Posts Tagged ‘abstract art’

Textural Surface Paintings. Barcelona Spain.

Monday, October 29th, 2012

Textural Surface Paintings I did in Spain.
In 2005 I was artist in residence at the Can Serrat International Art Center in Barcelona, Spain. During this time I completed several series of works; which developed as a result of solitary expeditions into the surrounding areas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Textural oil paintings on linen, linked to ancient Catalan architecture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My little paintings are rubbings from actual surfaces around the Barcelona, Spain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ancient markings weathered , subtle & chalky

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I added colour to my work with pure powder pigments and oils, hand mixed in my studio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See more of my artwork at Outlook8studio on Etsy

 

Do you always have to finish your art?

Saturday, October 6th, 2012

Do you always have to finish your art?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I always have lots of unfinished projects on the go. Paintings, sculpture and installations can sit around for years, unfinished. I live with them, then maybe, months, even years later, it will hit me that it needs this and that, and it’s finished. I also have 100’s of art projects and ideas in folders on my computer that may not even see the light of day in my life time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other things, I deliberately leave unfinished. I like untouched randomness & rawness when creating. Especially in my painting, textile & mixed media work.
I like the freedom of no pressure to finish a piece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you always have to finish your art ?

 

“Silent Momento – Paris Venice & Spain”

Thursday, March 8th, 2012

A new series of paintings from the studio…

“Silent Momento – Paris Venice & Spain”  Links to found surfaces from the streets of Paris, Venice and Spain. Weathered, worn surfaces, old peeling papers with glimpses of the past, slashed with scrapings of whitewash.

Passages in time, forgotten marks and scribble usually left, unseen & silent.

Make a Large Studio Easel in 6 Easy – Peasy Steps

Saturday, February 4th, 2012

IMG_20150520_115511

 

How to Make a Large Studio Easel in 6 Easy- Peasy Steps

When I built my studio years ago, I needed to have a versatile easel. I couldn’t find anything suitable in the shops and my budget wouldn’t allow for much.  So, I went about creating one from my left over pieces of timber. I needed one that would take small to very large canvas’s all at once. I needed lots of space too. Being an abstract painter, I slosh paint and work very quickly, sometimes on many canvas’s at once. I wanted a permanent spac,e where I could work on small canvas’s 30x30cm up to very large ones 4 x 2 Meters . My easel ended up being 9 meters long x 4 meters high and after 12 years of daily use, my rough and ready easel is still going strong.

My simple Plan

Materials & Equipment

Cut yourself, or buy 2 equal lengths of  hardwood or pine, however long you want the easel to be. This is for the floor and wall runner that will hold all the upright struts.

Cut yourself, or buy equal lengths of hardwood or pine for the uprights. Decide how many uprights you want to hold your canvas .To get the length of each piece , measure from floor to top wall at the angle you want the easel to be.

Bolts, nails or screws

Wooden dowel lengths of wood for pegs

Drill with a “spade” drill bit the same circumference as the dowel pieces you have

(Spade bits are used for rough boring holes in wood.)

Tape measure

Hammer

Drill

Method

1.Everything will need to be measured and cut for the area your are working on.

2. Grab the floor runner piece, lay it perpendicular to the wall on the floor, judging the best space between the floor runner and the wall . Screw, bolt or nail to the floor at intervals to secure. (Note) Remember to allow enough space from floor runner to wall for a slight angle for the upright pieces of wood so your painting canvas can to sit without falling

3. Grab the wall runner piece and screw, bolt or nail to the upper wall at intervals and make secure.

4. Lay all your upright pieces of wood together on a flat surface together (floor )and take your drill with the spade bit and make holes from bottom to the top on all the lengths of wood. The spacing has to be equal across the whole lot.

(If painting the easel do this now before attaching to wall)

5. Take your pre- cut lengths of wood with the holes and sit each one so the bottom is sitting behind the attached floor runner and at the top against the wall runner with the holes facing you. Screw bolt or nail the upright struts to the floor runner and to the wall runner at top. (Note) Go along the floor runner at whatever spacing you want with the upright struts to be.

Almost done. Cut lengths ( 6inches) of dowel for the pegs that will hold all your canvas’s

Note: If the pegs don’t fit in the holes… Round off one end with sandpaper by hand, or with an electric sander.

All done!!!  Now grab your canvas and paint to your hearts content

What is a Glaze?

Monday, October 31st, 2011


Layers layers layers. Did you know? many of my paintings, especially oil paintings, have layer upon layer of pigment and glazes. Each painting can take many hours,weeks even months to complete.

What is a Glaze?
A glaze combines two or more transparent layers of paint, which have been applied over an opaque underpainting. Each transparent layer builds on the ones under them, creating new colors and added richness depth and interest to a piece.

Rembrandt would paint in layers, building from the back of the painting to the front, by using coats of glazes. He would use at least 15 layers of transparent glazes in many of his paintings. That is why they seem to glow and emerge from the darkness of the background.

A few good sites to find out how to create glazes in your paintings
http://painting.about.com/od/oilpainting/a/glazing_FAQ.htm
http://painting.about.com/od/oilpainting/a/Glazing_Tips.htm
http://painting.about.com/od/oilpainting/a/GeraldD_glazing.htm

Back to “Free Tutorials”

The artists are taking over…

Friday, July 15th, 2011

The Artists are taking over…If you are heading to the Yarra Valley in Victoria, Australia to check out  The Archibald Prize at  Tarra Warra Museum of Art , don’t forget to pop into the thriving township of  Healesville.

Healesville is full of many quaint little cafes, restaurants, bakeries’ hotels, specialist delis, selling local gourmet foods and wines, second-hand /antique shops and eateries.

