unity of contrasts on the surface of his picture. Thus the creation of contrasts between forms leads to a single harmony in the body of the construction without which creation would be inconceivable.” (In Malevich on Suprematism, University of Iowa Museum of Art, 1999, p.55.)
And all this because the contrasts set up by consonance and dissonance produce a harmony of the feelings. Pure painting had led to pure aesthetics, one that was of and for the feelings alone (without the intervention of thinking through mimesis), while awakening consciousness, the mind. This is why artists claimed that art was finally fulfilling its true task.
Since painting had become abstract after 1910, it could certainly be talked about in the same way as Schopenhauer had described music. Abstract painting was rhythm touching the feelings directly so now, it too, like music, was a ‘copy of the world will’. No longer passing through objects of the world but passing over them, no longer depicting only fragments of reality, abstract painting, like music, was independent of the phenomenal world of objects. Abstract painting objectifies the will itself, directly (no longer indirectly through ‘mimesis’, the imitation of the phenomenal world) through its artistic means and their arrangement, also like music.
Abstract painting, however, had taken a further step: because it embodies pure rhythm, which takes place in time, whilst existing as an object in space, abstract art brought time and space together in a way that had been inconceivable for Schopenhauer and 19th century painting and sculpture. Abstract art was a reconciliation of fundamental opposites. As the union of space and time, abstraction was both ‘representation’, or pure forms, and ‘will’, or pure energy, it was particular and universal, it was material and essence – that essence that sings its way through all eternity in every living thing.”
© Patricia Railing 2005
Dr Patricia Railing has published widely on early 20th century abstract art. She is director of Artists.Bookworks which publishes artists’ books and writings of the early 20th century. See: https://artistsbookworks.co.uk/
This piece was originally published in Philosophy Now Issue 50, as follows: https://philosophynow.org/issues/50/Why_Abstract_Painting_Isnt_Music
Included in this blog by kind permission.
I am delighted to find this article and I find it vastly helpful and insightful. It certainly describes excellently what my painting means to me and how I see it functioning. It is amusing to me that I have recently started learning African hand drumming and am very excited about rhythm and movement, seeing a connection between the drumming, dancing (which I have often done when painting, often wearing clogs!) and movement in general. Since my knee replacement and the experience of pain and disability, and of having my movement restricted, the importance is felt even more deeply. I am very much looking forward to the Summer this year, when I plan to work on some bigger paintings which incorporate recent developments in my practice.
The Smell of Paint!
Walking into a gallery in Cork Street last December made a big impression on me but not for the reasons you might think!
The SMELL!
Paint fumes! They had painted the walls with thick emulsion paint, and the sculpture on show was also painted. I told them about the smell, and asked if it was the walls or the sculptures. They told me the sculptures had been repainted and that it was that but it smelt like both vinyl emulsion and enamel paint to my nifty nose!
It was the Waddington Custot Gallery, (Waddington Custot 11 Cork Street, London W1S 3LT) and the show was very good. Here is some blurb quoted from the website:
“David Annesley (b. 1936, London) received early recognition for his colour sculptures at The New Generation: 1965 show at the Whitechapel Gallery, London. The exhibition showcased a new generation of sculptors who had been taught by Anthony Caro at St Martin’s School of Art in London in the early sixties. The new approach was defined by the placement of sculptures directly on the ground, allowing them to occupy the same floor-space as the viewer; the use of new materials such as fibreglass, aluminium and plastic, which were less expensive and more practical than traditional bronze; and the use of bright colours.”
I enjoyed looking around, and enjoyed the effect of the shadows on the work immensely. That, and the wonderful experience of three dimensions and all that walking around, back and forth, and playing around with the angles and other joys that sculpture has which the flat 2D plane hasn’t!
https://www.waddingtoncustot.com/artists/150-david-annesley/works/11184/
However, the feeling of space was spoilt for me by the fumes of the paint!
As they had just painted the walls it seemed a bit late to tell them about Keim silica sol paint and how much better it would be if they had painted the walls with it! The smell from the sculpture was only half of it, I am certain about that!
Paint to love…
The kind of paint you use in your home or work environment is very important. There is such a thing as indoor pollution, and the experience of walking around that gallery really brought that home to me. Indoor pollution is caused by things like building materials, heating, chemicals and cleaners, materials and furnishing, paints and solvents, and mould and bacteria. Unfortunately we are not always very aware of this. I was thinking of using some blue loo fluid recently in some painting. I wanted to use the colour as it is very violently blue and as I am trying to use materials I already have as I start to experiment with working on a larger scale. I guessed it has no binders in it, but the synthetic dye itself is very strong and I thought it would be interesting to play with. Until I found out that it had formaldehyde in it! Among other things. That put me off the idea, so I let that one go.
