Happy New Year 2012!

Thought I'd post a few pics of the fireworks on the Sydney Harbour bridge at last night's new years eve celebrations. A rainbow was one of the symbols decorating the bridge during the display - lets hope it's a portent of the pot of gold you all truly deserve this year. happy New year and thanks for reading!

Gerhard Richter Videos

Just added some videos (see list at left) on Gerhard Richter - painting and drawing. Enjoy!

Landscape Drawing and painting Weekend - Blackheath

I just wanted to let you know about a wonderful workshop I'll be conducting in the beautiful Blue Mountains. It'll be a weekend of painting, drawing, site seeing and art talk in and around my new home of Blackheath and the World Heritage Blue Mountains Area. Numbers are strictly limited to ten participants - non-participant partners are welcome.Gift Certificates available - Apply now! See http://www.gabriellejones.com.au/pages/workshops.html for more details

New work from the Studio Number Four

Image: Gabrielle Jones, Waft (Blackheath), 122 x 152cm oil on Canvas

 

This is the first really faithful painting I have made from my drawings. I enjoyed playing with all the edges. I found that there was a first pass through in which position and technical stuff had to be sorted - and it was- but the painting was "dead" in my eyes. So eventually I had to leave all that behind and really just get in and paint, lose the thing, and then bring it back. Much like any other painting, and my abstract work in particular!

Funnily enough, I started this with spray enamel and a roughness, but ended up with a smoother, ethereal and sensitive look, as dictated by the subject matter.

What do you think?

New Studio Work Part 3

Image: Gabrielle Jones, Evening (Lumen Series), Charcoal, pastel and shellac on paper, 70 x 100cm

 

Number three in the larger "lumen" series in which I explore landscape and the effect of light  at different times of the day. I think that working in this series has made me understand what I am trying to produce in my paintings - a sensitivity (not always achieved!); a nod to the beauty of nature; a sense of "air" or ethereality; a discovery of surface pattern and the effects of light on this.

 

Do you work in series? What do you gain from it?

Vale Steve Jobs - a parallel to art

I don't want to get on the band wagon regarding the death of this visionary man whose inventions literally changed my life (along with squillions of others. -I have been a Mac user since the early to mid 80's when they first came to Australia, as a member of the design industry). But I came across this quote in an article by Bianca Bosker in the Huffington Post, interviewing Jay Elliot who was a friend and worked with the young Steve Jobs.

"Steve challenged every part of me. I loved being challenged and I loved being exposed to that level of quality and accomplishment. It was a gift to be working with someone who had those smarts and vision. I was excited to go to work every day. Steve forces you to figure out who you are and who you are going to be."

I always wanted to work with a boss like him. I guess, in the end, that's why I chose "Art" (substitute for "Steve")

New Studio work Number Two

Image: Gabrielle Jones, Aperture (Lumen Series), Charcoal on paper, 70 x 100cm

The second new work in a series I have been working on since November last year. Getting the Tone down pat! Feedback welcome.

New work from the studio -Part 1

 

Image: Gabrielle Jones, Dapple (Lumen Series), Charcoal and Shellac on paper 70 x 100cm

I've decided to add new work as it is made and - hopefully - finished. I know a good editing process is all important for an artist, but I have been living with these for a few weeks now and they have survived the bin, the overdraw, and the touch up! I think they're cooked!

Gallery discovery of the week

Ok - I have officially been living under a rock. It's no excuse that I lived in another major city in a rather large island for all of my life - I should have discovered this rather excellent Melbourne gallery before now.  So I'm sharing it here with my fellow rock dwellers and my overseas friends.
An exceptional (and well curated) collection of artists from Australia that should have wider renown.
http://www.utopianslumps.com/

Image: William McKinnon (details unknown - see website)

Try Try Again! How do judges decide?

Didn't make it into the Paddington Art Prize. :((

But as these things often happen, I received a newsletter (Blackheath Art Society Aug-Oct 2011) in the mail in which Anthony Bond, Director of Curatorial Services at the Art Gallery of NEw South Wales, was interviewed by Christine Townend regarding his choices in Art Prizes (among other things). He states that for him, "it is important to consider the context". In other words, if judging in an area where the "prevailing themes are landscape or configuration, you need to take that into account (and) encourage the best possible practice in that area, rather than automatically giving the prize to the most adventurous.....What interests me is the degree of honesty and observation that an artist brings to the work."

He later goes on to say that " in every case, I'm looking for an honesty, a directness and keenness of observation. Often the works that seek to be more contemporary end up being over technical or just plain flashy: they simply don't ring true".

Well, I don't consider mine flashy or technical, but then again, Tony Bond wasn't the judge. Perhaps he ought to have been!

Image: Gabrielle Jones, "Tree Movement (Blackheath)" 122 x 122cm Oil on Canvas. Perhaps  should have entered this one?

So...what do you think makes a worthy prize winner? What considerations would you take into account if you were the judge? How do you pick up and go on after "Art  Prize Failure"?