This month’s …

I subscribe to a monthly art journal called Artists & Illustrators; I have mixed feelings about its contents.  Some months I struggle to find something that really ‘presses the buttons’ I am a new artist and eager to learn about others and with utmost respect some are just too clever and while their work is just fine, often it is not something I aspire too.  Also, like most glossy magazines there are too many adverts for products that, no matter how new, better or WOW they might seem, are very expensive,  and quite frankly are no better than the ones I bought last month! So the magazine is tossed aside for later (or not) when my mood maybe more receptive and that too also happens … like I said my feelings are mixed.      

However, this month’s edition has reach the top of the ‘hit parade’ it is a joy and already well thumbed.

When, I returned to regular art classes a couple of years back, (the first since 1966)  I began with mark making and we still return to it occasionally. My teacher gives me all sorts of tools and mediums and allows me to throw, dribble, spin, plonk, shake, stand, sit, crouch, straddle and even dance! The results have been used in stand alone works and some used in other more complex pieces,  most put away never to see the light of day.

I don’t think I saw the relevance of this behaviour (remember I do come from old-school) as a serious artist; maybe only as way of practice and play, thinking perhaps real artists didn’t need such futile distraction; until now.

This month’s magazine is full of methods of mark making and ways in which we can apply paint and other mediums to a surface and ‘be’ artists. I still have long way to go and the likes of Jackson Pollack have nothing to fear … Artists & Illustrators … Namaste.