Historical Art - A Time Machine, But What Else?

A huge visual & philosophical part of my themes uses the art & design of the 19th century & thus, a more recent neoclassical reflection on ancient Greek concepts of 'beauty' - or as we'd call it now, goodness. This hunk of research behind my pieces taught me many things & I kept coming back to one thing I realised I felt. I found that a drawing from any period, patina-coated or creased in the corner sends my heart racing. In fact peeking in to any contemporary artists studio at their process or studies does this & I'm not alone in this reaction, so why are we so fascinated? I think it's because no others so much as artists are such lightning rods of human connection. As Glen Keane says, (that's the guy who designed the little mermaid for Disney) in discussing Michelangelo, ''Design or drawing, is the direct line from the heart to a fixed visual communication of it'' It is for humans, by humans & no matter our sense of shame or defeat at our fellow (hu)man's rage, violence or corruption, we find hope where artists work to individually 'perfect' their form of visual language. Seemingly silent survivors in history, they in fact document not just that which they are paid to depict, but often what we are willing to see & they provide spaces to contemplate absolutely everything in our modern enjoyment of their work. It's as if we do not 'travel back in time' so much as they could sense our examination of it in the future. To quote Waldemar Januszczak, ''I know it's a cliche but standing in front of a Holbein, it's as if I really am there with the sitter'' & that skill is indeed an instant-travel time machine as Waldemar & many others feel. The flesh looks warm, the gazing eyes are about to blink, but for many I think it is also the reality behind a completed piece, a working artists life, which especially in historical art becomes more than a time machine. Artists become an instant direct line of human connection to a real moment of focus, a passing finite time of day & a real sitter who lived & breathed. In artists studies as much as their completed works, we can feel as closely parked to the long dead subjects presence, morals, or emotions as a perceptive artist. Not then just time machines, but a framed virtually interdimensional slice of a visceral moment with another person, in defiance of the man-measured time between us. It is in these intermittent stages behind a composed, completed artwork where I want my portraiture & figures to live...

Above - Holbein's cartoon (or preparatory drawing) next to the finished painting of 'the wide king'.

In this, I've been braving the world of oil paints & portraiture for the first time in a decade to find where I am able to join both ends of this 'connection' through artwork. I had felt it was missing in my interior, figurative pieces. My landscapes dwell in a rich detailed sunlit world which actually needs reducing to monochrome palettes of pencil for them to communicate disconnections from nature... but my interior & portraiture pieces, intended to further that sentiment, thus ended up either working beautifully as a skeletal study - or failing as a 'finished' piece. This interior human world is largely plastic & 'deadened' but that didn't mean the work could be, or how would anyone really 'feel' its sentiments?

I remembered the art nerds dream that is the exhibited contrast of Holbein's completed & cartoon stage of Henry's famous portrait, (above) A monochromatic study of the glittering bull-shouldered figure is hung beside it's completed oil portrait. In this, images of Holbein's amazingly real & human reference studies for his portraits flashed through my mind!

What if, I try to echo both of those pieces in one? Show the fleshy natural subject of the painting, locked in blank, plasticised garments & settings? A sort of lifeless reverse of those ghosts living in Holbein's studies - yet injected with the only remaining natural surfaces - the flesh & hair, within the stiff garments & structures. Thus my paint journey happily began this week. I've played with my oil paints, we've made friends & agreed rolled up sleeves are a must even in my chilly studio. So now I can move on to designing pieces... I hope you enjoyed my ponderings & work progress today. Sammy.

Preparing To Create A Collection & A Business With A Heart...

To quote Tony Stark 'Got any more stupid ideas?' Sorry... sorry, professional title - I guess I should have called this, 'So you're creating an art collection? Try ridiculous amounts of preparation on a thousand levels' - Still want to read this? then you might be truly happy doing 'that thing' you want to do.

Thankfully, I not only spent over two years working in an art gallery preparing & improving my skills like the nerd that I am, but I also have outstanding backup from my wonderful fellow artists, friends & colleagues a-like. This gave me some important things to talk about that might just help some people see things coming & see them for what they are.

For a start, out of my time bracing myself for the consequences of my endeavours, I completely lucked out & am collaborating this first collection's exhibit with the inspiring Ruth Claydon @mothandmagpie - Her brutalist & classical sentiments are so exquisitely expressed in her conscientiously & beautifully up-cycled fragments. I can't wait to make my start with her beautiful work inspiring me, (& dangling from my ears & essentially making me look like an amateur) but back to preparation...

