Wittering On – I Shouldn’t Really Just Jump In And Not Worry About It…But I Will – Jenny Meehan WordPress Journal
January 29, 2012
Back with more words…Wittering on, but it’s a pleasure.
What/how words express is handy…Discourse makes/becomes a kind of structure around thoughts which ties them in, keeps them in order. Logic. But painting…
There is structure too, never to be disregarded. There is composition, grammar, but it needs rooting, not in rules and regulations (though they must be known about, and sometimes followed) but in instinct. And this is not definable. So will I just jump in and not worry about it? Yes. It’s the only way.
This image is of a recent experiment…a good friend with a critical eye (of the very talented sort) points out I need to change the brown “skid mark” top left of image, and I agree.
And back to domestic bliss, I have to go now because the children are about to start a war.
How to Support Jenny Meehan
If you like my art working and would like to support me you can!
Just put
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You can buy my original paintings directly from me personally.
Just contact me via the contact form. Price range is between £250 and £400.
Sometimes they are offered for sale during exhibitions too. Normally its more expensive to buy them this way, (though not always). Some organisations enable me to price my work in an accessible way due to the way they operate, but if a submission fee is required I obviously have to factor it in.
I dislike this system, but art exhibitions are used to generate funds for different organisations and charging artists to submit artwork (to submit… Even if not accepted!) is one way this is done. There are also other costs incurred by the artist in supplying the artwork for exhibition. So artists artworks sold during an exhibition are frequently more expensive for an art collector to purchase. It is often preferable to approach an artist directly and view work by arrangement in person.
If you are thinking of buying one of my original paintings I can arrange a viewing for you. If you are looking for something specific in terms of colour and/or style, just let me know because I have many more paintings than I am able to display online. I can send you further information on the process of buying artwork directly from me if you would find that helpful. I appreciate that it is unfamiliar ground for many people.
Also available via redbubble, the well known print on demand marketplace, you can buy unsigned prints on many substrates. This is an easy and convenient way to purchase my art online.
Take a look here:
It’s also a very good place to get a feel for quite a big strand of my creative artworking. Any problems locating what you want, feel free to contact me via the contact page on this Art Journal/ Artist Blog.
I have TWO Redbubble Artist portfolios! The “jennyjimjams” one has most artwork on it at the time of writing.
My two Redbubble Artist portfolios are;
I have mostly the abstract, flat colour geometrical art in Redbubble as it makes nice prints. I selected work for that platform in order to help my work become more accessible. There’s also a lot of surface pattern designs. I post more of those on my
Artist profile. I find creating patterns very therapeutic!
The main style of my original painting is Lyrical Abstraction/Abstract Expressionism. I also enjoy working with black and white photography tending towards pictorialism. I frequently use collage and digital collage.
Copyright and Licensing Digital Images Information – Jenny Meehan
Copyright in all images by Jenny Meehan is held by the artist.
Permission must be sought in advance for the reproduction, copying or any other use of any images by Jenny Meehan. Individuals or businesses seeking licenses or permission to use, copy or reproduce any image by Jenny Meehan should, in the first instance, contact Jenny Meehan.
Copyright for all visual art by Jenny Meehan is managed by the Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS) in the UK. If you wish to licence a work of art by Jenny Meehan, please contact Jenny Meehan in the first instance to clarify your requirements.
DACS always make an initial proposal for image licensing fees in line with the industry standard. Personally, I am open to negotiation. So contact me in the first instance so we can discuss your requirements, project, and budget. The Designer and Artists Copyright Society will administrate accordingly.
It is I, the artist, who determines the final licensing fee, and there are often projects, charitable organisations, people and smaller ventures with which I am particularly keen to work with because of a shared vision. I appreciate budgets can be restrictive. While image licensing fees for my art images will broadly based on the industry standard, this is a guide amount, and can vary subject to circumstances.
The administration for organising an image licence is straightforward for both parties, and is done through the Design and Artist Copyright Society. They provide you with the licence paperwork and I supply you with the image.
Abstract Critical Link To A Very Interesting Read and An Acrylic Painting “In Progress” – Jenny Meehan WordPress Journal Entry
January 27, 2012
Using this a bit like a notebook now.
http://abstractcritical.com/2012/01/what-paint-does/
This was such a good read.
I’m so pregnant with paint myself that I seriously need to stop blogging and get on with it.
I’ve just finished a painting “Til The Cows Come Home” which I will post up soon. Need to take a better image of it as the one I have is far too overexposed.
Here is a work in progress. When I say “in progress” I mean that I am still thinking about it, not completely 100% finished, but maybe not that far off. It takes a few months after I have finished applying paint on a painting to resolve it finally in my mind. Sometimes I carry on a lot, sometimes just add a little more paint, and sometimes I just agree with the place I stopped painting in!!!
I would prefer to use oils to be honest, but I find that because of restricted space, the fact I tend to work on more than one painting at a time, and that I need to put them somewhere to dry, I am using acrylics right now, at this point in the year. It is handy that they dry quickly. I am sorting out my workspace so that I can leave more work to dry on the walls. Acrylics are also great for experimenting with surface textures and as this is something I am interested in right now. Though I see myself quite possibly getting more pictorial with time, (indeed, I don’t feel it right to neglect this aspect of painting), I also feel it important to experiment very thoroughly with the materials I use, and this is something which has to be done, not for effect or any determining course, but just because it must be done. One of the things I enjoyed at the Gerhard Richter “Panorama” Exhibition at the Tate Modern recently was to see that there’s not rule that a painter should abide in one camp or another…Paint figuratively, paint non objectively, what does it matter? Does one have to do one, and not the other? Should one have to nail ones flag to one mast and shoot the other ship down?
