Back in business (…with a bloody vengeance)

Hey freaks

Steph here

It’s been some time since I last did a proper post on this blog. I have been on holiday on the Greek Island of Kos as some of you may know. Sandra and I were on an all inclusive deal at a lovely little hotel in a quiet rural area on the island. This was a great chance for me to really get to know her, but also practice some Greek with the bar tenders and other locals.

We went on a few excursions on our visit including;

• a visit to a wine press, olive press then the mountain village of Zia (which was beautiful)
• a visit to the ‘party’ town of Kardamena directed at Brit tourists. 
• and, a three island boat tour which took us to the likes of Pserimos and Kalymnos (both were absolutely stunning)

So yeah aside from this it was the typical holiday activities sun, sea, sand, swimming etc etc. I had a great time and will be sure to post up a few little sketches I did whilst out there over the next few days. 

I came back early yesterday morning and spent most of the day just laying about with Sandra. Then came home, started painting the back of my door with these cool new paint markers that came through recently… As you do…

Steph have you gone mad?! an inverted cross on the back of the door, the heat must really have got to your head! Haha! here is a black and white shot of the work in progress.

I’ll be sure to upload another shot when it’s more complete/ finished (if it ever will be) in full colour too.

 

Peace&love

Steph

[p.s. Please check out my society6 page at Instantgaram art]

Advice for today’s amateur artist #1: Relevance in perception

Hey, so today’s post will be slightly different from what I’ve previously posted in that it may actually be of some use to you. I will be sharing with you a bit of advice for an amateur artist who is just starting out.

< Please do note however that this is my opinion alone, so do not take my words as the gospel truth. THERE IS NO GOSPEL TRUTH. I am just sharing my feelings about a particular quality I admire in great artwork >

One thing that I’ve always seen as key the creation/discovery of great art is relevance. It is holding back. If you are painting or drawing a subject the goal of completion in the old fashioned sense can become a distraction when I feel it is much more important to take certain facets to what is seen.

It’s kind of (but in less of a literal manner) like how a characaturist picks out certain distinguished features and emphasises them comically. Whereas, unless you are a characaturist, it would be more like ‘a portrait that depicts the eyes and not necessarily anything else’ possibly because the eyes for example may be reflecting a certain emotion. And that emotion can be demonstrated without any other features picked up. They may detract from the essence of the eyes alone.

There should always be a moment whilst doing a piece of art where you take a step back and can safely say “any more would ruin this” I think a lot of people fall short and they end up overkilling it.

Leave something for the imagination. Maybe even leave a lot for the imagination. Blank canvas?! No that’s too far! I mean obviously there are further complexities to this, such as using specific materials to capture the emotive capacity of an image best, or certain colours and techniques. Maybe that’s for a future post however..

Another quick tip for now: a lot of artists I feel find a bit of a comfort zone and stick to it because it’s what sells or it’s what pleases the public. What I say to this is try new things. Exploration and experimentation are two aspects to creating art that are highly admirable. Obviously if something you try for the first time doesn’t work or “looks ugly” then you can call it a process, just don’t publish it keep it hidden from the public realm. This may even become a stepping stone for something great.

Anyway back to me…

Meet Mel. She gets sad from time to time.

Last night was great, I met up with my girl Melissa. It was definitely an unconventional kind of ‘night out’.

Peace&love

Steph

[p.s. Check out my artwork when you get a chance at http://www.society6.com/instantgaram ]

Lady Liberty

 A little sketch from yesterday 

Relax it’s the weekend…

& not so hungover this time round. Result! Time to hit the gym, then home to do some painting and possibly dip dye my hair if I have time.

Peace&love

Steph