Preparation for me, meant that when lockdown halted life, the first few unsure months passed, I lost a parent, had three forms of colliding chronic illness diagnosed & surgery for one became & remains, 'paused'. I moved back to my beloved Lake District with my beloved partner way sooner than we expected to & good grief was it the best decision...

Our cottage unpacked in December, I looked around me & realised that galleries were carrying on one way or another, much as was life in small ways & my entire self seemed to switch back on with a great whopping, 'sod this'. That preparation suddenly kicked in & I realised it's worth - Over a few days, I blasted my new studio in to a functioning, inspiring space - stocked up on materials & on the first day in months going through my designs & the pieces I had already completed, I automatically knew what to do with it all. I felt proud, I felt excited & as I looked over the works I thought, 'I want this, I love this, this is okay'

Suddenly so many peoples words sank in. People who've accomplished creative goals & built inspiring businesses - Anything worth doing takes time, work & determination. So many of us are encouraged by the internet (or rather, those using it) to think that if we are not millionaires three weeks in to something, then we've failed & do not deserve to make it a priority in our life. When there's already so many pressures to conform STILL leading us down paths, that's a hard feeling of guilt to shake at any crossroad & many of us choose the sign marked, 'Supposed To' for our direction. So what if you choose the path marked 'Your Own' ...Well the next hurdle those with a bit of fight in them can stumble on, is the immediate towering mountain of nothingness that is creating your own path. If you're doing this thing, you have no map, you must even construct the path as you walk it & who do you turn to for direction? The hard answer, is you. Here I return to my point on preparation. Prep will turn like minerals to gold, in to solid tangible progress & an artistic style will appear which is in its most essential form, becomes the visual language with which you speak.

Then come results... oh the tangible proof of growth, of skill & progress. It is here, that I promise, the path starts to show itself. If you're still waiting for those results & those feelings, take a look at working with galleries & your local artistic community, the fact that those people get it & live it, can be enough some days to keep your focus sharp, but the best advice I can give is to tell you that you must, must, prepare yourself as much as your work.

So what does preparation do for you?

As the title suggests, there are many things to prepare for beyond the work itself. I've had to keep stubbornly laying that path down as life came at me, (this ruddy path metaphor hey) but on ones own path, one of the first things you will immediately see is other people waving as they overtake you on theirs. A horrid feeling, but let me save you time & stress here. If you trust yourself to work hard, if you're prepared to fail, to either know when to quit, or to see a failure as a chance to improve, if you truly love what you're doing & want to work hard every day, then it doesn't matter what pace others seem to have. I once had a pearl of wisdom from a family friend, ''You can have a career in a company, for a wage they've skimmed your cream off the top of, only to find 9 years in, your work is wasted on a personal level when you are fired, just because someone somewhere made a move'' Aka - The grass is always greener & sadly sometimes cockier on the other path, but theirs is still littered with obstacles they must navigate & 'safe careers' can suddenly take the form of highwaymen stealing your stuff. When you fall, you get back up again & what are you left with? A bruise, some time lost, but whatever obstacles trip you, they cannot take away your skill, cannot undo the work done. All that remains, is the choice to continue or not.

So, preparation for other people. It can be a huge block to stand on or fall over. I've had toxic people hate me for not chucking it in for a life of 'misery loves company' with them. So many people desire a mirror over good company & when you reflect their own lack of effort, 'toxicity' rears its ugly head. When you don't stay out past 1 a.m with them every time, or you chose not to just sit with them doing nothing. People can even turn on you simply because you respectfully didn't want their advise, (control) & suggest they enjoy their own existence instead. Again, let me save you fretting - do not stand for it. I've had parents pretend my work wasn't laid out on a table in front of them & carry on talking over it because it wasn't what they thought I should do with my skills & I've had extreme physical pain to live with for 17 years whilst male doctors shrugged & told me I was ''too young & healthy looking'' to have what they've now found I have indeed been living with. But, but... In standing against or cutting out damaging people. I looked around, (as will you) & suddenly, I could also count the outstanding people I was left with, for who I suddenly had the time (previously lost on toxic people) to be with them instead. The great people in my life are taking responsibility for their own & thus, they remain true friends with no agenda beyond simple, real friendship. I eventually met my first employer who not only loved art & encouraged me, (with realistic advise) but who let me sit with a warm drink if I was in pain because he knew I would meet him half way & stand up with a smile when a customer entered. These good people & good situations are life changing. So though there's no quick way to know who these people will turn out to be, or even who you'll turn out to be, I can recommend that you prepare for answers to both & tell you that the rough but sparkling diamond in the end, is having trust in yourself.

