Newsletter: April 2024

April 25, 2024 JO YORK

From a walk when it wasn’t actually raining!! (there weren’t too many to choose from)

Hi everyone, it’s been a busy month and time has definitely flown…this month something a bit different; I’ve had a go at a video to accompany this newsletter…have a watch and I hope it’s not too painful!!!!

I’m just preparing to teach my three day course at the Lund next week, and chatting to one of my lovely former students this morning, I remembered Mrs Hay. Mrs Hay was a wonderful English teacher; she’d been a journalist back in the day, worked on some big stories, and was truly fascinating…not least because she cared so much about us her students and about the literature she taught. She was able to interpret the emotions and human stories behind great literature so powerfully, and was frequently moved to tears. Mrs Hay loved the war Poets, especially Wilfred Owen, and I loved them too-weirdly I now live close to Ripon in North Yorkshire, where Owen lived for a while and wrote several of his most important poems. Once she asked me to read Dulce et Decorum Est, and wept freely at the sadness and waste of it all.

I’ve no idea really why I’m telling you this, except to say that she’s been with me ever since! My Art teacher at the same time, was not the same at all, she will remain nameless, but was much more more focussed on keeping her store cupboard tidy than anything else…and her approach to teaching art was distant and rather clinical-it didn’t work for me at all, and I can’t really remember much except all that cleaning and sorting….Mrs Hay is the one that still means so much.

Anyway, I’ve been in the studio a lot this month, sorting work, making new work, waxing and framing, ready for some gallery shows coming up in the summer.

The painting above was driving me slightly mad!! It was one of those that I just couldn’t fully resolve; I liked the idea behind it but just didn’t think it was ‘done’. ‘Done-ness’ is very tricky; some work, just sorts itself out easily in a lovely natural flow, and then it is absolutely obvious to anyone that it’s finished. Others, make you really wrangle with them, question whether you can even do this and make you despair. The idea was about a deep drover’s path sitting between high fields…the path is deeply cut because it’s been used by so many people over hundreds of years. Around it lie a patchwork of fields and shrubby bushes, with some windblown trees. I wanted more of a flow, and sense of depth and movement…finally it clicked how I could make it work, which meant lightening and extending the path, which leads you into the picture, and emphasising the stormy sky and movement in the bushes. They were quite small changes really, but I think the’ve made a big difference, and I’m happy now with how the painting works.

It’s a great lesson to myself actually-I was on the point of sanding it down and repainting the whole thing, but decided to give it one more go, which entailed ‘living’ with it in the studio for a while; placing it so it wasn’t too much in my face, but where I’d notice it in passing, when turning off the lights at the end of a session, or when a rare shaft of sunlight hit it. An important part of this process is the period of ‘quarantine’-let me explain… I think you need to be able to forget about a painting completely when it’s really making you doubt the world, the universe and everything; in other words, hide it; stick it in a drawer, but make sure you absolutely can’t see it or come across it for a while. The length of quarantine is up to you, and perhaps just how disgusted with a piece you are feeling! Anyway it worked, so my note to self is to give the ‘awkward’ ones time to come good, give them a bit of space and leave them alone while just thinking and then give them that final chance…I really believe that very few paintings are a total dead loss!

Because I’ve had a few months without a lot of studio time, I was really itching to push forward with some large abstracts I had on the go. There is a general misunderstanding that abstracts are in some way easier, and less demanding, but this couldn’t be further from the truth, and I personally find that they demand the most focus and clarity of thought…perhaps because they come from more internal inspiration. The other thing I think they need is a rich picture surface with loads to discover and reward the viewer; not easy to achieve, especially if you’re also aiming for quite a calm visual feel. The shots below are some close ups of WIP on both of the paintings…

This is the first of the abstracts; finished, I think?!! Abstract or abstracted?? Still with a strong sense of the landscapes I see around me, but pushed a step further, into something distinctly itself. I had a nightmare trying to photograph it, and really haven’t succeeded yet, so this doesn’t really show the textures and fine marks, and particularly the soft colour changes. Oh well, I’ll have another go!

I’m still working on a name…which is also hard. ‘Musn’t be too literal, but capture some sort of essence of the piece? Still wracking my brains!!

What I can tell you is that it is a statement piece, I think it brings real warmth, and a touch of drama too…plus it’s a metre square so it definitely has impact….it will be off to a gallery soon, so message me if you’d like to get in quick! I like the in situ shot below, but I’m still thinking about framing…dark like this, or lighter? Tell me what you think.

The second one I’ve had on the go (shown below), does relate to the first and also to a painting I sold last year, called Hidden Pool. I often like, no in fact I normally like to work on at least a couple of pieces at once. This is not necessarily easy in my very small studio space, so it does require some shifting and juggling…I find I can just get two 1 metre square canvases on my painting wall, so long as I let them spill over on either end! I really like the feeling of having a couple of pieces on the go; I like the way they can relate to each other and working on one, can spark an idea for the other. Effectively they talk to each other, and I find it very helpful-especially when you get a bit stuck; not quite knowing what move to make next, it makes such good sense to move over to the other, and then the answer usually comes clear. There are also all the practical things, like letting an area dry while you get on happily with something else.

This one is also still nameless, but I’ll work something out! By the way in case you hadn’t guessed, my titles often come from music lyrics or poetry. Like the other, this has a fairly limited palette with some gorgeous blues and greens and dirty grey brown neutrals. It’s about deep water, but in a very abstract way. I’m going to sit on both for a couple of days while I work out what the heck to call them, and then get on with sealing and hand waxing.

One of my absolute favourite places is the V and A! I love almost all galleries and museums; always have…this is just the café-if you’ve never been you really must. This was a super quick trip down to London to see family, and therefore a little treat while we were there. Even when the museum is busy, the metal work area is usually quiet, and is genuinely fascinating. It’s full of amazing lock mechanisms, intricate boxes and keys, and beautiful elaborate iron work gates…so much incredible design and amazing skill, pop in if you get a chance!

I think that’s just about it for this month, as always drop me a message if there is anything you would like me to cover, or if you have any queries, or you’d like to get your hands on one of my new paintings-keep in touch, I love getting your lovely comments and feedback!

Hope we all have a lovely creative month, take care until next time,

Jo XX