Studio Insights - August 2024
CREATE: What I’ve created/done & what I’m working on.
INSPIRE: What art has inspired me.
LEARN: What I’m learning to develop my practice.
PLAN: What I’m planning next.
CREATE: Zorn Palette Studies
I’ve been painting studies of wellington city using the limited Zorn Palette for a new series of work
This month I’ve been planning a new series of work - ‘Urban Solitude’ - which delves into the ideas of loneliness in the city, the healing power of nature and how this relates to the feelings of isolation felt by artists (I'll explain in more detail another time). The series will be specific to one area in each city I’m exhibiting at (Wellington and Christchurch).
One of my ideas has been to create a stark juxtaposition between bleak/grey (city) and vibrant/colourful (nature) using a limited palette.
Used by traditional Swedish portrait painter Anders Zorn, the ‘Zorn Palette’ has only 4 colours - Cadmium Red (Traditionally Vermillion), Ivory Black, Titanium White (Traditionally Flake White) and Yellow Ochre. This creates a surprisingly diverse range that excels in portraiture, but poses a great challenge for landscapes. Visually and thematically it's a great fit - I want a muted scene, which explores ideas of identity and self reflection. (With a touch of portraiture!)
I created a series of studies from a scene in Wellington around the Clifton Terrace car park - an abandoned motorway project. These were quite challenging, especially when it came to creating my two favourite and by far most used colours - green and blue! There's no vibrancy to be found here - the sky is basically grey pretending to be blue, and the shrubbery is mostly just a ‘slightly’ greenish brown. On the bright side - being colour-blind, half the time I don't know if I’ve mixed a brown or a green anyway even with a full range of paints. So this was just business as usual I guess.
INSPIRE: Lots of Exhibitions!
I made it to a lot of exhibitions this month and found plenty of little inspiration throughout. I couldn’t choose one to highlight… so here's a brief summary of it all
Nautilus Open Day
The artist collective/creative space Nautilus held an open day for their new space in Newtown. Two things in particular spoke to me - This sign, and the climbing wall (I need this in my studio please)
Constant flow of light - Simon Ray
A unique and stunning hand-painted animation, created using stills from a video shot out of a train as reference. Watch the video here
Telly Tuita: Tongpop Archetypes
Some of the most surreal, bold, crazy and colourful photography I’ve ever seen. These show a real mastery of costume and set design.
Mediaeval to Metal - Whirinaki
Weird and beautiful guitar shapes from old to new. Honourable mentions to the guitar that literally uses an armadillo shell.. And the ‘empty’ case for displaying the great Air Guitar.
LEARN: The War of Art
I read ‘The War of Art’ by Steven Pressfield (Not to be confused with The Art of War… very different topic)
This is the first time I have bought an art book that doesn’t have any pictures.. And I loved it. This book is all about ‘Resistance’ - the opposing force we feel when sitting down to create something great. All artists fight against resistance, which is fueled by fear and self doubt, and manifested through procrastination. The themes in this book really resonated with my own personal struggles, and I found so many great quotes which have inspired my direction for upcoming exhibitions. What I loved most about this book was how it normalises the creative struggle - this ‘war’ is fought by all, from amateur to the master. It may seem bleak, but I find it fills me with hope. There is a common misconception that if you truly love creating, it will come naturally and effortlessly. It’s all too easy to look at great creatives and assume they have it all ‘figured out’. In reality they feel resistance too, they’ve just learnt how to work with it.
“The amateur believes he must first overcome his fear; then he can do his work. The professional knows that fear can never be overcome. He knows there is no such thing as a fearless warrior or a dread-free artist.”
PLAN: Wellington Regional Arts Review
September is going to be a big month for me, as I’m a finalist for two different award exhibitions! First up is the Wellington Regional Arts Review, held at Whirinaki Whare Taonga - Wellington. My entry ‘Ethereal Moss’ was one of 50 selected from over 150 entries. The awards will be presented on September 6th, with the exhibition running until 17th of November.
Next up is the Tasman National Art Awards, which I detailed last month. This is on from 28th September - 12th October held at the Mapua Community Hall.
I’m also combining this with a photography trip down to Christchurch, to capture some reference. These will be used to create a Christchurch specific version of my new series ‘Uban Solitude’ for display at the 2025 show. I’ve never made a trip just to take photos before, so this is an exciting change!