A trip to the sea

A trip to the sea....

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Yvonne Forster, 'Untitled', photo, 2014. Photo: n/a. Courtesy: N/A.

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Yvonne Forster, photo, 2014. Photo: n/a. Courtesy: N/A.

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Yvonne Forster, 'shoreline', photo, 2014. Photo: n/a. Courtesy: N/A.

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Yvonne Forster, 'Shoreline Pebbles', photo, 2014. Photo: n/a. Courtesy: N/A.

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Yvonne Forster, 'Shoreline seaweed, photo, 2014. Photo: n/a. Courtesy: N/A.

# 33 [13 March 2014]

"The waves of the sea help me get back to me."
— Jill Davis, Writer

It's a beautiful day!! I longed to see the sea... I took myself off to Southwold... strolling along the shore in the early morning sun renewed my sense of peace and calm... cares disappeared... it felt like the first day of spring, the warm sun ,the twinkling sea, the salty air, the sound of gentle waves,like balm... back in sync with nature...  bringing harmony and wholeness...as I leave the waves seem to say come back soon dont leave it so long next time!

"When anxious, uneasy and bad thoughts come, I go to the sea, and the sea drowns them out with its great wide sounds, cleanses me with its noise, and imposes a rhythm upon everything in me that is bewildered and confused."
— Rainer Maria Rilke. Poet

"Every time we walk along a beach some ancient urge disturbs us so that we find ourselves shedding shoes and garments or scavenging among seaweed and whitened timbers like the homesick refugees of a long war."
— Loren Eiseley, Writer
All Quotes from....http://www.seasky.org/quotes/sea-quotes.html

A continuation of exploring aspects colour, within the previous photo image and work in studio produced today.
The whole world, as we experience it visually, comes to us through the mystic realm of color.
Hans Hofmann
http://susiegadea.com/index.php/en/quotes-by-artists/on-allies-of-technique/color
Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment.
Claude Monet
Todays experimenting with colour has also alerted me to ratio of sky to sea which is an aspect I need to take into consideration when working toward final work.
Also need to redefine time scales concerning outcomes
Need to start thinking about scale of canvases.

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Yvonne Forster, 'image of shoreline', photo, 2014. Photo: n/a. Courtesy: N/A.

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Yvonne Forster, 'experimenting with colour', Acrylic paint, 2014. Photo: n/a. Courtesy: N/A.

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Yvonne Forster, 'experimenting with colour', Acrylic paint, 2014. Photo: n. Courtesy: N/A.

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Yvonne Forster, 'Exploration of horizons & colour', Acrylic paint, 2014. Photo: n/a. Courtesy: N/A.

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Yvonne Forster, 'experimenting with colour', Acrylic paint, 2014. Photo: n/a. Courtesy: N/A.

# 19 [6 March 2014]
Color is everything. When color is right, form is right.
Marc Chagall.
http://susiegadea.com/index.php/en/quotes-by-artists/on-allies-of-technique/color


In the studio today I decided to work from a photo image taken from the shore line, that looked out toward the distant horizon.
The colour is an important aspect within the image as it is less intense than previous colours explored. my aim today is to explore more low key colour aspects.
In the previous blog I discussed and questioned how I had become aware that  the colours used within the experiments were "very busy", and that there was a need for me to address this issue through further exploration of colour and to review my original ideas and approach toward paintings that better reflect and convey a cathartic, ambient sense.
There are no lines in nature, only  areas of colour, one against another.Edouard  ManetRead more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/colour.html#w8OXRaUE6rFj3aTL.99
    

    

 A-N blog page  recent work and ideas

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Yvonne Forster, 'experimenting with form and colour for sea/horizon', Acrylic paint, 2014. Photo: n/a. Courtesy: N/A.

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Yvonne Forster, 'as above', Acrylic paint, 2014. Photo: n/a. Courtesy: N/A.

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Yvonne Forster, 'as above', Acrylic paint, 2014. Photo: n/a. Courtesy: N/A.

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Yvonne Forster, 'as above', Acrylic paint, 2014. Photo: n/a. Courtesy: N/A.

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Yvonne Forster, 'as above', acrylic, 2014. Photo: n/a. Courtesy: N/A.