I am not thinking I need to ban these chemicals from my life and work entirely, as this wouldn’t be practical. But it is important to be aware of VOCs, … Volatile Organic Compounds. VOCs are chemicals like formaldehyde, Benzene, Toluene, Acetaldehyde. Conventional paint finishes do contribute to poorer indoor air quality by releasing VOCs. Sad, but true. Of course, I use acrylic paints in my fine art paintings…Yes, like many artists, the event of acrylics has opened up new avenues to us. Plastics have changed the way we live. I think of acrylic paints as working with liquid plastic. Not a nice thought, but we live in the age we live in! There are useful qualities about PVA and acrylics, as there are of all plastics. Indeed, I am currently spending quite a bit of time experimenting with plastic. Never thought that would happen! But at the same time, I feel concern about pollution and the environment.
It was when I started researching for the mural at Trafalgar Junior School several years back, that I spent some time looking into more ecologically friendly paint and this was when I discovered the virtues and qualities of it. I looked at many different types of paint and materials, and worked on the mural with both Beeckosil and Keim Soldalit. I preferred the Keim Soldalit, which is a third generation silica sol mineral paint, because of its ease of use. It was easier to manipulate on the vertical surface of the walls, and I used it for the linear elements. Silicate paint of all kinds has a much better light reflective quality, and how paint reflects light is pretty much an essential interest for any painter!
Though I have not continued with painting murals due to my knee problem, now I have my new knee, at least I can experiment again with painting on a large scale and also using my new found mobility in my work. Action, movement, motion. Rhythm. I am liking the sound of it all! I can now stand as long as I need to. Even dance! The only problem I have right now is lack of wall space and lack of floor space! I did paint a painting on the outside of the house with a roller a few years back, which is nice, but painting the outside of the house is not very transportable work, and I do like to take my work to other places, not just in the home!
I am currently involved in a lot of experiments with more substrates and Keim Optil. I am thinking along the lines that as long as I know the qualities and limitations of the paint I work with, I will know how far I can push it or not. And in terms of the pigment looseness on certain substrates and the flexibility, or lack of, of the paint on certain substrates, as long as I know what I am working with, all will be well. It may be that I produce some temporary paintings, or it may be that I produce some paintings which need to be kept behind glass. It may also be that I find some options which would not conventionally be acceptable, ie not working to the usual criteria necessary for practical use in other spheres, ie interior or exterior decorative purposes, but which would be interesting and do-able in the arena of fine art. It is not likely that I will be posting or publicising what I do for a couple of years, as I find it takes a few years to find a direction worth walking in. Indeed, I have been using the Keim silica-sol paint in my work for several years already, though often in combination with acrylic paints.
Nothing should be rushed. Even the newest things need time to die first before they come alive again. It’s the same with glass. I have an undercurrent of using that in my paintings which goes back a fair few years now. And I have only just begun. The trouble and delight of using different materials in painting is they open up so many different avenues that it is quite possible to get lost very quickly. Hence the necessary reserve and holding back on quickness to display what I am up to! Besides, it’s a tender process, this painting matter. It’s all quite vulnerable at first, new ventures. I think it will be interesting to relinquish my need for permanence and to produce some work which may be of a temporary nature. The main thing is that the nature of the work is clear.
I am actually quite a pedant when it comes to materials. I take great care in ensuring my paintings are light fast, sealed, with no loose pigment, unless displayed under glass. I think about the practical considerations for a person who collects my art work and wants it to last as long as possible, and too be cleanable, practical and enduring! Yet I am thinking new thoughts also, about an openness to exploring in some different ways. With paintings which I may not keep, or which may not last maybe? I may experiment with that as well. I think as long as an artist knows the material they work with, they can risk playing around! And I certainly know my materials.
Using recycled materials as much as I can, is something I plan to do. Even in my house, I have plenty of materials to hand. I was disappointed to find out that my local borough does not have a community paint recycling scheme! A lot of needless waste is created by the lack of such schemes. I have written to the local waste department, and to their credit, they are looking into the matter. I am going to need to buy a little bit of vinyl emulsion for sure, but I would like to buy as little as possible. Well, I cannot actually afford to buy very much, but this doesn’t matter. It is probably just as well! Using mineral paints is my preferred option and is much nicer to use, looks beautiful and holds a lot more promise. I like the inorganic oxide pigments much better. Having said that, I am currently also experimenting with the synthetic dyes available a lot, though obviously NOT in the silica sol mineral paints! It’s getting interesting seeing the different directions I am being taken in with these two very different types of paint and pigment!
Keim silica sol mineral paints are environmentally friendly and sustainable, VOC and solvent free, odourless and non-toxic, anti-bacterial and breathable, and basically brilliant!
For my purposes, acrylics and vinyl emulsion paints are OK, in small quantities only!
