Fair Trade Card
How good is this hand-embroidered card from Oxfam? It’s fair trade and made in Bangladesh using jute paper and traditional techniques.
Worth a couple of quid I reckon!
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Raoul Dufy
His works ‘The Wheatfield’ and ‘Harvest Scene’ are currently on loan to the New Walsall Art Gallery from the Tate.
Have a look at ‘The Wheatfield’ here: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/dufy-the-wheatfield-t03564
His innovative use of colour is wonderful. Well worth a visit.
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Funky Cards
I love postcards.
They’re functional, but also a pure form of creative expression. A small space to put across pretty much anything you want: humour, a photo, a saying – even a feeling.
So I was pleased with this little find in the Ikon Gallery shop – 100 Marimekko postcards for £14.99.
You get 2 each of 50 designs from Marimekko – a Finnish fashion and design house most famous for the Unikko print design.
The designs are fabulous – especially for a colourblind person like me – bold, bright colours in simple yet striking designs and patterns. And they come in a gorgeous box too.
Learn more at marimekko.com and chroniclebooks.com
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The Writing Bag
I have a writing bag.
If I’m intending to spend any significant chunk of time writing, it will usually be away from home. I find I’m able to focus much better if I’m away from the distractions of the telly, laptop and fridge. I also enjoy writing in different environments; it becomes a part of the process. So I need a bag to transport my writing tools with me.
As my creative time has become more precious, I’ve started to realise that the content of the bag has become more important to the process. Sometimes, I need ideas. Sometimes, I’m lacking inspiration. And of course, I also need the basic tools for the jobs – which now includes drawing as well as writing.
So, choosing what to put in the bag has become an exercise in smart thinking. What are the fewest items I need to cover both inspiration and productivity? Yes, I know that I can have everything I need on an iPad, but I only find technology helpful in specific ways. The physical presence of a book or a card is a thousand times more effective than just another page displayed on a screen.
What’s great is that it works. And just in case you like the idea, here’s what my bag currently contains (details underneath):
The writing bag contents!
The Pot Boiler – a book by Spike Milligan
I love Spike’s work. He loved what he did, and it shines through his work. From simple sight gags to nonsense poetry, his material is best described as ‘simple genius’. A true inspiration.
‘No rules. Just write.’ – a free sampler from the Teach Yourself series of books. I love this because it’s packed with tips and is very light to carry.
Notepad – themed with Andy Warhol‘s work. This is a great little book that has diary pages, to do lists and note pages. I list everything I’m working on in here, and set target dates for all my projects. I also use the diary to make sure I’m booking onto events – like the Writer’s Toolkit in November – that will inspire me.
Notepad – A4 from Paperchase. I’m using this to write the first draft of my novel. It goes everywhere with me. It’ll probably be the first time ever that I use every single line of a notebook. I find it much, much easier to write in this rather than on an iPad or computer. I’d be gutted if I lost it.
Drawing pad – square from Paperchase. All of the cartoons are drawn in here before being imported onto an iPad for completion and colouring. The paper is very good quality.
Autobiography of Jacob Epstein – hardback, bought off abebooks.co.uk. Jacob Epstein is my favourite sculptor and has become even more so since I started reading about his life. This copy is 72 years old!
Van Gogh-themed notebook – my go-to book for writing down and expanding on ideas. This is my favourite book to write in, and usually results in some useable stuff.
Raindrops postcard – I just like the design of this. And it’s useful to have a card to just pop in the post to someone.
Art postcard – ‘Crash Head’ by Eduardo Paolozzi. Paolozzi’s sculptures are bonkers. This card came from the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester. It’s not my favourite of his works, but it makes me think of the others of his that I’ve seen.
Comedy Fix zine – it’s important to carry around at least one example of a project I’ve seen through to the end, so so that the evidence is there that I can do it!
John Clare postcard – a reminder that poetry can be serious and beautiful, and not just comic. This card came from a John Clare exhibition at Peterborough Museum.
Lizz Lunney postcard. Lizz’s creations always make me smile, and remind me that I should be aiming to up my game in the drawing stakes!
Greetings card – Gemma Correll. A reminder that simple ideas, when brilliantly executed, can and do sell.
Just a Note – ideas notebook. Hardly used, as I mostly use the Warhol book for quick ideas, but I do love the brand – yourstrulycards.co.uk
Blank notecards – for general use.
Sketching pencils, artist pens, writing pen, iPad stylus, eraser and sharpener – essential tools!
Oh yes – and finally, this is the bag. (Guess who was a teenager in the ’80s…):-
The writing bag
Do you have a writing bag, or does technology provide everything you need?