# 25 [4 March 2014]

Transitions toward a therapeutic art that re -connects us with the natural world in order to allow time to recover, reflect, and escape the business of the everyday ..." a time to stop and stare."
Yesterday Guest speaker Maggi Hambling came into talk and answer questions concerning aspects of being an artist I was glad to have gone along, as it re-enforced and inspired me to keep moving on in experimenting with ideas emerging, concerning my project based on observations of both the near Shoreline and the far Horizon sea/sky scape. At present I am working on ideas for paintings on canvas for the horizon and more detailed works of print work lino,etching, collograph forms for shoreline along with an idea for hand sculpture see blog image last week.
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There were some aspects of the talk that resonated with me as I find my own way forward.
The first point I was encouraged by was ...
 All art is therapy - painting is a way of expressing and dealing with things...( this reminded me of Alain de Botton's ideas and theories on art as a therapeutic form... see past blogs)
Marc Rothko looked at life and death in his work ...this for me connected with my looking at the contrast of recent ending of one project and the beginning's of a new one via past childhood memories, and my present reconnecting with aspects in seascape/ nature concerning horizons where sea and sky meet.
sun rise, sun set context..beginnings and endings night/ day etc...)
What happens in life dictates What one paints ...(shifts in my project I didn't expect it to lead me into considering a different form and context ...its ok to move on if things are not working out( the timing may not be appropriate)
Being so moved by something  events, images in the media, you express it through art( its ok to respond to events that touch you...)
Be your own critic...(yes ok but be open to the opinions of others constructive critiques...they can be valuable)
Have a conversation with your work...(new terrain to work on!)
Be open to all art forms (encouraging.. as I love many forms and expressions of art and what it conveys) "Art washes away the dust of everyday life," as Picasso said!
Be true to yourself...be yourself.(be strong to believe in own capabilities.)
So from these gems of wisdom! and a realisation time is moving on, today I have been busy working with acrylic washes and concentrated acrylic mainly dealing with the horizon on small and larger scale A3 and A2 paper and sketch boo- see images
Concentrating on the effects of layering washes over one another using turquoise, pthhalo blue (not sure if this blue works with the main colours will get Robin's advise on blue ) vermilion orange, indian yellow, and yellow hue (the latter is very vibrant!)
I am attempting to incorporate a luminosity, haze, aura, to draw the eye to a focal place on the horizon at the moment. The experiments are quite visually busy, both in colour and form (too many lines) so therefore not very cathartic or therapeutic which is what I am aiming for as i also attempt to produce larger scale works on canvas..
I have been using my hands and some sponges as a method and technique of applying paint to create a smoother effect than brush recently. I also use damp clothes to take away excess paint and to create a softer effect... when the work is dry I use a scourer to create a distressed effect in the work . 

Some initial images, thoughts, and ideas for final project

Images and ideas and aspects of art I am currently working on is a more reflective approach to looking at art... Philosopher Alain de Botton describes as Art as therapy...he describes how "Art can save your soul." Botton says in the 19th C we are no longer able to bring our fears and anxieties into the Modern Cathedral(of Culture).Going on he says..."Art is a vehicle through which we can do such things as.. recover, hope, develop empathy,laugh, and wonder. see his talk below.....on ted



 www.ted.com/.../alain_de_botton_a_kinder_gentler...‎

Alain de Botton examines our ideas of success and failure  and questions the assumptions underlying these ...

 I have also been researching artist Claude Monet whose large scale works (some) were given to the French Nation after the 1st world war and were considered as works to heal the nation after the traumas of the war, though I have never seen these ... works in the Gallery one hears that their scale creates a sense of  immersion, and a sense of calm and peace is evoked, taking the viewer out of the stresses and demands of modern day life.  

SOLIDARITY

Solidarity our thoughts are with the people.

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8901945099625745268#editor/target=post;postID=3493102751385918569

 

Post also on the a-n site Journal Blog for critical Review

Today was a continuation and a pushing forward into exploring new ideas after renewing my last studio work space yesterday... feeling at a loss..so time to look at a different perspective...  Not sure where it will take me I am hoping through the exploration and constructing a form to get inspired !! . looking at a more abstract form, having acquired interesting waste material from a photo machine with the faint echoes /imprints  of images from peoples everyday lives on the waste material its self....As  can be seen from the last post I started to explore angle, shapes and colours and how they interacted when I placed the material in certain positions  in my studio, Then, having hired the white space felt it was time for a new large scale ... The work itself reminded me of "barriers," having the images on the material alerted me to the socio- political and economic structures that, although for the most part are not perceived,do shape, constrain and dictate our choices and the shaping of our social lives. We imagine we live in a free society but that freedom is exercised within very limited parameters that are constructed by one dimensional systems,  and social norms. This socialisation enables the powers that be to control.. at a distance as we internalise... ( something that Foucault had theorised over) and perform. This leads us to conform to certain structures... reminds me of Herbert Marcuse's words,"One dimensional thought is systematically promoted by the makers of politics  and their purveyors of mass information ,their universe of discourse populated by self validating hypotheses which incessantly and monopolistically repeated become definitions of dictations." Herbert Marcuse 1991,p14 One Dimensional man . London:Routledge.

scale of image

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' A time to look at reviewing and explore

