Have you ever been really into something and then found out that there are other things like this something and that there’s a name for this stuff and lots of other people like this stuff too? If that sentence didn’t make any sense to you don’t worry about it, the rest of this blog post doesn’t require that you’re orbiting the same celestial body as me to understand it.

I recently discovered that the type of art (apart from mixed media) that makes my heart go thump has a name and its name is “pop surrealism“. Apparently it’s a bit of a misnomer, and hotly contested by some of those upon whom the label is foisted, but it’s a revelation nonetheless.

I met two art students whilst on our journeys in Tunisia who asked me what “art movement” I consider my paintings to belong to. I told them I don’t get that academic about it and said I just paint cute stuff that’s kind of creepy, which left them looking at me blankly. Little did I know this cute and creepy stuff is apparently a valid (to some) art movement.

This discovery happily coincided with a visit to Rome, which happens to be the home of the Dorothy Circus Gallery that sells prints of one of my favourite artists of this style – Nicoletta Ceccoli. It had never occurred to me that art with a focus on strange and innocent yet disturbing subjects could be found in a gallery. T-shirts from Dangerfield maybe, but certainly not galleries as I knew them. This discovery has opened up a whole new wonderfully macabre and seedy world.

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I’m at the stage in the evolution of my art where every painting is a learning exercise. In fact, I suspect even seasoned artists would say as much in a steal-my-thunder kinda way but I think my curve is much steeper. As an artist I’m so green that the new art and artists I’m constantly encountering online result in me frenziedly attempting a different style of painting every week. So far I’ve tried Wabi Sabi, abstract landscapes, steampunk, mixed media, artography, and oil painting. This leaves me feeling kind of exhilarated and somewhat unauthentic at the same time. Most of the time I’ll notice an element of a painting I like and try to replicate it with my limited skill set. If you haven’t already guessed, the above painting was inspired by Kelly Rae Roberts’ trademark patchwork collages and messy brayered backgrounds. Intellectually I know that it’s not copying, it’s imitation as a learning exercise. I remember seeing art students sitting in front of masterpieces at the Louvre and sketching them presumably for the very same reason.

However, I, like many people, have hang-ups when it comes to making art. There’s a little voice in my head that sometimes suggests that if I can’t render bowls of fruit photo-realistically or if I’m not being a wacko who does weird shit with stuff then I’m not really an artist and I certainly shouldn’t have to develop a style. I suspect a lot of people stop making art or never begin for similar insecurities. There are a lot of practical philosophies that hold as true for art making as they do for life that I can fall back on at this point and placate such insecurities. Enjoying the process and not being in a rush to get to the end is a good one. Another one is that nothing worth doing is easy. Both rock solid, clichéd, but rock solid. However, the one thing that gives me an instant dose of concrete certainty that I am doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing is remembering how I felt about art when I wasn’t making it. It hurt to look at beautiful things I didn’t create. They gave me a deep-down emotional ache. They made me feel intensely jealous of the person who created it. A particularly exquisitely sexy piece of eye candy could even make me angry in an upset kind of way. For anyone out there who doesn’t know what to do with their lives, doesn’t know what their passion is, think of the thing that makes you feel like that and go out and do it. I suppose this is kind of the dark side of the “do what excites you” coin – “do what pisses you off because you’re not doing it”. No matter what insecurities come up for me in my art making from here on out, it doesn’t matter, because I wield their kryptonite.

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I’ve been thinking about my blog content these last few days. Feeling torn between all the different topics I blog about. Knowing that some of them need a bit of love while others are kinda needy and should back the hell off. I’ve been participating in a couple of online groups that have really sucked up all my blog real estate – In December it was Gwen Bells’ “Best of 2009″ and now it’s Andrea’s “Creating Dreams Come True”. All good stuff but I’ve been neglecting the art and travel posts. My partner, Mike and I have started travelling again after our 2 month hiatus in Hammamet, Tunisia, which got me thinking about how on earth I’m going to keep up with the blogging. Then, just yesterday I met two artists, gave them the URL for my blog and later realised that I don’t in fact have any of the art work I’ve created in the past 2 months on my blog! It really is a shocking state of affairs. One solution would be to simply blog more often but I actually want to live my life rather than just write about it. So, I’ve committed to keeping some sort of balance. I’m going to back off on the Creating Dreams posts and re-direct my blogging efforts to my art and travels more.

To kick this new direction off, I’ve posted THE painting that made me go oh, THIS is the stuff I want to paint. I’m a newbie in the art world and I’ve been dabbling in various styles. This piece was very much inspired by the work of groovy Italian artist Nicoletta Ceccoli. I love how outrageous she gets with her paintings and I’m aspiring to such levels of outrageousness. I wanna come up with some really weird shit. There are quite a few new paintings that I want to share with you guys but I’m going to post one at a time and comment on each.

