Helen Davis, Author at Seven

12th August 201917th February 2021

SEVEN’s Amanda Jackson – a painter inspired by nature

So, Leigh Art Trail 2019 came and went in a blink of an eye. And, while most of SEVEN just about manage showing our creative projects at one venue, some of us exhibited at two – yes Amanda Jackson, we’re talking about you.

Amanda’s #LAT2019

While most of SEVEN lead various creative lives Amanda also happens to be a talented painter who has shown her work at a number of Leigh Art Trails. This year she shared a space at the Birdwood Bakery with printmaker Shelley Jupitus, where she showcased a series of oil paintings which Amanda described thus:

“Painting the littoral zone; a celebration of the nature of the places where water meets land.”

Essex Is An Inspiration

As Amanda explains the natural Essex environs are key to her creative practice:

“I have lived beside the Thames Estuary in Leigh-on-sea and Westcliff-on-sea most of my life and my work explores my sense of this place and the surrounding landscape of Essex coast and countryside. My painting practice is sustained by a deep sense of the familiar and entrenched memories of the landscape, walking and drawing and returning to the studio to paint”

The Artistic Process

As you know SEVEN is always keen to peak behind the scenes of the artistic process, so how does Amanda take her painting from inspiration to finished artwork?

First off, Amanda has been honing her practice on the other side of the country at Newlyn School of Art:

“[L]earning more, making contacts, expanding my horizons – literally East to West – and whilst there, soaking up the landscape that I love.”

How has this experience impacted her practice then?

“My studio practice has changed – which is a good thing. I am learning what parts of my old practice can stay and what needs to step up a gear.”

She continues:

“I also made the move out of my home into studio space which allows me freedom to work on several paintings at a time enabling one painting to influence another.”

So how does Amanda go about a specific painting?

“I am working more intuitively,” Amanda tells us. “With a starting point but no idea of what the outcome might be, a particular painting had been troubling me for some weeks and I thought I would share the process with you.”

We’re all ears! Well…

“It begins with a rejected canvas that I had painted in the spring for an exhibition, but rejected it. I have become a champion of reusing canvases and rather than paint over in white, I just start painting.”

Does she work straight onto the canvas or does she have a sketchbook?

“Working from a photo of some rocks and associated drawings and colour studies, the initial process took place over a period of two months.”

Did she hit any rocky* patches? (*pun intended!)

“The final version has been turned through 90 degrees,” Amanda says.

“I needed to stop, there was something problematic about it, it is not unusual for me to like small areas of the painting more than others and at this point I knew that much of the existing painting needed to go.”

Sounds a bit dramatic! What happened next?

“The painting remained on the studio wall for a while, we had Open Studios and it was interesting to hear visitors’ thoughts about it, but it still niggled me. The painting journeyed to Newlyn and discussions with Marie Clare (one of the tutors) gave me more food for thought: Was I just trying to give too much information in one painting, should it be more pared back?”

So Amanda went back to some of her colour studies:

“I laid out all the photos and drawings from the beach at Newlyn, which is where the initial ideas sprung from. I was drawn to the pile of boulders. Other paintings in the series are hanging on my wall, drawings are laying out on the table and all of this feeds into the painting.”

What about the colours?

“The choice of colours that evolve from this point on were drawn from those already used and the colours in the landscape but I cannot explain how this comes about as it is an intuitive process.”

When does she decide it’s finally finished?

“The final version or should I say, this version to date will stay on the wall for a while, my pondering time… I am happier with it than I was.”

Find Out More

Follow Amanda on Instagram at @amandajacksonart to keep up to date with her latest artworks, exhibitions and inspirations. And of course, she also shares her creative sketchbook projects as part of SEVEN over at @sevenartistsuk.

22nd July 20195th March 2020

Getting Creative With School Kids at Village Green – again!

One of the Next Generation budding artists’ creation

This year’s Village Green Next Generation event was not as hot the last one. I mean that in a good way. Because the first year (2017) SEVEN hosted a drop-in art stall for the local school kids attending Metal’s pre-weekend festival we nearly melted.

Whether we were almost overcome by the merciless midday sun or a relentless confusion of children coming to cut, collage and create is debatable:

“As wave after wave of primary school kids and their teachers came to check out our art tables – think: mandala collage, collective doodling, and swing tag-making – it was all we could do to just muck in and make the most of it.

More gems you say? Certainly. Lost your prized sunglasses? We’ll help you find them. Want pictures of cars for your mandala collage? Coming up.”

Errgh! I’m feeling exhausted just thinking about it! But the upshot was we made note of what not to do next time…

Wish You Were Here?

For starters, this year, we had a theme: Wish You Were Here.

