NEWSLETTER 01 Mar - May 2008 GETTING IT DONE! In the past ... well recent past, I would have worked at my craft many, many hours a day. Some days would be 10-18 hours long. On the odd (well more frequent than odd) occasion I would have worked around the clock. Now, don't get me wrong, I love art, making it, talking to collectors and buyers, doing shows (always have!!!), but at some point I realized that it was burning me out quickly. I remember one occasion where I was painting a large painting with a very detailed bedspread. After 3 days straight and very little sleep, I found myself crying and laughing simultaneously late into the night. I was beyond the point of mental fatigue as a result of working on this very detailed bedspread. I completed the piece in time for the show, but physically I was left weak and it took a few months to recover. Was it worth it? That all depends ... I achieved much because of it, in the way of success (and because at the time I was suffering financially - it was a blessing to receive this success). On the other hand, it made me take a look at what "getting it done" is all about. A lesson learned! Much like anything I try my hand at, painting is (and always was) a process. I just never realized it ... until just a few years ago! Is the piece ever really done? I guess I could say it is, but in reality it was just that I simply stopped painting the piece. There was a new experience waiting for it. It now leaves the reality I held of it in its "coming into existence" period, to extend into other realities - shows, news articles, collectors, or to be wrapped up and put away ... or perhaps to be painted over at some point. This new attitude of "making art a process that is never done" has opened up the scope of possibility for me and my art. I now have less stress and enjoy it all so much more. I still paint and create many hours a day, but I don't realize this as a burden of time as I use to. I let go the need to be prolific or to be something to someone and simply paint. I realize now that as soon as I focus on the time, I stop painting, because that focusing on time is the indicator that time itself is controlling the painting process rather than allowing it to happen. Being prolific (as an artist) is not just about generating a ton of artwork in one's life. Being prolific is more about allowing the natural flow of creativity to come through unobstructed by me or my materials. Being prolific is a selfless state of mind rather than an investment of time, materials, exhibition dates, etc. Once I dropped the social conditioning placed on art and the artist and the labels that came with them (such as "the starving artist"), a new sense of freedom emerged. One that allowed me to bring forth whatever wanted to come through at that moment. This is where my new series "Spirit Quest" originated from - that inner freedom, which subsequently has also fueled my more realistic works as well. As my focus swings back and forth from the realistic works that I love and this new expressive side of my art, I find the process even more enjoyable. "Getting it done" has now been replaced with "watching it develop"! Christopher Pew painting in his Niagara Falls Studio Artist Interview - Alison Hill Hydrangea 7 - oil on canvas, 24" x 36" Melvaig II - oil on canvas, 18" x 24". - Oil on Canvas The Visitor IV, oil on canvas, 16" x 20" (from the Visitor Series) ALISON HILL Alison Hill was born in 1955 in Lancashire, England. Having shown an interest in and talent for art from an early age, she was in 1974 offered a place on the BA Fine Art course at the University of Leeds. She gained a BA hons in Fine Art, followed by a PGCE in Art Education in 1980 and spent several years teaching art in colleges of further education in the North West. In the summer of 2005 Alison returned to what had been her earlier ambition of becoming a professional artist and began to spend much of her time in the studio working prolifically to produce a whole range of paintings and drawings including portraits of her family and paintings inspired by her love of plants and gardens. She works in a variety of media including acrylic, gouache, oil and coloured pencil. Alison's work can be found at www.alisonhill.co.uk Alison Hill is the current featured artist of the month! CP: It is not too hard for anyone who visits your website to see that you have painted a few series. The Visitor, Autumn and Winter, Portraits, Glass and the Hydrangeas to name a few. How would you compare the process of doing a series to doing a single "one-off" piece? AH: As each series has started off as a single painting without the intention of painting a series, the process is, at least initially, the same in that I'm just painting a subject which for one reason or another interests me. Each series develops naturally as a consequence of my feeling that I haven't said everything I want to say about the subject, so each painting in a series results from thoughts that I have about the subject while I'm working on the previous painting. For example in my recent Hydrangea Series, my focus has very gradually moved away from the flowers and onto the twisted, crumpled forms of the leaves as I'm finding them possibly more