Creative compost and joining the dots…

Music credit: Stepping Stones, Laura Platt

Creative compost

Sometimes people ask me how I copy my sketchbook pages into paintings. The answer is I don’t…

I don’t think of my sketchbook as a precursor, a rough draft, or a plan to follow.

It’s more like creative compost.

Slow growing sparks

Sketchbooks are the place where ideas are scattered, layered, scribbled, left to percolate.

Some grow slowly. Some never go anywhere. Some spark something else entirely.

I come back to pages from years ago that have been quietly waiting for me, I spot something and and think “yes, this”…

And sometimes things just appear in my paintings because of artistic muscle memory, things get lodged in the artistic psyche, embedded into the visual venacular because they were once explored and unpacked in a sketchbook.

A sketchbook can be the compost and soil where ideas take root, the archive where ideas rest or the workbench where they’re shaped.

Trust the dots will connect

Nothing is wasted, everything feeds everything…

I like this idea from Apple’s founder Steve Jobs, he’s talking about life, it also applies perfectly to sketchbooks and art:

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

~ Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Speech 2005

‘Trust that things will somehow connect in the future’ seems like a great philosophy for art making.

My sketchbook isn’t where I plan a painting, it is more like the soil, the compost, the place from which everything grows, the place from which all the dots eventually connect…maybe.

Art supplies

• The sketchbooks I am using in this video is the Venezia Book from Fabriano.

• The heavy body paint is called Sennelier Abstract Innovative Acrylic Paint

• The High Flow Acrylic paint is from Golden

• The Mixed Media paper is from Fabriano

(Some of these links are affiliate links, if you buy something through them, I might earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. I only ever share the products that I use. )

Creating simple abstract collages

Music Credit: Softly to Myself by Kylie Dailey via EpidemicSound

“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct.” Carl Jung

Today’s video is all about abstract collages and small creative challenges.

In a previous blog post I chatted about a new book called: Make Every Day Creative, Art Anyone Can Do by Marion Deuchars, published by Skittledog 2024. I said I would pick a project from within it to share with you…so in today’s video I share a collage exercise from the book.

Creating collages from random shapes is such an interesting creative challenge.

On the face of it arranging pieces of paper is a simple thing, but creating a composition we find interesting and visually pleasing requires us to dance between sponteniety and thoughtfulness…Trying but not trying too hard.

Essential play

These playful tasks can be an important addition to our art practice, small projects where the process and the discovery are more important than the outcome.

Play is often underrated and is an important part of art making.

Carl Jung said that the “The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct”, whilst Albert Einstein said “Combinatory play seems to be the essential feature in productive thought.”

Sometimes play can feel like an indulgence, but I think it’s probably nearer a necessity…it’s how we discover, innovate, try things out, problem solve, learn tolerance and adaptability …

Further reading

In the book, Make Art Everyday by Marion Deuchars and within this video a couple or artists are mentioned;

• If you would like to find out more about the art books of the early 20th Century Russian Avant Garde artists this is a good article from Getty with further links to explore ( the specific artists mentioned in the book are Natalia Goncharova and Aleksandr Rodchenko)

• Matisse is renowned for his cutouts and collages, you can read more about his approach in this article from MOMA.

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Tuning into our own wisdom…

In this video I chat through some personal thoughts about the art making process... The things I’d like to remember for myself and which I thought may be useful to also share with you.

I’ve just finished five new paintings. I just love how they turned out, but there were some ups and downs along the way… a little wrangling and a few days of challenge. I find the journey of a painting is not always smooth…

Risk and reward

I had a few days in the studio with all of these paintings where I didn’t love what was happening… I thought that perhaps they would never become finished paintings, sometimes that just happens.

If I am wrestling with a painting I often find that adding something completely different, unexpected, something bold, something uncontrolled helps me to get out of a rut. `Sometimes I need to shake things up,

Introducing a little risk can lead to reward. Perhaps a huge sweep of colour or completely painting over sections… I applied this idea to all of these five paintings. At a certain point in each painting I did something bold and unpredictable…I completely changed the colour palette I was using, I painted right over a whole painting, I applied paint in thick uncontrolled daubs and as soon as I took a bold step, I began to see possibility and began to fall in love with them again.

The grit makes the pearl

I dont really want the painting process to always feel easy and simple. I actually relish the challenge of working through the the difficult days, it is part of what I love about being an artist. I appreciate the problem solving...and try and remember that it is the grit in the oyster that makes the pearl…

Capturing wisdom

After I finish a series of paintings, I try to take a moment to reflect on the process, to take stock, to think through what I did, how I did it and what it felt like. To ask myself a few simple questions as a way to better understand myself as an an artist, as a way to clarify my thoughts and to access my own wisdom.