Postcards and luggage tags were the starting points for 2019’s miniature masterpieces
Our medium? Mostly collage. Think: animals, oceans, cars, stickers, old postage stamps – and, just the odd bit of bling!
While a huge roll of paper provided the backdrop for collective doodling – resulting in a kind of journey through stream of consciousness!

Boundaries v Boredom

Providing a starting point – however loose – definitely proved beneficial. The children were inspired to:

Remember journeys they’d taken
Imagine trips they’d love to go on
While others focused on the transport that would take them there
Or, wondered about the animals they might see …

One satisfied participant even commented:

“We thought it was going to be really boring, but it’s been really great!”

You can’t ask for much more than that, right?
Balloons, Breeze & Crawling on the Grass
Now we just have to fathom:

How to blow up numerous balloons without expiring – what seemed like an easy decorative addition soon became a lesson in breath control and our lack of lung capacity (apparently some tips on just how to blow up a balloon can be found here)
How to control Pritt stick usage – kids seem to be compelled to wind the glue up to the max, which results in mushed and broken glue sticks galore!
How to better manage breezy conditions – paperweights didn’t do much for our teensier collage cut outs which saw Kim crawling all over the grass to reclaim them!

All in All

Thanks to Metal Southend for the opportunity to share a few of SEVEN’s creative processes with some of our local kids. It’s always a pleasure and we take away so much in the form of memories and ideas!

10th June 20195th March 2020

The Inspiration Behind SEVEN’s 2019 Art Books

Gene Simmons – you know, the Kiss guy with the graphic makeup and the wild tongue – once said:

“I crave ideas, and when an idea hits me, it grips me and it tortures me until I master it.”

That’s kinda how SEVEN’s 2019 creative art book project has taken us. Now the Leigh Art Trail 2019 is upon us and while all our art books are complete, some of us made it by the skin of our tortured teeth. Others, on the other hand, were much more organised (Kim!).

So we took this opportunity to look around and start asking ourselves some questions. What lessons have we learned? And what did we most enjoy while undertaking this particular SEVEN art project?

But first up, we asked…

Who Inspired Your Art Book?

Our unifying theme for 2019 was a favourite artist or art movement, but why did each SEVEN member choose their particular theme?

Kim – Robert Rauschenberg

Robert Rauschenberg (1925 – 2008) an American artist who worked in a variety of mediums – including painting, printmaking and performance – inspired Kim’s art book.

As the Rauschenberg Foundation says:

“…Rauschenberg has been called a forerunner of essentially every postwar movement since Abstract Expressionism.”

Which might have had a little something to do with why Kim picked him as her subject:

“For literally decades I would have said that Andy Warhol was my favourite artist, but when I saw the Robert Rauschenberg exhibition at Tate Modern, it made me think again. Such varied work, so inspiring, it made a big impression on me, and I wanted to find out more.”

Jo – Hundertwasser

Jo chose Friedensreich Hundertwasser, an artist, architect and ecologist, as her subject. Born in Vienna in 1928 Hundertwasser became recognised for his striking use of spirals and arabesque lines. Writing about his art work in the mid-1970s he said:

“The colourful, the abundant, the manifold, is always better than mediocre grey and uniformity”,

Explaining why she took Hundertwasser as her starting point Jo says:

“I first came across Hundertwasser and his work during University, where I studied textile design. I love his use of colour and I’m inspired by the pattern-like style in his paintings and architecture. More recently I visited an exhibition of Hundertwasser, Klimt and Schiele at Atelier des Lumières, in Paris, which was an immersive experience that rekindled my interest.”

Amanda – Matisse

Amanda centred her project on Henri Matisse, (1869 –1954) a French artist, famed for his use of colour and decorative forms. But Amanda decided to concentrate on the legendary cut-outs, created towards the end of his career:

“I love his sense of colour and the playfulness he found in this late period of his work, when he was ill and had his assistants paint paper for him to cut into directly. I find fun in the work that I do with SEVEN and this playfulness in Matisse’s series fitted.”

Helen – Surrealism

So Helen focused her book on Surrealism:

“A twentieth-century literary, philosophical and artistic movement that explored the workings of the mind, championing the irrational, the poetic and the revolutionary.” – Tate Modern

While Salvador Dalí is probably the best known Surrealist artist – who were largely men – and Sigmund Freud their ‘patron saint’ Helen says:

“I was originally interested in some of the female Surrealists. Their use of myth, folklore, fantastic landscapes, Jung, alchemy, and more, fascinates me.”

Juliet – Oceania

Juliet’s concertina creation is inspired by the Royal Academy exhibition Oceania, which explored the art of the people of the Pacific ocean. The RA says:

“From shell, greenstone and ceramic ornaments, to huge canoes and stunning god images, we explore important themes of voyaging, place making and encounter.” –

The exhibition featured works from the 18th century to the present and included:

“[S]eminal works produced by contemporary artists exploring history, identity and climate change.”

