Art Journal Post June 2010 by Jenny Meehan
I have been meaning to take a look at the Arts Fairs at the Landmark Arts Centre in Teddington, Middlesex for ages and finally got around to doing that today. I love looking at other artists work and I had some lovely conversations today. The recession has certainly affected the amount of sales that artists are making, and despite there being some very excellent work in the building it did not look like a huge amount was being sold.
I have come away with many ideas and lots of inspiration. Cannot think of anything else to write just now. Feeling sorry for the lack of sales, and hoping that people at least recover their costs. And also good contacts are made.
Painted at Bosham, Sussex, United Kingdom
This painting sold!
Art Journal Post June 2010 by Jenny Meehan
June 15, 2010
Art Journal Post June 2010 by Jenny Meehan
While pushing ahead with paintings, there is always plenty of tidying up to be done, and that means not only housework type chores but computer based ones….making images of paintings in progress (which I find a helpful practice) and also preparing past photographic work for display. Part of this involves trying to get work out there, so that other people can enjoy it if they like it.
I spent a lot of time from around 2006 to 2009 on my photographic work, and still fall for the odd photographic image from time to time. I don’t want to spend lots of time producing it as some do as “limited edition” prints though…When I do produce it for specific people or events I number and sign the work, but I don’t limit it in an artificial way. I don’t see the point – it’s not limited, there is no plate to wear out, there is no natural process of disintergration of the image. Isn’t that whole idea just a marketing strategy? Maybe if you are very famous for your photography and it actually means something it might serve some purpose, but for most of us, living in a world which suffers from an excess of images, the idea of limiting does not sit so well with me.
Jenny Meehan Photographic Imagery
Image above is “High Water Thames” ©jenny meehan (sold)
Painting
The problem with painting is its possibilities. Limitless. Powerful. This scares me. But as long as it doesn’t scare me enough to stop me stepping over the cliff every time I pick up a paintbrush then it does not have to be a problem. As for the ideas…that’s another issue. I have too many, I can’t realise them all.
I went to the Tate Britain on Friday. Loved watching a Henry Moore video….and glad a of comfortable chair to watch it in. Spent most time looking at a painting by Peter Lanyon and also another by Sandra Blow. I have not come across their work up until now, so I enjoyed this, and did a little research looking at more of their work and life afterwards.
Drawing Thoughts
June 10, 2010
Oncoming Vision/The River Within ©jenny meehan
Art Journal Post June 2010 by Jenny Meehan
I have recently been comforted to read about Matisse, and the fact that he had many artistic crises …So this must be quite normal, these bouts of self-doubt in the midst of certainty. And what I am doing with my painting and drawing at the present time is surprisingly challenging, and bound to result in much thinking. And some cause for analysis! (Or maybe not).
Having spent much time over 2008 and 2009 with drawing from the model, which was a disciplined, but very important experience for me, now it seems that I have let my imagination have free play. This is both wonderful and alarming. Presumably the two experiences will get together at some point?
I have not even started to use some of the ideas I picked up when life drawing. This is always the problem for me, there is just too much to learn, too much to develop, too much to get excited about and too much to explore. I take many little lessons from my neighbour’s tortoise. She wanders into the garden, which is so green, verdant and rich with delight, but she moves around slowly and carefully. S L O W L Y. C A R E FULLY. She does not rush. The fastest part of her movement is the speed at which her head shoots back under her shell when she doesn’t know what’s happening. And maybe in there she has thoughts which give birth to wild drawings which can flourish under the safety of her hard exterior!
Someone told me a while back to use my imagination…To draw from the imagination. And so I am following that advice. It was good advice, and if I get scared because I don’t quite know what is happening, then it’s necessary. It doesn’t mean I cannot employ different strategies, interesting techniques, alternative approaches in the future. The ways I put things down is not the issue. I don’t have to rush ahead. Drawing like this doesn’t mean that suddenly I will loose what I have done before.
This drawing (below) was made with charcoal, which I like because it is almost fluid, like paint, but has a nice rough feel to it. It works well with speed, and having said I need to slow down, I have to confess that often I work rapidly. I guess it is not so much the speed of a single work which I refer to, rather a speed of thought, which must sit and accumulate for periods of time, before it is expressed.
Stepping out with imaginative drawing at the present time
Art Journal Post June 2010 by Jenny Meehan
jenny meehan at pallant house gallery with “Don’t Bank on It/Still Life” ©jenny meehan
My work is in the top half of the image.
This is Jenny Meehan’s take on the current financial situation and the emotional impact on many people.
(sold).
Back from the Awards Ceremony at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester. Great to see the delightful selection of work, and it was also very interesting to see a slideshow of all the work which was entered for the competition. Many great pieces were not selected. I am grateful that one of my works was displayed as part of the exhibition. The exhibition was curated by the Pallant House Curators. I hope they get even more entries next year, as the way that the gallery have linked up with St Wilfrid’s Hospice is a wonderful thing, and it would be good for even more money to go to the Hospice and also to “Outside In”
Here is another of my works which was not shortlisted, but also entered in the competition:
Ivon Hitchens by Peter Khoroche – Pallant House Gallery/St Wilfrid’s Hospice Open Art Awards Ceremony
June 2, 2010
Art Journal Post June 2010 by Jenny Meehan
What a pleasurable time I am having with the most expensive book I have ever brought; “Ivon Hitchens” by Peter Khoroche. Most of my art books come from charity shops but I splashed out on this one, and I don’t regret it one little bit.
Nice quote;
“It is a painter’s job to paint ideas about what he sees, not to paint ideas about ideas.” Ivon Hitchens
I have been wrestling with ideas… I have too many of them, and within the restrictions of my life time I will never realise them all. My sketch books cannot cope with them all!
Keeping a sketch book (or two) is proving good in one way…I see a unity in my work I was not all that aware of previously, (in terms of pre-occuptations with certain subject matter), and it gives me a chance to make visual notes which I can use later (possibly). Or maybe not. A lot of my sketch book is text, because I like reading, and I like making notes about things which interest me. But I have given myself a few headaches on the occasions I start getting theoretical about my work. It’s not helpful.
The sun beckons me out of doors, and I look forward to a simple, immediate response to my surroundings very soon. Uncomplicated. Just seeing.
However, it is good to have spent some time delving into the depths of my mind…a rather untidy place it is too, but not much different to my house. And I do,(and will continue to) find it helpful to loosen what I paint away from the material world, and allow more scope for experimentation in several ways, not only in my manipulation of paint itself, (which I am only just starting to learn about), but also in the realm of my imagination, (which has always been at times too strong for my own good, and therefore deserves a little more scope I think…why not?) Why not, indeed. For surely both these things are areas I found myself restricted in when I worked only with photography. With paint, things may be different. However, things can get over complicated if one is not too careful. I just messed up a painting in my sketchbook that way. How small is that chink of time when your painting tells you to give it a break.
Pallant House Gallery Exhibition
Very pleased to say that “Don’t Bank On It (Still Life)” has been selected for the Open Art Competition at Pallant House Gallery! What is wonderful about this exhibition is that money will be redirected to a good cause and help enhance the quality of many peoples lives, so I do hope it lots of work is sold and that the exhibition is a great success. There are 43 different artists exhibited in the gallery with a slideshow of shortlisted entries. They had approximately 250 entries this year. The exhibition runs from 3rd June until the 2nd July 2010. I’m very pleased to have this digital photograph selected for show in one of my favourite galleries!
Jenny Meehan - Art Journal 