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Adobe Ideas
It’s a frustrating experience for me that I love visual art, but can’t actually produce anything decent of my own. Words, I can do. But ask me to draw you a picture of a horse, and it will doubtless end up looking like something totally unrelated, like a teapot. Or a mouse. Or a 1970s Triumph Dolomite.
For a long time, I’ve pondered about learning the art of cartooning. It would certainly come in handy. Even writing long-form comedy such as sitcoms can produce material that can be useful in other forms, such as cartoon strips. And I often have disjointed ideas that don’t exist as part of a larger project that I would love to slot in somewhere without having to shoe-horn it into other work.
So – I’m learning how to draw cartoon characters with the aid of a superb book by Christopher Hart entitled ‘Modern Cartooning’. It takes you through different techniques step-by-step, so that by the end of the book, you are equipped with enough knowledge to draw cartoon characters with confidence – from developing appropriate facial expressions, to getting the body type right, and most importantly making everything as funny as it can be.
This type of step-by-step book suits my learning style perfectly. I wrote Spectrum games as a teenager using one, as well as HTML back when roll-over images were the height of sophistication.
So, having bought a sketch pad and some artists pens and pencils, I sat down to learn how to draw. Which is when I realised how technology really can help make things much easier. Because a couple of weeks earlier, I’d downloaded an app onto my iPad called ‘Adobe Ideas’, which is a drawing program. It was fun to use, but I dismissed it after a while because it was too difficult to draw with any kind of accuracy. That was a massive error of judgement.
Because after a while sketching out my cartoons with old-fashioned paper and pencils, I realised that drawing is a very messy business. Instead of a clean-looking cartoon face, I’d be producing a face, yes, but a face covered with the scars of rubbed-out lines and smudged graphite. It’s the sort of thing you don’t see much of on ‘The Simpsons’.
So I began to think: what if, once I’d finished a cartoon, I could upload a copy of it to this app, which I could then use to clean up the image. I could even colour in areas of the drawing without having to resort to felt tip pens (which I always thought looked crap at school, because you could see all the pen strokes, as well as where the pen had started to run out, which made it look rubbish.)
And happily, it turned out that I can indeed do just that. In fact, I can do more. Because Adobe Ideas lets you import an image and keep it on a separate layer, so you can trace over that image from scratch – meaning that you can produce variations of the same drawing – very handy if you want to produce the same character with different expressions in three panes of a cartoon strip. Cheating? Nah. It’s called using the resources available to you. So all I have to do is take a photo of my drawing with my iPad, and then upload it to the app to then alter. Easy!
Now let me reassure you that I don’t suddenly believe I’m an artist. But what I can now do is produce drawings that are good enough to back up my writing – that I could either use as end products in themselves, or as ways of supporting the presentation of my ideas.
See what you think. The character is my own creation and is the first of two that illustrate a set-up/punchline gag. The first picture is the real sketch, and the second is the final result made on Adobe Ideas. I think it works really well!
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Damien Hirst (and others) at the New Art Gallery, Walsall
I seem to be having my own mini artsfest this week – yesterday I was at the Ikon Gallery, and today was my first visit to the New Art Gallery in Walsall, where there is an exhibition of Damien Hirst’s art.
I’ve never seen any of Damien Hirst‘s installations, so I was looking forward to finding out how I would react to works by one of the world’s most controversial artists.
One of the most famous works is ‘Away from the Flock‘ (1994), which is a lamb in formaldehyde. My reaction was basically ‘it’s a lamb in formaldehyde’. There was no real emotional reaction to it as a dead animal – my fascination was more about the process of preservation, and the flawless nature of the formaldehyde. It definitely IS art, because it’s the unique creation of the artist. And it generates debate. But I have to say that as a statement, it seems rather weak.
My strongest reaction was to the photograph ‘With Dead Head‘ (1991), which is shocking and disturbing, and deals with reactions to death much better than the lamb. The fact that the artist is smiling and seemingly dismissive of the head along side him makes it a much more powerful image. I felt torn between emotions for the dead man, and the realisation that there was no man there: just a lifeless head of someone who had long since departed.
Overall, I’d have to say I’m not really a fan of Damien Hirst. I do like to be challenged by art, and I do appreciate that his creations require considerable talent to produce, but his work doesn’t really say a lot to me.
There is plenty more to see at Walsall, however.
The exhibition of works by Jacob Epstein is magnificent – in fact, I spent a lot of time viewing the whole Garman Ryan collection, which is presented in themed rooms – and works rather well. The works by Theodore Garman – of which there are several – are particularly special.