evocative than the flowers. When I started the Hydrangea series I was particularly attracted to the forms of the flower heads, their complicated structure revealed by creating a strong light source, but as I've progressed through the series, I've become more interested in the capturing the delicate, fragile beauty of dried out, fading flowers and how my choices of shape and colour can create a melancholy feeling. I think the value of working on a series is that it helps me to clarify my thoughts and refine my techniques. CP: Continuing on that thought, explain your thought process. How does each piece (or series) develop artistically? Do you intentionally set out to paint a hydrangea series or does it just sort of happen? AH: each of my series of paintings have in fact developed from a single work, and from the feeling that there was more to explore in the subject matter. Sometimes a painting or series develops from a suggestion someone makes. For example, the Visitor Series resulted from someone's comment that they'd like to see me combine my painting of glass with my portrait painting. I liked the idea and started looking for ways to combine the two, finally settling on a portrait viewed through the textured glass in my front door. The first painting in the series was simply intended to be a realistic representation of the distortions in the face caused by the glass, but I realised that the face close to the glass created quite a disturbing effect and tried to exaggerate this feeling in other paintings in the series and in Visitor IV I attempted to create a rather menacing effect with the face very close up to the glass. I will probably return to this series at some point as I would like to experiment much more with colour as a tool for suggesting mood or feeling. Although I haven't so far set out to paint a series, I think that I may well do this in future as I've found working on a series very valuable in helping me clarify my thoughts. CP: Nature seems to be a theme included in most of your works. What areas do you feel you would like to explore with your art, but have not yet? AH: I think in the future I would like to work on more portraits and figure painting as this was where my main interest lay as a student, in fact I used to hate painting plants! I suppose it was natural for me to start painting nature as over the last ten years I'd developed a strong interest in gardening and plants, having created my own garden from scratch in 1999. So my garden was an obvious place to start when I began to draw and paint again in the summer of 2005. I'd also like to paint more landscapes after having completed several paintings of the Scottish Highlands following my visit there last summer, and maybe I'll try painting some less picturesque landscapes as I like to try to find the beauty in subjects not normally considered attractive, such as dead plants and winter gardens. CP: According to the December 2007 article in The Bolton News, a series of exhibitions has just ended with your very first exhibition in May of 2007 and rounding out the year at The Calder Gallery. As the article continues, you mentioned how exciting it was for you to be seeing your work placed in public. How has this experience shaped your thoughts about art as a career? AH: I think that the experience of seeing my work on display in a gallery has made me realise that a career as a painter is not as unattainable as I had thought when I was a young student. As I said in the Bolton News article, I don't think I would have considered contacting galleries if it hadn't been for the encouragement of online artist friends, as I just didn't believe there was a place for me. Also, meeting Jane Brumfield, owner of the Weekend Gallery in Hastings helped to overturn the preconceptions I had about gallery owners/directors being rather superior creatures, as she was very down to earth, helpful and encouraging. I'm sure galleries vary enormously in their approach to artists, but it's been very reassuring that the galleries I have had experience of have all been very approachable and helpful. I now realise that all my preconceptions have held me back and that although it isn't easy to make a living as an artist, it is at least possible and not completely out of reach. CP: What's next for Alison? Any new works in the making? AH: At present I'm working on another painting in the Hydrangea Series, but this time concentrating more on the crumpled leaves, in fact the flowers themselves hardly make an appearance in this one. I'd also like to complete some monochromatic work in this series as I've often liked the appearance of the tonal underpaintings and felt that they would make very effective paintings in their own right. After this I don't have any definite plans but I have no doubt that I'll find a new subject which captures my interest. As for exhibitions, I am currently in discussion with the Byrne Gaunt Gallery, in Frome, Somerset about the possibility of showing my work there at the end of March. If this goes according to plan, all my Hydrangea Series along with some of my landscapes and glass paintings will be on display at the gallery, a prospect I find quite exciting. Also, last month I was asked by the editor of