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# 5 [5 February 2014]
I have just reread my last two posts in an attempt to give myself a  boost and a belief that what my work has dealt with and what I am attempting to communicate is something I can continue to address...Today we had a group studio crit which went really well alot of positive encouragement helpful suggestions and feed back .Talking in a group doesn't come naturely to me but I feel I have grown more in my confidence as time has gone on. The thing I am finding difficult at the moment is where or more so what I am trying to address  say and communicate through my work. Through the summer of 2013 I read a book called the Abu Gharib effect which was a powerful portryal of the images that broke out,from the Iraqi prison 2004 not an easy subject matter to handle- which made me realise how artists that do deal with and respond to difficult subject matter probably do so from an informed and sober perspective Susan Crile is an artist who has researched on Abu Gharib and went onto produce powerful pastel images. Crile talking about her work said" First you are drawn to something akin to beauty and then to you feel the despair, the cruelty."  http://www.artnewsnviews.com/view-article.php?article.
I have a real sense of unease at present into how to communicate issues that affect me and go on to produce art round my chosen subject in someway. I find a real sense of searching and questioning of this subject matter going on within me ... this sense has culminated over the last month or so, I am not sure of the way forward though having the student crit today was helpful in one way  as it has confronted me with my growing deep sense of unease..(about what I was hoping to produce for my end of year show) I know I now have to confront these issues and make some decisions about a way forward. Having researched and produced my dissertation looking at art with social meaning in the context of Golub and Roslers work emerging from the Vietnam war, I have found by doing the dissertation I had a  passion for the subject matter and found it impacted my understanding immensely beneficial toward my understanding of art with social meaning in the context from which the artists I chose  works emerged the dissertation has greatly impacted and informed my understanding of state and media portrayal of issues that arise concerning state policies through  researching sociologists such as Judith Butler and Herbert Marcus (also a philosopher) along with writers Dora Apel, Suzi Gablick, John Bird,I have learnt a great deal this will stay with me but I do need to take stock and plan a way forward, I probably need to have a chat with tutors. I am going to explore a more abstract perspective. see studio space work before. exploring new ideas from an abstract perspective

Thoughts about art and the culture it emerges from

"Art expresses the life of a culture." These words spoken by John Dewey back in the 1930s , I believe still resonate with us today ....Visual art can play a part in helping us to see and understand what kind of culture we are a part of...and the artists response to the world around him/her, observing and then articulating her/his response through visual art. We can think here of Piccaso's Guernica, and Kathe Kollwitz work( based on the hardship of those in poverty and the grief of those suffering loss of loved ones to war) and the influences these works have on individuals, society and the state - Picasso was responding to the bombing of Guernica through the culture he was a part of. If we allow ourselves to be open to the world and culture around us, and in particular when there are times of turmoil and conflict the artist can bring an alternative view point to the contestations in particular of those who are marginalised and oppressed... the artist can bring an alternative perspective to that given via mass media which so often is from the one sided view point of  state and corporate interests. The artist questions this top down portrayal enabling the viewer options to question and debate.
I would suggest in particular if we desire the world to be a fairer place where each person is seen as equal and is respected for their unique individuality. The work of the artist can co run alongside the citizen's responses to situations that arise.... enabling the rights for the individual to be acknoweledged and sustained.....to be continued....

 

    Some recent charcoal works based on events and experiences  concerning the consequences of conflicts,and its effects on civilian populations.
                                                                        

Displacement of indigenous people caused by deforestation

It is a known fact that as time has gone on in modern warfare those who are most effected are the       lives of  innocent civilians, more civilians than ever are victims of war.                                                 

I am reminded of Picassos Guernica 1937 painting which emerged from the impact of the air
raid Bombing of Guernica. Leon Golub and many artists in the late 1960s
protested at the MOMA in the US comparing the My Lai massacre of civilians to Guernica
In effect one could also compare the bombing of civilians in Baghdad, where at the time of this bombing the mean age of the civilians was 15 years old, knowing this leaves one speechless lost for words.
Susan Sontag wrote in her book No one after a certain age has the right to this kind of innocence of superficiality....to this degree of ignorance, or amnesia (Sontag,2003,p102, Regarding the pain of others.New York , Farrar,Strauss and Giroux..Also Sociologist Judith Butler states "There is an ethical responsibility to respond to the appearance of others especially to their cry of suffering." ( Butler ,2010 ,cited in Apel , 2012,pp8-9) War Culture and the Contest of Images,New Brunswick,NJ:Rutgers University Press.
 This sums up the belief in a humanity that defends and up hold the rights of others. I have seen in the works of Leon Golub , Martha Rosler, William Kentridge, Kathe Kollwitz, Barbara Kruger,and Susan Crile a passion to express through their work a need to make social comment through visual art, to communicate alternative perspective to what is told and portrayed. Sociologist and philosopher,Herbert Marcuse observes the control of the one dimensional portrayal of the dominant discourse, in his book One dimensional man .Marcuse points out, " One dimensional thought is systematically promoted by the makers of politics and their purveyors of mass information , their universe of discourse populated by the self validating of hypothesis which incessantly and monopolistically repeated become hypnotic defintions of dictations ." (Marcuse,1991,p 14) One dimensional man. London,Routledge.
Hope springs up when one remembers the collapse of the Berlin wall,The fall of the Romanian dictatorship in the 1980s, Nelson Mandela  and the fall of apartheid, Martin Luther Kings stand for human rights, Ghandi and Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma the on going move towards a better place.



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