weekly smudge 26-07-07

weekly smudge! - things that have interested me during the week


As you probably can tell from the work i am posting of late in a weird phase atm trying to find "my style" and my feet.

So, it means lots of experimenting with various mediums and looking at various styles etc.
I have to admit i have two schools of thought, i read many posts about how its important for artists should have a cohesive style as galleries and clients want that and i agree as people are drawn to a particular style so they are likely to buy your art because its the style they like.

The years of designing and art has however, trained me to be versatile to clients needs, so i feel like i can adapt my style/medium / subject in certain way not only depending on what the clients want but also on my mood. ie. sometimes i feel the urge to be very realistic and detailed with cp whereas another day i might be into doing a large broad stroke watercolour with just blocks of colour or scribbling with a thick dark black pen. It might be a texture or a subject that also pushes which way to go i generally will get a feeling of how i want to work.

During the week in my research (browsing :) i have noticed that many illustrators adapt their works for a particular book or project meaning they have different styles but is still their work and that is not just contemporary illustrators / artists its also some of the old masters as well, depending on the story or the subject.

So where does that leave me ? I don't know to be honest, on the one hand I should work out my style and stick to it.... on the other hand, i enjoy doing different things with different mediums and styles and isn't it good to be versatile and express yourself in different ways ?
Hmmm i am not sure what the answer is.. ... and to add further debate i also like doing digital work, i have over 10years experience using graphics and illustration programs why am i not tying all my skills together and doing that also ? Theres many other people doing it ?? I enjoy it ... why cant i do that too.

(In an additional side note: hubby is telling me to buy lots of big canvases and paint big abstract works or something different as that is what galleries want and is what sells according to his well versed knowledge of the artwrold -- :-| )

Hmmm so answers answers answers i don't know what they are i am trying to find out what works for me... If you have any advice or opinions let me know.

Meanwhile i have booked myself into my first life drawing workshop for Sunday. I have to admit i am a little scared its a workshop from 10am-4pm so its a long time, its alot easier for me with the kids to do it on one day rather than over weeks...i almost feel like i need to warm myself up for that. So you can see from the sketches my ideas for some of my tree drawings which the life drawing will hopefully help with.

Figure Reference link
In great timing with all this for me is this link on Rose's Art Blog which is to Posematics . Which is a website that has photos of all sorts of positions with muscles and bones no skin so that you can see/draw where muscles and bones etc all meet. You can rotate the image 360 degrees its a fabulous resource. Have a look.

Jimmy Pickering
Another link i wanted to leave you this week is absolutely amazing artist whose site i have returned to multiple times during the week is Jimmy Pickering. I absolutely love this style of work which to me at first it looks like digital but it is all oil on board i would just love to know how he achieves those textures and backgrounds. I want to be able to paint like that !!! The creativity for the characters is fabulous as well i love those black swirls and lines and thing. Check it out.
> http://www.dvagallery.com/pickering.htm

Thats all for this week, sorry for the delay ( i was working yesterday), and apologies for the weird formatting of the page blogger is messing with my mind and i just can't fix it.

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EDIT:

Ok, so after i wrote this post i went away and had a think about what i had written to me one of the voices i could hear was my aunty or and old art teacher telling me to do what i love and be true to myself and the rest will come .... Which reminded me of a post i read earlier in the week on Kasie's Art of Life blog where she talked about doing what you love and she had this quote from a book study she was doing of the book The Artists Way :

We will discover the nature of our particular genius when we stop trying to conform to our own or to other people's models, learn to be ourselves, and allow our natural channel to open.

Maybe this is the answer to my question maybe i should just stop wondering about what other people are doing and get on with what i like?

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