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A dramatic 'forest' of paintings from the recent 2-day 'Freedom in Painting' Workshop at the Queens Park Art Centre, Aylesbury!
In advance of the workshop, the 12 artists were asked to make studies of their own special tree, real or imagined, and were also send a Powerpoint presention of an extensive selection of tree paintings from art history, including works by Van Gogh, Cezanne, Mondrian, Soutine, Joan Mitchell, Frank Auerbach...This ensured everone had a clear focus and direction for the workshop, with possibilities for painting....
Antonia Glynne-Jones: Tree-study
After a brief introductory talk, I went straight into a demonstration, making new studies for my Porthleven tree painting, pushing the idea of strength and delicacy with acrylics and a single brush, an exercise which the artists then followed. It was enjoyable to view their studies, as a group, the artists now loosened-up and full of ideas for painting.
demonstration
A second demonstration followed, where, surrounded by studies and possibiliies I made my first foray into painting, on a yellow ground which I 'borrowed' from Cezanne...
What qualities does a tree bring to a painting? Tree as structure, tree as movement, tree as volume, tree as drawing, branch=line...
During the demonstration, and a third one after lunch, the painting went through many changes, showing perhaps that pre-conception or first thoughts are not necessarily the best solution to a painting!
The artists took these thoughts on board, and over the 2 days pushed their paintings forwards, informed by their studies and memory, but also by new ideas and the exciting things that happen in the process. Also by what the other artists were doing aound them, all with different ideas and approaches.
The painting-process isn't just about doing - it's about looking, analysing, finding ways to make the painting stronger. Sometimes the changes made were dramatic, other times more subtle: see the quiet strength that Brenda Hurley revealed in her painting, below.
before and after...
The 'forest' emerged, a strong (and delicate!) set of paintings from a group of committed artists, willing to leave their own comfort zone and go deeper into painting. The workshop finished with an invaluable Group Critique, the paintings a revelation when the studio was cleared. I very much enjoyed the one-to-one tuition and conversations with the artists over the two days and seeing the paintings develop. A big thank-you to all the participating artists for your hard work and a special thank-you to Antonia Glynne-Jones (and cats) for her hospitality and organisation and to Katy Garrod for taking a series of videos of the demonstration in the workshop.
And great to see the artists carrying on with the 'TREE' theme after the workshop - Diane Bedser's latest painting:
ARTISTS COMMENTS:
'Really enjoyed the course and felt I have achieved a step forward in my understanding' KATE WATKINS
'What a super group of artists and Ashley's support was fantastic' HAZEL CRAWFORD
'The course gave me the impetus to return to oils and to experiment' CLAIRE ROLLINSON
'Ashley makes time to provide personalised insight into everyone's work' KATY GARROD
'Three days would be good!' DIANE BEDSER & BRENDA HURLEY
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- Ashley Hanson
WED 2 MARCH
Looking again - no need to change a thing. The final mark, the angIed-line/branch in the top-left corner, pushing everything behind, bringing depth. The strength, delicacy and movement of the tree is captured, contrasted by the purity of the lemon ground/shape. I have my elusive 'difference'. Thoughts of 'The Tree of Crows' by Caspar Friedrich - one of those kind of trees!. Time to play the sublime 'Brilliant Trees' by David Sylvian again. 'Nostalgia' indeed...
'The Tree of Crows' Caspar David Friedrich 1822
TUES 21 FEB
A writhing Porthleven tree, leans to the left, shaped by the wind, now becoming more volumetric with redrawing and trapped layers. is the lemon too sharp?
in progress
Pursuing the idea of a Porthleven tree, a 'telegraph-tree' and a hanging-harbour. The twin-curve idea came from this early stage in my painting 'Penzance 15', below:
early stage: 'Penzance 15'
12 TREE STUDIES
Some interesting shaped-paper!
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THURS 23 FEB
Reflection and final marks. The severity of the squared off black shape niggled me (5), now softened with a red-oxide glaze and resolved by a sweep of orange/red and a vertical line of small dots beneath. It's a return to the curve/branch from the early stage of the painting (1) and the possibility of 'tree' and 'hanging-harbour' - hence the name-change!
detail
5
SUN 29 JAN
The idea of 'tree' is less explicit, transformed into colour but we have a painting... It's a beautiful piece of red, with Pyrolle Red and Michael Harding Venetian Red in the mixes, picked up by the red crane. A softening of the transition between red and black. I kept seeing a face which slowed down the movement around the painting. I took out the black mark/eye - now you can see better the red crane and the procession of small marks/colour-incident in the detail.