My next post will be about our travels. I still haven’t finished posting about our time in Sicily and will have had three weeks of traveling in Tunisia under our belts by then so there’s going to be a lot of material to work with.

Overall, I think having too many interesting things happening in my life to blog about is a very good problem to have. However, with my new found direction and discipline I hope it becomes a bit clearer to everyone what this blog is actually about.

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Recently, I attempted to create a series of very girly pretty paintings for my new born niece’s nursery. A couple of them turned out great but one was just kinda dark and creepy and definitely not appropriate for a child’s bedroom. The above painting isn’t that one, but it’s definitely in the same vein. Although the painting didn’t quite go to plan, it took me somewhere much more interesting. I had an epiphany upon it’s completion. I’ve found my style. I didn’t produce the pink and cheerful painting I had in mind because that wasn’t what was wanting to come out and it’s not what inspires me. Interestingly, one of the paintings for my niece that did come out very girly and pretty will never adorn her nursery wall because I don’t feel comfortable putting it out in the world. I’m so aware of how much it isn’t my style that I feel uncomfortable with it, even though I’m happy with how it turned out aesthetically.

I’m really excited to create more paintings with whimsical, yet dark and creepy subjects. Think enchanted furry animals, porcelain doll ladies, hoop skirts, and little girls, all Mirror Mask-esque. I’ve got a whole bunch of these portrait style mini oval canvases that are perfect for introducing my new creations, one by one. I’d love to give them names and personalities and stories. I hope you all become good friends.

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December 6 Workshop or conference. Was there a conference or workshop you attended that was especially beneficial? Where was it? What did you learn?

I bravely went to my very first mixed media workshop this year, about 6 months after taking up painting. Unfortunately, by the time I heard about the retreat most of the classes were booked out and I missed out on some kick-ass stuff. But I still did manage to squeeze into a workshop on “collage with found treasures” by DJ Pettitt, whose work I am continually inspired by. I was very excited to learn recently that she’s in the process of creating an online class on digitally altering photos. I just can’t wait! What’s even more exciting is that she may be creating another online class of the very workshop that I was gutted to miss out on earlier in the year – book making. I’ve wanted to learn bookbinding techniques since I took up mixed media art a year ago and DJ’s books are so beautiful. I swear I did a little happy dance when I learnt about these online classes. Bring ‘em on DJ!

December 7 Blog find of the year. That gem of a blog you can’t believe you didn’t know about until this year.

My latest blog crush is on Andrea’s ABC Creativity: Create your own happily ever after. Every time I visit this blog I read something that I can relate to so completely it’s eerie, like she’s writing my thoughts only more eloquently and insightfully. Andrea description of her blog is that it “is filled with tips, encouragement, support and tools for your creative journey”.

December 8 Moment of peace. An hour or a day or a week of solitude. What was the quality of your breath? The state of your mind? How did you get there?

Hmmm, I don’t remember the last time I had an hour of solitude, let alone a day or week! But I do remember a moment of peace. The type you get when you know you’ve made a massive life changing decision and it was absolutely the right thing to do and that every thing’s going to be okay and so much better than okay. I wrote this in my journal on the 12th July, 2 weeks after arriving in the UK to embark on our long-term slow travel throughout Europe – “This is probably the most amazing thing we’ll do in our lives and this is the beginning. It is all ahead of us”. We’d just purchased our motorhome “Nettle” (as yet unnamed) and were waiting for the money transfer to go through so we could pick her up. So often in life we feel that where we are (the city we live in, the friends we have, our job) is a culmination of seemingly random events or decisions made too young, too flippantly or without direction. That we’ve been swept along by a current stronger than our own will, that we didn’t choose to be where we are, we just ended up there. In that moment I experienced the peace of mind that comes with knowing that I had made a conscious decision about how I wanted to live my life and had made it happen. I wonder how many people in life are lucky enough to have such an opportunity. Is there a greater blessing than that?

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I’m not sure if I like this piece. I think it falls into the category of “It’s nice but I wouldn’t want it on the living room wall”. It’s my first abstract landscape painting and I’m looking forward to doing lots more. It was born after I read an article in Cloth Paper Scissors by Serena Barton. I just love her abstract landscapes and she was the catalyst for my new favourite fine art technique: tea bag stains.

What I do like about this piece are the details. I can see a few paintings within the painting that appeal to me much more than the whole:

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So, it’s been with me through a voyage to the other side of the world and across Europe to North Africa and maybe that’s why I’m feeling so satisfied with it’s finishedness or maybe it’s just because I brought a little bit of pretty to the world.

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This is my very first full-sized (i.e., not ATC) painting that I’ve actually finished. Thank you Illustration Friday for giving me deadlines.

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