Creativity and Abstraction workshop, Sydney

Image: Gabrielle Jones, "Hillside, Whitegums" Oil on Canvas, 101 x 101cm 2011

I am conducting a Creativity and Abstraction Workshop on September 24th at Sydney's Balmain (easy, free parking) from 10am to 4pm. Using observation of real objects, I'll walk you through a number of exercises, thinking methods, tools and imagination games to develop your ability to make interesting abstract work, move your realistic paintings away from the predictable, or improve composition and subject ideas. Tuition is structured to ensure fast learning and early success and stimulate creativity and generate ideas for on-going work.  Suitable for those wishing to break out of their current painting rut, move from realism to abstraction, or who simply wish to explore abstraction and their creativity.

I held one a few weeks ago and the participants left with heaps of ideas for their work and the confidence to execute it when alone in their studios.

The cost will be $125 for the day. Morning and afternoon tea will be provided.
Further details (materials list, payment details etc) will sent upon inquiry. Contact me if interested:http://www.gabriellejones.com.au/pages/contact.html

Artist's Statement reviewed

Just uploaded one of the funniest spoofs on an artist's statement I have seen (see videos left). Enjoy!

Discovery of the week - Rafael Karcz

Albert Wang, art curator, IAO PROJECTS, Salt Lake City, USA states that rafael, a Polish artist, "focuses both the artist's and viewers' attention on various iterations of human faces, one of the traditional genres of art history. Frequently de-populated and executed with the artist's characteristic somber palette of rather monochromatic colors, Karcz's faces create an evocative atmosphere that is simultaneously disquieting, banal, and even, on occasions, gloomy or sinister. His fleeting glimpses of these motives are often ambiguous - both artist and viewer participate in the viewing of the scene and yet are somehow also clearly excluded from belonging in them..."

I think that, although showing the strong influence of the work of Marlene Dumas, these works cannot be ignored, especially for the apparent darkness in their soul. The contrast between the "touch" of water colour thin paint, applied to such violent, political scenes in dark colours is conceptually masterful, whilst the blur and misplacement of facial features - a recipe for disaster in lesser hands - is handled with great skill. But, you know what, I just love them. They move me, and that doesn't happen often. Enjoy!

Taking time to walk

I just moved to Blackheath, in the Blue Mountains 1.5 hours North West of Sydney. Took the time out from teaching, moving, commuting and painting to take a walk in the memorial park, where I discovered a wonderful avenue of Rhododendrons. It soothed my soul and gave me energy for the rest of the day (another commute and a new class to teach). Here's the photos from my iPhone. Not bad for a winter's day, hey?

Artist discovery of the...well, a long time. Adrian Ghenie

Just had this artist pointed out to me - and I must say, I think I've been living under a rock. Romanian artist, Adrian Ghenie must be one of the Ghenie-uses of our time! Man, can this guy paint!

His works all speak of his wonderful touch, although their subjects change, and they are all imbued with a dark strangeness and almost erotic sense of story and paint. What is going on? and while you're musing on this.. How does he do it? At times lush and flowing with paint and shoulder movement, at others spare and elemental - and often, all in the one painting. A wonderful treat for the eyes.

Modern edition.com says "Richly and often hermetically allusive, Ghenie's work attempts to investigate memory and the unconscious against a backdrop of 20th-century European history.Frequently attaining a cinematic, film noir-esque quality, Ghenie's highly structured, dramatically lit tableaux justifiably make him one of the major art stars of the moment".

Enjoy!