Juliet goes on to say that the reason for her choice was the fact that she:

“…loved how the art was so inspired by the world around them.”

Leigh Art Trail – at last!

So, it’s a wrap!

(From left) Jo, Helen, Kim, Amanda, Juliet

SEVEN are excited to be part of Leigh Art Trail 2019. Remember, the Trail is “…a not for profit, volunteer run, community engagement organisation, showcasing the work of local contemporary artists and designers”.

And, we love sharing both our creative art books and the ideas behind them with the many Trailers who take the opportunity to visit us at our lovely host venue Planet Leasing.

25th May 20195th March 2020

Back at Turn the Page 2019 – the artists’ books fair

https://www.turnthepage.org.uk/

So SEVEN collective made our second trip to Turn the Page to peruse the artists’ books and to see some local-to-us artists – from the Leigh-on-sea / Southend areas – who’d travelled up to Norwich to showcase their creations:

“The aim of turn the page artists’ book fair is simply to provide an exhibiting and selling platform for the book arts and to raise public awareness of this intriguing art form.”

And, this time, seeing as we were attempting to make our own art books from scratch, we were really taking note…

Chris Ruston – Noticing Nature

Our bookbinding tutor Chris Ruston was at the fair showing her beautiful artist books, many of which explore her interest in climate change:

“Earth’s story is a constant thread through her work. She invites us to think about how the past, present and future come together.”

The Ark, which has been included in the Agri-Culture / Seeds Links exhibition in association with the Svalbard Global Seed Bank, featured:

“[P]ages [which] act as ‘seeds of thought’ – touchstones to inspire us as we face increasing social, economic and biophysical challenges.”

While:

“Loose leaf pages are held between lunaria annua (otherwise known as honesty seeds). They are a reminder of the hard truths facing us in dealing with these challenges – as well as a symbol of hope and renewal.”

And Chris wasn’t alone in using creative formats to explore some serious themes…

Gwen Simpson – Collective Threads

Gwen was at Turn the Page to present her Collective Threads community textile project, which was created in response to the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh, back in 2013.

The large-scale hanging – like a huge patchwork curtain – is created from 1,130 rectangular pieces each representing the number of people who died in the tragedy.

Each section has been contributed by members of the public – including SEVEN’s Kim, Juliet and Jo – and features everything from seed-stitched furnishing fabric to hand stamped lettering, smocking, and hot press printing on silk.

Gwen has said of Collective Threads:

“Alongside acknowledgement of this incident, the project generated discussions about our ‘throw away culture’… [And it] has encouraged individuals to come together in a united spirit of community, and to reconnect to their own creativity.”

Discover More

Turn the Page is a fantastic opportunity to discover unusual bookbinding techniques and flick through some fascinating pages. Intrigued? Discover more about the 2019 Turn the Page exhibitors.

14th April 20195th March 2020

Deadline Looming? A Tip For Creatives Stuck in a Rut

Every journey has its Bog of Eternal Stench moment. Remember the film Labyrinth? Yes, the one with David Bowie and the tights. Well, if Sarah had given up on saving her baby brother when she got stuck at the Bog of Eternal Stench, he would’ve been lost to the Goblin King and Sarah would never have realised GK’s magic had no power over her.

The point is, we all get stuck or lost, or downright cheesed off. And, the creative process is no different. You might start off with good intentions and big ideas, but the middle can be sticky. Stenchy even.

And, with the Leigh Art Trail deadline looming it’s turned out some of SEVEN are making super slow progress with their art books. Some of us might even be a teensy bit stuck. Eeek!

So what help is there for the frustrated creative stuck on their creative project?

A Creative Unblock Project to Try

Well, Danielle Krysa, aka The Jealous Curator, is the brains behind Creative Block: Advice and Projects from 50 Successful Artists. This book features the thoughts and practices of a variety of artists on dealing with inner and out critics, blank page block, and more.

In her post on the book Maria Popova of Brain Pickings shares some of the books most thoughtful snippets, including this “Creative Unblock Project” used by artist and illustrator Lisa Congdon:

“Choose one thing you love to draw or paint (and feel comfortable drawing or painting) already: an animal, object, a person, whatever. For thirty days, draw or paint that thing thirty different ways, a different way every day. You can use different mediums, expressions, positions, colors, whatever. Each day, push yourself to do something much different than the day before, but keep the subject the same. See how keeping one element constant (in this case, the “thing” you love to draw or paint) can allow you to break out creatively in other ways.”

Will SEVEN get unstuck? Will Amanda’s origami birds be strung in her Turkish map fold? Will Juliet get her concertina stitched in time? And, will all our art books make it to LAT 2019? It’s a cliffhanger alright!