April 2021 at the art table

Taking an opportunity

On the art table in April the longer Spring days were so welcome, meaning I could paint later into the afternoon and make time for a walk in the sun at the beach. I’m so lucky to live so close to this beach although I don’t visit as often as I’d like.

A local art shop have reopened now that lockdown in England is easing slowly. They have a gallery and workshop space upstairs and were looking this month for new artists to feature on their walls. I was lucky to see the post on Facebook as I rarely scroll there anymore but in a moment of confidence decided to email them for details. Can you imagine going somewhere to see art in real life?! It’s been so long for me!

The allocated spaces are quite small at just a metre wide so none of my available paintings were going to work. I explained about the new series of smaller paintings I’ve been working on and have been creating a finished series. Remember these experiments?

These paper pieces and then 12″ boards were quickly developing into a series with a magical palette of blues and purples with loose marks and tiny drawn shapes. It was becoming fun to paint these magical little worlds and get lost in the details. They were the perfect candidate for the art shop space.

A new series

Using this rather magical palette and loose mark making, combined with drawn shapes and tiny details, is an imaginative series of paintings. There’s lots of white space which I think was just about a feeling of needing to breathe and be in space after being confined for so long. It’s really interesting how the scribbly play has turned into something simpler. I have loved keeping them light and spacious.

I’ve been using a mixed media approach to these using charcoal pencils, acrylic inks and Posca pens amongst the supplies. I decided against the collage elements from the paper pieces and chose to focus on bright colour, space and tiny hand drawn details. You can see more of these in my Instagram account but this week I’ve been refining the details and checking the values. The blues are so gorgeous with the magenta and there’s not a hint of orange to be seen!

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In the sketchbook

With new paintings on the go my sketchbook has been left in a pile and ignored. There just isn’t space to keep it open with 12 x 12″ canvases and a lots of 4″ “Littles” all over the place. They are on the table and the floor of my living room and I’m looking forward to not stepping over them during my day!

Powertex art

The Powertex supplies have been shelved for the month while I finish the series of paintings but I’m happy to see other Powertex tutors in England starting to get back on track with outdoor markets and craft events. I see many are starting to book future workshops. The situation for workshops remains uncertain at this time. My previous workshops were often one to one in private homes. I may consider classes again in the future but currently local venues are facing difficulties with meeting social distancing guidelines in small rooms and hiring larger spaces is not affordable. Many of my local cafes and venues have closed their doors for good. I’ll post more about this at a later date but stay tuned or sign up for my newsletter to keep up to date.

Etsy shop

While there’s nothing new in the shop this month, there’s still time to use the blog visitors coupon code if you see something you’d like to try. For some reason the Bister Masterclass has been popular this month!

Use the coupon code BLOG15 at the checkout to get 15% off until the end of April 2021. 

On the bookshelf

Last month I was loving my new book of book binding projects, “Bound” by Rachel Hazell. I even made a tiny book before chaos set in at the art table. When I can finally tidy away all the mess, I’ll take some photos!

Until next month from my April art table,

Kore

Read May’s art table notes here.