Posted on

Reading Notes: “Art & Instinct: Selected Writings of Roy Oxlade”

Roy Oxlade (1929-2014), was a British artist and writer, who studied under David Bomberg and alongside contemporaries such as Frank Auerbach and Leon Kossoff. He was married to artist Rose Wylie with whom he lived for much of the later years of his life in Kent.

His views on drawing and what it means to make art, or to try do so are forthright and refreshing. As ever my Reading Notes are the snippets of text I heavily underlined while reading, occasionally with my own reaction included to. Enjoy, particularly as I think this book is now out of print and hard to find! Added emphasis my own.

Continue reading “Reading Notes: “Art & Instinct: Selected Writings of Roy Oxlade””
Posted on

Reflections on a Year of Art Education

Despite cultivating my art practice in earnest since 2018, this year I embarked on my first year of full-time art education at an academic institution. This took the form of a Foundation Diploma in Art & Design at The City Literary Institute. In some ways this felt ironic or like some kind of admission of failure, I had after all treated my first year of living in Spain as my own ‘self-directed foundation year’, even putting on my own show at the end of the year. But finding myself back in the UK, no longer part of an active art community and trying to move forward from the isolation of working through various lockdowns, the time felt right to embark on my first experience of something approaching ‘art school’. My last experience of formal art education had been taking GCSE art a very long time ago….

Continue reading “Reflections on a Year of Art Education”
Posted on

Pandemic Portraits

During December 2020, as we were in the midst of yet another lockdown, I drew a portrait a day of the people around me and a few via video-calls too. Some of these portraits I quite like, others I’d rather lose, but it feels right to document the full sequence in order. Looking at the self-portraits I can sense some of the mental turmoil I felt in those months.

Continue reading “Pandemic Portraits”
Posted on

Just a great article about drawing from the Masters

Drawing from other artists’ work – be it casts, statues or paintings – has a long tradition in art education. This article has a great rundown of this vital part of self-education for many artists. Some great historical titbits too – for example when it first opened the Louvre in Paris used to reserve certain days for artists to work from their collection!

Continue reading “Just a great article about drawing from the Masters”
Posted on

On Face as Mask and Self-Portraits

Since mid-March 2020, I’ve been seeing a lot more of my own face than normal. Yes, you’ve guessed it, like many other people, I’ve found myself on a merry go-round of video calls as a result of Covid-19. I’ve used video chat to keep in touch with friends and family, to keep working on art projects across borders and most recently to complete an 8-week online art course. And it’s exhausting. I’m no fan of screen-time at the best of times – yes, I’m one of those strange refuseniks who still doesn’t use Netflix! But beyond the eye-strain and tense undertone of blue screen light, I realised there was something particularly emotionally exhausting about the new prevalence of videochat. And mostly that was my face …

Continue reading “On Face as Mask and Self-Portraits”
Posted on

Rodin – Drawing & Cut-outs

Like most people, I know Rodin as a sculptor and clearly a master of the human form. Unsurprisingly he did a lot of drawing from life. I was thrilled to see this show, particularly given how much life drawing I’ve been doing recently!

The most amazing thing about the show was the revelation that Rodin was utterly obsessed with making his figures stand out, even when working in 2D. Continue reading “Rodin – Drawing & Cut-outs”