Studio Insights - December 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.
“The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night’s sleep”
As expected, December was jam packed with activities outside the studio that made things difficult to balance! This time of year I always find it best to just embrace the distractions and enjoy the holidays and relaxation. It’s also super important to set myself boundaries to take time off, as it's all up to me. My courier job still runs on public holidays, and the only difference at the studio is just less frequent buses. I could work right through if I really wanted to.
Lots of studies and planning this month, a few fun paintings for gifts and more details for an exhibition up north mid January.
CREATE: Christchurch Studies
I had a lot of fun creating all these studies of scenes from the Redzone in Christchurch. I really found my groove with the limited Zorn palette and the red shone through beautifully in these sunrise shots. Usually red is my least used colour by far, often sitting on my palette for weeks. My most prominent colours being blue and green, both of which are near impossible to mix here. I was surprised at the depth of colour I could achieve in a sunrise without the use of Yellow. I found it best to fully embrace the orange/red autumn feel that is naturally washed over all the scenes.
I also did a bunch of planning for each of these scenes. I started with capturing pose reference, turning to my friend Andrew, who has done some amazing photography work for me in the past. Andew suggested using a somewhat ‘backwards’ approach - rather than planning out each pose to fit perfectly, we would just explore the streets and take a whole bunch of random shots. We kept the scenes I’d painted in mind, but also just went wherever inspiration struck. I felt like a complete idiot posing for the camera, but with Andrew’s direction, I was able to loosen up and get a great range of creative different shots. It’s also quite a hilarious set to look through with no context.
I then browsed through the shots and tried picking out ones for each scene and placing them in with Photoshop. This worked surprisingly well - I’d tried planning my own poses before but they felt stiff, unnatural and boring. The random poses forced me to be far more creative with my placements.
This month I also worked on a couple of paintings for Christmas presents. I love doing this because I hate coming up with gift ideas and it also gives me a great opportunity to experiment with something different! The left painting was my first time trying ACM as a painting surface, made to size for an op-shop frame to continue with my framing experiments. The surface was interesting - much smoother than I’m used to but I really liked how easy it was to just score and snap the panel to any size.
I painting Bella (Middle) to match with Bailey (created in 2022) on the right
INSPIRE: Art of Banksy, Tomollusk, Eyeball Kicks
A beautiful and in-depth display of Banksy's art made it all the way to little Wellington! I’ve never followed Banksy closely, but he definitely got my respect when he pulled a massive middle finger at the pretentious art market with his shredded painting stunt back in 2018. I love the unorthodox approach and messages portrayed, so it was great to learn more context behind it all. There was a lot more fun events and exhibitions than I had realised, my particular favourite being an apocalyptic pop-up theme park titled Dismaland, “the UK’s most disappointing new visitor attraction.”
I had a strange feeling walking around this very commercialised display, complete with a gift shop at the end hosting postcards, prints, t-shirts, mugs etc. For an artist who creates work so infamously scandalous, risky and temporary, it seemed too… polished. Like I should be crawling through an abandoned bunker, or peering down a filthy alleyway. To step into this modern building with perfect lighting, clean conditions and smiling staff felt wrong somehow. I felt as though his work had been taken over by the claws of capitalism, now that ‘Banksy’ is essentially a brand of itself. Most artists (myself included) have grappled with this balance of staying true to themselves and ‘selling out’ at some point. I couldn’t help but wonder how he got here, and if that’s the direction he wanted. Given we don’t even know his face, I wouldn’t claim to know. But it's an interesting thought to ponder. I relished the opportunity to see a living legend’s art regardless of my apprehension.
Tomollusk Framed Print
I got this beautifully intricate print ‘Gleam’ by Tom Ollusk at Zinefest, and just picked it up from the framers to go on my studio wall. This is the first artwork I’ve ever gotten framed for myself! When I saw his work I felt like I knew it well, but somehow didn’t already follow him online. Sitting at my bus stop the next morning, I realised why. I’ve been looking at his work almost every morning for years!
Eyeball Kicks
Eyeball Kicks has been doing framing work in Wellington for years, but just recently reopened a public storefront last month on Manners Street. They’ve been recommended to me a few times over the years, and having finally met them I can see why. They were so lovely and welcoming, and the funky space was filled with a beautiful display of weird and wonderful art. I could tell they had a real passion for working closely with artists.
LEARN: Why We Sleep
This month I was enthralled with Matthew Walker’s book ‘Why We Sleep’ - a deep-dive on the magical wonders of sleep, but also the terrifying harm caused by a lack of it. Prioritising sleep is not new to me. As a creative, it’s vitally important to have a clear and rested head to make any worthwhile progress. I learnt this lesson the hard way, as many do - hopelessly dragging my corpse through the small hours of the night on uni projects. There’s nothing quite like the misery of realising the sun is coming up, and you’re still working.
So I know it’s vitally important, that’s obvious to anyone. It’s a basic life necessity after all. What I found truly fascinating was this concept of sleep as a highly active state, rather than an annoyingly necessary passive rest and recharge. During the night your mind is working hard to process information, sort and file memories, cement learning, perform ‘therapy’, and generally just wash magic over everything.
“Practice does not make perfect. It is practice, followed by a night of sleep, that leads to perfection.”
Consider this unsolved question - when did organisms first evolve to sleep? Walker flips this on its head and poses a fascinating alternative. Perhaps, sleep was actually the default state, and that instead we evolved into wakefulness. That’s how important he truly believes sleep is. I love this concept because it pushes a change in perspective around sleep. Instead of ‘wasted’ or ‘lost’ time, it’s a time of great work. Next time you settle into bed for a full night’s sleep, give yourself a pat on the back. You’re about to clock in for an 8-hour night of hard, honest work.
Dreams & Creativity
Another section I particularly loved was all about dreaming, and a state of heightened creativity found during sleep. Back in my uni days, I studied this concept from the perspective of the surrealists, who deeply believed in the power of the subconscious and dreams to enhance creativity. Though the idea excites me, I’ve never (to my conscious knowledge) managed to extract anything of value from my dreams. In these chapters I learnt about Thomas Edison’s use of ‘dreaming naps,’ in which he would nap with ball bearings held above a pan in his hands. These would apparently release at the perfect moment of dreaming state, waking him into a mode of creative epiphany that would otherwise be forgotten during later stages of sleep. It sounds mad, and he was, but it has since been scientifically backed. Perhaps it’s worth a try…
This book was a strange one. I could talk for pages more about it, there’s so much to unpack. It was written very well, and I learnt a lot. And yet I really hesitate to recommend it. It’s absolutely terrifying, especially if you’re someone who doesn’t prioritise sleep. It’s a bit like when you try to diagnose symptoms online, only to find it’s always cancer. And I also seemed to come out with more questions than answers. So I would say, if you’re thinking about reading it - proceed with caution.
PLAN: Resilience Exhibition
Quirky Fox - ‘Resilience’
To kick the year off I’m headed up north to Hawera for an exhibition with Quirky Fox, opening next week! This is a group exhibition, celebrating the move to their new gallery space. I’ll be there for the opening on Wednesday, January 15th. If you’re from the area I’d love to see you there! The exhibition runs until February 25th.
Expect another newsletter coming your way very soon, as I’m also working on a post reflecting on all the studio work I’ve done in 2024.