Ah, well, I won’t be giving you a picture of the work I have in the Hidden Artist Exhibition at Denbies, Dorking, next week. That would be telling! I do think it’s a great move on Denbies part to host this event, which will benefit the NSPCC.
See: http://www.hiddenartists.co.uk/artists_and_sponsors.html
I’m getting into the swing of another year, and excited about how my painting is progressing. I’m expecting things to move on with pace as I devote myself over the next few years to “thrashing it out”, which is a phrase I heard recently which I’ll adopt as a motto I think. IF I had a great printer I might also devote a bit of time into working on some prints/mixed media, but as I don’t, this leaves the time clear for painting…this might be best for me anyway. I always fall into the trap of diversifying rather than focusing, and while I get loads of ideas that way, if I don’t get them down, like balloons, they could carry me away!
That does sound fun…
And I am going to try out some woodcarving…
And there’s another exhibition coming up in May at Leatherhead Theatre…
And…
London Art Fair 2012, Art Projects Curated By Pryle Behrman – An Artist’s Playful Musings and Words “Til The Cows Come Home”- Jenny Meehan
January 20, 2012
I could make that title so much more wordy, if it wasn’t so early in the morning.
My feet now are recovered from my thirteen hour walk around this years London Art Fair.
I joined a guided tour led by Pryle Behrman Curator of Art Projects, and I was glad of this because it was interesting and nice and relaxed, not pretentious, which I feared. He said that he would be happy to talk until “the cows came home”. I am still waiting for “the cows to come home”, and so the talk I imagine is still in progress…
What stood out for me, alongside waiting for the cows to come home, was, of course, some of the paintings. Judith Bridgland’s paintings hit me like a kick in the stomach, which doesn’t sound good, but does at least express a little bit of the punch which someone who handles paint like it springs from the tips of their fingers can give to a viewer through the experience of looking at their work. I am not a great lover of thickly applied paint generally, but when its done like this…I love it.
Seeing one of Henry Moores prints on hessian was also a highlight for me. The scale and physicality of the print on the surface of the hessian was something which i have wanted to view “in the flesh” for a while. It made me note down to remember to experiment with some hessian in my own work. I’ve done it before but didn’t like it. However, that’s never a reason not to try something again. The Boyle Family’s work “Study For The Fire Station With Melted Records” 1989 (Painted fibre Glass) was another beam of similar happiness because to see the actual work in front of my eyes was a proper encounter and one which I have wanted for longer than I can remember, Well, I can just remember stumbling across their work as a teenager; it made a huge impression on me. Looking back on my own work over the last few years, particularly the series of photographs of the ground in my local area, I can see how it seeped into my life unawares. The unexpected benefits of pushing pushchairs around my locality!
I purchased a book on Michael Honnor. Because I like landscape paintings, and while I don’t sit outside much and paint myself, to see his work reminds me that I ought to. Plus I like very much the way he draws into the paint and I need to be continually reminded of that! I have a notebook full of other painters and paintings which in some way “fed” me, and reminded me either of something which I have just started, or need to try out, in terms of technique or subject matter. It’s quite beneficial to see such a mix of work in one place and as the time goes by you gradually recognise more clearly what it is that you are personally drawn to. This itself can be quite helpful in terms of being able to recognise what you love and where your passion and interests lie, and, free to see it in others work and not your own, you get ideas as to different ways you might extend your own experiments. I am sadly lacking in the amount of critical input I would ideally like in my painting practice right now, (apart from a few fellow painter friends), however, one must be one’s own critic and sustain that position throughout. I know. I like other people’s perspectives though. They are so much more interesting than my own!
On the Duncan R Miller Fine Arts stand “Paxos Fishing Boat” beckoned me…A boat with flowers tied to the front of it. I’ll say no more, but remember this, and resolve to explore this motif for myself sometime.
Robert Denny’s 1958 oil on board painting (June 1958) cried out for more space, and it’s a problem viewing large paintings in settings like this, but what an inspiration it was. Very strong dark and light compositional structure held the mixture of strong, heavy brushstrokes with the lighter more fluid areas. I took some time with this painting, asking “What exactly makes it work so well?” and returned (once more) to the underlying conclusion, (which seems to be proved to me time and time again), that when the composition is right, you can do whatever you want and it will look good. Well, maybe not “whatever” but let’s just say, you can manage to carry things off in a respectable manner!
So I leave the fair, full to bursting with paintings I need to paint. It’s painful, these time limitations and so I must make a hasty exit from this journalling matter to at least increase my chances of getting some block of time today to get some painting done. I’m pleased to say that I haven’t seen anything like some of the directions I have in my mind to pursue, so that’s good. Nothing is new, but it’s exciting to think that in some small way you might be wandering off the well trodden path into an area of the forest which is relatively unexplored.
Jenny Meehan - Art Journal 