A realisation...

I had a fabulous time up in London where I gave a talk on my academic cybersex research at London's Science Museum. I also managed to visit the Courtauld to see Frank Auerbach's incredible exhibition of charcoal drawings. It totally took me back into my past when I used to draw all the time - and I was so inspired by the impact of seeing this show that it re-ignited such emotive feelings for me. I then had a realisation, that working in academia for so long had sapped any emotive context to my art work. When I got home, I found one of my old sketchbooks from the early 90's and I could see, with new and older experienced eyes, that the work was very emotive, The drawing marks had an indelible emotional grit about them, as I was exploring new facets of my creativity at the time. 

Talking at the London Science Museum. There was a great crowd, and the whole event was fun and really well organised! 

I'm agog at looking at the charcoal drawings!!

Here are some of my early emotive self portrait drawings hidden in an old sketch book - these are the ones that are emotive.

Consequently, I am now doing new emotive work. The current self portrait work below is large, (over 30 years since the drawings above) and is done with acrylics, oil paints, oil pastels and charcoal. This is a new departure for me, and I am very excited about it.

 

Always Learning... Monday 12th Feb 2024

 

Work in progress 12/2/24

I really enjoy learning new processes.  Have signed up for a little online course, and it has helped me to re-think how I approach my painting and drawing. The above image, which I am currently working on, is using an old abstract painting I did several years ago with acrylic paint. On top of that I am working with charcoal, oil pastels and oil paint. It is a self portrait, drawn/painted free-hand from a selfie on my mobile phone without gridding - so the impact is a little looser. The image is quite large and it is fun to change the scale of my portrait work. I'm always available for my portrait practice - as it I'm sure my partner, (the lovely) Ed, gets bored with sitting for me so often! He is very patient though!

One of my concepts of creating art, is the possible conflict between drawing and painting - and I want to break that personal conflict. The idea that painting and drawing are part of the exact same process is freeing me from preconceptions of what is expected in 'painting' in opposition to 'drawing'. I also love the excitement of this process.. waking up and wanting to get straight back onto the canvas is something that I have missed for a long time, ever since I started working in academia at University.

I have also seen the concept of 'mindful/slow looking'. Tate Modern talks about it and holds some events around  this. I have always had an intensity of looking, all my life - and I am slightly amused as to how this activity  has been packaged for a new generation who appear to experience this as a new and novel phenomenon. I will be broaching this subject when I run my intense observation drawing class later on in March. 

In the meantime, I will continue working on the above picture.... what should I call it?

Monday 5th Feb: Art Stuff...

 I've decided that Mondays are my art stuff days... arts stuff - things I find useful, or not, ideas for new projects; any ideas for workshops etc etc...  Perhaps I should do a drawing class online... if you are reading this... what do you think?  I have the possibility of doing a brief few days residency with workshops in a Chateaux in France sometime this year.. That's really exciting!!

. I have also recently completed a commission for a drawn portrait from a photograph. Sadly the gentleman in the portrait passed away whilst I was working on the drawing. It is always ethically sensitive to draw someone who has passed, as it becomes a representation of that individual combined with nostalgia and time passing.  I worked for a while in a Hospice with people who wished to be creative during the final journey and there is something very poignant about making marks on paper.

Here's the drawing, all framed and wrapped and ready to go.

I have also been drawing in VR this last week. I saw the line drawings of Don Quixote by Salvador Dali... and I thought... oooh! They would work in VR - so I am exploring this using Open Brush. But I also have some ideas for some new paintings too. I have also been experimenting with percussion using GarageBand on my Ipad Pro... love it!!

Percussion !! yay!!

...and finally I managed to visit a fantastic VR museum exhibition that came to my university - showing LGBTQ plus  artists' work in an interactive virtual museum. It was amazing!! You can get more info about it here: https://lgbtqvrmuseum.com/  

 

 

Starting a one day drawing course

 I will be running a one day intensive observation drawing course, in central Southsea Portsmouth.. The first one taking place in March is already fully booked. If anyone reading this would like to be included on my mailing list for further one day courses,(which will take place on either a Friday or a Monday) please contact me on my email: trudybarberarts@gmail.com.

In other news, I am now a full member of the Portsmouth and Hampshire Art Society - this means I can exhibit a bit more work at the annual exhibition. (14th - 26th August Portsmouth Cathedral) It's always great to support local arts events!

I am also very interested in how AI art is developing. It raises so many questions about creativity and process, as well as copyright etc... I always find the give away for an AI image - is how many fingers there are if  a hand is included in the image! Also have a look at the Burger blast declassified 1995 early AI advert...  the future of imagery....