Learning to tap into and trust our own wisdom is so important as artists. This kind of exercise helps to strengthen that muscle. Here are the type of questions I ask myself incase you’d like to do the same:

• What did I learn?

• What worked?

• What do I want to remember?

• What did I enjoy?

• What are my observations on the process?

• What advice do I want to give myself?

• What must I remember for next time?

Sold out

Original Painting: The Wisdom Tree

Art making manifesto

It is useful to think about what we believe when it comes to our own art making.

I wanted to summarise my personal beliefs and be clear about my own philosophy and wisdom. Things about art which I know to be true, the guiding principles behind my practice.

So here it is. My art making manifesto. A set of beliefs in a few short words, but also a set of intentions. A small reminder, a note to myself and perhaps others. A written set of ideas to guide, remind and direct me… my north star of art making.

This is what I believe, you may not agree…

I think it is a useful exercise to document what we believe to be true for ourselves. Define our own wisdom.. Perhaps you may like to try and write your own manifesto and guiding principles.. Just thinking about what we do actually believe to me true can be enlightening.

MAKE MORE ART

The more art we make the better our art becomes. The more art we make the more likely we are to develop skills and ideas. The more art we make the more confident we become in our decisions. The more art we make the better we are able to spot patterns, connections and themes. The more art we make the better we are able to identify reoccurring pre-occupations and fascinations.

SKETCHBOOKS ARE MAGIC

Sketchbooks are a great place to try things out and explore. They are a place to ponder, wonder and play. A place to safely gather together the hints, whispers and clues of an artistic practice. A place to collect and curate small corners and large curiosities, a place to develop skills and processes.

EVERYONE’S AN ARTIST

I believe everyone’s an artist, it’s a natural human instinct to interpret and understand ourselves and the world through creating. Art-making is a skill, developed by practice and not an innate talent which we either have of don’t have.

DEVELOP THROUGH DOING

The idea of art being a ‘practice’ is right, we do indeed have to practice. It is in the action that we discover ways of making art which feel right, that we discover ourselves as artists.

EXPERIMENTATION EQUALS DISCOVERY

I find that the more I experiment the more I am likely to discover things about my own art and the things that excite and interest me. I find it valuable to try things and then reflect on the signposts and signals I find within those experiments….

BE MORE WEIRD

It’s our particular visual quirks and sensibilities, our own peculiar weirdnesses that make our art feel uniquely ours. We should lean into these, whether it be subject matter, process, colour, the way we mix or apply materials. Our weird bits can be our interesting bits, they are part of our artistic voice and style.

INSPIRATION IS EVERYWHERE

Inspiration is everywhere and making art helps us to seek and find what we are personally interested in. Creating art helps me to see the world with new and curious eyes, it brings more wonder and awe into my life. I notice more, pay more attention to details and become more fascinated by random and unexpected beauty in the world around me.

PROCESS OVER PERFECTION

This one is the art making equivalent of “it’s the journey, not the destination.” As artists we all need to develop a selection of processes and methods which feel good, enjoyable and which match our own interests and sensibilities.

DELIGHT YOURSELF FIRST

Rather than think, “Will people like what I’ve made?” perhaps a more useful question is “Am I making art that I truly love?”

How to make a simple sketchbook

In this video I show you how to make a simple sketchbook from one large piece of paper. The bigger sketchbook in the video is made from an A1 sheet and the smaller one is made from an A3 sheet.

I make these simple one page sketchbooks very frequently and have for many years. There is something extremely tactile and pleasing about making a simple art book. I like the fact that it’s just one piece of paper, no pressure, no expectations, it feels expansive and freeing.

The great thing is that you can make them from any paper you have that you can fold and you can make them from abandoned art experiments or drawings if you’d like to…. in the video I am using paper which is approximately 150gsm in weight.

Art and life: sketchbooks, paintings and art books

In this video I show you some new completed paintings and trace their origin back to some old sketchbook pages. I share a couple of my favourite art books, talk a little about art and life and share some of my latest sketchbook meanderings…

The artists and books I mention:

Angie Lewin: Plants and Places by Angie Lewin, published by Merrell 2010

Barbara Rae: Barbara Rae, words by Bill Hare, Andrew Lambirth & Gareth Wardell, published by Lund Humphries in 2008

Available paintings

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Online art classes

Mixed Media Sketchbook Class £20

Make a Concertina Sketchbook £30

Colour and Pattern Sketchbook Class £20

Mark Making Sketchbook Class £20

A Playful Approach to Still Life £40

Make an Experimental Mixed Media Art Journal £30