Recently the artists have taken over the town with the opening of many new spaces and galleries showcasing local artists and artisan’s wares.

One such space is “Artists Lounge” This shop is a real treat. A new corner gallery that has a Contemporary/Industrial feel to it. My favourite thing at “Artist’s Lounge” is the long black chalk wall running right along one side of the building, where you can make your mark amongst the contemporary artworks on display.

Friendly, Ali and Billy who run the space, have jam packed it with unique Contemporary art from the local Yarra Valley artists. You can browse the paintings and sculpture, but there is also an eclectic array of affordable, artsy items created by the artists.

I saw some lovely pieces of wearable art with handmade books, badges, cards, recycled arts, pottery, textile pieces, silk scarves, felting, and jewellery.

For the creative, they also sell high quality artist supplies and gorgeous papers to die for. If they don’t have what you are looking for they will order it for you.

So, grab yourself a cup of Billy’s delicious coffee and soak up the atmosphere and gorgeous things at “Artist’s Lounge” in Healesville

“Artist’s Lounge”
222 Maroondah Highway, Healesville.
Open Wednesday to-Sunday 10.30am -4.30pm
Phone 59625150
Email artistslounge.com.au
Show Map

Gleaning Paris for Art Materials

Thursday, July 14th, 2011

WATCH my…

Gleaning Paris for Art Materials video. From the streets of Paris I collect stuff,junk to create with, plus other inspirations behind my ideas. Works in progress from my studio’s in Paris, Spain and Australia. Photos taken in Paris, Spain and Australia.
All artwork copyright to Jenny Davis

2nd Place Winner

Friday, July 1st, 2011

Thank you very much to John R. Math at  Light Space & Time Gallery for choosing my painting, VM IMP. Berlin as 2nd. prize in the Abstracts Art Exhibition .My work was chosen from 550 other artists from all over the world.

All winners will now be featured on the Light Space & Time website for the month of July 2011. Thereafter, the artworks and links to the artist’s websites will remain online in the Light Space & Time Archives. Congratulations to our artists who made our Abstracts Art Exhibition so successful this month. At any time, we invite our winners and other interested visitors to link their websites to the Gallery’s archive page for further ongoing promotion.

2nd Place Winner – Jenny Davis – “VM6 IMP. Berlin”

Jenny Davis is an Australian artist, working from studio’s in Victoria Australia and Paris France, where she sometimes lives. As an artist, she enjoys working in many disciplines including: painting, sculpture, photography, installation, video, collage, recycled design, sound and virtual worlds. Jenny has shown her work in many countries, including Australia, Germany, Spain, France and USA. Her work is in private and public collections across Australia, UK, Europe and the U.S.A. Outlook8studio

 

Featured Artist at “Artsy Shark”

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

Latest news!

I’ve just been featured at Artsy Shark. Thank you!  Carolyn Edlund for all your hard work and for doing such a great job promoting artists and getting their work seen.

Featured Artist Jenny Davis
Artsy Shark presents Australian artist Jenny Davis. Her mixed media work uses recycled and reclaimed materials. Enjoy her portfolio and see more about Jenny here.

Jenny Davis is an Australian artist, working from studios in Victoria, Australia and Paris, France, where she sometimes lives. As an artist, she enjoys working in many disciplines including: painting, sculpture, photography, installation, video, collage, recycled design, sound and virtual worlds. Jenny has shown her work in many countries, including Australia, Germany, Spain, France and USA. Her work is in private and public collections across Australia, UK, Europe and the U.S.A.

Starting out primarily as an abstract painter and sculptor, Jenny’s arts practice has evolved and crosses over into many areas and disciplines. Recycling and reusing items in her work is very important. Stuff that usually goes into landfills and gleaned from the streets of Melbourne and Paris, or wherever she travels. Street litter, food packaging, advertising materials, advertising materials and all kind of paper ephemera are collected and saved for this purpose.

“All this wonderful stuff I reclaim and use in my collage and sculpture.”

“My source of creativity is spontaneous. It can mean spending days even weeks in the studio and strange places contemplating and “collecting energy”. Once I focus and sit with that energy it can take off in all areas. I then definitely need to put down a feeling or emotion, with colour, marks, words, assembled objects, or digital images still and moving. Whatever it takes to get it out! I use various techniques, materials and tools to realize my ideas.

The same goes with my photography. It’s spontaneous and unrehearsed. I like to tell strange stories with my photography and will put myself in uncomfortable spaces to achieve this. I have a wonderful space I found in Paris, I call the dungeon. I can spend hours down there waiting for something to take off. “

At the moment, I am fascinated by the narrative we tell ourselves, when placed in unfamiliar situations. Our mind seems to fly into “spontaneous imagination” and not focus in the moment. I want to seize those imaginary stories and create something with it.

I love spaces underground. There’s a life underneath the earth, and people don’t know about it, but it’s very busy and living, I have taken photos of the Eiffel Tower but I go under it, and look at closer fragments. I’m inspired by many things: Creative minds, Science as art, varies art movements and artists, Ernst, Miro, Tapies, Surrealism, Dada, Abstract Expressionists’, Natural history, Psychology, de-construction , Chaos theory, collecting found- objects and street litter, graffiti, street art, books, vintage and antique, travel and more.

 

News Flash- Upstairs at Duroc – Paris

Tuesday, May 17th, 2011

Upstairs at Duroc is an English language literary and art journal based in Paris.

The next issue no. 13 of Upstairs at Duroc will be out late 2011

Why am I pleased ? because 2 of my art pieces “Parisgrit” and “250 Degrees” have been selected to be published alongside notable writers.

I will let you know more about this exciting news when Upstairs at Duroc No. 13 magazine is out and ready to read.