Which leads me to preparation for happiness - On that note of good community, I was also, not prepared for how lucky I would be in my time with the gallery, I got to share my first exhibition space with the amazing Mick Leach & was surrounded by living proof of the joy which comes from making your creativity your profession. People like Kate Pettitt & Peter Layton, Piers Browne & Anita Klein & ALL the hardworking jewellers were constantly reminding me that I was already part of the world I felt so happy in & I recommend getting in to it via galley work, you learn to truly appreciate the effort they need to contribute in properly showing your work. A good gallery earns their cut without gatekeeping or manipulating a 'snob value' but in valuing the work an artist does & this creates a competitive but healthy & genuine market. Do not be afraid to approach these inspiring people.

Preparing for customers - yea yea, web shop construction, SEO stuff, that's all common sense, trust me just have common sense, be organised, be up in the morning.

What I'm preparing you for is not the technicalities of a sale, you can handle it trust me. It is the personal & touching way your customers reach out & respond to something you have made. It has, (especially this year) had me crying tears of happiness. Yes, you too must prepare for the wonderful people who are going to be your customers, your followers, your supporters. Total strangers who care enough to just write a thoughtful comment, or hang your work in their home. They are gold, they are fresh clear air & they are hot meals on tables - not to be scoffed at when that is a reminder of the independence you have carved out of your own little path. So prepare for happiness - hard work, but happiness. You can do it.

Visit www.pyramidgallery.com Instagram - @mothandmagpie @katepettitt @mr_mjleach @evieleach @piersbrowne @pyramidgalleryyork

#artistsblog #artstudio #artiststips #thelakedistrict #environmentalart #artgalleryblog #ukartist #figurativeart #landscapeart

'Alter - Woman Listening To Birdsong' Print creation

As a new artist, it's difficult to source people who will care for & scan your precious work to a standard better than a photocopier from 1998 or for the price of a small diamond... So firstly, I strongly advise anyone starting out to invest in an ipad pro, apple pencil & a scanner. This will allow you to choose editing software which lets you bring out the tones of your original works without paying a shocking fee to those most desirable of printmakers, (who I & my artist friends like the idea of using) but in early days & on small budgets, it's a safer way to do your own quality control & efficiently manage your pieces as you begin & if I can be converted from my PC anyone can, Apple is so good for artists...

From early stages pieces like my landscape prints take days of solid focus building shading & highlights, so to know that you can capture all of its patina, tones & detail in a way which feels like it does to see the original, is a happy way to start any piece knowing you are in control. Beyond this I have found that some pieces I enjoy mapping out & beginning on paper & taking on to finish any last steps digitally. I spent time working to create pencil tools which I use with the same technique as I do on paper, there is no 'cheat' in digital art, if you want your work to look unique to you. Ones ability to 'undo' however, (which when you are a solo artist with a business to run & coffee to spill) spares you all the time you so desperately need to work efficiently. Some people like painting digitally, personally, I think if you desire an airbrushed pristine look, it's gorgeous, (Procreate is a great way to start playing) but for that real magic I advise getting dirty in the studio - trust me anything you care about enough to commit to painting is worth the time & care to try in real paint.

Below - Progress on the piece, with some last highlighting & tonal balancing on my ipad pro.

You can find a way to replicate your pencil work, ink strokes & tones - but do try to work as if you are using a real pencil, focus, don't let the software drive - you choose your strokes as you would with a real pencil & it will happen... The result, a work which is YOUR style. Again, I prefer & advise as much as possible to be done by hand, your skill is precious & worth giving time & respect to - I spent time working/exhibiting in a great art gallery in York & the people who come for exhibitions will recognise this effort. Just keep going...

Right - kettle on & off to work on some Art For Dance pieces today - @thatdanceartist

#artistsblog #drawingblog #lakedistrictartist #artstudioblog #insideanartstudio #artistsatelier #ukartist #samanthasomers #arttips #digitalart #drawingtips #whatipaddoineedforartwork