Up on the third floor, you’ll find ‘The Nature of the Beast’ and ‘Our Creatures‘ until the end of June 2013 – featuring both real and imaginary creatures. Patricia Piccinini’s ‘Sphinx‘ (2012) is a rather unsettling example of the latter, and is such a visually powerful image that you wonder why there is no associated smell emanating from it. It really is quite repulsive.
The gallery itself is magnificent – although with one reservation. It follows the trend of so many museums and galleries that are desperate to position themselves as ‘accessible to families’. What this really means is that they believe that families won’t bring their children with them unless there are options for play scattered throughout the gallery. I think such an approach is unnecessary and patronising, and distracts from the purpose of the galleries, which is to showcase art.
Sounds harsh? I have nothing against creating family-friendly spaces within the building, to encourage parents and children to explore art together. That general strategy should be applauded. But when a child is brought into one of the galleries and runs straight for the jigsaw or wooden blocks in the corner – then rather than introducing a child to art, I believe we are providing them with the opportunity to ignore it. If a child is brought to an art gallery by a parent, then that parent should take the responsibility to introduce the art to the child at a level that’s appropriate. Whether that’s saying ‘look at that funny creature’ – as one parent was doing today – or asking engaging questions, such as ‘how long do you think it took to paint that?’ – it’s the parent’s role to engage the child. If the child gets bored – as they inevitably will – then it’s time to go off and find the glues and paints.
The New Art Gallery, Walsall, has free admission and wifi, a Costa coffee shop and a small art bookshop. You can visit their website here.
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Sanctuary in Art
My ability in art began and ended with my Art GCSE (grade C, in case you were curious). I’m colour-blind, and so was never going to cut it as a water-colourist or similar, although I can just about manage to create a depiction of something in pencil if I put my mind to it.
My enjoyment of art is not in its creation, though.
I get lost in art. Now if that sounds a bit wanky, then so be it, but for me there are few things as relaxing and fulfilling as looking at creations that provide pleasure through their own form – finding the hidden detail in something that at first appears simple; appreciating the talent in the creation of something that has an emotional impact; returning to favourite pieces and seeing something different each time.
I’ve never studied art, but I’ve learned a lot over the years from pursuing my own interest in it. I’ve seen Picassos in London, New York and Chicago, spent hours in The Hague viewing MC Escher’s impossible masterpieces and marvelled at Kit Williams’ fun clock in Cheltenham. Every second has been worthwhile.
Living in Birmingham, I’m surrounded by public art – one of the great pleasures of living in a big city. From the Iron Man to the now sadly destroyed Forward Statue, Birmingham’s public art never ceases to amaze and inspire. One of my favourite pieces – ‘Spirit of Enterprise‘ – is currently in storage while the Library of Birmingham is completed – which itself is an incredible work.
In this world of homogenisation – where everything is mass-produced – the opportunity to appreciate something unique is precious. Public art provides this in the most unexpected of places; ‘The Sentinel‘, for example, surely deserves a much grander ‘plinth’ than a busy suburban roundabout – but then, while its appreciation is often limited to a few sideways glances while driving towards the M6, how many people would be denied that pleasure if it was secreted away in a park? (And it does stand at one end of a former World War 2 spitfire runway.)
I’ve recently started to build my own collection of original art. Good, original art can be affordable – it’s possible to pick up original ceramics, for example, for as little as £20-£30. I bought this little bird from a pottery fair today for £25. What I love about him is that he’s simple, yet unique.
I’m also proud to own an original piece by Robert Bowers – a sculptor from Dudley whose larger works are worth a fortune and are owned by the likes of Tony Blair. I was lucky to stumble across an art exhibition where he had created some rare pieces specifically for lower end collectors – and so I snapped one up despite having barely enough in my account to cover it. It has pride of place above my writing desk.
Public art should be made as accessible as possible, so I’m going to start taking photos of public art installations and post them on here under ‘Public Art’. I’ll probably work my way around Birmingham first of all, although it will provide me with more motivation to actively seek out other art that’s ‘off the beaten track’.Yesterday, I visited an exhibition in Oakham entitled ‘Favourite Haunts’ by Philip Dawson. It’s on at the Victoria Hall Gallery until May 12th, featuring beautiful, colourful depictions of the artist’s favourite haunts around Rutland and beyond. It was a pleasure to see such talent on display.
And finally, if you’re ever in Birmingham, do check out the Ikon Gallery – a wonderful gallery comprising two floors that often contain challenging, thought-provoking, beautiful art.
What better antidote to the stress of the modern world?
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