Plastics etc are very useful, but we don’t seem to be handling them very well in terms of looking after our environment and our lovely world.
My oil paints seem to have been put aside for the time being. I have nowhere to dry oil paintings! This is another problem with not having an interior space of dedicated use for painting. The studio tent is still rather too cold to work in right now.
Not Drawing…
Yeah, I am not drawing much of late. I like drawing from life. But I have other tasks which just seem more pressing. But not drawing doesn’t mean I am not looking. It’s making that mental space to dwell on what you see. It can be recorded and interpreted, or just taken in. But the main thing is the looking. I guess. Will, it will have to be, for me right now, for the time being!
Here is some past drawing.
The rear access roads in Chessington were a bit of a refuge for me, and a very good place for drawing!
rear access roads chessington art jenny meehan
rear access roads chessington art jenny meehan
rear access roads chessington art jenny meehan
rear access roads chessington art jenny meehan
rear access roads chessington art jenny meehan
rear access roads chessington art jenny meehan
rear access roads chessington art jenny meehan
rear access roads chessington art jenny meehan
rear access roads chessington art jenny meehan
rear access roads chessington art jenny meehan
rear access roads chessington art jenny meehan
rear access roads chessington art jenny meehan
rear access roads chessington art jenny meehan
rear access roads chessington art jenny meehan
Sitting outside and drawing was lovely, and I still remember the very kind lady who gave me a sweet, and the worried looking cats whose territory I was invading! But these drawings in no way convey the feeling or the desolation I felt. The grief and the void. They cannot convey the place I was in, even though they depict it. They were enjoyable enough to produce, and I do like a bit of drawing from time to time, but they don’t reveal any strong interest. The visual experience which held me fast and touched me, which sung out for the future and which offered a sense of direction, was all to do with paint, surfaces, texture, and some beautiful revelation possibly neatly summed up particularly in two photographs I took. Though they were just two of many, for I took photograph after photograph of my observations in the rear access roads of Chessington, it was “Wall Painting” and……
insert
Speaking Out Project
Just realised that there is this record of one of the projects I was involved with a few years back. It was an excellent project, so do take a look: Speaking out.
It was a fantastic privilege to be involved in this. As someone who experienced violence from a very young age and who has done a lot of work in psychotherapy to recover from the trauma of it, my involvement in the project, while challenging, did serve as a means to focus thoughts in a way which it would have been easier to avoid. While no one wants to be re-traumatised, I have found in my own creative practice that working visually, and with poetry, can help me come to terms with what has happened, and helps me make something positive from adversity. I hope this may serve someone else in some way, who has had a similar experience. Articulation, be it written or visual, can sound a sound and resonate in another human being in a way which can help facilitate healing. Maybe it is just bringing some kind of order into being? A sense is felt. It’s a comfort in itself maybe? A recognition? Because though we are all completely different, we do share in our suffering. For in understanding a feeling, there can be a meeting of sorts. I don’t know. I am not a theorist. But it’s good to wonder!
What is happening this year?
Well, the Kingston Artists’ Open Studios!
I will be taking part once more. So pencil in your diary!
OS18 will be taking place on 9/10th and 16/17th June 2018 from 11am to 5pm each day
Open to all artists and makers living or working in the Kingston area
Kingston Artists Open Studios is a group of artists and makers based in and around Kingston. Our main annual event is our open studios when we open our studios to the public for two weekends in the summer. But our members are active throughout the year, taking part in exhibitions and events both nationally and internationally. See:
http://www.kingstonartistsopenstudios.co.uk/
http://www.kingstonartists.co.uk/
A Prayer of Anselm (1033-1109)
Jesus, like a mother you gather your people to you;
you are gentle with us as a mother with her children.
Often you weep over our sins and our pride,
tenderly you draw us from hatred and judgement.
You comfort us in sorrow and bind up our wounds,
in sickness you nurse us, and with pure milk you feed us.
Jesus, by your dying we are born to new life;
by your anguish and labour we come forth in joy.
Despair turns to hope through your sweet goodness;
through your gentleness we find comfort in fear.
Your warmth gives life to the dead,
your touch makes sinners righteous.
Lord Jesus, in your mercy heal us;
in your love and tenderness remake us.
In your compassion bring grace and forgiveness,
for the beauty of heaven may your love prepare us.
Amen.
Such a beautiful prayer.
Redbubble.com
Redbubble is a great “print on demand” website and I have some of my images there. The world is full of fabulous artists and Redbubble is a good place for buying merchandise which is original, exciting and contemporary. The artists on Redbubble get a royalty payment from any items that you purchase there, so it is one way to support the creative community and help artists gain a little bit of income from their work. Do take a look!
https://www.redbubble.com/people/jennyjimjams?asc=u
See some of my paintings on my personal website jamartlondon.com