The Artist magazine www.painters-online.co.uk to write an article on my still life painting. I'm now waiting to hear when this will be published. If you would like to be interviewed, please contact christopher@christopherpew.com. MODELS NEEDED! LOOKING FOR... Male and Female Models for a number of artistic projects. If you have the right look and the right attitude, you can be involved in a number of artistic projects currently being planned. Male and Female models needed for life drawing classes must have own transportation. Willing to sit and stand for periods of time from 5 minutes to one hour. Available on evenings and possible weekends. Must have previous experience posing in a life drawing class or have modeling experience. Life drawing classes are a focus on the human body - full nudity is required. Models must be over 18 years of age to apply and have proof of I.D.. Contracts will be issued and payment discussed. Submit a resume (word document with references) and a recent photo (headshot only please) to christopher@christopherpew.com All submissions will be reviewed, but only those candidates suitable for this position will be contacted. Thank You! Male and Female models needed for artistic projects. Christopher Pew is looking for a number of models for portraiture work for the development of current painting projects. Long sitting or standing periods may be required. Reference photos will be taken. All body types are welcomed. All ethnic backgrounds welcomed. All ages welcomed (models under 18 years of age must have guardian present at all times and sign a consent form). Contracts will be issued and payment discussed. Submit a resume (word document) and a recent photo (headshot only please) to christopher@christopherpew.com All submissions will be reviewed, but only those candidates suitable for current projects will be contacted. Your files will be kept on record if you are needed for future projects. Thank You! VIDEO SERIES INTERESTED IN... helping out in the making of, or being a part of a webisode for the new video series "The Artist"? Launch Date is the Summer 2008. Contact christopher@christopherpew.com for more information. NUDES SHOW DATE SCHEDULED FOR APRIL A collection of originals oils, sketches and prints. Please check back often as a show date and more information becomes available. Being Present Poetry of the Now by Christopher Pew Time is completely random. It can be past, present and future at any moment. However, those "times" will only be available or accessible to you right now! You can live in the past or think about the future instantly or be completely present. It is easy to do and we all do it. Thinking about what happened as you attended first grade filters its way through the channels of the memory and presents itself to you in an instant. Try finding those old report cards you have stashed away somewhere in a box - perhaps in the attic. Not so easy, but accessing memories is a snap and we do it at any given time. However.... accessing the past or thinking about the future takes a person and their thoughts, feelings and awareness out of alignment with what is happening right now. Is this such a bad thing? No such thing as "bad" (but that is another thought - so for now we will call it "bad" so this thought doesn't get lost). It is "bad" only because the only thing we ever have is right now. Things, people, money, situations are fleeting and every new "now" creates more things, people, money and situations or less of them or different versions of them. The people you hold dear may not be around tomorrow. The job you have could be the only one you will ever have or you could be handed a two-week severance notice today. Your home could be eaten by termites in a week!!!! These all sound like worse-case scenarios, but I'm trying to illustrate a specific point. All we have is now! As we move around in the random time, the random reality, we cannot hold onto those people, things, etc. because each new moment present a new truth. As each new truth presents itself those things change as we do. So what can we hold onto? Nothing. So what do we own? Nothing. So what do we have? Just the now! Make the most of what is being given to you. Enjoy each moment as it presents itself to you and passes on. As an artist I realize this applies to art. Each piece contains my thoughts, my feelings and my attitudes. I look back at a piece and I can almost feel those thoughts, feelings and attitudes race back towards me, but they don't hold any power over me anymore. They never did. They were only available, only powerful in that momentary brushstroke. That painting now exists in a reality, in a truth long gone. A reality that will preserve it for 200, 300, 500 years or more, but will eventually fade as I will, eventually losing its hold on that long past moment. As long as my footprints are true and full of joy, each step I take in every now will make my journey here truthful and joyful. My fading will come, but I will hopefully have walked a path that benefited my existence and those whose lives I touched. That, however, is yet to come... so I take this step, this now to say "enjoy life, live in peace and experience the joy that comes to you - right now".