Colour versus drawing - balance. Done.
In this morning's session, denser colour down the left, a new red!, a new blue and simplification along the top, and opening up and re-drawing the bottom right. The messing around in Photoshop (4) last night didn't go to waste. If you've been on one of our Porthleven painting courses you'll know the significance of the thin sliver of yellow towards the top of the painting and also see that the end of the long pier at the bottom twists the wrong way but is the right way for the painting!
SAT 28 JAN
Nothing yet clear about this painting (3). It looks familiar but not my own. Too graphic, not enough about colour.
To stir up the Porthleven series, the idea is to bring in a new element; a tree or 'telegraph-tree' - either side by side with the harbour or the harbour hanging.
I thought about stopping in (1) but felt it was too sketchy, with the bases of the two trees, too similar, with the harbour barely descibed, but I liked the simplicity of the language, reducing it to a few vertical and horizontal lines. The space under the arched branches, sparked a memory of Matisse's glorious 'Entrance to the Kasbah', which co-incidentally also has a red triangle...
(2) kind of works but do the three elements cancel each other out?. Replacing the tree on the left didn't resolve it either in (3). Love the flowing reds and the left edge with the nobble but the painting is now too static, closing the harbour at the bottom a step backwards. Should I move the red further to the left or does it belong in the painting at all? In all three, the top strip is a mess and making the blue straighter in (3) a mistake.
I've just seen something. The red is the tree - a great title - exploiting the 'v' shape at the top of the red, splitting the tree into two branches, perhaps taking the right branch all the way to the right-edge. Need to open up the bottom of the harbour again...
beginnings...
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THURS 12 JAN
A couple of tweaks today - good moves I think. I painted the red-lines 'redder' and brought in some brighter yellows to the bottom-left corner. I also took out the angled horizontal across the bottom, freeing up the lines above. I extended the red/orange vertical post and opened up the narrow space between the two angled posts. In the painting below, the wires/lines seem to on the same plane running horizontally across the canvas. Now, the space is now being stretched and twisted by the tugging wires. The painting above now seems more vibrant, with increased tension and movement. The twin posts oscillating, the orange gable moving back and forth in the picture plane. Less about image now: you see the lines, you see the colour, you see the building...Might leave it alone now!
The four paintings of the Old Lifeboat House studio in Porthleven: 'Porthleven 40 (The Possibility of Window), Porthleven 41 (Diamond)', 'Porthleven 61 (Red Lines)', 'Porthleven 63 (The Studio)'
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THURS 20 JAN
The last move: the sharp red triangle/crane brings precision, scale, geometry, difference, context and a further upwards movement... love this painting!
A painting is time captured, a history and visual summary of ideas, life, process, doubt, wrong-turnings, moments of bravery, clarity and understanding, beauty...
WED 19 JAN
Denise was right..again. In (4) the colour was 'grubby' and the painting needed some flatter, quieter spaces. I think I had problems grappling with the scale of the painting, my largest for a while, with too much stop/start, it's too raw, the marks too similar.
And so...a monster day in the studio. The painting is now more vibrant and flowing (5) with a greater range of paint...and emotions. Strength and joy! . There is a new elegance with todays simplifications of the tall vertical and the busy marks on the right. Now the central cut line is critical, with its echoes of the crisscrossing wires that cut the space in Porthleven. Telegraph tree...the return to the original idea.
FRI 5 JAN 2023
A good day in the studio - the painting, impossibly, now wilder yet more refined (4). My first thought today was that one of the red 'poles' had to go (1). I chose to keep the one on the right - it glows! - bringing more space to the centre. The harbour-shape was now behind something. The verticality was still intact but less straight, with larger marks and more movement (2). I also felt that the two sides of the harbour in (1) were too similar. A new green and broken ultramarine marks bring difference and interest (2).
detail
In (3) the weight of the green was softened by a delicate sheet of Ultramarine/Alizarin purple and the orange curve. The graphic building, (Ship Inn), was a step too far, with the simplifications in the last session, in the bottom-right corner and through the centre now bringing attention to the successsion of smaller marks slanting across from the startling green, centre-left. Colour and shapes are good: the last move was blending the red and orange curves together, making something purer, faster...
WED 4 JAN
Thoughts on (1): The star is the whippy red curve, hanging from the top-line - lets build around it...
detail
Beginnings...