Sarah Davies
  • Folio
  • About
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Shop

Night Owl

6/9/2018

1 Comment

 
Picture
Night Owl is an image that celebrates late night creativity, something I've struggled with for years. I say struggled because it results in antisocial sleeping habits being constantly tired, and doesn't fit with the cultural norm of being a productive citizen. And yet, late at night, when children are sleeping, the housework is done, and the warm quiet night wraps itself around me - that is when time spent in my studio is most productive.

Night Owl began as a sketch in my visual diary, found life as a linocut print, and
has now become an acrylic painting on canvas. The slide show below shows this process, including various iterations. Best viewed in landscape orientation if viewing on your phone.
1 Comment

Why is it so hard to say "I'm an artist"?

23/7/2017

1 Comment

 
Adobe Spark Page
1 Comment

Deadlines and Decisions

10/1/2017

0 Comments

 
Getting ready for an Open Studio Day at my friend Kay's shop has initiated a flurry of creative activity in my home. There has been painting and printing and jewellery making; book binding, weaving, and basket making; website building, business card designing, and insurance getting. I normally work best under a little pressure. While I usually have the best holiday intentions for all the books I plan to read and the stuff I want to make, inevitably the end of those holidays arrive with a sense that making grand plans for holidays is a futile endeavour. Like most of us, I need something to give me direction. Something to aim for. A bit of a deadline. But there is something different about this particular deadline, and that is the addition of a decision.

I have frequently managed to undermine myself when claiming my Artist Identity. There have been too many grant application deadlines missed, exhibitions not entered, paintings not begun or not finished because something got in the way... a holiday, an illness, parenting, housework. While each reason is perfectly legitimate, it is not the reason that matters, rather that there has always been one. So I've put aside my fear and decided to jump in feet first. I have no idea where those feet will take me, but wherever it is will be better than forever wondering what if.

Update

Here I am with my lovely niece who was my very helpful assistant on the day. We had loads of fun. The leftover gorgeous things will be up on the shop page and my Etsy store (building that at the moment) very soon. I'll keep you posted!
Picture
0 Comments

How to make a D.I.Y. stay wet palette

11/8/2016

0 Comments

 
Stay wet palettes are a fantastic time-saving invention, but they can be quite expensive to buy and often require additional purchases of custom fit paper. I used to use plastic palettes but got sick of scrubbing them, so for the past few years I've mostly used tear-off disposable palette pads made from grease-proof paper. It's frustrating though when I have to throw away paint that has dried up over night, even though a painting is still in progress. So I decided a while ago to try making my own stay wet palette, and it worked brilliantly. I've been amazed at how long I've been able to keep a palette going. My acrylics stay wet and usable, with the exception of those in very thin layers which sometimes still dry up. It's been a great addition to my tool kit, is saving money as my paints are lasting longer, and means that I can continue with a painting without having to remix colours. As this is such a useful tool for artists, I thought I'd share how to make your own DIY stay wet palette.
Picture
Here is the first stay wet palette I made. It works well, but is a bit small.
Picture
I'm using a larger shallow square food storage container bought at Coles. Line with paper towels. I've overlapped four.
Picture
Add a layer of baking or grease-proof paper.
Picture
Spray with water. Spray enough to dampen thoroughly, but not enough that there is liquid swishing about.
Picture
Sometimes the baking paper curls up at the edges, so I use sewing pins to pin the corners of the baking paper to the wet kitchen paper.
Picture
...like this
Picture
Add paint.
Picture
Keep the lid on between uses.
Picture
When I open up the palette after not using it for a while I give the paint a spray with unlocking formula. This is made specifically for Atelier acrylics. I use a few different brands in addition to Atelier, but I've not found any adverse effect on other brands of paint.
Picture
Happy painting!
Picture
If you don't use Atelier, spritzing with water might be helpful. Even without spraying, the paint stays usable far longer than on a normal open palette. I've had the same palette going for weeks.
0 Comments

From Idea to Finished Thing

9/3/2016

0 Comments

 
While established artists know that fabulous artwork doesn't just spring into existence from the ether surrounding an artist, it is still easy to fall into the trap of only looking at the finished product. If we don't ever see the work that goes into a project's creative development, the previous iterations, dead ends, and mistakes, we risk devaluing our own artistic process and underestimating the time and skill that goes into creating art. Whether paintings hanging in a gallery, or beautiful inked drawings in a children's book, what we see when we look at the final product is not all there is.

​​I have found that taking a glimpse behind the scenes, seeing the work that goes into the construction of artwork by other artists, has helped me to feel less out of depth in my own arts practice. Not only do I love to see the story behind a piece of art, I also love that I'm not the only one who makes scribbled rough sketches, who occasionally draws a hand that looks like a combination of sausages, and who makes the excuse "It's not finished yet" when showing a friend what I'm working on.
​
My plan for this blog is to show you some of the processes that go into creating art in my studio. I may even be brave enough to post "before" and "during" photos, as well as photos of finished projects. Life is messy. Art can be very messy. While the curated online presentation of beautiful handmade things may be inspiring, it's also good to peek behind the scenes at the organic, experimental, skill-intensive process of making.

Categories

All
Artists
Motivation
Process
Studio

Archives

September 2016
March 2016

RSS Feed

0 Comments
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Folio
  • About
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Shop