Scotland

And this is why I love it... Lunga is one of many beautiful locations.

The Bluebell Woods

Spent a lovely summer's day in the Bluebell Woods [known by locals] or the Wenallt as it is formally known.

It is beautiful this time of year; the bluebells hug the forest floor like dry ice and their colour illuminated in the sun dappled beams. This is a beautiful time of year for colour and light and the warmth allows me to flip-flop about.

Bike

Right so I am going to be living in the middle of the countryside, 30 mins bus ride from the main city/town. Luckily I have a pub and spar 1 mile away :D and a bus stop outside my house. Brilliant. But I want to be able to have a wander so a bike is the way to go.

But what bike? It isn't too hilly and my budget is low so I have looked at recycled ones from Jake's Bikes Bristol.

Can't remember the last time I was on a bike... this shall be fun!

Yorkshire

Counting down the days now until I have a new landscape to discover.

Went to Boggle Hole, the best name for a YHA ever! Such a beautiful place, would have been better if I could have seen through the fog :)

This is what I would have seen:

I am most definitely returning to the East Coast of Yorkshire and going to go FOSSIL hunting :D

Interesting Ceramicist

Wesbite

I came across this artist, Nikohl Davies, and found her work intriguing.

She is inspired by fungi and works directly in the landscape and her work has a quiet, soft intervention about it. This discretion is really inspiring. Nature can often reveal itself slowly and in parts, much like the piece in the image above.

Highly recommended :)

Snow

So I finally got the images off my brother's camera, wondering whether to invest in an SLR...

I find water really interesting because water in its many forms has sculpted the landscape of Wales. Whether it is the waves eroding the coast or the old glacier remains that is our mountains, water is a phenomenal and inspiring element.

Travel

So I have had 3 days off in Easter and travelled up to the East Coast.

Travelled around 700 miles in the car but visited some inspiring places, but nature conspired against me and delved the coast in thick fog for the 2 days! Beautiful to walk in but not a single shot could be taken and there was nothing to be seen nor heard. The wind was still and the sea silently lapped, emerging from the sea fog.

However, I fell in love with the trees and geology of Yorkshire.

Hull was flat, Scunthorpe was massive, everywhere seemed to dwarf Wales! I have a new found love for trees and hatred for the forestry commission in Wales though now.

And the best part of the trip was I can now say I have stayed in 'Boggle Hole'; it makes me smile no end and was a magical place and would be more so in the sunshine. Bring on September...

Geometrics

Aprox. 3 x 5 inch

Even though I am interested in the strata and layers in rocks and am attracted to cracks and linear aspects on location, I wonder if the experimentation with this interest looks too "cold".

The image is obviously not geometric to the extent of exact straight lines, but there is a strong geometric aspect to the piece. I can understand and associate to the piece with reference to the way I see the landscape, however, I can never avoid the viewer. Is the viewer integral to the success of art? Or should the artist create work as pure and self-involved as possible? Who is the work made for? I know that when I am creating all my work I am concentrating on the ink or the paper or actions, not "if I do this what does this imply to the viewer". Because if I did that I would never make any work. Every person is different, aren't they, so every opinion and reading of work will be too. I cannot control the viewer but I do hope that I can connect with a few, for if I connected with everyone I think that would be impossible and be a compromised work.

Sophie Elliott Untitled (Mewslade Bay) 2010

Art Rabbit Events

View all ArtRabbit events
Get this widget on your website

Getting to grips with html coding...

Exhibition Invite

So here is the e-invite to our degree show!

I have, after much research, managed to discover how to do html coding in an e-mail to send this out without making it an attachment! Ooh I do feel like I have learnt a big thing tonight. Getting to grips with making basic posters etc. so hope you all like it guys!

Collagraph Inspiration

Website

Sue Wyllie

JH135b, mixed media on canvas 172cm x 152cm

No other way to say this apart from I really love this piece of work.
It isn't something akin to my own but I really enjoy the surface pattern element to this work. But her collograph monprint, below, is very inspiring.
I am currently getting to grips with the concept of collograph and thirsty for knowledge of and from other artists.



Lentils and Pumpkin Seeds, monoprint collagraph 31.5cm x 23.5cm

Even though the piece isn't inspiring in the concept and development of my work I am inspired by the use of lentils and sunflower seeds in making this.
Now I just need to get my thinking cap on for ideas of how to capture the geological structures...

"Home" An Inspiring Book and Film

I saw this film last year and bought the book because it blew me away! The film pretty much sumarises my ethos for life and my concerns and the beauty of the world resonates through the film screen.

Yann Arthus-Bertrand is an inspiration and some of his works are below:

So the top two are some of my favourite as I seem to have an unhealthy obssession with alluvial fans at the moment, along with many other loves! But these pictures inspire me to create so much work and communicate to me the beauty and intrigue that these strucutres posses.




The last image is of yellowstone.
I have always had a keen interest in yellow stone since studying it in geology and writing a paper on it. However, I don't think I will ever set foot in a dormant caldera that is overdue...

Inspiring Artwork

Solidarités International et BDDP Unlimited veulent faire couler de l'encre from BDDP Unlimited on Vimeo.

This is such a beautiful video, it has inspired me to vidoe my own work. Enjoy...

Newtorking

Website

Ok... so networking.
Now I find this a really daunting task even if the people are as lovely as Fern Thomas and Owen Griffiths! The art scene of Swansea is fresh and fast paced but is very welcoming especially to those who are serious about art. But this doesn't stop me feeling nervous before walking through the door.

I do not cope well in big groups when they already know each other and are in deep conversation whilst holding a beer... how do you interact without coming across as rude? I managed to be cheeky enough to invite people to our degree show and hand out invitations so I guess that is a start :)


But whilst my degree opens in just over a month I have be mad enough to volunteer at LOCWS International. It is a really interesting project that takes over Swansea by putting artwork in the public space, inviting the public to interact. This year there are some really intersting pieces and I can't wait for the opening tonight at 6.30pm to see Alex Duncan's piece. I remember helping him and Hannah Downing set up their first exhibition after graduating; Ground at Pontardawe Arts Centre. It was an amazing show and yet again they were most amazing and kind people I had met!

I saw Hannah a month or two ago in Aberystwyth as she had been awarded the artist in residence there and her work was really beautiful and we had a lovely chin wag with her; she was very honest about the pitfalls of an art graduate but encouraged us to just persevere

Website

Open for the next 6 weeks.

Glacier

Image Source

This is an astonishing image of the hanging glacier, Puyuhuapi, Chile.

Beyond comprehension...

It's All About The Alluvials...

Ok so I am obssessed with geology and geological structures but I am most fascinated by alluvial fans, and above is an example of one on a large scale. For me they communicate movement and an active erosion. They illustrate time actively passing in nature and can be overlooked so often yet they are everywhere! The beach is my favourite place to look for them. Below is a diagram illustrating how these structures are formed according to the grain size of sediment:

I adore scientific drawings.
I often discreetly incorporate them into my drawings and prints by outlining the strcutures created by the materials I am drawing with.
The drawings also inform exactlty what is going on and this scientific concept compared to the expressive, feeling endused more emotive art work is a fabulously strange juxtaposition.


Aprox. 2 x 3 inches

My piece of work above was made on Wednesday and inspired by alluvial fans.

The reason they intrigue me so is because of scale.
As above the scale can be beyond human sight and comprehension yet alluvial fans can be a few inches if not less too. The idea of macrocosm microcosm and how the minute informs or illustrates or encapsulates the cosmic is a beautiful element of nature.

The World of Collagraph

Stream I, etching, paper 28x20cm

Brenda Hartill

This women's work is sumptuous and so inspiring!
I took her book out of the library today and I am engrossed already; Printmaking Handbook: Collagraphs and Mised-media Printmaking. I would recommend it to anyone with interest in painterly printmaking, collagraphs, geologcial based artworks or someone who love print!

Today I have been taught how to make collagraphs and a whole new world has been opened up to me! I am so excited and utterly gutted that uni is now closed until Tuesday 26th and then I am away two days... then bank holidays... then Brecon! Gosh time is going to fly but inbetween that and setting up my degree show I am going to be living in print :D

Hopefully I can get some blind prints done because the discreet nature really appeals to my way of approaching and looking at the world.